8-1 Farming in South Haven

[GLF]

It was a beautiful day on the lake today! We put in 3 rows of corn, 2 rows of beans, and 1 row of carrots today. Please stop by my famers market and get your fresh veggies.

Made it out a little earlier today then yesterday. Set the first line at 6:45am, grabbed the second rod, and the first rod was hooked up. Had the fish in the net, the net out of the water with the fish in it, and the fish flopped out and was gone! *%#&@$^ anti fouling net! I will/would NEVER recommend an anti-fouling net, to anyone. Fish hang up on the netting, and do not slide into the basket when you lift the net, resulting in fish flopping out.

We ended the day 5 for 12(2 kings, 2 steelhead, 1 lake trout). 6 of the 7 fish we lost within 10' of the back of the boat, and all were nice kings. 3 wrapped in wire divers, 1 flopped out of the net, 1 was knocked off with the net(I was not on the net), and 1 had the hook harness come apart. The other fish was a steelhead on a slider(rigger was parked at 60') that launched like a missle. We were hooked up for about 5 seconds with this fish.

We set down in 65FOW and immediately hooked up with the first fish on a rigger parked at 45'. As soon as the the first rod went, I thought.....this is going to be a good day! We proceded to play catch and release all day. We worked 65FOW for another half hour before I pointed the boat West. The rest of the fish we got/lost came from 80-105FOW. The down temp was 51.5 degrees 45' down.

This is what worked for us today.

Rigger parked at 45 with a Mother of Pearl Ace-Hi.(Went 3 times)

Slider 10' above the cannonball on a rigger parked at 60' with a Stray size Craigs X-Mas Reverse.(Went twice)

11" Double Pearl Prochip 11 with a Siggs Rigs Brushed Stainless trophy fly parked at 70'.

11" Chartruse and gold Prochip 11 with a Siggs Rigs Green Apply trophy fly on a wire diver set on 1.5 with 175' of line out.

11" Blue with Blue holo tape Prochip 11 with a Blue & Pearl Crinkle trophy fly on a wire diver set on 1.5 with 210' of line out.

Stingray size blue dolphin on the rigger parked at 60'.

Stingray size Dirty White Boy on a 1/2 core with a 4oz dive bomb.

Sorry......I was having a bad day and did not write down the baits, so I don't remember the other baits that went.

We pulled lines at 11:00am and headed in.

[BIGTREBLE]

I'm glad that there is some else besides me do the farming thing. This week we were 9 for 24 OUCH!!!!

[killerbe20]

nothing more frustrating then losing more fish then you catch!

[plumkrazy]

nice job mike wish you could have kept a few more hook up

[adrenalin]

We ended Saturday 5 for 12 also. Certainly not the way you want your charters to go. Second worse day of the season.

[Nailer]

It sounds like you got the best part out of them anyhow.

12 fish on is a nice morning.

Farming does suck though.

[Boblo]

Nice job on the fish..although you were a little under the 50% catch rate, your still doing something right to hook 12 fish...nice job.....Bob

[bluedevil]

Your not alone this weekend Mike. I was 6 for 14 yesterday in Manistee. In the tournament too. Lost alot of nice fish. Weighed in 5 fish with a total weight of 27.19lbs...

[GLF]

Losing all of those fish today was not the only bad thing that happened. We had just passed the bridge and I started taking care of the rods and gear. Someone else(not Hunter) was driving the boat, and I was down in the cabin putting things away, and not paying attention to where the boat was. Next thing I know......I feel the boat hitting something. Yep....We hit the sand bar by the boat launch. I ran up stopped the boat, trimmed both out drives up, and backed back off the bar. After I docked the boat, I trimmed both outdrives up and checked the props. Luckily, we did not do any damage to both props.

[diesel]

We ended the day 5 for 12(2 kings, 2 steelhead, 1 lake trout). 6 of the 7 fish we lost within 10' of the back of the boat, and all were nice kings. 3 wrapped in wire divers, 1 flopped out of the net, 1 was knocked off with the net(I was not on the net), and 1 had the hook harness come apart. The other fish was a steelhead on a slider(rigger was parked at 60') that launched like a missle. We were hooked up for about 5 seconds with this fish.

mike say it aint so you lost fish at the back of the boat? you must have them cool reels with a scale built in and was cheating

[GLF]

mike say it aint so you lost fish at the back of the boat? you must have them cool reels with a scale built in and was cheating

I had issues with netting them also. One flopped out, and another was knocked off.

The fish we lost yesterday, I knocked off with the net.

[Just Hook'n]

This seems like a good time to bring this up. I've noticed on my trips lately (last weekend) that the fish are kind of biting soft. In other words, everyone's ratios seem to be a little less effective. on my boat it seems they are not hammering the lures.

[GLF]

This seems like a good time to bring this up. I've noticed on my trips lately (last weekend) that the fish are kind of biting soft. In other words' date=' everyone's ratios seem to be a little less effective. on my boat it seems they are not hammering the lures.[/quote']

Mark,

All of these fish "should" have been netted. I believe the issue people are having are dull hooks, and drags being to tight. A lot of bigger fish are being hooked up now. These bigger fish put up a lot more of a fight then little ones, and tear a bigger hole in their mouth where the hook is and it comes out easier.

[Far Beyond Driven]

You didn't farm them, you "Best Chanced" them to ensure better fish in the box.

Don't know what's worse, getting on fish and not landing them, or going like 3/3 without ever sorting out the pattern than day.

[SUPERTRAMP]

Well you at least got to spend a great morning on the water and got home without any real damage to the outdrives. Good to see you and take care of the salmon in the classroom project. We didnt do any better on the perch, funny how a couple of days will change everything on you.