The Lure of the Fish

Old School Boots

2012-01-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

It took me 35 years to listen to all the people (fellow fishermen, construction workers, my father-in-law who worked outside all his life, etc) who told me that Mickey Mouse (MM) boots were the warmest boots I’d ever find.
No way, I thought. All those cool boots in the Cabelas catalog with thinsulate and gore-tex and other space-age materials must be better. The technology has to be better than anything produced for the Korean War, right?

I have Sorrel, Lacrosse, Cabelas, and more Cabelas. Boots endorsed by the Iditarod participants. All kinds of socks, insoles, boot liners and still …. cold feet.

So I gave in, threw down my $58 (less than half of what I paid for other boots) at Fleet Farm in Germantown and got myself a pair of good old G.I. Mickey Mouse Boots.

They got their nick name from soldiers who thought they looked like Mickey Mouse in them, but no one complained because frozen feet were a thing of the past with them. They are big and fat. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to drive in them. I thought I may press the gas and the brake at the same time.

They have instructions printed on the side like a car tire. An air valve too. Oh, and open the valve if you are jumping out of an airplane. Hey, you never know. This isn’t printed on the side, but I wouldn’t wear them through airport security either.

Oh, and they stink like rubber. Goodyear tire plant level rubber stink. Did you ever walk into Fleet farm and smell the rubber smell and figure it was from the tire department? Nope, I think it’s the pile of MM boots. I don’t know how you would deer hunt in them. You deer hunters are worried that the deer may smell the Olive Garden salad dressing you had two weeks ago. I guess the deer may just think he is getting close to Fleet Farm if he gets close to you in these boots
They are heavy. I wouldn’t want to walk 5 miles in them. Luckily, for fishing I don’t have to. It’s a nice workout. I figure I’ll have calves and thighs like Lou Ferrigno by March 1st.

OK, that all said. I have had them for a month. I have fished in the teens and one morning that was 9 or 10 degrees. And the verdict is…… I haven’t felt even a twinge of cold! Warm toasty feet! The warmest boots I have ever found. Just like everyone said.

I guess they have layers of wool and felt. But the real difference is an air bladder surrounding your foot. You can actually add a little air into them (Air Mickey). It’s like a thermos for your foot. So the weight and size and smell and the fact that you look like Herman Munster are all worth it. Finally, warm feet!

A Brief Report

The harbor was hot for Browns, but it has cooled off. There are fish out there but scattered. Some of the inner-harbor spots have started to produce.

To everyone who reads this, thank you and have a great New Year. Let’s make it a great fishing season.

Tight lines and smooth drags,
Marc

11 degrees and Fishing was hot!

2011-12-18T19:29:00.000-08:00

It’s been a great December along the Lakefront. Fishing out in the harbor is going strong with no signs of icing up yet.

I had a five fish morning on Saturday the 17th. No giants, but a five fish morning on the third weekend in December and I haven’t had to think about going into downtown yet. This is a bonus guys. Get out there.

The one pictured was Saturday December 10th at dawn. Eleven degrees! Down coat, insulated bibs, Mickey Mouse boots, Carhart baklava, Under Armor base layer…… and three Browns. Can’t beat that!

I must admit that as I wandered out on the break wall, 11 degrees on the old Allen-Bradley thermometer, and wind out of the west at 20, in the dark, I was questioning my own sanity. But I not only felt saner when I started catching fish, but I knew I wasn’t the craziest one as I saw two rigs pull up at the ramp and launch. It’s always nice to know there is someone out there that is closer to the front of the line at the loony ward.

Reflecting back on the year, after a horrible winter (worst ever for me) it was a pretty great spring, summer, and fall. Yes, there were some slow periods, but there always are. I hear complaints from some that it was a bad year. If that was the case, you probably sat in one spot too long because there were some very good stretches of fishing and they didn’t take place in the popular spots.

