# Mouth of the manistee river



## swansonblake (Jan 31, 2011)

I know were months away. But im planning a trip one week after labor day ro hit the mouth of the river. Whats going to be my best bet fishinf out of a boat to get into some salmon. Are they into spawn bags and what not. Or go hot n tots or spinners. Thanks guys

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## easler24 (Nov 29, 2010)

All of the above. Skein if you go with eggs. Braid with plugs will work as well.


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## cmueller302 (Jan 30, 2007)

Jr thundersticks will keep ya busy.

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## swaprat (Oct 1, 2011)

swansonblake said:


> I know were months away. But im planning a trip one week after labor day ro hit the mouth of the river. Whats going to be my best bet fishinf out of a boat to get into some salmon. Are they into spawn bags and what not. Or go hot n tots or spinners. Thanks guys
> 
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we will be up there around labor day for sure. as for lures try quick fish flat fish hot'n' tot's we use a chain anchor on the side of the river releasing or lifting the anchor every so often. to push them back in to the back of the hole or close agint the brush. this is to get the fish pissed cause it is loseing. ground. that was for plug like flat fish and hot and tots. this is on trolling rods like they use in salmon boat fishing or walleye trolling. 

as for spinners head up to the damn and chuck oslo glo spinners with a night crawler on it inflated with a worm blower. with a long salmon stick. that can handle 10-15 lb test main line 


btw there not real intrested in bright clear ornage spawn bags this time of year. cause they are kinda a cross between "egg" color glo yarn and and orange crysal flash. it is a creamy orange coloration of eggs when you cure eggs it dries them out and it becomes clear/ orange. not cloudy and whiteish orange like the fresh egg there hunting for. the whiteish orange eggs are full of water. the way i fish them is tie spawn bags with the fresh eggs with out cureing them put them in white spwan bag squares and use your bobbin and fly tying thread to tye them off. fish with a octpus hook size 2. and we will use a 3 way bottom boning rig with about a 3/8 or 1/2 once weight atttached to the 3 way rig. 


best of luck to you


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## Youngfish (Oct 21, 2011)

We killed them there last year. We fished from the Boat launch to the tip of the piers. It was too rough to get ouside the piers. We trolled 2 riggers with 120 ft. leads 16-19 down with spoons. We also trolled two slide divers, and two boars with 2 and 3 colors of lead. I think we went 12/24 or something like that. We ran spoons on the riggers, a flasher fly on one slide diver, and a spoon on the other slide diver. We ran two boars with plugs as well. There is a lot of boat traffic so don't get too crazy with the amount of lines. Some times we just trolled 4 lines.

Here are some pics... 

1st. pic was the 5 biggest..


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## swaprat (Oct 1, 2011)

swansonblake said:


> I know were months away. But im planning a trip one week after labor day ro hit the mouth of the river. Whats going to be my best bet fishinf out of a boat to get into some salmon. Are they into spawn bags and what not. Or go hot n tots or spinners. Thanks guys





swansonblake said:


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Couple quick questions for you are you planning too hit the river mouth about rail Road Bridge below m55 and to above to tippy damn or you talking Manistee Lake rail Road Bridge out to the pier heads. Sorry I am just a little confused by the post. People bounce spawn in Manistee lake and is too crowed to run quick fish flat fish or hotntots to get them down to depth they got to be like 50 foot back. And there is not much river current there to pull them down to the bottom. This is why there using a 3 way set up with floating spawn bags .and using an electric trolling motors to stay over the fish.


 Now if talking m-55 to the pier heads what the other guy that replied to the post said trolling is perfect for this area because boats are moving not all stacked up. We use down riggers in this aream-55 to the pier head and in Manistee lake which is like the mouth of Manistee river. Which is m55 to tippy area? you can also use jet diver in Manistee lake 10s and 20s jet divers on dipsey rods just got to keep an eye on depth from m55 to the pier heads some use j plugs spoons etc. in this area. I usually hit the river and will fish from the bank trying to fish out a boat in the area is a pain in the butt. Trying to compete with other boat / angler is just not fun. As you can see you could call the pier head the river mouth but it really is not the river mouth because Manistee Lake is there. See the point. Like I am thinking if the lake up above rail Road Bridge clears out you can troll it with jet divers and down riggers it to busy Labor Day and I am assuming to crowed the week end you will be up there I have and will be up there the week ahead of you. Any ways best of luck to you


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## wannabapro (Feb 26, 2003)

He means that he was trolling from the boat launch by the Coast Guard station to the pier heads in the channel between the breakwalls. That is the mouth. The mouth of a river is the point where it EMPTIES into the lake. The mouth is at Lake Michigan.


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## swaprat (Oct 1, 2011)

wannabapro said:


> He means that he was trolling from the boat launch by the Coast Guard station to the pier heads in the channel between the breakwalls. That is the mouth. The mouth of a river is the point where it EMPTIES into the lake. The mouth is at Lake Michigan.


 
thats what i am thinking the op was talking about. but it could be some thing different. just wanted clarification from him. just to be on the same page lol's. also if trolling like by the piear heads like youngfish is do not rule out dipsey divers. like the big jon mini disks like in a 1.75 inch model 120 feet back is about 20 foot down with 30 pound mono used acording to the book i got. wich would get it far enough away from the boat to maybe pick up some kings or koho's with it. 

any ways wish ya the best of luck.


