9-8-2008 This is the best new band out there, Every Avenue. Michigan natives featuring Jimmie Deeghan on Guitar. Jimmie is the son of one of the best fishermen on Lake Michigan.

I was afraid that the Lions would pull their old MO, win a couple of games and go in the toilet. I guess they are just skipping the "winning a couple of games" thing.

9-5-2008 If you were waiting for an order, they all shipped today.

For those who think that the Auto industry is "irrelevant" and does not affect you or the economy.

9-2-2008 2 weeks to Grouse Season!

Started the day at 0430 in 40fow just south of the filter with great expectations because a friend went 12 for something yesterday and cold water was in. Temp was 44 down 35 in 40fow but the raging north current was still present. No bites for over an hour then a double with 30’ rigger and #4 blue/chart glow J and 50 loc wire Dipsy with White/glow Inticer and Trophy blue green/glow and that screamer came unbuttoned. I thought here we go!! Not!!! That was our last Dipsy bite for the day despite running 4 with various let backs and lures. When light enough to see noticed the 3 color OffShore out of line and had drowned next yrs little Coho on Magnum Cracked Ice.

I couldn’t believe that there were not more hooks and bait when conditions were just what I would have wanted except for the current. Turned back south at Atwater and stayed between 40-50fow and had to really crank to keep the Raider around 2. Rigger with Raider Bob’s Electric clown took a brown down 30, Magnum Raider Cracked Ice a 3yr old down 34. Drowned a small brown on the rigger down 28 on a blue and silver Andy Reeker. Just south of the Filter Electric Clown went and a dandy 15# brown.

Radio chatter in the deeper water sounded even slower than us so decided to continue south in 40fow and Magnum Raider Cracked Ice took a 4yr old down 36 between north and main gap. Saw 4 boats working the north gap and no one by the main so slid in front and still water in the 40s down 28. No marks and little bait in front so wondered if the cold water had them inside the harbor. Changed a bunch of setups to Js and shot the main. 51 down 24 and still few hooks and little bait so turned to go back out and popped another 4 yr old on Magnum Cracked ice down 24 and all the Js, even on Dipsys were dead. Because so few marks and not much for bait decided to troll back north and hope going into the current would help. Only one bite all the way back to Atwater, LT regular bloody death on 6 color, the only rip on 6 different leadcores for the entire day, 2s thru 7s with lots of changing of lures.

Ended with 9 to clean and one shaker brown released. Nice to have some rigger bites and ran them with 10, 12 and 15 passes and no SWR. Totally puzzled and wondering where the fish are and esp. wonder where the bait is. Really expected more browns under these conditions this time of year. On the way in ran over some 25-30fow and did mark bait. Maybe should have been even shallower. Considering the big change in weather that’s coming may wait for a while and better reports before hitting it again.

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard

8-26-2008 The DNR has banned deer baiting in all of the lower peninsula of Michigan. They found CWD in one animal on a game farm. The game farm is missing no animals and there is no evidence that it got to the wild population.

Now, I know there is a bunch of people who don't like baiting. That's fine. Hold hearings or a vote and if that is the way we want to go, with a decent amount of time for the change, then so be it.

What you have to understand is there is a bunch of people who already have a lot of money invested in bait for this season, and today they got, well, you know what they got. No data, no evidence of an issue with the wild population, just a knee jerk reaction by the pencil pushers.

Well, I know how they feel. I dumped several hundred dollars worth of bait because of VHS even though to date there is no actual evidence it was any danger to anything.
8-25-2008 Boat lands on south breakwater I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is no prize for being the first in the harbor. There is a prize for putting your boat on the pier though, that's the opportunity to make Abrahamson's, the outfit that recovers most of these boats in Ludington, a lot more money. The extra bonus is knowing that everyone reading that article is thinking you are a doofus.

#1 - SLOW DOWN
#2 - Keep a sharp lookout while under way at all times. The Autopilot is is blind.
#3 - Set your way point 1/2-1/4 mile due west (or east, north or south depending on where you are) of the harbor mouth. Then in the thickest fog you can head straight into the harbor.
#4 - GPS can be wrong. See #1 and #2.
#5 - Radar is now under $2000. If you are on a budget you can find them used for less than $1000. Radar always knows where the rocks are.

You want to be safe and spending that money on spoons, not boat repair!

8-24-2008 Man uses Barbie fishing rod to make record catch

8-23-2008 Being Cancer free does not mean you start feeling better right away apparently.

Southeast Michigan Ruffed Grouse Society chapter banquet dinner will be held in Livonia, Michigan on Tuesday September 16, 2008. For banquet details, click HERE.

8-18-2008 I started feeling better on Friday, and I decided it was high time to go fishing! Saturday night we went out of Ludington, set up in about 80 feet of water north of the harbor, trolled south and in to about 50 feet straight out of the Harbor.

We went 2 for 4, that is a good size Coho I have there and my brother in law wrestled that 15 lb King in on 1/2 core. Water was about 46 degrees, the King was very silver and acted like it was early June. Lots of power, ripping out a lot of line.

