August 2001 results from
Capt. John's Log

This page contains the exact results from every charter with no embellishment.  This is a "tell it like it is" standard of honesty that Capt. John King is known for.  Proof can be found in the archived links to photos that accompany every charter.  While other charter operations might give you a bunch of "pie in the sky" unfounded promises.  Here you can see and read the precise verification of the whole story when it comes to fishing with King's Charter Service, the reel facts!!!

8/31/01  Winds and conditions to rough to fish caused the postponement of the Scott Jason trip, until next season.

8/30/01 6:45am Update:  We got blown off for the second time on the Kerry Van Dyke charter from this past July.  Approaching thunderstorms in the north and strong winds from the south means no fishing.  If it's not going to be fun, why do it?  This is my philosophy when it comes fishing Lake Michigan.  The marine forecast for today is wind from the south at 15 to 25 knots.  Which in miles an hour, is a 20 to 30 mph wind and will build warm water seas to 3 to 6 footers in a big hurry!

8/29/01  Today's ultimate angling crew consisted of Don Van Stoyk, Capt. Len Mitchell plus Capt. Jeff Pefley and we whacked and stacked the Kings!  We boxed out on Kings to 24 pounds and added a couple of Cohos to the cooler, just so the Kings wouldn't be lonely.  Don, who is 75 years young, has the stamina of a plains Antelope and is a WWII veteran, landed at least his limit and shared some of the rod duties with his crew.    Click for Don's heavy dockside photo on 8/29/01am 
       Plus, he landed every fish that he had hooked up!  It felt reel good to "ride the Salmon hard and put them away wet" for a change.  Let me add, it always seems like Don when steps on the boat, the fish are always biting like hungry Piranhas.
    The most remarkable thing, is that we accomplished this awesome goal with a very strong east wind again.  Our cooler weighed in excess of a 170 pounds, for sure, and lid wouldn't stay closed.  This time, I'll let you count the fish, in the above header photo that we laid out on the dock. Click here for Don's 1999 catch

8/28/01am  Rex, Jim, Matt and Ron concluded their 2 day stay with Kings Charter in a bang up way.  This morning they had doubles and even a 4 banger on Kings (boating 3 of the 4).  The cooler had 7 quality Salmon, a 10 pound Steelhead and they released a smaller adult King for a total of 9 fish on the half day trip. 
                          Click here for the Broome trip on 8/28/01am
    I'd like to thank Capt. Jeff Pefley and Capt. Len Mitchell for running the morning charter, so I could pull a afternoon oil change for regular boat maintenance.  

8/27/01  Fished with Rex Broome and his good friends, Matt, Jim and Ron.  We spent a long, arduous, and wonderful day on Lake Michigan in quest of Salmon.  We had 8 strikes and boated 5 decent fish including 2 Kings way past the 20 pound mark, 3 Cohos (1 shaker) and a dandy 12 pound Lake Trout.  
     A good time was had and shared by all, even if the catching was a tad on the slow side.  The number of fish in our cooler didn't match the quality of this event in my book.  Everyone aboard caught and fought decent, scrappy Salmon.  Plus, Matt is going back to Indiana tomorrow with a new nickname, "Billy Joe Bob," because he's won several Bass Tournaments before.  Click here for their catch photo

8/26/01   No fishing, blow day, because George Wilkerson left Manistee in a hurry.  The lake laid down nicely and was fishable in the pm.

8/25/01   Mark Smith had today's abbreviated trip, because of just plain awful weather.  We cut our losses early on this trip, even though we boated 6 fish.  The Salmon were skimpier than hen's teeth in the traditional places, because warm water down to 100 feet plus had the thermocline all messed up.  
                          Click here for photo of the Mark Smith trip

8/24/01   Grant Fry booked today's trip to gain insight and knowledge on how to score on Salmon all day long, rather than just the early and late bite.  Well, I sure that Grant, John, Kevin and Tony weren't disappointed, because they had action throughout the entire charter.  
    I had something happened today that never happened in my 33 year career on the Great Lakes, we lost a rod, reel and a reel screaming hog tuna when panic overcame good judgment, on the rod pass from John to Grant.  The last time we seen our fishing stick it was water skiing across the Manistee Harbor towards Manistee Lake at 30 mph.  Never the less, it was a accident and I didn't chastise anyone too badly for the lost rod, reel, lure and fish, plus the guys paid me for it   
                               Click here for dockside catch photo
    The body count for the trip was 10 fish, including 3 Cohos (a shaker was tossed back), and 7 Kings to past 20 pounds.  On the whole, the fishermen today did magnificent on the rods, boating most everything that hit.  They were a brilliant gathering of consummate anglers to spent the day with and reely knew how to fish!

