Holland 9-3 pm, 9-4 am

[Far Beyond Driven]

3/7 on kings in the channel, 5/5 on sheep.last night. Had to shut down for about 20 minutes to pull a hook out of my nephew's finger. Quick trip this morning and went 2/4 on kings. Mostly ran sticks and some j's. Heavy fish, kings were a 4# jack, 3x @ 17 and one flirting with 21.

[Dr Hook]

Hooray!!! A channel report.

[Engfishman87]

I was in the channel last night for a while. I should have been in there more. I first ran out to 60' and fished to 90' without a hit. Went back into to do some combat fishing (yuck) and went one for two. Lost one on a white paddle and green fly and landed a 19.10 lb on a bloddy nose spoon. It sounds like I should have ran more plugs as there was a boat at the cleaning station with 9 big fish. There was also a couple of guys that had I think 5 nice walleye and one 25 pound king caught on a walleye pole.

[E-FISH-N-SEA]

Its always an entertaining trip in the channel... Boats stopping, backing up, going in circles to fight fish. One boat shouting to another that he has a fish on because he is paying no attention, and the best of all... Some dude was trying to use a gaff!

That's what happens when you watch too much wicked tuna LOL.

B

[Far Beyond Driven]

Don't forget the monster Intrepid with 500+ Hp that was trolling UP the north side of the channel against traffic. Money doesn't buy talent....

[instincter06]

What tackle do you guys use in the channel? I've never done it before. Down riggers and dipsys? Seems to crowded for planer boards. Thanks!

[N II Deep]

What tackle do you guys use in the channel? I've never done it before. Down riggers and dipsys? Seems to crowded for planer boards. Thanks!

riggers & Divers, close and tight. plugs is what I have had best luck with.

[fishy1]

Don't forget the monster Intrepid with 500+ Hp that was trolling UP the north side of the channel against traffic. Money doesn't buy talent....

Money can't buy common sense or a brain either.

[Bkbelt]

I was in that Intrepid. What you all don't know is we were hooked on the bottom and attempting to retrieve a plug. I think you all would do the same thing if all that you had out were riggers/divers and turning around was not an issue. That's all I'm going to say about it. Besides that we picked up 4 nice kings, 23.5 lbs being the largest, and a healthy 5 lb walleye.

[Engfishman87]

When I saw the nice Intrepid I didn't see anything out of the ordinary as far as trolling goes. I think we all pissed each other off at some point last night.

I did have one tangle last night with a boat that went into neutral while fighting a fish in the narrow part of the channel. We had no where to go because there were boats trolling the opposite way. I released my real and he did the untangling as we both finished trolling out. Nothing lost.

When fishing that tight I will only run riggers and divers and all in tight close to the boat. I saw some guys running boards and the boards were close to their boats so I'm guessing they are running diving plugs with short leads. Just enough to get them near the bottom.

[Fishrmac]

Oh yeah....reminds me of when I used to fish the grand river this time of year! Might just be fun to walk up and down the pier heads and watch/listen for the entertainment. Be nice out there!

[Far Beyond Driven]

I hooked the bottom last night too. Instead of causing issues with the boats around me, I just broke the line and lost a plug and diver. You don't stop, you don't turn out of formation, and you work as a team. If you can't fish to those rules, you should probably not play in traffic. Losing gear is part of the bit.

[Plugs]

I had two plugs on bottom last night as well - one I managed to get back going in neutral for about 5 seconds. The other I knew was not cooming back and tightend down the drag till it popped - all gone. Never thought about turning around:confused:

[Just Hook'n]

What tackle do you guys use in the channel? I've never done it before. Down riggers and dipsys? Seems to crowded for planer boards. Thanks!

I don't - I stay the heck away from it.

Combat fishing is the last kind of fishing I will ever do.

My advice - go offshore for some steelhead.

