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Lake Michigan
Spring
Presentation #3
By Capt. Jim Hirt
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In articles one and two, we covered general overview and
the specifics of temperature breaks and their location.
Now let us start on spring presentation. If your season
starts early as we do at Blue Max Charters, you will be
on Lake Michigan when the surface temperatures are below
the preferred temp of your target species. I would like
to break this down by months.
I will cover April in this article. This month provides
great action on Lake trout and Brown trout, with the
other species available but not as active. Browns and
Lakers, this time of year, will come on similar
presentation with a preference to different lures. |
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I set up 90% of my lines on boards working the top
fifteen feet of water. The remaining 10% of my lines are
on diving planers or downriggers for deeper fish.
The lake will be very cold, well below your target temp.
I fish the surface down to fifteen feet with planer
Boards. Some of your choices are, Yellow Birds, Church,
Off Shore and Riviera. I’m a little hesitant to
recommend a particular brand because what works for me
may not work for you. I will say I find it easier to run
a small board on each line rather than a large board
with releases on the towline. I do feel it is important
to run all the same type to get a presentation that is
easy and productive.
On all my rods in spring, I run a 20-25 pound test
monofilament. I don’t go nuts with Micro Filament or
Super Braid lines because I think they are over kill for
this application and add to expenses.
 Starting
out this way, I will have the rods loaded with the
correct line for most presentations through out the
season. In spring fishing, the clear surface water
leaves you with a visibility factor to consider, and
smaller crank baits do not run well on heavier test
lines.
I run a 1/4 to 1-ounce bead chain trolling sinker at the
end of the 20-25lb mono to avoid line twists and get the
depth I want. From the sinker to the lure I use 8ft of a
12lb mono and a small round cross lock snap. When the
fish hits, the board slides down to the trolling sinker.
With the sinker in line, it will not knock the fish off
as it would if it ran down to the lure.
I put out as many boards as I can handle, with equal
number of boards on both sides of the boat. When setting
this presentation, I set my boat speed at 1 to 2 mph and
let out my lure about 30 to 100 feet and attach the
board. This distance will change with the amount of
light, type of lure, depth you want to fish. When action
is slow, adjust this distance and see what happens.
Once the board is attached, carefully lower the board
into the water and let out enough line to allow room for
more boards, between that board and the boat. Boards
should be spaced about 30 feet apart.
I run a mix of minnow type lures, crankbaits and small
spoons. The lures you run are all about the amount of
light, baitfish size and the size of fish you are
looking to catch. Mix it up! When one lure produces I
would double up on that lure. When a fish hits, the
board releases and it will drop back behind the boat.
Land your fish and reset this board by letting out
enough line to allow the board to fly back into the same
spot it came from.
Avoid changing out to many lures if you are getting
action because at times one lure feeds off another. By
this I mean, a spoon may be attracting the fish but they
will hit the crankbait next to it.
If the weather cooperates, we will be doing charters by
the next issue and I will include a fish report.
Good luck. Give me a call on the lake. Jim charters out
of Milwaukee, WI. With Blue Max Charters He can be
reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site at
http://www.bluemaxcharters.com
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