Whitefish Dinner

NumenOn the Water

Date:  7-30-16

Body of Water:  Whitefish Lake

Boat:  DC's Lund

With:  DC

Target:  Largemouth Bass

Time: 4 - 5:30 PM and 9 - 10:30 PM

Conditions:  Post rain, mild NE winds, overcast and 78 degree F water

The lake was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday afternoon, but that quickly changed as folks realized the rain and gloom were over.  Our first few casts were into our own private lake, but that didn't last for long.

When I am fishing out of the back of the boat, I typically defer to the methods of choice for my partner; and then do something different from the stern.  D started with a green tube, so I went for a big bite with a slow-rolled swim bait.  After several casts that just didn't feel right to me, I switched to cranking the weed edge with a bluegill-colored DT10, and my first cast was greeted by a decent pike.  When a small keeper-sized bass followed  just a couple of casts later, it was difficult for me to put this rig down.  At this point we were killing time and just catching up on each other's summers.  A steady parade of small bass came aboard until it was time to go in for dinner.

We turned left from the dock after dinner and covered some new water.  D stuck mostly with the tube while I chose to throw my Whopper Plopper, which is becoming a summertime favorite.  I caught a virtual limit of small bass and missed a few others (I was retrieving the bait about as slowly as I could while still seeing or hearing the bait), and D got a couple on spinnerbaits.  This included the biggest of the night (maybe 2.5 pounds), and he lost a much bigger bass at the boat's side in the dark.

The offshore hump spinnerbait bite never materialized.  It could have been the northeast wind, all the chopped weed, or simply another mystery of fishing.  Maybe next time!

What do I have to say about this?

Thank you, D and J, for the spontaneous invitation, pleasant evening, pontoon ride, good food and easy access to a better-than-decent fishery!  I might not have made it out to the water all weekend except for this opportunity, and D and I are so compatible in the boat that things always work out well.  You are our longest-tenured friends here in Michigan, and I am pleased to have standing offers for reciprocation.  Looking forward to more of the same!

Cranky

NumenOn the Water

Date: 7-23-16

Body of Water: Reeds Lake

Boat: Numenon

With: Alone

Target: Largemouth Bass

Time: 5:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Conditions: Hazy, hot, humid and greasy calm.  Hottest day of year to date.  Water temperatures were 80.3 degrees F at 5:45 AM.

I have several reasons to be cranky.

• It's very hot and has been for several days.  It's about as hot as it gets around here.
• My only two "keepers" of the day (totaling maybe 3.5 pounds) were in the boat by 6:15 AM.  These both ate a Whopper Plopper, offshore.
• My last bass of the day came at about 7 AM.  This little guy ate a swim bait along a deep, offshore weed edge.
• But why not rely on deep cranking to catch some bass?  It worked well last time!  Unfortunately, not today.  I covered a lot of water with the DT10 and DT20 without touching a bass.
• A small pike took my green crawdad DT10.  The fish was subdued and at hand, but somehow twisted away with my (current) favorite crank.
• Wake boarders.  Water skiers.  Boats on plane within 25 feet.
• I still enjoyed cranking some offshore hard bottom.  My DT20 got slammed by a decent pike, but despite all the fish I was seeing on the electronics, I didn't catch anything else out there. I offered a swim bait scratching bottom, a hula grub and a drop shot; none of these got hit.

What do I have to say about this?

I'm not really cranky, I caught some topwater fish and I enjoyed the best part of the day (a quiet dawn.)  I even claimed a bonus, free marker buoy that somebody had left overnight.  Meanwhile, I'm learning a bit about the offshore scene; I'm getting more efficient out there!  

Deep Cranking

NumenOn the Water

Date:  7-16-16

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  Alone

Target:  Largemouth Bass

Time:  9:30 AM to 1:15 PM

Conditions:  Bright and clear; a bit of WNW wind at the tail end of another cold front; water temperatures were 76 to 79 degrees F



Once again I launched on Reeds Lake with tempered expectations (late start, cold front, mid-summer, etc.), but armed with a plan.  I was going to continue working on new(er) spots and techniques.  Perhaps I'd be forfeiting the opportunity to catch some average bass with familiar techniques, but perhaps I'd learn something truly useful, while having some fun in the meantime.

