| Port
of Holland MI - Dock Report |
| Useful
Information: WUG-Marine
Forcast, Lake
Michigan Open Water Forecast, Holland
Marine Forcast, Surface
Temp Map DNR
Harbor Information, Wood
TV 8 Pier Cam |
|
| Holland
Dock Reporter: Brad Keen his dad and brother
have been fishing out of Holland since the 60's. They have all helped
run fishing charters out of Holland and Saugatuck for years, and Brad's
dad and Uncle owned their own charter boat in the 80's. But for the
past few they have been fishing for pleasure. |
| Report |
Pictures |
Jun 30 2008
- -
Brads Saturday
Report -Because salmon fishing
is so slow right now (most boats are getting around 2 per trip) and
because gas prices are so high, and because it was rough Saturday....we
didn't get out salmon fishing this weekend. However, we had heard
of some good numbers of perch being caught off of Holland on minnows
(my uncle caught 75 on Tuesday in 26 feet off of spyglass). They have
been in 25-30 feet of water, generally around the line of muddy and
blue water. We tried it Saturday but only could catch one. It was
too rough to keep our boat on top of the fish, but we did mark some.
|
|
| Jun-26-08
- Salmon action is taking place in 50-180 feet. Good
colors have been green, orange and blue. Perch fishing has been good
in 30 feet of water both north and south of the piers. |
|
| Jun 19 2008
- Boaters are pulling
in a few salmon in 140-200 feet of water, and fishing 50 feet down.
Spoons are working best. |
|
| Jun 14 2008
- -
Brads Saturday
Report - It
was a slow morning, the storms have seemed to have scattered the fish
over a wide area and depths. We started out the morning in 90 foot
and trolled all the way out to 180 and back in again and marked fish
most of the way. We were 2-4 with both fish coming around 120 feet
of water on a wire dipsey, 150 back with a green NBK spoon |
|
Jun 12 2008
- Boats are heading
straight out and fishing in 120 to 200 feet of water. Using blue or
green Dolphins.
|
|
| Jun 05 2008
- Salmon fishing
is reported to be good. The fish can be found in the top 60 feet of
water any where from 150 feet out to 210 feet deep. |
|
May-29-08
- Salmon and trout are being taken in 160-180 feet
of water in the top 60 feet. Green and blue spoons and dodgers and
flies are working very well. Lake Macatawa is also giving up good
numbers of walleye.
|
|
| May-22-08
- Salmon and trout is hit and miss when fishing from
125 to 200 feet of water one Steelhead and 4 Salmon. Good spoons have
been green dolphin and orange crush. |
|
| May-15-08
- Walleye fishing is good off the piers at night,
using husky jerks. The salmon action is slow with reports having the
fish being caught in water 80 to 250 feet deep using blue and green
spoons. |
|
May-09-08 -
Salmon have been spotty this week, but a few fish have been caught
in 40-70 feet of water. |
|
| Apr-24-08 -
Salmon fishing has been slow, the fish are in about 50-60 feet of
water try greens and blues spoons. Good catches of perch were reported
off the pier last weekend weekend using minnows.
|
|
Apr-18-08 -
Walleye are being taken from the piers in the middle of the night.
Those trolling, are in 18 feet of water, using Hot-n-Tots, husky jerks,
are other body baits.
|
|
| Apr-10-08 -
Good catches of browns and steelhead in water 6-18 feet deep using
spoons and spawn. |
|
| Sep-27-2007 -
Perch and salmon fishing is only fair off the pier and on the lake.