8/23/01  Fished today with the "Dynamic Duo" of Dave Esterline and Dave Cunningham for the fourth time this season.   Dave E. brought his young son Matt and Dave C. brought Justin to sample the action on Lake Michigan during "Tuna Time" out of Manistee.  Dave C. (aka "Grandma") caught his 3 fish limit of Kings by 7:00am in the harbor and we then moved the towards the shelf around 9 o'clock.
    Now it was Matt and Justin's turn on the rods, and in a very short span of time we boxed a 9 pound Steelhead, a stocky 8 pound Coho and 2 very small Cohos that were too deeply hooked to release.  Click here for dockside photo 
    The high point of the morning charter occurred about 10:30am when we had a triple header going on big Kings.  We ended up landing 2 of the 3 Tunas and pulled lines before 11:00am.  And let me add; this accomplished group of anglers let me "off the hook" for a full day, because I've been fishing everyday since July 17th and I'm kinda burnt out from chasing the Salmon everyday!
   We ended our extraordinary morning by going out for lunch together and the overall death toll, was a 9 box that weighed-in at, well over a 100 pounds.

8/22/01  Today's guest list was made up by Steve and Cindy Wixom, plus their very good friends, Gloria and Ross.  We fished the harbor, because early morning thunderstorms and threatening skies made it a wise choice.  Right of the bat, Ross landed a 28.40 pound, Master Angler King Salmon and it only got better from there.
             Click here for the Ladies Tunas   Click here for their brag board photo
   After Steve boxed a huge King, it was the Ladies turn and these gals sure had a wonderful time.  Both Cindy and Gloria made my day with laughter and screams of sheer delight.  Cindy boated a 26.5 pound King and Gloria landed a one just past the 25 pound mark.  The Ladies enjoyed themselves and had more fun catching than any man I've had on my boat this season!   Our 7 fish total weighed in excess of a 150 pounds. Overall, it was an awesome trip with truly reel awesome people!

8/21/01  Ben Nietubitz booked today's fishing trip and was accompanied with his father, Ben Senior, Al and Jeff.  We started out like "a house on fire" during the first hour of the trip.  We boated 4 Kings to 26.5 pounds in a rapid fashion and then things went dead for us in the harbor.  We moved south and to deeper water and landed to tiny Cohos and 2 more Kings to 24 pounds for an 8 fish total for the day.
    The reel story is the 24 pounder that Ben Senior had a hold of and fought long and hard, before we netted it.  Also, I'd like to say everyone did a marvelous job on the rods and missed no hooked up reel fish!  Click here for brag board photo

8/20/01  I fished with a more than respectable group of anglers today, and do I have a story to tell you!  Joe, Jim and Ted were more than dumbfounded when  berserk, line ripping Kings with severe personality disorders began to wreck havoc first thing this morning with our tackle.
    All three big guys took swings and misses at trying to land Salmon.  Then 11 year old Steven stepped up to the plate and showed them how to get a fish in the boat.  Young Steven's persistence paid off when the first fish went into the cooler! Then on the last pass of the day, Steven added insult to injury by taking most of the steam out of a 29.30 pound Master Angler King.  Many thanks to the courtesy of the boats at the Manistee City Launch, who cleared the way and made room for Steven's huge Tuna or we wouldn't have landed it.
    Click here for Steven's 29 pounder     Click here for their catch photo 
    While we lost 5 nasty "Bad Boy" Kings we still ended up with a total of 8 fish, including 1 Brown Trout, 1 Coho and 6 Kings to past the 29 pound mark, fantastic!
No one can fault the loss of so many large fish, we were on Harbor Patrol where you have to brutalize the equipment, pull like the blazes and hope the hook the hook don't pull free!  But, this was a fun trip with many "High Fives" and a first-rate exciting activity for everyone, including me! 

8/19/01  Finally at straight up noon we got Pete, Matt, Jerald, Mike and Andy off the dock, because of rain and unsettled weather in the morning.  Before I go any further with this report, I'd like to say "Thank You" to this group for their understanding and patience and I wish all my guests were just like these folks. 
     Rough waters meant harbor patrol and on our first lap, we got into a fray with a large adult King, which was netted it in short order.  As the seas built, we hit another 4 Kings from 12 to plus 25 pounds and boated 3 more big nasty Kings with bad attitudes.  Rather than toughing out it for the full 9 hours, we decided to call it a day and pulled lines at 5:30pm.  Incidentally, the 4 King Salmon weighed in at 
79 pounds, for a heavy box.  Click here for an terrific team of fishermen
     So, all the anglers, except young Matt caught a fish and I gave Matt a firm promise when I see him again, "he will catch fish!"  

