Flyboy Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 Normally I fish with just my dad out of Muskegon, and last year we had a great morning bite, landing 5-6 fish from about 6-8am, but after 8am, everything shut down, and it was a real struggle to put 1 maybe 2 more fish in the box if we were fortunate. What do you do to keep the fish comin in the later morning hours? How much deeper do you go? What lures do you run? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.Flyboy
1mainiac Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 I fish out of Muskegon as well mid day is different nearly every time I go out and can vary from moving back in to 80 to 100 and banging the bottom for Lakers. Or heading out deep to chase Steelhead and younger fish. It really depends on what we want to do based on conditions my preference is go deep and chase steel but that costs gas and as such often will just make some minor changes and continue fishing the pattern that got us fish to start with. Sometimes the only thing you have to change is the lures if you have a productive troll going due to light conditions changing as the sun comes up. Many times the fish will just go neutral and hang near the bottom so running more flies down deep and smaller spoons will get them going again.
Nailer Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 Normally I fish with just my dad out of Muskegon, and last year we had a great morning bite, landing 5-6 fish from about 6-8am, but after 8am, everything shut down, and it was a real struggle to put 1 maybe 2 more fish in the box if we were fortunate. What do you do to keep the fish comin in the later morning hours? How much deeper do you go? What lures do you run? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.FlyboyLast year with the warm water, the fish dropped to the bottom mid day.These fish would bite, but you needed to put you stuff in front of them.After that dawn bite is over, lower, and widen your spread. 2 riggers is all you need down mid day.
killerbe20 Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 this is my prime fishing time! most of my charters don't usually leave the dock until 7am and if im coming off shift at the FD then 8am or later. away from traffic if possible. my "10 fish theory" 10 biting fish and 10 boats = 1 fish per boat. 10 biting fish and 1 boat = 10 fish. deeper water at times. spread out your spread - coppers, leadcores, SWRs, deep riggers, wire divers deep. i fish a lot of fly combination during the day. general salmon patterns during a typical summer will be coming in to feed at dusk and dawn and out deeper or "hiding" during the day. usually have to find a whole different school of fish then those the early morning or evening guys are fishing. most days salmon will have a decent mid-day feed too if you are on them.
anonymous Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 If boats are packed up when the bite slows, try inside or outside of them. Alot of times when the pack breaks up and heads deep later in the morning, you can head back to a productive area after giving it a little break and pick up some more fish by adjusting the spread as mentioned by earlier posts.
Paulywood Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 I agree with what the others have said. I also like to lengthen the leads on my riggers and maybe even pull a couple of lines.
IRon Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 A lot of good points here. Everyday's different but quite often they fall into that pattern. Then you gotta start working for them. Everybody's been exactly right about what to do. So you either have to stay in the area and work neutral fish or head out offshore with the charter tactics. When I had my smaller boat I was pretty well forced to work the fish closer in so boards were good, divers way out and back. The usual riggers back and down. But if they're completely dead I'm not afraid to pull a rigger or 2 and start running pound balls or even 1 1/2 pounders instead. I like to use Church clips clothes pinned on for longer leads on those. Or maybe some junk down the chute, copper, lead, whatever.
wild at heart Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 remember that as the sun climbs, you get much more light penitration into the water, which makes light colored lures tend to dissappear. A standard blue dolphin is going to look a whole lot different at 10am than it did at 7am. Fish will be using sight more than sound to key on your presentations. Colors that match bait do better for us. Color contrast is important. This is more important the shallower you are. Once you get below 100fow light penitration is greatly reduced.
adrenalin Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 Most days thinning out your spread and running more lead or copper is the first step. After that matching the sky and water conditions to your baits is the most important. Everyday you fish if you pay attention to what is working under what conditions you will start to see what baits work when. Lastly when you find active fish mark each one you catch and keep on them until that spot drys up. I believe that any time you are out fishing, except during the suicide bite, water and sky conditions are the hardest thing for alot of guys to dial in consistently.
fishsniffer Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 we do a lot of what youre reading in previous posts..but we definatly tend to run a few more meat setups..black and silver being a good choice
Daybreak Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 The 3 best peices of advise for mid-day bites are... -FISH MEAT -FISH DEEP -FISH SLOW
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