FBD

Back in the days of heavy king runs in Huron, most pier fisherman threw plugs. Barimundi Mailers, Ping a Tees , and deep thundersticks or J13 rapalas were choice in glow or fire tiger. I interned in the thumb in 1997 and caught many a pier king on the above baits, took that technique back to da west siiiide and it worked over here too.

The scenery on most boats was pretty good though.

3/3 on alewife. All very large. One pulled a board back. Funny as I did not mark much bait and the gulls were not feeding. 2/3 or 4 on steel. 0/1 hand lining. 100/100 on beach grass. Trolled like a drunk to avoid pleasure boaters and beach grass mats, but that could be expected on a beautiful summer night. Setting lines I was clipping on a board when the line got ripped out of my hand. Grabbed the rod and no one home. Mixed veggie n k 4d. Then a nice steel hit a red thin fish on a yellow bird, rolled on the leader and cut it. Took a hot 10# on a Jerry Lee mini streak in 23' off oval beach, one color core. He ran more than he jumped. Thought it was a king for a while. Had a gap in traffic and was able to take a shot across the piers. Same yellow bird with my last red black squiggles thin fish takes off screaming. I turn hard to go back to an area with no traffic, and the two color on the other side digs in a bit. Andrea's fish breaks off but I still have mine. She's all bummed but I'm telling her that's how steel are, and we net mine and it's got my spoon and her thin fish stuck on its face. Not sure as it spun in the net if both were in it's mouth or it rode one line over the other and they were tangled. But I'll take it. Put that thin fish away after that, and packed up early to avoid traffic at dusk. Never saw surface temps under 60 and my cannonballs down 8 and 10 came up warm, so I'm guessing that was the tail end of that push of fish.

Mine is in Excel. Pivot charts are my friend.

Appreciate the detail and honesty. Happy to get the one steel we stumbled into on the beach Saturday.

Don't over look other colors in the rapalas. Silver blue and black backs have had their days. Magnum stinger in mongoose: silver with a line green/yellow/green edge has been killer for all species including steel. A 4# fish has no problem hitting a magnum spoon. I would play with what you can run at the speed you boat can troll. You'll crack the nut.

Don't be afraid to put plugs on lead core ,riggers. Just account for the extra depth a plug will get. Deeper diving plugs can affect how adiver will run.

I second the jointed rapalas. Thin fins / thin fish and wiggle warts also have plenty of kick at slower speeds. Lighter spoons work better at lower speeds. I can't fish my hand bent flutter delvrs at more than 2.3 without them spinning out. You can catch pier heads steel on flat fish at rowing speeds. Downside to slowing down is you don't present your offerings to as many customers.

I have enough expired ones stowed away to subjugate most third world uprisings... My boat it's batteries, impeller, and bearings. One of those if not more always needs attention early in the year.

Every fish I've trolled up. Great for finding patterns...

Trailer bearings ok? Sounds like a great first trip. My 22' is sitting with the house battery on the charger seeing if I need to replace it or not...

Have 11 12-14 year old girl sleeping over this weekend. Time to wake up the Four Winns or pray the forecast holds so I can run the 14'. Will decide as the weekend approaches.

Some hooks no bait at piers. Left that went down beach found no browns but one ratty fall back steelhead. Tried to fish piers for walleye at dark but the only other boat in there wasn't about to let me run a wide spread so we gave up.

Yet with constant east winds the shoreline temp was actually six degrees colder than the same week last year.

Good call. Looks like it might be calm first thing but I'm not going to risk it.

They can. I'm running 15' or so from the rigger and about 30" to the spin and glow. I also use a couple beads and heavier hooks that most. More weight behind the dodger keeps it kicking at higher speeds.

Flasher flies for steelhead are an exception and not the norm for me. Continue with the spoons and plugs on those.

For Dodgers put them farther back fromthe ball or increase your leader to the fly / spin aans glow to allow higher trolling speeds. We took a 17# laker last week trolling into a stiff current at 2.7 on the g p s (granted on a spin doctor and fly) but I run my Dodgers at 2.5-2.7 all the time. You can slow down for Lakers but you don't have to. Keep playing around and develop your own program. I'm working on some new stuff for brown trout, seems stupid, can't wait to crack the nut.

Good to know. Time to get the Four Winns ready.