Quality mid-summer bassing can come down to crankbaits, jigs and topwaters.  This is a notoriously difficult lake for topwater success (IMHO), and I prefer the horizontal searching power of cranks to the tedium of jigs (unless I know I'm over fish.)  So I started with cranks; specifically with the green crawdad Rapala DT10 that had gotten bit a couple of times during my last outing.

I started on the northern, wind-blown edge of a prominent offshore hump.  It is fringed by weeds that taper off at about 8 or 10 feet deep, and plunges into depths over 25 feet.  I figured the DT10 would be right at the transition from weeds to abyss, at least when I could get the cast lined up correctly.

A fat 2-plus pounder ate the bait on my second cast, and this turned out to be a harbinger of pleasant things to come.  While I got no other bites on this feature, when I relocated to a smaller, more isolated and lesser known hump (one that is often good for the best fish of the day, if anybody's home), I got three more quality bites from fish between about 2.5 and almost five pounds (OK, 4.84 pounds on the scale.)  All came on this same bait, searching the edge from about 8 to 12 feet of water.  But the real excitement came from the huge largemouth (the largest I've ever seen on this lake) that followed my second fish in during the fight.  This location was duly recorded and revisited, but she did not show herself again, this day.

This Rapala DT10 crankbait did most of the day's damage.

Having worn this spot out, and with no other prominent humps to explore, I searched the tips of a couple of long, submerged points.  I concentrated once again on the deep weed edges dropping off into deeper water.  It took a bit to find the bass, but when I did (on an inside turn near where the point joined the main lake weed edge), there were quite a few there.  These fish weren't big, but they did let me fill out my temporary Michigan Limit, and allowed for a single cull worth a few ounces. 

Not much of a bass, but it did cull an even smaller (although legal-sized) bass.

Here's a nice fatty.

Another twin...

Just over three pounds...

Just shy of five pounds and the anchor of a 14.3-pound limit.

At this point, I was 7 for 9 or perhaps 8 for 10; my five fish limit weighed 14.3 pounds, with the biggest weighing in at 4.84 pounds.  Not bad for about 2-1/2 hours of late morning fishing with a single lure.  I figured it was now time to stretch my experience and look for something else to work.

I made a minor adjustment and switched from the DT10 to a DT20.  I relocated to a series of subtle hard-bottom mini-humps.  These top out gradually at about 13 feet and are surrounded by 17 to 19 feet of water.  With long casts I was able to easily bang bottom, and it didn't take long to get a bite.  I swung and missed, but a few casts later a nice, mid-summer deep-water pike provided a fun, welcome tussle.

What do I have to say about this?

One never knows when good things might happen.  It wasn't the greatest fishing of all time, but it was a quality bite, and I was tuned in and performed well.  It definitely increased my interest and confidence in cranking, a technique I've largely allowed to get away from me over the years.  

Fish and live; live and learn; fish and learn.

Additional cranking in even deeper water with a Rapala DT20 provided almost instant action.

A deep water, crankin' pike... not today's target, but always welcome!

Salt-water Rust

NumenOn the Water

Date:  7-10-16

Body of Water:  Reeds Lake

Boat:  Numenon

With:  Alone

Target:  Largemouth Bass

Time:  6 AM - 10:30 AM

Conditions:  Bright, clear and calm; a ripple of a cold front the previous day; water temperatures were 76-78 degrees F

Fresh off a taxing but satisfying weekend fishing the salt for stripers, I laid low and took advantage of Reeds Lake's proximity.   I'd not been there for a handful of weeks, so I didn't expect much, but you never know... I'd prepared the night before to Go Big! with an assortment of topwaters, jigs and deep cranks.

I deferred on trying for muskies based on the week's heat and reported local water temperatures exceeding 80 degrees F.  I was surprised to be greeted by 76 degree water; I need to keep mid-summer cold fronts in my back pocket for muskie opportunities!

I started with a topwater walking bait along the edge of a prominent offshore hump, but quickly moved into a pocket leading into my most productive pre-spawn/spawning area.  Conditions were well post-spawn, but a lot of big fish had shown themselves in this area earlier in the season; perhaps they were feeding nearby?  In the early calm, I couldn't help but notice the tremendous change in the weeds in this area.  The milfoil was gone, and the remaining scruffy weeds were bleached and scorched.