Half the rips , including the Coho, came on a Silver Horde "Ace High" J Plug 27 out on a wire dipsy set on 1 and the rest, including the Big King and a Steelhead I "released", came on the 1/2 core and a #3 Green Frog Lyman Plug

Just when I was feeling pretty darn proud of our fish I got this from Chip Greene about Netminder Charters out of Onekama:

I thought you'd enjoy seeing the pictures of the 30.75# king and the 31# king Chris Peplinski caught out of Onekama. Three days and two 30#'rs pretty good!! First fish came on 8-15-08 and second fish was caught this morning on 8-17- 08. Both have been certified by MIDNR for master angler awards....

No big fish in Lake MI huh!!??

Best, Chip

8-15-2008 I just warranted a Daiwa Heartland Rod. What's good about that? I have sold a couple of hundred of these "economical" rods and have had only a couple of returns. This one was for an actual defect, the other one was for damage I think I did to it. Compare that to the pile of rods from another manufacturer I collected a couple of seasons ago, I think that's a pretty good track record. Reasonably priced, well made, what more could you want in a rod? If it was made in the USA it would be a home run.

8-14-2008 From Captain John King of www.halcyoncharters.com :

Here are a few pictures from Fairport (MI, on Lake Michigan South of Manistique on the North entrance to Green Bay) Bob, we ended up putting 51 fish in the boat, most went over 10 lbs, biggest 18.5, had 1 more 18pounder, the rest where made up of 17's 16's 15's and a bunch 10 - 12lbs . Caught very few on spoons, Meat was the ticket and it did well, pulling fish after daylight from Mid 60's deg water. what few spoon fish we caught came off Mag Raider chicken pox, and Mag Monkey Puke..

8-12-2008 From Saturday 8/9/2008:

Evening trip in front of the pier heads (along with 100 other boats)

Unscientific experiment;

4 to 6 plugs (J's / Silver Hordes) in the water, port side

4 to 6 Raider spoons in the water, starboard side (including 1 mountain dew spin doctor and fly on low diver / mountain dew Raider on high diver)

Everything in the water on the starboard was hit ( boating 3 fish)

Everything in the water on port side was ignored with exception of one bite (landed) as we were clearing lines (Raiders came out of the water first)

GO FIGURE!.........Jerry

8-11-2008 The French Swim Team needs to learn what I told my kids, do your talking on the field (or the pool). Congratulations Team USA, that was quite a sight.

8-8-2008 What a day, Detroit's mayor in jail and Brett Favre in New Jersey. Good for him he did not get stuck wearing "baby blue".

8-7-2008 I have 4 used Okuma Catalina 30L 4.0 MHSC LW Reel in the Used Items Section

One of my best customers and his Family with a successful trip to Ludington this past weekend

Correct Incorrect

8-6-2008 After yet again another good question about the correct way to run Ridgebacks, I went out and took some pictures tonight.

The worry is that the line will get into the fin and the rattlers if you are too close to the Ridgeback. Well, you can see that the leader on the release takes care of that nicely, if you have any tension on the line at all it should be no problem. Your tension on the line from the rod should be several times the pull of your lure.

If you hook the release on the weight it tips up a bit. The problem in the water is that this gets much worse fast. As the weight swings back, the release pulls up straighter and the weight swings back more. The line loosens and what do you do? You tighten it up. Pretty soon the weight is back 45 degrees.

8-5-2008 Did you vote yet today??????????? If you don't vote, you don't get to complain. I'll really guilt you up and point out how many guys, and gals, are out there sucking dust in 120 degree heat for our right to vote, among other things. The least we can do is get our tails down to the polls. The percentage of people who vote in this country is pathetic. All three Hicks' are voting today, including the newest 18 year old for his first time, will be checked off, I can assure you of that.

If not, just make sure you are all ready to go in November.

Well, that's the last of the Lyman Plugs sold today. I will have a replacement I think you will really like for next year.

Captain Bill "Willie Wonka" Warner with a nice King on Friday, 8/1/2008

Results from the Saturday 8/2/2008 Morning Trip Results from the Saturday 8/2/2008 Evening Trip

Results from the Sunday 8/3/2008 Evening Trip

8-4-2008 My buddy Jerry "busted them up" last weekend, mostly on Raiders but with a couple of Dream weavers and Spin Doctor/Flies mixed in:

Hot spoons: Double Mountain Dew bubble / Blue Bubble Mountain Dew / Pink Alewife / Blue Grass all in standard size no magnums. I took my deepest fish ever, 145' down on rigger behind 13# Ridgeback Rattler. Most fish coming north, straight and south spotty..

8-3-2008 Dave Mull just coined what I think its one of the most useful phrases in our industry: "UPSFT (as in Unproven and Probably Stupid Fishing Theory)". I love it, and I will be using it often as I have many UPSFT's myself.

Some of the more popular UPSFTs out there:

Fish can't see red, or any other theory about why one color or another actually works.
Anything to do with ions or "electrical discharges"
How deep any particular rig, other than maybe downriggers, actually runs, given the variables such as lure drag, boat speed, water temperature, currents.

Now, one of those will trigger a strong response from some people, but until the biggest manufacturer of those devices is willing to undergo an independent blind test to show that their devices actually do anything, I will stand by my statement. On the other hand, if you believe in those devices, and that positive attitude makes you catch fish, more power to you. I just can't swallow the theories.

As far as depth, even the depth chart guys state how fast they were going, the size of the line, etc... "A full core goes down 50 feet" is an approximate statement at best. My feeling is, if it catches fish, it is where the fish are, if it does not, then it is not. That is all you really care about, right?

