The Battleship finds Lake Trout : Milwaukee Harbor Fishing, April 2012

This weekend I found myself sliding into my sleeping bag in the back of my car for the first real salmon hunting adventure of the year.  I thought I was paddling out at dawn in search of small brown trout which swarm to Milwaukee's harbor and surrounding areas in the spring, and that with enough luck I might find a lake trout to add a notch to the battleship with a new species.

The first lake trout found a white/grey 600 series Deep Little Ripper from Reef Runner, my now undisputed favorite lure maker for all species of salmon and trout the great lakes has to offer.  I was in 39 feet of water at 7:30 in the morning, the sun still low on the horizon.  I stopped paddling to check my lines, as I had traveled something close to 3/4 of a mile without a hit I wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly.  I burned in my other line first, which happened to be a 7 cm wonderbread colored flicker shad, made by Berkley.  That line was clear, so I grabbed my second rod, and began to crank in the reef runner pretty quickly.  About half way in, maybe 60 feet from the Kayak, probably just when the lure started to pull up from 20 feet below it stopped dead in the water.  I set the hook and the battle started.  It was the classic Lake Trout fight, a little hit, followed by a slow heavy drag until I got a glimpse of it below me in the water, then straight down to the bottom it shot, drag screaming all the way.  After that there were a couple more halfhearted attempts at an escape to the bottom, but it submitted and I grabbed it by the tail and kept it in the water while I removed the hooks.  Pulled it up onto the battleship, as it was her first successful Lake Trout catch, for a photo.

I released the beautiful fish with a little more confidence, having learned that it might be helpful to paddle harder than I do for Kings in the fall.  When I generally move deliberately slow and even, with pauses and pops of the paddles to trigger strikes.  I checked leaders for scuffs and re-set lines and picked up at a quicker, somewhat less sustainable speed.  Within 10 or 15 minutes my other rod started deeply pulsing and I swiftly snatched it from the rod holder and set the hook, this one was a bit heavier and I did the usual comical two rod shuffle to keep pressure on my fish, and clear the other line.

Unfortunately when you set the hook your kayak almost immediately spins around from the fish pulling opposite the direction you are facing.  This crosses your lines, I have noticed a pattern that is hard to describe in text, though I will do my best, as it may benifit any of you kayak anglers out there.  If your kayak spins to the direction of the rod with a fish on, you will have an easier time clearing your second line than if it spins the opposite way... this is to say if your left rod hooks a fish, if you grab it, and hold it facing far to the left, so that your left side swings toward the fish, your other line will cross behind you, and still be clear of the fish (provided it doesn't run across it which it almost always decides to do anyway). If it swings the other direction, to the right, you will be much more likely to tangle, unless you twist far right and keep the rod pointed to your stern...  The difference is small, but if hardwired in, it can make a small difference, as I usually try to clear my second line in the first 30 seconds or so, this might keep lines apart long enough to make less pain for you.  Another thing I sometimes do if tangled is have my knife ready to slice my second lure off the active line when it gets up to my rod.

Having said all this, I was just beginning a right turn... and the fish hit on my left rod... and I instantly swung right and had a very small line cross issue that I was able to solve by simply flipping some line back over the active rod when it got close to the boat.  I had the second laker in hand after a much more impressive run that took drag for a good 20 straight seconds. This one was closer to 10 lbs.

I released this one as well and made way for the center gap, which is where I would stop to try to my luck vertical jigging with hopes that since I found active lake trout willing to rise to a lure in 40 feet of water, that I would have the same luck near a strong mud-line in 30+ feet of water where I knew (hoped...) bait fish would be.

I stuck with that for an admittedly short period of time and with no luck, and paddled back outside the gap for a with-the-wind run back toward the north gap.  I first paddled crosswind out to around 45 feet on an easterly troll, I then hooked and headed straight with the South-East breeze back toward the gap, straying to find the rock drop off on the seawall that protects the harbor, hoping that I would find those browns I was looking for.  As I paddled through the north gap a shore fisherman netted a small brown and I gave him a solid fist pump as I paddled past.  I slowly had the realization that maybe my crank baits weren't going to cut it, and that maybe I should have been running a more diverse spread with either a dodger and peanut fly, or a Dipsey with a smaller spoon... I put a spoon on the heavier of my two rods and started trolling a small triangle that made use of structure that I thought some of the browns might start to relate to as the sun got higher.  At 10:21 (I know this because I suddenly realized I had to make a phone call I had promised to someone at 10:00) I pulled the two lines so I could stop for a second and as I quickly brought in the only 30 feet of line I had on the Dipsey rod I had a sudden burst of energy in the rod and a 25" Brown Trout busted out of the water with Dipsey Diver in tow and proceed to jump in front of the kayak and then out of the water right into the rod on my port side.  It was a short fight and I quickly grabbed the feisty fish and popped the hook out.  With wet hands, a wily fish, and with phone in my pocket I just let the little guy go and cheerfully made my call.  I made a couple more passes and decided to call it a morning around 11:00 and make the paddle back to where I launched.

