We fished in the Grand Haven Offshore Challenge over the weekend. Fishing was good all week last week for Lakers so we decided to concentrate on them first thing in the morning and then concentrate on Salmon. This plan worked well on Friday during the ladies and kids tournament as we were the second boat in at 9:00 after a 6:30 start time. We caught 15 or 15 lake trout of which 8 were legal size. The lakers were fast and furious as we had a fish on almost constantly. we also caught 4 Salmon including a 13.6 lb King. the girls were really excited catching so many fish so fast, however, our fish were just a little too small and we came in 7th place. The girls did win the biggest lake trout of the contest with a 9.5 lb laker and they recieved a trophy for their efforts.

On Saturday morning we caught lakers again very steadlily but the average size was slightly smaller. After pitching back about 10 or 12 19.5 inch trout we had a total of 6 keeper sized fish. The keeper sized fish were good fish averaging 5 or 6 pounds. After we caught the 6 legal fish in about 45 minutes we worked on Salmon. Unfortunately we only managed 3 Kings and weighed 9 fish for a total weight of 53 lbs. Our largest fish was a 12.6 lb king.

After Saturday were were in 25th place so we needed a big box on Sunday to move into the money. because of this we decided to catch 5 lakers and then work on bigger kings to get the weight and the points. We caught our 5 legal lakers and pitched back 6 others in 20 minutes. We found Steelhead out in 210 FOW just south of Muskegon. We manged to land 5 steelhead and one king out there for a total of 11 fish on Sunday.

After the weigh in we were very surprised to see many of the other pro's also found tougher fishing on Sunday. because of this we were able to move up to 13th place and win the big steelhead for Sunday. The lakers were biting Rapture Trolling flies in the Hypnotist pattern all weekend. The kings were coming on the Rapture Trolling flies Oceana pattern behind an 11" white Pro Troll flasher. The Steelhead all came on Michigan Stinger Stingray sized spoons in either Tangerine, one of my favorites, or Red Monkey Puke patterns. Good luck and happy fishing

Tony

Reel Obsession 

there are many ways to do it. you have to find what works for you. I prefer to fish them with my 3 riggers unless the fish are in shallower water then I might use a drop weight system. over the weekend we used jensen dodgers with the rapture flies. we also caught some on spin-n-glos but mostly flies. Fish them where you see them on your graph. If they are on the bottom fish them there or if they are up a bit fish them there. as far as speed goes you have to experiment. Like salmon they like different speeds from day to day.

Tony

Reel Obsession