What a change in fishing this week produced! Boats went from catching 18 to 30 fish on Tuesday (with some lake trout pushing 20 pounds) to only having 12 hits on Weds. The fish moved, the bait moved and the lake started to warm up some what. The rest of the week catches of 4 to 12 fish was considered a good day. Saturday we decided to run out to 300 foot of water after satellite reports showed a temperature change 18 miles out. We found some steelhead on the surface however there was no concentration and no bait. On Saturday a few fish were caught in 40 foot, 70 to 90 foot, 100 foot, 180 foot, and 300 foot, however the best area seemed to be in 130 to 160 foot of water. At this depth there were some reports of chinook salmon pushing 20 pounds--not a lot of fish but 5 to 8 fish per boat.
The best method continues to 100, 200 and 300 copper with Stinger and Stingray size spoons that are silver and orange and silver, orange and green. The most productive lures were the orange Corey, orange Natural Born Killer, and orange crush. These same lures produced well when pulled on the sliders on the downriggers at 35 and 45 foot. Most of the lake trout were taken on downriggers on the bottom with either the 11 inch white glow Pro Chip and the Rapture purple no see um fly or the tin can dodger with a Rapture green dude fly.
We will be fishing again this PM and will probably be going to the 140 foot of water area. Check back next week and see if the bait returns, because if the bait is in an area, the salmon will be there. For information or charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com or call toll free at 888-253-8372.