8/19/01 7:30am Update:   A driving rain and a fairly strong north winds has put the Pete Cooney charter on hold until 12 noon.  Hopefully, the lake will be decent and the fish will be hitting once the fronts move through.  Plus, the crowds will be gone and the north wind should put the adult Kings around the harbor by this afternoon.  

8/18/01  I was greeted by George Cashmore as he boarded the boat around 5:30am this morning.  George is a seasoned veteran of many Salmon Wars with Kings Charter (in fact, George was one of the first charters I ran in 1983).  The guest list also included Mac, CZ, Chuck, Bob and Don and these anglers were out to celebrate the life of their dear departed friend, Harris McBride, who passed away exactly one week ago today. 
     Well, we'd like to think Mr. McBride was along on this trip too, as we struggled towards the noon hour with only 5 hits and 3 fish.  Then Harris kicked the fish gods in gear and we boated 6 more fish from 12:00pm to 1:15pm for a grand total of 9.
     The "Big Fish Award" went to "CZ" for masterfully landing a reel nasty bruiser King around 20 pounds, in a patient manner only a "reel pro" could display.  All in all, it was a wonderful trip with a noble group of competent fishermen and it was great to have the spirit of Harris along too!       Click here for a fine group of fishermen

8/17/01  Waited for the seas to calm down from this morning blow, so we could get the Karen, Preston, Taylor and dad, David Oberly off the dock.  We had 4 Kings hooked up and boated 2 Kings to around 20 pounds and missed a hard strike.  Not many fish were ever graphed and no bait was to be found in the waters kinda straight out of Manistee.  Slow best describes the fishing and this is not what I wanted to show the Oberly Family who drove all the way from Indiana.  But, 2 fish is better than none.  Click here for the Oberly Family photo

8/17/01  6:00am Update:  Things are on hold for the Oberly Family Charter for today, so far.   2 to 5 foot seas are not something I want to introduce David's 10 and 12 year sons too!  I hope to get them off the dock later this afternoon when, hopefully, it will be a tad calmer.  They cancelled the small craft advisory from last night, but the wind is gusting from the WSW at 25 mph, sustained wind at 20 mph.

8/16/01  John and Mike Pawluk, along with their good friend Keith had a fairly decent day with me, today on Lake Michigan.  For never fishing for the big Kings before, this group did an stupendous job.  They only missed 2 fish and boated 13 fish overall (we thru one back to grow up), including 2 very chubby Cohos, a small Brown Trout and 10 Kings to 26 plus pounds.  The box probably weighed in at some where's around 150 pounds.  If there was a downside to today's fishing, it's that we had to contend with a light rain all day long. 
       Click here for John's 26 pound plus mean looking "Bad Boy" King Salmon.
The learning curve on wrestling 20 pound plus Kings to the net, can be a harsh taskmaster as this bunch of anglers found out today.  Incidentally, I believe they're returning home happy, because I counted 11 gallon bags (most full) as I packed their cooler to the brim.  Click here for their heavy dockside catch photo.

8/15/01  Fished the Pawluk Charter today in Manistee's harbor trying to put a few Kings in the box for my guests.  We had 4 fish hooked up and boated 3 Kings to 20 pounds before boredom set in and we pulled lines around 11:30am.  The Pawluks hail from New York and are interesting folks to have onboard.  I'll be fishing with them again today and wish us luck, because a heavy catch would be nice after struggling on harbor patrol for the last 2 days. Click for their harbor patrol catch photo

8/14/01  Fished with Dr. Steve Fox and Father Louis Komorowski in the harbor today.  We hit 5 fish and landed 3 Kings, while playing bumper boats in crowded conditions.  The lake had rolled over and the harbor was our best chance for adult Kings, that's why we stuck it out.  The company of both anglers far surpassed the quality of fishing I was able to show them, but never the less it was a fine day to be on Lake Michigan.  Click here for Dr. Steve and Fr. Louie

8/13/01  Couldn't fish very much today with "Yoder's Yankers," because 4 to 6 footers just ain't my cup of tea.  We called it a day after a couple of hours.  I said a fond farewell to a good bunch of fishin' Hoosiers as they returned to Indiana with about 10 one gallon bags full of Salmon fillets from yesterday.  A special thanks goes to Capt. Len Mitchell from Lucky Charm Charters for helping produce 8/12/01's outstanding catch.  Len has a few weekend dates available.   
Click here for Capt. Len's website  or call me at (800) 552-2009.   

