silver one

No. I agree! its not a great time to fish but it is what the family compromised at. None of them would get up early so I took what I could get.

Fished out of Pentwater last Sat. sorry for the late report.This was my first trip for the year so technically you could call it a shake down cruise with my Family. We were up at our cabin on vacations so we spent a day out on the lake. We go out at 11:00 AM and fished until 5:00 pm. Water at the plume was 56 degrees. Set up in 90 fow straight out as the wind was out of the northwest with lake around 1 to two foot witch was not bad but had a real strong sw current . Temp was 52 on the surface. From there we trolled w sw to 200 fow water, Marked no fish. kept going all the way to the stick temp dropped to 50 at 200. marked no fish. from the stick headed back in to 80 fow and finally marked a single fish. know hit. trolled back north off of the dunes marked another fish. no hit. also marked NO bait fish. at 4:00 pm my family was hungry so we started pulling lines and my daughter hooked up on a 5 lb laker while reeling in full core with ss easter egg. So we ended up 1 for 1. on the way back in on Pentwater lake we marked a lot of big schools on bottom. schools being Perch. looked like the guys fishing them were doing well. Was a beautiful day for the most part. Just no fish. Charters were going out to 300 fow water to catch steelhead and doing ok. not great, but getting a few for there clients. wanted to add we ran a 12 rod set up. 1 color,2 color, half core, full core, 300 copper, wire divers and 2 rigger. ran flashers/fly, spoons, plugs even threw a few oldies out, Grizzly spoon and needle fish along with fast trolling a few old KC spoons. in other words everything that has caught fish the last 30 years.

Nice Ed. see ya up there at the end of June I hope:thumb:

I was only able to make 4 trips last year due to family obligations and my own health issues but in 4 trips I boated 36 fish. mostly salmon and stealhead. so ya I guess its my own fault. Was more curious about what other fisherman think of the direction of our current fisheries based on reports for Michigan sportsman and other sites but ya that statement will defiantly help.

Actually I have read them. on the gla site and michingan sportsman, thought it would be a good topic for our site as I always like to read positive feedback from others. but I agree not a pretty thought. The coho should have already been and gone north. water temps are pushing 50 degrees in some southern harbors and usually 43 to 46 I slaughter the silvers. king usually 52 to 56. The coho plants have been reduced and even cut the last 4 years There are fish but my point is that the big numbers are possibly a thing of the past.

I watched michigan out of doors last night and one of the segments on the show was a steelhead camp on the Manistee river below tippy dam. During the segment it was discussed that the steelhead numbers are very low. and that they are still waiting for a big push of steelhead. Another segment was a charter out of lake huron in the lexington fund raiser torunament. They to were catching alot of (Lake Tout) Along with that and reading all of the post and what everyone is catching (Lake Trout) got me thinking. Are we or have we already gotten to the point that laker huron was at 10 years ago? There is alot of talk about weather but lets face it. It is May and we should be knee high in silver fish right now. The Temps are perfect reports show a few silver fish being caught but for the most part any numbers are (lake Trout) and (Brown Trout). Also noticed that I have not seen any reports on the bait fish. Usually they are here. looking at the water temps we should be seeing alot of them. Usually I have noticed over the years that people tend to use the weather as an explanation for Slow Hunting or Slow Fishing and to some degree that can be true. But, is that the case or are we at the begining of a new norm for Michigan sport fishing. I dont really know the answer. I have been doing some reading, such as, stock numbers, netting reports, fall runs, and fishing reports wich to me are the best indicator. I guesse only time will tell but one has to wonder as the powers that be who manage our sport fishing and hunting resources always dont tell us everything unitll after it has happened. I remember reading a few years back that we were headed in this direction but the fishing was phenominal so did not really pay attention to the reports. but now you have to wonder. Have not been out as of yet this year so hopefully I am wondering about nothing and hit the water in good stride.

So I went through and checked my reports. Though I dont have pics of every luhr I used I always name the set up, depth, port and even give gps positions of my trip. I know that charter captains have their own language out there on the water and if you listen to them you can pick up on their decoded messages if they are even talking. most use phones now. I think that for the most part, those of us who help build this site and make it what it was are still here and post our reports like business as usual which is why this site became a better site than others. I dont post as much as I use to because I don't fish as much as I use to. Not that I dont want to its just that I have teenage kids and I follow them all over south west michigan with Football,Basketball,volleyball,soccer,tennis,quiz bowl. I agree the site has changed alot. But for the most part the guys that made this site valuable are still here doing their thing. These are the guys I follow and listen to. Charter captains for the most part want to keep everything on the down low in the post world. not all. but most, they are runing a business and feel it is protecting their best intrest. not sure if that is wright or wrong but it is what it is. Good luck to all this season. I hope to fish the Joe this Sat for the first trip of the year.