You gotta move around.!!! It’s a big city and a lot of access points. Hit at least two, three, or four per morning. To sit in one spot and not catch anything for three hours with all the options available is insane. Don’t leave fish to find fish, but don’t wait around all morning for something to happen.

The numbers of returning salmon are down, but that’s the way it is right now. Quality, not quantity. Brown Trout, what can I say…. World Class!

To all the great folks that follow this, have a great Holiday season and a great New Year. My New Year’s resolution is the same this year as it has been for the last 35. Fish more!

Tight Lines and Smooth Drags,
Marc

Love those November Browns

2011-11-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

‘Tis the season to be jolly. Not because of the holiday but because the Browns are in the harbor.

Things are setting up perfectly right now. We have hungry post-spawn fish coming back from the tributaries. We have some of the smaller juvenile fish moving in off the main lake. And, we have pre-spawn Seeforellens coming in. You can encounter any one of them at any time right now and we have been doing just that.

The action seems to be on shallow minnow baits in the shallower areas and the deep diving crankbaits in the deeper areas. Not much action on spoons right now, but that’s typical. The Rapala DT series baits have been solid performers. DT-10’s to DT-14’s. I’ve caught a few literally grinding a DT-14 on the bottom. That seems to trigger strikes when everything else is slow.

It’s also the time when small musky baits work well. In fact, they will also work when all else fails. No, not a Suick, but small musky sized crankbaits that imitate shad are great. Two in particular would be the Rapala Super Shad and the Bagley Monster Shad. It seems nuts but these fish are looking for a big meal and the size of these baits really get their attention. The bad news is that they will still shy away from heavy line so 10-12 pound test is the maximum you can get away with.

An event from this weekend has me rethinking line weights. For 30 years I have preached 8 pound test for most of the season except for the salmon run (September and October). This weekend I hooked and fought a Brown that I can’t begin to guess what it weighed. Well over 20 pounds, likely over 25 pounds. I had it whipped but as I tried to get to the net it was able to dive down and use its dead weight to sound. My 9 ½ foot MH rod and 8 pound line wasn’t enough to control the fish in the close quarters where I was at and it took off along the bottom raking my line through rocks and mussels. It broke off leaving me with about 3 feet of line that looked like it was run through a box of broken glass.

I rarely get too upset about a lost fish, but this one had me ready to scream or throw up, or both. It took me all weekend to get over it. This was a special fish and I had It whipped but couldn’t close the deal at the end. It was literally 10 feet from me wallowing in the shallows, but the 20 seconds I fooled around getting the net was enough to give him an opening to make one last deep surge and there was no stopping him.

Is 8 pound too light? Do I need a heavier rod? That would all be an answer, but it comes with a cost. I may have never made that long cast with a light lure with heavier tackle. That fish may have seen heavier line and shied away. I’ll never know. And he may have shredded 10 pound line as well. I hate to change what has worked for 30+ years because of one fish. But then again, that one fish is what I am after all year and the tackle failed me in this case. I landed a 25 pounder in April and this fish looked heavier.

It’s a great story that will haunt me for a while. Hopefully there is another one out there and the heavens will align again. Luckily events like this don’t defeat us but feed the obsession. It validates the wonder if there are true giants out there. Just to remind you, there are only about 4-5 places in the world that we could be having this conversation about Browns approaching 30 pounds! This is one of them.

Tight lines and smooth drags.
Marc

Better late than Never

2011-08-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

To loyal followers of this blog, I apologize. No lame excuses. All I can say is that it was a very busy stretch with two vacations and a new job that included some travel. The new job is great. Vacations were too. Now I promise I will get back on track.

Newsworthy updates:
The fall run of Kings looms very near, but yet so far. The harbor and surrounding inshore waters are about as warm as I have seen in years. This is just after some of the coolest water I have seen in years lasting well into midsummer. After a horrible winter, we had a streak lasting from April 1st till mid-july where we caught at least one trout or salmon every weekend during that period. I don’t know when I did that last. Maybe never. I am hearing reports from shore anglers that this is the worst spring and summer that they have had. I beg to differ. Till recently, it was great.

