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6/30/06
Today's update is courtesy of Craig of Capt. Chucks Tackle
in Ludington. First, let me tell you a little bit about
Craig. He is one of the most highly regarded local fishermen
that plies the waters off Ludington. He won, or been part of a
team that's taken first place honors in some of Ludington biggest
events. Once Craig has located and sees what's working, he has
an extra gear that shifts into over drive, running numbers that
impress most all.......in his home port of Ludington, MI.
Here's what Craig had to say about fishing
yesterday evening, "we fished north of the Big Point
Sable in 120' of water. Best depth down was 80' to a 100' on
the counter. Our largest King was 16 pounds on the button and
a 9.5 Lake Laker too.
We boated 10 fish for 12 hits and had lines in the water for about 4
hours."
I then asked what was his best
set-up? Craig's reply was, "the X-Glow Yellowtail BTI
accompanied with a 2 fly rig."
I requested he rate the fishing and in his
exact word he said, "decent."
Tomorrow's update will focus on professional tackle shops like
Capt. Chucks and Franks Outdoor World in Linwood, MI.
6/29/06
New products are on the agenda today! I'm proud to
announce several new color patterns with the most recognizable
being, Blue Bubble. I took the Blue Bubble the next level, making it in X-Glow and in a standard pearl model.
Click for
X-Glow Blue Bubble BTI Click
for X-Glow Blue Bubble 2 Fly Meat Rig
To make it a perfect match, a new matching 2 Fly Meat Rig in
X-Glow Blue Bubble is now available too! Unless I miss my
guess, I'd say we offer the world's most complete and largest line
of flashers, meat heads, 2 fly rigs, 3 fly rigs, bullet heads (that
all match perfectly) under one roof,....dedicated to pulling cut
bait! Click to
purchase
6/28/06
Craig from Capt. Chucks in Ludington called me yesterday to replenish
his tackle store with my products that they were low
in-stock on. During the course of our conversation, Craig
shared with me how good the catching was at Big Point Sable.
Last Sunday, Craig and his crew boated 17 fish during the afternoon
of 6/25/06, after the weekend crowd went home. Craig's exact
words were, "your Mountain Dew flasher was hot!"
Then proceeded to order a bunch more 'Dews more for his store.
Today, I'm sending X-Glow BTIs (10 inchers)
to Capt. Chucks in Ludington along with the highly popular X-Glow
12" Reel Flasher. This is the first time in the world, I
offered any of my X-Glow flashers to a retail outlet. Included
in their order was the new in-demand stuff, like the X-Glow Green
Frog BTIs and the Froggie 2 Fly Meat Rigs.
We shipped X-Glow Froggie BTIs to Franks in
Linwood yesterday, so they got 'em too, along with a fresh supply of
Magnum Meat Heads.
6/27/06
Lack of consistency was the story from last weekend's fishing
according to our message board members. One day was slow,
then...the next day was decent. The best thing is
multi-species catches were reported from both WI and MI. It's
good to see Steelhead and Lakers being mentioned. Click
for WI King & what caught it
Best report came from Capt. Paul Vantol
fishing Ludington, MI. This past Sunday Paul boated 10 kings,
2 steelhead and 2 lake trout for a body count of 14 fish. Some
of his Kings were in the mid to high teens for icing on the
cake. Paul still has an opening left for this coming
Saturday's "on the water" seminar too. Call 989-860-2932
Paul crewed for me, some seasons back and
has been in on the ground floor with cut meat tactics. I
highly recommend this knowledgeable charter skipper.
6/26/06
Team Zooby Do, comprised of message board members Jeff C. and
Mike Z. figured without pre-fishing the Manistee Pro/Am they'd skip
the tournament and just go fishing out of Manistee. As you can
see by today's featured photo (click
here) they did as well, if not better than those who
competed. Their best rig was a Black Mamba Glow BTI
accompanied by a Clear Red 3 Fly Meat Rig.
Mike Higgs stopped by yesterday afternoon
to pick up some meat tackle. He had volunteered to clean
donated fish from the Manistee Pro/Am for the Lions Club annual
charity fish boil/fry. He said of this past Saturday's catch, "out
of 350 some fish we cleaned, maybe 8 were in the 18 pound class and
most of the tournament fish were all small guys, most running well
below 8 pounds."
So, from the sounds of things, the
tourney teams dealt with mostly juvenile Kings. 6/25/06
Shop duties yesterday and today have taken precedence keeping
products in-stock. This leaves no time to snoop around and
find out what's happening with our Great Lakes fishery. Look
for a better fishing rundown tomorrow morning.
Working on building product brought several
things to mind about how far our tackle has came in the past couple
of years. Prior to i2k, the big deal was dodgers and if you
could crack the right length off the cannonball, hit a .3 speed
window your results would be great. The earlier "glow in
the dark" stuff only had a duration of maybe 20 minutes, before
it had to be charged up again and pulling a rod to do it!
Nowadays, attractor's speed is no longer that crucial. My new
2006 X-Glow flashers, bullets (squid heads) and meat heads will hold
a charge will last for at least 5 hours. These are phenomenal developments, if you look back just a few seasons
ago.
6/24/06
Off Shore Challenge in Port Austin/Grindstone City and the Manistee
Pro/Am
is this weekend's big deal tournaments. The best tournament
fishermen I know would be good at poker, cuz I've seen a lot of
pre-tourney bluffing to take you off your game plan. Manistee's
bigger fish fish came north of the harbor is one of the rumors floating
around. If and when I hear something promising, I'll post it here
later today.
6/23/06
Manistee Pro AM tournament anglers are looking for fish and
being pretty tight lipped, which is to be expected. Bath House
to the Big Point Sable showed promise last weekend with a few Kings
in 15 to 20 pound class.
Just where are the fish gonna be this
weekend?....Who knows? I can say with the utmost of
confidence: while Manistee has had some decent fishing this week,
the bait seems to be on the move. Find the schools of bait and
you'll be into fish.
There's more Lakers available this season
and amount to bonus point fish in this tournament. Last year's
hush-hush big-secret deal was Steelhead inside of 40' on the beach
during this very same tournament.
6/22/06
Spent a goodly portion of yesterday making a round trip from
Manistee to south of St. Joe, at Bridgman, MI. I had to pick
up new meat heads, bullet heads, and flashers, both in 10" and
12" sizes. I did notice the new X-Glow formula isn't as
hard to charge as the stuff previously used. Less then a
minute under a regular twin fluorescent light 40 watt shop lighting
fixture gave ample charge that lasted for 3 hrs.
Being gone all day yesterday, means I have to
catch up on fishing happenings in
Manistee. I did hear the Bath House to the Big Point was good
in Ludington last weekend, and until lately,.....surpassed what
Manistee had to offer.
If I hear something juicy in the line of
fishing info this morning, I'll re-update this website ASAP!
6/21/06
Set lines yesterday afternoon about 4pm. Hit a fish before
all the stuff was in the water on the new BTI X-Glow Green
Froggie. Had a slow bite going until 7pm, then the fish shut
off for John J and I. Click
for X-Glow BTI Froggie
Being only 2 of us onboard we ran 2
riggers, 2 divers and 2 lead core rigs. 2 fish came on the
divers (BTI Green Froggie both times), 2 fish on our 70' down
rigger and 1 on a full core with a Mountain Dew BTI. Click
for John J's lead core King
We fished 80 to 150 feet of water and
all of our hits came in 110' to 120', tight to structure. We
had 5 interested customers, stuck all 5 and the quintet made it to
the net. Fishing was not fast by any means, but enough to keep
things interesting. It was said the morning bite was
better. Click
for our hot rigs & our fish box
Marked big wads of bait almost continuously
and the post mortem on the stomach contents revealed the fish were
stuffed full with 2 to 3 inch baby alewives.
4 Kings and a Laker Trout is a long
ways from a big deal. However, we fished in flat calm slick
water, with nary a ripple on the surface.
6/20/06
Fishing News Flash: This morning, fishing off Manistee
improved in a huge way. Capt. Dave, who skippers the "Long
Necker" took his 3 person, 9 King Salmon limit by 8:30am.
Dave said, "action is coming 70' down and the fish were going
nuts!" Dave's pulling a meat program and probably
fishing the shelf, although the rest of details are kinda sketchy.
This is great news for those coming to Manistee to fish the Pro Am
scheduled to start soon.
I was able to re-update this site at 9am
to bring you this welcomed news.
6/19/06
Weekend fishing info from my area is gonna be hard to come
by. Last Saturday was lumpy and yesterday it rained buckets in
the north country. Needless to say, with the lousy conditions
a fresh report from Manistee is a not.