Same with Dipsys. I let mine out and almost immediately start letting more line out until I get fish. As to where the dipsy is then, who cares as long as I can put it back there again?

Actually, that is the problem with a lot of fishermen, and as an engineer I find my self getting caught in it to. We all want to know "why", because if we knew "why", then we could predict how to catch fish all the time.

Of course if it was that easy, I'd probably sell the boat and do my fishing in the supermarket.

8-2-2008 Normally I would think this was overly cruel, but then again, if you tell someone NOT to touch a gun and they don't seem to understand the seriousness of playing with a firearm, maybe this is a way to do it.

Gun Safety

8-1-2008 Boat US is one of the organizations I recommend that you join. Believe it or not, there are almost as many "anti-boaters" as there are anti-hunters out there. Our country is full of "If I don't like it no one should so it." types. They tried to slip in an EPA discharge permit requirement for every recreational boat in the US.

Thanks to some great teamwork, the threat of a new EPA discharge permit for all your boats is gone!

On Tuesday night, President Bush signed into law "The Clean Boating Act of 2008," which gives recreational boats a permanent exemption for the court imposed EPA discharge permit.

I thank each of you for helping create this victory for boating. Every time we asked for your help, you were there to push the legislation further down the path towards successful passage. You contacted your Members of Congress and helped them understand the importance of boating in your life. And Congress heard the loud voices of tens of thousands of boaters! Nice work!

Enjoy the rest of the summer on the water!

Margaret Podlich

Vice President of Government Affairs

BoatU.S.

By the way, when legislation comes along to ban activities like trapping that you may not be interested in participating in, try not to be a "If I don't like it no one should so it." type your self. Think about how you would have liked paying this fee.

7-31-2008

Milwaukee 7/29-30.

Left the dock each day around 0330. Not a great bite in the dark but the 2 color with #3 J and 4 color with #4 J glow chartreuse always seem to fire at least once. Started just off the filter in 45fow and Tues had 5 by 5 with 2 on Opti Glow with Trophy aqua/glow with 45loc. Temp was warmer with 55 down 30. 5 color Dbl Purple spook and 6 color bloody Death both regular went 1 for 2. Slide out to 80fow just after 6 AM. Should have stayed in as running 15 rods had 5 bites in next 5 hrs and 4 on one rod, wire Dipsy 140loc White/glow Opti and Trophy Aqua/glow. Full core with Bloody puke took the only other deep water bite. I ran the flasher spread and found quite a current the Raider at 35 was 0.4 slower than Raider at 70 down so turn to get an angle to get the numbers to match. I thought is was good to get the whole spread working but evidently didn’t matter to the fish. Ended 10 for 16, 9 kings and one bow.

Today was a bit better with some bigger fish and a few more bites. Today stayed tight all AM and worked same depths of 45-55 from filter to Atwater. Water was the same at about 54 down 35 in 45fow. Lots of bait and plenty of hooks. 3 color and #4 glow Chart. J first to go then a drive by on 2 color with #3 J. White Opti combo from day 1 at 65 and 45loc fired. The Seekin 5 told me he had 2 bites down 30 so put on a regular BlueTail and fired 3 times. I had a magnum of same on the other rigger so put that at 30 while fighting the regular size and it fired. Then they died. Leadcore took over after 7AM with 6 color Magnum Raider cracked ice gold back and 8 color and regular bloody Death. 5 Color and Diamond King rainbow pattern took a bite then 90loc 3.5set dipsy on a Raider regular Bloody Puke took a nice 16+ king that also captured the 4 and 5 color setups. Oh well, what’s a tangle if you get the screamer? Lost a nice screamer on a regular Bloody Puke rigger down 35. Spoon came back with out hook but split ring intact. Wonder how they do that.

Both days kept the Raider speeds 1.8-2.1. Again made the mistake of leaving fish early due to warmer water than had been there. Fish stayed, I left but today stayed and had some late AM action. Seekin 5 had the majority if his 13 fish after 7AM. We ended 14 kings with one released and missed 6 or 7. One bow blasted the board once but jumped twice so I wasn’t surprised that it now owns a regular Bloody Death stolen from my 4 color.

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard

7-30-2008 I now have Dive Bombs in stock again, and I have added 4-packs of replacement pins. After a web search I am confident that I am (as of today) the only on line source for replacement pins, and the best price available.

7-29-2008 Gas has dropped 50 cents in the past week here, from $4.20 to $3.70, good news for all of us.

It is really hard to keep from going on a rant about the election. What interests me is there is no call from either party to look into the price of diesel, which is clearly artificially high, as it is cheaper to make than gas. Overpriced diesel costs you money no matter what you drive or even if you don't drive at all. It costs your schools, it costs you at the store, it costs you everywhere.

Clean diesel engines like they use in cars in Europe could immediately save huge amounts of fuel. No futuristic batteries, no new infrastructure, but who will buy them with diesel $1.00 more than gas?

My buddy has a diesel Jetta (yes, I forgive him, his other car is a Chevrolet) that gets over 40 mpg. Plenty of power, no "smoke", he loves this car, but it is costing him money to save fuel. OK, that is STUPID, and if "environmentalists" really actually cared about the environment, they would be outraged!