I hoped to hit the water again at around 4:30 to get another session in, but the calm lake kicked up to 4 foot sets of white capped waves, and the wind did not submit back to a 5-10 mph breeze as predicted.  I made good use of my afternoon, making a solo trip to my old favorite beach in the area, where I enjoyed fruit and a bonfire in solitude.

My noble steed and the battleship.

All in all the day made for everything a good spring day should make for.  Adventure.

South Eastern Wisconsin Kayak Fishing Report : September 11, 2010

After a long week of work and the fact that I would be up bright and early for work again on Sunday I loaded the car and readied the Kayak for another tour in Wisconsin Saturday afternoon.

I launched at a different spot this time, from the beach just north of the north arm of the Racine breakwater.  The kayak was easy to drag through the sand and I could load it next to the car and then pull it down to the water's edge.  The waves were 2-3 feet and rolling in the long gradual rise to the beach there in Racine, which made for a perfect spot to launch when waves would prevent launch on other beaches with steeper banks.  I paddled out through the break, keeping as dry as one can in a Kayak in 3 foot waves.  After the break the swell was very easy to handle and proved no challenge.  Water temperature was near 60 degrees at the beach and clicked down degree by degree as I headed east into the lake, finally resting at about 54 degrees.  I started marking fish almost immediately in 6 feet of water, and continued to mark fish all the way out to 30 feet of water, where marks started becoming less frequent.  Bait was not present in any large numbers but the sheer volume of large marks on the depth finder kept my hopes up.  I did about a 2 mile loop and after receiving a phone call I decided to head back to shore and meet friends further north.

As I neared the beach I decided to pull lines in 8 feet of water.  As I drifted with the waves I pulled a dipsy with a magnum spoon, as I was unhooking the snap swivel and stowing that rig my other rod started making a loud noise and bouncing in the rod holder.  I swiftly grabbed the rod and gave it a good hook set.  Fish on.  The fished thrashed on the surface, dove and took a strong run, jumped a few times, then calmly retreated to the side of my Kayak.  It was a beautiful female steelhead at around 8 pounds (I did not weigh or measure as I released it boatside).

She hit a J-13 while I drifted in the waves.  The lure must have been shallow and should have been making random dives as large waves lurched me forward.  It was a beautiful fish, and would be the only one I caught all day, though I did hook up once later at dusk at Oak Creek.

Oak creek is running strong and some fish have made it up the short run to the main pool under the falls.  I saw a pair of steelhead, a coho, and a nice jack king get pulled from the main pool while I was there, and I saw several gold colored kings pushing up through the turbulence.  I'm hoping conditions improve in the next week or two and we finally start to see large schools of Kings pushing to the harbor mouths.  It's been a slow start in terms of King Salmon and hopefully the ball will get rolling soon.

Lake Michigan Kayak Fishing Report : Salmon and Trout : September 5, 2010

Strong west winds and cool September nights have turned the lake over and has set the wisconsin harbors and river mouths in motion for shore fishermen, and small craft fishermen alike.  Water surface temperatures from the state line all the way up past Milwaukee range from 48 degrees to 53 degrees.  Water inside the Milwaukee harbor runs an average of 55 degrees as of Sunday.

My first time out this fall started at dawn on Sunday morning as I launched my newly fitted Kayak from the beach at the mouth of Pike Creek in Kenosha, where there was a colony of tents and shore fishermen hoping to tie into their first King of the fall.  I did a 2 mile loop, marking an occasional stray fish in the 15 foot deep range.   I kayaked out to 30 feet of water and hooked back to shore, as the other handful of boats out all pulled away one by one to deeper water where more fish could be found.  I wanted to get the Kayak in Milwaukee harbor where I knew more fish would be holding.

