We had another good week of fishing after rough seas and strong winds on Tuesday. The Chinook salmon, Steelhead and Coho salmon continue to make up most of the daily creel of 10 to 20 fish however there are a couple of Lake Trout mixed in. Chinook salmon over 22 pounds and Coho salmon over 12 pounds are being caught daily. Most of the salmon are showing up in the 90 to 120 foot depth, however there are also some being caught in the 130 to 170 foot depth.
The salmon and steelhead are hitting Stinger lures (orange crush, fruit cocktail, mixed veggie), glow Ace Hi plugs and green slick flashers and Wild Fern Rapture flies on the copper lines. On the dipsy divers, we are pulling Pro Troll flashers (super frog, green wiggle, davie jones) with Wild Fern and green Hypnotist Rapture flies. The downriggers are run at 40 to 90 foot down with a variety of flasher and fly combinations.
There were some good reports on perch fishing with good to limit catches off the Holland piers and some good catches south of the Douglas Point. With the cold lake water, there were some steelhead caught off the Saugatuck and Holland piers and some sheephead and catfish being caught east of the shore line in the warmer river water.
Since we are nearing the end of August and if we get some cooler water we can expect the Chinook salmon to begin staging at the piers for the fall run. For more information or to make a reservation to catch your salmon dinner, contact me at captron@chartermichigan.com.