No, one candidate wants to give you 18 cents off of gas, and the other one wants to legislate fuel economy using the same failed CAFE policy. Where is our wonderful news media with this obvious question?

Click on the pictures for a better view. with this many pictures it takes the page too long to load.

7-11-2008

7-12-2008

7-19-2008

7-23-2008 This King kicked the you-know-what out of that spoon, but still ended up in the boat.

7-24-2008

7-25-2008 That is actually an amphibious car being used as a dingy. I have seen a similar, if not the same, one driven right down the boat launch in Ludington. It freaks people (including me) out for a second until they realize that it floats.
The car is a German made "Amphicar" made from 1961-68

7-26-2008

7-28-2008 My Buddy has returned to work after his vacation in Ludington and sent me the above pictures. The Amphicar was actually spotted in Manistee. He says he caught a few fish on flashers and flies, but most everything came on various Raider "Bubble" Spoons and the Bluegrass.

That's Josh's little girl trying to hold that king with a Fish Holder

7-23-2008 Congress has reinstated the exemption from the clean boating act for recreational boats so we will not need permits. Talk about a nightmare requiring 17 million boats to file paperwork that will solve no problems.

Greybeard had a perfect 16 for 16 on 7-12

The second biggest Rainbow in the contest caught on the 14th.

7-21-2008 BIG FISH BASH: Collins rewarded for generosity with fishing pal The article is pretty long, but the short version is, "Greybeard" took his buddy out to find some Coho so that he would qualify for the "Master Angler" category which requires a Chinook and Coho salmon, brown, Rainbow and Lake Trout.

They got the Coho, but Greybeard also took a Brown on a Double Purple Spook that put him in First place in the Master Angler with a total of 60.15 lbs.

You can check out all the results at http://www.bigfishbash.com

Are Big Fish Back? The weights for the top 5 Chinook were between 20 and 23 lbs.

My buddy called me this morning, he had a Double Blue Bubble absolutely destroyed this morning by a big King. Stripped the tape and bent the spoon.

The guy hit by lightning is OK. One note, the boat's electronics, including radio and GPS, were fried, so the call for help was by cell phone. There was a delay because without the GPS, the coast guard could not get coordinates for the boat until another boat came alongside and relayed them.

I know money is tight, but a handheld GPS and Radio can be bought for less than $200.

7-18-2008 Lightning hit a tournament boat in Ludington yesterday and a 57 year old Frankfort man was injured. We all need to be thinking safety out there.

This flock of Turkeys showed up in my yard Wednesday with 8 young birds with 2 adults

7-17-2008 To answer a whole bunch of questions, a dive bomb will add about 8 feet per ounce when attached to the first color (nearest the spoon) of lead core. A Full Core with a 4 oz board goes down about 80 feet.

For more info check out Great Lakes Fisherman. Mike did a lot of work to provide this information.

The Big Fish Bash is going full blast in Racine right now. He is in second place now for big Rainbow, but "Greybeard" Michael Collins got a big write up in the (Racine, WI) Journal Times Monday when he brought in the Big Rainbow for the first day:

"FAMILIAR NAME ON TOP: Michael Collins of McFarland took over the offshore rainbow trout lead Monday with one weighing 13.20 pounds.

The fish wasn’t that big, but the name is big, especially to Big Fish Bash fans.

In 1997, Collins won with the largest fish ever caught in the contest, a 37.40-pound lake trout.

Collins, a member of the pro staff for Red Hook Tackle, used a Raider magnum glow tiger spoon to catch his rainbow, He was fishing in about 35 feet of water off Bender Park, near the Oak Creek power plant."

7-16-2008 A lot of reports of fish over 25 lbs from Lake Michigan recently. That is VERY good news, but I would like to see one from a certified scale. I know my eyes add 10 lbs to every fish.

Report: Invasive species cost Great Lakes $200 million a year. I think that number is low. A lot of tackle stores on Lake Huron have completely gone out of business, prior to the gas price event.

7-14-2008 My buddy's Catch last Friday. He has been averaging 7 fish per trip, primarily on Raider Spoons.

Here is a little reading about the facts behind the Washington DC gun ban. It has long been known that criminals fear two things, neither one is police: A homeowner with a gun and/or a dog.

It turns out that you actually need not have the gun, the fact that it is a good possibility makes criminals reluctant to enter your home when you are there. So even if you don't want a gun in your home (your right, by the way), gun owners are protecting you.

The very real evidence is that the gun ban in DC made the residents there less safe.

7-13-2008 The English is a little funny, but WAY better than my Finnish:

I have a good information about Ridgeback. There was a big salmon competition in Helsinki 27-29.07.2008. It was Open European Champion competition. There was about 160 boats, in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Baltict, Russian, Norway for example. I have to tell you, that we won that Competition. We used 3 ridgeback. One salmon behind ridgeback, two near to Rigde with Dipsy. I am very happy, because Ridgeback work so good.

We managed to catch five salmon 31,7 kg, biggest 12,8 kg. Now we have that kind of situation, that we need new Ridgeback. Four 11 lb, two Nickel and Yellow Zinc, two Nickel Silver. Are you interesting to sent those Ridge? And what it cost?

So we won hole competition. I won personal EM 2008 competition and Satunnaiset Saaliit Nordea/Suzuki Finland won team EM 2008 competition. Good result for us, than to Ridge.

