Salmon fishing

[tomxc700]

Anyone salmon fish out of Manistee MI. I have a trip coming up in a couple of weeks Aug 19 - 23 and would like to get some insider info (flies and flasher combos, spoons, where to go, if there are any nets out, etc...) I have the boat and stuff but I have only fished for salmon in East Grand Traverse bay and that was 3 years ago. I am still new in to salmon fishing, so I don't have any core or copper to much money and hassle with all the other boats out for me. I am willing to swap info on walleye fishing on the Saginaw bay. I fish the bay at least once a week and have done very well the past few years. Any help would be great thanks Tom

[maddogg]

Tom,

You may want to post you question out on Lake-Link. You may get some more answers.

MD

[canon]

I would run a spread of dipsey divers with dodgers
with blue and green flys..

here ya go :http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298137

Good luck..

[tomxc700]

Anybody?

[uncle_ed]

I have fished manistee but it has been several years ago. It was well before lead core was popular. That time of year should have the fish staging in 100 feet of water or less depending on water temp and wind. A stiff on shore wind might have you heading out to a 100 at sun-up. With an off-shore wind you may want to drop lines right out of the harbor. I had good luck with larger spoons on riggers and dipsey`s as well. If they are in tight you may even want to switch to a bodied bait like a j-plug. What ever rigs you were using in the bay will work fine im sure if the fish are there and biting. Straight out was good for us.
Good luck!
Ed

[tomxc700]

Thanks Uncle ed that is some good info that I will keep in mind.

[dondoo]

tomxc700,

We will be going out of Ludington the very next weekend. I have always fished the manistee river, and the pere Marquette during the salmon runs, but never caught a salmon off the big lake.
Good luck. Post your catch when you get back.

doo

[tomxc700]

I will do That dondoo, I have only fished for salmon in the river once and that was 3 years ago. I went with my brother inlaw and his uncle over by wellston some where, and we got into they really good. We started fishing around 10 am and by 5 pm I had hooked around 50 fish and landed close to 35 of them all hooked in the mouth. We were using pink nuclear eggs and fly rods. That was my first time using a fly rod and was that interesting. My brother inlaws uncle said that it was a very rare day that we had, normally he said 20 fish is a really good day. We borrowed the gear from his uncle, I found out how much the gear costs, I broke off a few fly's and when I asked how much do I owe you for the gear I was told $25. I only lost like 4 or 5, so I told him the next time I go I will bring my own cheaper stuff. He then told me that the rod and reel I had used ran about $1200, if I would have known that I wouldn't have used it. I understand good gear costs money but dang.

[greggk]

Wife and kids just fished the area last weekend with guides from Rusty Gates in Grayling. Great group to work with and they can put you on fish with or without guides. Check his site http://www.gateslodge.com/ for reports and info. Gregg

[dondoo]

Four more days and we are off! I got a report from Ludington and they said that they are slamming the Salmon. Limits every day. What more could get a guy fired up.( three foot of fresh powder maybe) but for fishing this sounds awsome.

[tomxc700]

I got home late last night but we did catch some fish. But we only got to fish on sunday morning because of the 5-8 foot waves from thursday morning to saturday night. We went out in 2-4 footers (more 4') sunday at 5:30am and fished anywhere form 150' to 220' we ended up 5/7 and 4 rips with no one home, the 5 weighed in over 55 lbs and the biggest was 19.8lbs my buddy's first king ever it was a nice male. A blue thunder meat rig was the best producer for us, it caught 3 of our fish and had 2 other hits. Other bait's were a Mt. Dew meat rig 1 fish and no other hits, Moonshine Happee Meal mag spoon 1 fish and 1 release. 1 hit on a MJ spoon, 1 hit on a Wonderbread J-plug, Heard on the radio that in closer people were catching on plugs but not sure how they actually did. I talked to some people that did good 15 to 20 fish and some that had none or 1 fish. I hope for you dondoo that the wind stays calm but I think that it is supost to blow again from the south west this week and mix up the water some more which isn't good for the fishing. If it happens to do so you will need to go deep for them. Good luck hope you get to go out, let us know how you do when you get back. I will try to post a pic later when I'm not so busy.