With nothing going on here except for a small bass from a dock using Ned, I moved to deeper water.  I worked various edges with cranks and a drop-shot (wacky Senko).  My only three hits came on a DT10 along hump edges, and these included a drive-by, a brief hookup, and a half-landing of a very nice bass.

I felt and executed like I was rusty!  I was seriously out of rhythm, so after losing this fish, I took a break to throw a Zoom Horney Toad frog along a shaded shoreline.  A small keeper bass zoomed up out of the shallow weeds; this was my First Reeds Lake Frog Fish and probably the highlight of the day.

I continued the morning with experimentation.  I flipped some pads (I very rarely flip!), I used my new marker buoy to target some deepwater humps and hard spots, and I cranked deeply and excessively.  I didn't catch anything else, but maybe one day one of these spots could turn on and produce for me.  They'd likely be fish I wouldn't have ordinarily been in contact with!

What do I have to say about this?

Recognizing that things weren't going well, but with no pressure to actually catch fish, I felt pretty comfortable investing the rest of my time in finding future spots and methods.  And I've waited way too long to acquire/utilize the humble marker buoy; they really do make staying oriented on a spot easy!

Maine 2016.1

NumenOn the Water

Date:  July 1-4, 2016

Body of Water:  Casco Bay, Maine

Boat:  None; all fishing from a landing float

With:  Generally alone, but joined by local neighbor DV and his son, MV, for a couple of sessions

Target:  Atlantic Mackerel and Striped Bass

Time:  Generally about 4:15 AM to about 8:15 AM, but with some additional effort in PM as available

Conditions:  Generally at the bottom half of the tide.  July 1 (PM) was gray, cool and windy, but otherwise conditions were very clear, calm and bright.  Afternoons were windy.  Water temps were about 71 degrees F upon arrival and recorded as low as 61 degrees F on the last morning.

Session 1:  July 1, 2016 from about 3:30 PM to 8 PM.  Low Tide was at 2:50 PM and High Tide was at 9:10 PM.  Lots of wind and weeds; water temperatures dropped from about 71 to about 67.  I was excited to be out there and went 3 for 4 with bass measuring about 15, 23 and 28 inches.  The best action was between 4:45 and 5:30 PM (low + 2, or so).  The two smaller fish ate sandworms; the largest of the day ate a live mackerel.  (The miss also came on a live mack.)  Mackerel were not thick, but they were abundant enough to keep at it.  Usually the decreasing light of evening is good for the fishing, but in this situation, I was losing my most productive tide, and by 8 PM, I was very chilled.  I wisely pulled the plug and saved my energy for the next morning.  It was, after all, almost time to get up by the time I went to sleep.

The first striper of the trip was a micro-schoolie that ate a suspended sandworm.  Size didn't matter to me; this meant there were fish here to be caught!

Session 2:  July 2, 2016 from about 4:15 AM until about 8 AM.  Low Tide was at 3:38 AM, and conditions were clear and bright, with mild wind.  Water temperatures were about 64-67 degrees F, and this was probably the most active fishing/catching session of the trip.  Mackerel and peanut bunker were evident, and I even caught a nice bass on the small Kastmaster spoon I was throwing for macks.  Local neighbor DV joined me a little after 5 AM and got in on the action; the first of the year for him.  We each landed three bass to 29+ inches or so, and each of us had at least a couple of other chances.  Three of the six landed bass were "keeper" size at 28 inches.  Fresh heads on the bottom, suspended sandworms and live mackerel all caught fish; once again, the largest fish ate a head, but the true secret to success on this day was to present a live mackerel of the preferred size.  Smaller mackerel did not last long!

Session 2: This bonus goldie ate my Kastmaster spoon intended for mackerel and provided an awesome fight on pretty light tackle!

Session 2: This bass plucked a fresh mackerel head off the bottom.

Session 3:  July 2, 2016 from about  3 to 8 PM.  Low Tide was at 3:38 PM, and this the slowest session of the trip.  Water temps were firm at 67 degrees F, and a very strong wind developed.  Virtually no mackerel were available, and no bunker were noted.  I caught two mid-sized bass (one on a floated worm, one on a head on bottom), but the most notable occurrence was handing the rod to a local sunbather and watching her enjoy the battle of the biggest fish of her life.  She was stunned when the bass came to hand!  Recognizing that I had lost my tide and conceding to the slow conditions, I quit early, before my daylight ran out.