|
|
| Sep-20-2007 -
Salmon fishing is very good off the piers and trolling around the
pier area. The perch action id only fair. |
|
Sep-17-2007 -
Brads Saturday
Report - We made it out Saturday
evening after the lake calmed down a little. It was a beautiful
evening, perfect temps and the lake laided down even more as the
evening went on. We trolled all the way out of the channel but didn't
have our first action until we were a little north of the harbor
in 30 feet. We had our best luck around 55 ft on spin doctors and
flies. A white spin doctor with green fly and black spin doctor
with a black mirage fly worked well 40-55 down on the riggers and
a green fish catcher with a green fly worked well 125 back on the
dipsey. We also took a fish on a J-Plug behind a 3 color lead core
rod. We ended the evening 6-9 with a couple of fish in the 15-20
lb range.
|
|
| Sep-14-2007 -
Last weekend the 4 year old fish were in 90 feet of water. Try using
J-Plugs. |
|
| Sep-06-2007 -
Salmon can be found in 50-150 feet of water. With J-plugs and flies
working the best.
Perch are being reported in 30-40 feet, using minnows and spikes
as bait. |
|
| Aug-30-2007 -
Salmon fishing is good, try using J-plugs and spoons, in water 35
to 60 feet deep. Perch have been caught in Holland north and south
of the piers in 35 fow. Large limits have been caught. |
|
Aug-25-2007 -
Brads
Saturday
Report - Even
though it was a rainy rough morning the fishing was still great. We
caught 10 fish and had over 20 hits. We had our best luck between
85-110 feet of water almost straight off the pier heads. Flashers
and flies were the ticket, with blue and green flashers working the
best. Downriggers produced the most fish, anywhere from 45-60 down.
Wire dipseys back 150 and leadcore also took fish. At one point we
lost three spindoctor-fly set-ups in a row. There were some big four
year olds around! They were very dark however and will be headed up
the rivers very soon.
|
|
| Aug-23-2007 -
Salmon have been caught in waters 20 to 40 feet deep with J-plugs
and flies doing best. Also run glow spoons early and late. Recent
rain and strong winds have the fish scattered. A few salmon have been
taken off the piers. See the Muck
Boy Report from today |
|
| Aug-20-2007 -
Brads
Saturday
Report - Salmon fishing remains
hot! While we didn't catch as many four year olds as we have on most
trips this summer, we still managed 10 fish Saturday morning. We had
our best luck in 50-65 feet of water. The wire dipsey with a green
E-chip flasher and a full core with a blue chillie willie spoon took
most of the fish. We only had three hits and one fish on riggers.
We did hear of some bigger fish being caught right in front of the
harbor, it sounds like they'll be running any day now.
|
|
| Aug-16-2007 -
Salmon fishing has slowed down a bit, but it is still good. Reports
place the fish from 50-170, Green and blue flies also j plugs are
starting to get very good.
Perch are still in that 30 ft area.
|
|
| Aug-09-2007 -
Salmon fishing is very good in water up to 150 feet deep. The fish
are found 60 to 70 feet down. Perch can be found south of Holland
in 30 to 40 feet of water |
|
| Aug-01-2007 -
Salmon fishing has been great in 100-140 feet of water blue and green
flies have worked best.
Perch are in 30 feet of water in front of the south pier. they
are ranging from 9-12 inches.
|
|
Jul-27-2007 -
Brads
Saturday
Report - Fishing
remains hot! We caught 13 fish Saturday, 11 kings, 1 steelhead and
1 lake trout. We had our best luck between 90-110 feet of water. We
caught one fish on a moonshine spoon, the rest came on flashers and
flies. Out hottest set-up for the day was a white spin doctor with
light blue tape and a green crinkle fly down 65 ft on the center rigger.
The Mt Dew flasher with a green or pink mirage fly was also hot.
|
|
| Jul-26-2007 -
Very good King fishing can be found at various depths, in water from
40 to 100 feet deep. Green, blue and purple are the hot colors. The
perch fishing is reported as being good in 40 foot of water using
minnows. |
|
Jul-21-2007 -
Brads
Saturday
Report.
Saturday was a perfect day to be on the lake!
