Captain Ron Westrate & Captain Kevin Westrate
888-253-8372
616-335-2076 Cell 616-836-2748
CaptRon@CharterMichigan.com
Check our calendar for available fishing dates
Lake Michigan Fishing Report
May 30, 2011
May 29 Saugatuck Fishing Report
Fishing off of Saugatuck was good to excellent over the weekend. Very nice catches 15+ fish on Friday with a lot of action, then a little slower on Saturday. Early in the week the fish averaged 12 pounds, however by the weekend the fish ran a 7 to 10 pounds average. Same place, same depth, same lures, just a different age class of fish.
Fish were in 110-180 FOW, and were caught 20-60 feet down. 100, 200, and 300 copper lines were the best with stinger and sting ray spoons. Stingers and sting rays were also producing on the downriggers 30-60 feet down, and on the divers 150 and 100 feet with wire. Best spoons: mixed veggies, jager bomb, blue modified dolphin, green dolphin, caramel dolphin, orange crush (on silver or gold), and the lemon-ice. Very little action on flashers and flies.
We’re hoping for a little west wind to stack the warm water back up on the beach. This will concentrate the temperature break and the fish. For fishing information or charter reservations, contact me by email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
May 19, 20117th Grade Fishing Outing
For the second year, the Saugatuck/Holland Charter Boat Association and the Saugatuck Big Fish Classic arranged a fishing outing for 70 Saugatuck 7th grade class. The fishing excursion is a reward for the students who participated in the Salmon in the Classroom project.
May17th dawned breezy and cold with 22 charter and private boats moored at Tower Marina in Douglas. By 6:30 some of the 70 Saugatuck 7th Grade students, a couple of teachers, administrators and some press began to arrive and by 7:00 all were checked in, given a tee shirt and a Shimano fishing hat, then assigned to and boarded their respective boats.
Fishing was slow, however about 65 to 70 fish were caught with the smallest going about 1 pound to the largest going just over 20 pounds. All boats returned to the marina at 12 noon, pictures were taken and prizes handed out. Rods and reel combo and wind shirts (provided by Shimano) were given to the student who caught the largest of each species, the most fish and the student who was the first to get seasick.
The captains cleaned and prepared the fish and then members of Duck Unlimited fried up the salmon and lake trout along with some perch (that was donated) for all students, staff, press and crews. Beverages, potatoes and ice cream were donated by DeMonds Supervalue and Kilwins of Saugatuck. The five fryers had a hard time keeping ahead of the hungry group.
The Saugatuck/Holland Charter Boat Association and the Saugatuck Big Fish Classic would like to thank the companies that donated food and prizes, all the captains and mates that donated their time and boats for this outing. A good time was had by all.
May 15, 2011
Kings and Lake Trout in Saugatuck
Last week we did not fish when the weather was warm, clear and the winds were light, instead we waited until we had 25 mph winds, 2 to 5 foot seas and constant rain. With 3 out of 4 people chumming, the fishing was good with a good catch of salmon and lake trout. We kept 4 salmon and 4 lake trout and returned some under size lake trout and lost some other nice sized salmon. The best depth was 70 to 75 foot of water, fishing 30 to 60 foot down.
The best methods were downriggers at 35 foot, 50 foot and on the bottom with regular stingers (green glow, green/blue dolphin on the 35 and 50 footers and a tin can flasher and spin and glow on the rigger on the bottom. The dipsy divers were run at 90 and 150 foot out with the Hot Chip flasher (frog/glow and silver mountain dew) and Rapture flies (wild fern and green hypnotist) on the low diver and green dolphin stinger on the high diver. The copper did not produce very well, however we had a couple of hits on the 200 and 300 foot copper with the glow frog stinger and yellow tail stingers.
This week Tuesday, 20 charter and private boats will be taking out 70 Saugatuck seventh grade students as a reward for participating in the Salmon in the Classroom Project. We will leave the dock at 7 AM and return at 12 noon. After pictures and cleaning of the catch, Ducks Unlimited will treat the students to a fish fry for lunch at Tower Marina in Douglas. Check back next week and I will update everyone on the student fishing excursion and the fishing results during the week.
If you would like fishing and or charter reservation information, email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
May 08, 2011Few chinook salmon and a lot of lake trout in Saugatuck
This past week produced some good catches of lake trout with a few salmon thrown in. The good news is that the chinook salmon are running a good size (mid teens) and appear to be in very good shape. To catch the lake trout, bounce the bottom with metal dodgers with spin n glows and rapture green hypnotist flies.. The best area was 50 to 70 foot of water south of the Douglas Point which produced 8 to 15 lake trout per trip that weighed up to 18 pounds. Saturday we tried to concentrate on the salmon and caught some in 45 to 40 foot of water in the mixed water off of the Saugatuck piers. 3 color and 5 color lead core with orange crush and fruit cocktail stingers and dipsy divers at 70 and 90 foot out with regular size Craigs X mas, Blueberry Muffin and Orange Dolphin stingers. No fish on the downriggers and none on flat lines. The day produced some small salmon in the 5 to 8 pound range, one chinook that weighed 12 pounds and a lake trout. Not real productive, however it might be worth trying if you do not want the lake trout.
For more information or for charter reservations, email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). or call toll free at 888-253-8372.
May 01, 2011Chinook showing up in the creel
We only fished one day this past week with only lake trout showing up in the creel, however Thursday, Friday and Saturday boats reported some nice chinook being caught up to 19 pounds. We caught the lake trout south of the Douglas Beach to the point from 50 to 60 foot of water where the water began to clear. The boats that caught the salmon found them in 40 to 50 foot of water between Saugatuck and Holland.
The water temperature is the same from top to bottom and we caught most of the lake trout in the bottom 20 foot however some also hit flat lines and 3 and 5 color lead core. All of the fish came on spoons (we tried flashers with no success): blue dolphin mixed veggie, green glow, and yellow fin stingers. No color preference, it appears if it came in view they hit it. When I talked to some of the boats that got into chinook salmon, they reported the same thing with fish hitting stick baits, thin fins and spoons in a variety of colors. Probably because of the dirty water from the run off.
For more information and or charter reservations, email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
You can also feel free to contact me at any time by email at: captron@chartermichigan.com or call toll free at 888-253-8372.