So for now we wait till the water cools. The Salmon will be in soon. Their clock is ticking no matter what the water temps are. It would be nice if it cooled off because they would be in by Labor day.

June Trip
The June trip to Minocqua was great. Tons of Bass. Lots of Smallmouth in the shallow rocks and mid lake hard bottom humps. Wacky worms on wacky jigs and jigging spoons were the ticket. A couple hundred bass caught and released.

July/August Trip
The July/August trip to Minocqua was also a bass extravaganza. A couple hundred again including a 50 bass morning and a 81 Bass day. And the 81 day we didn’t even fish between 10:30am and 5:00pm. We also caught some nice walleyes by accident. Most of the Bass were deeper than usual but the water temps were in the uper 70’s so it wasn’t a surprise. The big walleyes came on Mann’s 20+ crankbaits. Some pike and bass too. It’s a great crankbait if you really want to get down 18-20. We used 15# fluorocarbon line and low gear ratio reels to ease the pain of the deep cranks.

We had one 20” walleye with a huge bite mark on it (see photo). That gets the imagination going!

Storms Rattlin Flat Warts
In an earlier blog I was pretty excited about the re-introduction of the Storms Rattlin Flat Wart. I said that I would report back so here it is. They suck. They look the same but they aren’t. I guess I am not surprised. The new Storm seems to want to change something with whatever they touch of the old Storm designs. They changed the rattles, they don’t “Hunt” like the old ones did, It’s hard to get them to run straight. I’m very disappointed. The best substitutes out there are still the Flicker Shads and the #5 and #6 Fat Free Shads.

Tubes for Lake Michigan
This spring was outstanding for pearl tubes on Lake Michigan. This summer was terrible. Can’t figure that one out. Live bait was key all summer. I don’t like it that way, but that’s the way it was. If you could get large lively baits, you could catch fish. Even during the Coho blitz back in May, live alewives outfished everything.
Getting back to tubes, if you aren’t fishing pearl tubes out there you are missing some great action. Three-eighths ounce heads and pearl white Gitzit tubes. It’s that simple. I will be doing an In-Fisherman piece on this for spring 2012 (shameless plug). Pearl Gitzits are at Fleet Farms and Cabela’s now.
I’ll end it there for now. Again, I am very sorry for the gap in the blog.

Tight lines and smooth drags!
Marc

A Giant Brown to Get the Season Started

2011-04-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

As I have said before, there are only a few places in the world you can catch a Brown this big and we are sitting on one of them here in Milwaukee. This one went 39” long with a 23” girth. It was released but I am guessing it weighed about 25 pounds.

She inhaled a 3.5” pearl tube jig on a 3/8th ounce tube head poured with a 1/0 saltwater hook. A heavy hook like this is necessary on Lake Michigan just for this very reason. You always have that shot at a super-tanker and the standard tube heads won’t hold up.

Bottom line, the fishing is underway and in full swing. The action for the trollers is off the hook this week. There are jack Coho all over the shallows in 15-30 of water. Boats are taking limits in less than an hour. From what I have heard, it doesn’t matter what you run. Yes, the typical 00 orange dodgers and hair-cut tinsel fly, but also Thundersticks, Flicker Shads, Shad Raps, #9 jointed Rapalas, and all kinds of small to mid-sized spoons.

There is action all over the harbor for shore anglers. You may need to move around a bit to find active fish, but they are somewhere. Wind blown areas are going to be the best place to start. Suffer a little if you can, it normally pays off. Wind blowing across a point, even better. Overcast, rain, snow, better yet.

Get out there and catch some fish.

Tight Lines and smooth drags…

Marc

Storm Flat Warts are back!!!

