As promised, I made it up to Milwaukee today to find some Lake Run Trout.
I started at my favorite spot on Oak Creek at first light, and was able to snap up a foot long steelhead right away. It wasn't long until the weekend party of "fishermen" walking down the middle of the river went ahead and spooked the entire river. I couldn't take it today, I just got in my car and headed for Milwaukee where my friend Mike was waiting at the harbor. I should mention that I did count a dozen steelhead moving in holes and bedding in what little gravel there was. I would have had a chance at these fish and likely would have stayed for a couple more hours had I not had the river ruined rudely by these guys who don't respond to my questions or comments about their style of fishing.
I met a guy on the river last month and ended up talking to him for a long time, he told me flat out that he considers every last angler on the river just another "friend he hadn't met yet". I wish more anglers were like you Andy. (Andy lives near Oak Creek and is a regular there). His courtesy was great, we even fished the same hole, he asked my permission to move into the top of the hole and fish it and then to skip by me and continue making his way downstream. We hopped over each other for about an hour sharing the crowded river with no problems.
Now that the rant is over I'll continue. We did what is becoming a ritual for our crew, skipping from spot to spot in the harbor looking for active fish. We checked the sailing center, the slips, the discharge, the channel, and finally we found some players at the summerfest lagoon.
Mike managed to entice one of the bigger browns in the lagoon with a hand tied fly that I tied up last winter after salmon season. I got a spawned out female on a spawn sac.
I would recommend people skip the harbors for the time being and find players in tailouts of deep pools and in rapids in the front of them after the day starts getting on its way. If I could re-do the day I might skip the harbor all together and focus on the Milwaukee River, which I unfortunately didn't get a chance to fish. I did have a great day with Mike and somehow the sun made 30 degrees feel like 45.
Some rain or snow melt-off will kick things into high gear on the tributaries, so look for that in December and January, any runoff will push fresh fish into all your favorite holes and these fish are often ready to take a spawn sac dead drifted through those pools.
That might have been the last Steelhead and Brown Trout for me in 2009, I may shoot at some perch here from Montrose Harbor and Navy Pier in the mean time. I'm slowly ticking my way to 1000 fish for the year and Lake Michigan Yellow Perch might just seal the deal.
Until next time, enjoy the photos!
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