April on Lake Michigan: Shoreline Browns and Early Kings

October 18, 2026

From Capt. John King's fishing logs, 2000–2015. April means shoreline Brown Trout off the central Lake Michigan ports, Coho off the southern ports, and the first deep spring Kings.

Shoreline Browns

Proof: John's charters boated 239 fish, mostly Browns, on 22 trips in spring 2000 off Manistee, mostly from Cooper Creek to Big Point Sable.
Where: 6–12' of water just off the beach. Stained (not muddy) water is best.
Conditions: a light chop beats flat calm. East wind and glassy water were John's toughest days.
Water: 36–45°F. Fish bite even with ice in the harbor, but improve as the water warms a few degrees.

Capt. John's April spoon program (2015)

Big planer boards, 100' leads in a chop, up to 150' when it's flat.
3/8–1/2 oz bead chain keel weight 5'+ ahead of a plain snap. 1 oz is too heavy: it hits bottom in 6–8' when you slow down to fight a fish.
15# mono leader; 2.5 mph speed over ground.
Salmon Buster 4.0 spoons with light-wire VMC 9649 trebles for jumping Browns.

April colors

Every one of John's April 2015 bites came on copper and gold with red or orange accents. He had no bites on silver in cloudy water. Winners: Copperhead Mamba, King Midas (gold) Mamba, Gold HRP, Monkey Puke Mamba and Laser Glo HRP. Over two days at Ludington, Salmon Busters out-caught metal spoons 5 to 2.

Keep your lines clean

Spring storms wash weeds and shore grass into the lake. In April 2015 John found debris from Big Point Sable to north of Onekama. His tip: pull and clean every line every 20–30 minutes.

The first deep Kings

St. Joe, 4/29/06: a 2-person King limit in rough water on a Green Double Glow BTI with a matching meat rig. Riggers at 85', 95' and 105' over 115–120' of water, trolling 1.3–1.8 mph. Southern Coho run shallow: Michigan City Coho came in 30–45' of water, surface to 12' down.