8/12/01  Today I fishing with a wonderful bunch of Hoosiers from Indiana.  Wayne Yoder found this website last winter and wanted "in" on the fantastic King Salmon Fishery, Manistee and Lake Michigan has to offer.  Wayne (an accomplished Lake Erie Walleye specialist) was accompanied by his son, Douglas, Paul and Bill. 
     Well, folks this group was not disappointed!  They landed 6 adult King Salmon from 18 to 25 pounds, and a  chunky 11 pound Coho, a small Brown Trout, a 12 pound Laker, and a smaller King for a body count of 10 fish!  The cooler weighed in excess of 160 pounds, live weight.   Click here for Yoder's Yankers
   We had a great fishing trip without me beating my head against the wall, trying to produce what just isn't there.  Plus, these anglers were all proficient and skillful in their own right (Walleyes and Smallmouth Bass).  To sum it all up, it was a very pleasant day on Lake Michigan with light winds and steady action to suit anyone.   

8/11/01  Dan Greiner booked today's charter for his friends Scott, Guy and "Mr. Smooth" himself, Frank.  Tough luck plagued these men as their car broke down in Flint, Michigan on the way up from Toledo, Ohio and their luck didn't improve much upon their arrival in Manistee, Michigan.   
   The mornings action was more than decent as far a strikes go, but getting a hook into the Salmon was a problem.  In fact, we missed about 10 hits, compound this with the fact of 3 lost "hooked up" fish and that means we ended up kinda skimpy.  We did manage 2 Brown Trout to 15 pounds, a 20 pound King, 2 Lakers and a very small Coho, for a grand total of 6 fish in spite of the early morning east wind.   
Click here for the photo of Dana, Frank, Guy and Scott (aka Billy Ray).
   In know way can I fault the performance level of the fishermen onboard, it was just the east wind "light bite" that caused the poor "hook up" ratio.

8/10/01 Fished with three excellent fishermen beyond compare named Gary, Paul and Dan.  After the initial rush of adrenalin, these anglers got with the program in a big hurry.  Although, you might not believe this, they only missed one strike and had only one fish get off the hook, reel fact!.......simply incredible!  The death toll overall, was 10 fish on our evening sojourn, because it was much to rough to fish effectively in the am.         Click here for the 3 outstanding fishermen!
    Ever now and then, in my business you run into a group that display talents of natural born anglers and today was that day!  This men had been on several charters before, but never had to "grab their own rod" without the assistance of a first mate or deckhand.  Well, after a very short learning curve Gary, Paul and Dan became very adapt into getting their own hooks into "Mr. Salmon."   In parting, I said to my guests, "I'm reel proud of you and the job you did."  Most of the strikes occurred between 8:00pm and 9:30pm, in a action packed charter adventure. 

8/9/01  Fished with the Scott Jason group today and it's a special event, because Scott has fished with me since 1977, well before I went in the charter business.  Don, Ron and Scott's son Kevin made up the "group."
    First up was Ron, as the number 5 rigger sprang to life with a King in the high teens, testing Ron's dexterity with fishing rod.  No problem for Ron who displayed expert pro-caliber skills and whipped the big King in short order.  Next up was Kevin, and a large King in the 25 pound bracket put on a aerial display taking than a 100 yards of line off the reel.  Grit and determination on young Kevin's (about 12 years old) part, put the "Hog King" in the net after a 20 minutes of hard pulling combat.                          Click for Ron's & Kevin's fish
    Don missed a screamer before we pulled lines early due to threatening skies and high winds.  Timing on my part was "right on" as the wind increased to 30 knots, just as we entered the pier heads.  This charter was rescheduled for 8/31/01.

8/8/01  It was Hooverville on my boat today, because I had Tony, Kevin, Joe, Warren and Warren Hoover Sr. onboard.  The Hoover's have caught with me since 1987 and today's catch was not spectacular, we ended up fairly decent with 3 Kings to 23 pounds, 1 Laker and a "Lunker Hog" Master Angler Brown Trout that tipped the scales at 16.80 pounds.  Kevin caught the fatso beer bellied Brown in a scrappy duel in close quarters.  
            Click here for Kevin's Hog Brown       Click here for Hoover catch photo
All in all, it was a fun trip for me, because we didn't miss, but only one strike, and hopefully yesterday's loositis is behind me for a while. I've always enjoyed the good natured company of the Hoover family who always seems to have a good time.  Plus, they're a fun family to be around.  