The fishing was as hot as it's been all year. We found the fish between
50 and 60 feet. We boated 11 fish on 17 hits and at one point had
a double followed by a triple followed by another double. We literally
couldn't keep our rods in the water. Flashers and flies were the hot
set-up. The Mt Dew spin doctor and a white spin doctor with blue tape
were the best behind dispeys 90-110 feet back.
|
|
| Jul-19-2007 -
Salmon fishing has been good with the fish being found 30 to 60 feet
down, Try fishing water from 70 - 120 feet deep. With blue and green
set ups being best for salmon and orange for steelhead.
Perch are being taken from caught this weekend out of Holland 20-65
feet of water using minnows. |
|
Jul-14-2007 -
Excellent salmon fishing using spoons and flies fishing in 60-120
feet of water. Blues and greens are the best for salmon orange for
steelhead. Perch were caught last weekend in 20-30 feet of
water using minnows.
|
|
| Jul-9-2007 -
Brads
Saturday
Report.
Now
that June is gone, the salmon have come back! Fishing was hot all
week, and it was on Saturday was well. We finished with 11 fish
on 18 hits, 10 Kings and one Steelhead. Six of the fish were between
15 and 20 lbs. We caught fish on the riggers, dipseys and lead core.
We had
our best luck between 100 and 135 feet of water and 35-50 down.
Flashers and flies worked well. Blue, green and white flashers all
caught fish.
|
|
| Jul-5-2007 - Salmon
reports have been scattered, 50-80 FOW seems the best. Darker blues
and greens spoons are being reported as doing the best.
Perch have scattered since the water cooled down |
|
Jun-28-2007 -Perch
fishing is good in about 30 feet of water using minnows. The salmon
fishing is fair fishing in 80-110 FOW 40-60 ft down. Blues and greens
on dipseys and lead core. |
|
Jun-23-2007 -
Brads
Saturday
Report. The fishing was a little
slow today. We marked a lot of bait and fish, but couldn't get them
to hit consistently. We caught three salmon on
five hits. Two of the salmon weighed in the mid-teens and put up quite
a fight! One of the fish came on our hot lure, the Silver Streak
magnum blue Chilly Willy 38 ft down on a rigger. The other big salmon
came on a mixed veggie spoon behind a full core. We had our best luckbetween
80 and 95 feet of water.
|
|
| Jun-21-2007 -
Salmon fishing has only been fair. Fish are found 30 to 80 feet down
in water that is up to 200 feet deep. A few perch are also being caught,
in water 30 to 40 feet deep using minnows. |
|
Jun-16-2007 -Brads
Saturday
Report. We
left the dock at 5:15 to fish right in front of the pier heads, hoping
to find some fish feeding on the bait that was there. We tried it
for half an hour and only picked up a four inch salmon...maybe the
smallest we've ever seen.We
fished the rest of the morning between 80-100 ft north of the pier.
We finished with five fish, including an 18lb King and an 12lb Steelhead.
The King came on the Blue Chilie Willie magnum silver streak (that
has been hot all year) down 55 on a rigger. The steelhead came on
a three color lead core with an obnoxiously bright red spoon.
|
Click
image for larger view

|
| Jun-15-2007 -
Perch and Salmon fishing
is rated as good. Salmon can be found 50 to 80 feet below the surface,
in water up to 200 feet deep. Try using dark colored spoons. Perch
can be found in about 30 feet of water, using minnows. |
|
Jun-10-2007 -Brads
Saturday
Report. Went
three for four. We started out in 70 ft and trolled out from there.
