Fishing Report

Aug. 21 Fishing Report (Aug-21-2016)

The fishing out of Holland continues to very good with limit or near limit catches daily. The creel numbers and species change daily, however the lake trout continue to make up 60 to 80% of the creel with the rest being chinook and coho salmon and steelhead. Once again the kings are weighing 15 to 25 pounds and the lake trout are weighing up to 20 pounds. Early in the morning and at dusk the 70 to 80 foot of water produces some nice salmon and the lake trout are being caught in 90 to 110 foot of water.

The lake trout are being caught in the bottom 10 foot of the water column on silver flashers with either watermellon and glow white spin n glos and UV flies pulled behind them. The water continues to warm up and the salmon are being caught from 70 foot to the bottom on flashers and flies which vary in color from day to day.

The perch fishing is picking up but continues to very spotty. I have received reports that perch are being caught from 15 foot of water out to 50 foot of water out of Holland. However one day they are there and the next day you have to move and look for them again. The best bait are minnows, cut bait and spikes.

This past weekend we were blown off the lake twice with seas over 7 foot and the forecast is for wind and high seas during the upcoming week. If the lake turns over, and we get cold water along the shore, the salmon should move to the piers and start the spawning run. For more information or to make a charter reservation, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

Aug. 15, 2016 Fishing Report (Aug-15-2016)

Another fantastic week of fishing with creel numbers ranging from 11 to 22 fish. The creel continues to be dominated by lake trout, however there are 4 to 6 salmon in each days catch. Many of the king salmon are pushing or exceeding 20 pounds and the coho are pushing 12 pounds. Early in the morning the fishing is very good in 60 to 80 foot of water with salmon making up the majority of the catch. Once the sun comes up the salmon catch decreases but the lake trout action takes off. What we have seen the last few days is that as the action slow toward mid day, and as we move out into 100 foot of water, the fish that are taken are much larger in size. Most of the 20+ pound salmon come during this time.

Early in the day glow Ace Hi plugs and glow lures produced well on 200 and 300 copper. The water is beginning to warm, and as the day progresses the lake trout and the salmon are both taken off the bottom in 90 to 110 foot of water. The best combinations are silver and silver/mountain dew spin doctors with mirage with and green beads.

There have been some reports of perch fishing success off of the Holland piers in 40 foot of water. This is very unpredictable, and one day you will find the fish here and the next day they are gone.

Again there is very little change predicted in the weather forecast, so I would predict that the fishing should not change much in the next week. For more information or to make a charter reservation, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

Aug. 8, 2016 Fishing Report (Aug-08-2016)

August 8 Fishing Report

A great week of fishing out of Holland and Saugatuck. Creels numbers ran from 10 to 20 fish consisting of 70% lake trout and 30% king salmon, coho and steelhead. The kings are weighing in from mid teens to the mid 20 pounds. Although there we are not catching large numbers of salmon, they are running larger than in past years. This past week also produced some very nice coho that weighed up to 12 pounds. The lake trout averaged 10 to 12 pounds with one over 22 pounds. Though out the week, one or two steelhead often showed up in the creels and these high jumping fish are something to watch.

The best time for the kings and coho are early in the morning or at dusk. Flashers and flies and magnum lures that are run at the thermocline on the dipsy divers and downriggers produced well. The best are flashers and lures that have glow tape or have a body that glows along with mirage or glow flies. Once again the lake trout are hitting silver flashers and mirage flies or spin n glos run on or close to the bottom. Steelhead are primarily hitting silver and orange magnum spoons run on 150 and 200 copper, however, we have also take some right off the bottom with our lake trout rigs.

Some good reports on the perch. There were some limit catches reported for a couple of days on the clay bottom between Saugatuck and South Haven. A couple of days of good catches and then the fishing slowed. Hopefully they are moving north. Pier fishermen are catching large numbers of sheephead and catfish in Holland and Saugatuck.

With not change in the near forecast, I would expect the fishing to continue to improve as the kings start showing up in larger numbers as they begin to stage for the fall run. For more information or for charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

Big trout and kings in the creels (Jul-31-2016)

Aug. 1 Fishing Report

What a great week of fishing off of Holland and Saugatuck. The creels ranged from 10 to 20 fish per trip with lake trout exceeding 20 pounds and Chinook reaching the mid 20 pound range. In addition to the Chinook salmon and lake trout there were steelhead up to 12 pounds and coho pushing 10 pounds. Every day we had kings hit our lures run from 30 foot down to the bottom, however we did not catch the kings every day. A 20+ pound king will take off 600 foot (or more) of line with the initial hit and were it goes is anybodies guess, however you can bet that it will be into other lines producing tangles and often lost fish and gear.

The salmon, as I said will hit 150 foot copper to 350 foot of copper with spoons and flashers and flies and they also hit on the flashers and flies that we ran on the bottom for lake trout. So basically you fish from 30 foot to 110 foot and what hits is often a surprise—often lake trout but some time steelhead, king salmon or coho salmon.

Silver and UV flashers and dodgers with mirage flies and spin n glos behind downriggers, dipsy divers and long copper lines worked well for lake trout and salmon. Orange glow and blue glow spoons on the shorter coppers produced some nice steelhead, however we also caught steelhead off the bottom on flashers and flies.

There was some good reports on the perch this week with limit catches being reported out of South Haven. Nothing on the perch in Holland or Saugatuck however. The pier fishermen are catching sheephead and catfish in large numbers. We also some some nice small mouth bass taken by boats jigging along the Saugatuck piers.

With no change in the weather forecast, I think we should see continued success in the near shore fishing. For information or to make a charter reservation email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

July 24, Fishing Report (Jul-24-2016)

July 24 Fishing Report

What an interesting week this has been. Though out the week, when we left the dock we never knew what the day would produce. We started the week like we ended last week with 90% of the creel consisting of lake trout and the remaining 10% being steelhead and kings. By Wednesday the creels consisted of 50% lake trout and 50% kings and steelhead. Thursday and Friday produced creels consisting of 90% kings and 10% lake trout and steelhead. By Saturday we were back to primarily lake trout with an occasional silver fish. Fishing between fronts on Sunday we caught some coho along with some steelhead, lake trout and kings. Even though the fishing was unpredictable, the size of the fish was very good with catches having an average of 11 or 12 pounds per fish. The kings that we caught this week ranged from 16 to 22 pounds. We got to a point in the middle of the week were we decided that “less was more”. We had to reduce the number of copper lines and divers we ran because the kings would hit and run out 700 feet of line or more and be into the other lines and we would loose the fish and gear. Again, very good fishing with creel limits of 8 to 16 fish per trip, however very unpredictable creel results.

Once again, the lake trout were primarily taken with silver flashers and dodgers with oceana flies and green spin n glos. We are pulling these on the low wire divers and downriggers on the bottom. The kings are coming on the high divers, 400 coppers and also midwater downriggers with blue bubble flashers and flies, white slick flashers and no see um flies and silver mountain dew flasher and mirage flies. The steelhead continue to hit the mongoose super slim, coyote ugly super slim and the bloody nose pulled behind 300 and 200 copper.

Still no good reports on perch fishing out of Holland or Saugatuck or South Haven. Pier fishing continues to be good for sheephead and catfish and some small mouth bass.

Next week should be interesting, not knowing if the salmon are going to be there or are we back to lake trout fishing with occasional silver fish. What ever the result, the fishing should be good. For information or for charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.