Most mornings find fresh schools of kings with their noses sniffing the color line where the St. Joseph River spills into Lake Michigan. “Early is best, just before daylight, and for the first hour after that,” Capt. Ender claimed. Exciter-type lures seem to trip a king’s trigger then. “J-Plugs are always good in the chrome/redhead, lime back and clown colors,” Ender offered. He advised having a good selection of No. 3, 4 and 5 plugs. Flashers and flies can be good, too. A white Spin Doctor mated to a green fly is hard to beat.

Ender indicated kings can be caught all the way from the pierheads up into the river to the Coast Guard Station. The river currents can be tricky. “Speed is critical, and you have to be right on to consistently catch fish,” Ender said. If the river cools quickly, the kings will shoot up the St. Joe. A bonus is the Skamania steelhead that converge on the river in late summer.

For more area information, contact the Southwestern Michigan Tourist Council at (269) 925-6301 or online at www.swmichigan.org. To book a charter, contact Capt. Kevin Ender at (269) 983-4140 or online at www.capthooksportfishing.com.

GRAND HAVEN
“The kings typically show up at Grand Haven right around the 25th of August, give or take a day,” claimed Capt. Willis Kerridge. “The run usually lasts until about the 18th of September, but there are years when it can be over with by Labor Day.” (Cont.)

Rains determine how long the salmon hang around the Grand Haven pierheads. Heavy rains that increase the volume of the Grand River beckon the salmon upriver, and fishing can be short and sweet.

“Normally, there’s a very good early-morning bite right off the pierheads in the mud line,” Kerridge claimed. “Sometimes the fish can be caught in the blue water, too, until the sun gets up. Then they tend to move back into the muddy water.”

As fishing pressure increases throughout the morning and the sun gets brighter, the kings often move farther up the river. There are several holes that reach 36 feet in the river that the kings stack up in. Savvy anglers follow them. “The fishing can be good all the way from the lighthouse to the Coast Guard Station,” Kerridge suggested. The channel leading up the river is maintained at a minimum of 26 feet for shipping purposes. If the river is warm, the kings often drop into the holes found in the river, and fishing tight to bottom often wakes them up.

Kerridge added that the current is tricky to deal with. Compound that with the boat traffic, and getting Grand Haven kings to the net can be tricky, but do-able. “Action can be really rapid,” Kerridge mused.