We didn't get a fish until we were out in 160 ft. The fish are still
concentrated in the 160-190 ft range. Two fish
came on a rigger down 55 ft with a blue magnum snow cone spoon. The
other came on a fireline dispey back 200 ft. Our leadcore wasn't touched
all day. We marked fish as far down as 130 ft, but unlike last week
we
couldn't get them to go.
|
|
| Jun-08-2007 -
The fish are scattered
try fishing 30 to 80 feet down in waters 170 to 220 feet deep. Perch
are hitting on minnows just off the bottom in 40 feet of water. |
|
Jun-02-2007
-
Brads Saturday
Report. The
June slowdown is here! The old adage "When the cottonwood flies,
the salmon fishing dies", held true again this year. Five days
after
boating 13 fish, we only managed three salmon. We marked a lot of
fish between 170 and 200 ft, we just couldn't get them to hit. We
took one salmon 125ft down!! on a rigger, one 150 back on the wire
dipsey and the third was on the full core. The Green E-chip flasher
took the fish 125 ft down, the other two came on spoons.
|
|
| May-31-2007
- King
fishing is good in water up to 200 feet deep, trolling 60 to 70 feet
down using blue and green colored spoons. |
|
| May-23-2007
- Salmon fishing has improved. The fish are
found 60 to 70 feet down, in water up to 170 feet deep. Good colors
are have been blues and greens. |
|
| May-22-2007
-
Brads Saturday
Report.
The fish are very deep for this early in the spring. We had our
best luck between 170-190 straight off the harbor. We left the dock
at 6:15 and had our limit of 11 fish, 10 salmon and one lake trout
(we threw one small salmon back) by 9:00 and had to head in. They
were hitting everything, it didn't seem to matter what we had down,
every rod we had out caught a fish. The wire dipsy with a blue spin
doctor and blue bubble fly and a leadcore with a blue Chili Willi
spoon were the biggest producers. It seemed like the key for the
morning was staying on top of the fish.
|
|
| May-17-2007
-Salmon fishing has been reported as fair. Fish can
be found 40 to 60 feet below the surface in water up to 200 feet deep.
A few perch are being taken on the west end of Lake Macatawa using
minnows. |
|
May-10-2007
- Boaters are trolling for browns and
also taking a few salmon south to Saugatuck
in 40 to 60 feet of water. A few
perch are being taken in the channel.
|
|
May-04-2007
- Kings have been slow but a few have been caught
in 30-70 feet of water. Small spoons and rapalas are working the best.
A few walleye are being taken from the pier at night. Also a few perch.are
being taken in the channel at the west end of Lake Macatawa.
|
|
Apr-26-2007
- Very good fishing being reported for browns in front
of Holland Beach. Perch are being taken using minnows in the Channel
and Lake Macatawa.
|
|
| Apr-19-2007
- Brown fishing is reported to be good
on the big lake, trolling using green & chrome, orange or yellow
body baits in water up to 20 feet deep. Some fair perch action is
being reported in Lake Macatawa. |
|
Apr-11-2007
-Small
boats are trolling for browns in shallow waters, 6 to 20 feet deep.
Along shore and near the end of the piers using, green and silver
body baits.
|
|
| Apr-04-2007
-
Some brown's are being taken while trolling close to shore, using
body baits or spoons. Also 7 & 8 inch perch are reported being
taken off the wall with minnows. |
|
| Aug-31-06
-
Salmon fishing is being reported as good, fish
are found 30 to 60 feet below the surface in water up to 110 feet
deep. Perch fishing remains good in water 50 to 60 feet deep |
|
| Aug-24-06
-
Salmon fishing is reported to be excellent.
Kings are found in water 30 to 50 feet deep. Using dodgers with green,
blue or white flies. Perch fishing on the lake is very good in water
15 to 30 feet deep. |
|
| Aug-19-06
-Brads Saturday
report. Salmon fishing remains hot!! The fish were
hitting all morning long for us, as opposed to just the normal early
morning bite right after first light as we've been getting accustomed
to. We started fishing in 90 feet of water, but didn't see many fish
on the graph. We pulled lines and ran into 45 foot, and got a much
better picture. Our best luck was the wire dipsey. It went consistently
all morning long with a green flasher and fly. We were running our
dispseys and center rigger right on the bottom and getting consistent
hits. At the end of the day we had 11 fish on 20 hits, 5 of those
fish coming on the wire dispey. A mix bag of 4 year old salmon, smaller
salmon, a lake trout and a brown trout. As
a side note, we marked piles of perch on the bottom in the area
too and have heard perch fishing is excellent.
|
|
| Aug-17-06
- Walleye fishing has been good in Lake Macatawa.