[MoJoRisin']

During combat only run what you are prepared to lose. If you keep it all and get some fish then BONUS!! Remember during combat you are in a parade and if one stops or gets out of formation then there will be big problems. You will lose fish and gear - expect it and don't be surprised when it happens. If you happen to pickup someone elses gear be considerate and return it if at all possible. There will be problems guaranteed - it is how everyone handles it that shows our true colors.

[Far Beyond Driven]

I just searched "channel" in my fish log. In the last 10 years I've hooked over 200 fish in the channel or at the pier heads. I've had one gear conflict with another boat, that was an old guy fishing solo when we were the only two boats in there and he turned on my lines not once, but twice. Pretty good considering I usually pull planer boards if I think I can.

Mojo hit it on the head. I lost my diver and plug when I had to slow down because a guy three boats in front of us choked up.

[Gnarf]

Is there a general rule for where to start to get in line?

Do you usually set lines coming from lake mac and just get in line? How big of a circle outside the pierheads do you usually go?

I might try some mud fishin but i dont wanna be "that guy" that causes a kerfuffle

[Far Beyond Driven]

Easiest to set up in mac but pretty much you pick an opening and fall into formation. Turn north out of the channel. Loop size depends on boat traffic.

Small spreads are better.

Hint, watch where other boats hook up and try to get to that spot if you can.

[PPLEPEU]

When I saw the nice Intrepid I didn't see anything out of the ordinary as far as trolling goes. I think we all pissed each other off at some point last night. .

Well, that was me in the Intrepid, along with a couple of others that frequent this board.

Like just about everyone here, I get tired of losing tackle and crap, I hooked the bottom on a brand new 2-color setup. We saw a pretty good-sized gap behind us, so we spun around to grab the lure and get back in the train.

It took us just a bit longer than we thought, so I hugged the channel wall and waited for 3 boats to pass -- instead of cutting any of them off. Each moved over 20 feet, waved, and moved on. Didn't seem like a big deal then, nor a big deal now. We worked around 2 other boats with either snags or fish on. No big deal, part of channel fishing.

You can just call me Wrong-Way Brad from now on.

[Killin' It]

Lmao;)

[SUPERTRAMP]

Well fellas its the nature of the beast, combat fishing at its best. But its where you get your biggest fish of the year. Beats going up to the dams and fighting all the snaggers. As a courtesy keep your planer boards in the boat keep the leads short 6' is plenty off the riggers, and be judicious with the dipseys , you don't need to dredge to catch fish and I personally don't like losing dipseys to the bottom.

[Wild@]

I would definitely say run ur boards. We run two unless its too tight. Have a guy at each side of the boat paying attention. 3 colors were the hottest rod the other night. Dipseys on 3 40- 65 out. Plugs off the rigger 20-40 ft back. If u watch what ur dping and know where ur baits are running u can get away with more than the average troller. Follow formation and pay attention to where the bites r coming. Tuesday ...the second we got into the lake we looked for the first chance to turn back into the channel. Middle of the channel 20-80 yards in was hot.

[Far Beyond Driven]

Last night:

"What did you get that fish on?"

Hot and tot

"What's a hot and tot?"

A plug.

"What color?"

Firetiger

"What color is that?"

Pretty slow last night, 1/2 on kings and a rip on a board (2 per side) that we missed. Two on the piers and one boat hook up seen.

[2MD]

4 for 7 wed nigh - the first two hooked up on green hotchie flasher fly just out in front of parkside marina in mac - the first weighed 24.25# and the second 24.75# - nothing like watching one of these jump 4 feet in the air

7 for 12 thurs night - all but 2 of the fish came inside the channel and mac - as far back as parkside again - hooked a big male in the clean water out front right after sunset - got blown south and fought him all the way to almost the first slider and then got em in the net - never weighed him - big boy though

First 2 trips on the new jon boat with the 3 older kids were a success

[Far Beyond Driven]

Got my butt handed to me by a duck boat full of kids. Cool! Sounds like we should have stayed more in mac but our first fish came at the end of the pier which kept us out there....