Michigan Sportfishing Hotspots We Fish:
Saginaw Bay
Walleye Charters
at Au Gres (AuGres)
Walleye Capital
of the World!!!
May/June/July/Aug/Sept
Lake Erie
Walleye Charters
at Monroe,
Toledo and
Port Clinton
March/April/May
Lake Huron
Brown Trout, Atlantic Salmon, Lake Trout, King Salmon, Pink Salmon, Steelhead
Mixed-bag Charters
at Rogers City and Presque Isle
May
Lake Michigan
King Salmon Charters
at Manistee
August
Lake Huron Trophy
King Salmon Charters
at Rogers City
September
Charter Fishing Information
Book Charters Online
Charters for the Film Industry
Trip Planners
Rogers City Spring
(Lake Huron)
Rogers City Summer
(Lake Huron)
Sportfishing for trophy walleye, steelhead, salmon, lake trout and brown trout
Charters Starting at Only
$250
Full and Half Day Trips
Available
Credit
Cards
Accepted
Gift Certificates
Available
Capt. Michael Veine
15555 Cassidy Rd.
Chelsea, Michigan 48118
Phone 734-475-9146
Email
mikeveine@trophyspecialists.com
Book Sportfishing Charters
Online
Trophy Specialists Fishing Charters does just what the name implies, specializes in sportfishing for the biggest, most prized fish (walleye, salmon, steelhead, lake trout and Great Lakes brown trout) that Michigan has to offer. We accomplish this by sport fishing on the hottest waters at their peak trophy producing periods. Yes, trailering a charter boat from port to port is expensive and a hassle, but quite frankly, it's the only way captains can consistently deliver peak sportfishing action throughout the season. By concentrating on the right places at the right times, Trophy Specialists guarantees its customers a successful fishing experience. If no fish are hooked up, our guarantee states that your next trip is free (only valid on 8-hour trips), so we actually put our money where our mouth is. You can kick back and let the captain worry about catching walleye, salmon, steelhead and brown trout.
Trophy Specialists is all about professionalism with a total commitment to quality customer service. We provide leading edge, tournament tested gear, tactics and know how. You need not be an expert angler to land the big ones with us. Our services include expert coaching skills that gives even novice anglers a real chance to catch huge walleye, salmon, brown trout or steelhead. We also offer unique trips like early spring trophy walleye charters on Lake Erie and limited charters at the best walleye fishery in the world - Saginaw Bay. Fishing with Trophy Specialists may in fact be your best chance at catching that trophy of a lifetime for the wall or the photo album. With over 30 years of hard-core fishing experience and a U.S. Coast Guard Masters License with commercial towing and other endorsements, Capt. Michael Veine is one of the most highly qualified charter captains operating on the Great Lakes including Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie. In fact, Capt. Mike is licensed to pilot ships; now how many guides or charter captains can claim those kinds of credentials? Mike Veine is also a widely published outdoor writer and photographer, so your trophy tale and/or photos may even be featured in your favorite magazine (with your permission of course). Also, be sure to check out our fishing reports to see what's biting.
Gift certificates are available - Giving someone a fishing charter gift certificate makes an awesome present for Christmas, birthday, father's day, mother's day, anniversaries, graduations, bachelor party and other special occasions. Fishing charter gift certificates are also ideal for fund-raisers, charities, raffles, employee appreciation, business entertainment and many other purposes, and they can be customized just about any way you want. The recipient can choose the port, species and timeframe. Because Trophy Specialists fishes from many different ports targeting walleye, salmon, steelhead, brown trout, lake trout and other species, the recipient of the gift will certainly have plenty to choose from.
Charters for the Film Industry - Trophy Specialists Fishing Charters offers charter boat and marine services (lease and rental) for the film, television (TV), cinema and movie industry. We have on-the-water video production experience on the Great Lakes and other rivers and inland lakes of Michigan and Ohio. We are fully licensed and insured and can provide professional on the water support for your cinematography projects.
Coast Guard and DNR Inspected Charter
Boat
Long Time Member of Michigan Charter Boats Association
(MCBA)
Check out our fishing reports to find out if the walleye, king (Chinook) salmon, steelhead, brown trout, lake trout or Atlantic salmon are biting where Trophy Specialist is running fishing charters. These fishing reports will cover the ports of Au Gres (AuGres) on Saginaw Bay, Rogers City on Lake Huron, Manistee on Lake Michigan and Monroe and the Western Basin of Lake Erie. We will try to update the fishing report regularly during the open water charter fishing season.
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We will start our charter fishing season on Lake Erie during mid-March and will post reports as soon as the boat goes into the water. Please come back and check out our fishing reports then.
