Win - Win - Win

DATE:             June 23, 2012

LOCATION:    Port Sheldon (Lake Michigan)

With:              Bruce, Jamie and Jayce Peters (Numenon)

TIME:             5:45 AM - Noon

HOURS:          6.3

WEATHER/CONDITIONS:  Clear and bright; warming; east winds 10 mph but diminishing

Shortly after last month’s trip out of Holland, Cal approached me about taking his brother Bruce and his nephew from Colorado out this weekend.   Bruce was offering to “hire” me, and while I said I couldn’t do that, I’d gladly take them out if the weather was OK, and if they felt like matching Cal’s donation to our office Christmas Charities, that would be great.   As the weekend approached, the forecast looked promising; and by Noon on Friday, plans were set to meet at the Port Sheldon ramp at 5:30 Saturday AM.  During lunch, I picked up some herring strips and surprisingly promising reports from The Outdoorsman in Jenison, and I prepared the boat and tackle with high anticipation.

I arrived fifteen minutes early and was surprised at the level of activity at the ramp.  Obviously, people were expecting to catch some fish, and more folks seem to feel like they have some disposable income than the last few years.  It was the busiest (non-Reeds Lake) ramp I’ve experienced in quite a while.  Bruce, his son James, and his grandson Jayce were right on time, and by 5:45 AM we were motoring out of Pigeon Lake to Lake Michigan.  There was a bit more wind than expected, but conditions were still very comfortable and fishable, and this easterly wind calmed over the course of the day.

Radio chatter and boat traffic confirmed the previous day’s reports; fish were expected between 80 and 120 fow.  Surface water temps were 65, compared to the previous day’s 63 degrees F.  I shut down in about 72 fow, south of port and away from others, and we quickly marked bait and fish. I set our 9-rod spread with anticipation of some quick sunrise action, but surprisingly we were already in over 120 fow without a bite by the time I got everything (2 dipseys, 3 riggers, 4 boards) out.  While I was targeting salmon, I hedged my bets with 5-color and high divers set with proven steelhead baits.  I also went with all lures (no herring) to start, hoping to take advantage of aggressive biters early on.

Taking control of the boat and turning east back into shallower water, the negative radio talk started to accumulate.  Some were struggling and seemed surprised.  I noted the difficulty of controlling the boat in the modest waves and it’s crab-walking progress; currents seemed to be an issue.  Working these out, the high diver set 145 back on 3 jumped in 105 fow; a silver bullet was in the air, and James brought a beautiful, approximate 7-pound steelie into the boat.  Shortly there-after, this same rod went in 86 fow, and Bruce brought in a twin trout.  Jayce declined any action (it turned out he was afraid of dropping the big rods while fighting the big fish), but he did enjoy looking in the cooler at the fish, which were much larger versions of the Colorado mountain trout he was familiar with.  Turning south to maintain depth, this rod went a third time, but the drive-by didn’t connect.  So by 7:30 AM or so, I felt like we were on the verge of figuring something out and on our way to a really good day.

Bruce with the day's first steelie

James and Jayce

But like on so many previous days, a switch flipped; and other than a brief connection on the full core with a green/orange Moonshine lure in 110 fow at about 8:30 AM, we had no other bites.  We continued to mark fish, and we ground out our time in the “known” and comfortable water.  In the meantime, crowds thinned as boats either went in or out to deeper water; but all in all, we were stuck in this unproductive water and never encountered biting salmon.  Even herring failed to entice any bites.  Our last trolling pass was easterly all the way into 60 fow or so; and we were done for the day, back at the launch by Noon.  I expressed my hope for a more active day, but we all recognized that fishing isn’t necessarily catching.  And all in all, both trips combined, Bruce experienced “average” fishing aboard Numenon; just with a high degree of variance.

Jayce

Other boats coming in at the same time had similar catches.  I think I should have gone out deeper and found some cooler water; I was possibly too comfortable with the sonar marks and the previous day’s reports.  I need to do something about my Fish Hawk temperature probe, and be able to trust it.  This was a classic day where I could have eliminated unproductive water, handled and interpreted the currents, and maybe done a bit better.  But overall, maybe it was a Win-Win-Win day; I filled my boat and got a chance to practice my fishing and attitude improvement programs; Bruce, James and Jayce got out on the water under beautiful conditions and caught a couple of “World Class” rainbow trout; and their donation to our Christmas Charities was more than pocket change, at least in my experience.

Steelies love divers and Fuzzy Bear spoons; this combo
took both steelies and 3 of the 4 hits for the day