Holland 7/23 PM

[BenLubbs]

Went out tonight with 5 friends on board, two of whom had never been big lake fishing before. Got lines set in 70 FOW in front of Tunnel Park by 6:15 trolling strait north. We were marking fish right away and I was hoping we'd get some hits right away. No such luck. trolled north almost to Portsheldon and then swung it around back South. Started heading it a bit with boats on our deep side pushing us a little. Got halfway back to Holland and got a hit on the 5 color with a miami dolphin on it. Handed the pole of to one of the newbies and a short time later it disappeared. Then the rigger (55 down) with a UofM Frog Silver Streak and Blue Chilly Willy free slider goes. That one comes unbuttoned shortly after handing the pole off too. Then the wire diver 110 out with Blue/Chrome SD and Yogurt Striper fly goes, followed by the same downrigger again. Both fish came unbuttoned after handing the poles of :mad: We stopped getting hits again after that so I started changing out to the glow spread. Pretty soon we got a fish on the 5 color with a Glow Bloody nose went. The newbies just wanted to see a fish so I ended up taking that one, a decent 6-8 lb Chromer. As we're unhooking that fish the rigger 40 down with a Sliver Streak Anaconda and mini glow yellow fin free slider goes. Fish runs across the back of the boat and then back toward the center. Somehow it ended up getting tangled in the line and the mainline spoon hooked it right in the belly. Well then it stopped fighting and we ended up slowing waaaay down to get it to the boat. Another Chromer. Soon after that the same downrigger went again but after two seconds of tension, came loose. After that we kept marking fish but couldn't get them to go. All the fish came in about 65 FOW directly in front of Holland. SOG was 2.7-3.1 MPH.

On a side note, Does anyone know the laws on boat visibility after dark. On our way in while pulling lines we came up on a sailboat anchored in 50 FOW strait out of Holland. I didn't see him till he was less than 100 yrds away:eek: Then he turned sideways and he had his nav lights on but did not respond to radio calls asking if he was under power. I got around him fine because I only had 4 lines in the water at that point but still a closer call than I would have wanted. I've noticed several times now that sailboats are almost invisible at night from behind. The have nave lights up front and then the only other light they have on is halfway up the mast and only visible from the front. Makes them virtually invisible at night. Also, when anchored aren't you supposed to have your nav lights off and only white lights visible from all directions?

[Gnarf]

Thanks for the report. Seems the south troll from PS is doing pretty well.

Strange a lot of reports of not being able to keep em hooked.

[Nailer]

Great report Ben.

[onlyflyfish4vr]

Sailboats under power are considered powerboats. Same rules, white light off stern 135 degree visibility. Anchored, all navigation lights off, white mast light on 2 mile visibility.

[nathan vk]

I had the same problem, Fri am went 1/7... they all were there for a few seconds then gone.... nice job getting the newbies on some fish.....

[BenLubbs]

Sailboats under power are considered powerboats. Same rules, white light off stern 135 degree visibility. Anchored, all navigation lights off, white mast light on 2 mile visibility.

Well this guy defiantly was not under power and there was no light visible from the back side of the boat. He had a mast light but it was obscured by the mast past midships. He had no stern light. If I had been running in I don't know if I would have seen him in time.