Installed the new BTI X-Glow Flashers at: www.michiganangler.com
All models are in stock and priced below what retail will be after
this introduction sale is over.
A long dissertation about the quality characteristics
of this product is not necessary. Those who've used the X-Glow
Reel Flashers (12 inchers) already know the glow will last 4 to 6
hours and catch fish at all depths in the water column.
If you haven't used my X-Glow
flashers?.......think about that the next time your action dies and
you haven't had a bite in the last 2 hours. Click
for X-Glow info 6/18/06
Fathers Day and honoring the person that brought you into the world
goes without saying. My father has long since passed and I'd
probably give all I own,
to spend a day or two with him, saying all the things I wanted to, but
never did.
Capt. Andy, a port regular from Michigan City, IN was
kind enough to sent in today's photo of the day. This photo is
living proof that it's catching in this Indiana port, not fishing.
Click here for
Capt. Andy's limit catch
6/17/06
Working on the new X-Glow BTIs and installing them at the
webstore: www.michiganangler.com
is at hand for today's task.
If I hear any worthy fishing info worth
sharing, then another update will happen later today.
Everything said about the fishing off Manistee is some where's
between slow and stopped. Let's hope the action picks up soon.
The Wisconsin side of Lk. MI
seems to be offering their anglers better chances at good catches of
Salmon and Trout for now.
6/16/06
Fishing remains on the slow side in Manistee. Some are
catching 2 to 3, while others aren't getting a hit. For the
record, inshore.....meaning 30' to 300' at this time of the season
was always a crap shoot, prior to the last couple of seasons.
In the past June success always required a trip to the depths 500'
to 800', working the top 30' with a surface program. Being
spoiled by an overabundance of inshore Kings during 2004 and 2005
has caused the fleet to neglect working the offshore waters.
Shop duties are focused on building a
reasonable inventory of the new X-Glow BTIs before their world
unveiling this coming Monday (6/19/06).
New X-Glow Green Frogs are almost ready.
If you'd
like to get a sneak peek on the new stuff that's going to premiere on 6/19/06?...... click
here
6/15/06
Recent report from Michigan City, IN said this port is "now
on fire." Looks like the Kings, Coho & Steelhead
moved inshore on Monday, 6/12/06 for this port.
Here's the reel-facts from Manistee and
what happened on 6/14/06. Most of the sports fleet gave up and
went in by 9am, with reports on no action. One of the best
charter boats in Manistee, was sitting on 3 fish at 9am. Now,
if the "best" can only muster 3 fish by 9am, you
know.....it's got to be tough!
Last Sunday's reel-deal in Ludington from
the sound of things, was slow too. This port is noted for some
of the best skippers on the Michigan side and when they can't locate
fish.....there's just not many around.
Look for things to be tough for the short
term in Ludington, Manistee and Frankfort with catches drastically
improving by the 4th of July. In Manistee, a small early July
run of adult Kings seems to key in on the Big & Little Manistee
Rivers.
Best place to start if you're fishing in
Manistee in the next day, or two? Looks like south, towards
Guerney Creek in the 9s and 10s from what I heard.
6/14/06
Reports of good Steelhead catches are coming in from Lake
Michigan's more southerly ports, like St. Joe & Saugatuck.
Still not much info on the Salmon whackin' action status yet.
Hopefully, the IL, or WI fishermen will send in a report soon.
BTIs are continually making a name for
themselves, both in the USA and aboard. Here's a report from
our overseas friends, Team Extreme in Sweden:
"Last weekend we test fished Lake Vättern
for the first time this season. The BTIs worked for us, catching 6
big chars. I'm sure the BTIs will give us lots of fun in the
future".......Capt. Dan/Team Extreme, Sweden Click
for Dan's Swedish Char
Numerous emails back in January to Team
Extreme discussed how hard it was to catch Char, being described as
rare. Looks like they have a good Char program now.
Intended update to highlight the quality
features of the new X-Glow BTIs will be shuffled back a day, or two,
as time to do a worthy explanation is just not available.
6/13/06
Mediocre best describes the Salmon situation on Lake Michigan
from what was said by several sources. Yes, there were some
inshore Salmon caught.
However, none of our message board members from
MI, IN, WI, NY, or IL posted a rave review on how good the salmon
catching was in any port on our Great Lakes.
Fishing in Michigan City, IN still remains
a long ways out, like 12 to 16 miles, then there's only Coho.
In fact, the port of Michigan City, IN has yet to develop a stable fishery for Kings
in 06. Haven't heard much from St. Joe to Ludington. Lack
of reports generally means slowed action, which is kinda normal for
this time of the season.
Tomorrow's update will focus on the innovative
X-Glow BTI Flashers. X-Glow BTIs glow all night long, so 6
hours isn't a stretch. The prime glow that I like best, is a
good 2 hours long. Needless to say, I'm very proud of this
ground-breaking product upgrade. Glow stuff always seems to
work best on the adult Kings in late July thru early
September. Click
for new BTIs in X-Glow Click
here for glow test
6/12/06
Saginaw Bay is going great guns for Walleye, most reports are
limits, with crawler harnesses working best. Some did well
with crankbaits after their supply of crawlers were gone.
Walleyes to plus 10 pounds were reported from Augres, MI.
Click here for a 10.36
pound Walleye
This past weekend in Manistee most did good to
decent on Saturday's Salmon, but Sunday's bite in calmer waters was
a tad slower....after the early flurry was over.
Capt. Bill from Watta Bite Charters
recently took a King over 23 pounds fishing out of a little known
place,....out of the mainstream being; Glenn Arbor, MI. Glenn
Arbor is located just slightly north of Sleeping Bear Dunes.
Launching facilities are pretty darn scary in Glenn Arbor!
There's just a ramp leading into Lk. MI with no breakwall protection
from the seas or wind. So, don't get too revved-up about
fishing there.
6/11/06
Recent winds form the north and cool weather warmed-up the fish
off Manistee. Granted, I haven't fished a lot like I use to,
but having Kings caught in the harbor every time the water
cools off, is a new one on me for this time of the season. 6/10/06 2:00pm
EST fishing took a turn for the better in Manistee, according to
Capt, Dave Deforest from Enforcer Charters. He said,
"there was a early harbor bite and the depths of 170' to 220'
fish turned on a little later. Over the deeper waters, the
fish were coming 60' to 80' down." Capt. Dave ended up
with good box of 9 Kings to almost 18 lbs. Best news I've
heard in better then a week!
My weekend will be spent dealing with
flasher production. Click
for new Glow BTI
6/9/06
Lake Oahe in South Dakota has been stocked with Kings since
1982. I've heard of this inland waters fishery before, but it
came full circle, as my RFs and 3 Fly Meat Rigs did a job on the
Dakota Kings!
Here's what Don S. had to say, "Thanks for taking the time to call me this morning. Here is a picture of friend's 6 year old, with a Lake Oahe South Dakota salmon taken this week, that she reeled in by herself. Your flashers did pretty well, for the first time I used them and meat. Our fish ran between 7 and 11 lbs. I should be sending in another order this week."
Click
for Don's photo
6/8/06
Capt. Dave Deforest is doing an in-store promo at Pilgrim's Village
Tackle Store in Cadillac, MI this coming Saturday. This is a new
outlet for my product line and they have a good stock of meat in whole
and strips. If you're looking for tips and ways to improve your
meat program, be sure to drop by and speak with Capt. Dave.
I added a new base color to my 12"
Reel Flasher line and it's a Reel-Winner! I opted for the more
costly natural-looking pearl colorant, rather than plain white (which
was 3Xs cheaper). Pearl is Mother Nature's color, and by far
better mimics the reflective bottom half of all fish, either predator,
or prey species. Besides, to the best of my knowledge no other
manufacturer of flashers is using a pearl as a base color.
I'm sure the high cost of this special colorant has held them back, but
not me!
There's another brand new RF base color
in red. Those that pull meat already know what devastating color
red is, so no further explanation is needed for Mr. Red.
The brand new fishing colors are: Pearl Doub L Glo, Red Doub L Glo and
Ruby Red.
Click
for RFs in Pearl and Red Doub L Glos Click
for Ruby Red RFs
6/7/06
Fishing for the sports fleet in Manistee has sure went to hell
in a hand basket since this past Memorial Day Weekend. Reports
of 1 to 2 fish per a half day outing from some good fishermen known
to catch big time when the fish are there.
I'm of the belief that deep water further
away from the shelf is holding more fish, but there's a lack of temp
breaks normally seen at the time of the season. If you check
the temp chart by clicking
here, you'll see the temp is basically the same all the way
across Lake Michigan. In years past, you'd see major fish
holding breaks, and not on the Wisconsin line, like the break is
now. Then factor in, for the past 3 springs, Salmon pickins'
was pretty easy on Manistee shelf and anglers haven't had to look to
the offshore waters for fish, like back in the 1990s & 1980s.
