King Salmon Fishing, Fall 2011 a Recap

After a brutal summer season of shore King fishing and a pretty lousy start to the spoon bite the night time crank bait action has been nothing short of killer.

I settled in with a lure of choice this fall, and more than 30 kings have been taken on a variety of colors over four outings in Wisconsin over the last month.  The reef runner ripstick 700 series has a perfect wide wobble at slow speeds and runs deep, but not too deep.  There was a lot of learning and tweaking to be done this fall with finessing my setup.  After breaking several lures off I started running a 2-3 foot length of 20 lb. test fluorocarbon to barrel swivel at the end of my braid.  After making this switch I only broke a single fish off at the fluoro.  In addition to a leader I found that changing out the hooks on all reef runners is absolutely essential.  While the eagle claw extra wide gap hooks seem to find a spot to dig in when they get bit, they have an awful track record of bending or breaking off during the long and hard battles with King Salmon.  All hooks are now immediately changed out in favor of something sharper and much more stable such as a 4x hardened VMC size 4 treble.

I started out the year with confidence in reef runners in any color that had a lot of white in it, but as I lost most of those baits I was forced to start using green, yellow, and orange/gold colors and when all is said and done, every single reef runner in my box has taken a king.  Some, such as the one above, have landed hundreds of pounds of kings..

Some nights were better than others, such as this triple limit before the sun even rose.

Or this double limit on a night I landed more than a double limit solo.

After all is said and done what the fall king season really brings is beautiful changing colors, long nights (some calm and peaceful, some cold, windy, and hectic), and good friends furthering their knowledge of this giant freshwater salmon.

This will probably be the end of the all nighters in Wisconsin throwing crank baits.  There is a chance I'll make the trip north once or twice more before the end for some skein fishing.  Crank bait salmon fishing is my favorite time of year for great lakes kings, the action is a little more predictable than summer fishing, and nothing beats 25 pounds of angry king salmon crushing a lure into oblivion while you set the hook and then hang on.

Here's hoping that the brown trout and steelhead runs are half as good as this years army of huge kings.  I now pass the torch to the river fishermen, I won't be taking part in that part of the game this year, I left a few for you.

King Salmon from Shore, Early September 2011

As usual I will apologize for my lack of posts these days.  Perhaps there will be a time when keeping this blog up will make sense in my schedule again, until then I will post only when I have time.

I made it up to a favorite harbor mouth in Wisconsin this week after work to see if any of the big kings were in.  They are, but not in great numbers yet.  The kings are huge this year, I haven't heard of one under 15 pounds yet.  I hooked one and proceded to hold on for dear life as it took me for a drag screaming ride up and down the rocks.  It eventually snapped my line on the rocks near the wall, easily a 20 pound fish, if not more.

It hit at around 10:45 at night, and hit a green/glow K/O wobbler on a steady retrieve near the bottom.  If you put in the time, you'll get your fish this fall. Look for them to concentrate around harbor mouths and become more active when the water temp drops below 60 degrees.  Sorry there are no photographs of the fish I didn't land, I am still playing the fight over and over in my head.  I'll be out this weekend, in the Kayak if wind allows, on shore if it doesn't.  Look for me, and say hello if you happen to see me.

Tom

Milwaukee Brown Trout and Coho Salmon

More information to come later, but for now, there are browns in the harbor, there are coho in the rivers, and my friends over at the Chicago Trout Bum, seem to have a pretty good bead on where the Steelhead are, even if I can't find them yet!  The guys over at Illinois-Wisconsin Fishing have locked in on the Coho bite so if that's what you're after have a read over there.

Harbor Brown Trout from Saturday the 13th.  This big fella fought like a champ.

A friend, Keith, caught a gorgeous fresh lake run Brown who still had skeins.  Brown trout eggs work the best and early morning and after dark are the best time to target these roaming harbor monsters.

I found some feisty coho in a couple of my favorite spots to fish and found that very small spawn sacs, only containing a couple eggs drifted through pools just down from bedding fish payed out.  I was able to manage 2 coho, this nice female and a fiery male that jumped like crazy.

Chicago Perch Fishing Report : 12/20/2009 : Montrose Harbor

The ice is beginning to move in and perch are harder to find as a result. I found today at montrose harbor that getting away from the open water and fishing between the floating ice floes was the best way to find the fish. Perch were very scattered and the bite was lite when it did happen.

I hooked a few fish on artificials and a few more on cut bait made from a dead perch some other inconsiderate fisherman threw directly onto the ice.

Reports from Navy Pier sound similar, that you have to move around and work to find the school and when you do the perch are small. I caught a couple above 8 inches but most ran around 6 today.

The harbors still have a way to go before they lock up for the winter. Get out and catch some perch before you have to drill through to find them.

Wisconsin Heat Wave : It's (not) beginning to look a lot like Chirstmas

70 degree weather and sunny skies over lower Lake Michigan this weekend threw a wrench in the gears of harbor fishermen in Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Racine.

The bright sun, high pressure, and mild weather took the chill out of the air and sent fresh trout packing for cooler, deeper, darker lies beyond the reach of shore fishermen. King salmon are still around in handfuls but targeting these fish is almost unsportsmanlike, considering they are literally floating in their own deathbed at this point. Look for cooler weather to bring these hard hitting hard fighting trout back to the reach of your spawn sack or spinner.

River fisherman reported a mix of triumph and failure with the fly rod this weekend. I suspect the early morning hours have produced more fish than high noon. A day on the water with weather like we had this weekend... and in November... worth it even if you don't find a hungry migratory trout to take you for a spin.

I postponed my return to the harbors until next Sunday, when I will cross my fingers for a repeat performance of the victory I saw last weekend.

If you had success this weekend, weather that means catching fish or just some sun rays, write me an email at greatlakesangler@gmail.com and I'll post your photos or reports here for the rest of us to read.

See ya out there.