Saugatuck Evening Sept. 10

[zgrinder on Fin Warrior]

Took some friends out last night leaving the Holland pier heads just before 4:00pm and headed south setting up in 95FOW in front of the Saugatuck harbor entrance.  Had a steady drum beat of large hooks sitting off the bottom to about 75' down.  First hit was @ 5:48pm, a heavy dipsey tipped with a mag foil watermelon spoon, 70' down in ~100FOW on a south troll.  ~5lb king we let go.  Next hit came @ 6:22pm on the same rig down 74', and depth but in 88FOW on a NE troll back into shallow water.  After a 10min battle, a sheephead over 20lbs was laying on the swim platform.  It quickly became gull food.  At 6:50pm, the same rig went off again in 83FOW on a SE troll.  Another small king that spit the hook at the back of the boat which was fine cause it would have been released anyway.  At 7:17pm, one more time for the deep dipsey rod in 79FOW on a south troll.  It ran hard for a while but the fish came off before we could get it to the surface - hook got bent open.  All the time, as long as we were centered around the harbor entrance latitude, we continued to mark fish and an occasional small bait ball.  I did pass by a red planer board in that area but it was too far starboard to get it.  Marked the spot and came back for it but another boat was in the area and I assume they picked it up.  Hope it gets returned to the owner.  Just after 8:00pm and the sun was getting behind the clouds low on the horizon we had our final three hits, all in about 78FOW heading north. The stud deep dipsey got wacked on final time.  There was actually a decent battle with line pulling and neutral drops to gain ground before it came unbuttoned.  Next up was the blue fly on a 9" blue flasher down in the 70' range on a downrigger.  Same action and same result.  Did not quite get that gear in the boat when the opposite deep dipsey 63'down tipped with bloody nose got struck.  Minor tangle with the flasher but just as we got that undone, the line went slack.  We had 3 of the 4 rods up by that time so we called it a night as my guests had a 90min drive home.  SWR tipped with white and then dark J-Plugs run right off the bottom to my surprise never got touched all night long.  Finished the night 2 for 7 (counting the sheephead).    There was a lot of fish sitting on the bottom all night long but not the success I had hoped for getting one of them into the boat.  Hope I can find favorable weather this coming week to explore that area again.

[Salmon_slammin]

Just out of curiosity… why on earth would you release a 5 lb king?

[AlwaysBroke]

 

43 minutes ago, Salmon_slammin said:

Just out of curiosity… why on earth would you release a 5 lb king?

MEANS HE FARMED IT OUT.....................

[zgrinder on Fin Warrior]

For one, my freezer is full and I am in the giving fish away mode.

Second, if it was bigger I would have kept it for the smoker.

Third, we now spend 2-3 months in WY skiing at the turn of the year.  Its Janet's passion and I am committed to support it.  And she let me buy my retirement boat before I retired, so per the Continental (John Wick series), she holds more coins then I do.  So there is less time to eat fish out of the stand up freezer.

Fourth, I want to catch those fish when they have 10 more pounds on them, are looking for a good fight and break all my gear  so I can buy more.

 

[Cnymph88]

Since I've switched to single hooks I have a much better land rate on my fish, huge improvement. It might be something to think about... 

[FBD]

My 87 year old father in law watched me throw back a 14" coho in disgust.  Product of the depression and ate a lot of sucker paddies as a wee lad.  From now on he has my wife make sure that all legal coho and walleye are steered his way.  "Release to grease"

[S Pup]

For one, my freezer is full and I am in the giving fish away mode.
Second, if it was bigger I would have kept it for the smoker.
Third, we now spend 2-3 months in WY skiing at the turn of the year.  Its Janet's passion and I am committed to support it.  And she let me buy my retirement boat before I retired, so per the Continental (John Wick series), she holds more coins then I do.  So there is less time to eat fish out of the stand up freezer.
Fourth, I want to catch those fish when they have 10 more pounds on them, are looking for a good fight and break all my gear  so I can buy more.
 

Good answer



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