Yours, Sami Heiskanen

P.S There is one foto, for four salmon, biggest 12,7 kg, that we catch in Friday 27.07.2008.

7-12-2008 My buddy in Ludington Reports going 7 for 8 again Friday. Four Steelhead on 7 color and Bluegrass, Kings came on high divers with Double Blue Bubble.

7-11-2008 Grindstone City and Port Austin are HOT for Walleye. Limit catches are being reported in 1-2 hours of nice fish. Trolling spoons in 20-30 feet of water.

7-9-2008 Fishing remains slow but still a great day to be out with NW breeze and mild temps. Saw some hooks and bait clearing the north gap at 0415 so headed to the main to check it out. Just before the gap lots of bait so decided to give it a try. Bait petered out except at the gap and inside the harbor. Surface temp 56 and 46 down twenty. First fish 25loc 3set dipsy and Magnum Raider Yellow Fever just inside the harbor. 2 color #4 glow J next to go and a drive by on 2 color #3 glow J. Not enough bites, hooks or bait to stay so trolled the 40-50’ contour north. 4 color Magnum Raider Cracked Ice Gold 55fow off the Filter. Took another king on 5 color and regular Double Purple Spook 65fow off the towers.

Slid out to 85 and north of everyone with decent bait marks but no nibbles. Heard a couple of catches in 60fow south so headed back. Put out a full core with regular Raider Blue Tail and nice king. For quite awhile ran Inticers on all 3 riggers and both wire Dipsys with only one bite on White/Glow/Mountain Dew and Trophy Ice Blue Glow taking a LT down 54. I haven’t caught a Coho in about 5 outings so left out orange Bechhold and blue longtail 45loc for most of the day and finally a Coho. 3 color, 6 color, 8 color and wire Dipsys nadda. 1 LT, 1 Coho, 5 Kings with 3 at 11-12#.

Raider 1.8-2.2 with 39.6 down 60 in 85fow and surface temps low 50s. Marked plenty of bait mostly in the top 15 and not a lot of hooks. Best catch I heard of was 9 for 12. Starting to hear a few more fish being caught on Js. No surprise as kings making up the vast majority of the catch. Strange year. Sure wonder what’s on the horizon for the rest of the summer. 9 days fishing coming up with the Fish Bash could be a challenge.

Tight lines and full coolers.

Grey Beard

ll orders are in the mail as of today! You guys really like free shipping.

7-6-2008 A new version of the net alert is posted on the LACA website today. This update includes the locations of the inside lead flag and the outside king anchor bullet float on the first net located to the north of Ludington, basically straight west of Big Point Sauble. This net extends from approximately 57' out to 160'. Trollers should avoid traversing north and south shallower than approximately 200'. This net alert replaces all previous net alerts. A one page pdf summary of Ludington area net locations is located inside the website Net alert.
Please print the pdf and replace your current net alert.

Jim Fenner, Pres. Ludington Area Charterboat Association

7-6-2008 I finally have a fishing report of my own for today.

We went out of Ludington on the 4th and the 5th. Friday we got out about 7 pm and set up in about 180 feet. We trolled out for a while and finding nothing trolled back in. We ended up 7 for 7, A nice King, a smaller King and a shaker, and four Lake Trout, we kept only one. All fish came on 1/2 core, 7 color, full and copper, except one small king on a downrigger.

On Saturday we set up about the same from about 1-5 pm. We went 3 for 3, a Big King and a nice King and a Laker. Nothing on the long lines this time except the one small Laker. Both Kings came on divers 150-200 back, we just boated the one when the other hit in about 150 feet of water off of Big Sable Point.

All fish came on spoons. The "Hot Spoon" was the "Double Mountain Dew Bubble", the rest came on some prototypes for next year. Flashers & Flies have been dead for my fishing partner this year.

FINALLY seeing some good size fish in port. I think my biggest was under 20, the current "record" at Captain Chuck's, but only by a couple of pounds.

My partner has been averaging 7 fish a trip since he started fishing this boat. He has it set up like a dream. This is his "good side" netting a fish.

John King, Halycon Charters, Manistique:

Here a few pictures from our Manistique Trip this past weekend, You'll see that your Magnum Frozen Pox did pretty well, the fish where you can't see the spoon is a Steelhead that wacked one of your new Standard size Double Orange Crush Gold On a 1/2 Core... these where taken the evening of the 3rd of July.

Here are a few more from our morning Charter on the 3rd of July out of Manistique. Raider Magnum Blue Dolphin off a rigger and your Standard size Double Orange Crush Gold off 1/2 core strikes again.

We have also done very well out of Detour with the Raider spoons, We haven't found the right combination for the new Bubble spoons yet, but a sleeper that has really surprised me has been your Cracked Ice Gold plated spoon, standard size off a 1/2 core, Lakers and Atlantics just can't keep their lip off it...

Greybeard:

Fished Friday AM starting in 75fow south of the harbor finding some bait and a few marks with surface still a chilly 51 and 38 down 65. First 2 bites were on the same wire dipsy White/glow Inticer and Trophy Fly aqua/glow then White/glow/Mt Dew with Trophy Aqua down 60 in that cold water 1 for 2. Thinking we had a flasher bite put 2 more on riggers and 1 on 8 color but that was the last flasher bite. Remaining fish were 2 on 7 color and reg Raider Sister Sledge and full core reg Miss Thing. 5 K and 1 LT and 2 misses seemed remarkably slow for 4 July fishing 7 hrs.

