Hi Guys....

     While fishing on the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan over the past 4 years, some of my Pro Staff and I have been trying to record exhaustive information on every bite we take through each season. (See sample chart at end of article) The information was reviewed over the winter and in the first years some surprises were discovered.

     Before the Catch Logs were reviewed I would ask for a list of "Go-To" lures and then we would score each bite recorded.  What we found was, we were only able to remember about half of the best lures for that season, proving that records are important.

     To better understand my set-ups on a typical morning fishing out of Pentwater MI, picture this:

I consider recent catch reports, season of year,(spring-summer-fall), environmental conditions (wind - sun light - water temp. changes). I stop motoring short of my target area and begin dropping lines - outside lines first and working my way to the stern. As bites are recorded my presentation changes in order to produce more bites from that lure depth.  After a couple of bites are recorded (example:  bite #1  65' of water then 70') I begin to work that depth in a zig-zag pattern, paying attention to subsequent bites, normally moving lures down and working deeper water as the morning goes on. (10' lower & 10' deeper per hour). Color choices are most often bright colors on top, pink - orange - chartreuse and working down with green - blue - purple to the deeper water.

Enough said .... So take a look at the summary pages  1  2  and  3  which are records from my boat during the 2008 season.