Fishing Report

Salmon, Lake Trout and Steelhead (May-25-2014)

Excellent fishing this past week with 10 to 20 fish caught per outing being the norm.  Once again we fished the 60 to 90 foot depth with lake trout up to 15 pounds caught in the bottom 5 foot and Chinook salmon and Steelhead hitting in the top 35 foot of the water column.  The water is still cold with 50 degrees on the surface and 41 degrees on the bottom in 75 foot.  Sunday some very nice Chinook salmon and steelhead were caught in 165 to 175 foot of water from Holland to south of Saugatuck.   I also heard that Grand Haven charter boats found some nice steelhead out in 200 foot of water.

The method for fishing the 60 to 90 foot depth is to run metal flashers and spin n glo’s on the bottom for the Lake Trout and then 30 foot, 75 foot, 150 foot, 200 foot and 300 foot of copper line with magnum Stingers and Stingray lures.  There are also some fish being caught on the Dipsy Divers with flashers and flies run with 150 and 100 foot of line out.  The fish out in the deep water (164-200 foot of water) are hitting magnum spoons and Stingray spoons on 3 color lead core to 200 foot of copper line.  Downriggers run at 30 to 55 foot down were producing some salmon on small Stinger spoons.    

One good point is that we are starting to find alewife (bait fish) in the stomach of the Lake Trout and in the salmon, so there must be some bait schools near by.  The lack of alewife is a concern for the fish biologists and fisherman alike, since very little bait has been seen all spring.  If the bait shows up, and it usually does in the 80 to 100 foot depth, we should hold our salmon in this depth.  Time will tell, however it looks promising. 

For more information or for charter reservations email me at captron@chartermichigan.com

Cold weather fishing in May (May-18-2014)

 Saturday was a big change from a week ago when we were fishing brown trout on the beach.  Saturday we started fishing in 40 to 50 foot of water and ended up in 100 to 130 foot of water.  The day started with frost on the boat and air temperature in the low 30’s   with a cool breeze, however, when we broke through the piers we saw 50 to 75 boats already braving the conditions.  There were two tournaments being run and fishing conditions could be called crowded at best. After catching a couple of fish in the 40 foot depth, we decided to get away from the crowd and moved out to 60 to 70 foot of water and then out to the 100 foot + depth.  The temperature of the water on the surface was 41 degrees and on the bottom in 100 foot the temperature was 40 degrees, so the fish are scattered throughout the water column.  During the day we caught 16 fish, consisting of 5 Chinook salmon, 1 steelhead and 10 lake trout.  A couple of the salmon weighed in 12 to 14 pounds and one of the lake trout pushed 14 pounds.

We fished from the surface with 2 and 3 color lead core line to the bottom with the downriggers (with flashers and spin n glows), to whole water column with copper line and dipsy divers.  The best lures were Stingray stingers and regular size stingers on the copper and lead core lines and on the dipsy divers. 

Although the fishing was very good (although cold), I am concerned that I saw no bait in the area and without bait, the fish will move.  There has to be bait close, since the fish are good size and healthy.   As the water warms, I think the bait will begin to move in.  For more information about the fishing conditions or to book a fishing charter, contact me at captron@chartermichigan.com. 

!st Trip of 2014 (May-11-2014)

 Saturday we ran the first trip of 2014 and even though the fishing was slow, the Brown Trout will taste very good.  The water temperature was in the upper 40's and the fish came in the river mix water where the temp went up to the low 50's.  We caught 4 brown trout, 1 steelhead and 1 small Chinook salmon.  

There was no consistent bait or presentation.  Fish were caught on stingers on the downriggers and dipsy divers and on small hot n tots on flat lines and 2 coppers.  Hopefully we will see a warm up next week and the arrival of some salmon and lake trout in some of the deeper water.

2014 Season Begins (Apr-28-2014)

The boat is in the water and we are finally ready to begin fishing.  The winter has been hard and long but the ice is finally gone and we have open water.  There are some fish being caught with creels consisting of some steelhead, coho and an occasional chinook salmon.  The water is cold and the fish are still scattered, however, as the water warms we should find more and more fish moving in.  For fishing reservations, or for more information, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

2 and 3 year old salmon and lake trout (Sep-30-2013)

This past week we fished in 100 to 160 foot of water with 100 foot to 110 foot producing during the early part of the week and then 130 to 160 foot of water at the end of the week.  The creel consisted of 4 to 12 fish consisting of 2 and 3 year old salmon and lake trout.  The lake trout continued to hit on the deeper rigs and the salmon were caught on spoons and flashers and flies from 50 foot to 80 foot down. 

150 foot of copper and 300 foot of copper with nitro stingray spoons produced some salmon and some hits in the deeper water; however the best method was dipsy divers at 150 foot with the live wire Pro Troll with the Rapture Illusion fly.  As we moved out to the deeper water we dropped the dipsy divers back to 250 and 200 foot.   The lake trout continued to come on metal Gold Star flashers and Spin n Glos and the Pro Troll white blade blue wiggle flasher and the Rapture Oceana fly. 

There are still a few salmon in front of the piers; however you can probably catch as many in 100 foot and get a variety of species and age classes.   For information or for a charter reservation, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.