Fishing Report

Big lake trout in creel (Sep-01-2014)

The water continues to warm and the number of salmon in the creel is decreasing but the number of lake trout is increasing.  By the end of the week, the 60 degree water extended down to 60 foot and the salmon were caught in this warmer water early in the day but the bite decreased as the day progressed.  The good news is that the lake trout bite has improved in the 90 foot depth.  It appears that there has been an influx of lake trout from off shore with many pushing 20+ pounds in weight.

300 and 450 foot of copper with flashers (white glow, green glow, mixed veggie, live wire) and Rapture wild fern and last supper flies produced well.  Downriggers at 60, 50 and 100 foot produced but the best was green double glow Pro Troll flasher with a wild fern fly.  Once we targeted lake trout, the downriggers were put on the bottom with silver and tin can flashers and green and UV spin n glos.  Dipsy divers run at 150 and 100 foot out with Pro Troll/Stinger flashers (blue ripple, green ripple, silver mountain dew and super frog) with green hypnotist, citron, wild fern and comet Rapture flies.

The salmon that we are catching, are dark and ready to run the river and any cold water should bring them into the piers and the river water.  For information or for charter reservations email me at captron@chartermichigan.com or call me at 888-253-8372.

Warmer water moves the salmon deeper (Aug-24-2014)

Aug. 24, 2014 Fishing Report

The lake has warm into the 70’s and the salmon are being caught at a lower depth than last week.  Salmon and Lake Trout and Steelhead are still being caught at a fairly good rate, however the most productive depth is now 50 to 110 foot.  Creel numbers in the mid to high teens were common early in the week but dropped to the low teens by the weekend. 

By the week end, 200, 300 and 400 foot of copper lines produced very well as did the dipsy divers and downriggers, all loaded with flashers and flies.  Just about any color flasher (green, green/glow, white/glow, mountain dew, mixed veggie, blue wiggle and green wiggle) with Rapture flies (jungle, wild fern, green hypnotist, comet and green no see um) produced some very nice salmon in the high teens and low 20 pounds.  Some of the boats are also using meat rigs run on long coppers, dipsy divers and downriggers with good success. 

There were some reports of some fair but inconsistent perch fishing success 7 miles south of the Saugatuck piers and off the Holland piers.  Early in the week there were some steelhead taken off the piers, however that action has since slowed or stopped. 

The salmon are set to move in front the piers and begin their run, however until we see a drop in the water temperature, the majority will remain staged in the 100 to 150 foot dept.  To get more information about the fishing and/or to make a charter reservation, email me at Captron@chartermichigan.com or call me at 866-253-8372.

Salmon dominate the creel (Aug-17-2014)

We had another good week of fishing after rough seas and strong winds on Tuesday.  The Chinook salmon, Steelhead and Coho salmon continue to make up most of the daily creel of 10 to 20 fish however there are a couple of Lake Trout mixed in.   Chinook salmon over 22 pounds and Coho salmon over 12 pounds are being caught daily.  Most of the salmon are showing up in the 90 to 120 foot depth, however there are also some being caught in the 130 to 170 foot depth. 

The salmon and steelhead are hitting Stinger lures (orange crush, fruit cocktail, mixed veggie), glow Ace Hi plugs and green slick flashers and Wild Fern Rapture flies on the copper lines.  On the dipsy divers, we are pulling Pro Troll flashers (super frog, green wiggle, davie jones) with Wild Fern and green Hypnotist Rapture flies.  The downriggers are run at 40 to 90 foot down with a variety of flasher and fly combinations. 

There were some good reports on perch fishing with good to limit catches off the Holland piers and some good catches south of the Douglas Point.  With the cold lake water, there were some steelhead caught off the Saugatuck and Holland piers and some sheephead and catfish being caught east of the shore line in the warmer river water.

Since we are nearing the end of August and if we get some cooler water we can expect the Chinook salmon to begin staging at the piers for the fall run. For more information or to make a reservation to catch your salmon dinner, contact me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

Back to shallow water for fish. (Aug-10-2014)

Aug. 10 Fishing Report

The week started with outstanding fishing with limit mixed bag catches in 110-160 FOW.  The number of salmon increased and the number of lake trout decreased in the creel composition.  In the middle of the week the fishing slowed and this weekend we went back into 70-100 FOW and caught good numbers of lake trout with some kings and steelhead mixed in.  

This week's best combinations were: orange crush Stingers on 100 coppers, mixed veggie UV and Craig's reverse x-mas on 150 coppers, and chrome blue Protroll with blue bubble Rapture fly and green glow Ace-hi plug, On the longer coppers we ran green double glow and white double glow Protroll flashers w. hypnotist flies. Superfrog and Davy Jones Protroll flashers w. Rapture Wild fern flies on the divers produced very well at 160 and 100 foot out.  On the dodgers we ran chrome and tin can dodgers w white pink dot spin and glows for the trout on bottom.  

There were reports of fair to good perch fishing in 40 to 20 foot of water between the ball and Saugatuck harbor and between the State Park and the first sliders.  Pier fishermen are again taking fair stringers of catfish and steelhead.  Some walleye were caught upriver from the I 196 bridge.  

The water continues to cool down, and the salmon are likely to continue to move closer to the beach.  Don’t forget about the Catch and Cook program and enjoy your catch prepared by selected the restaurants that have been approved by the state (Wallys, Spectators, and Mermaids).  For information about Catch and Cook, fishing or charter reservations, call 888-253-8372 or email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

The Kings are in in Saugatuck (Aug-03-2014)

The Kings have shown up in Saugatuck.  What a difference from the first part of the week to the weekend with creels containing more and more Chinook salmon each day.  We started the week with very cold water and catches consisting of mainly Lake Trout but a few salmon and steelhead in the mix.  By the weekend the catches consisted of limit catches of Chinook salmon and Steelhead and an occasional Lake Trout mixed in.  On Saturday, our group from Louisville, Ky. Caught 25 fish of which only 3 were Lake Trout.  That group, (fishing 3 days) took over 400 pounds of fillets back to Louisville to feed the friends and families. 

The salmon and steelhead are being caught from 10 to 50 foot down in 100 to 160 foot of water.  50 foot, 100 foot, 200 foot, and 300 foot of copper with orange stingers, Silver Horde plugs and flashers and flies all produced well at different times during the day.  Down riggers 40 and 50 foot down and dipsy divers at 150 and 100 foot out with green bladed flashers with the wild fern Rapture flies did very well. 

Good reports on perch fishing Thursday and Friday, with good catches off the Holland piers and south of the Douglas Point in 20 foot of water.   There were also some nice stringers of catfish caught off the Saugatuck piers and in the basin inside the piers. 

Once again we had some families that enjoyed the Catch and Cook program this week.  Depending on how busy the town and the restaurant is, Spectators, Mermaids and Wallys will prepare your catch if you give them advanced notice.  For information about the fishing and/or Catch and Cook and for charter reservations, contact me at captron@chartermichigan.com or call me at 888-253-8372