2011-03-29T12:11:00.001-07:00

I received an e-mail from Bass Pro Shops today. After opening it, I ran across the room and slid on my knees with my hands in the air looking at the heavens like I just scored a goal in World Cup.

It took ten years or so, but the shiny-shoe geniuses in the front office at Storm Lures finally reintroduced the Flat Wart. This was the flat sided version of the Wiggle Wart. Why am I so excited? Well, this bait was without a doubt the best crankbait ever for Lake Michigan Trout and Salmon. Hands down!!!

I don't know what made this so special, but it was. When all else failed, an RFW (Full name was the Rattlin' Flat Wart) would come through for us. All species, all season long, they came through. It had a dull rattle (one large bead), ran a perfect depth, worked well fast or slow, and it had the ability to "hunt". Hunt, meaning it would randomly take one or two wiggles right or left and then return straight. I really believe this triggered strikes. My father even caught his one-time World Record 8# line class Brown on an all yellow RFW

When Rapala bought out Storm they dropped the Flat Wart like a bad habit. I have survived on my stash and some that I would find on eBay from time to time. I repaired them, repainted then, re-hooked them, whatever it took to keep them in the line-up.

Here is the link to BPS and the Flat warts.

http://www.basspro.com/Storm-Rattling-Flat-Wart-Crankbait/product/10225288/-1788693

I'll try to get one and make sure it works like the old ones. If so, hoard them because it will only be a matter of time that some 23 year old marketing whiz that has never fish a day in his/her life decides that they aren't selling well enough and moth-balls the bait for another decade.

Tight lines and smooth drags,

Marc

Milwaukee Harbor Boating Requirements

2011-03-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

We are still dealing with copious amounts of bait in the harbor making things tough for everyone. But things are looking up. There were at least a dozen boats out last Saturday. The ramps are open even thought the docks aren’t in. The only ice remaining is in the back corner of the McKinley docking area and that should soon be gone as well. Lets the games begin.

There is no secret about what a unique and outstanding fishery we have here in the Milwaukee harbor (I can still say that after having my confidence pole-axed buy the Trout this winter). It’s about 2500 acres of protected water that affords you to enjoy some of the greatest fishing in the Midwest without having to leave the confines of a protected harbor. Trout, Salmon, Lakers, Bass, Walleyes, Pike, Perch, and who knows, even Muskies. This all can be done with a typical inland boat and a little common sense.

When I say, it’s no secret, I really mean it. The fishery has now been featured on numerous national TV shows and is becoming a destination spot for anglers from not only all over the Midwest but from all over the country.

Being protected, this fishery now draws anglers who aren’t used to fishing on the Great Lakes. If the weather conditions are right, boats as small as a 14 foot v-hull can get in on this action. But not everyone is used to being on the Great Lakes and there are some special rules. The US Coast Guard- Station Milwaukee, patrols our harbor and they will check your boat either at the launch or on the water. So let’s go through the basics so everyone who wants to try this is safe and legal. Here are the minimum requirements and a few extras that are good ideas to keep you safe.

1. Life jackets that are the appropriate size for the fishermen on the boat. Children 12 and under have to WEAR the life jacket.
2. A throwable device. A life ring or USCG approved cushions are legal. The ring/cushion has to be immediately available. It can’t be stowed away in a compartment.
3. An air horn or whistle. The USCG prefers to see an air horn.
4. A day/night distress warning device. Three (3) flares or a flare gun. They have an expiration date. Check it before you buy them.
5. A class B-1 fire extinguisher. Make sure that the indicator us showing full and charged.
6. Navigation lights. A red/green forward light with a white aft light.
7. One(1) day and one (1) night non-pyro visual distress device. For daytime a flag (orange flag with black square above a black circle) is required. For night an electric distress light. This is usually a battery operated strobe. Here is one tip. If you carry three flares (item #4), you have this requirement covered.
8. An anchor with rope. The rope should be 5-7 times the depth that you plan on fishing. Even in the harbor, 100 feet would be a minimum. One hundred fifty is better.

