Fishing Report

Fish being caught in the whole water column in Saugatuck (Jun-09-2013)

Fish are scattered throughout the whole water column with a 10 degree change from the surface to 150 foot down.  You have a chance of catching fish 15 foot down and 120 foot down.  Saturday we fished from 120 to 180 foot of water and we caught lake trout in 130 foot of water and salmon in 150 to 170 foot of water.  The Chinook salmon are running in the mid to high teens with Coho salmon weighing in 5 to 10 pounds. 

Saturday we had only one lure that went more than one time (silver flasher and mirage fly on 300 copper) and the dozen hits were scattered from 30 foot down to 120 foot down on Stingray spoons and Pro Troll Flashers and Rapture flies.  200, 300 and 450 foot of copper produced hits with divers at 200 and 250 foot of line and downriggers at 40 to 120 foot down. 

For more information about Saugatuck Fishing or to make a charter reservation, feel free to email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

2 and 3 year old salmon in Saugatuck (Jun-02-2013)

The fishing has slowed somewhat with the most consistent catch taking place out in 180 to 210 foot of water.  This past week the creel consisted mainly of 2 and 3 year old salmon in the 5 to 10 pound range with a few 4 year olds mixed in.  We got blown off the lake both Saturday and today, however the few boats that did fish Saturday caught from 1 to 7 fish and no one fished today.

What is working are flashers and flies with some glow in the dark spoons like the stingray size early in the morning.  There was not any set color or combination that was better than any other, however most consistent was the  Pro Troll Glow Frog, Silver Mountain Dew and UV Mixed Veggie flasher with any green Rapture fly.

For more information and/or charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

Salmon move out deeper (May-27-2013)

This past week produced some interesting fishing with some very good catches in the 120 foot depth the first part of the week and then the salmon moved out to deeper 180 to 200 foot depth.  Early in the week we took 75 6th graders fishing (10 boats) fishing and caught 90+ salmon and trout in the 120 to 130 foot depth.  Friday and the early weekend the fish were in the 140 foot depth and then Sunday we had most of our action in the 180 foot depth (no real change in temperature)  producing 1 lake trout and 4 four year old salmon and one small salmon that was returned.  

Our best pattern on Sunday consisted of 400 and 300 foot of copper with the stinger dive bomb weight with silver and silver green Pro Troll flashers and Rapture Last Supper and Green Hypnotist flies.  This was completely different from early in the week when the best was 200 foot of copper and Stingray lures with green and orange. On Sunday the downriggers produced best with silver Pro Troll flashers with Mountain Dew and Green and Green Hypnotist flies at 90 and 60 foot down.  Compare this with the early week when our downriggers produced at 40 and 50 foot with magnum Stinger spoons and regular Stinger spoons on the add-a-lines.  No patterns to the colors since the best two were green/blue dolphin and bloody nose.  No real pattern on the dipsy divers either and we tried multiple lengths out and lures.  The only thing that more than once on Sunday was a white Pro Troll with silver hologram tape and the sour apple fly at 225 foot out.  

It appears that the fish and the bait is moving constantly, so you just have to go out and try different depths and patterns until you find the right combinations.  For move information or charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

6th Grade Fishing Outing (May-27-2013)

Big Four Year Old Salmon Being Caught in Saugatuck (May-20-2013)

This past week produced some very good chinook salmon catches of 6 to 8 fish with some pushing 20 pounds.  The fish are coming in 80 to 140 foot of water and from 20 foot down to the bottom.  Friday and Saturday all of the bait in the stomachs of the salmon were 4 to 6 in long, however on Monday they were feeding on a different year class that went from 3 to 4 in in length.  This would explain why we had the best luck with Stingray and magnum Stingers last week but regular size Stingers worked best on Monday.  There were some reports of fish being caught out to 180 foot, however the best fishing was in 90 to 130 foot of water in the morning and then we had to go out deeper (180 foot of water) and fish deeper (90 to 160 foot down in the afternoon.  What appeared to work best was meat at the deeper depths, however for us, it was slower fishing in the deeper depths.  

The chinook salmon are coming from 20 to 60 foot down on 100, 200 and 300 copper with orange crush, UV blue dolphin and green dolphins.  The down riggers were run at 50 and 65 foot down with the center downrigger just off the bottom.  Green dolphin and bloody nose Stingrays on the out downs and either a green/glow Protroll 11 in flasher and Rapture last supper fly or a glow frog Stingray run down the shoot produced fairly consistantly.  Dipsy divers were run at 140 foot out to 220 foot with a variety of lures and flashers and flies and nothing proved to go more than once a trip. It seemed that if we caught a fish on a particular lure and color we should take it off and try something else, since it would not go again.  

No reports on the perch fishing either from South Haven, Holland or Saugatuck.

For more information about the fishing conditions or to make a charter reservation, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.