1mainiac

No problem Jay we should try a little pre dawn Steelhead with Nick next weekend if weather is better. Would be a darn nice time to get a few Whites then move to the other peir and grab some Steelies.

Met up with Jay again this evening we started the evening fishing oposite ends of the peir I was fishing out near the light and he was in front of the old Coast Guard station. After people started to thin out I moved down near him and his wife fishing was hot and cold but we had a blast I landed and released around 10 fish and Jay and his wife easily caught over 20 they left with 3 nice keepers. I have no idea how many fish I hooked up with and I was shaking them off as soon as I knew they were snagged. They were not hitting as hot as last night but we saw several females show up and last night they were all males. We both had several big fish that had to go back foul hooked. What a blast on ultra light Steelhead gear for me I could have snagged 50 or more if I tried but I held my ground and only landed the ones I could not shake off except for a couple that pulled like freight trains so I was not sure what they were till we landed them. We came close to having a few triples going and were fishing around some great people helping each other out and no complaints everyone seemed to get along and work with each other. A couple of younger guys showed up and were trying to rig their poles so I offered them some extra stuff and they were catching fish and having a blast right away. They were really suprised when I gave them some new spoons to fish with all I said was your welcome I lose lures all year long so it don't matter to me if they get stuck in a rock pile or help someone else have a good time fishing. Jay and his wife knocked off several nice fish with the net they said they were trying to let me catch up with them. I didn't stand a chance they were hooking em fast and furious at times then we would get a lull in the action for a few min and then right back into it. It was a great night and no one had to see a doctor Jays wife was getting cold so we called it a night. If we do it again I will bring my heater I brought my lantern but it would not light up so I left it in the car have to fix it tommorrow. Tight Lines Jim

And yep he just called to see what time we could meet tonight and do this again well everything but the hook in eye part. I did warn him last night on his way home from the hospital that if he had to wear a patch he was gonna have to fish with GLF next year on the pirate boat.

What a night is all I can say I got a ticket for expired plates on my truck heading down to the pier earlier to meet Jay. Don't know how I could have forgotten plates on my truck I think it got lost in the mail He said he could not beleive it either cause I have been driving every where for 6 months with expired plates. Then Jay calls and says they are gonna be later than I thought so I went and fished for a while by the sub with no real luck snagged a couple and got a call to deal with a problem and went home guys were saying it was over and there was not much of a crowd. was finishing up with my phone calls and Jay calls and says they are on their way I told him I was at the house but would at least come down for a bit. I was just gonna go say hi and hang out for a bit when Jay calls me and says they are slamming em so threw a rod in the car just in case. Met them at the Coast Guard station and the fishing was going strong so started fishing everybody is getting fish and I keep foul hooking them and shaking them off The I get one legally hooked and was so suprised I just looked at it and it shook loose. A min or so later Jay has one get off and the spoon flew up and caught him in the pants he made a joke about getting one in the eye and went back to fishing after hooking and losing a few more Jay gets a nice one on and leans over to pull it up and it came loose. He stepped back and yelled my eye I tought he was still joking around for a couple sec then realized he was not kidding. It looked real bad in the dark with just flash lights and head lights so we got all the stuff together and headed him for the hospital. The DNR get a better look and did not think the hooks were in his eyeball good news and Jay could still see even better news. He called me on his way home from the hospital and told me about the leatherman and said if that was all they had we could have done it at the peir and still been fishing. I allways try to make a fishing trip with a new friend one to remember I doubt we will forget tonight for many years. Jay was a great guy to meet and I doubt we will ever have a more memorable fishing trip however we will be the ones wearing glass's next time on the peir. Jay call me anytime you are ready to fish I will be happy to fish with you. Tight Lines Jim

very nice catch

will try and still be there hope weather is better

Looking forward to the summer glad to see you back Rich Tight Lines Jim

I am heading over tommorrow night Jay planning on a early start want to get there about 4:30 pm. I will dress warmer but I don't really like to fish by myself so did not stick around long last night. I have a long handle net so I use 8lb Maxima same setup I Steelhead fish with in the river and piers just use the Kastmaster spoons. I have yet to catch a legal Whitefish sure would like to actually see the lure in ones mouth.

