Roger City Tourny results...

[Adam Peterson]

Denis cook capt. of the boat cookie man had biggest fish for the tourny with a king that was a little over 23 lbs, I beleive second place was 22 lbs and third was just over 20. They switched the payout this year so they only paid the top 10 and 10th place was a 17 lb salmon. There was a 18 lb brown caught out of PI by Power trip saturday and a 12 lb steelhead by another local boat. Overall the fishing was a lot better than last year with lots of salmon being weighed in. Trout scout caught a 22.2 lb salmon saturday also but they were not in the tournment. The salmon fishery has come back a lot from last year so hopefully it will continue to rebound.

[Burksee]

Adam, Thanks of sharing your report, that's great news! :D

[Flyface]

The fishing does not appear to getting better--just a few boats are finding fish and those are the ones doing the talking.
To demonstrate--I was up there at Tourney Time, but was not in the contest.
On Friday night we launched at Hammond Bay Refuge Harbor and drove over to the Biological Station. Was 2 for 4 in three hours of fishing. The two fish we landed were 3 pound Lakers which we returned.
Saturday we drove to Spectacle Reef and at 7AM there was only one other boat within three miles of the Lighthouse. Lots of fish marks and was 0 for 1 for three hours of fishing here. On the way back to the Refuge Harbor we found a large scum line full of debris and seagulls. We could see minnows swimming under the surface. Worked this from 55 FOW to 95 FOW and never had a rip.
Sunday morning we launched at RC. You would never know there was a tournament in town as there might have been 50 rigs in the parking lot. Worked in front of the state park and was 1 for 3--our big fish for the trip was a 3 year old 6 # 11 oz. King. Later that night we worked the same area and had one fish on and landed a 4 pound--very skinny king. From the looks of the fish left in the gut bucket--many small fish. The big one I saw looked proportionate for about a 12-13#pound fish.
We will be back up for 4 days Labor Day weekend and see if any fish have arrived yet. I think its far too early to claim this as a sign of a turnaround.
Wish it was--I would be spending more time at my cabin on Hammond Bay and less time driving to Ludington to cure my "salmon fever."

John & the Boys
Nordic Star

[chuckinduck]

I can't speak for friday which I believe got blown out, or saturday, but I was shocked at the lack of boats, or even trailers at the launch on sunday. When my brother and I came off the water at 10 a.m the girl at the launch checking fish from the dnr said the most fish she'd seen from any boat was two as of that time. We boated one king about 8lbs with an empty belly. It looked like a healthy fish however. Talk on the radio's seemed slow. The best report I heard was from a gentlemen who said he had two fish, one I believe went 14.4 and the other 10.6. We did seem to mark a fair amount of fish in 110 fow though.

[Adam Peterson]

There plenty of fish in the area... You just have to know where they are... Thats why they call it fishing not catching. I had several friends fish in the tournment and friday was a little show except some boats out of HB, the leader after day 1 had a 22,18,15, and like 5 other fish over 10 lbs... A couple friends of mine were fishing out of a 17' lund saturday and had 12 salmon, 2 lakers, and a 12 lb steelie, the other boat had 11 salmon. I know of a local charter boat that caught 9 fish last night in 4 hours, 10 or so fish today 7 of which were salmon.. I have not seen one fish this year that looked like they did last year.... All of the salmon I have seen this year have been healthy fish the smallest probably being 4 lbs with a average around 7 lbs. Yes it is not lake Lake Michigan but there is plenty of salmon in NE michigan you just have to kno where to look... The one boat with salmon and steelie was only fishing in 20 to 45 FOW... Biggest fish of the tournemnt was caught in less than 20 and that was 23 lbs. I wish Huron was like michigan but it is not... I can remember when huron had a better fishery then michigan... This is just my 2 cents.....

[Burksee]

Don't argue with them Adam! Just more room and fish for us on the east side! ;)

[CAPT HEAVY]

Adam we need to get togather and fish Stoneport, heard that they are busting them there!!

[ausable_steelhead]

I fully agree! This year is looking ALOT better than last year. The kings we've taken off the pier in Oscoda the last two weeks have not been huge, but are quite thick from the shoulders down to the tail wrist especially the males. That's a sign of fairly healthy salmon. Some people just want to keep putting Huron down and talk about Michigan. Like stated that's fine, less people on our side, and HUGE crowds on the west-side.

[Flyface]

Here is a report from another website that contradicts your claim to everyone is getting lots of fish...

Fishing Location: Rocers City
I went fishing today with .(charter name and web address deleted).....of Rogers City and hade a good day. After a 2 day wind the water was warm from top to bottom and the fishing was tough for most boats. We ended up with 4 Salmon and 1 lake trout ( under size by ¼ inch)on a 5 hour trip. 3 of the Salmon ( 6 to 12 #'s )came on SS spoons off the riggers 65-70 ft down in a 107 ft of water and 1 ( 3# ) on a Dippzy 120 back on one of mikes flies. Rick

Fish Species: Salmon / Trout
Rick <Email>
Millersburg, mi USA - Wednesday


4 fish is not killing them. and 6-12 pounds sounds like last years fish sizes.
I know there are bigger fish in the area, but maybe they are running a bit behind schedule.
Be back up to Hammond Bay / RC area Labor Day weekend. Hope to find some fish and not the crowds that are indicative of a booming fishery.

John
Nordic Star

[fishinmachine2]

I also seen another report where some of the top boats ran up to Mackinaw Island.

Scott

[fowl assasination]

i was the one fishing out of the 17' foot lund and i can back up his words we caught a pile of fish. The only thing was that we did not have a good tournement cooler but it didnt really matter we caught fish consistantly. If you want to catch fish there is plenty of fish out there. Every fish we caught in the tourney was on j-plug except for two kings and our 7lb. walleye wich came on spoons. The fish are out there downsizing is the key.