Chinook salmon beginning to show up in the Saugatuck Creels

We only fished one day this past week with only lake trout showing up in the creel, however Thursday, Friday and Saturday boats reported some nice chinook being caught up to 19 pounds. We caught the lake trout south of the Douglas Beach to the point from 50 to 60 foot of water where the water began to clear. The boats that caught the salmon found them in 40 to 50 foot of water between Saugatuck and Holland.

The water temperature is the same from top to bottom and we caught most of the lake trout in the bottom 20 foot however some also hit flat lines and 3 and 5 color lead core. All of the fish came on spoons (we tried flashers with no success): blue dolphin mixed veggie, green glow, and yellow fin stingers. No color preference, it appears if it came in view they hit it. When I talked to some of the boats that got into chinook salmon, they reported the same thing with fish hitting stick baits, thin fins and spoons in a variety of colors. Probably because of the dirty water from the run off.

For more information and or charter reservations, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.