Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:

Fishing is slowing down with all the North and Northeast winds of the past week in Ludington right now. From the project up to the three bears the bite is on. The offshore fishery from the 3500#s out to the 4600#s is very 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 45 ft. 4 cores, 5 cores and 7 and 10 cores are all producing. On the point it is ice water where the water temp is 50 on the surface and 40 degrees down 50 ft. The pierheads are best from early morning and then again just before dark at night. PM lake is doing very good with some nice catches on J-plugs, spinnies on the high divers and meat rigs on the low divers. 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, with a lot of fish at Scottville. 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, French Spinners and Storm Fire Tigers are top producers in the river.

Good Fishin…..Capt Ed

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. 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.

Capt. Dan Tebo of D’Ann Marie Charters reports from Grand Haven:

Fishing continued to be excellent this past week and into the weekend. Of course, this weekend, we had to deal with the fog and that makes it a little more intense as we try to land fish and keep an eye on the radar, as well. Thank goodness we have our mates to help out.

We are fishing from 110 ft. of water out to 210 ft. We are fishing the top 50 ft. of water.

We are using a large variety of spoons, some of which are: Blue Dolphin, Green Dolphin, Mixed Veggie, and Icicle.

We also are using some spinnie/fly combos, but mainly spoons.We are catching a mixed bag of 1, 2, & 3 year old Salmon and some Steelhead added in.

With rough waters today and the colder temps. in the forcast for the next few days, we will undoubtedly be fishing differently. We hope the weather settles down for our Slammin’ Salmon Derby this coming Saturday.

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

The water temperature dropped into the mid 40’s this week and the salmon
moved into the shallow water at the piers and fishing was excellent. Big
chinook salmon and large coho produced some limit and near limit catches
with some lake trout and steelhead mixed in. By Saturday the word had
gotten out and combat fishing took place in front the Saugatuck piers.
By noon on Saturday the fog moved in and we noticed a increase in the
water temperature from 46 degrees to 50 degrees and by Sunday morning
the water temperature was 67 degrees and the fishing slowed. There were
still some salmon in front the piers, however they were not as active in
the warmer water and we moved out to 200 foot and caught some 2 and 3
year old salmon and steelhead.

The most productive lures were the Ace Hi plugs in pearl/black dot and
silver/red head pulled on downriggers, dipsy divers and 2 and 3 color
lead core. We also ran some Hot n Tots on flat lines (gold and white
black dot), however the Ace Hi plugs out performed any other lure.
Sunday we found the cold water in 200 foot of water and used small
stingers (blue green dolphin, green dolphin and orange crush) on 50 foot
of copper and 5 color lead core. On the dipsy divers the best lure was
the blue mixed veggie Stingray which was hit multiple times. A couple of
hits on the downriggers at 40 and 50 foot down with small stingers
(orange corey and mixed veggie) on the add-a-lines.

With a south wind and current for the next few days, I think that the
shallow water will continue to warm and other than early morning and
late evening, the most productive fishing will be off shore. For charter
information or for fishing information, email me at
captron@chartermichigan.com.

Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:

Fishing is good in Ludington right now. From the project up to the three bears the bite is on. The offshore fishery from the 3500#s out to the 4500#s is very productive right now. 2 and 3 year old kings, Steelhead and cohos are all out there. Best baits are Reds and Oranges, standard steelhead baits. Best fishing is in the top 40 ft. 3 cores, 4 cores and 5 cores are all producing. On the point it is ice water where the water temp is 50 on the surface and 40 degrees down 50 ft. The pierheads are best from early morning and then again just before dark at night. PM lake is doing very good with some nice catches on J-plugs, especially in the back half. The Pere Marquette River has salmon in it all the way up to Baldwin, with a lot of fish at Scottville. 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