Session 4:  July 3, 2016 from about 4:15 AM to about 8:15 AM. Low Tide was at 4:35 AM.  Water temperatures continued to slide and ranged from 64 to 67 degrees F.  The first fish came early; it was the tiniest striper I'd ever encountered; it ate a suspended sandworm.  A second (on a live mackerel; thankfully they had returned!) came soon, and shortly thereafter I was joined by DV and his son, MV.  

MV has embraced fishing, but had not yet caught his first striper of 2016.  As the morning unfolded, we maintained and presented a steady supply of appropriately-sized macks, and I caught three more bass, with one being "keeper" sized.  MV had a couple of chances, too, and was reasonably disappointed when his first chance came unbuttoned after a pretty long fight.  Equipped with a slightly larger circle hook, he scored on his second chance, though, and all failures were forgotten.   Sharing this moment of youthful success was a highlight of my fishing season!

MV put in a good effort and is rightfully proud of his catch.  This bass ate a live mackerel suspended under a float, the weekend's most productive technique.

Session 5:  July 4, 2016 from about 4:15 AM to about 8:15 AM.  Low Tide was at 5:29 AM, and conditions were calm, clear and bright.  Water temperatures were the coldest yet, ranging from 61 to 63 degrees F.  Mackerel were modestly abundant; peanut bunker were thick.    I had two bass before 5 AM; not a bad way to start any day.  The first ate a head, the second a custom hair jig from my local tackle store of choice.  This second fish was notable because it was my first bucktail striper; and the bucktail is probably The King of Striper Lures.  It was also notable simply as a lure-caught striper, something that doesn't happen from The Landing all that often.  Best of all, though, it smashed the bucktail at my feet, while I was watching and in very clear water.  I got to see it all; and that just enhanced a very nice experience.  My last bass of the trip (28 inches or so) came a couple of hours later, having eaten my last mackerel of an appropriate size.  Overall for the morning, I was 3-for-4 chances, having also missed a fish on a too-large mack.

This is my first-ever bucktail bass.  The bait is courtesy of The Tackle Shop, a favorite place of mine.

She was fat and fresh from the sea.  Check out the sea lice!  These adorned

most of the weekend's bass.

What do I have to say about this?

4:30 AM EDT, and the day is wasting away!

This is a wonderful place, and I thrive on the simple approach to successful fishing I can employ here.  The fishing was never hot and heavy like I've sometimes experienced in the past, but it was good enough to satisfy my current needs; and more than good enough to keep me out there!  My records indicate that I caught 15 stripers; probably more than I've caught in the last couple of years combined.  I also assisted on four others and shared good times with friends, family and neighbors.  The fish were fat and healthy, I caught them on fine gear and with a variety of presentations.  I didn't have a single fishing failure (broken line, frazzled knot, lost hooked fish, etc.), but I was particularly pleased to have shared this fishing and some actual catching success with a budding young fisherman.  I remember being 14 or 15 pretty well, and I am blessed to have found this lifelong, giving activity by that age.  I enjoy sharing what little I know with those who can appreciate it.

Traverse Bay and Vicinity

NumenOn the Water

Date: 6-17 and 18- 2016

Body of Water: Traverse Bay, East Arm and North Lake Leelanau

Boat:  Numenon

With:  BL

Target:  Smallmouth Bass

Time:  Morning and night!

Conditions:  High, clear blue skies and hot; very little wind, and very clear water.  Water conditions ranged from about 63 degrees F to about 69 F.  

New fishing friend BL and I had been antsing to get back up North, and we were able to clear our mutual schedules.  He'd supply the cottage and food; I'd supply the boat and wheels. Together we'd tackle the East Arm of Grand Traverse Bay, with North Lake Leelanau as a backup.

