Salmon_slammin

Good hunting at the marsh today! Had a good spot thanks to our neighbor who spent the night in our blind. Had a party of nine, five people hunted in one hole while me, the dog, and three others hunted in a hole a little up stream. Heavy action right at shooting time with ducks flying in every direction. Shot six of them in our group within the first prime twenty minutes. Action died down for a while, but when boats started to leave the ducks would fly again. We had fairly steady action for the rest of the day, ended up with two more in the bag before we called it quits. We ended with eight, our partner party got their limit. All wood ducks! The ducks were fairly responsive to woody calls when using the water whine. We also crippled and lost three birds due to the dog not cooperating. (He had a pretty good reason, after bathing him I found the biggest fish hook of my life stuck in his thigh!)

Hey guys, I have never hunted either of these zones on the south end of the farm. I would be quite interested in giving them a try if they are ever still available when we get to the board. I know that the area is quite wet, and marshy, and it will be even more so this year due to the expansion of the ditch and irrigation improvements. Was wondering if anybody has had luck here in the past. I know duck hunting can be good here, but mainly wondering about geese. Also wondering if there is an open dry area to lay decoys. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Yeah, I don't know why but we weren't hearing anything coming in over the radio. Still haven't figured out the problem, but pretty sure it has something to do with the battery.

Went out of port Sheldon tonight. Beautiful night! Finished 6 for 6 with 4 cohos and 2 nice kings. Set up in 90 FOW, went west for a bit then turned around made it back into 90 and trolled north. picked up two going north, then four going south in the same depth. First fish was probably an hour and a half before sunset. This nice coho came on a rigger with a 11" glowing green perch paddle with a pickle kisser fly. Immediately after this fish hit the cooler out 200' copper went off, we manged to land this good coho easily. It was hungry for a SD dot closer with a proctologist fly. Next fish was on a south troll right around sunset. This coho took the same rig as the first one at the same depth. Next fish was on a dipsey set on 3 120 feet back. Another coho on an nbk fly with a green and white 10" flasher. The big boys staged at dark, starting with our 300 copper. We ended up hooking into a double as our dipsey popped at the same time! We landed both nice kings around 17 lbs. On the 300 copper was a big white paddle with a DW mixed fruit. (Very good fly!) on the dipsey was a blue bubble set on 1 100 feet back. In case you are wondering we were the boat who called on the radio asking for help! We thank you for your help and response, we were towed in by some great guys! Had some good karma from towing in a oat out of holland last week! HA!

Will hopefully be fishing tomorrow morning if the weather is good. Haven't been out in a couple of weeks. What has been catching fish? Unfortunately I don't have j plugs or meat rigs. Just hoping to figure out where they are and what they're biting on. Thanks for the help!

Not really at the moment. Kings are going to run soon, so keep an eye on the water temp in Lake Michigan if the temps get down to the mid fifties pier fisherman will have a hay day catching steeliness and kings.

Find the fish today?

Where you able to get out today?

Ouch! Well you can't win em all, good luck next time!

Fun day on the lake today! A little choppy for our 18 footer but we still managed to catch a few fish. We went 4 for 4 out of port Sheldon with the first fish at about 7:00 on a brand new flounder pounder on the 300 copper! We managed to pull in this 14 lb female king going into spawn. We were in about 115 FOW trolling east. The next fish came about an hour later on a dipsey set 130 feet back, in about 90 FOW trolling north. We pulled in this decent laker which had taken a mixed fruit with a big white shiny paddle. (Not sure the name.) The next fish was another lake trout on the same fly and paddle set the same length back in about 120 FOW trolling south. Soon after we caught another lake trout on a proctologist fly on a chrome SD with yellow spots. The diver was set back 110 feet trolling in the same area as the one before. For the next hour and a half we were out there.... Nothing! You know the fishing is slow when a guy comes over the radio and cracks a joke about farting flies!

Going out of port Sheldon tomorrow morning. Anybody doing anything in the last day or two? I'd appreciate some help if you know where this fish are, and what they're biting on. Thanks!

I believe pyles porthole in south haven has them.

Winds have been good lately my advice would be run flies and meat rigs on your high lines and dipsys and blue spoons fairly shallow on your riggers fish in about 130-150 FOW

Let us know where you fish and how you do! Good luck (:

No, there is a weather buoy a couple miles out but that's it.

I would recommend port Sheldon. It's a small port, and is located on pigeon lake which is quite a small lake so it takes only about five minutes to get out onto the big lake. It is located in between holland and grand haven. The thing is however in the morning you must travel slow no wake on your way out to Lake Michigan. Hope this helps! Fishing has been pretty good lately!

There are LOTS of common carp jumpin around the pier. No idea why they were all jumping but there were lots of them. Don't fret they are not Asian carp.

Are you using both clips? Because that might be why they are sliding if you aren't using both.

I think most of the battle will be finding the fish. If you want to go that far north you now have a reason to. Our biggest mistake was that we trolled too far north and we weren't marking fish or bait anymore. We should've turned right around and trolled north back over our honey hole, but we turned west. (Where there were no fish) Hopefully there is a night bite. Good luck to you!

Today was just in general a great day to be on the water! There were almost no boats fishing out of port Sheldon this morning so we were pretty lonely. When we got out of the channel at about 5:30 we noticed we were marking a lot of bait, and a lot of fish! In only 45 FOW we set up shop and started trolling south. The 75 copper went immediately, and pulled in a 10 lb king on a mixed veggie. Not long after the 50 copper with a firecracker spoon on the other side went off and we pulled in a leaping 9 lb steelhead that almost jumped right out of the net. Soon after we caught another nice steelhead on the 125 copper with another mixed veggie. The flurry was over once the sun started to rise. Although later we did catch a 15 lb king in about 90 FOW on another mixed veggie. Have fun on the water guys!

Swam in all except Ontario, bu have only fished in Lake Michigan

Toss up between dream weaver and stinger! Never actually tried moonshine, but I have wanted to.

I regularly fish for salmon out of Port Sheldon. On our boat this time of year we usually fish with flies, some spoons, and the occasional meat rig. Last year I developed a theory one day when meat rigs were particularly hot. We were changing a paddle on a fly when I thought maybe it would be a decent idea to rub the fly on one of our fish we had caught. I did so, and 20 minutes later we caught a nice king. I think on some days the fish are drawn to the smell and the taste of lures that are covered in fish slime! I also think some lures are hotter than others because many fish have hit the same lure and covered it in enzymes. My fishing buddies find my theory pretty comical but I believe sometimes it does the trick! 😂 Has anybody ever experimented with this theory, or is it just me that is crazy? If you haven't tried it maybe you should give it a whirl. Afterall, I'd pee on a spark plug if I thought it would catch fish!

Is anybody catching any perch in west michigan?