On Thursday Morning the weather wasn`t the most favorable, and I didn`t feel like being a hero in 20 MPH plus North winds. I had a repeat group going out that also has a trip set up for Friday, they can reschedule without any problems so we did.
For the afternoon the winds had subsided to a "Fishable" level and I had a regular group that comes over from Iowa. They`ve been with me since the start, and were out on my other boat prior to this one. The fellow that books the trips will be 77 this year, when he called me to set it up, I asked him how he faired over the winter, his reply was “Well, I`m still alive” I told him that was what he told me last year, His response as “And god willing I`ll tell you the same thing next year” I just hope I have his wit when I`m his age.
We left the dock just after noon and the Lake was a little more “User Friendly”, I drove it right to the line in 25` pointing it South to give us as comfortable a ride as possible. After trolling for about a mile, and a few pokes, the a hungry school was found. Four rods popped in quick succession and we managed to show each chunky coho the inside of the cooler. The dipseys were taking the blunt of the action on a #3 setting 25` back on the counter. A Purple Liz Cheddar flie on one side and the Sigs Rigs “Mardi Gras” on the other, both of them earned their keep on this trip. The best boards had a blue/green/gold “Slider” 50` back with a 5/8 oz. Weight. We enticed one steelie to hit a red/silver/black peanut flie on the outside board with the usual 5/8 oz. weight, stretched back about 70`. By the time we reached the intake basket for the nuke plant we had our 5 man limit. The ride back to the harbor was a little rough going right into the waves so we had to take it slow, we were still back at the harbor a little after 2, and the group had plenty of time to hit “Bass Pro” before their trip back across the state.
On Friday morning, the Lake conditions were complete turn around from the morning prior, and the guys were grateful for my decision. We set up right out in front of the harbor in 30` and trolled South, the fish were active and as the afternoon prior, the “Mardi Gras, and Purple liz were studs on the dipseys 25`-30` out on the counter. The boards did their share, and the `riggers down 8`-12` down, trailing the ball 20`, had a good number of hits as well. We were back in less than 2 hours with a six man limit.
For my mid day trip I had another business outing, they brought enough good food, Panera bread sandwiches (thanks for not forgetting your captain) to feed their clients very well for a few days. I took it South to the nuke and set up in the 40`s, after I was able to get all 14 lines in with very little action and going by the cohos routines the past few trips out, I went to deeper water. When we reached the 60`s and 70`s I found the fish had once again slid out. The action had a good pace, nothing we couldn`t handle, but fast enough to make it a bit hectic, when we had multiple fish on. I continued to run the same spread as I have for the entire season, and as with the morning trip we were back at the dock in a couple of hours with our five man limit.
I ran a late afternoon trip for a couple of guys that were looking for a “101” type of trip. With a new boat arriving this week he wanted to get low-down on coho fishing. The fish continued to slide out to deeper water and we found our best action to be in the 90`-110` range. It wasn`t hot and heavy as the winds seemed to have the fish in “pockets” where we`d see a double and then a lull, followed by another double, and so on. I was explaining the “How`s and Why`s and tried to answer and questions they may have had, we came in with their 2 man limit and may have talked them into becoming new neighbors at North Point Marina.
On Saturday morning I was part of a 4 boat trip with Jeff and Tommy on "Reel Magic". I chose to try the beach staying inside of the fleet of boats, most of which were participating in a Salmon Unlimited Tournament. We had a group of Scouts and their leaders out, that had camped out at the state park. The kids were great as well as the Lake conditions and fishing. The action was spotty at the start and improved greatly after I passed the nuke, more often than not, we had multiple rods go rather than a single hits. I brought it into 14` off the hotel where we found our best action. When we needed 5 more fish I turned and pointed it North back towards the harbor. As quickly as it turned on, it slowed. We only took five hits on the entire troll to the North bringing in four and coming in one short of our 6 man limit. It`s once again great to see the scouts are still going strong and exposing them to the great spring coho fishing we have right here :wink: .
For the afternoon trip it was the “101” make up from last Saturday, which will be forever be known as the “Bruce Trip” . I don`t know what the odds are, but we had 3 guys on board named Bruce. It was easy on my part as I all I had to do was say “Fish On... Bruce grab it!”. I set up a few miles South of the line in 60` and was once again explaining the “How`s and Why`s” as I was setting the rods. As we reached the 90`s we started to see action, at this point, I only had the `riggers and dipseys out, and it was real good as we reached the low 100`s. I continued out on the same East heading as I was explaining spreads and techniques, all the way out to 147`, which was the deepest I`ve been so far this year. I turned back over the same course and action on the Westerly troll wasn`t anywhere near the same pace. I heard from Tommy that it was “Lock and Load” right on the line in the same general depth, and I slowly started heading up. I wasn`t able to get a lot going in the North troll and spoke with a few other Captains that had the same problem, the fish were direction oriented, and hitting best with a East or West presentation . We picked away, made it to the line, and took eight fish with our first pass in from 110`-70`. One of the better flies on this trip was a “Stanley Stinger” black/silver/red peanut flie. I turned back out to make another pass and had to straighten out a few more rods that were tangled, as it turns out everyone said it must have been “Bruce” that caused the havoc
. After getting the spread back in order I made another run in and we had a few hits, but not the hot action that was there prior to our arrival. We ended up coming in with our six man limit, and they all passed with flying colors, despite the fact I told them I had to grade them on a curve. I`d like to thank “Big Tim” a prior “101” participant for coming, not only for helping out as a mate, but also his time and effort of getting this group together on short notice.
On Sunday morning it was like the movie "Ground Hog Day" as it was a repeat from Thursday with 25 MPH plus winds coming down the pipe from the North, again I`m no hero.
The action was still very good despite the winds doing all it could to disperse the school. I haven`t changed anything in my spread since the coho showed up. The fish seem to be moving around a lot more, this could mean that the bait is starting to thin or is moving around as well. It`s still very good right now and try to get out and get them whenever you can. This is one of the best coho runs we`ve had in a while in both size and numbers, take advantage of it
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“Wet Nets”
Captain Jim
North Point 5/17-5/20
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