Coho Salmon Fishing Along the Chicago Shoreline

Hi folks, I'm back!  I had the rod and reels hung up for far too long and the urge to wet a line finally burned it's way to the surface.  Coho are definitely in thick up and down the shoreline this week.

After some recon pier walks late in the week I picked a spot, picked up long time Chicago Fishing comrade Mike, and we hit the pier.  We ran two power lines and casted crank baits and spoons.  The morning started slow, Mike hit a couple with a orange and gold K/O wobbler, from then on out it was steady action on the power lines.  We limited out just before we had to be back to the car.  First ever coho limit for both of us.  Just a wonderful spring day of Chicago fishing.

The Steelhead run has come and nearly gone and I will miss it this year almost entirely.  Reports have been mixed, but it sounds like if you put in the time to fish any river with a reasonable flow you'll likely find a dance partner.  It just may take some time and you will most certainly need to cover some water to find one.

Milwaukee Area Steelhead Report : Early April 2010

As the days get longer and the water warms we must unfortunately bid farewell to what has been an amazing spring steelhead season, while there is still a couple weeks left of good fishing and possibly a week or so more of leftovers we have to be thankful that we had such a banner spring. I remember last year freezing my knuckles and bearing into the wind while trying to throw casts into stained, turbulent waters from a string of massive March rains. This year I broke sweat in my tee shirt more than once. I casted to clear pools swirling with silver, hard hitting fish while the sun rose and the air temperatures broke sixty before I could see my shadow finding its way along the stones by the river bed.

While large rivers are likely to be blown out by this string of vicious storms we had this week look for the small tributaries to pay dividends in the last late runner steelhead to make their short shots up into the rapids to spawn. Suckers should be mixed in now from every stream from the state line, well north of Milwaukee.

I have recently neglected to write about my fishing experience I had with two fine gentlemen who I have only recently had the privilege of knowing, and today I intend to share our story.. I took co-worker Scott and his son Ryan, who happens to be my age, up to Milwaukee for a day of river hopping and casting.

We started out at a spot that is secret to a friend or two that showed it to me; so to them I am bound not to divulge it's whereabouts, I will tell you its pools were packed with eager fish that dropped back to larger, deeper, darker pools as dawn turned into mid-morning. At first light I managed a lovely hen from an eddy behind a large boulder in a deep pool. I tightly swung leech is all it took to start the tango.

Ryan (left) and myself (right) with my first hen of the day. What a gorgeous fish.

Ryan (who I should mention casts like silk, Ryan is a trout fisherman and has never Steelhead fished before, or used an eight weight) proudly banked this mean looking male Steelhead from a small but deep pool near where I picked mine off. The fish fought hard and was bound and determined to put its nose into the opposite bank, as we were releasing this fish we thought it would be advantageous to the well being of the fish for me to assist in a quick net job. The fish posed kindly for a photo or two and took a dip into the rapids where it recovered quickly. Nice work Ryan.

Scott standing proud with Ryan and his first Steelhead, and its a large one to boot!

From that first spot we found ourself on the banks of the Menominee, where Scott tagged his first Steelhead ever, only to have it give the hook back to him after a few seconds of fight, many of us have danced that short dance before and I'm sure all of you out there can feel Scott's pain when he saw the mammoth trout spit the hook back in his direction after such a short fight.

Ryan and I, upstream of Scott found a pod of no less than two to three hundred suckers... It was like nothing I've ever seen so we edited our presentations for some fun in the sun with suckers, we rolled the smallest nymphs I had in my steelhead box along the bottom with split shot above to keep it below the downward facing mouths of the Suckers. we landed something like 13 of these 1-3 pound fish who I must say are a blast on the fly rod. They are hard fighting little monsters. All were of course released after a short fight.

From here we moved on to the big, hard flowing Milwaukee. I hooked what would be the biggest Steelhead of the day, a dime bright fish I would put somewhere near 12 pounds. It jumped no less than two feet out of the water in the huge run I was fighting her, when she jumped I saw my egg pattern zip out of her mouth and I nearly took it in the face, fortunately I ducked just in time and it flew by my head. Oh well. I promptly hooked and landed a disappointing sucker upstream and called my Milwaukee River experience finished.

