Holland Saugatuck 9/4 pm

[jdh]

Fished starting mid sliders working south in 90-120 fow from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm.  At 7:30 we started heading in shallower.  From then we stayed in 85-75 fow the rest of the night.  There were bait balls for miles.  Marking a few bigger fish, but not too many.  About 15 minutes after sunset, the 150 copper fires with a plug.  Then the diver back 110 fires with moonshine crabface.  Got both to the back of the boat at the same time... plug fish rolled and spit the hook but we did net the one on the spoon.  Both setups fired again a few times, and we picked up a 2 lb king on the downrigger with a plug also.

Overall ended 4/7 with a steelhead, a coho, a mature 6-7 lb king, and the small king.  The fish we lost were about 5-10 lb range - no big ones this time.

I had the LiveScope down and it was pretty fun watching the bait balls lift up off the bottom as it got dark.  When we left at 9:30 the bait had spread out and we were watching hundreds of little marks in the 20-40 ft range swim past.

[jdh]

I think I'm done for a while.  My coppers are all spliced and my leaders are getting really short.  Off to Canada next week to chase eyes.

[Jolly Time]

On 9/5/2024 at 12:03 PM, jdh said:

I think I'm done for a while.  My coppers are all spliced and my leaders are getting really short.  Off to Canada next week to chase eyes.

It's that time of year where you don't want to give up but the fish are going away to winter. What a year though. Definitely one of the best years I can remember.

Good luck up in the north. Safe travels.

[FBD]

Season’s just starting - give it a month to set up and then great fishing until you have to break ice.

[Jolly Time]

2 hours ago, FBD said:

Season’s just starting - give it a month to set up and then great fishing until you have to break ice.

You are probably right! Thank you for the re-start to my fishing excitement. Let's go!

[2MD]

pug checked Holland Channel late morning today

just did 2 passes

dipsey popped once but we weren't marking squat in channel or Mac so we pulled and will return later

[2MD]

PUG is now heading to Saugatuck  -  conditions are now perfect for the Season Opener - will report later today on results...

[FBD]

I like to fish shallow so until about 10/15 or so the lake has to cool down but after that 10-25’ can give up just about anything other than the mature fish that are gone.  Just dot the I’s and cross the t’s it can be lonely out there.

[jdh]

Canada trip went well.  Never seen such a poor bite for walleye though.   At least the bite lasted all day.  We did figure them out.  1 oz and 2 oz salmon jigs.  Find a school and jig aggressively over them.  Get a few fish and move to the next school.  Fish were deep too.  In 40-75 fow and as deep as on the bottom (this lake has a lot of water 80 feet and deeper along rock shorelines).  Looks like they were chasing schools of Cisco and other bait fish.  Got a half dozen pike from 24-32" trolling evening with big spoons. Picked up 1 lake trout jigging too.  Seen a high 40s pike chase a 12 inch small mouth.  Lost a 40" fish right next to the boat.

Biggest walleye was 23".  Most were 14-18 inches.  Bigger fish were over the deeper water.

[2MD]

what a trip!