A s predicted in last month’s report the fishing in June this year was really good because of the cooler water in Lake Michigan. We have boated some really nice kings and the fish look pretty healthily. The steelhead action has also been hot making up roughly 30% of our daily catch. We have yet to see very many coho off Muskegon, but I have a feeling that is because of the colder water and that they have not migrated this far north yet.
In June, we targeted surface temperature breaks. Some of these went from 57 degree surface temperature to 35 degrees in the distance of just a few yards and when you find a break like that, you can be sure there are fish loaded on it. As the days start getting warmer, surface temperature breaks will be not as drastic and it is at this time we start looking for the thermocline (a temperature break that runs horizontally in the water column.) We find the thermocline using our Fish Hawk electronics. The Fish Hawk is a unit that has a probe that runs down the downrigger cable and gives a temperature and speed reading at the depth it is sent down, making it very easy to find the temperature change. When we find the thermocline we target that depth zone with a variety of rods including downriggers, diver discs, and copper lines. Be sure to fish above and below the thermocline as the fish will be on both sides most of the time.
As it gets warmer, we beef up the size of our offering to these growing kings. We often switch to Stinger Spoons in the larger stingray size and also start running a lot more flasher/fly combos to entice the larger fish. Remember to always run a Church planer board or two close to the surface with three colors of lead core or 25’ of copper line paired with a bright colored standard size Stinger Spoon to ensure you are not missing out on some bonus steelhead action. July is a great month to get on the lake and catch a bunch of fish, so get out there and give it a go!