Chicago Perch Fishing : 6/12/2009

I made the trip to the wall this morning, I arrived at 4:45, still dark I began fishing inside the harbor to see if there was any action inside. I immidiatly starting getting light taps but couldn't connect. After around 5 casts I made the walk out to the lake side.

I noticed all the alewifes swimming right under the wall, I hooked up with a nice 10 1/2" perch on my first cast. Today swinging two 1/16th oz. jigs off a 3 way swivel, with the braid I spooled up last night I was able to feel every bite. I got a handfull by 5:15, at that time the bite shut off almost immidiatly. Upon filleting the fish I learned why.

Those alewifes directly below the pier were what had brought in the perch. I could see them flashing down in the depths and I am sure it was a flurry of feeding activity. In the stomachs of the 5 fish I filleted this morning I took 8 fresh alewifes out of their stomachs, as well as some mostly digested ones. This is a good lesson to take from today, when there are schools of small alewifes and you are fishing with 6cm plastic minnow immitators, you might end up with a fast bite resulting in a full stringer.

Great Lakes Restoration : A different view from Detroit

Well, I can't say I agree with everything in this article, I think that the great lakes is one of our nation's most valuable resources and each and every head turned to it helps. This article from Eric Sharp is certainly worth a read.

You can take a look at the article : here.

I think the idea of restoring the great lakes to an arbitrary point is something worth thinking about. We'll never be able to restore them to the way they were when only native americans lived on their shores, or to a point preceding even them. I'd like to think that some progress could be made, or at least regression could be avoided.

There is plenty of good information in the article, enjoy the read!

Lake Michigan Perch Report : a lovely morning

I got my 14" jumbo this morning!! In fact, it was 14.5". It was caught on the lake front using a double jig fishing tiny flukes.

I had a couple others come unbuttoned on the way in but nothing near the size of this one. I'm still learning the artificials but I'm making headway. I'll be out there at the seawall again at 4:00 a.m.!

They are there for the taking, go get 'em!

13.75" Jumbo Perch, My first chicago jumbo

Well I biked back out to the harbor yesterday and fished for perch, I needed to work on my technique with artificials. I hooked up with a nice 10" perch almost right away. I then took a walk out to the lake side and began fishing in the waves.

My 13.75 inch perch. It was huge, I'm so excited to finally have caught one of these monsters. I'm headed out for the evening bit tonight and will be out at dawn tomorrow morning. Get out there and hammer them readers! They're out there for the taking.

Daily Chicago Perch Fishing Report : 6/9/2009

I got out this morning extra early anticipating a great bite because of the hard west wind blowing yesterday. I arrived at 3:45 a.m. and set up next to a guy named Tommy, the only other angler there. We talked for around an hour without so much as a bite. As the sun started to rise we moved out to the lake from the harbor and immidiatly started getting fish. I only ended up with 2 decent sized perch. A friend of mine got 5 and some others got around 10. The fast action lasted something like 25 minutes. After that it was done for the rest of the morning.

Pretty dissapointing. The action has been very on and off and the on times sometimes only last 15 minutes or so. Limits are attainable but the fishing gods have not been kind to me so far this June. 9 or 10 hours of perching done, 5 keepers.

I'll hit it right one of these mornings!

Chicago Shore Fishing Report, Jumbo Perch, 6/8/2009

I couldn't leave the lake alone... Not even for a day. I am craving a stringer full of jumbos, and I really wanted to try out the new rigs I tied up last night. I got to my favorite spot at around 4:15 in the afternoon, I only fished for an hour but it was pretty steady. Every 4 or 5 minutes someone would pull one in. I got a large rock bass which I released along with a few other small perch. I kept one 10 1/4" perch which had a large emerald shiner in it's stomach.

Heading out in the morning bright (actually proably still very dark), and early.

Jumbo Perch Fishing in Chicago 6/7/2009

Jumbo's were practically jumping on stringers this morning, unfortunatly it was everone elses stringers... not mine. My tactics from Navy Pier in the dead of winter using crappie rigs and shrimp pieces is not working now. I just picked up some jig heads and artificials so tomorrow morning I'm going to try and repeat the performances of everyone else with limits of 12-14 inch fish.

There is always a new way to fish that works better than the way you are fishing now it would seem.

Chicago Perch Fishing Report, Early June

Got out to the wall this morning at around 4:45. The bite turned on very strong around 5:15, lasted until just before 6:00. A couple of the gentleman to my south had easy limits, I had trouble getting on them for some reason, the smaller shad-raps they were using must have just been the ticket this morning.

Gave my couple keepers to a friend of mine to add to his stringer. I saw a couple of 14" jumbos landed with huge shoulders. They almost looked like walleye (in size and proportion) really incredible. I'd love to get a couple like that for photographs.

Wind is looking unfavorable again for the next few days. Anytime the wind is south-west, west, or west-northwest get out there and get them while they're here. It would be nice to get a good week of west winds so we could all get out there and tackle them before the season closes at the end of the month.

See you on the sea wall!

Grand River Michigan, Sturgeon Poacher

Some news from just across lake Michigan for you this afternoon. Earlier this week a man in Michigan snagged a 5-foot lake sturgeon, a photo from a bystander shows him with it on a blue stringer, he is also holding a large net.

He snagged the sturgeon in the tail, got it to shore, and proceeded to haul it to his truck and drive away, despite calls to release it. Sturgeon are endangered and may not be kept save a few waters in the mid-west. Many live to be over 100 years old and due to the size of this one, it can be determined that this was no young sturgeon.

Being a photographer my favorite part of this photo is that you can see the guy's blackberry taking a photo of the guy too. You can read the full story by clicking on the photo.

Chicago Perch Fishing Report, Shore Fishing

Anglers from shore should have a good shot this weekend at some great jumbo perch action. Wind's have been driving from the North East most of the week, making conditions lousy for perch.

It appears the winds of change are on their way though.

This map from, like most good things, NOAA animates forecasted surface winds. Click the photo to visit the site. This can be a valuable tool to figure out when water might clear up or when waves will be favorable, although they have a wave forecast too that is normally very accurate. In this case it will help me decide when to head out to the walls because I'll know when that warm surface water will take off toward Ludington and I can get back on top of perch without a boat.

I was out yetserday around noon when it was still overcast here in Chicago and was able to land a few smaller perch, this gives me hope that even while conditions were absolutly aweful there were still perch to be found. My freezer needs stocking and I'm in search of at least a 14" perch, just for a personal best.

See you on the sea wall this weekend.