Friendly Advice?

[BRIAN0214]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum. I am really happy I came across it. I can see there is a lot of useful information here with a lot of nice people. I just started fishing again on Lake Michigan in July of this year. I haven't done salmon fishing on Lake Michigan since I was a teenager with my dad in the 1980's. Lot's of changes in fishing gear since then. I have to say I am not having much luck. I come out of Grand Haven. I fish for 3-5 hours at a time and I am lucky to get one fish in the boat. I am not using downriggers or lead core. I am sure this is probably on of the big reasons I am not putting more fish in the boat. I run 2 mag dipseys in the back and 4 dipsey of the 2 sides of the boat. I fish mostly spoons. The Stinger Yellow Glo tail is the only spoon I have some luck with. I just purchased a Killer Dolphin, modified glo green dolphin, a wonderbread, black silver green glo, Blue Dolphin, glo candy corn, and agent orange spoons today since I see these are some spoons that have some success. I usually troll in 80fow-180fow I mark tons of fish just south of the south pier at 130-160 fow everytime out. Anybody else fish this area and see all these fish? I use ace-high plugs and never have any luck. I have had one hit one a silver dodger and white fly. I have tried many different color dodger fly combinations with no luck. I have to say when I do hook a fish they are nice size everyone of my 7 fish have been over 30 inches. Like I said I have not had much luck 7 fish in about 14 trips. I am headed out again in the morning of the 17th for 3-4 hours. I will let you guys know how I do with the new spoons. One question I do have is does anybody run dodgers before their plugs or spoons. I have not been doing this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks!

[Paulywood]

Since I just got home I would like to be the first one to welcome you. I think we should be able to help you out. I think we'll need a little more info about your spread. What are you using for line on your dipsey's and leaders? I would suggest trying running only 4 divers when you go out, 2 on each side. Braid and wire are what I use. I don't run mono divers. One of the reasons to go down to 4 divers is because divers tend to be a very aggressive presentation. With the clear water we have now (compared to the 80's) it might be worthwhile to tone it down a little. And I like to keep the leaders a little lighter and use flourocarbon. I guess if I had a suggestion I would say to run a pair of low divers and a pair of high divers. Set the low divers on 1 and run a flasher/fly combo one one and a spoon on another. For the flasher combo I use a heavy leader, #50. For the spoons I use 20# flouro. For the high divers I would set them on 3 and let them back farther to reach the same depth as the low divers. This allows seperation and puts them farther from the boat. I would run a flasher/fly on one side, the side that you have the spoon on the low diver, and a spoon opposite. I don't fish Grand Haven but fish Pt. Sheldon and Muskegon all the time and the fishing is very similar. Now, you say you are running dodgers. I don't normally run dodgers unless I am targeting lakers. I run Spin Doctors or Pro-Troll flashers. They are more speed tolerant and are made for targeting kings. I never run anything in front of my spoons or plugs. I know people do and have had success but I don't as a general rule. One other thing is fishing low light can be easier than fishing during the day. I don't know when you normally head out but an earlier start or later ending if fishing at night can help improve your catch. When you head out in the morning if you see this you might want to head farther west. I hear there are fish out in the 200-225' depth. Good luck.

[GLF]

Welcome aboard Brian! I moved your post to this section as an introduction for yourself, because it is a great introduction.

I personally do not run spoons on flashers, but there are some here who do. Get yourself the dive chart for dipsey divers so you know how deep your divers are running. Knowing what depth your divers are running in the water will increase your catch.

[Nailer]

Just a few quick tips. Leader line behind the diver should be as long as you can handle (6-8'). A South troll will normally be your best troll. Speed on your gps around 2.6 +- .2. Mag divers off the back will run about %50 of line out. These should be your deepest sets. Only flys behind flashers. I think some of the guys are going to fish out of Holland Saturday am. Meet up with them after or fish with them, and they can show you there setups. See this tread.

Welcome aboard.

[KJ pluggin]

Welcome to GLF Brian. I agree with Nick that you may have a little to aggressive of a spread with six divers running. One thing you might want to try is replacing your mag dipsies out the back with one pound balls (pump handles). I would run a flasher/fly combo on one of the pump handles, and a plug on the other. For the dipsies I would put FF combos on the low divers and spoons on the high divers. From there on you can adjust your spread according to what the fish want. Also talk to as many guys as you can to try and find out where the fish are, how deep, etc.. Good luck Brian.

