Captain Ron Westrate of CoHooker Charters reports from Saugatuck:
A good week of fishing that started out in 250 foot of water and ended
in 15 foot of water. The first part of the week found us 9 miles out in
250 foot of water fishing Coho, Chinook Salmon and Steelhead. Creel
numbers varied from 8 to 15 fish per trip however strong north, north
east and north west wind during the week produced some rough conditions
and ultimately cooler water. By Friday the surface temperature had
dropped into the low 50 degrees and bait and steelhead had collected at
the pier heads. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday we fished 10 to 20 foot
of water and caught 8 to 13 steelhead per trip with an occasional
Chinook salmon thrown in.
Out deep the pattern was flashers and flies on 200, 300 and 450 foot of
copper, dipsy divers and downriggers. The best combinations included Hot
Chip flashers (silver and silver and mountain dew) with Rapture flies
(green mirage and oceana). Once we move inshore, the pattern was all
spoons on 2 color and 3 color lead core, and dipsy divers and
downriggers. Any spoon would work as long as it had silver and orange on
it and was the size of the stinger lures. The best lures for us were the
stinger fruit cocktail, double orange crush and jaw breaker. On Friday
we were 11 for 35, on Saturday we were 6 for 24 and today we were 13 for
26. On Saturday, fishermen were walking off the South Saugatuck pier
with stingers full of steelhead.
New report on the perch fishing: Limit catches of perch were reported
Saturday evening and Sunday morning. The problem is that the location is
9 miles south of the Saugatuck piers off of Glenn. I talked to boats
that caught 75+ perch last night and got their limit again today and the
perch were running 7 to 12 in. in length.
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