Summer King Trolling Lake Michigan

[eastcoasttransplant]

Ok guys, I know this is an extremely loaded question, because there are so many variables, but what spread (different apparatus) would you say you run most often for summer kings?

The real question is, during a normal year, how deep would you say you normally fish for summer kings?

Now I'm not sure there is a real answer here but......last year was my first fishing Lake Michigan from my own boat. I moved from the east coast a few years back and after spending a couple season on the bank I decided it was time to join the boat crowd. I picked up my 17fter late in June, so I didn't really get in on a full year of action.

The majority of my fishing this past summer was spent fishing off of Winthrop Harbor, IL north to Kenosha, WI. For the majority of summer, I would say that I fished between 30ft and 50ft down, over deeper water, most days. Checking my down temp, and looking for water in the mid to low 40's, I found those depths to be most desireable each time we went out. At those depths, I found I could utilize my leadcores (8 and 10 color), my braid divers and my downriggers. Once I started fishing deeper than 50ft, I really lost the effectiveness of my leadcore setups.

So I was left wondering.....in a normal year can I expect to find salmon in that general depth range, or was it an odd year that kept those temps in the 40's higher in the water column?

In the end, my boat typically has only myself and another person, leaving my spread at 6 rods maximum. While I didn't have the delimma, I'm already thinking that if the fish drop deeper than 50ft I need to have an alternative game plan to get deep and get to the fish. Should that happen, I'm thinking that I could run two wire divers and 4 rods stacked off the riggers, elimating the leadcores.

So after my babble, what do you guys think?

[killerbe20]

phil,

Generally you will find the kings during the summer where the water is cold. last year on our side of the lake was not a typical year. The water temps were very cold all the way up to the shoreline until august. One contest out of Racine at the end of july the top ten boats all fished directly in front of the Racine harbor mouth.

Time of day matters too. Early in the morning and later in the evening the fish tend to move in and up and feed off of structure in our area. in a "normal" year when water temps are not so cold, the kings tend to find the cold water during the day time. this could be on the Hills near the bottom, could be way out deep 150,200,250 feet down, could be anywhere! Networking with other fisherman helps a ton then.

once the fish get below the 50 mark, plain leadcore set ups will die down. Wire divers, SWR rigs and coppers will get to where the fish are then. There are products out there that will make you leadcores dive deeper if you are interested in that but i personally have not used any. my initial six rod spread would probably be two deep divers, two SWR downriggers, and two coppers or two leadcores just in case something was up higher.

of course there is SO much more to consider, but this is just a quick reply. I'm sure there is a lot more people can chime in with.

[eastcoasttransplant]

I current own, two 6 core, two 8 core, two 10 core, three wire rods, 2 braid dipsys, two light downrigger rods and two heavy downrigger rods. Getting all this gear last year.....the wife told me absolutely no copper rods at this time.

I have stacked the riggers before but ran into some issue when trying to run multiple diver rods on each side of the boat. If I correct that issue, I can run 2 braid divers, two wire divers and two rigger rods to get deeper. I just have to figure out how to keep my braid divers, set on a 3 setting out to the side, away from my wire divers set on a 1.5 setting. Theoretically they shouldn't tangle, but they did at times last year. I think my problem was trying to fish too much gear in the same small band of water between 42 and 46 degrees. That made me let out more braided line to reach depth versus less wire line and I'm assuming that during a few turns, I crossed the gear.

If I get that figured out I'll be OK this summer.

[killerbe20]

Honestly, if i wasnt doing the charters and contests i'm not sure how much i would really fish my coppers. They can be more of a pain then lead cores. I don't fish them that much when i am "fun" fishing unless i absolutely have to.

a lot of this is all about getting out there and trying things yourself. Unfortunately with salmon fishing, when things don't work out the way you planned it usually means a big mess and money! Fishing four divers takes some getting used to. with currents and turns they tend to be more of a problem. I don't generally fish four divers very often myself. I usually only do if i feel very strongly that it will make a big impact on my catch. On the flip side though, i am fishing up to 10 boards. its a give and take.

[Nailer]

.the wife told me absolutely no copper rods at this time.

If I get that figured out I'll be OK this summer.

If, or when she changes her mind, do you and her a big favor and get the 32# supper copper from Blood Run. 300' of it will take up about the same space (it is a bit thicker) as a full core. It will hit a depth of 60' rather than the 40' the same amount of core is getting. Rather than buying more poles, just buy the reel, and swap them to the core poles.

Once you get your 4 diver program figured out, you will be ok.

[eastcoasttransplant]

Thanks Josh.

I actually spoke to you a few weeks back via e-mail about spring brown trout trolling.

Truthfully, we didn't do that bad for our first 1/2 year on the big lake. Our best day was 17 fish between 2 people and our worst was 6 fish between 2 people. Largest king was 16lbs.

Most of the summer saw me fish my two leadcores, two braid divers and two riggers.....all with clean spoons. Each and ever time I put out flashers and flies, I'd wash them for an hour or so and then pull them for the all spoon program. I kinda went that route because we fished a lot of days, mid-day, high sun and little chop on the water. I figured less was more in these conditions and dropped the flashers. I also fished relatively high 30-50ft most days based on water temp and seemed to do OK.

Now next year I'll be making a real push to make those flashers and flies pay off. Now the time to get all my questions out there to try and reduce the learning curve.

[Paulywood]

If you want to fish deeper you can try adding Stinger Divebombs. They are designed to attach to leadcore. They come in sizes from 1 oz to 12 oz's. And they are cheap. I have used them and found them to be effective.

[Killin' It]

Nick

I used the DB on the small boat this year and I LOVE THEM!!

I run 2 riggers 2 divers and 4 or six core rods

One side gets a mono rod with a steelie bait, a full core and a full core with a 4 or 6 oz dive bomb

the other side gets a 3 color 5 color and 10 color with a 3 oz dive bomb

Riggers get a Moonshine founder pounder and a spinnie

Divers get spinnies.

Does anyone run spinnies on the core rods. lets say a 10 color with a dive bomb?

I am soooo exited for nest summer.

[Paulywood]

I know that people run spinnie's off of boards but I have never had any luck. And they pull really hard. The new Church boards might be effective for them.

[killerbe20]

i run spin doctors/flashers/dodgers on lead and copper. Last summer mostly spin doctors when not running spoons. they do pull harder but i use the Yellow Bird Big Boards instead of Walleye Boards. They are a little bigger and you can adjust the pull on them for your bait and speed.

Edited November 24, 2010 by killerbe20
correction

[GLF]

Checking my down temp, and looking for water in the mid to low 40's, I found those depths to be most desireable each time we went out.

Yes, the book says 42-44 degrees for preferred temp for kings. Dont get to hung up on what the book says. Kings have to eat, so they will go out of temp to feed. Bait fish do not like being in water that cold. The first 1-2 hours of fishing on a normal day, fish are consistantly caught out of temp. When the lake rolls on this side of the lake, and gets in the 40's the baitfish move to the harbor mouths in search of warm water.

The first line I set is my rigger with a temp probe. I set it where I find 54 degrees, and it stays there. I set the rest of my spread deeper after this.

[eastcoasttransplant]

Sounds good.