Not required, but you will be the USCG’s friend if you have a bailing device and some way to call them if you are in trouble or see someone in trouble. Many of you don’t want to invest on a marine radio, but a cell phone will work too. Plug 414-747-7170 into your speed dials and that will get you directly to someone in command at the Milwaukee Station of the USCG.

The time to get in on this early season Brown and Laker action is coming soon. I will get more into the details but for starters, get the safety items that you need and get your boat ready.

Tight lines and smooth drags.
Marc

Winter Easing Its Grip... I Hope!

2011-03-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

Things are finally starting to break loose…. Well the ice anyway. The harbor and inner-harbor shore fishing continues to be as slow as I can remember. I can say that it will go down in history as my worst winter since at least 1987 and maybe ever if I looked close enough to my records.

We can only speculate about why it has been so bad, but most fingers point to our little silver friend, the gizzard shad. The winter fishery lives and dies by the gizzard shad. Under most circumstances it is whether or not we can find the schools of shad. Generally if you can find the shad you can find some winter trout or walleye action. This year was an exception that I have never experienced before. It was a gizzard shad population boom like we have never seen before. There have been shad everywhere. Thick schools of shad from the upper reaches of the inner-harbor all the way out into the main harbor. The shad were so thick at times that you couldn’t cast without hooking them on crankbaits, spoons, or nearly any lure you’d toss out there.

Even the boats that have been able to get out into the main harbor and troll around or work the clean water discharge are reporting thick schools of shad. The seagulls have been living in seagull paradise this winter.

So what is the problem??? My guess is too much bait. All winter long there was absolutely no urgency for any game fish out there to look for food or chase anything. They literally had to swim with their mouth open. Another theory about the poor inner harbor fishery is also the case of too much bait. On normal years, the fish would push up into the inner harbor looking for food that could be found near the warm water areas influenced by the Valley Power discharge. This year the entire harbor was full of shad and there was no reason for them to migrate into the inner harbor. We have no scientific proof of anything but I do know that it was the worst winter I ever had and also the most shad I have ever seen in the harbor. The two have to be related.

The winter fishery lives by the shad and dies by the shad. This year we died. Luckily there are signs of spring out there.

Tight lines and smooth drags!
Marc

The Search for Giant Trout

2011-01-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

With the fishing as slow as the applications coming in for the Jay Cutler fan club, I thought I could mention a good read. The book is Big Trout by Ray Johnson.

When I was a teenager back in the 70’s I was fascinated with this guy. I first learned about him in an Outdoor Life or Field and Stream expose on him titled “The Hermit of Flaming Gorge”. This guy dedicated his life to catching some of the biggest Brown Trout in the world out of Flaming Gorge, a 42,000 acre reservoir straddling the Utah and Wyoming state line. Flaming Gorge was one of the hottest places in the world at the time for trophy Browns. They have since given up the stocking program and have concentrated on Lakers (Mackinaws as they call them out there) and it continues be a good fishery, just not for Browns anymore.

Some times at this time of the year I stand along the shore of Lake Michigan, casting lures for a few hours in single digit temps and think you myself… you are nuts. Well, maybe I am, but I have nothing on Ray Johnson.

Here is a guy who lived in a cave during the peak season, broke through ice to get a small boat onto dangerous waters, has been trapped for days during storms on the banks of the Gorge waiting for the weather to break, and numerous other crazy events in order to catch some of the biggest Trout in the world. It took me years to find myself a copy of this book. For years I admired this guy as a legend in the world of giant trout. But after reading this book, my view changed a bit.

Yes, he is a legend and has caught more Trout over 20 pounds than I will ever see, no doubt. But his descriptions of his angling and success started to make me scratch my head. He was devoted to catching big trout, but the only thing bigger than that was his enormous ego. He was obsessed with not only catching the biggest Browns, but to continue to hold the records and stay on top.

