Rockin' Randy

It's worse than that actually. This coming weekend is the Ironman triathlon in Frankfort. Sunday the public launch is shut right down to my understanding. All hotels are full, roads will be blocked, etc. Part of the race is a swim around Betsie Bay. I may be launching elsewhere. Lol Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Went out Friday evening about 5 pm. Saw a couple of bigger boats heading to Herring hole, so kind of went that way too. They both set lines on north side of hole and trolled south towards Arcadia. Wind was out of the south and since I was fishing alone again, I went to south side and trolled north through the hole and back towards Frankfort. Marked decent numbers of fish 40-60' down in 80-90' fow. When I strayed deeper or shallower I marked less fish. Used downriggers and spoons mostly for simplicity. I did try a flasher and fly for a bit. Lost the first fish but landed a 15# king. Both hit on the same spoon, my old standby Moonshine Agent Orange. 56' down in 85 fow. Saturday morning was a bit bumpy for one guy. With stiff SSE wind, I went straight out and again trolled north for better boat control if I got one on. At one point I turned and thought I'd try to swing by the harbor. Of course I hooked a coho and lost it near the boat trying to steer through traffic. So with that I swung the bow back to the north and trolled the bank all the way past the point. (6 mi) The wind was perfect for that and I seldom had to adjust the course. Ran a meat rig for a while and two spoons off the riggers. Picked up a coho on my old standby, 52' down in 80 fow. Pulled the meat rig and put a Moonshine JJ Mac Muffin down 70', and another Agent Orange on the other corner rigger. The middle rigger with the Muffin popped in 115 fow. Landed another coho. By 9:30 the swells and waves had built up pretty good so I pulled lines and headed in. Several people I know personally or talked to at the cleaning station have been doing well in Platte Bay. I was hoping to get over there this weekend but the big lake had other plans which didn't include me. Hoping she lays down a bit this week. The wind alert app doesn't look too promising. Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Went out about 5:30 pm and there was a lot of boat activity around the harbor in 40 fow. After setting up outside the pack, I trolled through a couple of times with no success, but it was a bit early for the evening bite. I had started out running spoons off riggers as it's easier for me fishing alone. When setting up in deeper water, I had noticed quite a few marks in 60-80', so decided to try targeting those for a bit. Couldn't get them to bite. Tried switching out spoons for j-plugs, flashers and flies, and meat rigs. This was along the bank in around 60 fow. The marks were constant but nothing seemed to work. I turned south to head back towards the pack at one point but it was too windy to be able to maintain boat control whenever I wanted to adjust something. So decided to continue north to the point as long as I was marking fish. I noticed a fish come out of the water some 200' behind the boat as if it were feeding at the surface. By this time I had put a couple wire lines out instead of riggers, so pulled one of them and set out a three color lead on a planer with a fire tiger Bomber. It wasn't out ten minutes and a coho hit it sideways getting all three trebles in its mouth somehow. I got it in the boat and noticed light was fading. How quickly four hours can slide by. Pulled lines and headed in. Back at the fish cleaning station there were a few nice kings, plus cohos starting to come in. Most anglers were fishing from the pier southward in 30'-60' of water. I would think weighted lines would be the ticket if you go out here, targeting the top 40'. I don't have a speed/temp on ball, but going from what others said and what I could see on the sonar, the break is still around 45-50'. Only a couple other boats went north. Tournament weekend too, so heavier than usual boat traffic. Have fun. Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Took a couple friends out the morning of the 23rd. Left dock at 5:00 am and picked up a fish on outside diver but lost it right at the boat. We were marking fish at around 35-50' which was odd as they had been so deep the previous two weeks. The diver was only out 50' and was pulling an Agent Orange spoon. It was our last hit that day. Tried every trick in the book. Fished 80'-190' fow. It was a tough day and there wasn't a lot of activity at the fish cleaning station either. Day two with my friends, on the 24th, they had booked a charter and were taking me along in return for always taking them out. I looked forward to seeing and learning what the charter captain would do in tough fishing conditions. Well, we got skunked. I don't have a temp/speed on the ball so it takes a while for me to catch on when there's a change in the thermocline depth. I could see on the charter the temp was at around 50'. We were marking fish but they just wouldn't bite. I didn't fish today (25th). But I nosed around the boat launch this morning and it seems a few more were caught than during the previous two days. Never did like fishing a full moon. I heard good numbers of fish are being marked in Platte Bay now, but they were not biting very well on this morning. I plan on heading out to tomorrow morning. Probably will just start out front. Maybe hit Platte Bay afyer daybreak if the NE wind isn't too stiff. I know this is kind of a lousy report, but it's where we're at in Frankfort. Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