From Milwaukee we took a ride down to Oak Creek where, to my surprise, we found very few people, and quite a few fish! I bagged a large, bright red with a nice green back, male fish who ran me all over 2 pools and the rapids in between before I unhooked him near the bank. He jumped 5 times, uncharacteristic of a spring steelhead, lots of fun. I later hooked a female who I lost after a minute or two. Finally at the end of the day while Ryan and I were working a pod of fish in a deeper, we hooked a female, brought her to the bank, she was loosing eggs as we unhooked her so we decided a photo was not as important as letting her get back to it.

All in all, 4 locations, all with at least one fish of one species or another landed by at least one angler. We fished for 12 hours straight and had some sun on our arms and faces to show for it. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I think I may have converted a couple of trout fisherman to Steelhead fishermen that day. Although I should use a different word than converted because they, as I, certainly enjoy a wily trout on the end of my line any day.

Great to fish with you guys, I can't wait to take you out for another day of Steelhead fishing in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee Area Steelhead Report : 3/28/2010

Flows are getting low around Milwaukee, water is clearing, and Steelhead are easily spotted in the ends of deeper pools and across most gravel beds. Nymphs are taking fish, and streamers swung through turbid water in the entrances to pools have been very productive.

I personally went 6/8 this morning in Milwaukee in the early morning hours. Fish were very active at sunrise, and activity slowed as the sun got higher in the sky.

When fish are within sight it is important to stay low and use stealth and precision when casting. Your first three casts are what you likely will hook that fish on, Steelhead are quick to wise up to your game and if your casts are loud, splashing hits to the water near them they will show you their tail as the exit the scene.

Two of the fish I landed today were females, the other four were male. In an uncharacteristic fashion I kept this small specimen that had already spawned as my family is coming to town in a couple of days and I thought some fresh fish would be welcome on the dinner table.

The other female was so fresh out of the lake that she was all silver and for a second it looked like I was fighting a spring coho in the current. She took me downstream almost to my backing, and than ripped upstream straight past me as I cranked my large arbor fly reel as fast as I could to keep up with her. She took me through rapids and across gravel as I finally landed her, I knew it would be cruel to keep her out of the water for any amount of time to get my camera and as I was fishing alone I let her powerful tail slip from my fingers as she burst back into the flow and disappeared.

Another perfect morning between gravel beds. I'm taking some co-workers to Milwaukee Wednesday to show what being buttoned up with a Steelhead feels like. I'm only asking for fish apiece, and we have all day to make that happen. Can't wait.

Get out there, this run won't last for much longer and the middle of September is a long way off my friends.

South-Eastern Wisconsin Steelhead Fishing Report : 03/21/2010

The Steelhead fishing has never been better in Southeastern Wisconsin if you are familiar with its water and know how to get away from crowds and fish a variety of water.

This past Sunday two friends and I made it out to a spot few make it to and managed to land 16 steelhead in under 3 hours. All were landed on flies, spawn sacs, and hair jigs. Fast water held steelhead that I plucked with a variety of flies swung swiftly through the minefield of fish. My friends pulled some wild fish out the slower moving tailouts with spawn and hair jigs.

I have never had such an action packed morning Steelhead fishing in my life. It is the kind of fishing everyone dreams of and when it comes you can barely stop smiling for a second. Fish ranged from 5-12 pounds and more males were caught than females, but only my a small margin. All but two of the females we caught had already spawned but were still very bright.

This is a good learning tool, above pictured are two Steelhead of almost exactly the same size, the top male and the bottom female. You will notice the male has a longer mouth, which extends much past the eye, while the females mouth is smaller. The male has the double red stripe, which develops deep into spawning. Males generally have larger heads, some develope a kype, or hooked jaw, you will notice the length of the gill plate is greater than that of the female.

Here is Mike with a larger male of the day.