That said, he pioneered light line, long line trolling for very wary Browns. It is a lesson we can still learn from today. He loved the #11 Countdown Rapala trolled on six pound line. He picked the low light days and the worst weather he could stand. Big fish aren’t stupid and it took all the elements to come together to make the giants vulnerable.

This is a great read if you can find one. It’s a lot about fishing and a little about a man who was obsessed with being on top of the mountain in the world of huge Trout. Obsessed to the point that he risked his life and was willing to leave his job and family for months to prove it.

The third photo is my new hero Michael Bate of New Zealand. Look at that beast!!!

Tight lines and smooth drags….
Marc

Browns and Shad

2010-12-14T20:27:00.001-08:00

Wow, winter sure came out of nowhere. The harbor is still open but I would say that it is time to start watching the river under Hoan and stretches upstream from that. In other words, I think its inner-harbor season.

The fishing in general has been spotty at best this fall. Let’s hope that the winter fishery improves.

Some recent searching and scouting has turned up just what we like to see. Good schools of Gizzard Shad!!!

The Gizzard shad are what make this winter fishery what it is. Warm water and an abundant food source all winter long are what make Milwaukee such a great Brown trout destination.

Above is a shot of the size shad that we are excited to see. At times you will find some really big ones (we have caught them up to about three pounds), but this is the size that you are looking for.

Match the hatch for lures. Two and a half to three inch crankbaits, rattle baits, jigging spoons, tube jigs, and spoons. Silver with blue, green or purple accents are good. Pearl or white baits are also very good. Tail spinners like Little Georges are a good bait in the inner-harbor two. They are very castable and the Trout like the sound of the spinner.

Let’s watch this develop. Follow the Shad!!!

Marc

Late Fall Browns

2010-11-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

The photo is Tom Frohna with a nice Brown to get November started. It was a fatty!

We had a few bad weeks in a row and I was starting to wonder when this would all turn around. I have always looked forward to November and early December because of the consistency. There are times throughout the year when you really wonder if there is anything around at all. And sometimes I don’t really think that there is. But in November and December, I rarely feel that way. There is usually something around; it’s just a matter of finding them and finding what trips their trigger.

This weekend was a perfect example. Browns present, captive audience. What do they want? Just about anything, right? No. Spoons, no. Pearl tube jigs…Mr. Automatic, no. Fluke body on a dart head, no. Deep crankbaits, bingo! Crankbaits were the ticket. It didn’t seem to matter what color or style, they all got looks, but don’t let them get bored. Keep changing colors or styles and you keep getting action.

It’s so typical of late fall. Dialing into what they want. It’s half the fun. They follow like Muskies and drive you crazy. Then all of a sudden they eat.
The fish are out there now, just find them and figure out what they want.
I mentioned earlier, wondering if there were fish around at certain times of the year. The key is learning presentations and getting 100% confidence in your abilities. As I have said at times, the shore angler has to play the hand that is dealt every day. Sometimes the fish are there and sometimes they aren’t. If they aren’t, there is nothing you can do. If they are you need to be versatile and figure out what they want.

A lot of guys cast spoons and when they want spoons a lot of people catch fish. When they aren’t hitting spoons, these guys struggle and don’t have other skills in their arsenal.

Learn how to work spoons high and low. Master the deep diving crankbait. Twitch minnow baits like shallow Thundersticks till you figure out that magic combination of reeling and snapping. Master the tube jig. Snap jig a dart head and fluke. Swim a deep tail spinner. Yo-yo a blade bait. Get the feel of a Carolina rig and plastic or even a drop-shot rig. And last but not least, become one with the jigging spoon. When you do all this and have 100% confidence in these presentations, you will get to a comfort level about your success or lack of success on any given day.

You won’t catch fish on every trip. Remember, there are times when they just aren’t around. But you will get to the point where you will have enough confidence in all of your presentations that if you don’t catch fish in a particular spot, there is probably a 90% chance that there was nothing there. Master the

presentations!