Hey Ed Ive been out. took a limit this past sunday off of lake Doster down here at the main home. dont have the pic uploaded yet but really nice fish. Ice is still iffy down here. was only about 2 inches of good ice and 3 inches of crap and alot of water in the middle. will get pics when I get a chance to upload them and transfer.

nice deer ed. you must have a honey hole up there.

Nice ED. Be up in two weeks. Hopefully the fish are there to stay.

they are a 1/4x20x3/8 . they are a button head stainless steel. hardware store should cary them.

The white cutting board stuff he is referring to is UHMW. There is also Delron. they make it in the same widths and lenghts as any other stock. I did it with 3/16th aluminium and I it cut to the width of my gunnel and the lenths of the track. you can do the same thing with the UHMW. before I bolted mine in rather then try and line it up I drilled all the holes before mounting as to be able to tranfer the mounting holes from the track to the backer. Then drilled my holes in my gunnel and everything lined up.Use a center punch to keep your hole centers straight and you wont have a problem. good luck:thumb: If using aluminium 1/8 inch would work to. If I was using UHMW I would use no less thick than 1/4. it will flex and the thinner it is the more brittle it is. 3/8 would be fine.

just to clairify I mounted the plating on the bottom side of the gunnel. and the track on the top side. Putting the plate on the bottom of the track on the top of the gunnel gains you nothing. It is a bit of a challenge to get the plate up underneath and does require some trimming and grinding depending on the width and shape of the side of your gunnels.

I just mounted berts track on my crestliner 1850 sportfish. I would not use plywood as I did that on my old islander and it eventually cracked and wore from boat movement. When I reinstalled it I cut 3/16" alluminium plating to the exact lengh and width of the track so it is blolted down the hole lenght of the track and width. I did the same thing on my new crestliner. No MOVEMENT I used Nylon locknuts all stainless. on the bottom side of the plate I put in with a 5/16 stainless flat washer you can use steel but it adds more weight to the boat and was a concern for me as my new boat is not as big as the old islander so I went with aluminum.

Thanks for the report dan. what speed were you running?

Fished Southaven on sat with my son Dominic and friend Brian. Started in 160 fow north of the harbor in the 29s setting the first line at 6:45 am. Beautiful morning. Ended the day at 1.00 pm as we boxed out a 3 man limit going 15 for 21. 3 steel, 2 Lakers and the rest kings with 2 around 15 lb. 300 copper with streak evil alewife and yellow tail were real hot. Wire dipsey with 11 pro troll white paddle with green homemade fly took both bin kings and lost one more 120 and 160 back. Took steel on half core. Steak. Easter egg. Took a fish on the rigger. Steak dolphin. Took fish o. Full core , streak green alewife. Also took a fish on full core streak green dolphin. Will post pic Tomorrow when I can get on a computer.first post using my phone. All fish were taken between 185 and 215. Good surface temp of 56 degrees between 29 and 34 north.

Thanks for the report Ed. Looks like it is time to start fishing up north. Plan on being out of Pentwater fathers day weekend.

Late report out of Southaven ended 7 for 9 with a co-worker in only the second trip of the year. ended up with 4 kings from 8 to 12lb being the biggest,1 coho around 5 lb and 2 steelhead 1 at about 5 lb and one at about 10 lb. started in 50 fow and hit 2 fish all the way out to 215fow on a NW troll. truned around on an E SE troll hit 197 fow and hit 5 more fish in around 45 min. Got to 180 and the bite stopped. Called it a morning at around 11:30 Best set up was 300 30lb copper with yellowtail streak on one side and green alwife streak on the other. also took fish on wire diver 90 back with 11" pro troll white paddel and fly. Fly was green dolphin fly that I tied. Took coho on slider on rigger 35 down. DW super slim,Orange. 26's where we found the fish. Could here The guy on the radio out of Holland, sounds like the fish have moved North.

Nice ED. might be up fathers day.