What a great week of fishing off of Holland and Saugatuck. The creels ranged from 10 to 20 fish per trip with lake trout exceeding 20 pounds and Chinook reaching the mid 20 pound range. In addition to the Chinook salmon and lake trout there were steelhead up to 12 pounds and coho pushing 10 pounds. Every day we had kings hit our lures run from 30 foot down to the bottom, however we did not catch the kings every day. A 20+ pound king will take off 600 foot (or more) of line with the initial hit and were it goes is anybodies guess, however you can bet that it will be into other lines producing tangles and often lost fish and gear. The salmon, as I said will hit 150 foot copper to 350 foot of copper with spoons and flashers and flies and they also hit on the flashers and flies that we ran on the bottom for lake trout. So basically you fish from 30 foot to 110 foot and what hits is often a surprise—often lake trout but some time steelhead, king salmon or coho salmon. Silver and UV … [Read more...]

This past week produced some very good fishing between fronts that came in mid week and on the weekend. The creel consisted of mainly lake trout with a couple of steelhead and/or salmon thrown in each day with creel numbers of 10 to 20 fish per trip. On one of our multi boat charters, a boat boated a lake trout that pushed 30 pounds and there were also chinook salmon taken that pushed 25 pounds. Not a lot of salmon being caught, however there are some very good sized salmon out there. The lake trout are also very nice size, with the catches averaging about 10 pounds each. We are fishing from 85 foot of water to 110 foot of water. The steelhead are hitting any spoons that are orange and silver and orange and red that are pulled on 5 color lead core and/or 100 foot of copper. There are also some steelhead taken on 3 color lead core with orange and red thin fins. The best rigs for the salmon continue to be the super slim coyote ugly and the bloody nose pulled on 200 and … [Read more...]

Coho Bob's Sportfishing Charters LLC reports: Fishing remains good out of St. Joe! Some kings and coho's with a steelhead mixed in. Plenty of lakers also! Pro-Troll UV Frog with Rapture asteroid fly has been working on the low divers set on 1 180-220 out! Meat on a large Pro-Troll with Rapture Red pepper teaser on a 300cu and a 2oz Stinger diver bomb pulled by a Church TX-44 has been working also! Stinger reg size coyote, blonde tangerine, yellow killer, and veggies on the riggers and free sliders are catching the coho's. Tin can on and near bottom with Raptures pearl pink dots spin n GLo with little bride fly is killing lakers! Coho Bob's Sportfishing Charters LLC   … [Read more...]

Fishing in Holland, Michigan is absolutely fantastic! The king salmon have shown up in big numbers! We’ve been taking anywhere from 10-20 salmon bites per day. Fishing does not get much better than it is right now. Right now we’re targeting salmon in 130-150 feet of water. Our best baits by far have been Big Weenie meat rigs. Speckled dick, Spotted dick, Blue Balls, and JJ’s boyfriend have all been great. 10in White slick spin doctor paired with Big Weenie No fish Nick has also been very good. Morgan’s copper in 150, 200, 225, 250, 300, 350 foot segments have been very good with magnum spoons in various colors. Lake Trout fishing is still VERY good south of Holland in 60-80 feet of water. Yakima Bait Spin n Glos are catching our trout with relative ease! Now is the time to get on the big lake and do some fishing! -Capt. TJ Willacker Bending Limits Charters 989-464-6546 … [Read more...]

The season is coming to a close for the charter service; however the fishing continues to be very good in the 90 to 120 foot depth. The last couple of weeks produced some days of high winds and waves. During the blows the water temperature dropped for a day but then the warm water flowed back in and we had 68 degree water again. During the day or two of cooler water, a few salmon did show up at the piers but with the return of the warm water, they either moved up the river or moved back off shore. The fishing off shore is still very good with creel numbers in the teens and 4 to 6 “silver fish” in the catch each day. The last week our catch had more Coho and steelhead than Chinook salmon. The salmon and steelhead were caught on 100 to 200 copper with stingray size spoons (mixed veggie and mixed veggie UV) and on the high divers with Live Wire and Mixed Veggie Pro Troll with Oceana UV flies at 180 foot and 200 foot. Lake Trout continue to be caught on the bottom with metal flashers … [Read more...]

Captain Ron Westrate reports: Warm water fishing continues in Saugatuck. The top 60 foot of water is still 70 degrees, however a good thermocline has formed from 60 to 70 foot with a drop of 12 degrees. The fishing still remains very good in 90 to 100 foot of water with creel numbers in the teens and consisting of lake trout, Chinook salmon and Coho salmon along with an occasional steelhead. The lake trout continue to come in the bottom 10 foot of the water column on Gold Star metal dodgers and spin n glos. The salmon are coming on a variety of flashers and Green No See Um, Yellow beaded No See Um, Oceana Tuli, Oceana and Green Hypnotist flies pulled behind dipsy divers and 350 foot of copper. Early in the morning, glow “Upside Under” and regular Ace Hi plugs (Wonder Bread, Green Splatter Back, Glow Pearl and Green Lightning) work well on 150, 200 and 250 foot of copper. Another good combination is the 11 in Pro Troll UV blade with a No See Um UV fly run at 70 foot that … [Read more...]

Captain Ron Westrate reports from Saugatuck This past week produced some unpredictable results with creels of 10 to 16 fish consisting of ¾ salmon one day and then 1 or 2 salmon the next with the rest mostly lake trout. Warm water continues to dictate the location and movements of the salmon with most of the fish being caught in 80 to 100 foot of water. Early in the week the water temperature is 70 degrees on the surface and 70 degrees 100 foot down. By the end of the week the temperature was 68 degrees down to 70 foot and then dropped to the 50’s and 40’s at 100 foot. The salmon were mainly caught in the warm water 40 foot to 70 foot down and the lake trout were caught 80 foot to the bottom. The Chinook Salmon were caught on Ace Hi plugs on 200, 300 and 350 foot of copper. The best colors were pearl/glow, wonderbread/glow, silver green back and green/splatter back plugs. We also caught both salmon and lake trout on blue bubble, mixed veggie and silver flashers with … [Read more...]

Captain Ron Westrate reports from the southern ports of Lake Michigan A great week of fishing with limit catches most days.  2/3 rds of the creel still consist of Lake Trout, however there are more Chinook Salmon and Steelhead showing up.  Even with the rough water and high winds toward mid week the fishing was very consistent. The Lake Trout were again taken on metal dodgers and spin n glos on the down riggers and low divers.  The salmon were hitting on silver/mountain dew and silver flashers with the Rapture Illusion UV and yellow beads on high divers at 100 and 120 foot.  Every morning, on the middle down rigger,  we are running a glow bladed UV Pro Troll flasher and green beaded No See Um and when the sun gets higher we switch over to the Pro Troll Davie Jones flasher and Rapture Last Supper fly and it is good for 2 to 3 salmon a day and an occasional lake trout.  The 100 foot, 150 foot and 200 foot copper are producing the steelhead and salmon with small Ace Hi plugs (glow … [Read more...]