Unsalted Outfitters - Holland, Michigan
Here we go, round 2 of writing this one. I lost the first version when I shut the white noise app off on my phone. Trying to write while trying to get a baby to go to sleep is something else. Anyway the crew and I loaded up in early May to head south to Holland for another trip aboard the Unsalted.
We got to Yacht Basin Marina late due to a crew members tardyness. It cost us about 15 minutes of prime fishing time and there were pushups to be done on the boat for being late. The weather forecast called for rain and a stiff east wind. It was spot on and we were all thankful for the wind direction as any other would have likely cancelled our trip. It didn’t take long and we had our first bite.
A nice king smacked the rigger rod which happened to be right next to me. I got to set the hook and then hand it off to my dad to battle the first bite of the day. Our crew is unique and that everyone would rather see someone else reel in a fish than reel it in themselves. We have a great time out there and we all got to handle the rods multiple times throughout the day. After we landed the king another rigger rod went off and we put a nice coho in the boat. Then we hit a lull for a bit but once we got back into them the action was consistent the rest of the day. Captain Scott kept us on a pod of fish that we had all to ourselves. Our bite started to switch from riggers to leadcore which is a lot more work to reel in.
Kings and coho kept coming in along with 1 lake trout. The size of the spring coho is really impressive this year! The rain never quit and neither did the bite. When all was said and done I think we had 14 which is pretty great fishing! May is one of the best times to get in on the silver fish especially out of Holland. The unsalted catches them all year long but that is one of the best times to really target kings and cohos. It’s my ideal time for a trip for sure, however it often isn’t the nicest weather. They’ll be running trips the rest of the season for salmon, trout, and even some sheepshead trips for those on a budget or days where the big lake won’t allow you to get out. Call Captain Scott at 616-836-8063 or check them out at Unsaltedoutfitters.com.