I launched from the rocks near the channel head light and set out in calm waters under a blue sky to the middle gap.  I was marking dozens of fish and bait clouds inside the wall of the harbor which dissapted after heading out of the main gap into the lake.  A freighter headed past and sounded its horn as it passed through the channel under the Hoan bridge.

Wind was steadily rising from the south and clouds were moving in.  I made a line to the North gap and began trolling counter clockwise circles through the gap.    At 1:45 p.m. I hooked and landed my first Kayak salmonid.  It was a small but beautiful brown trout.  It hit a Green Dolphin Magnum Stinger spoon behind a dipsy diver in 29 feet of water.   There was 30 feet of line on counter.   As winds had continued to rise I battled across the harbor to my launch point and pulled out and headed south to Racine to meet the crew I salmon fish with, I haven't seen them since the end of Steelhead season in the spring and was looking forward to catching up.  After arriving at the channel head and swapping fish stories from the summer I began casting a jig with a 5" gulp minnow.  A Steelhead had been landed by my friend Mike shortly before my arival.  Another friend Andrew, who runs the fishing website Fishing-Headquarters, which you should all check out, swiftly hooked a beautiful fall King Salmon at about 9 lbs.  After the sun set I hooked on a glow spoon (a 3/4 oz. Moonshine) and stuck the biggest Steelhead I've caught to date.  32" of chrome, beauty.

It was exactly how a start to the salmon season should go.  Just increadibly excited about the fall.  You can expect regular reports from here on out.

Northern Minnesota : July 2010

Each year I am lucky enough to spend a week or two at a cabin in Northern Minnesota with some wonderful scenery and world class fishing.  The lake the cabin sits on is full of large Walleye, mean Smallmouth, big Musky, and a good smattering of Largemouth Bass and Northern Pike.

Dusk falling away on the lake as my girlfriends father keeps us on a good line using the depth finder as a guide when a visual of the reeds falls away.  Nights spent under the inky sky of Northern Minnesota, quietly moving through the lake in a boat older than either man on board has become part of who I am.  I am one who appreciates water and sky and stars, but there is something exactly perfect about summer nights up there.

I spent the week of the 4th of July up there this year and spend every night trolling and casting break lines and reefs for Walleye and Smallmouth.  I was lucky enough to land a 22+" Smallmouth, a personal best of mine, adding to my other personal best this year (caught on memorial day weekend) 8 lb. walleye from the same lake.

The warm year has made our usual style of fishing the shallow break line less effective and we were forced to use new strategies to find the fish.  I welcome a challenge and it was fun learning some new water this year.

The Smallmouth, which hit an x-rap, trolled over a sloping boulder field.  I found that trolling a soft zig zag between slightly deeper and slightly shallower than the lure runs often results in good hits from big fish.

I also had a chance to play guide a couple nights, captaining one boat or another with two good comrades with me.  We had loads of fun and got some great fish in the boat.

 This is Chris, who recently returned from Iraq, it became my goal to get him a good Smallmouth, as he told me he has been having a Smallmouth dry spell and hadn't caught one in 4 years.  We got him a decent fish, followed by his personal best, pictured above.  Icing on the cake was him bagging a personal best walleye, unmeasured and released I would put it around 24" and somewhere around 3.5 pounds.  It was a great fish.

Here's Nick with a stringer of Walleye that fed the whole cabin dinner the next night.  That night was one of the few that we managed to identify a pattern and methodically filled a stringer with enough to feed the gang.

Another great part about the location of this cabin is that it is just a 15 minute drive from a small lake that is chalk full of nice Largemouth Bass and feisty Northern Pike.  Catching a dozen or more of each in a short morning is no where near unheard of.

Only accessible by canoe and kayak keeps the fish many and the shoulder room generous. Here is Rich with a northern on the line.  You can't beat the scenery here either.  It's as good as any post card you'll ever find.

Finally a nice largemouth being released kayak side.  A huge plus of fishing from a canoe or kayak is that boat-side release is done with ease, most fish never need leave the water to be released.

In short order I will be leaving for a week in the Upper Peninsula, where I will try my hand at trolling for lake trout.  Flashers, Dodgers, Flies, Spoons, and Body Baits are prepared, leaders are ready and rod holders are installed on our 16 foot aluminum.  It's been a great summer.

J-Plug Trolling for Great Lakes Salmon

Something to enjoy on a cold night when we're all stuck indoors.

J-Plug trolling with a spinning rod, it doesn't get much better.