Capt. Dan Tebo, of D’ann Marie Charters in Grand Haven reports:

Fishing is very good in Grand Haven these days!
We are seeing large fish (in the 20 – 25 lb. range) being caught in our port and good, full boxes.

We are fishing from 75 ft. out to 120 ft. of water.
We are fishing from 35 ft. down to 50 ft.

We are mainly using a large variety of spoons: The fish seem to prefer mostly bright – colored spoons, so we try to give them what they want.
Spinnie and fly combos have also been very good:
Yellow spinnies w/ yellow flies
Green spinnies w/ green flies
White spinnies w/ white flies

There are very good catches of large kings being taken each day.
August is always an exciting time of year to see all the kings come in.
Summer is closing in fast and before we know it, Sept. will be here and gone and so will end our fishing season. So, if you get a chance to come out, don’t hesitate.

If you would like to fish with us in Sept., please feel free to contact me at: www.dannmariecharters.com

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

This past week was a very good week of fishing. Early in the week the
catch consisted of 80% lake trout and 20% silver fish and by the end of
the weekend we were taking 90% salmon and 10% lake trout. In addition
we were taking multiple 20+pound salmon almost ever trip. The best
depth continues to be 70 to 115 foot of water, however there were some
boats taking salmon out in 180 to 200 foot of water.

The methods that take the fish change from day to day as the conditions
and current change, however the lures and flashers remained the same.
Early in the day we were catching salmon on 150, 200 and some time on
100 foot copper with Area 51, ET, Orange Corey and glow back Mixed
Veggie Stingray. The downriggers produced at 40 ft. to 70 foot down
with Glow frog, white UV glow and Davie Jones glow E chip flashers and
Rapture no see um green beaded and green hypnotist flies. The most
consistent method continues to be the dipsy divers at 180 foot and 100
ft. with E chip flashers (Davie Jones, green side UV, silver mountain
dew and green UV) with either Rapture wild fern and no see um yellow
beaded flies.

For information or charter reservations, contact me by email at
captron@chartermichigan.com.

Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:

The fishing is as good as it has been all season long. The water has cooled down and the fish are in the skinny waters at the point. There are also good numbers of salmon at the pierheads, and in front of the Lincoln. The salmon are in Pere Marquette Lake and the Pere Marquette River. Moonshine spoons are the baits of choice, with spinnies and flies and Plugs a close second. 100 and 150 coppers and low wire divers from 40′ back to 60′ are also producing. 3 colors, 4 colors and the secret weapon with a plug is doing very well right now. The pierheads are best from first light to dark at night. During the day the best fishing is from the 3500#s out to the 4300#s in the 5400#s up to the 5800#s.

Good Fishin…..Capt Ed

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

Salmon fishing improved this past week. More fish and much more aggressive with some 4-year olds topping 20 lbs. Even had a couple of break-offs on 20lb. test line. There was also a nice mix of decent sized steelhead & lake trout. Some days, the fish were still biting well into the afternoon. Best depths were 80 to 110 FOW early, then 110 to 130 later in the day. Earlier in the week, we found a nice school of fish out in 190 to 225. Best baits were regular size Silver Streaks (green & blue chilly willies, green & blue dolphins), Stinger Stingrays (mixed veggies, blue mixed veggies, NBK, green & blue dolphins), Moonshine (flounder ponder, NBK), and green/white glow Spin Doctors with a green glow fly. One day they wanted blue, the next would be green. Some days color didn’t seem to matter. Most productive setups were lead core fished with 8, 10, & 12 colors. Dipsys set at 1 ½, 120’ back also did well, as did down riggers set at 45, 60, & 90.’ Free sliders did well on some days. Copper was the only setup that did not do very well on most days.

Also, there has been a persistent north current running between ½ & ¾ mph. Most days it was hard to get fish to bite going south. However, on Sunday we discovered how to get the south troll working. While fighting a big king for almost ½ hour, we slowed way down to 1 ½ mph per GPS. We took 3 other fish during this time. It was hard to believe as we were almost completely still, barely moving with the current. The Stinger Stingrays spoons and the Spin Doctor/fly still worked enough to get the fish to bite.

Perch fishing was good up until Sunday. They were in 30 to 35’ both north & south. Not sure where they went on Sunday. Lots of boats were out there looking, but didn’t hear of anybody finding them.

As we head into the middle of August, the fishing should only get better. Hopefully the warm weather won’t mess up the fall run like it did last year. I can be contacted at cyndiesuecharters@comcast.net for more information or to inquire about reserving a fishing trip.

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

This past week produced consistent fishing in the 65 to 90 foot depth with limit or near limit catches of Lake Trout and Chinook Salmon and Steelhead. We did spend Friday in front the piers and caught 14 steelhead out of about 30 hits. Saturday the water had warmed up 15 degrees and after a hour in front and catching sheephead and white bass, we moved off shore and caught 11 lake trout and 2 salmon.

The program continues to be Gold Star dodgers (white glow, yellow and silver) with green spin n glows and Repture wild fern flies on the bottom for lake trout. The salmon and steelhead came on the high divers at 180 ft. and on the 150, 200 and 300 coppers. The best combinations on the divers were the Davey Jones, UV Mountain Dew and UV green E chip flashers with Rapture no see um flies with green and yellow beads. The copper with orange crush stinger and the mixed veggie stingray were the most consistent.

The perch fishing has slowed after the Wed. blow and the influx of the cold water, however there are some decent numbers being caught out of Holland, however they were small in size. I did not get any reports on the perch to the south of Saugatuck.

With all the bait there is out in the lake, our salmon should be showing up in higher numbers that what we are seeing. I am a little concerned that we might be seeing the effect of the stocking cuts for the last few years and there just are not as many as we might expect. Regardless, the salmon that we are catching are large and we have taken many over 20 pounds and have had a few that busted off the equipment with their hits and runs. For more information or for charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com .

Capt. Drew Morris, of Margie J Sport Fishing Charters out of Muskegon, reports:

The fishing has slowed a bit in Muskegon since Wednesday’s hard north winds but continues to be good. Most of the fish have been taken in 50-65 feet of water slightly north of the channel. Run your baits from 15-35 feet down with riggers, boards, and dipseys, all are productive. The best spoons have been Bloody Nose (Stingray size), Tequila Sun Rise, O.J. Stinger, Double Glow Moonshine, Blue Machine Stinger, and a modified Coyote (Stingray size). The best flashers have been Mountain Dew flasher/ slick tape and a Mountain Dew Hypnotist fly, emerald green flasher/cracked ice tape with a green Hypnotist fly, chrome/white flasher/cracked ice with a Frosted Fern fly, and the hottest has been a NBK Stinger flasher with a green Hypnotist fly. We had a monster king that headed for Milwaukee and never stopped and later it took a 22 pound king that did not get away.

Since the hard north blow Wednesday, there has been a strong current running NNW to SSE. Without our bags our south troll was 4.2 sog and on the north troll would slow down to 1.8 so watch your speed. Our best speed with bags has been 2.8 sog on the north troll and 3.3 on the south.

There is a lot of bait between the arms but only a few kings have found it. If we would have had more rain with the wind, we would have had a nice run of 4 year olds up the river. However, don’t be surprised if you see a bunch of boats trolling in the arms.

The lake should settle down and set up nicely for the weekend so expect great fishing. Make sure you check your gear. There are some big kings out there that you don’t want to get away due to a knick in your line.

Have fun and Take a Kid Fishing ….. Capt. Drew