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August 17-20, Frankfort MI

Second time in Frankfort and again mother nature cooperated as we were able to fish every day we were there. More people fishing in the area than last year, but after catching all these nice fish, couldn't blame em for being there. We were pre-fishing for our club outing Thursday evening & Friday and the fish were just outside the pier head, North to Betsie Point in 80 ft -150ft of water.

Thursday, flat water conditions, after 7pm, aboard the "Redneck" evening went 5 for 6, with the largest a king in the 17-18lb range. Fish came on a 1/2 core w #4 grey ghost j-plug, magnum hey baby off the riggers 55-70 ft down 70 ft back, and blue holographic spin doctor/ blue bubble fly 140 ft back on a 3 setting.

Friday morning , 0-1 ft waves, aboard "Slo-Down", went 12 for 17, with the largest king again in the 17-18lb range. Fish came on a SWR 2 Color & 5 color, magnum hey baby off the riggers 55-70 ft down, #4 green ladder back j-plug 45 down 30 ft back off the riggers, and white crushed ice spin doctor/ green glow squid 140 ft- 180 ft back on a 3 setting on the dipsey.

Saturday morning, aboard the "9th Hour" again flat water conditions, lost a total of 2 1/2 hours of prime fishing time (mostly morning bite) due to minor boat issues but still went 6 for 11. Largest king in the 16 lb range, with most misses on the dipsey's as it appears from the number of teeth marks on the hootchies, the fish were hitting the hootchies and running a distance before dropping the flasher, (lol). Fish came on a SWR 2 Color & 5 color, magnum hey baby off the riggers 55-120 ft down, #4 green ladder back j-plug 45 down 30 ft back off the riggers, 1/2 core on in-line with magnum hey baby, and white crushed ice spin doctor/ green glow squid 140 ft- 180 ft back on a 3 setting on the dipsey. This was a club outing and 8 boats participated with everybody hooking and or catching enough fish to weigh 5. We had fish up to 24 lbs (Z-Boat) and some of the best weights we have seen in 3 years. Things also managed to get quiet during lunch, must have been good chow.

Sunday morning, not so flat but fishable as waves started at 2-3 ft, increased to 3 ft to an occasional 5 ft past 150 ft water depth, then calmed down by noon to 1-3 ft waves. Fished a little south in and around the "Herring" hole running the same pattern/program as the day before. Went 5 for 9 with the largest king approx 14 lb.

Total was 28 for 43 between all trips out, not a bad weekend at all.

Salmon Zealot
9th hour

August 3rd-6th, Ludington

Four in the crew of the 9th Hour fished in preparation for our club outing, conditions were S/SW West wind, waves 1-2 ft, water temp break around 70 ft down. Went fishing Thursday evening going 2 for 7, Friday morning 4 for 9, Friday evening 5 for 11, Saturday morning 1 for 6 and Saturday evening 12 for 15 (included 2 steelhead) for a combined 24 for 48 total, which unfortunately is not a very good catch rate on hooked fish I know!. It was a little rough Sunday so didn't go. Fished a 270 degree heading out of the pier head starting in 80 ft of water to 220 ft of water. We trolled at 2.25 to 2.5 mph at the ball per the Moor Sub Troll, and worked the area to one mile south to the edge of the 55's, to two miles north up to the 58.5 line. Nothing really large with several fish up to 18lbs. Basic patterns, were riggers 40 ft to 90 ft down, minimum 50 ft back with magnum spoons, hey baby & green chilly willy and spin doctor, twinkie meat rig 90ft to 120ft down, 10 ft behind the ball. Dipseys, wire line, #2 setting 100ft in the morning, 220 ft in the afternoon with green hootchie & monkey puke fly, or blue holographic spin doctor with blue bubble fly. Also 1/2 core with 5-6 ounce clip weight w magnum hey baby in the morning and magnum sister sledge during the day worked well. Still a fun weekend!

