Saugatuck 6-29 pm

[FBD]

Despite the best efforts of water owning charters that don't have to turn, reel in boards, and can put you into the piers if they like, we managed to limit on steel with a bonus brown last night.

Or maybe because of them, as we went up the beach to settle down for s while and found a school of steel without another boat around.  We went from 1/3 in the first hour to 7/10 in the next hour, shaking off a ten # that hit while pulling lines.  Hit while I was reeling in the lure.

Tried a couple things but in the end six thin fish out, three of them red black squiggle.  Nine hits on those.  One on silver orange back, one on gold red herring bone.  Tuned the lures and trolled about 4 mph.

Several ten pound fish made a nice heft to the cooler.

[mrhookup]

Great night! thanks for the report

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[EdB]

Great catch Kevin, gotta love that bite away from the crowd!   Are they planting skams there or are all those strays?

[coralee]

Great job Kevin-red thin was good for us also.

[FBD]

Michigan plants 30k in Manisyee that the get from Indiana.  Indiana plants 250k well upstream in the St. Joe with dismal returns ( 1% ).  They plant other rivers as well.

 

So they are all strays, but I'm not convinced they are all summer run fish. We had all kinds of different fin clips on them.

[EdB]

Cool

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[sparky30]

While there isnt a great return, it is far better than 1%, i can take you to one stream on the joe that has had 1 per. already this summer which would be 2500. They dont stray mor ethan other strains of steel, but will pick just about any river to return, whatever is closest when conditions are right.  GH was good 2 days ago ago as well, we had an awfull batting average but got 9-17   1 king 1 brown

[FBD]

1% is right from the Indiana d n r publication on changes they are making to their steelhead stocking program.  Granted this was for fall planted summer run fingerlings in the Joe, which are planted way up in Indiana and must run a gauntlet of predators and through a dam.  The returns are also fish observed returning at the dam, not to the piers, or any tribs that may be before that.

They are replacing most fall fingerling summer runs in the Joe with fall coho and then spring summer run yearlings, as the yearlings while more expensive yield better bang for the buck as not as many fish eat 9" trout as 5".

Google Indiana steelhead planting to review the document, it's 6 pages and full of info.  What it did not list was the returns at Trail Creek, which is their brood stock source.

I bet when all steel get c w t we will see the myth of all pier steel at each flip being summer run debunked.  I must have caught a summer run brown Wednesday.  And I've caught summer run Lakers before.  And summer run walleye.  Lake flips bait moves into plumes to avoid thermal shock predators follow.  Some steel run, most don't.