This past week was a very good week of fishing with catches of 8 to 15 fish per trip consisting of chinook salmon up to 20 pounds and lake trout up to 16 pounds. The fish were caught in 90 to 120 foot of water throughout the week and then some very nice salmon were caught in 50 to 60 foot of water. Sunday the salmon were caught all the way to 200 foot, however the best area was still the 100 foot depth. More good news for Saugatuck fisherman was that this week produced some limit catches of jumbo perch in 60 to 70 foot of water and then this weekend in 40 to 45 foot of water.
When we fished in the 60 foot of water, Silver Horde plugs (green/black glow ladder back, pearl glow, and silver green) produced very well on 100 and 200 foot of copper and on the downriggers 20 to 45 foot down. In addition the Stingray (green glow/green side, and mixed veggie) produced well on the copper. When we fished the 100 to 180 foot range it was all flashers and flies fished from 60 to 80 foot down on downriggers, divers and copper. The best combinations were echip flashers (MBK, silver green edge, white glow, coyote, silver and green glow) with Rapture flies behind (wild fern, green dude, last supper and speed weed).
What we have found is that the larger 4 year old salmon are on the inside shallower water and as you move out to deeper water you get more of a mixed bag of 2, 3 and 4 year old chinook salmon with a few steelhead and lake trout and an occasional coho. Check back next week and see what is changing in the fishing out of Saugatuck. If you need information or want to book a fishing trip, email me a captron@chartermichigan.com.