Hey

[nickoftime]

My son and I are just starting to salmon fish. We fish out of an 18 ft. deep V. Sea Nymph. We mainly fish out of Holland and occasionaly Traverse Bay. We have 2 manual down riggers and dipsy's. We appreciate any sugestions because so far we have not been to successful.

Kevin Gibson and Son

[CAC]

Hi Kevin,

I started last year in a 16.5 Lund and averaged 3 fish a trip with only 6 lines out. The guys with the bigger boats do much better. The advice on this website has been INVALUABLE so check out the previous threads by using the search tool. I fish out of Muskegon and never go too far out. I also have 2 manual riggers. Most of my fish came off of 5 colors of lead core off of big planer boards but caught fish on divers, riggers and lead core. What baits are you using?

[GLF]

Welcome aboard Kevin and son!

There are some advantages to having a big boat. But.......you do not need a big one to catch lots of fish. Knowing where the fish are and how to catch them is the key. There are lots of posts on this website already to get you started. Dont be afraid to ask questions. Others may have the same question as you, but are afraid to ask.

How did you find the website?

Mike

[Fishwhisperer]

Welcome to site Kevin. I would recommend adding copper or lead to the spread. I have had days where the only thing that caught fish was the boards. Makes me wonder what would have happened with out them. When you have a more diverse spread, you increase your chances of putting fish in the box.

[Nailer]

Kevin, Welcome.

A great 6 rod spread consist of; 2 riggers with sliders, 2 divers laid down out the side with a spinner/fly setup, and 2 core poles out on Inline Planer boards.

Unless the fish are deep (70'+) this will get you fish most times out. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

Ken.

[Priority1]

A very warm welcome to your Kevin. You will like it here I'm sure. The people here are always willing to help. When you get out on the water let us know what is working well for you.

[nickoftime]

I'll be sure to tell you guys if something I have starts to catch fish:D

[Prof]

Hi Kevin,

We also just joined and we too are hoping to get into salmon/trout fishing. Since we just acquired an old Sea Nymph it was interesting to see that you have an 18 footer. Ours is an aluminum 19 ft, full windshield with a walk through into an open bow. Similar to yours? How do you like it? I know that we have high hopes for ours, so it would be interesting to hear your comments – or from anyone else that has a similar boat.

Hope your summer produces lots of fish (translation: "lots of great memories for you and your boy.")

John

[Paulywood]

I am far from an expert, but have only been fishing for a few years so I went through the same thing as you two recently. I have a few suggestions for you. One would be to take a ride with an experienced fisherman or two. You can really speed up your learning curve that way. I fished with many members of this site when I first started and they helped me a lot. The second would be to keep it simple. There are many, many different aspects to big lake fishing. Buy a few setups to start with that are easy to run and run them until you gain confidence in your ability to fish with these setups. A good place to start would be 2 mono rods for your riggers, 2 braid rods with linecounters for dipseys, and 2 leadcore setups. You will get many different suggestions on leadcore lenghts but when I started it was with a full core and a half core. Thats 10 colors and 5 colors. Two inline boards would also be a good start. Most guys use Church Walleye boards or Offshore boards. These 6 rods can be easily deployed to cover many different depths and will catch plenty of fish. It is also a spread that should limit some major problems like tangles and losing fish. I would also keep your lure selection to a minimum. I started with 20 spoons, 6 flasher/fly combos, and a handful of J-plugs and caught quite a few fish. You can ask guys for their favorite ones on the site or a book like Keating on Kings or his other book, can't remember the name, would be useful. Just Google Dan Keating and it should come up. By the way, once I get my new boat you are both welcome to fish with me anytime. I fish Holland fairly often and mostly fish out of Muskegon. Good luck this season.

Nick

[nickoftime]

Hi Kevin,

We also just joined and we too are hoping to get into salmon/trout fishing. Since we just acquired an old Sea Nymph it was interesting to see that you have an 18 footer. Ours is an aluminum 19 ft, full windshield with a walk through into an open bow. Similar to yours? How do you like it? I know that we have high hopes for ours, so it would be interesting to hear your comments – or from anyone else that has a similar boat.

Hope your summer produces lots of fish (translation: "lots of great memories for you and your boy.")

John

we enjoy our boat alot.It gets us were we have to go and it handles the waves quite nicely. Hope you enjoy you boat.

[Vitalidle]

Welcome aboard Kevin! Don't hesitate to post up questions. Good bunch here who can help you put more fish in the boat.

[Nailer]

Ours is an aluminum 19 ft, full windshield with a walk through into an open bow.

John

John, do you have a snap cover for the open front?

If not it would be wise to get one. Open bow boats will take waves over the front when weather kicks up. A cover will divert the water off.

Weather can come up in a hurry.

Ken.

[nickoftime]

Thanks for all your help can't possibly answer all the questions but thats ok seems like christmas in march good thing we didn't know about this site over the winter time would've gone real slow but would've had larger christmas list thanks me and my son