motownhound

Hello, Has anyone been out of these two ports in the past few days? I know the silvers were holding over deep water last weekend; just wondering if anyone has a recent update to confirm that. Thank you!

6/20 - Cleared pier heads Saturday morning at 4:45. Headed 350 degrees to 80 fow. As soon as we slowed to a troll we began marking fish between 60ft and the bottom. While I was setting the first line (3 color with orange size 0 dodger and peanut fly) a 9# king slammed it. It was a great fight as he had a lot of spunk. Unfortunately the rest of the morning we only got one more king (5#, green e-chip flasher with confetti fly). About 9:00 AM we weren't marking anything, checked temp at the bottom and it was 54 degrees at 80 feet. We decided to look for colder water and went out to 100 ft and measured 49 degrees on the bottom. Set-up and trolled out to 120 fow and then back in. Nothing else to show for our efforts. 6/21 - same protocol as above in terms of starting location but didn't start until 8:00 AM. Decided to troll parallel to shore and zig zag between 70 - 90 fow. Picked up a small throwback king in 85 fow on a mag dipsey with blue e-chip flasher and confetti fly. Marked a few fish but no more takers. There were a lot of flies on the boat both days, with especially annoying biting flies on Sunday. Good luck out there, safe travels.

Went out Saturday morning, 260 out of pier heads. Set-up in 55 FOW and trolled W - SW to 90 ft. Nothing on the way out, turned and pulled a small king the way back in, 65 FOW, came on a planer, 6 color, with stinger green dot glow. It sounded pretty slow on the radio, but shallow might have been the ticket. We didn't mark many fish. We then went out Saturday night for the inaugural S&S cruise (Sunset and Salmon - great way to talk the wife into letting me fish twice in the same day:)). Went 330 out of pier heads, set-up in 50ft and trolled out to 80. Marked several fish in 60-65 FOW, decided to turn around at 80 FOW and pulled a nice king (10lbs) in 67 FOW on the same spoon we caught the small king in the morning, but this time on a rigger set 40 back and 33 ft down. Nothing else was happening for us. Sunset was beautiful by the way. Went out again Sunday morning, and set-up in the same area from the night before. Marked several fish, went 1 for 3, a small king we threw back also on the stinger green dot glow on the planer, 6 color. We also had a screamer on for about a minute before breaking my knot at the flasher. This big guy was on a rigger, set 40 back, and 33 ft down. Had a e-chip flasher, white with flasher tape, and green fly on 22" leader. We just couldn't seem to find the fish all weekend, we were either shallow and they were deep or we were deep and they were shallow. Heard a couple boats went deep (200 FOW) and did pretty well on a mixed bag. Safe travels everyone.

Anyone been out of New Buffalo lately? I'm heading over this weekend and hope to get into some silver action. Thanks!

The Michigan DNR regulations state 3 rods per person. Does this also apply when fishing from a boat (i.e. trolling)? I believe it does, but just wanted to get some confirmation. I recall hearing or reading somewhere that when fishing from a boat the number of rods did not apply. Thanks.

This might not be the best answer for you, but the boat launch in New Buffalo is really good in terms of not being too crowded, even on holiday weekends. They also let you store your boat there overnight on the trailer for the same price it cost you to launch. I do this occasionally when I don't want to tow my boat back and forth. Just a thought.

Thanks for the reply. I'll check out those releases.

I've decided to give large planer boards a try. The question I have is whether to use a rubber band on the fishing line which then goes into the release or clip the line (braid) directly into the alligator clip. I recently did a charter on Lake Erie, and the Captain used rubber bands on the main line and then clipped the end of the rubber band into the alligator clip. I've also seen rubber bands sold online specifically labeled for use as planer board releases. Any thoughts on which way to go; direct clip to the release (i use braided line) or use of rubber band? Thanks!

Thanks everyone for your replies. Very helpful. I'll keep an eye out for the trolls too

Thanks!

Hi, I've read a couple reports for the New Buffalo - St. Joe area where the fisherman used the following in their report; "49's-54's on the west numbers" and "from the 56’s to the 47’s out front of New Buffalo". Are these headings? For example, does this mean 41*50'49" to 41*50'54" when looking at a nautical chart? Thanks for the help.

Here are a couple pics....

Pair of Cabelas Depthmaster Trolling rods. Dipsey diver model @ 10'6" length. Only used once, in like new condition. After using them I felt they were a little too long for my boat. Asking $60 for the pair. I'm located in Northville, MI.