Made it on the water April 6 for the first trip of the year.  Had a crew of 4 plus myself to attack the tasty coho of southern Lake Michigan.  We opted to hit South Haven instead of St Joe for the shorter drive, less water commute down the river and a lot less debris in the river to hit.  We cleared the pier heads at about the crack of 9:00 am and headed south a couple miles before setting lines.  We ran 12 rods most of the day in the shallow water.  WE worked water from 12-35 feet wtih 21 being best. No fish until we got south of the power plant.  We continued on to the south until we reached a point where ice bergs were being calfed off the shore.  That looked like a good place to turn around.  We worked our way north for a while and pulled lines about 3.  We finished 15 for 23 and kept 11 fish and tossed back 4 lakers. We kept 2 steelies and 1 brown and the rest coho.  Orange did all the damage with a mix of spoons and body baits.  We tried several flies for quite awhile with no luck.  Best speeds for us ranged from 2.3 to 2.6 mph and mostly in the chalky water.  Water was 39.7 to 40.7 with most fish right at 40.  Orange roughy (65) took 5 bites, Orange Ice (41) took 5 bites, orange Brads bait took 5 bites, Lemon Lime with Orange Twist (5) took 3 bites, orange original thunderstick took 2 bites and the remainder 3 bites came on two different orange and gold prototype spoons.  No fish topped 6 pounds but a fun day none the less.  We did identify one lost fish as a king as it flipped us the fin as it spit the hook.  The ramps are NOT in at South Haven so beware and be prepared.

Captain Paul

www.salmonheadcharters.com