More decent news from Rogers City on Lake
Huron, as there are some Kings hitting in 60 to 90 feet of
water. Not big numbers, but if you're local to the area seeing
Salmon this early should be a sign of good things to come.
Today's featured photo is from Captains Tom
and Mary Rasmussen who are traveling Alaska on vacation. My
thanks Tom and Mary for the Halibut photo!
6/6/06
Today's update was gonna be directed at introducing new flasher
colors, but I caught on to the triple sixes in today's date.
Then thought wiser of this action
and the spookier implications of 6-6-6.
So, a more appropriate update would be: are you
superstitious? I always avoided gassing up before fishing,
preferring to get fuel the night before. Bananas on the boat
always seemed to bring about a negative fish bite. Eating
greasy morning donuts, then setting lines was another no-no!
I changed the poll to see if you're superstitious about certain
rituals in your normal routine of attacking the Great Lakes where
you can vote your opinion.
6/5/06
Our message board members showed an excellent account of their
skills during this past weekend with 4 top ten finishes in 3 separate
tournaments. I'll elaborate on this further later when
more info becomes available to me. This I do know for sure, a
1st place, a 2nd, a 6th and a 10th. Good job members, my
congrats!
A bunch of people who fished Manistee
over this last weekend had some pretty skimpy catches. The story
from the sport fishing fleet was 2, maybe 3 fish a boat for a lot of work! So, the fishing
sucks for the time being in my home port.
From the sounds of things, Wisconsin has
better fishing on their side of the big pond (Lk. MI), than the Michigan side
is showing. Some WI anglers got into double digit catches of
Steelhead, called 'bows in the land of cheese heads (said w/the
greatest respect). Good Kings to 20 pounds were reported in the
Milwaukee, Algoma & Kewaunee area,....not in huge numbers, but respectable
catches.
Lake Huron continues to rebound in small
steps, as a fair number of Kings in the 10 to 14 pound bracket are
showing up in Rogers City fish boxes according the message board
member and DNR census taker Julie S. Some rumors of Kings are
coming from Grindstone City, but I've yet to have double
verification of this chitchat.
6/4/06
In my neck of the woods (Ludington to Frankfort) many are still
working the inshore waters from 60' to 300' in search of
Kings. Their success has been spotty at best, with the mega
packs mid-May Kings scattering to parts unknown.
Traditionally, at this of the season, long
trips to reel-deep water like 400 to 900 feet meant a surface
Steelhead/Lake Trout fishery and some juvenile Kings. The top
30' was always the most productive, with the birds on the surface
being best.
What's happened to our close to port
Kings?.....how knows? But, we've been spoiled from the last
couple of unusual seasons of close-in big herds of Salmon.
6/3/06
Best fishing news from the big pond this week was from Steve P
who fished Frankfort solo and caught his 3 King limit on
6/1/06. Solo is a hard row to hoe, having to control the boat,
fight the fish and do the net job! My hat's off to anyone that
goes one on one with Mr. King.
Saginaw Bay is red-hot for Walleyes and
many of our message board members are picking on Walleyes, waiting
for the Salmon situation to stabilize, before a gas costly trip to
the Salmon ports on Lake Michigan. Click
for Bay City Walleyes
6/2/06
In our Great Lakes Fishing Community the word travels pretty
darn fast with the internet. Spreading new ideas, concepts and
breaking barriers is what moving forward is about. Savvy big
water anglers are now regularly taking fish from 180' to 250'
down. Also, knowledgeable fishermen know it's a myth that the
color red don't work below 50' and rely on red to produce at all
depths.
As promised from yesterday when I introduced the
2 Fly Meat Rig to the world, the exact spacing measurements are 12
inches from the bead chain to the 1st fly, then back 12 more inches
the 2nd Fly. Tie on a barrel swivel, then 14 to 15 inches back
to the meat head. The longer drop is necessary with my Magnum
Meat Head to utilize the exceptional kick/spin this meat head has.
Without further ado, all 2 Fly Meat Rigs are now
listed at: www.michiganangler.com
I know you'll like the price of 9.95 on all 2 Fly Rigs including the
highly popular Glow and X-Glow series. That's right, and
you'll save 4 bucks over the cost of a standard 3 Fly Yellowtail, or
Bluetail Meat Rig during this time sensitive special introductory
offer!
6/1/06
Today's special announcement is 2 Fly Meat Rigs that have been
in the testing stage for the past month. Results have been
great and the 2 fly thing better suits the divers and my new BTI
Flashers. Click
for 2 fly proof
Back on 5/17/06 I posted a photo of 6
Kings we caught in a short morning in Manistee. If you'd
looked closely, you'd have noticed all the meat rigs were 2 fly
jobs.
2 Fly Meat Rigs have been thoroughly tested
on Lake Michigan in the states of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and
of course Michigan. Good results were also reported from Lk.
Huron. This new concept has won tournaments and better yet,
pounded out limit after limit for the sports fishing fleet that tows
meat. Click
to check 'em out
One of the biggest advantages is diver fish
are easier to land, with the 2 fly deal being a tad shorter then
traditional 3 fly rigs. Cost of the new rigs is only 9.95 too!
Without the support of our message board
members and their feedback this new product wouldn't have came into
being. So, there, the cats out of the bag now!
Tomorrow's update will feature the
spacing, or dimensions for the do-it-yourself crowd. I'm not
gonna hide this kind of knowledge under a bushel basket and keep it
secret any longer. We did that last month!
5/31/06
As we close out May 2006, the fishing stories from last weekend
were less than stellar on all fronts. None of our message
board members stood on the fish (according to their reports).
Reasons could be several, but our spring King season started way
early in Manistee (back in late April) and there's only gonna be so
many good days, before the inshore waters warm and move the
bait. Look back to a record warmth in January 2006, as part of
the cause.
Stand by for tomorrow's update
when I'll introduce a brand new meat fishing concept that's been
under wraps for 5 weeks of serious testing. This new idea has
won tournaments and more importantly filled many fish boxes for the
sports fleet, as we move our technology to a higher, less costly and
easier to use level.
5/30/06
Near record high temps greeted those that made the trek to my
area. The weather was unseasonably hot. Fishing did not
live up to expectations in many of Michigan's more northerly ports,
like it should have. On 5/27/06 we took 6 fish for 8 hits (out
of Manistee). Our largest fish was a Laker, just slightly
short of 12 pounds. Some did score on Kings in the mid-teen in
Manistee, but those quality Kings were in short supply according to
an overall consensus fleet catch. Click
for 5/27/06 box
The word from the more southerly Lk. MI
ports sounds pretty much the same, saying a slow go in flat water
table-top conditions.
I did notice tourist traffic was down in
Manistee, as the soaring gas prices did keep some at home.
Manistee's First Street City Launch was barely half full, if you
want to use that as an indicator. 5/29/06
Spend some time today, thinking of the real meaning of our
holiday named, Memorial Day. It's dedicated to countless brave
members of our military that laid it all on the line and died for
our country.
A severe thunderstorm from 3am to
6:30am on 5/28/06 knocked out my phone system, of which.....I am
still without. Use kingscharter@yahoo.com
to contact me for the time being if needed. Full update on the
holiday weekend's action will happen tomorrow. Manistee
catching was medium to slow, then progressed from slow to poor, then
poor to lousy, as the weekend wore on.
Best news was gas remained at $2.72 and did
not hit the 3 dollar mark in my neck of the woods. Like I said, more
tomorrow........
5/27/06
Much like everyone else, I'm gonna take the next 2 days off
before regular updates resume. Look for a whole nine yards
report on Memorial Day on how our holiday day weekend went.
The unofficial start of summer is here!
5/26/06
Have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend. Fishing
reports from Manistee are hard to come by, as there's a weigh your
best 5 fish each day tournament in Onekama this Saturday &
Sunday. Tourney's are known to cause a bad case of
lockjaw......when competition enters the picture.
The weigh-in is at the Onekama Marine with Fred
MacDonald officiating this event. Fred has finally made the
right choice for a weigh-in location (in the USA) and not on the
tribal grounds of sovereign nation/casino!
5/25/06
Today's featured photo is from Rogers City, MI on Lake Huron.
Now these are not the skinny, big headed fish I seen in 2004, but
fatso-plump looking rascals. This is simply great news for the
fisherpeople that ply the northern waters on Lake Huron, because the
forage base is on the mend. My thanks to Julie S. for sending in
her timely catch photo from 5/23/06 Click
for fatso good looking Lake Trout
Manistee's
part of Lake Michigan was kinda lumpy yesterday, from what was told to
me. The wind was from the south and that's ideal for this time of
the year. South and southwest will bring warmer water in and
stratify the big pond, pushing fish out of the top 30 feet of water,
where they're tougher/spookier to catch.