[Reel-Deal]

I highly recommend two videos that helped me out a lot. First, not sure if it's still available, but it is the 2 video set from Chip Porter on salmon fishing. Also, is Dan Keating - Keating on Kings.....has a great book too. If you want to Chip Porter videos cheap - let me know, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse.

My problems in salmon fishing always seems to come down to the fine print - the details, leader length, speed, direction, down speed, active fish, etc. etc. etc.

Anyway - know this....there are a lot of great guys out there willing to help, and try to get to one of the seminars, Mike (administrator) organized one last year, and it was really good. Hope that helps...

[BRIAN0214]

WOW! I am amazed at all the feedback I have received. Thanks everyone for all your ideas. I actually didn't make it out today. I am really bummed the lake look great today. I am sorry I posted my original post in the wrong spot. I have so much to reply to I don't know where to start. Lets answer some paulywood questions first. I am using 20# mono on the poles and leaders. I tend to put plugs and and a flasher/fly on the mags. I run one about 100 feet deep and the other one about 75 feet deep. I do run 2 high (setting 3) dipsey divers and 2 low (setting 1) dipsey divers. I spool out 180 feet of line on the high and 150 out on the low. 5 out of my 7 fish have come off the the high dipseys! 1 off the low and 1 of the mag. My last trip out I let out 250 feet of out for the high dipsey and caught a nice king in 80 foot of water. Then it peeled of another 50 feet of and I had fun bringing in all 300 ft! That dipsey must have been real close to the bottom becuase once I got to 60 foot of water I could tell it was hitting the bottom. You guys maybe right the water is really clear and all those dipsey in the water might be scaring them off. When I did cath my last king I had only 3 poles in the water 2 high dovers and a mag in back. I guess sometimes less can be more sometimes. I do troll at 2.5 mph. My best troll seems to be a west to northwest troll. I see many boats lately trolling really FAST! I would suppose they are trying to get those fall 4 yeard olds to bite out of aggression since they don't eat because there hungry when they are about to spawn. Do you guys eat those 4 year olds when they are dark? In 1980's you would see a 30#+ fish once in a while. Now if you catch something near 20# your lucky? What happened? My theory is that they are over stocking the lakes and there are not anough alewives left to feed on. I saw a post on here that some scientist think that 2 year olds are now spawning. Thats sad if that true. I have to look into using a "pump handle" I amnot sure how to use them but I am sure I can find something on the internet. Do the 1 pound balls fall off when a strike occurs? I am going to get some down riggers. It just seems silly to buy them now with only a few weeks left to fish Next spring I am going to run 4 lead cores on yellow birds and 2 down riggers of the back. I hope this will produce better results next year. Hey Jim I might take your offer on those videos how much and do you live near Grand Haven? I can't make it to Holland Saturday. I usually work every Saturday. If you guys ever have a fishing outing on a Sunday look me up I would be happy to join. Wow this got long!

[jimbobber]

welcome Brian, I would get church walleye boards to pull lead core and copper,yellow birds can be a little to lite.Also when you say 100 down with your mag dipseys are you 100 down or 100 back? 100 back isnt down 100 foot maybe 65 to 70 foot down.There is lots of great fisherman on this site who love to help others out. Again welcome to the site . jimmy aka: jimbobber

[KJ pluggin]

I am supprised you were able to get your divers to release with the mono mainline. You may want to look at putting braid or wire on a few rods. Braid and wire will allow your diver to reach a much deeper depth as well as make the divers easier to release due to the no streatch qualities. For the pump handle setups I use swivels to attach the 1 lb ball and then about a 6' leader to the bait. The weight does not fall off. I generally use braid or wire for the mainline on these as well.

[BRIAN0214]

Hi Jimmy,

I do have dipsey charts for the mags and size 1 dipseys. I let out enough line to get to 100 feet down. Kyle I keep my dipsey diver release very loose. I rarely fish in anything more than a 1 foot wave so I don't have to have them tight to keep from popping in the rough water. Here's a general question for everybody. Snubber or no snubber? I use them and am 7 for 9. I know a lot of guys feel they loose fish when they use them. Are they really necessary?

[Paulywood]

If you are using mono there is no need for a snubber. I don't use them for braid either, unless I am running a flasher/fly combo. But I use them on all my wire combos.

[Priority1]

Brian, A warm welcome to the GLF site. You will like it here.