Captain Ron Westrate of CoHooker Charters reports from Saugatuck:

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.

Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:

From the project south to Pentwater and north from Epworth to the 0600s are the best waters lately. We are taking Chinook Salmon,Steelhead and Lake Trout. 5 Cores, 7 cores and 10 cores are all taking fish. The surface temp is 53 degrees and its 47 down 100ft. Spoons on the cores and riggers and spin doctors on the wire divers. Green Glo on the secret weapon. We are taking fish all over in the water column on the riggers. The fish are very fiesty and give a good fight right now. Good Luck to all in the Pentwater Tournament. Good Fishin….Capt Ed

Capt. Ken Deaton of J-Lyn Charters reports from Harbor Beach:

Steelhead are being taken out on the color lines in 90 to 120 feet of water, using 5 and 10 color lead lines with bright color spoons. Dodgers and fly’s off the Offshore boards are also working well. You might try putting the new Offshore Tadpoles on with your monofilament lines to get them down deeper as well.

Some limits of Lake Trout are still being taken straight out, South and North of the harbor on Dodgers and Spin and glows fished right down on the bottom. Continue using the medium size spoons off the downriggers as well. Best colors continue to be glow in the dark, pink with white dots, silver, green, and black colors. Work the 60 to 130 foot of water areas for best results.

Coho, Pinks, and King Salmon are still being taken mixed in with the Lake Trout using medium and magnum size spoons off the boards and downriggers from 30 to 70 foot down in the same depth of water. The Tadpole weights with spoons off the Offshore boards are also working well.

Perch fishing should start picking up. Try by the Light House and along the channel inside the harbor with minnows and night crawlers. You might want to try South of the harbor by the cemetery in 20 to 40 feet of water as well.

There are still some Walleye being taken off the North wall early morning and late evening casting small body baits and small spoons. Try the perch, silver and green colors. Also try trolling out in 18 to 40 feet of water with crawler harnesses, small spoons and small body baits.

Capt. Bruce Bronner from Kathys Boyz 3 Charters reports from Bolles Harbor:

Fishing has pick up on Lake Erie. Limit to near limit catches of walleyes in Ohio waters. Trolling in 23-25 fow with mini disk, 20 jet drivers. with spoons 65 to 75 ft back off boards. Most fish are in 2 to 3 lbs range, with a water temp of 65 degrees. Capt’n Bruce Kathys Boyz 3 Charters.

BOOK MARK THIS WEB SITE AND GO TO FORECASTS- NEAR SHORE- TEXT VERSION FOR ALL LAKE ERIE INFO ON THE WEATHER.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/cle/marine/marine.html

Captain Steve Hamilton of First Class Charters reports from Manistee.

Fishing has improved and we had a nice catch of fish this past Monday. A
mixture of Salmon and Steelhead.
We fished in the Tight Lines for Troops on May 24, 2010. This is a fishing
event that we participated in that veterns of our armed forces fished on
approx. 30 charter boats from Manistee. Close to 200 vets participated in
this fishing experience. On our boat we had Army, Navy and Air Force.
We fished straight out of the Harbor in about 120 ft to 425 ft. Our best
hits came on lead core, 5 to 10 colors out. Our water depth that was most
productive was 266 to 325 ft.of water depth.
We fished straight out and went north some. Our top 10 numbers were 16/17.
We used a variety of lures,green with glow and pearl. Green and Blue
dolphins and some oranges.
We use alot of DW super slim lures: Magic Man, Riverside, Fly girl. We also
used divers, about 100 to 125 ft back. Our downriggers were not very
productive, the one hit we had on a downrigger came at 117 ft. down.
The fishing should get better with each day and as the water warms up.

Watta Bite Charter Fishing Glen Arbor Michigan

Fishing out of Glen Arbor has been good. nice catches, of Lake Trout with an occasional Salmon are being caught in Sleeping Bear Bay. Tight on the bank in 50-60′ of water. Cowbells with spin glows, and double orange crush spoons are working well.

South Manitou Island produced some nice Kings over the weekend. Fish between 4 to 16 lbs were caught. Lead core, and copper were hot. Double orange crush and green blue dolphin spoons worked well,
trolling over 100 to 300′ of water.

The weather looks great for the Memorial Day Weekend.

Captain Bill Winowiecki
Port Captain – Michigan Charter Boat Association.