I don't know about you, but I'm
getting fairly exciting about catching for the Memorial Day Weekend with
the way conditions are setting up! Highs in the 80s and spunky
spring Kings are an offer too good to pass up! 5/24/06
Cliff J. from Waukegan, IL sent in a good report on 5/23/06 working
a meat program in 30' to 40' of water looking for alternative
species for an upcoming contest.
Here's his report:
"Today was a day of experiments. There is a tournament coming up in the first part of June out of Waukegan. The scoring system gives bonus points for every species on both days of the tournament. I have been catching everything but Browns on meat, so today we went shallow targeting them in
30'-40'. Click
for catch photo
The net of the story is that the Browns have no longer escaped the wrath of meat this year. Blue double glow BTI with a blue fly meathead took a 14 pound brown on a half core over 36 fow. The same rig also scored a 7 pound brown in addition to a couple coho. Had one 8 pound King on a green double glow flasher and dark green meathead 75 feet behind the ball, down 25 in 40 fow.
All in all a great day, finally tally: 2 Browns, 1 King and 7 Coho.".....Capt.
Cliff 5/23/06
Capt. Terry from "Terry's Toy" in Algoma, WI has reported
in with fairly good results. No big time 15 fish limits yet, but
Terry's report mentioned healthy Kings just shy of 20 lbs. 110'
down over 120' of water was the most productive depths.
Gas is holding under 3 bucks a gallon so far in
Manistee. Marina gas is around $3.50, so it goes without saying,
fill up before launching if you have a trailerable boat.
Last Sunday's blow has Ludington hemmed-in with
cold water once again according to the surface temperature. Click
for the recent temp chart
Tomorrow's update will be courtesy of Capt.
Cliff who fishes Lake Michigan waters out of Waukegan, IL. His
results on working the shallower inshore waters 30' to 40' range will be
posted. He used a BTI/meat program to target Brown Trout on
5/22/06 and did pretty darn good. Click
Cliff's Coho, Kings and Browns to 14lbs. 5/22/06
The tone of today's update is a positive one to start things
off. After a windy, rainy and very cold last few days, the weather
is on the mend for the kick off of the Memorial Day Weekend. Highs
in the 70s over the holiday means stable weather patterns will enhance
success on the more northerly ports. Look for Frankfort, Ludington
and Manistee to catch on fire with the improving conditions.
Early word is message board member,
"Rawhide" won the Lake Huron's Bluewater Classic. This
is a big deal, big money event and one of the most high-status
tournaments on our Great Lakes. Member Bandit took 8th and the
largest fish of this tourney was taken by mrymar. My
congratulations to all for such a fine performance!
Yes, they were using my stuff, but products alone do not catch fish
without expertise of the crew. So, unlike other manufacturers that
like to beat the drum on how good their products are, I
think it's pretty hollow for me to take any credit for what they did.
This I will say, "I built my stuff to outperform the competition
& leave it at that!" 5/21/06
Here's the reel-story on I heard from yesterday. Manistee
and Ludington pier heads both produced some fish early, then the
bite died. Fishing in Manistee was better over the deeper 80'
to 160' depths of water than Ludington. St. Joe is still
showing excellent catches of Salmon if you can locate the pods of
bait.
South Haven showed good fishing for
Kings in 100' to 160' of water. Fish were coming deep, like
90' to 100' down. Roscoe is in top third, or 29th place in the
amateur division, out of 93 boats non-pro boats entered.
Heavy seas predicted today will
curtail fishing at most Lake Michigan ports and the possibility of
canceling of the South Haven tourney. 5/20/06
News from the South Haven tournament will be forthcoming later
this morning when I have a complete update. I like leaving
daily updates open ended when we have port reporters on the
water.
10:00am Roscoe reported in his results, thus far in the
South Haven money tourney.
He had 5 Kings, averaging 8 pounds and a kicker Lake Trout for a total
of 6 fish with about 4 hours left to fish in this contest. King
Kobra was his best flasher, so far. Trout came off the bottom and
90' down was his best depth on the riggers.
2pm: Roscoe caught 8 Kings and 2 Lakers (10 fish out of a needed
12) for Team Burns Unit in the South Haven tourney. 132 boats are
entered in this high stakes event that ends tomorrow. Stand by for
more reports.
5/19/06
Fresh news from South Haven said the Kings were coming 90' down
over 140' to 110' with good marks on the bottom. All the fish
were stuffed with alewives according to Steve "Roscoe"
Burn's late day phone call to me.
Got an excellent report from Capt. Cliff
who fishes out of the Port of Waukegan, IL. His reports is
loaded with info, but a bit long to use all his subject matter in
the space normally allotted to a daily update. Click
here to access Cliff's 5/17/06 info
Today's photo of the day is courtesy
of Cliff. His photo truly shows what a great all-around
fishery Illinois water has. Click
for a pile of Perch, Coho & Kings
5/18/06
Get bit with BTIs, is no
BS! is
the title of today's update. It's one thing for me to see the
reports and photos of others catching and being successful.
It's another thing to see what BTIs are capable of in the first
person, cause on 5/17/06, I got a chance to utilize them.
Until now, all the fish (I seen) caught were on the rough prototypes
used 2005 in water tests.....when we sorted thru 4 trying design
changes!
Click
the 1st official BTI fish for us Click
for our 5/17/06 Manistee catch
It's official now, as John J and I caught our limit according to
Michigan's DNR stingy 3 King per person policy (when compared to
other states). Our fish averaged a good rock-solid 10 pounds
apiece, for a respectable box. Click
for HOT BTIs on 5/17/06
We did not fish the harbor to ding-off
the easy one's, instead opting for deeper waters, where we
knew...the bite wouldn't be as strong. We set lines on
Manistee's shelf around 9am. Our first 5 Kings came kinda
fast. Then a 90 minute lull set in, until at 12:35pm,....when
our 6th King Salmon (for limit) went looking for lunch.
Every fish we caught was on the BTIs, with
the Black Mamba/Clear Red doing most of the damage (4 of the 6 fish)
on our 2 diver rods. Both divers produced equal action, as the
directional spin did what it was designed to do. No tangles
either!
5/17/06
Capt. Ora Swick, operator of
Salmon Nailer Charters sent me a couple of timely photos keying
in on the Salmon action in South Haven, MI on 5/16/06. It's
about time this port catches on fire and from the looks of Capt.
Ora's photos, it has!
www.salmonnailer.com
is Capt. Ora's web address & my
thanks for his great photos.
Click
for 14 pounder coming to the net Click
for Salmon Nailer's Box
Got word back from Benny G. in Sweden that the monster Atlantic
Salmon was taken of one of my flashers. Here's Benny's exact
words: "The fish was caught with a plastic bait in combination with a reel flasher."
Click for a
big Atlantic Salmon
It kinda amazes me that most the
population of Europe is multi-lingual. Heck, most of us here
in the U.S.A. are still struggling trying to conquer English.
5/16/06
Here's an important piece of info you need to file away for future
use. Every time Manistee has had an east wind, thus far, this
season, the harbor and mud line has loaded up with Kings. Those
who hit the Manistee pier-heads yesterday boxed out with limits of
Salmon to about 15 lbs. Best depth was said to be 17' down.
I highly suspect this is the same deal has been going
on in Ludington since this past Saturday when Capt. Kirk put a butt
whipping on the Ludington harbor Kings.
Today's featured photo is a beautiful Atlantic Salmon
caught in Sweden's Baltic Sea. Team Extreme are one of the big
dogs in the European tournament circuit and supplied the
photo. Click
for Team Extreme's Atlantic Salmon
I'm not sure if this Atlantic was caught
with my stuff, and until I know for certain, I'm not going to blow smoke
on you about what caught this monster Atlantic. I do have a reply
email in to Benny Gustafsson (yes, they do have Benny's in Sweden too)
to get the vitals on their worthy trophy. No matter what language
we speak, fishing will always remain a universal translator between all
nations that have fishermen!
5/15/06
This past weekend's rainy weather
kinda kept a lot of fishermen home, along with respect for Mothers
Day. So, fresh fishing reports are skimpy
for the time being. I did get first hand news the Kings were
smoking red-hot in Ludington and South Haven Kings were coming deep,
like 90' down, over a 100' to 110' of water.
Here's some recent stuff I was able to
dig up this morning:
1. Saginaw Bay around Charity Island is showing decent catches of
Walleyes.