Good king salmon are being caught in 60 to 100 feet of water on
spoons. Perch are in waters 8 to 15 feet deep.
|
|
| Aug-10-06
- Perch fishing is very good
in front of the Spy Glass Condos using minnows, in water 45 to 60
feet deep. Salmon are reported to be only fair, the fish are found
near the bottom in water up to 150 feet deep. |
|
| Aug-05-06
-Brads Saturday
report. The fish were anywhere from 110 to 180 foot
of water, 60-80 down. Our best luck was on flashers with flies on
the downriggers, and on the dispeys. The magnum dipsey back 200 with
a green fishcatcher was our hottest set-up....until we broke it off
mid-morning. We had a 20+ lb King right behind the boat, it made a
run and passed the boat. The fireline clipped a downrigger cable and
broke. We lost the fish, the flasher and fly and the magnum dipsey.
It was a tough one to take, it was a nice fish!! But we did
put 4 nice fish in the boat. |
|
| Aug-04-06
- Perch fishing is pretty good south
of the piers in 42 feet of water, using minnows. Salmon fishing is
fair and are.hitting on a variety of spoons and flies. |
|
July-27-06
- Perch fishing is very good
on Lake Michigan. Minnows are working well in water 30 to 50 feet
deep. Salmon fishing is good. Fish 50 to 80 down in water 60 to 120
feet deep. Start shallow in the early morning and move to deeper waters
as the day goes on. Spoons and flies fished on downriggers.
|
|
| July-22-06
-Brads Saturday
report. Saturday's wind, 4-6 waves and strong currents
made fishing a little more challenging than normal. We managed to
make it through most of the morning without getting anything tangled,
but right at the end of the day a dipsy got into a leadcore and
created one of the biggest messes we've ever had. I guess tangles
happen to even the best of us :) We went 8-12 with the best
luck between 90-110 feet of water. 45-60 down on the riggers and
the full core were strong all morning.Green spin doctors and a magnum
blue bubble stinger were the best baits. |
|
| July-20-06
-The perch fishing is reported very good in
in water 30 to 35 feet deep. With minnows and spikes both working
well. Salmon fishing is reported pretty good with fish hitting on
spoons and flies with green and white colors.. |
|
| July-11-06
- Salmon are being reported
in about 90-120 feet of water, in the morning some are setting up
starting in 50 feet. Orange and green spoons are working best. |
|
| July-08-06
- Brads Saturday
report. Fishing was very slow on Saturday. We marked
a lot of fish in 70 to 100 feet, but couldn't get them to go all morning.
We were 1 for 1 with an 8 lb. King. It came 50 down on a magnum Michael
Jackson. |
|
| July-06-06
- Salmon reported in 80-100 feet of
water. Fish abouth 60 feet down for best results down. Lure colors
have been day to day. |
|
July-01-06
- Brads Saturday
report. There are a lot of fish around! We marked
a lot of big fish and bait fish all morning. Great action early (We
left the dock at 5:30), but the morning bite died by 8:30. We finished
with eight fish on 12 hits. Two fish were over 15lbs. Our best luck
was between 85 and 95 feet of water straight off the harbor. The red
natural born killer down 80 feet on a rigger and a dipsey with a white
fish catcher and green fly back 150 feet were our best lures all morning.