8/7/01  I fished  with longtime friends and supporters of Kings Charter, Mary Shaw from Blue Water Research who owns the patents on the Off Shore Release.  Mary, Marshall, Ruth and Rod were my esteemed and welcomed guests. 
   Just about the time you think you've hit rock bottom and things can't get any worse, you have a day like we did!  We lost 5 hooked up screaming hog Kings in at least the 20 pound bracket.  Throw in a some missed strikes and that's how our day went.  Ruth and Marshall were successful in landing a couple of decent Kings, while Mary and Rod were snake-bit in the opportunities they had.  The lost fish were nobodies fault!  The Salmon either broke the line or became unstuck on a semi-frustrating hot and humid day on Lake Michigan for me. 
    The bright spot is that guests optimistic attitude kept my spirits up.  Overall, we ended up with 2, sizable 20 pound plus Kings 
                             Click for the photo of Marsh & Ruth

8/6/01  I'll be fishing tomorrow with longtime friends and supporter of Kings Charter, Mary Shaw from Blue Water Research who owns the patents on the Off Shore Release.  Mary, Paul and Marshall are always a welcomed guests and the performance of the Off Shore Release is legendary.  Marshall's Saginaw Bay fishing reports are among the best I receive and Marshall on 17 or 18 years old.  
                       Click for a sample of Marshall's report

8/5/01  A super lack luster performance on mine and the fishes part, best describes the limited action that was witnessed by Steve, Dave, Larry, Mark, Steve and Craig.  Today was supposed to be a Salmon Seminar, but the continuing struggle to put a few fish in the boat took it's toll.  In 8 hours of lines in the water we had 6 strikes, 5 fish hooked up and 4 were boated.  The area fished was from just north of Big Point Sable to Manistee.  The box had 2 semi decent adult Kings, a shaker King and a 8 pound Steelhead.    
    I'm reel tried of the poor catching standard Manistee is offering, I've downgraded the forecast to "Reel Slow."  In the mornings, unless you set down on fish, it's going to be a long day on the pond trying to find something that just isn't there!  The Little Manistee River is loaded with adult Kings, far more than you'd believe for this time of the season.  The 7 days of east wind has hurt our fishery immensely.  
                               Click here for their group photo.

8/4/01  Angler supreme, Barry Pines was once again my honored guest.  Barry's son Rich rounded out the twosome.  We left the dock at 5pm and boated 4 Kings to let's say, oh about 25 pounds.  We played with a dancing Steelhead that deserved to get away and a giant King that came off 10 minutes into the fight, plus a couple of strikes were missed.  The action, while not fast and furious was steady until we pulled lines at 9:30pm.    Click here for Barry and Rich's photo

8/3/01  Fished with Elaine, Jean, Jerry and Dick Kowalski today.  Started south of the harbor and ended up north of the harbor in a 100 feet of water, searching for fish.  Broke a big King off behind the boat, caught a decent King and found a shaker Brown Trout that couldn't be released.  Tough, describes my morning as we planned on hitting again in the evening, but lumpy seas prevented that.
   I need a good day and setting up on the fish for the early bite would be a welcome change to what's been going on so far!  

8/2/01  Fished today with the outstanding father and son team of Steve Smith.  The wind was finally from the southwest and Lake Michigan is starting to produce some reel catching.  We hit 6 adult King Salmon, had 4 hooked up and boated 3, on the half day charter. The catch weighed in at over 75 pounds for the 3 Salmon.  Sorry, no photos, because I forgot and left the camera at home.  Young Steve 10 years old, now knows the strength and endurance of adult Kings or Chinooks.  The green Bechhold Flasher was "hot" in the 85 to 100 foot depths. 

8/1/01  Jim Courtwright along with Fred, "Lucky" Ron and John made up today's charter guest sheet.  This trip was a referral from Chip Cartwright of Silver Streak fame who's a relation of Jim.  The high of the day is when "Lucky" Ron caught a 17.40 Master Angler Brown Trout.  Seas building to plus 4 foot caused us to cut this full day trip a little short, but nobody went home disappointed.  We landed a nice, 8 pound Steelhead, 3 Kings to 12 pounds and the trophy Brown for a 5 fish total.     Click here for "Lucky" Ron's Lunker Brown Trout. 
I'm not fishing, or pushing the recent tournament information, because of the tournament entanglement with the Manistee Native Americans; the Little River Band of Ottawa's and Chippewa's.  While the casino here continues to prosper, it appears they're not interested in their Great Lakes fishing rights.  Don't believe this, or be fooled, once their major casino, motel and customer base is built, we could be in major trouble.  They own the rights to net in Lake Michigan down to the Muskegon area.