8-21-14 Muskegon unmarked nets

[RONDAYVOO]

I went out this morning with my sons to do some fishing, my oldest son was home from the merchant marine for a short time so I took the day off work and off we went. Had a double header in 95 fow and took a couple of nice kings, we were straight out of the harbor heading west when we took another hit in about 125 fow with a lot of fish on the screen, then another line hit , my sons are reeling the rods in and I'm driving. Then another rod went off I thought a triple great, I grab the rod and that's when my son said somethings wrong look at the rigger. the cable was straight out the back and before I could do anything another rigger was doing the same thing. My sons had more sense then me to put the rods with fish on down and start pulling up gear while I took the boat out of gear. before I could get some wire cutters out to cut the lines and lose my riggers they both snapped the cable. Luck would have it I only lost two cannon balls, thanks to my sons being on it we got all the lures up just lost the cannon balls and still landed one of the fish.

The nets were not marked and one of the riggers was only 60 down. the coordinates for the net locations are

N 4313,122

W 8626,132

I will contact the DNR in the morning with the coordinates.

Good Luck, and Safe Fishing

[gmfishon]

glad you made out as good as possible. another post on here about unmarked nets out of whitehall. i dont care what anyone says we need this kind of stuff to stop, and no more excuses by the tribe, non tribal comm. fisherman or the dnr. it our license money planting the fish they are catching-and yes dont tell me about whitefish and the fed planted laketrout i will take you 15 miles from where i live and show you salmon in the nets.

[MoJoRisin']

Make sure to adjust your rigger clutches so if and when you get into an immovable object you will not loose your riggers and damage your boat or heaven forbid take on water.

We got into a marked net a long time ago and after we cut a cable I made sure to adjust the clutches (I have electric cannons).

BTW that is an area that has nets all season. They are out there and unfortunately sounds like some are not marked. Also note that there have been some abandoned moving around so be vigalent and make sure you have good sharp wire cutters available.

[RONDAYVOO]

I agree with the above, the area is known for nets and im always watching for them., but these are are not marked I think there floating. A few years back I talked to one of the owners that was putting nets out and he told me that the the net it self could only be up 40' from the bottom. So that's why I think there floating because I was not down deep enough to hit them if they were a set right

[mvmaas]

The ice this winter broke apart nets that have been left out in whitehall. No one knows where they are and could be moving day to day.

[gmfishon]

probably dealing with a couple things here. first any legaly set net -by whomever must be totaly properly marked and it is illegal to tamper with such. the coast gard and dnr i think ? tried to get a lot of nets that were for lack of better term on the loose. this was after the guy who set them went to prison. from what i heard most of those were around the ludington area. would make me nervous to do it in my boat but as i refer to above we went right into a tribal marina last year( friend boat who does not fish but wanted to eat a couple) and the net was right across the entrance went right over dont know how far it was from the surface but we were only in about 25-30 FOW. we have no choice to live with it ? but i sure dont like it.

[numberguy77]

Just wondering if there is an update to this post and if the unmarked net was found and removed.

Plan to fish Muskegon this weekend.

Thanks.

[the Sarge]

I'm also interested in the status of this unmarked net as I'll be at Muskegon starting Wed.

Also, does anyone know how to get the coordinates of the marked nets. Tried both the Coast Guard and the DNR, neither of which maintains a list, & Fish Dock has posted no information.

Thanks and tight lines.

the Sarge

[fishmark]

I'm also interested in the status of this unmarked net as I'll be at Muskegon starting Wed.

Also, does anyone know how to get the coordinates of the marked nets. Tried both the Coast Guard and the DNR, neither of which maintains a list, & Fish Dock has posted no information.

Thanks and tight lines.

the Sarge

Fished there this past weekend and we found the nets in the fog. They have one stake and one float. Don't have the numbers but straight out in 95' and south a mile or two in 105'.

Coming in Sat morning 12:00 for the MS weigh in There was a 10' long 2' diameter log bobbing in the waves a mile south in 60' fow. I know it has moved but be careful. We ran out in the dark at 35 mph. Scary to think about what could have happened.

Fished Thu/Fri/Sat most consistent baits flounders on the riggers/ yellow tail j plug on a 10 color.

[RONDAYVOO]

Just wondering if there is an update to this post and if the unmarked net was found and removed.

Plan to fish Muskegon this weekend.

Thanks.

I have not seen anyone out to do anything with them.

[mvmaas]

They cant do anything with them. The nets have so much weight to them that a regular tribal boat cant pull them. They had a barge come down to ludington and whitehall earlier this summer but as mentioned the nets that were left in last winter have broken apart. They could be floating on surface or could be on the bottom nobody really knows.