I use a dbl uni it has not failed yet pull out about 6in of lead from each peice and tie the knot. I have done the mono and willis knot and it sux but just my opinion.

Well Wonderland over in Howell has a new Striper 2301 I/O on a trailer you can probably get for under 50g. Seriously it sounds like a good deal if it looks like a good deal when you see it I would probably buy it. As far as ride is concerned it won't compare to a lot of the new Off Shore boats but than neither does the price. I water tested several boats 2 years ago trying to decide what I wanted and all the ones I loved my wife looked at the price and pointed out it would be my new home if I could afford it after the divorce. My boat was a comprimise it got me close to what I want and is helping get my wife hooked on fishing which will allow moving further up my wish list in the future.

I cruised over for a bit but nearly no wind here at the house did not dress warm enough for the wind also got there too late. Too cold by Coast Guard Station so did not even fish there was down by the sub for a little bit but every one was leaving as the bite had stopped for a while. Will dress warmer and try again tommorrow night but will be much earlier. Gonna try and get there before dark. Tight Lines Jim

Looks nice Nick Under current economy I would try and stay well south of NADA of course that means the seller has to be willing to take less or you have to think it is worth more. All the boats I looked at in the last couple of years that tried to stay with NADA value are still for sale the only boats that I know sold dropped their price big time to sell. According to the numbers the credit union gave me I bought mine for 5g below NADA loan value which allowed me to borrow extra for gear to fish with on it, Love the new downriggers. Tight Lines Jim

what time are you going?

All I see is several Turkey dinners followed by a nap and then turkey salad sandwich's. Not sure why people consider them tough to hunt they eat under my bird feeder every day had 3 Tom's 15ft from kitchen window a couple days ago opened the window and tossed out some old bread they did not even leave. They ran around a couple min in the fenced in yard then went back to eating. Could probably get one with a rock.

I don't fish Lake Ontario but I have fished on Lake Michigan since the late 60's when I was a kid. As such I have seen or used most of the releases and to be honest they pretty much all work. That said there are limits to how well they work and how you set them up. I use Off Shore releases on most of my setups because I prefer the pinchpad release I also use Blacks on a couple of setups and have them on 2 of my downriggers. I will probably put them on the other 2 riggers for next year as I liked the option. The trick is knowing how to set them up which will change from setup to setup. I allways use either a medium or heavy tension release. Medium tension for spoons and plugs heavy tension for flasher fly combos or cow bells. Every setup pulls differant so it takes time to learn to match the release setup to the presentation. If something is messing with my lure I want it to trip if I get a couple false releases on the same pole I will either set the release tighter or put less rod tension on it. If a release won't hold it goes in the trash and a new one goes on but the only way to eliminate false releases is to set them too tight but then you drag small fish around for hours can't even guess at how many times I have pulled a rod that was unproductive to chk it and found a shaker hooked on it. Once this summer we were pounding them fast and as my wife was reeling in her limit fish I saw one porposeing behind the boat and I realized in all the action I had not chk'd the starboard rear rigger in a while so grabbed it and release was stuck so brought the ball up and un tangled the release and reeled in the 8lb Salmon that was on it. That was shear luck both bad and good I did not see the release spin when I set the line so it went down tangled and when the fish hit the J Plug the front hook was in his upper jaw and the trailer hook was in his left eye so he did not even fight. We all have false releases the better you know your gear and setups the more you can eliminate them. But the only way to totally eliminate them is to rig too heavy and then you drag small fish around. Tight Lines Jim

Nice job Don guess I should have went earlier I was gonna fish there tonight but stayed home instead. Was giving some thought to heading over in a couple hours to try for a couple and then see if waves have died down enough to fish the south pier for some Steelhead. But I am not sure I am gonna stay up much longer been a long day allready. Probably just gonna go to bed let me know if you are gonna try it again I will meet you over there.

