"If anything's gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there."
Captain Ron in the movie "Overboard"


On Saturday (10/22) at 6am Beth and I hooked up the boat and left Lansing for Muskegon and Lake Michigan. Launched at Fisherman's Landing at 8:45 and made our way across Muskegon Lake by 9:30.

Beth wanted to go fishing for her birthday and I wanted to get some video from our new "Salmon Cam" mounted on the hard top. The camera feeds a DVR with 16G that is good for 4-5 hours. Happy birthday to us. Check out the video.

As we went through the channel on the way out to the big water, we set both riggers with Spin Doctors and DW flies (emerald green (SB) and monkey puke (Port) and turned on the camera and DVR. No other boats in the channel so we didn't expect any action. We were right.

Cleared the pier heads at 9:30 and into 52 degree clean water with 1' to 2' waves. Added 2 braid dipsies (set on 2) with Brad's Super Bait filled with oil tuna infused with minced garlic. Fished along the edges of dirty water for a bit and made a big circle just outside the mud line. No action and only one other fishing boat so we turned west and headed out to deeper water. Set two 30# 150' coppers with a DW Jawbreaker and greasy chicken on Z Board Big Daddies. Tried to keep the Fish Hawk speed at the ball around 2.5.

At 65' there were some bait balls and a few hooks but no takers. At 100' near net #21, we finally got a rip on the P rigger but it came unbuttoned. Found the leader had fouled in the treble hook. Weird. At 105' the water temp was 49* on top and 42* down 50'. Started seeing hooks around 40' so the riggers were set at 35' & 45'. Then the SB rigger tripped but the rod wasn't dancing. Reeled in a 5# darkie full of eggs. Strange to see her out this far this late? Then the P dipsy started screaming. Nice 15# chromer on a Brad's Black Magic. Had a heck of a time netting it because Beth had got her scarf wrapped up in the reel. But the fish jumped up on the swim platform and just laid there and waited. Thank you very much!

Continued west out to 150' with no further action and few marks. Radio talk up in White Lake was 116' top 50'. Spun around with the 2-3' waves on our stern and went back to 110' and turned south. Bam. The copper Jawbreaker started singing. Another nice 14 pounder. Then the call came in over the radio on CH-68. Vessel named "Fish Tales" was without power and needed assistance. Told him we would be there as soon as we got the gear pulled. Picked up three more fish while pulling lines. A shaker, a 5 pounder, and a 6# laker that was released.

When we were by net #21, we saw them heading out. Looked like they were going to Milwaukee as they disappeared into the horizon. They were 7.5 miles from us and we were out 6. It took us almost 2 hours to tow them to Bluffton Bay Marina. John and Ken were very grateful to be able to get help so quickly. We were happy to lend a hand. Good karma is with us because we believe that "what goes around comes around."

It was a fun day on the water and she enjoyed her birthday present. That's what it's all about.

Beth and Dennis

PS - Captain Ron was right.

Check out the video: http://youtu.be/TxqCqTJUlRw