News on the 2010 Charter Season
Key Great Lakes fisheries will provide awesome fishing in 2010 for walleyes, salmon, brown trout, Atlantic salmon, lake trout and steelhead. Trophy Specialists Fishing Charters will again be scheduled to be right places at the right times to put customers on those hot bites. Charter rates are unchanged again this year and lodging and eatery rates in Michigan are some of the lowest in the country making a fishing trip to Michigan one of the best vacation bargains out there. When you consider the quality of the fisheries combined with the value, you just can't go wrong. Here is a rundown of the fisheries Trophy Specialists Fishing Charters will focus on during 2010:
Saginaw Bay is the official, undisputed "Walleye Capital of the World". Consider this; Trophy Specialists Fishing Charters ran 50 charters on out of Au Gres (AuGres) on Saginaw Bay last year and we limited out on every trip except two and even that pair of charters still produced a fine catch of walleyes compared to anywhere else. On most trips we were able to catch a mixture of eaters and lunkers for the best possible mix too. Saginaw Bay has been blessed with seven straight huge year classes of naturally reproduced walleyes. When those huge numbers are added to an already strong adult walleye population from past years, the shear number and quality of walleyes in the system now simply boggles the mind. There are now so many walleyes in Saginaw Bay that easy limit catches are the rule and anglers can even catch and release fish until their arms hurt if they want. The fishing is just plain pure fun these days and you can expect non-stop action on most trips. The only down side to the fishery is that the word has definitely gotten out and the demand for fishing charters there has escalated sharply, so as a result I'm increasing my charter schedule once again out of Au Gres (AuGres) to take advantage of the demand. Au Gres (AuGres) is the best of the best among Saginaw Bay's ports with the highest walleye catch rate anywhere in Michigan. We'll be fishing there from late-May through June and into mid-July. Keep in mind though that I filled all my available charter openings on Saginaw Bay last season and will likely do so again this year, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Lake Erie will serve up some awesome early spring walleye fishing this year. The record breaking 2003 year class will be contributing millions of trophy class lunkers to the spring bite. When the 2003 fish are added to the abundant year classes from big hatches during the 1990s, Lake Erie will produce a spring trophy walleye fishery of world class proportions. Given decent weather conditions, we could break my boat record of over 100 Master Angler class walleyes in one season. I'll be running Lake Erie walleye charter starting in mid-March through early May providing plenty of open dates to service the high demand at that location. One change I'm making for 2010 is to restrict the trips before April 15 to an "on call list". Customers will have to sign up ahead of time and will be contacted to fish only when the weather and water conditions are favorable for a successful trip. Because of the highly volatile fishing conditions during March and early April this is the only way to run a charter business at that time of year on Lake Erie. The Detroit River will also have good runs of walleyes this spring, so I'll be offering Detroit River charters as a backup when Erie is too rough to fish (Monroe is very close to the mouth of the Detroit River).
Lake Michigan once again served up some awesome king salmon fishing last year and 2010 should also provide some great fishing as well. The chinook salmon ran bigger than normal last year and that trend should continue into 2010 as well. Trophy Specialists Fishing Charters will be offering charters from my home town port of Manistee once again this summer. I've been fishing salmon at Manistee since the first year they were stocked there in the 1960s, so nobody can claim to have more experience there than me. Manistee has a well earned reputation as one of the best salmon ports in Michigan and I'll be there during prime time in August. I'm only scheduling a short period there so those salmon trips will fill up fast necessitating early bookings if you want to fish there.
Lake Huron at Rogers City provides perhaps the best mixed bag fishery on the Great Lakes. We ran one trip there catching six different species in one day consisting of king salmon, walleye, coho salmon, pink salmon, Atlantic salmon and steelhead. We also catch brown trout there too. For the past few years, the Atlantic salmon fishing has been outstanding at Rogers City during May. If you have never caught an Atlantic salmon, they are like a king salmon on steroids. They make long powerful runs and also jump like crazy similar to a steelhead. Atlantics are the best eating fish in the salmon family, so there is no down side to catching them other than sore arms from their scrappy battles. We also target brown trout during May too. The DNR has changed the brown trout stocking program at Rogers City. They are now stocking browns during the fall and the survival rate has escalated sharply. As a result, Ropers City could very well offer the best brown trout fishing in Michigan. Those May charters are conducted right along the shoreline in shallow water and we typically catch browns, lakers and kings in addition to the Atlantic salmon. I also offer some offshore trips where we target steelhead, but usually end up with a mixed bag of steelies, trout and salmon. During July the king salmon really move in to the Rogers City area and they are still silvery and spectacular at that time. King salmon are on the increase big time at Rogers City. There numbers and the catch rates were up again last year and it is expected to be even better in 2010. The average size of Rogers City's kings was also way up last year too. The DNR's Swan River weir located a few miles from Rogers City collected thousands of kings in 2009 making it one of the largest returns of king salmon anywhere in the Great Lakes and even in the world. The salmon last year were also bigger and more vigorous than we've seen in recent years. The summer salmon fishery at Rogers City was on fire last year as we caught more kings there than at any other time or place including Lake Michigan. During late summer, Rogers City's Swan Bay loads up with huge, pre-spawn king salmon and we will even longer during 2010 to take full advantage of the opportunity well into September. The kings we caught there last year were the biggest ones taken in all of Michigan based on average weights. The fishing at Rogers City is uncrowded at most times and considering the high catch rates and the size of the fish, it equates to a very high quality experience that no other Great Lakes salmon port can match.
Charters to be Donated:
To help support the Hunt-of-a-Lifetime, Benefit4Kids and Joseph's Journey Foundations, we are giving away fishing charters again this year to any qualifying child that requests one. We used to donate fishing trips to The-Make-a-Wish-Foundation, however when they stopped allowing the kids to go on hunting or fishing trips the Hunt-of-a-Lifetime, Benefit4Kids and Joseph's Journey Foundations were formed in response to fill that need. Trophy Specialists Fishing Charters is now donating a charter to any critically ill child through the Hunt-of-a-Lifetime, Benefit4Kids and Joseph's Journey Foundations. These donations will help children with life threatening illnesses achieve their dreams of catching trophy salmon, walleye, steelhead or brown trout on the Great Lakes.
Donations have also been made to the American Cancer Society, Boy Scouts of America, Alpena Schools, Fairview Schools, Cal's Pals, Michigan Turkey Hunters, Ruffed Grouse Society, North East Michigan Mental Health, Care House, Whistling Wings, Brent Romain Memorial Fund Raiser, Michigan Tournament of Charities, Public Television (WTVS and WKAR), St. Damian Catholic School, Cal's Pals and other notable charities. Trophy Specialists Fishing Charters is also a member of the following non-profit organizations: Hammond Bay Area Anglers Association, Michigan Charter Boat Association and the National Association of Charter Boat Operators.