We hit the road at about 4:30 PM on Thursday.  Potential options included hitting a new lake on the way up; going all the way to his cottage in Leland, straight; or hitting the Bay on our way up to Leland.  Between a bit of traffic and collecting dinner, it became apparent that we'd not have much fishing time that night.  With an early start to the next morning planned, we discussed and decided to go straight to the Bay, but instead of fishing a little bit of water, to scout a lot of water.  Then we'd have a good starting point for our actual fishing on Friday morning.

We had about an hour and a half of scouting time, but at 3 or 4 mph cruising speed, we were able to assess a whole lot of bottom.  Our intel indicated that the bass should still be on beds in the southern part of the bay.  The flats here are enormous, and while we saw a few empty beds and many incipient beds, we didn't see many bass; in fact, we saw more cruising the breaks than we saw up on the flats.

Having not seen what I expected, we scouted the areas that I had fished 52 weeks previous; the cut into the marina to the north and east, and then the rocky point further to the north.  Unlike last year, we saw nothing near the marina; and this had been my first productive spot on the Bay.  Moving to the north and rocks, we saw a few fish and possibly a few beds; but again, nothing like what I'd expected to see.  Nonetheless, I dropped some GPS waypoints and we decided to start our fishing the next day in this area.


Day 1 of fishing dawned calm and clear and with the promise of being a scorcher;  the access lot was already 60% full (with bass boaters, including Northern Michigan Adventures'' sweet and conspicuous rig) upon our arrival at 7:15 AM.  Within 20 minutes or so we were set up across the Bay on our spot of choice.  Water temps were about 64 degrees F; prime spawning conditions.  Any bass present would be visible in such clear water.  I started searching in about 11 feet of water with a Rapala Shadow Rap deep jerk bait, while BL scratched bottom with a twin-tail hula grub or a Ned Rig.  

We settled pretty quickly into sight fishing for bedding bass; some weren't quite bedding yet, but they sure were territorial.  They still weren't abundant, but they were more-so than the previous evening; it looked like conditions were heating up.  Most bass were evident in 8 or 9 feet of water.  The first bass fell to my PB&J Ned Rig, but after a couple of rejections, I switched to a drop shot rig with an Uncle Josh Pork Worm.  For the rest of the day, these produced about equally, with individual fish showing their individual preferences.

First photo opportunity of the trip; this nice bass fell to a drop-shot rig.

For a short period, it looked like we were the hot boat; although we were accompanied by a handful of bass boats, we seemed to be the only boat catching.  Bouncing around between several spots from here to a few miles north, we had 9 or so to about 3 pounds landed by 11 AM.  Not bad; but not World Class like we were hoping for.

We then ran south to a breakline where we'd seen the most fish activity the previous evening.  Here the sand flat broke dramatically into 16 or more feet of water, with the break and basin often adorned with some scruffy weeds.  BL continued scraping bottom, but I went Big with the jerk bait; and I pulled the nicest bass (a 4-pounder, maybe) of the trip off of a dark-bottomed patch in about 18 feet of water.  

This chunker ate a deep-diving Rapala Shadow Rap.

We ended our day at 3:45 PM, having caught another jerk bait fish from the edge and a couple of small males from beds; but then went back to the cabin with plans on sampling North Lake Leelanau that evening.

While it was a rushed event (balanced with grilling some burgers, welcoming BL's son W aboard, etc.), it was very pleasant.  Water conditions were clear (but nowhere near as clear as on the Bay!) and about 69 degrees F.  There was a bit of boat traffic, but hardly anybody fishing; we'd have any available fish to ourselves.  We fished for perhaps 90 minutes, and keyed on certain spots.  I chose to throw a topwater bait, walking the dog, almost exclusively; I wanted a big fish!

BL and W continued to scratch bottom, and they caught fish (a nice rockie and a couple of decent bass), but I enjoyed seeing a couple of fish attack my lure.  One was smallish and simply missed my bait; I think BL might have caught it when he pitched his Ned Rig right to the spot of the attack.  The other fish looked very sizable in the failing light, but stopped short of actually hitting the bait.  It pushed a wake right up to the lure, but just when I expected the explosion to take place... it didn't.  Darn it!

During the evening I got some information from a reliable source that the spawn was "full fledged at the bottom of East Bay."  We'd not seen or experienced this, but we'd been more along the southwest corner and east side of the Bay.  With a tip like this we committed to returning to East Bay, and this time exploring new water, more at the base of the Bay.  We knew we'd need to get there early (given limited parking, bass tournament and a beautiful forecast for the weekend), so alarms were set and we did our best to sleep fast!

