The salmon are "putting on the feedbag" and beginning to stage off shore for the fall run. This past week we fish where caught from 50 to 180 foot of water. This past weekend, some nice fish where caught in 20 to 30 foot of water even though the water was warm. We found that most of the fish in 50 to 90 foot of water consisted of 4 year old salmon and as you moved off shore the 2 and 3 year olds dominated the catch. The early morning (dark to sun up) was the most productive, often producing half of the days catch in the first two hours. From mid morning to the afternoon, the action slowed and the currents increased which often limited your fishing to a south troll.
The most productive method was Smart Fish, Pro Chip and Hot Chip flashers (green/glow, blue/glow, silver/green, silver/blue and white/glow) and Rampage Trolling Flies (hypnotist, blue bubble and the most productive--oceana). We started running the Rampage Flies this past week and have been pleasantly surprised with the fish attracting ability and the durability of the flies. We have found that these flies do not loose tensile like the other flies do and they do not tangle up after a hit like many of the other brand of flies. You might want to add some of these flies to your tackle box.
We ran the flashers and flies on the downriggers at 40 to 80 foot and on the wire dipsy divers at 100 foot and 150 foot of wire. By the middle of the day the copper (200 and 300 foot) produced most of the action with glow Raider, Moonshine and Stingray lures.
Check back and keep track of the fishing in Saugatuck through out the year. You can also feel free to contact me at any time by email at: captron@chartermichigan.com or call toll free at 888-253-8372.