Muskegon 7/30 - What did we do wrong?

[EmptyNest]

Fished Muskegon 7/30, straight out. At 100 FOW, 50 degree water was below 90' so started in 200 FOW, went SW to about 250 FOW, turned inside and proceeded in an s-pattern in a NE direction until we pulled lines in 80 FOW after 10:00PM. In all, probably ended up 1.5 miles south and north of the pier. Black Killer on rigger between 130 and 90 down. Glo Blue Dolphin on rigger between 75 and 55 down. NBK on rigger between 55 and 35. Blue-Green Howie Fly behind NBK E-Chip ProTroll on dipsey with ring, started at 225' back and ended up 150 back at sunset. A Chicken Wing Mi Stinger on another dipsey 175-140 feet back. Carmel Dolphin on 8 color core and Dang on the 5 color core. According to the sub troll, temp wasn't below 50 until it was deeper than 90 feet. Speed trolling 2.75-3.0. Not one release. Now I know a tournament was going on, so don't know how much faith to place in radio chatter, but it sounds like fish were in 45-90 FOW and 3 miles north? That temp ranged between 60 and 75 degrees, at least where I was. At a loss.

[Fishmael]

Lots of boats out yesterday- mostly north. We fished from 6:30- 9:30 Best water was 100' We finished with 6 nice kings all around 8-12lbs. Our speed was slow 2.2 at ball. We found our fish just out in front of duck lake. Some days it seems you cant buy a bite. I doubt you did anything wrong- just weren't into the fish. Everyone here has those days.

[Nailer]

Eric, welcome to the site. I don't fish Muskegon that often, but when I fish out front, I rarely do very good. I can generally find fish North of port in 90-140 fow. We did very good from Duck Lake towards White Hall Saturday.

[EmptyNest]

Thanks for the posts, guys. I don't normally fish Muskegon either. Spent a number of years learning Manistee north and around Traverse City. I have a buddy with a boat in Jenison and we were running his this weekend. Trying to learn Muskegon and Pt Sheldon.

Thanks again.

[Just Hook'n]

Well, Muskegon and Port Sheldon are VERY different.

I spent a lot of time out of both last year and the year before.

Port sheldon is a wasteland of FLAT FLAT FLAT. There are only a few spots where the fish gather, or at least there were the last two years.

145ish and 108ish, north half way to GH. Other than that, go deep, speed up and get ready for steelhead.

Muskegon is TOTALLY different as you can actually find deep water there and not go to Wisconsin. It drops off if I remember correctly from 170 to 250 pretty quickly. That is always pretty good. Also, there is a troff that goes about directly southwest out of the port. That has always been pretty productive.

Otherwise, go to duck lake.

Most tournaments I was involved in two years ago, the winners with HOGS went north to duck lake.

[In The Net]

2.7-3.0 at the ball is pretty fast. We like to be anywhere from 2.0 to 2.5 at the ball, but other than that i dont see anything you did wrong. Sometimes they just wont bite your lures and it doesnt matter what you do.

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

If you marked alot of bait fish they were lock jawed as a result. The fish are moving north slowly, but will be up here soon this month. Try shallow too as of late, like 35-50 fow to start for the first hour or two. You can always move out later.

[spoonfed]

We've been running pretty hot lately out of Muskegon. 3.8 to 4.2 og and 2.5 to 3 at the ball and smacking them pretty good. When you get to the pier heads swing it north out to 60' and keep it on a N troll and get after them!