The Little Manistee River weir is the source for all chinook salmon spawn in Michigan, so plants at Manistee make sure plenty of kings return to the weir for egg-taking purposes. Upwards of a half-million king fingerlings go into the Little Manistee River. An additional 95,000 or so chinooks supplement that stocking after being imprinted in net pens in the Big Manistee River. Just to the north, Portage Lake receives annual plants of around 49,000 king salmon fingerlings.

The Ludington Area Charter Boat Association's state-of-the-art net-pen rearing operation at Ludington State Park is no doubt part of the reason for the tremendous salmon fishing found off that port. The LACA net pens annually receive upward of 149,000 tiny chinooks.

Even with substantial annual plants it is estimated that upwards of 50 percent of the kings caught at ports like Grand Haven, Ludington and Manistee are naturally reproduced. Pristine rivers like the White, Pere Marquette, Little Manistee and Platte pump out hundreds of thousands of naturally reproduced smolts each year, but in recent years many of the larger rivers have been contributing even more smolts. Concessions made by power companies following dam re-licensing a few years ago has benefited salmon natural reproduction in rivers like the Manistee and Muskegon. Current regulations that require run-of-the-river levels have resulted in the Manistee and Muskegon rivers now producing an estimated 1.6 million smolts where a decade ago they produced almost none.

With baitfish numbers booming, a good carryover of fish from the last two banner years, natural reproduction at an all-time high and heavy plants, fishing at our "Triple-Crown Ports" might be better than ever this season.

GRAND HAVEN
"Mid-July is when the bigger kings typically show up," said veteran Grand Haven skipper Chip Klein. "It's usually right about the time the fleas show up."

Klein has run his 31-foot Tiara Hit Man out of Grand Haven's Chinook Pier for more years than he'd probably care to admit. There aren't any captains who know that portion of the big lake better.

Klein said that it's not uncommon for a slug of mature kings to show up at the pierheads in late-July, long before anyone expects them to be there.

"Big numbers of kings can be found in late July just about anywhere," advised Klein.

The fishing typically takes place from 100 to 260 feet straight out of the harbor in July.

"People heading out deep are running right by the fish," observed Klein. "Usually we can keep it quiet for a few days before people find out and the fish leave."

When they do, Klein said the best fishing is from Grand Haven north to Muskegon.

"The fishing to the north is the most consistent," said Klein.

While ports like Manistee and Ludington have plenty of chinook-attracting structure, Grand Haven's lake bottom is featureless.

"To do well at Grand Haven you need to learn how to fish the nets," advised Klein. "Nets are structure here."

Trap nets in the area funnel salmon. Besides avoiding them and preventing loosing gear, learning the layout of the trap nets can help pinpoint schools of hungry salmon. Klein said he normally heads north during late summer and sets short of his destination to have his program set and to prepare to fish the nets. Landmarks to the north include J.P. Hoffmaster State Park, Mount Garfield and the outflow of Little Black Lake.

"The first of July starts flasher time," claimed Klein. Klein said that you'd be hard pressed to find a better combination for kings at Grand Haven than a green-crushed ice glow or white-crushed ice glow Fishcatcher mated to a Rapture trolling fly. Spoons still take their fair share of fish. Klein estimates that he runs flashers and spoons at about a 50-50 ratio. Michigan Stingers are very popular at Grand Haven.