Port Sheldon 24 June WMFL Event

[GLF]

The day started off perfect. Tim actually had the spot light in the boat!

I had just finished setting lines when a 2 color core with a 4oz dive bomb started peeling line. I grabbed the rod, and started reeling it in. Right before I got to the board, it came unbottoned.

I reset this line and the rigger right in front of me went. I grabbed this rod, and had the fish to the back of the boat. Once the fish got to the back of the boat, it had a change of plans and made a hard run to the left, wrapping up in the wire diver cable. Wire wins the wire vs mono battle every time.

0 for two now. I retied and reset the rigger. I was talking with Tim when my oldest points at a rod and says fish. I took a quick glance and did not see anything. After finishing my story, I turned back around, and the rod that my son pointed at was standing straight up with nothing home I will listen to him next time.

We had 4 other knock offs with nothing home before we scored. At 9:30, a wire diver set on #2 with 260' of line started screaming. Tim was quick to grab it and got it as close to the back of the boat as he could. We encountered a slight issue. We had the bimini top up and with the leader between the diver and the flasher, we could not get the fish close enough to net. Tim has a zipper access hatch in the top right in front of the cabin. I stood in the hatch, and Tim handed me the rod. I pulled back as far as I could and Tim netted it. This was a 13.8lb king caught on a purple and white Custom Fishing Products flasher and a Siggs Rigs purple hypnotist fly.

We trolled around for another hour and were in 155FOW when Tim sent a rigger down to 150'. At 10:45 we had a knock off on this rigger. Unfortunately nothing was home again

Thats why they call if fishing instead of catching!

[Paulywood]

I'll post my saturday and sunday report here.

Saturday

We set lines north of Port Sheldon in 75 ft. of water around 5 am. I set one rigger and was working on the other when I noticed that the other rod had released. My crew failed to notice this. I reset it and went back to work when the first one fired. Dave Ash was fishing with us and he reeled in a 6lb king on a Moonshine Yellowtail 45 ft. down. I reset that rod and finished setting our other rods when right at sun-up a full core with Moonshine Shelly Snack started screaming. That ended up being our 14lb 15 oz king. My buddy Ross tackled that one for me. Minutes later a 3 color core w/ Goldilocks Stinger went off and we landed a 10lb steely. I quickly reset that rod when it fired again. Another large steely that put on an aerial display before coming unbuttoned 50 ft. behind the boat. We reset that rod without checking the spoon, a mistake we later regretted:grin: As the sun came up we started working our way in and took 3 fish in short order. All on a Dreamweaver Orangecicle (I think) that was set as a free slider over a rigger 60 ft. down. These ended up being 2 steelies and 1 coho. All of this action happened before 9 am. We continued to work the 60-85 ft. section of water but never had another bump before we pulled lines at 11:30 am. When we pulled in the 3 color we noticed the hook and split ring were gone. Always check your bait. That's what I learned this weekend. Final score 6-8, 3 steelies, 2 king, 1 coho.

Sunday

We set lines in 50 ft. straight off the stacks on sunday. Had one release right away on a Moonshine moonshine but no one home. That was right before sun-up. Then we had nothing for 2 hours. After marking fish in shallow but not hooking any saturday we decided to head west after the sun came up. We made a pass from 140 ft. to 180 ft. about 4 miles north of the stacks and hit 3 fish. 1 king on a full core w/ NBK at 13 lbs. 1 king on wire diver on 3 back 125 ft. w/ our brand new 11" Custom Flasher and Siggs Rigs Green Crinkle fly that was 13.4 lbs. And a steely on a half core/Goldilocks (complete w/ brand new blood red hook and split ring) set-up that weighed in at just over 10 lbs. We turned around at 180 ft. and headed back in. We lost another big steely on the half core/Goldilocks set-up. I had just reset it(the board released in the waves) and placed the rod in the holder when it started screaming. Unfortunately the board was still behind the boat and it dove as the steely hit. We watched it jump around behind the boat but knew it was gone when the board finally popped back to the surface. We trolled back to 130 ft. and then turned around and ran over the same water. We took another steely on the full core/NBK set-up on our way back west. Unfortunately he destroyed the spoon and I didn't have anymore. We reset the rod w/ a Michael Jackson and took our last steely on our way back in on that set-up. Final score 5-7, 3 steelies, 2 kings, 54 lbs. All 4 steelies we hooked came out of the water and put on a show. My friend Mike was with me and he landed both kings and 1 steely, he also caught his first fish on a wire diver. All in all a great weekend on the water.

Nick

[GLF]

I know Nick and I were not the only ones who fished this. Lets see some reports!

[Satisfaxion_Gauranteed]

Sorry for the late report, but here it is:

We setup in 60fow about 1 mile south of the Grand Haven Piers on a 2.7mph SOG troll. Took the first fish on a black and white moonshine off the rigger set 55down, small king. That was about 5:20am.

The second hit came about 5:40am off the blue/black moonshine off the rigger 55down in about 70fow. We lost that fish.

Then the fishing died for us until about 8:30am when we took a decent steely off the half core green/silver Pro-king lure in about 120fow.

Then the fishing died again until about 9:30am, and took a solid rip on the blue/white 3fly herring rig behind a white pro-chip flasher down 45 in about 195-200fow. Lost that fish, too.

15 minutes later, took another rip on the same setup, nothing home by the time the rod was handled.

At this point, there was only about 1hour left in the event, so we opted to go for broke and make 4 of our 6 lines herring haulers. It paid off with another hit in the same 190-200fow area, but again no hook up.

And that ended our morning, 2-5or6 on the day.

This week I've been making my own herring hauling 2-4 fly rigs. I've done really well on the meat so far this year, but the hook up percentage hasn't been so great. To remedy this, I'm replacing my trebles with a double single hook setup and a double swivel ahead on the head dressing. I'm also making a couple of glow rigs for use in the low light hours. I'll post reports using it the next time I fish, likely to be night time trips througout the next week.

Good fishing and fun day!