Fishing Report

Sallmon fishing, as good as it can be in Saugatuck (Sep-04-2011)

Another good week of fishing in Saugatuck. Catches of 15 to 30 fish per trip was very common last week. What really determined how many fish you caught was what they hit that day. If they hit more copper at 300 and 450 foot, it took longer to land the fish and when you slowed down to fight the fish, you really "stopped fishing" until you got your speed back. If the majority of the fish hit the downriggers and dipsy divers, you spent less time fishing the fish and got the lures back in action faster. The creel consisted of 2, 3 and 4 year old chinook salmon, coho salmon, lake trout, steelhead with an occasional brown trout. Although some boats reported some success with stingray lures, the best method for us were flashers and flies which were run on copper, dipsy divers and downriggers. 200 foot, 300 foot and 450 foot copper with flashers and rapture flies produced very well. The dipsy divers at 200 and 300 foot and downriggers at 80, 90 and 100 foot produced very well. We had very good success with Singer E chip flashers (mixed veggie, chrome UV, super frog, white UV/glow, silver UV green) and Rapture flies (no see um with green beads, no see um with yellow beads, sour apple, green hypnotist and green dude). On certain days we had very good success with the 11 in echip (white glow UV, silver mountain dew and white double glow) on the downriggers, however they might work one day and not the next. Next week might prove to be interesting. With strong winds and high waves the next two days, we may find cold water moving in and with that the salmon should move into the river. Yesterday when we ran a mid day charter, we marked what looked like salmon in 55 foot of water and saw a couple of salmon jump in front of the boat. For fishing information or charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

Big Catches of Salmon in Saugatuck (Aug-28-2011)

Salmon fishing off Saugatuck was as good as it could get this past week. Catches of 12-20 fish everyday, a limit catch of 30 on Saturday. The creel was dominated by kings 8-26 pounds with some adult coho (up to 14#), lake trout, steelhead, and even a brown trout in the mix. Best fishing was from 130 FOW to 175 FOW. During the week fish ranged from 40-110 feet down, and came on downriggers, copper, and wire divers. The vast majority of fish came on Stinger Echip flasher/Rapture fly combinations. The best combo were: 8” mixed veggies w/ a sour apple, 8” chrome w/ a hypnotist, 8” superfrog w/ a wild fern, 8” green glow w/ a wild fern, 8” chrome mt. dew/UV w/ a speed weed or no-see-um, 8” Davey Jones glow w/ a speed weed or green-no-see-um. In addition we had success with Pro Troll 11” white double crushed glow w/ a hypnotist, Pro Troll 11” green UV frog w/ a first wish, and a Pro Troll 11” chrome mt. dew w/ a hypnotist. Tremendous amounts of bait fish promise that fishing should continue to be excellent. Some of the adult kings are beginning to darken for the spawning run. It should be a great end of summer fishery. For charter reservations or fishing information, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

Frequent 20 + pound salmon catches (Aug-21-2011)

What a great week of fishing. Just about every day we would have at least one salmon that would push or exceed 20 pounds. Today we caught a 24.5 pound, a 23.5 pound, a 19 pound and a 17 pound salmon in the 10 fish creel. The fish are located from 100 foot of water out to 160 foot of water from the Holland piers to south of the Douglas point. Mixed in with the chinook salmon are some coho, steelhead and lake trout. Downriggers at 70, 80, and 100 foot down are producing with flashers and flies. The best are the Echip (silver green, davie jones glow, glow frog and white and silver mountain dew) with Rapture wild fern, green hypnotist and green beaded no see um flies. We did take some salmon on the 11 in E chip but the best was the 8 in. Our best method continues to be the dipsy divers at 200 foot and 250 foot out with the same flashers and flies we used on the downriggers. 300 and 450 foot of copper lines did well also with flashers and flies on the 450´s and Stingray lures (green dolphin, blue green dolphin and mixed veggie-all with glow backs) on the 300´s. For fishing information and/or charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

Multiple 20 pound salmon in Saugatuck (Aug-15-2011)

This past week was a very good week of fishing. Early in the week the catch consisted of 80% lake trout and 20% silver fish and by the end of the weekend we were taking 90% salmon and 10% lake trout. In addition we were taking multiple 20+pound salmon almost ever trip. The best depth continues to be 70 to 115 foot of water, however there were some boats taking salmon out in 180 to 200 foot of water. The methods that take the fish change from day to day as the conditions and current change, however the lures and flashers remained the same. Early in the day we were catching salmon on 150, 200 and some time on 100 foot copper with Area 51, ET, Orange Corey and glow back Mixed Veggie Stingray. The downriggers produced at 40 ft. to 70 foot down with Glow frog, white UV glow and Davie Jones glow E chip flashers and Rapture no see um green beaded and green hypnotist flies. The most consistent method continues to be the dipsy divers at 180 foot and 100 ft. with E chip flashers (Davie Jones, green side UV, silver mountain dew and green UV) with either Rapture wild fern and no see um yellow beaded flies. For information or charter reservations, contact me by email at captron@chartermichigan.com.

One day with the steelhead in front the Saugatuck Piers (Aug-07-2011)

This past week produced consistent fishing in the 65 to 90 foot depth with limit or near limit catches of Lake Trout and Chinook Salmon and Steelhead. We did spend Friday in front the piers and caught 14 steelhead out of about 30 hits. Saturday the water had warmed up 15 degrees and after a hour in front and catching sheephead and white bass, we moved off shore and caught 11 lake trout and 2 salmon. The program continues to be Gold Star dodgers (white glow, yellow and silver) with green spin n glows and Repture wild fern flies on the bottom for lake trout. The salmon and steelhead came on the high divers at 180 ft. and on the 150, 200 and 300 coppers. The best combinations on the divers were the Davey Jones, UV Mountain Dew and UV green E chip flashers with Rapture no see um flies with green and yellow beads. The copper with orange crush stinger and the mixed veggie stingray were the most consistent. The perch fishing has slowed after the Wed. blow and the influx of the cold water, however there are some decent numbers being caught out of Holland, however they were small in size. I did not get any reports on the perch to the south of Saugatuck. With all the bait there is out in the lake, our salmon should be showing up in higher numbers that what we are seeing. I am a little concerned that we might be seeing the effect of the stocking cuts for the last few years and there just are not as many as we might expect. Regardless, the salmon that we are catching are large and we have taken many over 20 pounds and have had a few that busted off the equipment with their hits and runs. For more information or for charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.