Fishing Report

Pound Bottom For Lake Trout and Salmon (Jun-26-2011)

Another interesting week of fishing out of Saugatuck. Early in the week we fished 80 to 90 foot of water with good catches of Lake Trout and a couple of Chinook Salmon. Water temperature was 41 degrees on the bottom and bait suspended in 65 to 70 foot of water. Wednesday the bottom water temperature increase to 51 degrees and after the blow on Thursday the bottom temperature was 61 degrees. On Saturday the temperature was back in the low 50´s and we went back to pounding the bottom in 90 to 100 foot of water. Saturday we took 12 fish, 10 legal Lake Trout, 1 18 in. Lake Trout and one 13 pound Chinook Salmon. The best methods included metal (silver and white) flashers with the green hypnotist Rapture Fly and spin and glows on the downriggers pounding bottom. The Salmon were caught a little higher in the water column on the dipsy diver at 150 and 180 foot of line out with blue wiggle and silver mountain dew Hot Chip flasher and the Rapture blue bubble fly. We also had some action on the 450 coppers with a silver blue Hot Chip Flasher and Rapture mirage fly, however the 95% of the activity was on the downriggers and and dipsy divers. On Saturday we ventured out to 160 foot of water and the bait was unbelievable suspended out in this water. It was so thick that it would error out the graph for 100 feet or more. There were fish marked and caught out in this water, however, most of the action was in the 90 to 100 foot depth. With all the bait off shore, I have to believe that the salmon are going to find them and then it should get interesting. For more information or for charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

Salmon and Lake Trout in Saugatuck (Jun-13-2011)

It has been an interesting week for fishing with rain, high winds, rough water but some very good fishing if you can handle the conditions. The best fishing during the week was in the 80 to 100 foot depth with about 50% of the catch consisting of salmon and the rest lake trout. Today we set lines in 75 foot of water and while we trolled out to 135 foot of water we expertly missed the first 3 fish and then followed that by loosing the next 4 fish we had on. We ended going 7 for 18 or 20 with 6 salmon and 1 lake trout. . The hits were scattered around the boat including 150, 200 and 300 copper, downrigger and dipsy divers. The Stingray Orange Corey had 2 hits on the 150 copper and the 200 copper with the glow wonderbread Stingray had 3 hits. The downrigger at 40 foot with the Stinger bloody nose produced 2 hits and the Stinger fruit cocktail, on the add a line, had 1 hit. The other downrigger was run at 50 foot and the gold Stinger watermelon on the add a line was hit twice. The rest of the hits were distributed around the boat with Stingrays on the copper lines and Stingers lures on the downrigger and high divers.(at 200 and 180 foot out). Only one hit on a flasher and fly and we missed that. This week is the first week that we had bait in the stomachs of the salmon with adult alewife in most of them. For more information or for charter reservations email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

First 20 pound salmon of the season. (Jun-05-2011)

During the week most of the best fishing was in the 150 to 200 foot of water with good numbers of fish, but many of the fish were small. On our run out on Sunday we saw bait in 65 and 70 foot of water so we set lines in 90 foot of water with the intent of trolling on out to the 200 foot depth, however we started getting hits in 100 foot of water and took our first salmon in 120 foot depth and another in 130 foot so we decided to turn back and try this 100 to 120 foot depth. In past years, this 100 foot depth has been the depth that the salmon tend to stage in and they usually stage just outside the bait. We were 10 for 20 or 25 (we also lost 3 fish at the net) with 5 salmon and 5 lake trout and the largest salmon weighed in at 20 pounds and another at 13 pounds. Boats did fairly well in the deeper water, however from the radio traffic, the fish ran a little smaller than those we had inside. Our best methods were: 100 copper with craigs christmas stinger that had 3 hits 200 copper with a glow wonderbread stingray went 2 times. 200 copper with mixed veggie stingray went 3 times 300 copper with a blue/silver prochip flasher and blue hypnotist fly produced one nice lake trout. The downriggers produced fish with metal flashers and flies run on the bottom. The high dipsy (120 foot out) and (low dipsy 80 foot out) both produced hits with flashers and flies on the low dipsys and magnum stingers (green dolphin and carmel dolphin ) on the high dipsies. If we hold the bait in the 70 foot depth, we should continue to find the fish in the 100 foot depth. For more information or for charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

May 29 Saugatuck Fishing Report (May-30-2011)

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 captron@chartermichigan.com.

7th Grade Fishing Outing (May-19-2011)

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.