Next time I will talk about the legend of Shadzilla. Using Musky baits for late fall Browns.

Till then, tight lines and smooth drags. Put on the under-armor and get out there. Things are ramping up!

Marc

A Slow Fall

2010-10-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

It’s been an odd year. After a summer of rain and mosquitoes, we now have barely a trickle in the tributaries and a very anemic salmon run. Many are commenting, “When is it going to start”. Unfortunately, this is all we are getting this year. I was hoping for a late wave to come in, but it is too late now.

It was definitely a lean fall for the shore casters. We had some good early action and then it fizzed out quickly. This 25+ pound male Chinook was my best of the fall run. The last few years have had some good runs of 12 to 18 pound fish, but no real beasts. This WAS a beast at 38” long and 23” girth and 25.12 officially. This was probably the closest I have been to getting spooled in recent years. The fish had about 125 yards out on the initial run before I was able to stop him. After that it was 15 to 20 minutes of pump and reel.

I think we now have a shot at 30 pounders again. No, not like the old days. But that shot is here again.

For now we wait for the Browns to return. November should be good. It usually is and always has been my favorite month of the year. November is consistent if nothing else. Post spawn Browns returning to the harbor along with Seeforellens and other lake run fish returning to the harbor.

Tight lines and smooth drags…

Marc

Up-North Bass'n

2010-09-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

Greenfield’s own, Jim Weber, with a monster bass. Okeechobee, Castaic, Lake Fork??? No, Forest County, WI. Ya, up-north bass fishing is off the hook.

When one thinks of Wisconsin’s north-woods lakes you think of… Walleyes…. and Muskies, right? That’s still true. The walls of restaurants, bars, gift shops, lodges, casinos, grocery stores, Laundromats, gas stations, real estate agents, post offices, emergency rooms, and even churches have a stuffed walleye or musky hanging somewhere. OK, maybe not the churches, but I bet one of them has one. The Howard Young emergency room even has a show case full of lures that they have extracted out of peoples hide over the years. Quite a collection!
What you normally don’t think of when you think of the great north woods is Bass fishing. Big mistake! Over the past 10 years I think I have finally had it with the mediocre Musky fishing and lousy walleye fishery. For reasons I won’t get into, those two species are taking a beating up there and it’s not from the fishermen. Nuff said!

What has quietly developed up there is a bass fishery that is about as good as I have ever seen. And I have lived through the hay-days of lakes like Eagle Springs, Beulah, Lulu, and Okauchee (Okauchee is still good!). For years I thought to myself, I am not going to drive 300 miles to go bass fishing. But I think I have started to wear down and think, why not. I love Musky fishing, but mid summer vacations just don’t lend themselves to that and the bass keep biting.

I fish a lot with my niece and nephew while on family vacations and this year was on the legendary Lake Minocqua, now one of the finest Bass fisheries I have seen. This year we decided to take one day and see if we could catch 100 bass in one day. The strategy was to work the shallows with plastics for the smaller fish, strictly looking for numbers and not worried about the big-bite that day. I knew we needed a big start that morning and we got it. We got started at about 5:30am and when we returned to the resort at 9:30am we had boated 45 bass. A great start and just what we needed to have a shot at this.

The afternoon got hot (temperature wise) and this shift was the twins, Andrew and Ava, and I. It was a much tougher bite but we managed about eight or ten. I returned to the lake by myself late afternoon to scratch up another 10 or so amongst the wake-board boat rollers (my new enemy…. Don’t get me started). We needed a huge evening to pull this off and didn’t get it. We caught bass with consistency, but not the pace of the morning. The final tally ended up at 79

bass!

Now, we fell short of our 100 goal, but when you think about it that is still a pretty great fishery. Could it be done…100, yes definitely and that’s pretty incredible. Don’t overlook this option if you vacation up there. Generally small bass in the shallows in big numbers and bigger fish out on the deep weed edges. You can’t beat Senko type worms in the shallows. On the deep weed edges, 5” swimbaits, jigging spoons and deep diving cranks like Bagley Diving B 3’s (DB-3). If you focus on deep water you can find bigger fish. The numbers will fall, but the quality is out there.