[dondoo]

tomxc700
Thanks for the info. Looks like the wind is going to be okay on Friday, Saturday might be more of the problem, rain comming in.

Glad to hear you cought fish, hope we get the same.

doo

[pkzochow]

I was just in Manistee caping last weekend, came home yesterday. I was not fishing, however we stayed at the state campground right on the lake and there were tons of people that were. The people behind us came in with about 12 fish, some of the Salmon were almost three feet long. Don't know what they were using for bait, but they did say they were catching them at 180 feet.

[dondoo]

SWEET,
one more day at work, then it's play time!!!!

[tomxc700]

dondoo are you taking a boat or are you chartering? Pkzochow we stayed in the state park too but we left on sunday, you probably saw us.

[dondoo]

We chartered a boat out of Ludington. My Nephew lives in Ludington and he set everything up for us.
This is the last day of work this week!!!!

We don't mind alittle rain as long as the wind and waves are not to bad.


doo

[tomxc700]

Good deal you should have fun. A few buddy's of mine are going sunday afternoon on a charter over there. I just wanted to warn you of the nets over there if you were taking a boat. I have heard that there a lots of them out, but a charter will know where they are and put you on the fish. Have fun and take notes for yourself, you can learn a lot in the few hours you spend on a charter. Good luck and let us know how you do.

[dondoo]

tom,
It's funny, I'm 44 years old and I still get wound up over things like fishing. It is just like the night before your first sleddin trip. We did have one guy back out on us today due to a death in his future wifes family ( if he ever gets off the pot and pops the question) I'll give you the update when we get back, thanks for all the info.


doo

[tomxc700]

If you don't get excited about something its probably work and work sucks. I hope you have a good trip and its not to bumpy. I hate getting up early for work but for fishing, hunting, and sledding I am out of bed before the alarm goes off.

[tomxc700]

Here some pics that I took.

This is the north break wall in Manistee on Saturday. The forecast called for 5-8 footers, winds were 15 - 25 mph out of the northwest and rain. We saw a guy surfing of the south side of the south break wall but the pic didn't turn out. He actually caught some curls.

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/113632.jpg

[tomxc700]

Here is the pic of the guy surfing but you can't see him to well. You can see the top of his head in the lower left half of the pic, he is behind a wave.

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/113635.jpg

[tomxc700]

More waves and just wishing to be fishing just like the hundred other people sitting in the parking lot.

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/clipart/your_image.gif

[tomxc700]

More waves and just wishing to be fishing just like the hundred other people sitting in the parking lot.

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/113640.jpg

[tomxc700]

My dad watching the rods

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/113642.jpg

[tomxc700]

Sunday morning waiting for the fish to hit.

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/113644.jpg

[tomxc700]

Manistee from about 5 miles out

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/113646.jpg

[tomxc700]

My buddy with his first king ever. 19.8 lbs

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/113648.jpg

[tomxc700]

Me and my kids with the catch at home.

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/113650.jpg

The trip was fun but too much rain for the little ones to be cramped up in a tent for 3 days.

[tomxc700]

Just the fish

http://www.johndee.com/discuss/messages/9/113652.jpg

[dondoo]

well, we made it home. We caught our limmit, but it wan't easy. Had one guy(not me) chumming for the fish, if you know what I mean. Had his head over the side and a pole in his hand, a real fisherman. LOL
It was pretty choppy inside the breakwall and the captain said that it was going to be rough and if we wanted to go back it would be okay. Not us, one day to fish and thats what we were there to do. Had two fish in the boat before daylight. Then we hit the sweet spot, FISH-ON and ON and ON. All three of us were fighting fish at the same time and the fistmate could not get the lines back in the water fast enough. Started with 9 lines in the water and at the end of our flurry the were 2 lines in that didn't catch fish.
all in all we had a great time and will charter with him again. Freestyle charters He sure put us on the fish even in the rough water.


doo