2. Rough water curtailed fishing in Grand Haven lately, blow scattered
the fish.
3. Bait came into Ludington's harbor this past Saturday.
4. Recent blow in the more northern ports has dispersed the Kings, down
temp is cold.
5. South Haven has Kings, but they're spread out, concentrations are
hard to find.
5/14/06
Word from the St. Joe tourney says it was a tough go for most of
the participants and did not reflect the great fishing, just a few
days prior to the tourney.
Best Chance Too won the pro division with about 75 pounds of
fish. 2 days of rough weather preceding the tourney meant
notes taken in pre-fishing were useless.
Capt. Kirk in Ludington has been one of
biggest skeptics when it came to using meat. Working for UPS,
he's delivered countless packages to my shop since 2004 and never
stuck a meat program in the water until just recently.
After putting the hurt to the
Ludington Kings on 5/13/06, here's what Kirk's had to say, "2
divers (equipped with meat/BTI) produced more fish based on a rod
count if compared to the 4 downriggers I was running with
spoons. The 2 divers with meat/BTI were the hottest rods on
the boat. The Monkey Puke BTI was my best diver rod and I
landed my largest King since 2004 on it." Capt Kirk, Ludington,
MI 5/13/06
Today's update will be a work in progress. As soon as I
hear what the deal is, more updates will follow. Dealing with
tech issues yesterday kinda took me out of the loop
temporally.
8:15 am: Spoke with Capt. Larry Buckle who's in the St.
Joe/Benton Harbor tournament. As suspected, day one was
cancelled to due huge seas and it's a 1 day shoot out. Larry
said, "it was a struggle for the time being and no pre-fishing
for 2 days, cuz of 14 foot waves." Other pertinent facts
stated, he's in 105' of water & the action is slow. He's
headed west and looking. More updates as the day wears on.
5:45pm: Capt. Kirk
reports from Ludington, and it's a goodie! Kirk had a hold of
20 Kings today, boxed a limit and released several smaller
Kings. Also, he boated his largest fish since the 2004
season. Most productive water was out to 50'. Best setup
was a diver towing a Monkey Puke BTI/field test meat rig.
More on this in tomorrow's update! 5/12/06
Today the St. Joe, MI big money tournament is supposed to
start. Late breaking word is the tourney is on hold for the
first 2 hours in the morning due to predicted 3' to 6' seas, after
Lk. MI settles down from the 6 to 10 footers last night. This
could be a one day shoot-out is today is cancelled. Rain is in
the forecast for today and tomorrow, so this tourney looks to be a
soggy, miserable one.
Normally, tournaments go on Saturdays and
Sundays, because of this Sunday being Mothers Day, it was thought to
be wiser to have a Friday-Saturday deal.
Message board members experiencing
problems getting into the board, try hitting refresh, or
waiting. This website crashed from a heavy server load and was
unavailable from about noon until 3:00pm. All tech problems
should be cured today. 5/11/06
Latest news on the Kings in Lake Michigan keeps getting better and
better! St. Joe is even better than last weekend. Grand
Haven is getting hot. Kings have been caught in Manistee's harbor
and some Kings were taken yesterday in Ludington in 50' of water.
I haven't heard much from South Haven, Holland, Saugatuck, or Muskegon,
but I suspect these ports are good too. So, your options to pick a
fight with Mr. King Salmon look good on all fronts for this weekend.
Here's an exact words account about my products
from Milwaukee, WI:
" Thanks for the great product!!! Krystal Killer and green double glow helped us take 9
Coho and 1 King in just 1 hour and 39 minutes for our two man limit out of Milwaukee on
May 7. We set lines at 6am and put the tenth fish in the box at 739am. Thanks again and cant wait to get my hands on the BTI' s!!!"..... Tim (aka) TROUT SNIFFER 5/10/06
Looking for something that sounds fishy? Well, Manistee is back to
showing signs of good fishing again. Capt. Paul from Riverside
Charters has been in double figures on Kings every trip, so far in
May. Paul is a phenomenal skipper and I rate him the best in
Manistee County for many reasons, way too numerous to list here.
Click for
Capt. Paul's 5.3.06 brag board catch photo
Today's featured photos are from last weekend's Detroit Steelheaders
tournament in St. Joe. These photos clearly show the awesome
catches "Sloppy Joe" & "Bobby's Toy" had
during this event. Click
for 1st place catch Click
for 2nd place catch 5/9/06
Saginaw Bay is pretty decent for Walleyes according to our
message board members. "Getaway" Bob K. said,
crawler harnesses were the preferred flavor of the day. Bob
also mentioned he drift fished the harnesses with his 2 sons, future
full fledged members of Team Getaway. No reports from Lake
Huron on silver fish chasers, so I'm totally in the dark on that
issue. Click
for Saginaw Bay Walleyes
My sincere congratulations to our
message board members who fished in the recent Michigan City, IN and
St. Joe, MI tournaments. "Nail Bender Too" won the
5/6/06 amateur side Michigan City Coho Classic and
"mrwilliams" took the third place podium spot in same
event. Capt. Russ P. aka "Fishwhore" had the best 3
fish weight and took a large fish prize in the Michigan City
deal.
"Zoobydoo" took second in the
5/6/06 Flint Steelheaders Port Sanilac tourney with "Uncle
Rich" aboard. "Sloppy Joe" and "Bobby's
Toy" took first and second respectively in the 5/6/06 Detroit
Steelheaders St. Joe tournament. 5 podium finishes out of a
possible 9 might be better way to put these accomplishments in
perspective.
While you might think, I'd turn their
success into an infomercial for my products, I simply refuse this
option! It was their skills adjusting to a variety of
circumstances. Our members would have done well with any form
of tackle, from any manufacturer. Way to go members! & I'm
proud to have all of you aboard on our message board. 5/8/06
The big gun in the Detroit Steelheaders St. Joe tournament was
"Sloppy Joe," aka Flint seminar team/message board member Joe
V.G. (I'm always hesitant to put last names on the internet). Joe
was field testing a new yet to be announced product and his exact words
were, "BTIs and the new ??? rock!" My congrats to Joe on
winning this high-status club event with 63.65 lbs. in the heaviest 8
fish tourney.
Capt. Russ P aboard the "Fishwhore"
took a $1,000.00 big fish prize in the Michigan City Coho Classic this
past weekend with a 17.4 King. This fish was captured with a BTI
and I suspect the same new secret weapon (for the time being)
product. Russ also won the side 333 Event, meaning the most weight
in 3 fish for this tourney.
To sum up the action at all Lake
Michigan ports including Grand Haven to points north to Ludington and
Manistee, all ports were producing some Kings. The best catching
was centered on St. Joe for Kings this past weekend. Mostly all
the Kings being caught so far, were taken below 50' down over deeper
waters (120' to 160') than considered normal for this time of the
season.
Those that struggled to catch in St. Joe, South
Haven and Saugatuck were not out far enough and fishing way too shallow,
keying in a typically normal inshore program pattern that should have
worked. As Horace Greeley said, "so west young
man." Keep this in mind, when heading to the fishing grounds
in the next few days if you're targeting southern Lake Michigan Kings. 5/7/06
The action in Manistee yesterday was 2 to 5 fish a boat, with
most of the bite coming early.....from what was said.
Yesterday's initial port reports from our message board was on the
slow side from St. Joe, South Haven, and Saugatuck.
Then, as of this morning the word was
St. Joe was hot yesterday, out deep in 130' to 150', fishing down
50' to 120'.. Several limits of 5 to 7 lb. Kings were taken.
What is worrisome about our Lk. MI
spring King season is the fish started coming deep and a lot further
offshore, than what's considered traditionally normal.
Port Sanilac on Lake Huron had some
fair catches yesterday, with the action being over 50 to 60
fow. 5/6/06
Here's some fishing report snippets for Ludington and Manistee I
came by in the 1st person, not hear-say. Ludington is
producing 3 to 4 fish a morning to savvy skippers that are dialed
in. Manistee's early week success was said to be, mostly a
morning bite. 3 and 5 colors of lead core were on fire, doing
heavy destruction.
BTIs were delivered yesterday to Capt.
Chucks in Ludington, Don's Tackle in Manistee and Frank's Great
Outdoors in Linwood, MI. These stores are now stocked with the
time-tested, most deadly "hot"
BTI colors/patterns,.....sure to please.
Today is a milestone in the history of the
BTI, as this product enters the bricks and mortar retail tackle
market. Just in time for the promising spring King Salmon
season we've all been looking forward to! 5/5/06
Manistee's early spurt of spring Kings sure didn't last
long. I went to the public cleaning station at Manistee's
First Street Public Launch. The hype of late had me kinda
excited, so an investigation what was in the gut buckets was in
order. I seen only 2 measly Lake Trout carcasses and a
filleted Brown Trout skeleton at 7pm. This means there was no
big catches of Kings taken by the sports fleet on 5/4/06.
