Struggled to get bit at the Sheboygan contest so I was ready for a fun fish day. Headed due east of the North Gap and planned to set up in 200 fow but when we got to 160 marked a lot of bait deep so stopped there. (love that broadband sounder addition for marking fish while on plane).We got bit 5 times on the setup 25loc 3 set 8” Bechhold and blue longtail and same thing on the other side at 35loc. 70′ 1.5 wire dipsy whilte opti Trophy aqua/glow fly. Mono board 1oz snap wt 8” red flasher Brad’s mini Red Glitter and 2 color red 6” dodger and aqua fly. When I got the riggers down 60′ Brads Purple Frog with LBB teaser/white Opti a king and not too much time and 50′ rigger same setup but lure was the Wonderbread. The last one fired about 20 min later with a nice drag peeling run but fell off. The bad news was on the first past nine bites but only 4 in the cooler. Another day of unexplainable escapes and at one point 6 for 14. 5 color with mini Green magic and 6 color Blue Magic fired and escaped and eventually pulled and replaced with shallower setups. First for this yr shaker kings came on 60′ rigger with purple frog and released 2 in 20min interval.
Never leave fish to find fish. Others getting bit a mile or so north of us so headed that way as it was also into the current as bites slowed. After a very slow time with a couple more misses on Dipsys and mono board turned back toward original waypt. When we crossed it a triple with 25loc dipsy, mono board with Red Glitter and had put out 8” orange Bechhold and Hot Red mini on other side and that fired. I dropped the center rigger with the Purple Frog set to 110 and fired with a king then a small LT. The other riggers were quiet and the shallow probe rigger with various setups never fired. I put another 6” red dodger and aqua on 4 color and went 4 times. Hookups improved and excited when we got above 50%. In a couple of hours boxed 10 on the old waypt. Asked myself what would have happened if we hadn’t left that area for 2+ hours.
Ended with 5 kings(2 small released) 1 LT and 12 coho. Really wanted a bow because my friend has been on the big pond a fair number of times over 25 yrs and yet to land one. Maybe next time. Surface temp 54 outside the north gap where there was a lot of bait. 49 on the surface in 170fow and 45 down 40 where went spent most of the time trolling 1.6-1.9 on the Depth Raider with a pretty good current out of the NE. The late AM rally found us boating 18 for about 32. The kings were likely “3 yr olds” and biggest about 9#. I think about 7 kings 20-21.5# were weighed in at Sheboygan this weekend. Looking forward to one of those.
Tight lines and full coolers,
Grey Beard