When weighing fish at the Wharf, I think it was Fish Hound who had 12 and kind enuf to say about 12 mi north of the harbor. Blew up there for the PM bite and fished 430-730 and outdid the AM fishing 80-103fow. 13 and 15# king on 300’ of 30# copper and reg Raider Bloody Puke. 11# King on full core and reg Miss Thing and SWR down 40 reg Raider MT. Dew bubble. 7 color Sister Sledge produced again. All spoons out so pushed the speed on Raider to 2.0-2.3 with 52 surface and 45 down 30 and 40 down 60. No bites all day shallower than 7 color. First time I used 2 Depth Raiders and trolled at an angle to have both down speeds the same. Hope that keeps the whole setup working and felt like it helped. Looked like we found our spot for the tourney on Saturday.

Saturday had shotgun start at 0500 and blew up to just inside of first waypt starting in 60 fow and all day in that depth lots of marks. Funny how 2 boats came to exactly the same spot where we sat down. Apparently only about four 4 yr olds weighed in at the Wharf until we came in with 3. First fish on wire Dipsy white/glow Inticer Trophy glow/aqua 90’. Then 8 color Mag Bob’s electric Clown. Full core and reg Bloody Death a LT. Then 2.5hrs of one drive by on 7 color Sister Sledge. Worked 60-90 and swung back into 60 as more marks there and dug one out of the bottom with SWR down 50 on reg Bloody Puke. Last bite was an 8 color Miss Thing. When we ran the copper nadda. So 5 for 6 and not 4 yr olds looked bleak but apparently as bad for others as our 32# was good enough for 11th. And wouldn’t you know our wt from the night before would have taken 2nd.

On our way out Sat PM saw 3 Dumper Dan boats fishing in front of the cap and when we saw one plus 2 small boats with fish on we put on the breaks. The water was pretty dirty but surface was 54 and down 15 was 45. We were thinking of browns so put on all small spoons. The next fish we saw caught was a dandy king so put out a #3 J on 2 color and pushed the Raider speed to 2.2-2.4 and rewarded with a 18.12# king which ended in 6th and big fish for Sat. Dipsy 35loc and mag Raider Mt. Dew bubble 15# and #4 J on 2 Color 11#King. Boy did we do some 20-20 hindsight for the tourney. Those three would have moved us up the leader board by a bunch.

Next AM same program fishing the gap. 2 Color #3 J was first. Dipsys 35loc took one on Mag Bob’s Electric Clown, and Mag Yellow Fever. Rigger down 15 a drive by on Mag Grey Beard and finished with a brown on Mag Sister Sledge. We dropped one of the crew off to go pray for us and tried straight out in 60fow north and nadda for 2.5hrs so pulled the plug.

It’s very unusual for this time of yr to have people congratulate you on your catch with 3 to 6 fish but every one struggling and seems to be the whole west coast. No coho with that many hrs on the water is a little scary. Getting to be quite worried that something is very different out there. I know our weather has been unusual and we are a couple of weeks behind in water temps so hope that things pick up.

7-4-2008 I am heading out to the lake today to FINALLY get some fishing in.

ST JOSEPH TO SOUTH HAVEN MI-SOUTH HAVEN TO HOLLAND MI- HOLLAND TO GRAND HAVEN MI-GRAND HAVEN TO WHITEHALL MI- WHITEHALL TO PENTWATER MI-PENTWATER TO MANISTEE MI- 332 AM EDT FRI JUL 4 2008
.TODAY...EAST WINDS AROUND 5 KNOTS BACKING NORTHWEST 5 TO 15 KNOTS.
SUNNY. WAVES 1 FOOT OR LESS.
.TONIGHT...NORTH WINDS AROUND 10 KNOTS VEERING EAST OVERNIGHT...THEN
VEERING SOUTHEAST TOWARD DAYBREAK. CLEAR. WAVES 1 FOOT OR LESS.
.SATURDAY...SOUTH WINDS AROUND 5 KNOTS VEERING WEST. SUNNY. WAVES
1 FOOT OR LESS.
.SATURDAY NIGHT...WEST WINDS AROUND 5 KNOTS BACKING SOUTHEAST 5 TO
15 KNOTS AFTER MIDNIGHT. CLEAR. WAVES 1 FOOT OR LESS.

7-3-2008 I have been toying with several promotional ideas for this summer like gas cards and such but I decided that the best way I can save you gas money is to get you to not drive to the store "to save shipping".

The rest of the season, Free US shipping all orders no matter the amount. All International/Overnight Shipping will be actual cost, as usual.

7-2-2008 Grey Beard had a Great Day Yesterday:

I was really looking forward to getting out today because for the first time in awhile, reports of up to 17 fish catches near Fox Pt. Set down at 0440 in 50fow north of UWM and trolled into 38 with surface temp 48 and 41 down 35 and marking good amt of bait. First fish was a 7# king on 2 color and #3glow J. Next was a small king on wire dipsy 70loc on White/glow Inticer and aqua/glow Trophy, the only flasher fish of the day. Was not getting much action despite good temp, bait in 40-50 fow so slid out to 60 and 6 color with regular Raider Sister Sledge took a small LT. Then 5 color regular Double Purple Spook.

