Makes you think..

[DarkBlue]

Fished out of Onekama this morning, and while pulling in one of my coppers with a J-plug I thought to myself, "wouldn't it be cool if one smacked it on the way in". As I got it to about 10 yards behind the boat I saw something fast and silver come from my left, charge the plug, miss it, turn on a dime and shoot at it and miss a second time. I could tell it was a nice salmon so I dropped the plug back another ten feet and ripped it back in, and repeated a few times while the fish lurked near, but would never take another swipe.

Now, I've had fish hit while bringing in lures, but never in view. Was really an awesome sight observing the speed and agility these fish possess. This was directly in the prop wash and I don't think the fish cared one bit. Made me think and wonder what really goes on beneath the waves with our baits, and just how many near hook ups we have.

Anyway, thought I would share the experience. On another note, fishing is good out of Onekama and Manistee. Lots of rips and a full box. Spoons and plugs early, changed over to F/F and deep plugs as it got brighter.

Good luck,

Chris

[Phishy]

this season i was letting out a ton of line on a wire dipsy, the line on the spool and the level wind were out of sync...so i dropped out 600' down the chute on a released mag diver...bounced it off bottom then put it in the chute rigger rod holder and smoked it back in as fast as i could reel it , i mean I was rippin it in... when at about 200' on the counter, the rod just doubled over..FISH ON!!! a nice king (which we landed) smacked the flasher fly combo...

i wonder if we are going to slow sometimes,

[hornets nest]

Years ago when fishing on our old boat with my dad and uncle, my uncle tried to reset a riggers for the first time and got a tangle with another line. Well before he made a bigger mess I proceeded to untangle the lines while he stood their with the pole in hand(as if I was going to let him try setting it again ) just about had lines untangle with one line in my teeth and both hands untwisting when I seen a flash and looked to see a king with its mouth wide open chasing after dads favorite spoon a blue /chrome Michigan wobbler yikes:eek:, spit the line out, looked at unc and said" Fish On" and the reel started screeming . Ahhh the memories.

[Paulywood]

About 5 years ago I was fishing on a friends boat and setting a half core with a Mixed veggies. I didn't even have all of the backer in the water when a fish hit. Reeled in a nice 7# king. The spoon couldn't have been more than 25' behind the boat and only a couple of feet below the surface.

[Nailer]

Sounds very cool.

[jimcr]

My first season out on the big pond , my son and I had to fish in the harbor because it was too rough . We started setting lines at the south gap heading north , let out 75 ft of line with a spoon, before I can grab the line to put in the release a 12 lb Brown grabs the spoon and takes off. My son looks at me and as if to say What the Heck? Fish On!!! Its a lot of fun when the fish grab a long line on the way out .

[Far Beyond Driven]

Three times this year I've had boards out in front of the channel and pulled a really tight turn to stay on a school only to have the outer most planer board get smoked. That lure had to be going 5-6 mph at the hit.

Was untangling a huge mess of yellowbirds and thin fins one spring with a rogue skipping right behind the swim platform when a coho came up and grabbed it. Fish ended up pulling all my untangle back into a ball, so I threw it all in the cooler and sorted it out on shore.

Fishing with Wild at Heart one time and a reel starts screaming. We're all looking around it ends up being the rod he just clipped into the rigger release got smoked, and now the king is merrily running around on a free spool. By the time we sorted it out, there was the mother of all rat's nest on the reel and the fish was gone. Glad it didn't lock the reel up and have it take the rod out of the boat like a bottle rocket. That rig went into the cabin to be sorted out later too....

[IRon]

One time out of St.Joe on a solo trip I drove all the way from Battle Creek and launched. I set three lines and bam! had a double going. Got both in and got my third line reset and got a hit on that almost instantly to finish out my (at the time) three fish limit. Before I could get my other two lines in I got a fourth fish on and had to release it, of course. One more line to bring in. When my spinny/fly got to within sight of the boat, up comes a 5th fish and smacks it right in plain sight. 5 fish in 30 minutes solo. I had about about 2 1/2 hours road time round trip. Maybe 45 mimutes launching and motoring out of the river channel and back in. Total: 3 hours and 15 minutes run time and 30 minutes fishing time.