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

Fishing remained very good this past week. The two main schools of salmon were in 80 to 130 FOW & 170 to 230+ FOW. Lake trout and a few steelhead were also mixed in. Deep downriggers, free sliders, dipsys, & full lead core produced most of the fish. Best colors were glow crushed ice/pink spoons (Homemade) and magnum blue/green dolphin.

The main school of steelhead has now moved out to 300 FOW. Sunday’s off-shore steelhead trip resulted in an easy 5-man limit of steelhead. There was a nice temperature break (51 to 48) with a visible scum line full of trash and birds; perfect conditions for steelhead fishing. Any orange or gold spoon fished in the top 20 feet did well. Board lines with 2 oz. inline weights, dipsys set at 40 feet, and outriggers with high dipsys all produced steelhead.

We continue to be spoiled with the productive fishing options; salmon/trout close to shore, salmon/trout midrange, and steelhead off-shore.

Captain Ron Westrate of CoHooker Charters reports from Saugatuck:

During the week most of the best fishing was in the 150 to 200 foot of
water with good numbers of fish, but many of the fish were small. On our
run out on Sunday we saw bait in 65 and 70 foot of water so we set lines
in 90 foot of water with the intent of trolling on out to the 200 foot
depth, however we started getting hits in 100 foot of water and took our
first salmon in 120 foot depth and another in 130 foot so we decided to
turn back and try this 100 to 120 foot depth. In past years, this 100
foot depth has been the depth that the salmon tend to stage in and they
usually stage just outside the bait. We were 10 for 20 or 25 (we also
lost 3 fish at the net) with 5 salmon and 5 lake trout and the largest
salmon weighed in at 20 pounds and another at 13 pounds. Boats did
fairly well in the deeper water, however from the radio traffic, the
fish ran a little smaller than those we had inside.

Our best methods were:
100 copper with craigs christmas stinger that had 3 hits
200 copper with a glow wonderbread stingray went 2 times.
200 copper with mixed veggie stingray went 3 times
300 copper with a blue/silver prochip flasher and blue hypnotist fly
produced one nice lake trout.
The downriggers produced fish with metal flashers and flies run on the
bottom.
The high dipsy (120 foot out) and (low dipsy 80 foot out) both produced
hits with flashers and flies on the low dipsys and magnum stingers
(green dolphin and carmel dolphin ) on the high dipsies.

If we hold the bait in the 70 foot depth, we should continue to find the
fish in the 100 foot depth. For more information or for charter
reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

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

WOW! Not only has the weather gotten hot, the fishing is on fire! Average fish hit rates exceeded 5/hour both Sunday and Monday. Lots of doubles, triples, and even a couple of 5 on at once. Catches continue to be a good mix of salmon, steelhead and lake trout. The 3 year old salmon have been running 8-12 pounds with the 4 year olds 14-20. The steelhead have been averaging 4-7 pounds with an occasional 10+. The lake trout have been 4-15 pounds. All of the fish look very healthy.

170-200 FOW continues to produce fish; however, we did even better in 230+ the last 2 trips. Other boats were doing well in 100-130. We continued to concentrate the top 30 feet exclusively with orange/gold spoons on board lines, high divers and outriggers, catching mostly steelhead. However, a few salmon and lake trout were also caught up high. Downriggers at 80 and 100 feet using regular & super slim Dream Weaver spoons in dark colors took salmon and lake trout. Also, the coyote flasher with a green glow fly worked well on the deep downrigger later in the morning.

As long as the weather cooperates, we should continue this exceptional fishing run well into June. Typically by the second half of June fishing slows down. Hopefully this year, it won’t slow down.

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

Fishing continues to be excellent here in Grand Haven!
We are catching fish from 90 ft. out 160 ft.
We are fishing the top 60 ft. of water.

We have been running cores and copper.

We have been using quite a variety of spoons. We are getting especially good hits on oranges. Also, blues and greens have been good for us.

We are catching all season classes of chinook up to 18 lbs.

Captain Ron Westrate of CoHooker Charters reports from Saugatuck:

Fishing off of Saugatuck was good to excellent over the weekend. Very
nice catches 15+ fish on Friday with a lot of action, then a little
slower on Saturday. Early in the week the fish averaged 12 pounds,
however by the weekend the fish ran a 7 to 10 pounds average. Same
place, same depth, same lures, just a different age class of fish.

Fish were in 110-180 FOW, and were caught 20-60 feet down. 100, 200, and
300 copper lines were the best with stinger and sting ray spoons.
Stingers and sting rays were also producing on the downriggers 30-60
feet down, and on the divers 150 and 100 feet with wire. Best spoons:
mixed veggies, jager bomb, blue modified dolphin, green dolphin, caramel
dolphin, orange crush (on silver or gold), and the lemon-ice. Very
little action on flashers and flies.

We’re hoping for a little west wind to stack the warm water back up on
the beach. This will concentrate the temperature break and the fish. For
fishing information or charter reservations, contact me by email at
captron@chartermichigan.com.

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

The fishing finally picked back up this weekend. Sunday was especially good with an average of 3-4 hits/hour. We caught mostly steelhead with a nice mix of salmon and a few lake trout. The biggest salmon was 22.5lbs with one steelhead topping 13 lbs. We had our best luck in 170 feet of water with the steelhead coming in the top 20 feet and the other fish 80 to 100 feet down. A variety of regular size orange Dream Weaver spoons run off board lines caught most of the steelhead while the blue and green magnum size DW spoons were effective on the deep fish. Also, the coyote flasher with a green glow fly worked well on the deep downrigger. We didn’t need to run copper or leadcore. Also, heard reports from other boats of salmon being caught in 30 – 90 feet of water.

Excellent fishing should remain into June as long as the weather cooperates. What makes it so nice now is having all the different species of fish together. It is common to have a steelhead, salmon & lake trout on at the same time! As we head into June, the steelhead typically head out into deeper water while the lake trout move in but go deeper, and the salmon tend to scatter. How fast the water warms up seems to determine when the fish breakup.