Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:

The fishing is an early morning bite. The water has cooled a bit and fish have showed up in front of the bath house and in front of Epworth. As the water cools we are taking fish on the 3 cores and 5 cores with plugs on them. Almost any moonshine early, with the Blue Jackel and Carbon 14 raspberry doing the best for me lately, and the Silver Hoard ace highs, Double Glos and Blue Splatterbacks on the cores and coppers are taking fish. Mountain Dew Spindoctors with Dark Seaweed and later 11″ Black paddles with red meatrigs are a good bet either on the riggers or the wire divers. The fish are also in Pere Marquette Lake and in the Pere Marquette river in good numbers. In Pere Marquette Lake it doesnt matter what you use as long as it is a J-plug or jplug type bait, in the river spinners, HotnTots, Thundersticks and PingaTees are good bets. Spawn is also working at the twin bridges. Good Fishin…..Capt Ed

Captain Ron Westrate of CoHooker Charters reports from Saugatuck:

All the wind this past week, allowed just one day of fishing out in 210 foot of water. Two days of gale force winds and 4 days of small craft adversaries, kept almost all the boats in port. Today we went out to see if we could fish in-front the piers, however the water was still in the high 60 degrees, with 5 foot seas and we came back in. With the warm water, there are very few salmon in- front the piers and the best fishing has been in 170 to 210 foot of water with a mixture of 2, 3 and 4 year old chinook salmon, steelhead and lake trout in the creel.

Stingray and stinger size spoons on 300 and 400 copper produced well the one day we fished. In addition the same flashers and flies that we ran last week worked this week in the dipsy divers and on the downriggers.

We need some strong north winds and a north current to get some cold water at the piers to get the run started. For information and/or charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com

Capt. Ken Deaton of J-Lyn Charters reports from Harbor Beach:
Some nice Lake Trout are still being taken in the 80 to 130 foot of water areas North of the harbor. Using plain spoons off the downriggers or the ghost dodgers with spin and glows down on the bottom. Best colors have still been black, glow in the dark, white with pink dots, and green.
Steelhead are being taken in 60 to 140 feet of water using the 3, 5, 8, and 10 color lead lines off the boards, or try some spoons off the monofilament line with the Offshore tadpoles and put them off the boards. Lines off the downriggers back 50 to 60 and down 35 to 60 feet are also working. Bright colored small Pro King lures with yellow with silver, orange, pink, and red with green are still working best.
Salmon fishing is slow but some pinks and kings are occasionally being taken mixed in while fishing for the Lake Trout and Steelhead in the 80 to 140 foot of water areas North of the harbor. You might want to start trying some J-Plugs off the downriggers, dipsey divers, and boards in close to shore or inside the harbor first thing in the morning. It is that time of year and you might be surprised at what you might catch!
Walleye continue being taken Straight out and North of the harbor on crawler harnesses, small spoons and small body baits. Some have even been caught out in the deeper water while fishing for the Lake Trout and Steelhead. Try root beer, perch, purple, gold, and green with red colors. Five and ten color lead lines have been working well in the deeper water. I would also suggest using spoons and body baits trolled fast to cover more ground till you find where they are setting. Try starting in 30 foot of water and work out to as far as 120 feet of water till you see where they are. You might want to start trying off the wall in the evening casting body baits and spoons.
Perch fishing is slow, try South of the harbor by the cemetery in 30 to 50 feet of water with minnows or even inside the harbor next to the channel..
Bass and Pike are still being taken inside the harbor and close to shore casting or trolling small body baits and spoons.
Sounds like it will be on the windy side for most of the weekend, remember not to let a fish take you down! There will be plenty of days to fish when the wind and waves are not so high! You might try fishing from the wall or the walk way by the beach if it is rough, you will be surprised at what you might catch! Have a safe weekend! And Keep those lines tight!

Captain Ken and Captain Janice Deaton
J-Lyn Charters

From Capt. Dan Tebo, of D’Ann Marie Charters in Grand Haven:

What a week! We have been fishing from 120 ft. of water out to 220 ft.
Spoons are the bait of choice, specifically Blue Dolphin, Green Dolphin, Blue Veggie, & Green Veggie.

We are using white paddles with green flies down deep.

The fishing changes daily right now according to what the water temp. does.
If it cools down, we move into shallower water. If it stays warm, we have to move out deeper.
Every day around here is different right now!

Of course, we are contending with the winds and waves, as well. We will see what happens this next few days as the air temps plummet.

Someone told me the other day: August fishing means rough waters.
I wonder what Sept. will bring?
Good luck to all of you as you finish the season.