Post by clam2 on May 17, 2010 16:11:03 GMT -5
I managed to get out on the water for some fishing four times this past weekend, and enjoyed every trip.....
Friday night was a somewhat brief trip out with Krash to get ready for a trip the next morning ----- we went 4-4 with three coho and one rainbow ------- we caught two of them on an east troll in 162 FOW and 174 FOW, and two on a west troll in 139 FOW and 129 FOW.......nailing a nice coho and rainbow was an orange OO dodger with Rainbow Richard medium champagne fly with two single hooks on a mono board line with a 1-1/4 oz. keel weight on the outside board line.....
Saturday morning......we managed to go 7 for 8 on a glass lake (was totally calm the entire 24 hours leading up to Sunday morning's trip)....we worked 110 FOW out to 220 FOW and back......
Saturday night was Krash, Scott and I for a late afternoon/evening trip.......Always the explorer, I shrugged off the much surer bet of fishing the 140-160 FOW for the length of the trip and headed out to 300 FOW on a northeast troll......we ended up going 4 for 7 with three coho and one rainbow.......we missed two huge rainbow strikes on an outside mono board line (one was a snap off) right after switching it out to the standard size Silver Streak orange skunk spoon.......we ventured out and it didnt pan out, but we gave it a shot!
Sunday morning was a real cast of characters, with Relay, Krash, my nephew Cody and myself on a brisk morning.......as we approached the gap we saw something we hadnt seen in over 24 hours ----- waves! with about a 1-1/2 foot chop and a brisk little northeast wind building, we ran to 80 FOW and set up........With Relay at the helm, we trolled through the trough out to 157 FOW and that is where we had most of our action......
We ended up going 10 for 12 with one king, three beautiful rainbows and six decent cohos.......for an abbreviated trip (as we pulled lines almost at 9 a.m. to ensure we made breakfast in time) it was decent action for this early in the season.....I told Relay that most of the spread I set up was geared for rainbows, mostly because he was on board! The two fish we lost were both huge kings on a back rigger with the magnum Silver Streak Pink Alewife on a two-color SWR down 110 feet ---- no, it wasnt the hook not being sharp, they just popped off! DOH! It was fun having Rick reel in a nice rainbow on a 10-color board line hit on the magnum Pro King Black/Gold w/glow ladderback spoon.....
Although there were lots of highlights to the trip, none compare to the now famous rainbow trout surface hit as I was about to set a downrigger......Krash was about to re-deploy a board line when I asked him to wait a minute so I could get a rigger line back into the water........I had switched it out to a magnum Pro King Blue Dolphin spoon and had spooled out 80 feet for the stretch.....as I reached for the rigger release with the other hand I felt a fierce yank on the line in my hand.......BOOM! a surface 8 pound rainbow just 80 feet behind the boat had spanked the spoon......
Now I am fighting a very green and wild rainbow basically bare handed until I can grab and get control of the rod next to me.....this freak fish jumps six times right behind the boat, and I am screaming at him with joy to keep jumping.....My nephew Cody's eyes were bigger than saucers when he saw the acrobatic moves he was displaying.......We netted him and enjoyed the moment, with Relay giving the play-by-play on the radio......I wanted him to report that we had caught a nice 8 pound rainbow with an 80 foot stretch down two inches with the new Clam downrigger "manual" release....(lol)......I have had this happen before but this one was hysterical! Funny stuff!
Topping off an already tiring weekend of putting together spreads for each trip and only a few hours sleep each night, I got the invitation from Dan (Reel Melodi) in the parking lot to fish on my old boat as I was leaving from breakfast on Sunday (lol).....Thanks so much Dan for a very enjoyable trip out on the old CLAM.....It was a blast driving her one more time!
Decent fishing, nothing to write home about --- but then again it's early and the fish are slowing making their way up north from Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee.....I was very encouraged from the surface hits (mostly by cohos) as we havent been fortunate enough to enjoy that since 2007 (at least in our parts).....
As a charter service, I can just give you my perspective as it relates to the upcoming fishing ---- I think we are going to see a coho run very reminiscent of three years ago with good numbers......I believe that by around this upcoming weekend it will be about the time when you could easily run a minimum of four orange OO dodgers or Alderton flodgers or baby spin doctors with peanut flies on mono board lines or 1-3 color leadcore lines in your spread and pretty much limit out for several trips.....again, that's just my take on it --- nothing etched in stone with that assessment....
I want to add that I officially ran my first ever pair of wire line dipsies on the boat and the results were immediate......The port side dipsy fired just 15 minutes after being deployed, and then fired again as part of a double in conjunction with the neighboring side rigger --- on it was the Red Rider-chosen standard sized Pro King yellow mountain dew with double ladderback spoon that also caught fish when he was on my boat a few weeks beforehand on a braided dipsy.....
Thanks to Mojo, Aqua-holic and Red Rider for the ingredients to putting together what has already been a successful rig on the boat ---- it pays to listen to those folks on this board who volunteer helpful info......and I will gladly take it as much as I will dispense the help!
To those going out the next few days, try focusing on 125-165 FOW and throw some mono board lines into the spread with orange OO dodger/peanut fly combos......If you dont already have a few of the Rainbow Richard medium length champagne flies with the two single hooks you are missing out on a great fly for coho and especially rainbows when placed on an outside board line! If you are attempting to fish kings, think DEEP! on your riggers!
Thanks again to everyone who made this such a special weekend! It was great breaking bread, sharing the water and the radio banter and seeing everyone again! Wishing everyone out there safe trips, full fish boxes and great fun out on Lake Michigan this season!
