Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:
Fishing is slowing down with all the North and Northeast winds of the past two weeks in Ludington right now. The offshore fishery from the 3800#s out to the 4600#s is productive right now. 2 and 3 year old Kings, Steelhead, Lake Trout and Cohos are all out there. Best baits are Reds and Oranges, standard steelhead baits. Best fishing is in the top 100 ft. 5 cores, 7 and 10 cores, 300 and 350 coppers are all producing. Meat rigs on the low wires is a good setup right now. On the point it is warm water where the water temp is 63 on the surface and 59 degrees down 100 ft. The pierheads are slowing down because most of the salmon have gone up the river to spawn. PM lake is also slowing down. Some boats ar casting fire tigers at the mouth of the river and having some success. The Pere Marquette River has salmon in it all the way up to Baldwin. It is best to fish the deep runs and the deeper holes. Best times to fish the river are early AM and just before dark at night. Flatfish, Ping a Ts, and Storm Fire Tigers are top producers in the river.

Good Fishin…..Capt Ed

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

A few Salmon are still being taken but it is on the slow side. Try straight out, South and North of the harbor fishing the 40 to 90 foot of water areas. Working deeper as the sun comes up, using clean spoons off the lead lines, dipseys, and downriggers, fish the top 40 to 80 feet of water using bright colors for best results. You might even try inside the harbor along the channel using J-Plugs, body baits and spoons as some are being taken there.

Brown Trout fishing is excellent inside the harbor! Use bright colored spoons working 7 to 9 feet down back 100 feet, working up and down the channel.

Lake Trout fishing is slow to fair. It will take a few days for them to start feeding with all of the rough water we have been having. Try straight out, and North of the harbor using the dodgers with spin and glows or flys close to the bottom or 120 feet down in the deeper areas. Try clean spoons off the downriggers. Fishing 50 feet down to 120 feet for best results.

Steelhead fishing has slowed with the fronts and rough water. When it calms down try straight out or North of the harbor, fish the color lines for best results. Be there early for a good bite. Put out some long lines on the boards, bright colors of spoons, small, and regular sizes for best results. Start in 50 feet of water and work out as the sun comes up. Fish from 20 to 60 feet down.

Walleye fishing is still very slow, try North and South of the harbor working in the 40 to 90 feet of water areas. They will be scattered so keep looking. Clean small spoons, hot n tots, and crawler harnesses will be your best chance.

Try for perch inside the harbor along the channel or South by the cemetery using minnows.

Keep those lines tight!

Capt. Dave Myers of Cyndie Sue Charters reports from Holland:

Limit or near limit catches on every trip but 1 last week. Lots of nice 3 year old kings with an occasional 4 year old king, lake trout and steelhead mixed in. Saturday was the only “off” day when I couldn’t get a good program together and we ended up 6 for 17. Mornings were much better than in the middle of the day. 120 to 150 feet was very good along with 200 to 250. Pretty much ran spoons all week. Green, blue, orange and red work well, but it changed every day. Downriggers worked best in the mornings, while divers and board lines did better in the middle of the day.

Even though we did not do any perch fishing last week, I did get reports of some boats getting a few in front of the piers about 1 mile out.

Excellent fishing for the smaller fish should continue right through October. I can be contacted at cyndiesuecharters@comcast.net or 616 450-4921 for more information or to inquire about reserving a fishing trip.

Capt. Ron Westrate of First Call 2 Charters reports from Saugatuck:

A very nice week of fishing with some catches from 10 to 15 fish per
trip. With the warm water in front of the piers, we have moved out to
90 to 200 foot of water and found 2, 3 and some 4 year old chinook
salmon, 10 to 14 pound coho, and some steelhead and lake trout. With
the strong east and south east winds the best direction was a 240 or a
300 degree troll from 100 to 190 foot of water with the best depth being
135 to 160 foot.

Almost all of the fish came on flashers and flies although we did take a
couple of coho on Stingray spoons (blue mixed veggie with white back).
Both silver Stinger Echip flashers (mixed veggie, silver UV, silver
mountain dew) or white bladed Echip flashers (blue wiggle, and white
double glow) with the Rapture green dude, wild fern, speed weed and the
blue bubble fies. Yesterday the blue wiggle flasher and blue bubble fly
was hit at least 6 times at 95 foot down. We ran 300 and 450 foot of
copper and the dipsies were run at 100 and 180 foot out, downriggers at
80, 90 and down to125 foot.

Although our season is winding down, the fishing should continue to be
good in the deeper water. If we get another shot of cold water, we
should see some more 4 year old salmon stage in front the piers. For
more fishing information or for charter reservations, email me at
captron@chartermichigan.com.

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

Lake Trout fishing is slow to fair. It will take a few days for them to start feeding with all of the rough water we are still having. Try straight out, and North of the harbor using the dodgers with spin and glows or flys close to the bottom or 120 feet down in the deeper areas. Try clean spoons off the downriggers. Fishing 50 feet down to 120 feet for best results.

Steelhead fishing has slowed with the fronts and rough water. When it calms down try straight out or North of the harbor, fish the color lines for best results. Be there early for a good bite. Put out some long lines on the boards, bright colors of spoons, small, and regular sizes for best results. Start in 70 feet of water and work out to as far as 160 to 200 feet of water as the sun comes up. Fish from 20 to 60 feet down.

A few Salmon are still being taken but it is on the slow side. Try straight out, South and North of the harbor fishing the 70 to 190 foot of water areas. Working deeper as the sun comes up, using clean spoons off the lead lines, dipseys, and downriggers, fish the top 50 to 80 feet of water using bright colors for best results. You might even try inside the harbor along the channel using J-Plugs, body baits and spoons.

Walleye fishing is still very slow, try North of the harbor and North of Port Hope working in the 40 to 90 feet of water areas. They will be scattered so keep looking. Clean small spoons, hot n tots, and crawler harnesses will be your best chance.

Try for perch inside the harbor along the channel or South by the cemetery using minnows.

Keep those lines tight!
Captains Ken & Janice Deaton

Capt. Dave Myers of Cyndie Sue Charters reports from Holland:

After several days of strong northeast winds last week, the lake rolled over. By Friday, surface temperatures were in the upper 40s close to shore, gradually warming to the upper 50s out to 180 feet. Most of the big kings were making their runs up the river. Good fishing was found in the channel and right out front. However, fishing for 2 & 3 year old kings, coho, steelhead, and lake trout in 180 to 240 feet produced even better catches over the weekend. The fish weren’t as big, but more action and less stress away from the combat fishing in the fog. Every trip produced 15 or more fish. The fish were somewhat scattered in the deeper water, but still good consistent action any time of day. Best baits near shore were small green, white, & mountain dew/white glow Spin Doctors or Pro-Troll paddles with a green glow fly. Stinger Stingray (NBK, any green color) & regular size Silver Streak (green chilly willy) spoons did well any time of the day in all waters. A variety of Moonshine spoons did well in the morning. All setups were productive as all rods produced fish on most days. Downriggers set at 30’, 60’, 80’ & 100’ and divers set at 1 ½, back 80’-140’ worked best in low light. Spoons on full copper & lead core were more productive later in the day. Outriggers with small divers set at 3 ½, back 60’ produced most of the steelhead. A lot of the smaller salmon were caught on free sliders.

We did not do any perch fishing last week. However, some boats were getting a few in front of the piers, and a little to the south on the edge of the stained water.

Even though fishing for the big 4 year old kings is now pretty much over, excellent fishing for the smaller fish should continue right through October. I can be contacted at cyndiesuecharters@comcast.net or 616 450-4921 for more information or to inquire about reserving a fishing trip.