Captain Bill Winowiecki of Watta Bite Charters reports from Glen Arbor:

Fishing out of Glen Arbor has been good. Early morning near shore has produced some nice King staging to run up the Crystal and Platte rivers. We boated a 14 pound master angler Coho last week. Some Kings are quite large. A 27 pound fish was caught in our little Glen Arbor Tournament on Sunday. J-Plugs and wonder bread spoons are working well.

Off shore fishing around the Manitou’s we are catching a mixed bag of 2, 3 and 4 year class fish. The salmon are scattered, with all the wind changes. Keep working the banks and out in the 300 foot of water until you hit fish. Then start working that area. These fish want to be spoon fed. Various colors are working depending on cloud cover, and water conditions. Usually when you hit a pod of fish, they’ll hit anything. Be very aware of North winds, in Glen Arbor. We had a little tournament over the weekend, the wind, shifted North-west fast and hard. We had a very bad situation at the ramp.

The Traverse Bays have good fishing for kings. Fishing pressure is heavy, but the Salmon are large. Both bays are producing nice Kings and Lake Trout.

Capt. Ken Deaton of J-Lyn Charters reports from Harbor Beach:

Steelhead fishing is still good straight out, fish the color lines for best results. Put out some long lines on the boards, bright colors of spoons, small, and regular sizes for best results, fishing straight out, South and North of the harbor, start in 80 feet of water and work out to 120 feet of water as the sun comes up. Be there early for a good bite.

A few Salmon are being taken straight out, South and North of the harbor fishing the 80 to 120 feet of water areas. Work deeper as the sun comes up. Clean spoons off the lead lines, dipseys, and downriggers are all working. Fish the top 60 to 80 feet of water for best results.

Lake Trout fishing is fair. Try straight out, South and North of the harbor using the dodgers with spin and glows or flys close to the bottom. Try clean spoons off the downriggers. Fish 50 feet down to the bottom for best results. Start fishing in 80 feet of water and work your way out to the deeper water till you find them.

Bass and Pike are still being taken casting or trolling spoons and body baits in close to shore or inside the harbor. Fishing around the weed beds is still giving the best results.

Walleye fishing is slowing down,

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

Salmon fishing continued to be excellent this past week. Lots of BIG 4-year old kings with a mix of coho, steelhead & lake trout. Had to quit early one trip due to no more room in the cooler even though we were 4 fish short of our limit. Break-offs continued to be an issue as some of the kings were over 20lbs. Biggest last week was 24 ½ lbs. The coho may also be to blame as they tend to roll up in the line. Best depths were 80 to 120 FOW early, then 170 to 220 later in the day. Best baits were a variety of Moonshine & Stinger Stingrays spoons, and green/white glow Spin Doctors with a green glow fly. However, most days it didn’t matter as just about any bait put out worked. Most productive setups were full copper early, then with an added 3 oz. dive bomber in the deeper water. Down riggers set at 45, 60 & 80 in close, and 50, 70 & 90 out deep did well also. Divers set at 1 1/2, back 120’ and 12 color lead core also caught fish. Free sliders did not do well on most days.

Many of the kings are turning dark already. The eggs and sperm look loose and ready to spawn. It looks like there may be an early run at any time. All-in-all it appears we are in for a much better fall fishery than last year.

Perch fishing continues to be poor most days. There are some around, but mostly very small.

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

What a great week of fishing. Just about every day we would have at
least one salmon that would push or exceed 20 pounds. Today we caught a
24.5 pound, a 23.5 pound, a 19 pound and a 17 pound salmon in the 10
fish creel. The fish are located from 100 foot of water out to 160 foot
of water from the Holland piers to south of the Douglas point. Mixed in
with the chinook salmon are some coho, steelhead and lake trout.

Downriggers at 70, 80, and 100 foot down are producing with flashers and
flies. The best are the Echip (silver green, davie jones glow, glow frog
and white and silver mountain dew) with Rapture wild fern, green
hypnotist and green beaded no see um flies. We did take some salmon on
the 11 in E chip but the best was the 8 in. Our best method continues to
be the dipsy divers at 200 foot and 250 foot out with the same flashers
and flies we used on the downriggers. 300 and 450 foot of copper lines
did well also with flashers and flies on the 450’s and Stingray lures
(green dolphin, blue green dolphin and mixed veggie-all with glow backs)
on the 300’s.

For fishing information and/or charter reservations, email me at
captron@chartermichigan.com.

Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:

Fishing is on again off again at the point. The good news is that after the AM bite just point the boat west and troll out to the 3800s out to the 5000s and the fish are there. There is a mixed bag of Kings, Cohos, Steelhead and an occasional Lake trout. Moonshine spoons are the baits of choice early, then spoons spinnies and meat rigs after the morning bite. Plugs are starting to heat up. 100 and 150 cores and low wire divers from 70′back to 90′, and high wires from 120′ to 130′ are also producing. The secret weapon with a plug is doing very well right now. The pierheads are best from first light to dark at night. PM lake is doing very good with some nice catches on meat rigs. During the day the best fishing is from the 3500#s out to the 4900#s in the 5400#s up to the 0450#s.

Good Fishin…..Capt Ed

Capt. Ken Deaton of J-Lyn Charters reports from Harbor Beach:

Steelhead fishing is good, fish the color lines for best results. Keep your lines up high. Put out some long lines on the boards, bright colors of spoons, small, and regular sizes for best results, fishing straight out and North of the harbor, start in 65 feet of water and work out to 160 feet of water as the sun comes up.

Lake Trout fishing is fair. Try straight out, South and North of the harbor using the dodgers with spin and glows or flys close to the bottom. Try clean spoons off the downriggers. Fish 45 feet down to the bottom for best results. Start fishing in 80 feet of water and work your way out to the deeper water till you find them.

Walleye fishing is slowing down, try North of the harbor and North of Port Hope working in close to shore, 25 to 50 feet of water. Clean small spoons, hot n tots, and crawler harnesses will be best.

Bass and Pike are still being taken casting or trolling spoons and body baits in close to shore or inside the harbor. Fishing around the weed beds is still giving the best results.

A few Salmon are being taken straight out and North of the harbor fishing the 60 to120 feet of water areas. Work deeper as the sun comes up. Clean spoons off the lead lines, dipseys, and downriggers are all working. Fish 15 to 60 feet down.

Try for perch South