Captain Ron Westrate of CoHooker Charters reports from Saugatuck:

Fishing off of Saugatuck was good throughout the week. The week started
with large catches, but small fish (salmon and lake trout 160-200 FOW.
The week ended with large catches of large lake trout and an occasional
king in 85-100 FOW.

The fish in the deeper water were biting orange Cory’s bait, mixed
veggies and lemon ice sting ray spoons on the 200’ and 300’ of copper.
On the down riggers the 8” green/glow Hotchip with a wild fern, 8” white
dew wiggle Prochip with a hypnotist LG and the 8” white fishscale with a
green no-see-um fly.

The lake trout in 85-100 FOW were biting metal dodgers with spin-n-glows
and Goldstar squids. The best combinations were the tin can w/ a glow
and pink dot, green, or chartreuse spin-n-glows. A chartreuse dodger
with a green splatter back glow squid was also very productive. The
dodger were bounced on bottom to produce action.

The water started to cool down on Sunday and some kings were found in 50
FOW right on the bottom. With some northerly winds forecasted for the
week the salmon might start staging in the 45-50 FOW area. The cooler
water will also spark a better perch bite for the perch anglers. For
more information or charter reservations, contact me at
captron@chartermichigan.com

Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:

The fishing is on again off again as the water just keeps getting warmer and warmer. The surface temp is 75 degrees and the break is down at 65 ft. We need some north or east wind to cool things down a bit. It has been a struggle the last week or so. Almost any moonshine early, with the Bloody Nose and Mongolian Beef doing the best for me, and the Silver Hoard ace highs on the cores and coppers are taking fish. Mountain Dew Spindoctors with Seaweed and later 11″ paddles with meatrigs are a good bet either on the riggers or the wire divers. Good Fishin…..Capt Ed

Captain Ron Westrate of CoHooker Charters reports from Saugatuck:

The salmon off of Saugatuck set up in two separate areas this week.
Adult salmon and some lake trout were caught in 80-100 FOW and another
group of fish- all age groups of salmon, lake trout, steelhead and some
coho were caught from 150-200 FOW. Fishing was good throughout the week,
with catches of up to 20 fish a trip.

The fish in the shallower water bit mainly plugs and flasher fly
combinations. Silverhorde Ace-Hi plugs on the copper lines, 200-400 feet
of copper, produce kings throughout the week. The best plugs were: green
w/ black ladder back, green lightning, wonderbread glow and pearl black
dot. The best flasher fly combinations were: a chrome/green Prochip w/ a
no-see-um Rapture fly, blue bubble or a white blue wiggle 8” Hotchip w/
an Oceana Rapture fly, a chrome w/ mt. dew and glow Prochip w/ a yellow
no-see-um Rapture fly, and the 11” white fish scale Protroll w/ a
hypnotist LG Rapture fly. Most fish were caught 50-100 feet down.

In the deeper water, many of the same flashers worked well. The best
flasher in the deep water was the green glow 8” Hotchip and Prochip with
wild fern or hypnotist flies. Fish on the outside were caught from 40
feet down all the way to the bottom. We caught many large salmon and
lake trout 180 feet down.

Strong winds from the Northwest on Sunday and Monday may bring in colder
water. This may bring the adult salmon even closer toward the shoreline.
For information or charter reservations, email me at
captron@chartermichigan.com.

Captain Steve Hamilton of First Class Charters reports from Manistee.

Fishing is awesome in Manistee right now, nice catches of Salmon everyday.
Straight out and North, 80 to 120 feet first thing and then move out to 200
ft. or more after the first bite.
Downriggers: 45 to 75
Copper 350 ft
Divers: 125 to 150
Salmon ranging 18 to 25 pounds!
Use plugs first thing then move over to meat and paddles.

Silver Horde Ace Hi: Double Pearl Glow, Green with Black Latter back, Green
Spatter, and glow with black latte back

Meat rigs and big Paddles: UV paddles and white slick/crushed pearl and
black slick. Big Weenie Black Moongoose.
KRW flys and meat rigs: riverside, aqua gold glow, witch doctor uv.
Moonshine: Carbon 14, Raz Carbon and Flounder Pounder.
Anything that glows and has UV on it!!!

Capt. Dan Tebo of D’Ann Marie Charters reports from Grand Haven:
We are fishing from 80 ft. – 110 ft. out.
We are fishing from 60 ft. down to the bottom. The water temperatures are changing daily now and so we need to watch the temperatures to determine whether we fish out deeper or in closer. Right now, it seems each day is different in Grand Haven.
We all lost our trips Sunday due to high waves. A few boats went out and were back in within an hour or so.
We are using 250 and 300 coppers and 10 and 15 lead cores.Green and Yellow plugs are going well for us lately. .We have been getting good results with white paddles and white flies, white paddles with green flies, and blue paddles with blue flies.
If you are interested in booking a trip with us, contact us at: Capt.Dan@dannmariecharters.com or: dannmarie2@aol.com

Captain Ron Westrate of CoHooker Charters reports from Saugatuck:

The fishing this past week has slowed some what, however we still caught
between 7 to 12 fish per trip. The creel consisted of chinook salmon
that weighed over 20 pounds and lake trout over 12 pounds and an
occasional steelhead. The best depth was again the 80 to 90 foot depth
however by the weekend we also caught fish out to 160 foot of water.
There are some fishermen that are going out at 4 in the morning and
taking some nice fish in 50 to 60 foot of water.

Early in the week we had some good luck with 200 copper, however by the
end of the week we fished primarily 300 and 400 foot of copper with Ace
Hi plugs (glow green lightning, glow black lightning, green glow, green
glow ladderback and wonderbread). The divers are pulled at 100 and 200
foot early in the day and then lengthened out to 300 and 200 foot as it
get brighter. On the divers we are pulling echip flashers (white blue
wiggle, white glow mountain dew, green silver and white slick glow) with
Rapture flies (oceana, no see um green, green hypnotist, and last
supper). On the downriggers we are fishing near the bottom and pulling
11 in echips (white glow, white slick glow and white mountain dew) with
Rapture green flies (green hypnotist and wild fern).

With the rough water conditions on Sunday, we did not fish so it will be
interesting to see what happened to the water temperature on Monday. For
information or charter reservations, email me at
captron@chartermichigan.com.