The Manistee anglers that fished on last
Tuesday and Wednesday did OK, but things went downhill fast when the
bait left the harbor and headed for parts unknown.
Congrats to message board member Vision
Quest for winning the Lake Ontario Scotty Downriggers Spring
Tournament held in St. Catherines, Ontario. Their winning catch
averaged a hefty 20.25 pounds per fish. Click
for Vision Quest's catch
68 teams competed in this prestigious two day event. 5/4/06
Manistee's Salmon fishermen are the worst in the world....at
keeping secrets!
The bait loaded into the Manistee's harbor on 5/2/05, and along with the
bait, here comes the King family ready to put the feedbag on and dine on
alewives. The harbor fish were running from 10 to 15 pounds, with
an occasional whopper pushing 20 lbs.
Yesterday, (5/3/06) Manistee's shelf got hot
with most fish coming 50' down over a 100 to 130 fow. Slow was the
speed and the shelf fish are good sized too!
I suspect the same thing is happening in
Ludington, all be it may....they're a little better at keeping secrets
compared to the Manistee crowd of fish killers.
This is a genuine first for me, cuz in my
almost 40 years of chasing Great Lakes Salmon & Trout have I ever
seen a northern port get hot in the first part of May. Live and
learn, as our as our fishery constantly re-develops itself. This
just goes to show, there's no way to set a clock by what the fish are
gonna do from season to season.
Yes,...Sir! It's King Time in the Spring Time!!!!!!!!!!!! 5/3/06
Capt. Bill W. from Wattabite_Charters
was kind enough to email me a photo of the hog Kings taken on
4/29/06 out of Glen Arbor on Lake Michigan. Clearly, this
shows big,......well fed Chinooks that are super-sized compared to
last season's puny pretenders to the throne of Kings. Capt.
Bill used my products exclusively to make this outstanding haul of
northern Lk. MI fish. Click
for 4.29.06 hog spring Kings!
Now, there's more to this story then
meets the eye, as Ludington's Capt. Kirk who specializes in late
season big water trolling said his November/December 2005 juvenile
Kings were huge. Capt. Kirk's report was featured here in a
late 2005 daily update, keeping you informed on future trends, long
before they become accepted fact! 5/2/06
There's a recovery going on, as Lake Huron looks to be
rebuilding it's Salmon fishery in small steps. Port Sanilac
has had a decent herd of Cohos in the 2 to 4 pound range.
Kings seem to be running at 6 to 9 pounds when you can find a few
willing to cooperate. 2 to 5 silver fish per boat is what I've
been hearing for the most part. Coho have been taken close to
shore, feeding on minnows and the Kings are coming from 10' to 40'
down over the deeper waters.
Congrats to Capt. Jason Fletcher from Team
Rawhide for winning the recent Salmon Stakes with 4 Kings and a
Coho. They caught several Lakers on his way to victory.
Lake Huron's Kings and Lakers had smelt in their bellies. 5/1/06
Today's update begins with a excellent report from St. Joe,
MI. Capt. Mark from "Team Reel Turner" took a 2
person limit of Kings in rough water conditions on 4/29/06.
The flavor of the day was meat and flashers being trolled slow, like
1.3 to 1.8 mph and fished deep! Mark's best rig was a Doub L
Green Glow BTI w/matching meat rig. His rigger set was 85',
95' & 105' over 115 to 120 fow. Click
for hot rig
Capt. Bill W. reported in from Glen Arbor
with a quick 3 person Kings from 8 to 22 pounds. Bill was
using meat with my stuff and stated the majority of the catch was
over 15 lbs. Glen Arbor was sheltered from this weekend's
strong SE winds.
Sidebar 1: Never in my many
seasons on the Great Lakes have I heard Kings this deep and this far
offshore in the early part of our spring King season. This
trend of deep, deep Kings started in about 2004. Summer
anglers now have ply the depths to 250' down to consistently score
on the Kings. I have no rhyme, or reason why this is
happening. Speculation, conjecture, and opinions could be
many. However, let's all revert to the age old saying of,
"fish.....are where you find them!"
Sidebar
2: By the looks of today's featured catch photo from St. Joe and
the big Kings taken off Glen Arbor, our Kings are off to a heck of a
lot better start on size in 2006, if compared to last year. Click
for well fed St. Joe Kings taken on 4/29/06
Tomorrow's report will be focused on
recent Lake Huron silver fish action. 4/30/06
As we close out the month of April 2006, Kings are starting to
bust loose in southern Lk. Michigan according to yesterday's port
reports on our message board.
Today's photo shows a lilacs getting ready
to bloom in South Haven, MI. In Manistee our growing season a
long ways behind when compared to what's happening downstate.
Traditionally, lilacs blooming (click) always coincide when a port
gets hot in May for spring Kings in every port I've seen....adjusted
to the growing seasons.
Tomorrow's update will have all the good stuff
in fresh weekend fish reports. 4/29/06
Yesterday's timely reports from southern Lk. Michigan: 4/28/06
South Haven, MI: "Floyd and I went North West this morning out of South Haven dropped lines in 70 fow around 8. First fish came in at 8:50 on a
Slide Diver back 125 ft with a BTI Mountain Dew setup in 116 fow. Next fish,
a 10.75 Lb. king came at 9:09 on downrigger 80 ft down with a Blue Dolphin
Reel Flasher setup in 129 fow. Last fish came on dipsey with ring and 1# ball back 125'
in 153 fow on a BTI Krystal Killer setup. I should have stayed in the 120 fow area and stayed away from the cross current. Went 3 for
7. Click
for catch photo
However, three of the hits were in a strong North to South current. Only one strip showed a
hit. Turned back in and trolled to 70 fow with only two releases to show for it. This is the second trip the BTI's have out produced my down riggers.
Bright sunshine seas were rolling and then laid down nicely around
11am."...Capt. Gene M.
4/28/06 Michigan City, IN: Capt. John,
"Just came off the lake. Fishing was good again today, 12 miles out, at a 330 heading. Which is towards
Chicago from MC. Lots of nice coho, and took one nice steelhead. Coho are coming from 80 to 120 down, which is kinda deep for them in this area. No kings at all to speak of.
Love your BTI's"..........Capt. Andy 4/28/06
This upcoming weekend should tell the reel-story on Salmon, in
Lakes Huron and Michigan. It's great to see the sunrise side
is starting to mend, offering an alternative to the long/expensive
drive across state for those that live in the eastern side of our
state. I know several reliable fishermen that will be out this
weekend, so Monday's update should be a good one. I say
reliable, because the reports will be beyond reproach, not hear-say
Chamber of Commerce BS!
Lake Michigan? Scattered reports on Kings
from Holland to Manistee in small numbers. Look for St. Joe
and South Haven to take off like a rocket ship
soon.
Michigan City, IN action is a long ways offshore,
like 12 to 15 miles out from port. Michigan City's normal
inshore King fishery (50' to 60' fow) has yet to materialize. 4/27/06
Supplemental Update from Mike R:
Salmon Stakes Press Day was held April 14th. Several different media writers and radio DJ's joined 5 BWSA boats for a morning trip on lower
Lake Huron. A total of 80+ pounds of silver fish were weighed in at the end
of the day. Donna Mae, Captain Paul Zimmer, ended the day with 9 silver
fish weighing in just over 40 lbs. He fished Cherry Creek which is just
north of Port Sanilac. The Salmon Stakes is a charity event.
http://www.bluewatersportfishing.net/Salmon_Stakes/ss.html
The last 3 weeks see some really good coho action from Port Huron to Port Sanilac (2-8 a trip). Then you mix in 1-4 Kings, the odd steelhead and
brown, and it makes for some decent coolers (4-9 silver fish a trip). There have been twice as many silver fish caught on Lake Huron in the spring
of 2006, then the springs of 2004 and 2005 combined. We are not up to the
good old days yet, but we have definitely seen an improvement, .....Mike
R. 4/27/06
Today's featured photo is from last week when Capt. Kirk went 3
for 5 on good sized Ludington Brown Trout. Kirk's secret to
success on these April bruiser Brown Trout is Mini-Streaks with a
1/2 oz. of lead,....60' to 100' behind inline boards.
After being on a 5 week forced march, a few
days of light duty is in order. Finally have a reasonable
inventory of BTIs built. Sometime in the first part of May, we
hope to be shipping the new BTIs to Frank's Great Outdoors in
Linwood, Don's in Manistee and Capt. Chuck's in Ludington, (tackle
stores in Michigan). Click
for Kirk's Browns 4/26/06
Spent a bunch of time adding new BTI flashers to the webstore
yesterday.
