Spring Kings and Crappies

Every year it seems that it gets a little harder to choose between dragging lures in Lake Michigan and bass fishing in May. If you are going to dabble in the big lake game MAY is the month. You are going to get bites and don’t really have to be dialed in to do it. They guys that know what they are doing can really stack them up. But anyone with a little bit of gear can have success. There is also a nice mix of sizes and species which always makes it fun for me. I’ll get my fill of big kings later this summer/fall with bass tackle but the trolling game for me is all about bites. The big ones just take too long to get in when trolling.

I’ve been out on a couple different boats. Once with my buddy Traver who is also really new at this but acquired a solid starter spread from ClearH2O Tackle this spring. We went out on his inaugural trip as captain and things went from nothing to something really fast. Combine an unfamiliar boat, trap nets, waves that weren’t supposed to be out there, and 2 kings that were on at once, and only 2 crew. It was some excitement for sure but unfortunately one of the kings didn’t make it to the boat. However we got the skunk out so the trip was a success! We did pick up another coho late in the morning but overall it was pretty slow. Bites came on a 7 color, diver, and 100 copper.

We headed out with the professionals for the next trip. Trevor and his dad had been smashing them and we figured this trip would be a huge letdown. While it wasn’t as good as they were hoping we still went 11-13 with a mixed bag. Kings, coho, steelhead, and a lake trout. I got my first ever steelhead out of the deal and even though it was a tiny one, I was happy to have finally caught a lake run rainbow. Riggers and 200 coppers were the deal for us that day although we did get some bites on other coppers and 1 diver bite. One lesson learned on that trip is that I think it is always worth a pass shallow in the “mud” first thing. We definitely drove past a ton of fish that morning but we also had a lot of real estate to ourselves.

It’s always funny to me with salmon fishing that you aren’t “really fishing” unless you have all the rods out. On a big boat that is a lot of rods and a lot of time to deploy and redeploy. It’s impossible to make moves without a lot of effort after the whole spread is out. I think one thing salmon guys could learn from bass guys is that you can test things out from time to time. There’s times we just have to keep presentations honest in bass fishing and we might just pick something up for a few minutes even though it isn’t our primary pattern. On a salmon boat it’s quickest to deploy riggers and divers and I think you could always use those to keep that shallow bite “honest” in the month of May. Especially first thing in the morning when you have to drive past it to get to where you are going. Anyway those are just some thoughts from a total amateur and a bass fisherman who is comfortable with taking gambles even though they don’t often work out. I’ll take a couple quick rigger bites over getting those weighted lines set and productive any time. I hope to get back out soon before the spring frenzy is over and then my interest in salmon will probably fade until I start looking for that August lake flip.

We also finally got some weather to get the girls out for a fishing trip. It was just a quick one and it took a little searching to get things going. But with a little patience we found some active crappies and bluegills in dirt shallow water. I got the girls some new push buttons and they’ve done some casting practice. June isn’t ready for casting on the boat yet but Mabel was going to do everything herself on this trip (except take the fish off). It was pretty cool to be helping June and look back to see Mabel struggling with a fish in the back of the boat. I thought for sure it was a bass but it ended up being a really nice crappie. Now that June is 3 she really grasped things this year and didn’t want to stop reeling them in. A lesson learned from this trip was never again bring popcorn in the boat. The draw of eating popcorn in between bites is just too much and it leads to popcorn everywhere when there is a bite. Fortunately most of it blew out of the boat on the way home and we had a great trip. I’m looking forward to getting out with them again soon whether it’s in the boat or to catch a few drum off the pier.