Next came the catch of the day. 6 color Sister sledge took off and promptly broke the 30# Power Pro backing and that was only on since last season. Then off went the 4 color. As luck would have it the 6 color fish pulled into the 4 color and the spoon hooked the board. Got my Off Shore back and double uni splice and back in business able to land the 12.5# king. Rachel’s arms were tired but happy to land her biggest salmon.

It remained slow for us as well as others. Made it out to 110 and pulled a LT on a full core on Raider Blue/Yellow bubble in 80fow. It was 39.6 down 50 out there. Didn’t know where to go but could see the boats cleared a bit on 60’ contour so back we went. Pulled an 8# king SWR down 35 in 50fow Magnum Bloody Death. Last fish came as we pulled lines with the Off Shore in Jake’s and as he was about to release the line, a nice bow hit a 3 color and regular Orange Muffin and blessed us with a few leaps. Ended with 2LT, 1Bow and 4 kings and happy for that with only 2 drive bys that didn’t trip the dipsys.

I still wonder where the Coho are hiding. Heard from friends that fished the Morris ran into decent numbers of Coho down there so may more to come.

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard

7-1-2008 I talked to Larry Hartwick from Offshore Tackle yesterday. He was telling me that out by Port Austin and Grindstone they are catching quite a few Salmon, but also a TON of Walleye.

If you are in the Detroit area and want to cut your tow bill in half compared to Ludington or Manistee this weekend, consider heading up there.

For more info, only because I have used these guys, you can call:

Whalen's Grindstone Shores Inc 3373 Pointe Aux Barques Rd, Port Austin, MI 48467 (989) 738-7664
Campground, slips

Captain Morgan's Grindstone 3337 Pointe Aux Barques Rd, Port Austin, MI 48467 (989) 738-7665
Excellent restaurant, Cabins, slips

I have camped and slipped at Whalen's, and eaten at Captain Morgan's. The cabins look neat. Camping in the truck camper and renting the slips was a very economical weekend.

Now here is a good man.

6-30-2008 Fishlander is undergoing "reorganization". Even though they are a competitor of mine in the spoon business, I hate to see that. Michigan workers out of work is never a good thing. I hope they get back on their feet soon.

From the Associated Press: High gas prices hit Great Lakes Sport Fishing

6-29-2008 The results are in from the Two Rivers Outing: 1) Bakers Dozen, 14 fish, 108.5 pounds, 7.8 average, 17.2 pound big fish 2) Bad Influence, 15 fish, 98.3 pounds, 6.6 average 3) Big Santa, 10 fish, 73.6 pounds, 7.4 average 4) Dutch Lady, 11 fish, 72.0 pounds, 6.5 average 5) Say Uncle, 10 fish, 47.0 pounds, 4.7 average

Sounds like they had some interesting weather, with waterspouts and lightning.

6-28-2008 The next time you hear negative comments about trapping, remember one of today's headlines: "Burrowing muskrat causes levee to fail in Missouri".

6-27-2008 We now have A-TOM-MIK Fly Trying Kits available, Only at Bob's Outdoors - also includes 25 1/0 Red Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp™ Treble Hooks

We are also all stocked up on Dive Bombs!

Under the category of "even the darkest cloud has a silver lining", Lake Michigan is up 5 inches so far this June, with "lots of water still in the system". I know for some people that water is in their basement (or worse), but this is good news for the lake which is still 14 inches below average.

6-26-2008 The Supreme Court says Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting. About time they said the obvious.

Of course that flies in the face of the evidence, you know that the 32 year old handgun ban in DC that has made that city the safest in the world. Oh, yeah. Well, now that DC residents can legally defend themselves, let's see what happens. it can't hardly be any worse than it is now.

I celebrated this decision early yesterday by purchasing a Benelli M2 Field Auto 12 gauge. My beloved Ithaca 20 gauge just does not have what it takes for Pheasants or 5 Stand Trap. I know, an Italian made gun, but it is SO sweet.

I got right out there last night and took my score from "too embarrassing to say" to 17/25 by the third round.

While I am on the subject, the Oakland County Sportsman's Club has openings for new members. If you live in the Waterford Area you should come out and check it out. No matter if your passion is Shotgun, Rifle, Pistol, Archery, Road Racing or fishing in their private lake, they have some of the finest facilities in the state. If you are interested in visiting check out http://www.ocsc-mi.org/index.php .

6-25-2008 You guys from the GLA board cleaned me out of 4 oz Dive bombs this week. I should have more by Friday.

Did you hear about the Mom who had to cut out cable to afford gas? Her kids took to the street with protest signs. "All of my mom's monny goes to the gas tank!" Pyper's sign read. Sadie carried a sign asking drivers to honk to lower gas prices — adding that her mom had to cut "cabel." Sounds like Mom cut the "cabel" just in time. Maybe she can take some of the "monny" she saved and invest it in a dictionary for her kids.

6-24-2008 Reports from the weekend in Ludington and Manistee are hard to come by, but it looks like some small fish and some tough fishing as the lake gets over this flooding. A couple of reports indicate that the bait is in at Ludington and a few fish of decent size are coming in. A couple of days of South/Southwest winds this week should set up for improved fishing.

