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Hi folks! My name is Chad. I am new to this style of fishing and looking for some advise. A little about myself. I am from central Indiana. My experience in fishing is mostly farm ponds for bass and blue gill. I am an avid pheasant hunter and raise and train German Shorthairs. As far as my current gear. I have a 2016 Lund 1850 Black/Silver with a Merc. 115 fourstroke FI. I have fished the smaller lakes in central Indiana. I have been out on lake Michigan before on a charter catching cohos. I was hooked and vowed some day I was going to fish this way myself. I just know very little about trolling or the species of fish i'm after, other than what I have learned reading your posts as well as You Tube and magazines. I have to start somewhere.
My wife and I have went to Portage and went out from Burns Harbor twice now in the last few weeks. These were afternoon and evening events due to my schedule. I have six rods with line counters as well as the Tite-Lok holders. I cannot really afford down riggers yet and would like to build confidence in my fishing before making the purchase. I do have Dipsey Divers as well as side planers and flashers. We haven't caught anything yet and I didn't really expect to. I was just glad to be on my boat playing with my new gear and finally doing it. I did see a big fish surface last week. Quite certain it had to be a Chinook or Trout. Why would they surface like that? I was in 30 FOW fishing 18ft down. So I think?? Some questions I have are when to fish? Fall, summer, spring?? When is best ? Depths? Water temps I should be looking for? I do not want to sound too far off but it is what it is. I want to land one of these fish on my boat bad. Pheasants and bird dogs I know all too well. Big lake fishing.. Not so much.
Thank you so much for any advise at all. I just want to give this a go for me and my family.

You weren't doing anything wrong. The fish you saw was likely a salmon. They just like to come up and look around every once in a while at this time of the year. It's just tough fishing here with reduced stocks and the fish are no longer in the feeding mood.
With your set-up the best thing to do is wait until next March and be prepared to bundle up and come up. East Chicago and Portage are the epicenters of the early action. You won't need downriggers until May or later. Book a charter with one of the guys at www.charterfish.org with smaller boats and see how they do it. Let them know you are wanting to learn. I do a few such charters each season.

Thank you for the info. Actually I was told by another fellow via text you would be good help. I would be interested in chartering with someone so I could learn or pay to have experience on my boat with my gear sometime. Just to learn the proper methods.
Is it too late in the fall to drive up and catch fish or is it a waste of fuel? My boat is 2yrs old and still has original gas in it. Are the trout done to? Is there any good fishing in Oct, Nov?

I have one suggestion I'm no boat mechanic but I've been around boats and fishing for 50 years get that old gas out of your boat anyway you can without running it through your motor. Even if it's treated that's way too old of gas to be running through a $15,000 plus motor

I'm pretty new to this as well. So I know where your coming from. I remember guessing everything and figuring out I'm running my lines way to deep and just chasing everyone Facebook post about the what, when, and were of it all.

Couple suggestion. 1 keep going out! Even if your not catching your still learning.

2 buy dan keating's book! Even if u hate reading(like me) he breaks down season, types of lure, trolling styles, everything to get u on fish! And it's a easy read. No crazy big word for the slow reader like my self.

3 buy at least the fiahhawk temp gauge u clip on your line. That's the only way your going to know for sure what depth u should be running and what your running with dipsey divers ot torpedos.

Good luck

Awesome..thank you. There's a lot of knowledge I need to soak up but yes, I'm sure experience is key. There is so much knowledge on this site. I try not to get discouraged. I feel next March I just may catch something if not this year. Not catching anything but being able to get used to the gear is a big plus.

Yes sir...I've been worried about that. That boat came directly from the showroom floor in July of 16 and was not cheap. Filled it up and went a few times around here on small lakes. So overcrowded and what I felt over fished I just put the boat up in my shop and have barely used it. I think if I get this big lake thing down that will change.

There are going to be a thousand different opinions and advice. I started Salmon fishing about 4 years ago now and have learned a bunch mainly from this site and online research as well as talking with people. One thing I would suggest is watch for Capt Ralph Steiger Salmon Seminar he does in the early spring. He covers basically from spring to winter salmon/trout fishing. He charters from a 20' boat so he is a smaller guy like us and has a bunch of good info. I have fished without riggers for the first two years then I picked up some used manual riggers for $75 each. My best rig so far is my dipsies with wire line rods and just starting to get my riggers to work for me. Main thing is to just get out there and watch the posts. Most important thing is location, speed and depth - I started with 4 rods and still did quite well. You can look through all my posts and comments specially going back to the start since I was asking all kinds of newbie questions (still do). This site is great for answering even what I thought were pretty basic stupid questions and for the most part never made to feel stupid.
Welcome to the Silver addiction!!

Fall fishing for big kings can be tough when they get ready for the river, one day, you slam them, and the next day, you look at them jumping all over the place. It's just their nature. Later on in the fall, you can sometimes find 3 year old kings hanging out a little deeper, but again, it is a day to day thing, and you have to be on the water to make it happen. I love to drift a bobber for Steelhead in the rivers, and that will get really good in about a month, and it is happening some right now. This spring when the Ice leaves, get your gear ready for some really fast Coho action close to shore. A lot of that takes place long line fishing with shallow baits, thinfins, Raps, and such. When it is good. Hold on... Lots of fun, and it should lend itself very well to your boat. Good Luck

This information is awesome..please keep it coming. I've been wondering without wanting to sound too dumb. What is considered a "safe" wave for my boat? Safety for my crew, myself, and my boat are number 1. I went up there a couple weeks ago and the lake looked angry. It was the only day we could go. The waves looked to be 3' plus. I stayed away from the breakers and the boat road the swells but I was just out side the harbor and just didn't feel comfortable.so I stayed behind the break wall and went to the river. Though the small craft advisory had been lifted it just seemed to overwhelming.
On a different note. When I bought my poles I put 25lb mono on them. Should I switch to cable? Do you need a leader with cable? Baits I have J plugs, spoons, and split rapalas that dive pretty deep at 2mph on GPS. What baits do I use flashers with?? I went to Bass Pro to buy bait..Good Lord..theres a million different choices! Not to mention the same bait in different sizes. I spent about $200 on an assortment.