South Haven 5/15-5/18

[Satisfaxion_Gauranteed]

We fished the South Haven Steelheader(U 24' division) this weekend, and here's the fishing report.

Thurs 5/15 evening:

Choppy lake conditions with just two of us onboard, so we worked some marked bait clusters in 80-100fow about 2 miles north of the piers. We did not have much success(3 for 4), but did manage a smallish coho, a released laker, and a steely. Fishlander Chipmunk on a half core took two hits, a Stinger blue dolphin off the rigger took one hit and a 3color with a DW lemon ice took the other. Typical spread was two half cores, two 3-colors, and two riggers. West troll produced all hits.

Friday 5/16 morning:

What a GREAT day! The lake was calm and nice with great weather. We were pre-fishing for the steelheader and opted to head out about 3 miles north of the pier heads and shut down in 150fow. We took our first hit off 150ft 45lb copper and a Stinger lemon ice(stingray size), which was a released laker(28"). We continued west and our most productive area was 200-230 fow, where we found some nice temp breaks. The final count was 8-11; 1 coho, 2 kings, 4 steelys, and the released laker. Our only misses came in 210fow when we took a triple. Only one made it in the box. Typical spread was 9 lines; 3 riggers, 1 dipsey(dead), 1 copper, 2 half cores, and 2 three color cores. The best presentation was a DW blue dolphin off riggers, Fishlander Chipmunk off the half core, and a Stinger Corey's bait off the 3 color.

Saturday 5/17 morning:

Tournament was blown out and delayed until Sunday. We opted not to fish, though maybe we should have......

Sunday 5/18 morning:

After a stiff south blow on Saturday, Sunday brought a stiff north blow. We opted to fish our Friday waypoints starting in 160 fow since we did not have any better ideas. We finished the day(and tournament) just 1 for 3. We took two hits off the riggers; two on a Stinger green dolphin(stingray size) and one DW lemon ice off the copper. It was not overly productive for us. We were putting a variety of spreads into the lake to try to get something going. We took all our hits in 190-210fow.

Congrats to everyone who fished it and good work with all the boats coming back into harbor safely. Also, congrats to Hitman for having a pretty nice payday

[Priority1]

Thanks for the report SG.

[GLF]

How big is your boat? What were the waves like on Sunday?

[Satisfaxion_Gauranteed]

I was in the under 24' division(18'Lund) and the lake was plenty rough(6-8s), but mostly rollers coming in a predictable manner. I know there were some boats in the U 24' division that called it quits early. If it were not a tournament, then we probably would have gone to get breakfast and talk about fishing as opposed to fishing ourselves into the butt whoopin' we got.

At the end of the day, it is up to the captain to ensure the saftey of his crew and vessel. I personally did not feel it was as bad as the Sunday of 2007, where we actually pulled up and called it quits early.

[Treblemaker]

We had a slow bite Thur and landed 3 dinks. We fished north 90-150 fow and rigger 240 back with white 10" paddle pickled sunshine took 2, and copper blue dolphin took the other.

Friday we went farther north and took some nice rips, boated a couple kings, coho, and a couple lakers. 3-5 colors did best stingray NBK and orange crush mag did well. Diver 160 back had a breakoff and another good rip with a tin can green mirage fly. Copper 150 took a nice with rip blue dolphin too.

Sat I cant believe we didn't fish. Sun was 6-10' waves in the 20' LUND. We motored north to our waypoints but the kings were gone. We got a small coho, 22" laker, and a 6 lb steelhead with a similar program as Friday. We never heard the call to cancel the tournament, waves must have been over the antenna. We got a call pulled lines and motored in 14 minutes late and ended up in the way negative points instead of 14th place. Not much we could do about that.

Congrats to the winners and the guys who got it done Sunday under brutal conditions. Nice meeting you guys at the ramp SG and congrats on the big king too.

[Satisfaxion_Gauranteed]

We had a slow bite Thur and landed 3 dinks. We fished north 90-150 fow and rigger 240 back with white 10" paddle pickled sunshine took 2, and copper blue dolphin took the other.

