TARGETING SUSPENDED FISH
Once you find the fish or see schools of baitfish on the depthfinder, it is time to start setting rods. Since the fish are suspended, it is very important to get your lures down to the level of the fish. Keep in mind, however, that fish tend to look up rather than down, so it is far better to set your lures a little too high than a little too low.

The most common method of reaching suspended fish is to use downriggers. Downriggers are little more than a steel rod and a large reel spooled with stout wire, with a heavy lead weight at the end to take the lure down into the depths and hold it there. Electric 'riggers are more convenient than manual models, but both get the job done.

Use your electronics to help you determine how deep to set the lines with the downriggers. If the water is 70 feet deep and you see a school of baitfish hovering on the screen between 20 and 35 feet, set your downriggers accordingly to target the productive area. Most boats are equipped with four downriggers, so a good spread would include one lure set at 16 feet, another at 20 feet, a third set right in the middle of the baitfish at 27 feet, and the last lure set at 36 feet (to catch any fish cruising just below the school of bait).

If you hook a fish as you pass the school of baitfish, make a mental note of which rod got the strike. If it was one of the high rods (the lure set at 20 feet, for example), you will instantly know that there are active fish near the top of the school of baitfish. It would be a good idea to move one of the deeper lures up to 20 feet (or somewhere near it) to see if you can get some more action.

Coho salmon and trophy-sized chinook salmon routinely haunt the edges of baitfish schools, but don't forget about tackle-busting steelhead. Steelhead can be found cruising over the top of baitfish or beneath them, along with the occasional lake trout. Silver-colored spoons that resemble the baitfish (mostly alewives and gizzard shad) work very well, but dodger-and-fly combinations can be hot, too.

You can also set a couple of rods with directional divers in addition to the downrigger rods. The directional divers pull the lures down and away from the boat, and you can experiment with different depths until you find one that is productive. Many reels come equipped with line counters, and that is a handy feature to have when fishing for suspended trout and salmon. If you hook and land a fish with 75 feet of line out (according to the line counter), it is very easy to reset that rod at exactly 75 feet to duplicate the conditions that led to a strike.

Rods equipped with lead-core line are another good option for targeting suspended fish. Some trollers run one lead-core line straight back behind the boat, while others use planer boards to run a lead-core rod (or two) off each side of the boat. A good rule of thumb is that the lure on a lead-core line will sink about 10 feet for every "color" of line that you let out, so use that guideline to estimate the depth that you are fishing.

Once you find a productive spot or even a productive depth, be sure to work it thoroughly. Don't make one pass and then keep going. Troll through the good area and then make wide sweeping turns so that you can go back through the same spot. You may even want to mark the spot on your GPS unit to pinpoint the exact location. Many trollers pass through their hotspot and continue on for a half mile or even more before turning around. You don't want to turn so fast that you tangle the lines behind the boat.

May is a great time to be out on Lake Michigan. The fish may not be as easy to find as they are in March and April, but once you do locate them, the action can be fast and furious. You also have a better than average chance of hooking a real trophy out there in the offshore waters, so be ready!