Holland 8/23, 14 for 17

[SeaCatMich]

My team of 3 fishing buddies could only get away for Saturday so we put in a full day and had a blast. Went 14 for 17 with 4 Steelhead, 5 Kings, and 8 Coho.

We started in ~120 FOW straight west of the pier heads. Had planned on going deeper but saw some good marks on the run out. Fish were from 40 to 90' down. Spread of 4 inline boards (copper & leadcore), 4 riggers, and 2 divers. 18# King was the big fish but also had a 12# Steelhead and quite a few 8# Coho. Had one 8# Steelhead that thought it was a 20# King the way it fought -- stayed deep and never jumped. The big King jumped 4 different times after hitting the rigger down 70'.

Ended up working the 120 to 180 FOW area from just north of Saugatuck to just south of Port Sheldon. Best depths were 130 to 160 on a north & northwest troll, but all directions took hits. Pretty steady action with a lull from 1 to 3 pm and best action from ~6:30 to 9:30. Only one double and that was short as fish 2 hit just as fish 1 was going in the net.

Best speed was 2.4 to 2.6 mph on the X4 at the ball but did get one hit when the throttle was goosed to 3.2. Temps were varied but pretty consistent break from 70 to 80' down going from 54 down to 43*.

Lost track of what lures caught what fish but in general here is what was working:

• Purple "sqwiggle back" Silver Horde #4 and Ace High plugs on rigger (40' setback, down 55-70') and full core -- 4 fish (including both the big King and big Steelhead) - 1 lost (broke one hook on treble and bent another)
  
• Moonshine RV Wonderbread mag size on rigger (30-50' setback, down 55 & 65') and 300 copper -- 4 fish + 1 lost.
  
• DW 8" glow Spin Doctors (mainly white with green & blue accents) and Poofster UV and Homosezwhat flies on riggers (40' setback, down 70 to 90') -- 3 fish, 1 lost (broke rear treble off -- left the single -- on the tournament tie)
  
• Free sliders with green & blue dolphin regular spoons on 10' setback with main riggers set down 85 & 90'. 3 fish
  

Ran 2 wire divers on 1 and 1.5 all day with meat and eventually an Ace High purple squiggle back, but only got one hit and it was a 5 second drive by on the meat -- the cut bait was really mutilated and I'm not sure how it didn't get a good hookset.

I would have loved to stay another few days but the other members of the team had to get back to do family/honey-do stuff. Biting flies were terrible when the east wind laid down a little in the afternoon.

[smoke on the reelz]

Congrats great job out there. Hopefully we'll see a huge burst in action after this heat and humidity is gone.

[Fake Bait]

Thanks for the report Ryan. Sounds like a great day on the pond!

[SeaCatMich]

Congrats great job out there. Hopefully we'll see a huge burst in action after this heat and humidity is gone.

It was kind of nice to actually have a day that really felt like summer. Mid 80's and hazy due to the humidity. Much better to be out on the big lake than on shore looking for air conditioning.

Here is a pic of the catch and crew off one of their cell phones (my phone's battery was dead).

[CAC]

Great report Ryan. Sounds like a great day on the water with friends. When the fish are biting, the flies bites aren't quite as irritating.

"Reel Therapy"

[Just Hook'n]

GREAT report...thanks for sharing the details of the trip. Sounds like you had a lot of fun (other than the flies).