Friday we went farther north and took some nice rips, boated a couple kings, coho, and a couple lakers. 3-5 colors did best stingray NBK and orange crush mag did well. Diver 160 back had a breakoff and another good rip with a tin can green mirage fly. Copper 150 took a nice with rip blue dolphin too.

Sat I cant believe we didn't fish. Sun was 6-10' waves in the 20' LUND. We motored north to our waypoints but the kings were gone. We got a small coho, 22" laker, and a 6 lb steelhead with a similar program as Friday. We never heard the call to cancel the tournament, waves must have been over the antenna. We got a call pulled lines and motored in 14 minutes late and ended up in the way negative points instead of 14th place. Not much we could do about that.

Congrats to the winners and the guys who got it done Sunday under brutal conditions. Nice meeting you guys at the ramp SG and congrats on the big king too.

Thanks! A lot of teams had a hard time getting the message that the event had been called. We actually heard most clearly from the team running relay beteween tournament control and boats 30+miles offshore.

14th place means you out fished us by quite a margin. Hats off to ya; in smaller boats, those conditions put fishermen to the test.

[tgafish]

Tempted fate Sunday morning and went out from 8-11:30 out of PS. Waves were 3-4 early but definitely got worse:eek: The return trip through the pierheads was one of the hairiest I've ever seen! black white kitty fwiw. Only ran 6 lines and could not get any kind of reliable speed with the waves.

195-135 fow. Temps were 42-45 degrees

[Tad Pole]

Again thanks for the ride Tom,it was fun to hit the lake.little bumpy but good time none the less

[mrymar]

Thanks! A lot of teams had a hard time getting the message that the event had been called. We actually heard most clearly from the team running relay beteween tournament control and boats 30+miles offshore.

this same thing happened a few years ago in Ludington.

That is a huge problem with calling it early. Once they decided that they are going to let you fish, they should let you fish the entire day. Would another hour or two really have mattered. It is up to the captain to get his boat off the water when it is unsafe to fish. Especially the Pro's!!!!

[EdB]

Being on tournament control in that kind of weather is a no win job, you're going to get bitched at if you cancel or if you don't. I have to agree though that if they allow it to start, they should let the Capt make the call when to quit. Trying to cancel a tourney early over a marine radio with boats scattered out 20-30 miles is extremely difficult to nearly impossible reach all participants.

[HitMan]

Thanks a lot Satisfaxion Gauranteed!!! You guys got a couple good paychecks with the Big King as well. Our day was just pure luck and two lucky fish paid us pretty well! In the end, the payday was better than a 3rd place finish!

We almost missed the call as well and called someone asking why all these boats were calling in at the pierheads. We ran 15 miles in 25 minutes at 4000 RPMs in the Tiara and made it with 15 seconds to go in those 7-10 foot waves! We were up North and never heard a thing.

[GLF]

We almost missed the call as well and called someone asking why all these boats were calling in at the pierheads. We ran 15 miles in 25 minutes at 4000 RPMs in the Tiara and made it with 15 seconds to go in those 7-10 foot waves! We were up North and never heard a thing.

I would not want that gas bill! :eek:

[tgafish]

Being on tournament control in that kind of weather is a no win job, you're going to get bitched at if you cancel or if you don't. I have to agree though that if they allow it to start, they should let the Capt make the call when to quit. Trying to cancel a tourney early over a marine radio with boats scattered out 20-30 miles is extremely difficult to nearly impossible reach all participants.

And you can bet that no matter what paperwork was signed, if a boat goes down the organizers are going to have a lawsuit on their hands.

[silver one]

Was it just me or did anyone elese think that sat was more fishable then sunday? I ran down to the beach after they called it on sat and the lake was not even capping. I herd that the guys that went out said it was better then sunday.

[Losin Lures]

The forecast they used for Saturday's decision was incorrect. Thay made the right call on Saturday witht the predicted 25 to 35 knot winds. Sunday was wrong again as they called for winds to diminish. Still, they shouldn't have fished. Use a delay or cancel the tourney all together. Yes people would be mad but it better to deal with that than the bad press of a sunken tourney boat.