Wisconsin Trout Fishing Report : Lake Michigan Brown Trout

After my first week of full time work since graduation from college, I found that Friday night was upon me, and that it was time to grab my 10' 6" casting rod, and make my way to a Southern Wisconsin harbor for a shot at some brown trout.

I had been crossing my fingers for some rain all day long on Friday, being that when the rain comes down and the ditches and creeks begin to swell and push nutrients into the harbor, the bait fish come for them, and the Brown Trout come for the bait fish.

I arrived at Lake Michigan at around 8:30, there was only one guy (a very friendly fellow named Dan S) was there. He had a good story for me. He had been chasing trout for nearly 2 months now and had just caught his first one, he was netting it upon my arrival. He was beaming and eager to talk. I'm always ready to make another fishing buddy so we began to exchange questions and stories. He was nearly ready to go home when I told him that the fishing should only get better as the night went on. He said he didn't know that they fed at night and I told him to hold on for a little while longer.

Then the action started.

I hooked up with my first brown of the night shortly after sunset, around 9:15. She weighed in at 7.5 pounds. Silvery and shaped like a football.

The night only got better from there, Dan landed a fish, then I landed another, at 11 pounds. We took turns landing fish until midnight, when both of our limit's were reached (I actually lost my 5th and final fish right before she was netted).

The highlight of my night (besides seeing Dan get his first brown of the year, followed by his first trout limit in his life) was when I landed my personal best brown trout. Weighing in at a whopping 18 pounds. She was about 32 inches long with a 24 " girth!!!

The photograph is crude, being that I took it at 3:00 a.m. after they had all been frozen in the cooler for 2 hours on the ride home. They were very fresh and silver before the color change began. The 18 pound brown is in the foreground.

It certainly was quite the night of fishing. 9 landed fish between the two of us, all in 3 hours. The fishing was only improving, many people had began to crowd around our spot and by the time we left, there were 6 others catching fish in regular intervals where we had been fishing.

Kenosha harbor has been good to us, I can only hope that tonight when I take a friend back up there to hit the same spot (and return the cooler that Dan was so very kind to lend me), that the browns will still be thick and willing to take a lure.

The browns were caught using a Rapala X-Rap 10, Deep Diver, Silver/Blue. One was taken on a Shad-Rap 8, Black/White. Dan's fish were all taken on a tube jig, it was white and maybe 2" long.