Home
 

Forum List Angler Action Salmon and Trout
Combat Fishing in Grand Haven 7/29 & 7/30
TERMINATOR 
 		  Port: Sheboygan, WI   08/01/2005 09:30
Steelhead
Posts: 139
 

Man you would have thought it was the fall run this weekend given the large number of fish near the piers at Grand Haven and the EXTRA LARGE number of boats chasing them.
It was combat fishing in the mud just like harbor patrol but it proved productive both Saturday and Sunday, but the days were nothing alike.

Saturday saw Toni and I fishing with my pal Jason (The Edge) and we set lines at 6am and fished for over two hours without a hit even though we marked bait and fish, but then at 8:15 I was swapping baits and put a NK 28 Yellow Jacket with Orange Edge down and wow, the fish decided they liked it as it went off 5 times in a row including taking a fish up inside the pierheads between the first and second lighthouse. First salmon I have ever caught between the lighthouses in July! We worked the water infront of and in the river mouth for the next two hours and boxed 6 kings and a steelie and lost 4 kings and a steelie (had to horse the fish with boats everywhere), mostly on that NK and it's twin I put on another rigger on the opposite side of the boat. The Stinger Stingray Orange Shankster took two fish off a diver out 35' as well.

Then the action slowed and we drifted outside the main pack and picked up 3 more salmon on a Stinger Double Orange Crush (reg size) off a 1/2 core out in 30-40FOW while losing two. So we ended up 10/17 at 11am with our 3 man limit of kings and a steelie after going without a hit for the first 2 1/4 hrs.

Sunday saw Toni and I fishing with a couple neighboors from the marina that were new to big lake fishing and the day was a 180 from Saturday. I think we ruined them for big lake fishing as we pulled out of the piers at 6am again and on the fist pass took 4 fish on 4 different rods with Salmon hitting Green Glow J-Plug flatlined on 3 colors core behind the boat (no room for planer boards in that pack), Raider Green/Yellow/Glow Spooon 30' behind a rigger, Green Dolphin Mag Stinger off the rigger and a Moonshine spoon (don't know the name but it is orange) behind a dipsy 35' out. We got 3 of the 4 in the box. We cleared the piers reset lines and took 3 hits on the next pass with a King hitting the Moonshine spoon behind the diver again, another hitting a White/Glow Revelator Flasher pulling a Purple Taco Green Ghost Fly and a nice 8# Steelie hitting a Raider "Mutant" Blue/Chart Dolphin (Mutant meaning I added a Orange Crush Ladder Back). He was too deeply hooked to let him go unfortunately.

Third pass saw the Raider Green/Yellow Glow take a king then as I unhooked him and went to put him in the cooler he jumped out off my arms and back into the lake. We were catching these kings 15'-20' down and 30'-40' back, and muscling them to the boat to avoid getting cutoff by boats passing 40' to each side of us so they were still very wild when we netted them. That one escaped to swim somemore. Seconds later a king smoked a Pink/Glow J-Plug and we had a two person limit of kings and a steelie. We then made a pass without a hit and my neighbor said "Were wore out, let's go get breakfast"> so we called it a morning. We were back at the dock by 7:30am with 6 kings and a steelie, fish cleaned and back from breakfast by 09:30am.

So my neighbor and his daugther think salmon fishing is pure chaos with flopping kings all over the boat and Toni weaving the TERMINATOR through rush hour traffic while I net fish, unhook them and set lines.

I need to take them again when the fish are offshore and the boats are spread out so they can see what a relaxing fishing trip is like....

Skip Berry
www.terminatorcharters.com

If God Wanted Me To Work He Wouldn't Have Created FISH!
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Re:Combat Fishing in Grand Haven 7/29 & 7/30
WingNut 
 		    08/28/2005 10:32
Admin
Posts: 910
 

Good post Skip
It seems like the fish are in the mud in good numbers earlier each year lately. I wonder if that is just the way the gene pool is evolving or if there is some outer stimuli like temperature or photo-period that has them feeling the urge earlier.

It sounds like a baptism by fire for your neighbor and his daughter. I'll bet they were thrilled. Next time they go they will expect that kind of action again!

Jim...I Fish Therefore I Am
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Re:Combat Fishing in Grand Haven 7/29 & 7/30
TERMINATOR 
 		  Port: Sheboygan, WI   08/31/2005 11:39
Steelhead
Posts: 139
 

Yea both the fishing and the boat traffic were WILD!!!

This case happend to be the lake turned over so the cold water was right at the piers, the bait was there so the salmonoids followed.

A week later they were back offshore, so it was a feast for a few days and of course when that happens every guy with a bass boat, jon boat and everything else rushes to Grand Haven to get a shot at the kings.

Thats ok except for when you get a guy by himself in a small boat spinning circles fighting a fish while the other boats are trying to work a pattern to keep some order to the process.

I almost T-boned a guy in a 14' alumium boat that did a 90 degree turn right across my bow as he was focused on fighting a fish and forgot that he might want to control his boat while being in the middle of 1000 boats trolling a 1 mile area....

Skip Berry
www.terminatorcharters.com

If God Wanted Me To Work He Wouldn't Have Created FISH!
The administrator has disabled public write access.

Forum List Angler Action Salmon and Trout
Experience Outdoors
Michigan Steelhead and Salmon Fisherman's Association
Gnat Outdoors Cook Book

Current Activity

1768 Total Pictures

1119 Total Stories
1213170 Stories Read
17997 Total Posts
1877844 Post Views

Nobody is chatting

Member's Gallery

Login
(C) 2004 - 2008 Educated Angler - Great Lakes Fishing Resource  Educated Angler Sitemap   Links
 
Mission Statement : Educated Angler will continue to be the premiere Great Lakes Fishing Resource, including fishing message boards, fishing reports covering Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, Lake St. Clair, Lake Superior and tributaries, fishing chat, Great Lakes fisheries news, fishing links, and Great Lakes webcams. Membership will remain free and offer photo galleries, homepages, and a passionate community of salmon, steelhead, lake trout, walleye, bass, perch, pike, and muskie anglers.

The Fishing Site Top SIte List The Experience Outdoors Network