There's 23 BTIs in the most popular patterns installed on two
separate pages.
I went the extra mile in creating the
new Glow BTI Series page. This page shows the level of finish
on both sides of the glow flashers, with back-side contrasting lure
tape for a super deadly presentation. The Glow BTI Series page
features 11 of the well accepted regular glow fish killers and be
accessed by clicking
here. X-Glow
BTIs are on the drawing board will be available by the end of June
2006.
12 of the best selling BTIs including Black
Ice, Black Mamba, Mountain Dew...etc can be accessed by clicking
here. Every one of the colors is proven to produce
results. All BTIs are at special
introductory pricing until the 1st of May 2006.
For the "do-it-yourself"
crowd?.....more Cortland 50# test and a brand new Hard Mono 50# test
Cortland leader material has been added to the webstore. These
are the exact products used in the manufacturing of our 3 Fly Meat
Rigs. Click
for info 4/25/06
Here's what was reported to me from last weekend. Algoma,
WI and Manistee, MI a few Kings were taken, with a heavy emphasis on
the word "few."
The better fishing on Lk. MI was reported
from St. Joe and South Haven, where port regulars all said the Kings
seemed to be heavier this season, if compared to 2005.
No one from Lake Huron sent me a report, so
do not think I'm neglecting the sunrise side intentionally. If
you have a Lk. Huron report? kingscharter@yahoo.com
is the place to email them. Photos are especially welcomed!
Later today, new BTIs selections of: King
Kobra, King Krimson and Black Ice should installed at the webstore: www.michiganangler.com
These are tried, true and proven colors from past seasons, so
popularity/productivity is absolutely not in question. Kinda
a no-brainer when it comes to enhancing the BTI line with the good
stuff! 4/24/06
Much like you, I'm waiting for favorable bell ringer reports
from our southern ports on Lake Michigan. This I did find out,
while some did and some didn't in St. Joe this past weekend, the
size might look a tad better then last season. Fair amounts
Kings in the 12 to 15 pound range were caught in St. Joe on 4/22/06.
Posted a picture today of my inexpensive
Manistee Salmon Prognosticator that has been right-on since the
1970s. I plan on updating the "M.S.P." as our Spring
Salmon Season unfolds in Manistee and Ludington in May. Click
for the Prognosticator 4/23/06
King Salmon are just beginning to show at St. Joe and South
Haven, MI. I look at these early fish as scouts for the main
herd, about 2 weeks away. Since the 1970s, I've used Lilac
bushes as an indicator. Generally, if the Lilacs are in full
bloom, you can count on some pretty decent Chinook, or King Salmon
action. Sure, you can take Kings before and after the main
bloom, but the mother load always seems to coincide when the purple,
or white blossoms are in full flower on the Lilacs.
Manistee is 3 weeks away (at least)
from prime time on Spring Kings, as the Lilacs bloom much later here
in Manistee, when compared to our more southerly ports. 4/22/06
My thanks goes to Henry Nabors from the Metro West Steelheaders in
Detroit, MI. for forwarding me today's featured photos. The images are
from a few days ago when the DNR planted 22,000 Steelhead in the Clinton
River. If you've never seen a Steelhead smolt click
here. Another interesting photo is the fish truck the MDNR
uses to haul fish from the hatcheries to the planting site. Click
for DNR truck
I'm waiting for the fishing reports to come in
and hope everyone does well today fishing the Great Lakes.
Shop/production means work and no fishing for while. 4/21/06
To download a video to see the wide looping action of the new
BTI Flashers featured on this website click
here. To Terry and Wayne J for a excellent job of editing
down a 10 meg file down into a .86 meg, my most gracious thanks.
The newly revised video is about 12 seconds
long and shows the BTI snapping the first fly of a 3 Fly Meat Rig in
a natural side-to-side swimming motion. Spin, flash and water
disturbance adds to any meat presentation in a big way. BTIs
will show results at the fish cleaning tables during the 2006
season.
The lessened water drag of the 10 inchers
means divers (Slide Divers & Dipsys), full, and half cores will
be much easier wind in when you pull lines and head in. 4/20/06
Yesterday afternoon was spent on Lake Michigan aboard John J's
"Megan Ann." Our resident specialist in Ludington
and message board member Capn Kirk was along for the ride too.
I did a QuickTime movie on the spin rate of the BTI, so those of you
new to my line of tackle could see the tremendous action in the
water.
The 31 second movie file came out way too
large for dial-up users at almost 10 megabytes. The 10 meg
movie file needs to be shrunk to a more manageable size.
Did a pull test with my BTI (10")
flasher with a digital scale against the original slanted fin
8" flasher (hooch). The drag of the BTI was less, like 20
to 30% less pull but I need a more accurate measurement, before I
can stand behind those numbers.
Our efforts at trying to catch a fish were
pretty fruitless, although we did miss a decent bite on the
starboard diver rod with a Doub L Green Glo BTI. 70 some
degrees and being on the big water for the first time
2006?...........was splendiferous! 4/19/06
Today's featured photo is a dandy Steelhead taken last weekend
at Port Sanilac on Lake Huron by Capt. Doug. Good to see
there's some silver- fish life returning to the sunrise side. Click
for Doug's Steelhead
For the first time I purchased my "all
species" MI fishing online yesterday. All in all, it was
easy. Keep in mind, once your online license is paid for, your
computer's printer will print the license on regular paper.
This means a pretty fragile document,
especially if your billfold gets wet. May I suggest?.....print
out extra copies in case the one you're carrying gets ruined from
getting wet and the ink runs. Click
to purchase MI fish license online
The DNR recommends incasing your
online license in plastic, but not all of us have access to
this. Better yet, make sure to save the receipt and you can do
a reprint of your license off the MDNR website. Be sure to
keep the
exact pertinent info in the online receipt form in a safe place.
4/18/06
Minnies Money caught a 14# Brown during last week's Good Friday
message board get-together. Click
Mad Jack's 14# Brown This event took place on Lake Huron out of
the Port of Augres, MI. Most boats reported in with slower
fishing, except for one boat and they fished during the night shift,
ending up pretty darn decent. Mark W. took several
Walleyes, a few Browns and even released some Lakers, with the best
action coming around the midnight hour. All this in complete
darkness?
Night fishing is pretty much new to many
big water trollers and it's interesting, cuz it's something you
don't hear much about. I do know Mark's action was much better
then those who fished the same waters in the daytime. 4/17/06
The new BTI Flashers had a fantastic opening weekend debut on
Lakes Michigan and Huron, scoring Salmon and Trout on both of these
Great Lakes.
Here's a report from our private message board member, Nail Bender:
"We
fished out of North Point, IL yesterday (sat.) 4/15. The fish were
down 100 to 120'. We fished a spoon presentation for an hour with
just a couple of fish. Switched over to meat rigs, the new black mamba
on the port dipsy with green head and frog flies and a Krystal
Killer on the starboard dipsy with a red meat rig.
The starboard wire dipsy on a 1 1/2 setting
with 220 feet on the counter went off with in 3 minuets after we set
it. The port dipsy set on 1 1/2 190 on the counter went next . The
new flashers are Awesome and they will catch Cohos. We started at
8am returned at noon with 15 Cohos. Once we went to a meat rig
presentation the action was steady.
This is the first time I have fished an all
meat rig presentation!"....Capt. Jim M.
More message board members had good things to say too! Roscoe
took 5 fish out of Port Sanilac on 4/14/06, with most coming on meat
and the BTIs. Click
for his photo
Capt. Cliff from Waukegan, IL whacked 13
Cohos and a 12 pound King first time off the dock with the new 2006
BTI Flashers. Click
for Cliff's 4/15/06 catch photo 4/16/06
Have an enjoyable Easter, regular updates to resume tomorrow. 4/15/06
Capt. Cliff J. who plies the Illinois waters of Lake Michigan,
just slightly north of Chicago, did well a couple of days ago. He
fishes a sound meat program almost exclusively and drew blood on
Cohos and Kings to 15 pounds.
Cliff's Lake Michigan voyage began with
bankers hours from 11am until 2pm.