I was just asked a pretty good question:

Could you tell my son and I if the 12-13" Kingfisher flashers are too big and too long for Lake Michigan Salmon off Racine and Milwaukee?

We are new to Lake Michigan trolling and my son is 11 years old and in charge of picking tackle. He thought the Kingfishers were cool and it would be great if they worked, but it seems the guys around here don't run any flashers longer than 10".

The Kingfishers work great with bait rigs. If you use them with flies, run the lead to the fly at about 30”, as the flashers make a wider “sweep” than a smaller flasher.

Most lures are designed to look like bait fish. The kingfisher is designed to look like a feeding Salmon, and a 13” Salmon is not a big fish. Salmon are opportunistic feeders, meaning they have to put away a lot of bait fish in their 4^th year to bulk up for spawning. If they see another salmon feeding, they will come to check out what they are eating.

My recommendation is to get a Kingfisher and a matching Twinkie Rig and a package of Gulp Bait Swimmers. You need to modify the Twinkie Rig a bit to run them and you run them differently than you do "real" herring strips:

Make sure that you have a good piece of toothpick in the back hole that the line runs through. This keeps the line from slipping. Shorten or remove the front end of the "line guard". Unlike when you run "real" bait strips, bury the hook in the back of the Gulp Bait Swimmer as shown.

Pull the line tight to give the bait a curve. This it vital to your success. The bait head is designed to work with much lighter bait strips and you will not get a good rotation without this curve. Believe me, I dragged these things through the water a long time before I figured this out, and it is the difference between nothing and WOW!

Notice that I trimmed the front end of the bait to make it fit in the bait head easier. This stuff is real tough, don't worry about doing that.

One last tip - run the rig on your rigger about 10-15' back at the most. Put a diver down next to it with a spoon so that the diver runs at about the same depth. Sometimes the fish will come in to look at this, turn away and find that spoon much more to their liking.

Remember - a rig does not have to take a hit to catch fish!

6-23-2008 As always, its good to hear from Grey Beard:

We planned to fish Milwaukee but heard it was slow so Craig and I ventured to Sheboygan for the evening bite. Started straight out in 100 and water looked off color until about 125.We headed SE first fish was a bow on Raider Sister Sledge regular on 7 color then would you believe, 2 LTs on 3 color on regular Raider Orange Muffin, our bow setup. I put out another Sister Sledge on 6 color and both it and 7 color fired but small kings we released. A bow succumbed to the regular Double Purple spook on 5 color.

Light was fading so charged up Magnum Raider Yellow Fever and Magnum Green Tiger. Yellow Fever took about a 15# king down 60 on SWR and 10#King on Green Tiger down 50SWR. Same set ended our PM with a 5#King. Didn’t run any flashers, 8 & 10color no bites. 1.8-2.2 on the Raider with 40.5 down 60. Got out as far as 180 and best action 125-140fow south of the plant. Kept 2 LT, 2 Bows and 3Kings and released 3 small ones.

Headed out in AM to same area and setup in 125 and trolled SE. First blast and it was a blast was 5 color with Magnum Chicken Pox that just kept running. 6 color fired with regular Double Purple Spook and Craig put the screamer in the rod holder to net my 5# king. Then the Magnum Yellow Fever fired on SWR down 15. As luck would have it, our fish crossed paths but fortunately the escapee was mine and Craig boxed about a 16# that fought like 20+. 7 color swing and miss on Sister sledge. Dropped the riggers down and Magnum Green Tiger 12# LT SWR down 40 and SWR Magnum Yellow Fever 5#King down 50.

Things went quiet so put a holograph Diamond king pink Alewife that Naz gave me on 5 color and fired twice in 30 min with a bow and shaker king then nada rest of AM. Replaced the 2 color #3glow J with another 5 color and regular Orange Muffin and went about 1 for 4 on bows. Still no action on full core so put a Magnum Yellow Fever on a dipsy and 70loc nice bow to finish the day.

Speed 1.9-2.2 Raider, again only spoons and the 1 J and fished out to 190 with best action 145-160 south of the plant. 38.6 down 60 but took bites in that cold temp. They should know better and get up in the warm stuff so we don’t need such a spread. Went 10 for about 16, kept 1LT, 2 bows and 6 kings. Where are the Coho?

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard

I like his reports, they contain enough information for you to go out tomorrow and get close to his program.

6-21-2008 I have a chart for determining reels for copper line (courtesy of Opti-Tackle):

Copper Line Reels:

The following chart is the approximate feet of copper line that will fit on each of the reels, this assumes +/- 200 yards of a super line backing ( i.e. 30# Tuf-Line) . The footage will vary depending on the type of backing used.

Reel	.028” Dia. Copper(“30lb”)	. 037” Dia. Copper(“45lb”)
Penn 330	300’
Penn 340	450’	300’
Penn 345	600’	600’
Shimano 700	450’	300’
Shimano 800	600’	400’
Daiwa ADP57LC	300’
TICA 558	300’
OKUMA 45	300’
OKUMA 55		300’

6-17-2008 I will be one of the sponsors of the 2008 Offshore Challenge in Port Austin this weekend.

For more info go to: http://www.eaglebayoutfitter.com/html/2008_offshore_challenge.html

Time to get the boat out and ready. The fishing has improved all the way to Manistee and the forecast for this weekend is:

Southern Lake Michigan