We had multiple times during the morning in which we had two anglers hooked at the same time, we even landed a couple doubles and photo opportunities presented themselves! We took care to keep the Steelhead in the water at all times, even when unhooking and only lift them for a photo or two. All 16 fish were released.

Double steel next to my wonderful fly rod.

More double trouble.

All told we lost count of lost fish but I was broken off three times and had two more shake my hook. The action was non-stop and the fish were in the mood to pounce. At first light I made my first drift and watched a steelhead shoot up 3 feet to meet my fly and smash it, I missed that first hook set, but it got my adrenaline pumping so 5 minutes later I certainly hit my second.

We had three holes to share between the 3 of us and a 4th and 5th were downstream just about a quarter mile. It made for great rotation, hook up a few times, sit out for a minute and change places and start fishing again. A great way to share the water.

The male fish were certainly more aggressive and would charge streamers and jigs, females weren't shy, but would do little to meet you half way, casts needed to be landed with precision and depth perception while stripping the fly to their strike zone was crucial.

Get out if you can. There are fish to be taken from Sheboygan all the way to the state line and you'll be sorry if this season passes without getting your hands on some Lake Michigan Steel.

Oak Creek Fishing Report : Mid March 2010

Oak Creek has stabilized and Steelhead are staging nicely. The river has a variety of sized fish in the system right now from 15-20" juveniles to 30+" four and five year old fish. Chambers Creek and Ganaraska are the strains most prevalent in the river at this time.

Fish will lay in deep pocket water until the sun hits the gravel and the water temp warms slightly. Look for 8-10 a.m. for fish to start heating up and getting active on beds.

Egg-Nymph fishing seems to work but I picked 2/3 of mine on leech patterns today. I only landed one champion male Steelhead today. No fin clips, thick like a football, I didn't weigh the fish but 6 pounds would be my best guess.

More on the tributaries to come, it has been an exhausting day between sneaking out for a full throttle fishing trip this morning, followed by a full day of work ending just now.

My advice is to get out and dance with these wonderful fish while you can, and please consider releasing them as they are such beautiful fish.

Root River Steelhead Report : Early March 2010

Finally, it is here. I got up to Racine and onto the Root by sunrise this past Sunday to do a little breaking in of my new St. Croix 8 weight accompanied by my Hatch 7+. This morning was fruitful in sun, scenery, and isolation on the water. I did not manage to tango with any Steelhead though. I think I may have been too ambitious as I got after some deep runs that I hoped would be holding early steelhead jockying for position on the beds just upstream. I should have stuck to slow drifting through the deepest of holes... but that just isn't my style.

Photographs are forthcoming but I'm on lunch at work at the moment and don't have the files here.

I took a ride to a spot downstream where I met some friends to do some ice fishing on the deep slow areas of the river directly preceding the harbor. The action was steady, although landed fish were few. Here is a photo of Keith and I with the first Steelhead of the season from the Root River. Thanks to Dan for the photo from his cell phone we snapped just before releasing this chrome male Steelhead.


Steelhead are staging in Lake Michigan and in Harbors directly below our tributaries now. We should expect to see substantial pushes of fish into the systems over the next week as air temps flirt with fifty all week and ice thins as meltoff exudes from the banks. Next weekend is a good bet for getting your first river Steelhead of the year.

The Thaw Begins in Wisconsin

This is what we have been waiting for. Steelheaders and Brown Trout seekers grab your rod and get those leaders tied on. Its time to chase some Steelhead. The Root River is coming around, with the Milwaukee, and Oak Creek following suit.

Note the daily rise and fall as snow-melt trickles into the river.

It may be Early Season Trout Opener in Wisconsin...

But this weekend... the lakefront and the tributaries are likely the place to be with weather like this:

You'll find me out with my nose as close to the water as I can get it. You can expect full reports and photos to make up for nearly a month of radio silence. Thanks for sticking around. Life moves faster than it should sometimes and time on the water is hard to come by when the only water I see is in a glass on my desk.

See you out there (in the sun).

-GLA