The list of fatalities was 6 Coho and 2 Kings in a mid-day
timeframe! The Coho came higher up in the water column, but
the Kings were taken deeper (to 80' down), over 150' to 200' feet of
water. Click
for Capt. Cliff's catch on 4/13/06
I surely appreciate his timely report and photo
to keep this website current. If you have photos and a port
report?....please email them to: kingscharter@yahoo.com
4/14/06
Good luck to all those who got Good Friday off and an early
start to the Easter Weekend. Several of our message board
members are having their 3rd annual Lake Huron spring get-together
in Augres, MI today. Click
for Augres, MI catch photo
BTI production demands prevent me from
attending this year's event. Hopefully, in the very near
future an afternoon on Lake Michigan should loom large on the
horizon. Just wish the situation on the Browns were better
here in Manistee, cuz everything I've heard says two chances for my
area. The 1st one is slim, & the 2nd one is none. 4/13/06
Today at www.michiganangler.com
the brand new Big 10" Flashers are now available to all. This product is directed at those that want a highly
refined diver, lead core, drop weight and copper line program.
Introductory pricing per set ranges from $19.95 to $21.95. A set
means 1 port and 1 starboard rotational flasher. This brings
the cost to less than $10 apiece for many models, including the
popular Mamba Series. Glow taped models are a buck more per
flasher. Click
here to purchase BTIs
Many thanks to my dedicated staff
consisting of: John J, Wayne J and Bob B for making this
possible. All backlogged message board orders will be shipped
by today.
If you do plan on ordering
BTIs?......please be advised our existing inventory is low!
Normally, on all in-stock items I offer same day shipping, but there
will delays with the BTIs. We're building more 10 inch
flashers everyday in an effort to keep up. 4/12/06
Here's Andy's recent fishing report: "4/9/06 Michigan
City, IN. Surface Temp was 42.9, but water is very dirty from a week of north winds. We caught 14 coho and the brown pictured this morning. That was our 3 man limit, it took us about 3.5 hours.
Click for
Andy's MI City, Indiana Brown Trout
All fish were caught in 30 to 45 feet of water, right in the dirty stuff. All hits came from the surface down to 12 feet. The big brown was caught on a yellow and blue thin fin.
Also, we lost a king at the boat on the same lure that was about 15 pounds. The other hot lure was a orange J-11
Rapala on the boards."....Capt. Andy S.
Last weekend the Indiana State
Record for Brown Trout was broken with 29 pounder. It's good
to see there's some Browns someplace, cuz they sure ain't around
Manistee, or Ludington like they used to be.....skimpy might be an
overstatement!
Shipping 6 plus 6 BTI deals to our private
message board members has been at the front of all my duties.
More shipping BTIs today and tomorrow means the backlog of orders
will soon be cleared up. Click
to see Americans building a 100% USA product
4/11/06
My trip yesterday to slightly south of Benton Harbor to
Bridgeman, MI to pick-up BTI flasher blanks went beyond well.
Kruger Plastics spokesperson, Pat Brandsatter even loaded my truck
for me....now that's service! Click
for Pat B
In case, you're interested in seeing what the
actual injection molding tool that produces the BTI click
here. Busy with shop duties and BTI manufacturing for now.
Hopefully, towards the end of this week, I'll
hear some encouraging words on our Great Lakes Fishery, cuz for now,
the byword from Augres, Ludington, Manistee is slow. I do
predict, with the warming trend,...St. Joe/Benton Harbor will get
hot soon. 4/10/06
Not much good to report on the Lk. MI fishing scene with the
exception of Michigan City, IN producing limit catch action on
Coho. Ludington Brown Trout is still on the slow side.
Southern Lake Huron anglers are struggling and it seems many have
turned towards Walleye in Saginaw Bay. Detroit River Walleyes
are good.
Today is a travel day for me to pick up the
rest of the production run of BTI flashers in Benton Harbor, MI
(Bridgeman) area. If you're interested in seeing what models
we've built so far and what the special introductory pricing is click
here. All existing message board BTI orders are scheduled
for shipping later this week. One week from today, the 10
inchers will be available at: www.michiganangler.com
to all. 4/9/06
What is fishing? I guess today's featured photo (click
here) pretty much explains that, when 3 generations of the
Bob K's family went perch fishing on Saginaw Bay 3 days ago.
Fishing is not just something to brag about when you have a heavy
box. Done right, fishing is a family activity, an escape from
daily pressures and a good way to spend quality time with
friends. I guess that sums it up pretty well!
BTI production continues to move
forward. By this Tuesday (4/11/06), the best part 1000
flashers will be completed and ready for shipping later this week. 4/8/06
Our esteemed message board member, "No Fish Nick"
showed how his message board handle is an obvious misnomer, when he
landed a 70" Sturgeon. Now, that's a serious reel-fish.
The whopper was caught of the Fox River in Wisconsin while in search
of early spring Walleyes. What makes the tale of the Sturgeon
even better? ....it was landed on 10# Fireline! Click
for "No Fish Nick's" monster Sturgeon
The following morning, Nick backed up his
previous night's Sturgeon success story by landing a 2 person Brown
Trout limit on Lake Michigan. Click
for 2 largest Browns 4/7/06
Today's featured photo is courtesy of message board member,
Nomas. He was kind enough to share his photo of a stocky,
thick shouldered Lake Huron Brown Trout caught out of the Port of
Tawas last weekend. Early shoreline Browns do not require a
large boat, as you can clearly see in Nomas's pic. Click
for Nomas's Brown
Black Mamba BTIs were in the birthing process
yesterday, as production continues to press forward. Click
for Black Mamba BTIs on the drying racks.
4/6/06
Today's update is courtesy of Capt. Chris B. with a great,
highly detailed photo of Coho and a Brown Trout caught last weekend
out of St. Joe, MI. If you have problems telling the
difference between spring Kings (on the smaller side) and Coho,
please note, Coho's have no tail spots, loose scales and a grey
mouth,.... is another dead give away. The Brown Trout (while appearing
silver) being held on the right, is a chunky looking, well-fed
rascal! Click
for Chris's 4/2/06 St. Joe photo
Progress continues to go nicely on the
BTIs. I introduced the very popular Mountain Dew BTI version
today. Click here
to see the 2006 Mountain Dew Big 10" 4/5/06
According to our last poll, there's been a big shift in the line of
thinking, with less, being more. Smaller spreads (less rods) means
your boat will be easier to stay on the fish, rather than a large
cumbersome spread, dictating which way you have to go,....to avoid
trouble. This signifies no full lead cores in high traffic areas,
like off the Big Sable Point and such. Concentrating on fewer
rods, means less tangles and more room to land a brutal 20 some pound
King that will not give up!
The staff at WTP did a heck of a job in getting
my lure tape to me in a timely fashion. My appreciation to Ronda,
Jennifer and Ron for a job well done! BTIs are in have entered
into the production phase now. Click
for a sneak peek at new BTIs 4/4/06
The early birds that fished Michigan's most southerly Lk. MI
ports reported in with poor to fair results from this past
weekend. Normally productive inshore waters were said to be on
the milky side, offering poor lure visibility.
A group of Canadians Emailed me about their
lack of success at Tippy Dam this past weekend and it read poorly
concerning the fishing. Back in the "used the to be"
days of the mid 1990s, Tippy Dam would be on fire during early
April.
I changed the poll where you can voice your
opinion about the state of our Brown Trout and Steelhead
Fisheries. Just scroll down a bit, and it's in the left
borders.
Tomorrow's update will focus on the big
change in the number of rods ran by the big water Great Lakes
fleet. Maybe, a better way to say this, would be, how large a
spread you're carrying when in search of wrecking havoc on Great Lakes fish. 4/3/06
Lower stretches of the Big Manistee is slow, look to the
gravel if spring Steelhead is on your menu. Brown fishing out
of Ludington was tough as of lately.
Michigan's
highly regarded Dick Swan recently sent me an article about
the DNR and our lack of a multi-species fishery. His remarks
towards the current hierarchy of the MDNR cites several interesting
points. Click for Dick Swan's
New Article
My most sincere hope concerning the DNR is
someday they recognize the need for a well balanced multi-species
fishery, where Coho, Steelhead, Lakers, Brown Trout and Chinooks
(Kings) are all equal parts of the same big picture, like it used to
be!
During a 1988 question and answer session I had
with John Robertson, then Chief of the Fisheries Division of MDNR,
he stressed the call for a healthy population of our Big 5.
Robertson stated something we all can understand, of not having all
of our eggs in one basket. This idea seems to have went
by the wayside! 4/2/06
Slow continues to be the word fishing the lower stretches of the
Big Manistee River. Many reported a goose egg the fished
between the Bear Creek and Rainbow Bend Public Access. Much as
I suspected, this January's outstanding results are subtracting from
our spring Steelhead run.
More to come later today from Michigan's well-known
Dick Swan about what he sees lacking in the current DNR
policies. Dick does not mince any words when it comes to
trying to increase the plants for Steelhead in under utilized rivers
like the Big Manistee and Muskegon with only 50k plants.
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