Friday night was a somewhat brief trip out with Krash to get ready for a trip the next morning ----- we went 4-4 with three coho and one rainbow ------- we caught two of them on an east troll in 162 FOW and 174 FOW, and two on a west troll in 139 FOW and 129 FOW.......nailing a nice coho and rainbow was an orange OO dodger with Rainbow Richard medium champagne fly with two single hooks on a mono board line with a 1-1/4 oz. keel weight on the outside board line.....
Saturday morning......we managed to go 7 for 8 on a glass lake (was totally calm the entire 24 hours leading up to Sunday morning's trip)....we worked 110 FOW out to 220 FOW and back......
Saturday night was Krash, Scott and I for a late afternoon/evening trip.......Always the explorer, I shrugged off the much surer bet of fishing the 140-160 FOW for the length of the trip and headed out to 300 FOW on a northeast troll......we ended up going 4 for 7 with three coho and one rainbow.......we missed two huge rainbow strikes on an outside mono board line (one was a snap off) right after switching it out to the standard size Silver Streak orange skunk spoon.......we ventured out and it didnt pan out, but we gave it a shot!
Sunday morning was a real cast of characters, with Relay, Krash, my nephew Cody and myself on a brisk morning.......as we approached the gap we saw something we hadnt seen in over 24 hours ----- waves! with about a 1-1/2 foot chop and a brisk little northeast wind building, we ran to 80 FOW and set up........With Relay at the helm, we trolled through the trough out to 157 FOW and that is where we had most of our action......
We ended up going 10 for 12 with one king, three beautiful rainbows and six decent cohos.......for an abbreviated trip (as we pulled lines almost at 9 a.m. to ensure we made breakfast in time) it was decent action for this early in the season.....I told Relay that most of the spread I set up was geared for rainbows, mostly because he was on board! The two fish we lost were both huge kings on a back rigger with the magnum Silver Streak Pink Alewife on a two-color SWR down 110 feet ---- no, it wasnt the hook not being sharp, they just popped off! DOH! It was fun having Rick reel in a nice rainbow on a 10-color board line hit on the magnum Pro King Black/Gold w/glow ladderback spoon.....
Although there were lots of highlights to the trip, none compare to the now famous rainbow trout surface hit as I was about to set a downrigger......Krash was about to re-deploy a board line when I asked him to wait a minute so I could get a rigger line back into the water........I had switched it out to a magnum Pro King Blue Dolphin spoon and had spooled out 80 feet for the stretch.....as I reached for the rigger release with the other hand I felt a fierce yank on the line in my hand.......BOOM! a surface 8 pound rainbow just 80 feet behind the boat had spanked the spoon......
Now I am fighting a very green and wild rainbow basically bare handed until I can grab and get control of the rod next to me.....this freak fish jumps six times right behind the boat, and I am screaming at him with joy to keep jumping.....My nephew Cody's eyes were bigger than saucers when he saw the acrobatic moves he was displaying.......We netted him and enjoyed the moment, with Relay giving the play-by-play on the radio......I wanted him to report that we had caught a nice 8 pound rainbow with an 80 foot stretch down two inches with the new Clam downrigger "manual" release....(lol)......I have had this happen before but this one was hysterical! Funny stuff!
Topping off an already tiring weekend of putting together spreads for each trip and only a few hours sleep each night, I got the invitation from Dan (Reel Melodi) in the parking lot to fish on my old boat as I was leaving from breakfast on Sunday (lol).....Thanks so much Dan for a very enjoyable trip out on the old CLAM.....It was a blast driving her one more time!
Decent fishing, nothing to write home about --- but then again it's early and the fish are slowing making their way up north from Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee.....I was very encouraged from the surface hits (mostly by cohos) as we havent been fortunate enough to enjoy that since 2007 (at least in our parts).....
As a charter service, I can just give you my perspective as it relates to the upcoming fishing ---- I think we are going to see a coho run very reminiscent of three years ago with good numbers......I believe that by around this upcoming weekend it will be about the time when you could easily run a minimum of four orange OO dodgers or Alderton flodgers or baby spin doctors with peanut flies on mono board lines or 1-3 color leadcore lines in your spread and pretty much limit out for several trips.....again, that's just my take on it --- nothing etched in stone with that assessment....
I want to add that I officially ran my first ever pair of wire line dipsies on the boat and the results were immediate......The port side dipsy fired just 15 minutes after being deployed, and then fired again as part of a double in conjunction with the neighboring side rigger --- on it was the Red Rider-chosen standard sized Pro King yellow mountain dew with double ladderback spoon that also caught fish when he was on my boat a few weeks beforehand on a braided dipsy.....
Thanks to Mojo, Aqua-holic and Red Rider for the ingredients to putting together what has already been a successful rig on the boat ---- it pays to listen to those folks on this board who volunteer helpful info......and I will gladly take it as much as I will dispense the help!
To those going out the next few days, try focusing on 125-165 FOW and throw some mono board lines into the spread with orange OO dodger/peanut fly combos......If you dont already have a few of the Rainbow Richard medium length champagne flies with the two single hooks you are missing out on a great fly for coho and especially rainbows when placed on an outside board line! If you are attempting to fish kings, think DEEP! on your riggers!
Thanks again to everyone who made this such a special weekend! It was great breaking bread, sharing the water and the radio banter and seeing everyone again! Wishing everyone out there safe trips, full fish boxes and great fun out on Lake Michigan this season!
does anybody have time to talk, you do have to wait for a oppening. 
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