So, why could one fish find all that food? I am not sure what the official answer is going to be from those who study such things. My thoughts about it go back a number of years when I was writing outdoor stories, and I interviewed a DNR fish biologist about our salmon. It has always stuck in my head what he said. Our Chinook are the same species that live in the ocean, and there, they grow up to and over 50 pounds. So why don't ours? He said the reason was that our salmon, once mature, feed on the baitfish such as alewives and smelt. In the ocean, salmon will feed on baitfish that size for the first year or two, and then graduate up to a bigger size baitfish. They may change their diet a several times during their four year lifespan. He said here in the Great Lakes, they tend to get stuck on alewives and there is nothing really to step up to. He explained that in the ocean, 3-4 year-old salmon eat cisco size fish all the time. They get more bang for their buck. You know, don't have to expend as much energy chasing food down, etc. The missing link here in the lakes is a baitfish size in between the alewives and cisco. Something for them to step up to bigger sized prey. But he said, if they ever do find that connection and get to a point where they start feeding on cisco size fish, we would have 50 pound salmon in the Great Lakes too. So I thought about what he said when I heard the news about the new record. My guess is this fish, along with the 39 pounder caught earlier this year and who knows how many others swimming around out there, have learned to make the switch. Maybe with the alewife population low, food was scarce and this fish found a school of in-between prey, and either fed on those for a while until it switched to the big fish, or somehow jumped right to schools of cisco, whitefish or menominee, and hunted the smaller fish among their schools to make that step. I will be curious to hear what the experts in the field have to say. All I know for sure, is I have two of those Moonshine Carbon Raspberry spoons I bought last year, and I am hoping the lake lays down enough for me to get out and use them in the morning. :-) Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Went out alone this morning for a bit. Lines were set by 5:30 am. Started straight out front in 90', and trolled towards deeper water with one Moonshine spoon, and two Kev GFs - one with a meat rig and the other with a fly. Surface temp here was 64°. I don't have rigger speed or temp. The majority of the boats went north and south, so I headed north towards the point. Surface water changed to 56° near point. We had a strong north blow yesterday. Seems like it scattered the fish a bit. Picked up a 19.5 king in 120' out from the greens. It hit on a Kev GF with a black/glow Moonshine fly I was trying out for the first time. Love it when a brand new lure choice gets a fish first time out! Anyway, got it on the wire, with a Slide Diver running a 60', 30# leader. No other hits but I gave up early. Pulled lines, shut down the motor at 8:15, and did a Zoom business meeting from the boat (without video, lol). Then dropped the boat at home and headed in to the office. Made it there by 10 am. Word at the fish cleaning station was a couple boats did well in shallower water at first light. Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Good to know. I'll give it a try. It's been years since I've used sliders. Kind of forgot about them. Thank you! Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Thanks for the report. I am wondering how you set up that free slider? Like a 4' leader clipped onto the main line? Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

This summer was my first try running two divers per side. I have been running mag divers with wire on 8.5' rods for my low (or inside diver) on 1.5 setting. I have been back and forth experimenting with either mag Dipsy or Slide diver with the mag conversion kit on those. The outside (high) diver is run with 65# braid off a 10' rod on 3 or 3.5 setting. I have been running regular Dipsy or Slide Diver on the highs and have not experienced any tangles. And I am routinely popping the divers to change tackle, check for riders, weeds, etc in no particular order. I like that I can bring in or set the high one out without tangling the inside. The one wire tangle I had since I started, was with a rigger and due to the bottom coming up quickly, me trying to turn back out, and I think the diver hit bottom and rolled into the long lead I had on rigger. So, don't do that. Lol. Time to complicate things... So, I am not happy with running regular divers on the outside, and plan on trying two mags per side. I asked a charter guy I know if that is possible, and he said he does it all the time. I rigged the rods up yesterday. Both inside wire rods will now have Slide Divers with the mag conversion kits. The outside braid will get a mag dipsy. I intend to fish the outside higher up in the water than the inside, so it should still clear when a fish hits or if I just want to trip it and change lures. I will be trying the setup sometime this week. Fingers crossed. Lol! Good luck with your diver fishing. Check back in and let us know how it went. Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

FBD, omg, that is exactly what happened this morning. I went out knowing the salmon would be at 68' like a few days back. Yet I marked nothing at that range. Even the lake trout seemed scarce this morning, but I did manage one from the rigger set at 68' over 115' of water. Back at the fish cleaning station, the few guys who managed to get a salmon or two, picked them up at 40', and even 25'. I saw marks at 40 and moved some gear there, but apparently not soon enough. Thanks for the tip. Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Thanks Three Dogs, I do like the glow stuff too. Moonshines especially. I've not seen their trolling flies though. I'll be on the lookout for them. Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Just wondering what other anglers run at daybreak when targeting kings. I had gotten out of salmon fishing for about 12 years, but in the last three bought another boat and am getting back into it. So much has changed inthe last 15 years. Anyway, I usually go out in the dark and have my lines set by daybreak or before. For simplicity, I tend to run all or mostly glow spoons to start. Then switch to 50/50 spoons flashers as the sun starts to rise. I usually get fish, but don't do as well as other anglers. So just wondering how you all start your day? Would I have better odds running flashers to start? If so, meat rigs, flies, or spin n glow type lures? Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Yes, I think you did the best out of everyone I talked to. It was good meeting you. See you there again perhaps. :-) Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Fished from 5:30 am to 10:30 am. Only one hit and landed an 18# king. Trolled from straight out, then north to the point in 90' to 130'. Marked moderate amount of fish. Three on board and running seven lines. Three riggers and four divers. King came off inside Slide Diver, steel line, 68' down in 115'. Moonshine orange color spoon. Went from mostly spoons early to mostly paddles, trying meat rigs, spin-n-glos, and flies. Tried trolling the shelf (90-120 dropoff) for trout on the way back with no success. Marked more fish in this area but couldn't trigger a strike. The water was flat. Back at the fish cleaning station we learned there were few kings taken, and not many lake trout. This was the third day in row with similar results and calm weather. Whew! Taking tomorrow off. Maybe I'll try again Wednesday. Sent from my moto z4 using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Thank you. That's what I ended up doing.