A nearly full moon over a quiet North Lake Leelanau.  A large bass had just pulled short of my topwater bait.  Near perfection!  

Day 2 broke similarly, but we were on the water about an hour earlier, full of hope.  In short, "full fledged" spawning activity was never encountered.  BL caught a single fish blind casting in about 8 feet of water, and occasionally we'd see a bass boat stalk a nest and pull a bass off it; but generally we were encountering only empty nests, and not too many of those.  With our allotted time about half spent, we returned to our favorite rocky areas, but encountered similar conditions.  In fact, there were many more bass boats here and fewer visible fish than the day before. With about an hour of fishing left, we returned to the breakline where I'd caught Day 1's biggest fish.  I threw my topwater and the Rapala Shadow Rap while BL scratched bottom per usual.  I got the last hit of the trip on the Rap, but somehow managed to lose it; the only other fishing action of note was witnessing a very large bass stalking my jerk bait for quite a distance; but I also saw that it was somehow unable to commit to eating the lure.  That fish would have sealed the trip; now I just have to think about her.

We returned to the ramp area, hot and tired, only to encounter too many boats and not enough ramp!  To add to the pontoons and sails being launched, there were multiple vessels with dead batteries and a smattering of frustrated folks with poor attitudes.  We simply waited it out and landed as efficiently as possible.  I was disappointed in the day's catch, but we agreed, it really had been a fine weekend; even if the Bay showed only a fraction of what it had to offer.

It was my pleasure to release this (and all) bass.  What a beautiful place!

Beautiful bass; beautiful spot; beautiful conditions; nice trip!

Offshore Challenge 2016

NumenOn the Water

Date:  June 4, 5 and 6, 2016

Body of Water:  Lake Michigan, Grand Haven

Boat:  Dog Day

With: Dog Day Crew

Target:  Great Lakes Trout and Salmon

Time: About 6:30 AM to 2 PM each day

Conditions:  Various; but generally Spring transitioning into Summer.  From flat calm, building through each day to 5 footers; and perfectly clear through raining and fog.  Water conditions were generally high 50s on surface and gradually cooling to 43 degrees F.  No real thermocline, yet.

The Dog Day crew had not fished together since last September, and none of had yet targeted salmon on Lake Michigan this season.  These were not ideal factors for entering a tournament, but that did not dissuade us.  We had a favorable weather forecast and a day for practicing.  We thought the best opportunity for getting a number of bites would be in deeper water, offshore; especially with the dearth of Kings this season.

6 AM run from the Grand Haven piers on our single practice day; beautiful conditions to search out some fish!

Conditions were flat calm and the sky was high.  Our initial spread consisted of four boards with lead and copper of various lengths, a couple of wire dipseys and two down riggers.  We were covering the top down to 140 feet or so.  We had set up in about 160 feet of water and the shallower rigger, set 63 feet down with a white flasher/fly  got hit within the first half hour in about 180 feet of water.  The smallish salmon jumped off, but provided a starting point and buoyed our spirits.  And for the next couple of hours we enjoyed four more bites, landing two coho, a steely and a tiny king.  These all bit Super Slim spoons in "Mixed Veggie" or "Hot Pepper" colors.  They'd all hit between 180 and 200 feet of water, at faster, but not really hot trolling speeds; about 2.6 - 2.8 mph.  Short Coppers seemed best; the riggers and dipseys had gone silent.  We'd not caught a fish deeper than 200 feet of water.  The biggest fish might not have weighed five pounds, but I'd suffered much worse in days in other Grand Haven tournaments.    We had something of a starting point for the next day.

Doc M bags our first (coho) salmon of the day.

This Super Slim spoon took several hits during practice and earned a near-permanent place in our spread.

Doc M had fished with some other "Pro" boats during practice for the recent South Haven tournament, and he'd picked up some experience, pointers and gear for targeting deep lakers.  We ended our practice day with an attempt at dragging bottom for them in about 120 feet of water.  We made just about every possible mistake, didn't get bit and mostly fought tangles.  (Doc M had developed a taste for 50-foot leaders on the wire divers; until I see it make a positive difference, I'm not a fan.) But we did learn from this effort (set one rod at a time and communicate in the back the boat!), and it turned out to be time decently spent, because we fished much more cohesively during the tournament.   