Tight lines
Salmon Zealot

Ludington – finally had the opportunity to take one of our 2005 fishing trip raffle winner’s, Jim Linder out for a day of fun. Jim brought his friend, Russ Ackerman and we proceeded to the 01’s in 70 ft of water to set lines a 6 am (pulled lines at 11 am). Ran 2.5 mph up to the 04’s in 200 ft of water then back to 15 ft. Set-ups were, wire line dipseys, std size dipsey at a 1.5 setting 125 ft back w blue/blue, 2 fire-line dipseys std size dipsey at a 3.5 setting 145 ft back w green/green hootchie/fly combo. Three riggers with magnum spoons (green/blue glow) 35-65 ft down 35 ft back, then 2 ½ cores with 3 ounce clip weights and blue/blue hootchie and fly. Went 6 for 9 with 3 steelhead (2 approx 10 lbs) and 3 kings (8-12lbs). Submitted by: Salmon Zealot

Ludington – Fished w John Fawley on Dolphin IV, we proceeded to the 57’s in 70 ft of water to set lines a 5:30am (pulled lines at 12 noon). Ran 2.5 mph to the 52’s between 125 to 140 ft of water. Set-ups were, wire line dipseys, std size dipsey at a 1.5 setting 125 ft back w blue/blue, 2 fire-line dipseys std size dipsey at a 3.5 setting 145 ft back w green/green hootchie/fly combo. Three riggers with magnum spoons (green/blue glow) 35-105 ft down 35 ft back, then 2 ½ cores with 3 ounce clip weights and blue/blue hootchie and fly. Lake a little rougher today so pulled outside dipseys and 1/2 cores about 8 am then went 6 for 10 with 1 lake trout approx 5 lb, 2 steelhead approx 8 lbs ea, 3 kings 10-16lb. Submitted by: Submitted by: Salmon Zealot

Second Salmon tournament of the year for our club, where we had 15 boats participate from the club and several members of the Metro West club participating as well. It appears that the weather was almost as good as the feast Bob Bilski put on for our Saturday weigh-in. While the fish in general were not as large as in Olcott NY last week, many limits were taken over the 3 days most fished. Josh Baez on the Blue Fish managed to catch a 32" Lake Trout that weighed in at 15.95 lb and several King's in the 15lb class were also taken. Dale Gardner in "Karen G" landed the best Steelhead so far, a real beauty at 8.15 lbs, all in all a great weekend.

Conditions were sunny, low to mid 60's, with a North/Eastern wind between 0-15 knots, and waves 1-3 ft maximum to flat. Report from Redneck:

Thursday, arrived and fished later in the afternoon approx 6 miles out at a 270 degree heading from the harbor 85ft to 105 ft deep water, going 3 for 8. We landed two small Coho and a King. Setups taking hits were a full core with magnum Michael Jackson, Rigger with magnum Blue Dolphin and Hey Baby spoon 50 ft down, 20 ft back, speed 2.0 - 2.2 knots gps.

Friday, 6am-10:30 am, approx 7.5 miles out at a 270 degree heading from the harbor 115ft to 155 ft deep water, going 9 for 12, all King 5-14.5lb.. We ran the same setup as day before, but with Dipsey's and magnum sliders "Jelly Bean" (hot pink/orange w green tape) adding to the catch. Dipsey's #1, at a 2 setting, 145ft back, then to 200ft back later in morning with blue holographic spin doctor with blue bubble fly. Speed 2.0 - 2.2 knots gps.

Saturday, 6am-1pm, same location to start the day but was forced by traffic to 3 miles south in the same depth of water. We went 12 for 14, releasing 4 small kings and Lakers, kept 2 Coho, max 4lb, 1 24" Lake Trout, and 5 Kings, 5-12lb. We ran the same setup as day before, but had had at least 14 releases on the riggers where we did not hook up on the strike on the sliders. Speed 2.0 - 2.2 knots gps.

Sunday, 6am-12pm, went 285 degree from port until we hit 85 ft of water, set Dipsey's and had 6 strikes on the Dipsey's in 20 minutes, landing 2, same setup as previous day. Fish turned off about 10am and we couldn't figure the new pattern before we had to pull lines. We went 4 for 10, 2 Kings 12lb, 2 Steelhead max 3lb. Speed 2.0 - 2.2 knots gps.

NOTE: The one boat in our group "In The Net" managed to bring in 2 full coolers on back to back days, running 200 ft & 300 ft copper line setups to take the majority of their fish.

Other note of interest is that many of the captured Kings, were found to have "Gobies in their stomachs!