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## diztortion (Sep 6, 2009)

That are has always been known as the channel and the harbor.


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## wartfroggy (Jan 25, 2007)

swaprat said:


> People bounce spawn in Manistee lake and is too crowed to run quick fish flat fish or hotntots to get them down to depth they got to be like 50 foot back.


 The lake gets a little crowded, but not that crowded. I see no reason why they couldn't pull hot-n-tots or quickfish 50 foot back. I have never had any issues with it.


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## diztortion (Sep 6, 2009)

wartfroggy said:


> The lake gets a little crowded, but not that crowded. I see no reason why they couldn't pull hot-n-tots or quickfish 50 foot back. I have never had any issues with it.


Almost everyone trolls or jigs in that area..


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## wartfroggy (Jan 25, 2007)

wannabapro said:


> He means that he was trolling from the boat launch by the Coast Guard station to the pier heads in the channel between the breakwalls. That is the mouth. The mouth of a river is the point where it EMPTIES into the lake. The mouth is at Lake Michigan.


"the mouth" to most people would be where the river dumps into manistee lake. by the coast guard station would be the channel or harbor. other parts of manistee lake would be manistee lake. up in the river, well, that would be called "up in the river". but where the river turns into manistee lake would be the mouth of the river. same w/ pm lake, pentwater lake, musk lake, any drowned rivermouth lake.


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## swaprat (Oct 1, 2011)

diztortion said:


> Almost everyone trolls or jigs in that area..


 
that what i was getting at a lot of people troll it and i did not want him running lead core if any thing. like young fish was saying. 50 foot is fine but 200 foot back plus core of like 2 colors or one color would put it in someone elses prop on a electric or a gas motor.

that is why i wanted a little clarification on ware he's fishing. that is what i am thinking the point ware the river dump in to the lake is the river mouth plain and simple. but look we already got a couple people saying it is the harbor lol's.

this is what i am thinking. btw the dnr words it as the m-55 rail road bridge as marking points for the lake. 

i am just trying to think of a common point to call it not just this stump at gps location "x" points to the spot lol's. 

this is all casue one is talking harbor were trolling is almost imposible with lead core at least 200 foot back plus colors same with the lake now running hot and tots flat fish etc.. 50-100 foot back is fine runing core is imposible is why i was asking. best we have goten away with in the harbor is down riggers and a dipsey rod or two if your thinking what i am about running lead core you know you can't do it. 


bascally your lucky to run them 100 foot back if you get that close to the crowed spots they cut you off plain and simple it is stupid but it happens. that why i try to aviod the crowds and bank fish labor day week end. and still get cut offs. by people fishing the banks and boats passing by.


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## wartfroggy (Jan 25, 2007)

You can get away with short cores in the harbor, rivermouth and lake. We have done 5 colors plenty of times, you just gotta watch them and pull them if it gets too crowded. 5 colors is 50 yards or 150 feet. Add a leader and you are out 175 feet. If it is too crowded, you can run 2 or 3 colors with a plug and get down with only 90 feet of lead and a leader, so less than 120 feet total. Hot n Tots can very easily be flat lined in there too. I have trolled tots or deep thundersticks with zero problems. Run them 50-100 feet back and you are fine. Add some weight up ahead of them to get deeper or to run the same depth with less line out. If someone is so close they are gonna cut that off, they would take out your divers as well.


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## diztortion (Sep 6, 2009)

I've also seen people run core in the harbor, been ripped off a spoon by it too...

If it's crowded stick to short stuffs. lols..

You can run deep thundersticks or other similar tackle and get down deep enough to the fish. 

They're not always on the bottom..


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## swaprat (Oct 1, 2011)

wartfroggy said:


> Y If someone is so close they are gonna cut that off, they would take out your divers as well.


 

that is why i am thinking cause of so many people anchoring up and trolling that time of the year it gets nuts. 


any ways 
the river mouth were most will anchor up in that end of the lake and use light weights like 3/16-1/2 once and spawn bags on their river set ups. only difference between the river set ups and lake st up is their using styro foam in the bags to get them to float. all they do is cast and stick it in a rod holder and drink a few beers and wait. don's bait and takle in manistee will ask you time and time again in the lake or the river is what they ask when you buy spawn bags so they know to put styro foam in them to make them flaot. if you ask me the fresher the spawn that time of year the better like strait from the fish in to a bag. just wash the blood off of it and put it on ice to keep it good. i hate buying spawn from stores casue it is dried and discolored. from the orignal state and does not smell right to them for some reason. mite be able to get away with it nite fishing during the day they will not touch bait shop spawn. any ways best of luck.


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## fish_AK (Nov 10, 2009)

Cant wait...

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