FBD

It happens. Don't worry too much. Cool to share with people, especially kids, something that we take for granted but is completely awesome to them.

Saugatuck 7-29 am Two months since I've been out. Two months. No kid's tournament, no B4k. Had a hunch some fish should come in in a flip so at ten on last night the coppers and wire came out and the slide divers and short cores were loaded. It didn't flip. Worse, it kind of flipped. So we dropped where the cold water met the bottom in 30' and started marking hooks and bait. Didn't take long and a white spinny with a green fly hooked up off a slide diver and went to 290' on the counter while letting out the last core. 16# king. Other slide fired with a two pound Brown in a magnum moonshine, the the same spinny picked up a 14# king. So we switched to all spinnies and beat that to death right as it died. Still wantjnv to get steel, which I saw,a few caught from the surf, we went into the grass filled plume water and promptly caught a 23" 7.4# football brown ofc a silver Jr. T stick. Pulling lines at the piers, we took a 19" walleye off a mag stinger on a two color. Weirdest steelhead trip ever.

I'm sure that makes the op feel better. Care to share details?

Fished that same water and ended up 3/4, two small kings and a 9# fall back steel. Went to the beach and broke off a brown. Had most my stuff 40' and higher, seems like I should gave fished deeper.

Holland 5-25pm Took my oldest out today, to get s brown for a year long derby we are in, before they dry up. Was not expecting heavy chop. I mean like we probably should not be out in 51 degree water in a 14'. And the wind never let up. Set up trolling with them and hit a 14" king setting lines, j11 silver rap off a bird. Missed a hit on a Jerry Lee mini streak one color, then took another punk king that smoked a f11 blue rap. Then a 4# laker on a mixed veggie mini streak on the other one color. All these fish went back. We had to stay out in 15-20' as the waves were breaking on the second sand bar. Being shoved sideways isn't fun. At this point she laid down on the floor to take a nap and I slugged into them. Boat control was a nightmare so I wasn't expecting much. Certainly wasn't expecting the blue rap bird rod to start screaming. Kicked Andrea awake and she got the rod and I crazy Ivan'ed the boat to get the poor man's auto pilot working (waves on stern) so I could clear lines as this fish was going where ever. Lines cleared I dropped it out of gear to slow it down, and we were still rolling 1.2mph just drifting. As usual Goof did just fine and I netted an 11#+ steel. Not the brown we were looking for but I'll take it. We quit since half the lines were in and it was now a cauldron for the row boat, and went and stopped for ice cream, as that's our thing. Just days ago it seemed she was too small to see out of the boat; next fall she starts high school.

Had a day on the Zoo where my wife's side of the boat had a Tadpolly, a WiggleWart, and a Hot and Tot to my mag lips. The good news is I got to fight a fish. Her side of the boat doubled.

3.0, 3.5, good colors. I fished them for an hour on a day I knew were on browns, in fact I experimented with a lot of stuff that day, and it was 3 fish to 8 on my side versus the proven side of the boat, mine coming on Shad raps and a Jr. Streak.

Naked. I bought a pile this winter as they were God's gift to river steelhead fishing. After 17 hook ups on anything but mag lips to 0 hook ups on mag lips while running my proven stuff on one side and mag lips on the other, I returned all the unopened ones. Glad to see Great Lakes Angler has turned into a Mag Lips infomercial.

Saugatuck 5-15 pm Took my dad and middle daughter out last night. Bait for the most part has jumped into the river. Good luck spawning guys. Herd of sheep at the piers. We fished 15-20' and were busy all night until the lightning chased us off. At one point 2 rods were in holders, and five hooked up. J-11 orange rapala on a one color was the only rod that never got bit. Took two on a paddle and fly. 3.5 mag lips off yellowbirds best.

Spinny went 22/28 with 14 Lakers, 4 kings, 3 coho, and a steelhead accounting for 144.3 pounds of fish.

Holland 5-13 So after my skunk in Grand Haven, I doubled down this weekend. Either stuff got real or I was walking away for the year. I can't justify the expense of fixing and running the Four Winns this year, so I put all the chips down on the 14' and my fishingist crew member. Screw you fish. You may gave gotten my favorite spinny ever, that I will hate to compile how many fish it took, as a consolation prize, but you lost today. Set up all by ourselves in 47' and didn't turn the tiller until Oval Beach. We started with a deep hooked 15" king on a flounder pounder down 30, then my best spinny, before it twisted up and broke off, grabbed an 11# king. Missed another good hit on that. At least it went down fighting on its last trip. Two more good kings on the flounder pounder, then a sheep in the plume at Saugatuck. Did a few laps in the mud and got a pair of fat coho and an 11# king that hit 12' down and 10' back and popped up outside of the two planer boards on that side. I enjoyed throwing him in the cooler. Might have said disparaging things about his lineage or unwed parents as he got iced. Finally for giggles we put her on the beach, mostly as 2.4 mph back to port wasn't much slower than 8.2 WOT throwing up a tug boat wake with a heavy cooler in the bow, and under blue skies at 11 am a board shot back with a vengeance. 8.3# brown added some character to the box. A 27 minute ride in reminds me how I miss the Four Winns. Fishing 11 hours on less than 4 gallons of gas over the last two trips didn't. RIP 10" white spinny and hand tied purple mirage fly. Thanks for the master angler laker last spring, and the literal 100's of other pounds of fish you provided. A hell of a run we had.

Grand Haven 5-10 pm. 25 boats in there. Never saw a fish fought or a net lifted. Marked two hooks all night. Occasional tree barfed out of the channel to keep thing interesting. Sunny when we left so I put the rain gear back in the barn. Ended up soaked. And skunked. And cold. And frustrated.