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. Frank Piku From Captain Franks Fishing Charters reports from Lake St. Clair

This has been a family fishing week, with many young boys, and girls fishing aboard GOLDEN STREAK with there Fathers, Grandfathers, and Uncles too. Great to see a 8 year old girl bait her hook and even take off the fish and put them in the cooler.

It has been a hot bite with both Walleyes, Smallmouth Bass, Perch and even Muskie.

Fishing near the South channel on the American side of Lake St. Clair we are finding schools of Walleyes and Bass too. A record 7lb Bass was landed by 9 year old Scout. Father was happy he didn’t want it mounted. All the boys caught there Fathers limit of Bass with lots of Perch also. Youngster under 18 years of age don’t need a fishing license and fish under there dads.

We had our best luck along the reef of the Canadian Shore.

We only trolled for Muskies on one trip for about an hour and, this 15 year old caught his first Muskie. His dad said we would be back for a muskie trip this fall.

Its great to see Fathers bring there Sons, Daughters too, having fun fishing, and not just computer games.

Every trip this week produced limit catches. We had lots of fish cleaning to do, for family fish fries.

Call me to take your family or your fishing buddies on a hot fishing trip

Captain Frank Piku 305 509 1547

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

Walleye fishing is good, 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, or crawler harnesses should work.

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 as the sun comes up to 140 to 160 feet of water.

Lake Trout fishing has been on the slow side with the continued storms going through,but should pick back up shortly. Try straight out South and North of the harbor using the dodgers with spin and glows or flys close to the bottom. Use clean spoons off the downriggers. Fish 50 foot 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.

A few Salmon are still being taken straight out and North of the harbor fishing 100 to150 foot 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 70 feet down.

Try for perch South by the cemetery

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

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

Fishing has been very good this week.
We are fishing from 75 ft. out to 120 ft. of water.
We are fishing from 30 ft. down to 60 ft.

Assorted spoons have been working very well for us: Among those are oranges, blues, orange crush, blue dolphin, green dolphin, and mixed veggies.

This week spinnies and flies have started to turn the fish on.
We are using blue spinnies w/blue flies, green spinnies w/green flies, and white paddles w/white flies.

Coast Guard festival continues this week and Grand Haven is a very busy place to be.
If you are interested in booking with us, please contact us at: www.dannmariecharters.com or dannmarie2@aol.com.