9-16-26 Muskegon Lake Salmon

What a strange run this year. Weeks of hot weather combined with some motor issues I had to deal with meant I really haven’t gone much. There was a big push that snuck in during the hot weather and little pressure. The whole family made it out at the tail end of that for an evening trip. We caught one in the first few minutes but then it was tough the rest of the night (I hate fishing most parts of Muskegon Lake in the evening for salmon). A potential flip was coming and I would be putting my bets on that. I planned on day 2 of it since it was coming late. Mega rainstorms in the forecast postponed that a day.

I knew I would be cleaning up scraps but I was going to go crazy if I didn’t get a real fishing trip in. The report was Monday was chaos, Tuesday was awful, and Wednesday we were going to find out. Hoping there would be a fresh batch coming in, we set up near the channel. The MEGA Live 2 doesn’t lie and there were a few fish around and 2 layers of water, which is always a good thing. No action for us but the pack caught 3 fish and then it died, a cruise ship came through, the water mixed. It was just dead and it was looking like we would put it on the trailer early. I’d passed through the sand docks once without seeing much activity but this pass on the way home was much different. They weren’t podded up at all but there were fish swimming around consistently. It was also rough with a stiff northeast wind and we were thankful for a 36v Minn Kota Ultrex quest to hold us in the waves.

Fishing was not hot and heavy for us but we did get some action. Both on skein and with jigs, hooking and landing fish was a problem too. Despite the mediocre success it was fun to get to fish with a couple buddies and have Cameron fishing right next to us. There was a river boat that was doing work with skein while we were out. Those river guides really have that skein bite dialed and I have a lot to learn. It was frustrating to watch but motivating at the same time. It is also amazing to watch the fish just slinking around down there ignoring everything. Then all of a sudden one will fire up and react. I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing wrong to not get as many bites but I’m sure some of it has to do with the eggs and cures. I feel a lot more confident in that this year and we did have one cure that was more desirable to the salmon on this trip (Pautzke Fire Cure Red). Next season I really need to take the skein thing more serious.

Things look a little slow the next couple days but we have a big east wind event coming. Like several days of it and that is likely going to put some cold water nearshore. There are some great fishing days yet to come, maybe some of the best year. I’m done cleaning mature salmon for the year so I don’t care that it’s late. This last push is going to be a lot of fun and hopefully a grand finale to a weird run this year.