Pentwater 7/3 am- 7/4 am

[swede428]

We ran into some tough conditions here in Pentwater. We encounter bait balls, to numerous to count, and bait fish, dead, and alive floating on the surface giving the gulls a feast. On 7/3, while at the Little Au Sable Point beach, there were hundreds dead bait fish littering the beach.

We had our lines set at 5:30 am both days and only manage one fish in the boat a 10lb king on a white pearl flasher, and green glow fly on a diver 120 back on 3, then and two other hits. Others at the ramp ran into the same thing. I hope these conditions past yet this week. Has anybody else ran into this? We camp here and have some of our best fishing here the last few years. We are about 6 weeks earlier this time though, I sure that has a lot to do with it.

FYI

Swede428

[Nailer]

This year is a bit behind last year. Things are picking up in the ports South of Penwater.

Great looking Slickcraft BTW.

[tadmdad]

Swede, We fished 7-2 and did well off LPS. Very foggy in the a.m. but clearedup in the afternoon, midday bite was good for steel, several scumlines setup from 180-240 fow, and the fish were there, and not a boat around. I believe we ended up with 23 for ?, 19 boxed, 3 skippers and 1 laker released.

The south winds moved the fish out into deeper water, bait was in tight.

[BenLubbs]

Say Tony, does that guy in the second picture happen to be Mark Jasman? He does EDM work for us sometimes and i've spent a lot of time talking to him about salmon fishing. Good Job to both of you by the way.

P.S. if that is mark and it looks like his boat, hows running that 600 copper going

[tadmdad]

Say Tony, does that guy in the second picture happen to be Mark Jasman? He does EDM work for us sometimes and i've spent a lot of time talking to him about salmon fishing. Good Job to both of you by the way.

P.S. if that is mark and it looks like his boat, hows running that 600 copper going

Yes Ben....that's MJ. We didn't run any 600' CU on Saturday, fish were up in the water column. Worse, he's spooled up some 800' CU, he needs some electric reels.

[swede428]

First off thanks to all,

So is this bait fish thing why fishing seems to slow in June? Thanks to tadmdad for your reply. We saw some guys out way past us, we stopped in about 160 due to time constraints, and the fact we never have had to go out that deep to get fish in the past. We also have never ran in to conditions like that in the past either.

I will have a game plan now for next time.

[Paulywood]

Normally there is a lull in June due to water conditions. The water warms up and scatters the fish, but a thermocline hasn't set up yet. Looks like Tony figured out a heck of a program and found the fish. One thing about salmon fishing is just when you think you have it figured out it can throw you a curveball. Fishing temp breaks (aka scumlines) can be very productive. There is a link on the top of the page that takes you to the surface temp maps. Somedays this can be a very usefull tool. Good luck.

[Priority1]

Swede, You'll get it figured out. Thanks for the report.

[tadmdad]

Paulywood is absolutely right. Usually in June the water conditions are changing daily, wind, waves, and current can change and can shut down a pattern. Using the surface temp charts can help narrow down water at times.

Swede...your next time out watch surface temp charts, wind direction, wave heights several days before you go, both LPS and BPS funnel the water depending on conditions. Last Wednesday my buddy fished LPS, 120-140 fow and did good, down temp was 47 degrees 60' down, and the fish were there on the bait you saw. With the South blow we had Thursday and Friday the warm water rushed in, we started in the 120-140 fow on Saturday, but the down temp was 62 degrees 100' down, we started heading west with those down temps, unproductive water, first king came 105' down in 190 fow, down temp was 55 degrees. As we worked out we noticed several surface temp breaks (scumlines) noted by a calm slick on the surface, was a 3-4 degree temperature change from one side to the other, 56-57 degrees on the surface. The first couple of fish puked up small alewives, 2-3 inches long, we switch over spoons to regular size and SS, that's when the 150-200 CU started firing. Hope this helps on your next trip out on the pond.

[MoJoRisin']

The alewives move in to the drowned rivermouth lakes to spawn in late May - early June and usually move back out before the beginning of July. As said it seems that this yr is a few weeks later than normal so they are just now showing up in large numbers. Also the lake temps have been crazy - I've fished 2 times in the last month and both times the lake temp was 50 or less top to bottom because of relentless east winds. Just in the last 2 weeks it is finally setting up to a more normal temperature pattern where we can isolate the good water easier and the bait is now back in the big lake instead of inland spawning. Sounds like the next few months should be excellent fishing if mother nature is kind to us!!