Portage, IN March 24-26

[The Greek]

Made the maiden fishing voyage in my new (to me) C Dory 22 Cruiser (vintage 2007).  Spent the last four months working on rewiring, misc improvements, and other comforts. She has been named the "Fresh Fish".

Day 1: March 24. Weather was cloudy and a cold 39 deg (f). Very slight wind outta the NE. Launched out of Portage, IN public marina in the afternoon and fished for a few hours to get a feel for the water and waves around the old girl. Trolled due West out of the breakwater under cloudy skies in 40 ft of 38 deg (F) water.  Marked very few fish expect for an occasional Laker suspended off the bottom. 

First fish was a nice take-down on Captain John King's Hot Red Panties Laser spoon run on a planer board 50 back with a one oz weight. Brought this nice 8 lb fish to the net (she was filled with 7 adult alewives in her belly).  We caught 6 more very small undersized coho on spoons. We shook them off and kept none. Best spoons were: Gold Orange Crush (1), Alewife UV (3), and the new White Lightening (3). Spoons were run approx 15 deep off planer boards and dipsy's.  The hits of Captn John's new white lightening spoons were strong, and we couldn't believe that the fish were dinkers when we brought them to the boat and shook them off.

Day 2: March 25. Sunny and cold. 8 foot waves outta the NE rolling outside the breakwaters kept us in the Marina eating pancakes and drinking coffee.

Day 3: March 26. Cloudy and cold (39 deg F and 37 degree water). Went out early and fished East of the Portage breakwater toward Burns Harbor.  Waves were 4 ft high, but manageable in the Fresh Fish. These C Dory's are made in Seattle, WA for Pacific Ocean conditions. I had no reservations about taking her out in heavier waves and she did great. 

We marked lots of fish in 25 to 40 feet of water, but could not get close to the breakwater's and/or beaches to try for Browns due to the high waves. We continued to run an all spoon program on dipsy's and planer boards in deeper water, and added a few plugs to spice things up.  Caught a fair number of small coho and had no luck with anything of size most of the morning, shaking off all the undersized fish at the waterline. Late in the morning the port dipsy goes off with a nice hit on a white lightening spoon run 15 feet down. After a great fight, a 5 lb coho comes to the net.  The single siwash hook was way down inside his gullet, so I'm calling him an eater as he ate the bait deep. Best success was on spoons: white lightening (4),  salmon buster (3), Alewife SUV (2), XG Mean Green (2), and Gold Orange Crush (1).

Had a great time out on the water in a great boat with a good friend, and caught a few fish on some of my favorite lures.  Hope to be back out again in a couple of weeks.

The Portage Public Marina is a great facility, and I recommend it to ya'll if you want to fish the shallow waters in this section of the lake.  The Marina is very secure with nice quiet docks, very clean heated washrooms, and nice showers. The staff is exceptionally friendly and helpful. Cost this time of year is $30/night.

Tight lines and safe returns to port to all.

[FBD]

This is what a report is supposed to look like.  Not some stat sheet, but a story that makes me feel like I'm in the boat...

[dan agnello]

Good job Greek.