|
Click
image for larger view

Molly's First Fish
|
| June-29-06
- Kings and steelhead are straight
out in 70 to 120 feet of water, fish 30 to 60 feet down with blue,
green & orange spoons. Perch are hitting well just north of the
pier headst in 25 to 30 feet of water on minnows. |
|
June-22-06
- Salmon fishing is reported to be slow. But some reports have indicated
fish in 135 foot of water, using bloody nose and double orange crush
50-55 down. Steelhead also being reported north of the pier heads
in 70 to 90 feet of water - colors working were .lemon ice and double
orange crush.
|
|
June-16-06
-Perch fishing is fair towards the Port Sheldon area. Salmon action
is slow to fair. Fish 40 to 60 down, up 150 feet deep.
|
|
| June-12-06
- Brads Saturday
report. The 10th was a fun day! We found a large school
of steelhead and a few small Cohos in 50-60 foot of water south of
Holland, almost to Saugatuck. They hit on almost anything we had down.
The wire dipseyback 50 feet seemed to work the best. A steelhead even
hit a spoon on the surface as we were trying to set a downrigger.
We ended up with four steelhead and one coho for the morning, the
biggest steelhead was about 14 pounds |
|
June-9-06
- Salmon fishing is scattered.
Fish are being found 40 to 75 feet below the surface in water up to
300 feet deep. Perch are starting to bite, minnows are being used
as bait in water 30 to 40 feet deep towards Port Seldon.
|
|
| June-6-06
- Brads Saturday
report. The June slowdown is officially here!! We
struggled Saturday, going 1for 2. We picked up 7lb King late in the
morning on a full core in 185 ft. We marked a lot of fish in the 165
to 190 foot range, but couldn'tget anything to go. |
|
| June-01-06
-The salmon fishing remains good and they are
being found in water 170 to 250 feet deep. Green- or orange-colored
spoons seem to be working best. |
|
May-31-06
- Brads Memorial
Day Report. Salmon continue
to be strong in numbers, but no big fish to speak of. Everything under
10lbs. Fish are concentrated in 150 to 180 ft. 40 all the way to 120
feet down on the riggers, full core and dipseys out 180-200 feet also
caught some fish. Orange and green spoons continue to be hot.
|
|
May
-25-06 - Coho and King fishing continues to be good,
target water 40 to 80 feet deep. spoons, with greens and oranges the
hot colors.
|
|
May-22-06
- Brads Saturday
report. The morning was almost a perfect
morning! The lake was flat and we were very comfortable just wearing
sweatshirts. There was hardly any boats out, I think they were all
in South Haven for the tournament. We went 11-12 , all Kings 5-10
lbs, in 140-150 ft, 55-80 ft down on riggers, dispsies 175 back,
and full core all went consistently all morning. Magnum spoons were
all they would hit for us. Other boats had luck with mirage and
blue bubble flies behind fish catchers. We saw a fisherman at the
dock who caught a 20+ lb King right in front of the pier heads on
a half core early in the morning. Nice fish!!! |
|
| May-17-06
- Walleye fishing is fair off the pier with the evenings being best.
Kings are being taken and the action is reported to be good. Fish
can be found in water 30 to 55 feet deep using green and orange spoons. |
|
| May-12-06
- As of earlier this week - the salmon fishing was rated very good,
fish were being found in water 70 to 120 feet deep fishing 0 to 50
feet down. Green, orange spoons are the hot colors. Pier fishing is
producing a few walleye. |
|
| May-5-06
- Some fish being taken in 45 to 90 feet of water, fish in the top
40 - orange, green & blue spoons and flies |
|
| Apr-29-06
- The salmon can be found 30 to 50 feet below the surface in water
up to 145 feet deep lures with some orange on them were working
best. Perch and walleye fishing is slow off the pier. |
|
| Apr-23-06
- A few perch have been caught in the Channel. Coho and chinook
are being caught in waters 20 to 60 feet deep straight out, body baits
are working best. Boat anglers are having luck with brown trout while
trolling along the beach area. A few walleyes are showing up at night
off the pier. |
|
| |
|
|