Cold water scatters the salmon in Saugatuck

[westrate]

This last week was a week of change with spotty fishing. Strong east winds and cool water scattered the fish this past week with catches of 6 to 12 fish per trip. We fished from 80 foot to 150 foot one day and the next we were in 180 to 200 foot and by the end of the week we fished 240 to 280 foot of water. Part of one trip we even fished in 30 foot of water the last hour and a half and caught one coho and missed 3 others. The water temperature ranged from 55 degrees to 50 degrees on the surface to 41 degrees 60 foot down which means the fish can be anywhere from the surface to the bottom and from the shoreline out 15 miles with not big concentration anywhere. One area did not produced any better than another and the fish came from the surface down to 70 foot with some fish caught bumping bottom in 120 foot.

The best method during the week was fishing the top 40 foot with half core, 7 color lead core, 100 copper, 150 copper, 200 copper and 300 copper with stinger and stingray lures that had orange and orange and green on them. Most of the action was on lures with very little action on flashers and flies. The divers at 150 foot dialed at 2 1/2 and downriggers at 30 and 40 foot produced but not consistently.

There were some reports of some perch being caught in 60 to 70 foot of water, but the action was not fast and furious. At this time we need to get some thermal stratification in the lake some a concentration of the bait. This will draw in the game fish into more concentrated groups. Feel free to contact me at any time for information and/or charter reservations by email at [email protected].

[j1musser]

Thanks for the report. It was right on for South Haven too.