Ok I went for a while this evening not real long as wind is blowing big time. Last seen my hat was at about 50ft and climbing not sure what state it will land in. Fish are coming in but still very slow saw a couple legal fish and several snagged ones that went back in. Was not there very long about a dozen or so guys fishing when I left and several others like me came and decided not to fish in the wind. Waves were between 5 and 8ft on the big lake and 2 to 3ft inside the arms steady waves breaking over the south arm so no way I was gonna do any fishing there later so I came home. Will try again when wind dies down a bit but next couple days don't look to promising. Tight Lines Jim

Geez Dan that is too darn nice now you guys are gonna get me back into ice fishing will the madness ever stop. But seriously that is a nice looking setup I looked at a Clam Shell the other day but out of my budjet for now will just stick to Steel in the rivers for my winter fishing I allready have the gear for that. Tight Lines Jim

I have friends out west who do it or at least they used to hv not chatted with any of them about it in a while. Good way to teach the kids how to navigate I have thought of doing it with my boat to help teach my wife how to use the GPS. My idea was to toss out several markers and log their positions and then have the wife go and find them using the chart plotter. One of the guys I work with has a son who is into boat navigation he told me they have contests on the big lake. Where they lay out a course with several turns the kids have to figure out course speed and time to complete each run. Then they take em out in a boat and only get to use the compass and tach to run the course they get scored by how accurately they run the course. Now give me coordinates to a school of hungry 20lb Salmon and I will geocach with the best of ya. Tight Lines Jim

Ok here is the latest I went to Shoreline services and talked to Bill this afternoon he said they are getting a few by the Coast Guard station jigging spoons off the wall. Starting as it gets dark so I drove down and talked with a couple guys fishing there saw several fish caught and released foul hooked. Pre dawn Steelhead bite has been slow but guys are getting a few and yep the waves are solid at 3 to 5ft making a few splash's onto the pier. Did not see any boats in the channel I am gonna go down to the pier and try it tommorrow evening. I allways have heard to use wax worms but was told they are not biting just coming in to spawn so just annoy them with spoons and they will hit it. Kinda like Salmon in the river you just gotta throw the snagged ones back. Will report back tommorrow night. Tight Lines Jim

let me know what day I will be there. JIM

Cool pics My younger brother and I were coming back home after a long week in the woods up north without seeing anything legal to shoot at. Saw a nice doe go across the road ahead of us when we pulled up to chk her out there were over 40 deer standing in a factory parking lot in the middle of town. had to be 8 or 10 bucks in the crowd no wonder we got skunked they all came to town for the week. Tight Lines JIM

Well I started my winter vaction ( lay off ) early this year so I may wander over that way and give it a shot this week or next will let you know how it works out. They have been getting some Steel off the peirs as well so will be hitting that as well. Tight Lines Jim

True Randy but growing up around farms not much of anything we ever had came in a package. Chicken dinner meant kill it and pluck it first I knew the names of most of my meat till I was 17 and went in the Coast Guard Reserve. Every fall as a kid meant hauling livestock to my Great uncles farm to butcher was better than Thanksgiving.

I am not sure either Mike I know that the DNR site lists several private stockings as authorized by them. I also noted several rivers such as the White that have not been DNR stocked in the last 10 years at least not recorded on the stocking list. Can that mean the White is working on natural reproduction, lost fish swimming there by mistake or another group stocking the White not listed on the DNR site. Newaygo plantings on the Muskegon went from around 200,000 in the 80's and 90's to none after 2005 which is the last DNR recorded plant. What I did for my data was used 2003 and 2004 to come up with numbers for last year 2004 and 2005 for this years numbers 2005 and 2006 for next year. Looking at numbers for the plants for 2006 and 2007 as them being the 3 and 4 year olds we will will fish for in 2010 is where the numbers really start to drop off sharply as at that point we are fully in the plant reduction which is about a 65% reduction. The real question is will we see bigger healthier fish that have a better survival rate or will there just be less of them. One advantage with the program is they grow fast and the worst that could happen is we would have a couple of bad seasons till they got the numbers back up. Tight Lines Jim