This practice day had also been the Kids and Ladies Tournament, and post-fishing talk indicated that about 130 feet to 170 feet of water had produced the most bites.  Since we'd gotten our bites on the shallow side of our range during practice, this became our target for the tourney's start.  And Day 1 of the tournament started well!  125- and 150- Coppers produced a steelie and a 6-pound king from about 150 feet of water, but then things fizzled out.  We only got two more hits, both from the bottom, while targeting lakers.  We pulled our first laker by bouncing right off the bottom (rigger; yellow-spotted tin can dodger; Spin-n-Glo) and then finally caught  a dipsey fish by bouncing bottom; a spinnie/reversed fly/Spin-n-Glo combo trailed 50 feet behind.  Both of these lakers came from about 125 feet of water.

Our four fish weighed a total of just over 16 pounds; not a great catch, but not bad, either, as another two or three fish of any legal size would have put us in the top 3 "Amateur" boats.  What was truly evident from the weigh-in is that lakers would win it; there were virtually no kings weighed; and our lakers had to be abundant for us to make a move.

This steelie on Day 1 was bigger than anything we caught in practice.

Our first targeted laker.  They are beautiful fish!

Doc M is a gregarious guy, and he's gone "all in" with this fishing.  During the evening he developed some "intel" within the marina, from folks he trusted; and the advice was to target lakers in 130 to 170 feet of water. (But beware! The boat that had won the Kids and Ladies Tournament had crapped out on Day 1!)  We knew we weren't on winning fish, so, as we left the dock on Day 2 under looming clouds and rain, we changed gears and moved on to more new water, farther south.

There was a bit of SE wind this morning, and we struggled at first to find a trolling angle that the boat and trailing lines liked.  We pulled our first laker right off the bottom pretty quickly while pulling some tangled lines (about 120 feet of water; wire diver; spinnie; reversed fly over a Spin-n-Glo.)  This quick catch of the targeted species offered some promise.  During a slow turn to get back on the spot, the 125 Copper got ripped (orange and blue spoon in the darker conditions) and now we had a beautiful, bigger, 8-pound laker, too.  Once again, we were off to a good start!

Soon thereafter the 10-color lead core (now rigged with a copy-cat orange and blue spoon) got hammered, and our fish of the weekend (10.8-pound steelhead) came aboard; it was still only about 9:30 AM!  

But seas were building; boat control was a chore; and we lost touch with these fish.  In fact, we didn't get another bite all day.

Our Day 2 catch totaled about 21 pounds, and we broke the 100-point barrier for the event.  It wasn't good enough to win anything; but we'd done decently well.  We never got a sniff of the bigger lakers that were apparently so prevalent further south; faster and more motivated boats were running almost down to Saugatuck to get in on a more consistent trout bite.

Doc M might have phrased it best; we didn't win, but we were still only about 3 fish from cashing a check.  He was right; it was another tough Offshore Challenge.

What do I have to say about this?

Lake Michigan without King Salmon simply offers a diminished experience.  While we caught a couple, they were largely absent from our weekend and generally AWOL from the tournament as a whole.  While I saw piles of big lakers, more and bigger than I'd ever seen at a tournament, I saw only a few teenager kings to 17 pounds, and only a few smaller ones as well.

The biggest fishing lesson from the weekend is, Don't fish for others' fish!  By which I mean, we spent each day or a portion of each day reacting to the information of others; and the value of that is doubtful unless the info is complete.   That includes more than depths and baits; speeds and especially location are critical.  Moreover, these reactions had us trying to laker fish together as a new crew from a new boat with new gear and techniques; and tournament time is not the time to be doing such things.  Tournament fish to your strengths!

But good attitudes and a realistic emphasis on fun fishing kept the mood light.  We still learned a bunch and had fun; and even though we struggled, we also know that we were only three fish of any size from cashing a check.  Meanwhile, a winning strategy for the tournament would have entailed a huge gas bill; to implement such strategy would have said more about our egos, as opposed to our sensibilities.