The Big-Lake:
OK, I’m not going to get into this now, but let the games begin!!!! The water is cool, the salmon (and trout) are in, and probably here to stay now. While nothing is a sure bet, from here on out, there are fish in the area and opportunities to catch them. More by the end of the week on this.

Random observation that has nothing to do with fishing:
Two cast members of the original movie Predator went on to be US Governors. Now who woulda’ thunk that in 1987??? Just more proof of the awesomeness of that movie…..;)

Tight lines, smooth drags, and get down to the lake.....

Marc

Skamania and a New Record

2010-07-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

July has been good!!! Browns including a few giants, some Steelheads, and a couple Kings. Until last week’s deluge, things were pretty consistent and we caught a lot of fish on alewives, jigging spoons, and tube jigs. As usual for July, pearl tubes are hot and I did the August column for Midwest outdoors on the subject.

Also right now, I have an article running in The In-Fisherman (August-September Issue) on the basics of collecting, keeping, and fishing live alewives for trout and salmon. So, there is my shameless plug for all the articles I have running right now.

Skamania Steelhead

I was asked to talk a little about catching Skamania. For starters, catch’em up now while you can. They stopped stocking them a couple years ago for VHS reasons. Right now they are stocking the traditional Chambers Creek and Ganaraska. Those are also great steelhead, but they aren’t a Skamania.

You know when you hook one. It will spend just as much time out of the water as in the water and is probably one of the fastest fish out there in Lake Michigan. I remember one of the biggest one I ever caught, a fish near 40”, I had hooked near the Summerfest grounds. I was working a spoon deep along the bottom when it crushed it. It set the hook on this fish in 20+ feet of water, my line buried straight down in the depths. I signaled fish-on to my father and within two seconds there is a huge steelhead leaping from the water about three feet into the air. I said, “There’s another one jumping”. Well, it wasn’t another one. It was the same one. My rod still buried in front of me and a giant Skamania leaping out 100 feet away. That fish went from the bottom to air-born so quick that my line couldn’t keep up. After a few more seconds I was finally able to get the belly out of the line and stay connected where she made five or six more leaps and tore up the surface. Mike Schwister described a typical steelhead fight he had last week while fishing out of his kayak. I got him.. no I lost him, no I still got him…. They run away from you, at you, leap, and start all over again. I have always said that it is easier to land a 30 pound King than a 10 pound Steelhead. Fighting a Skamania is like watching those professional bull riders. You hook up and hang on for dear life for the first 8-10 seconds. If you make it through that, you have a good chance at whipping them.

They are strange feeders. They typically want to be near the surface and will follow cold water if it is near the surface. You hear about charters having to go out to 300-350 feet of water in order to find the right temps in the top 25 feet of water.

As far as targeting them near shore, like anything else the water temps need to be right. Upper fifties are perfect, but any warmer and they will be non-biters even if they choose to stay. Down in Michigan City in the hay-days of Skamania, anglers used night crawlers under a slip-float for them. I tried that here and never had any success. Spoons and spinners are probably the best artificial with a live alewife being the best live bait. The biggest one I ever saw taken from shore was caught on an alewife fillet suspended below a float. Yes, just slice a fillet off an alewife and put a hook through one end. The gentle bouncing of the waves makes the fillet look pretty tantalizing. But they do love spinners. Big spinners like #5 Mepps. There was a craze out on the pier for a while to make a plain silver spinner using a big size 6 or 7 fluted Musky blade. It really works. Some big Steelhead and even salmon were taken on this big hard pulling flasher. You can get the blades at Reinkes. Its big hardware, but they love it at times.

The World Record Brown Trout

How can I not mention that WE (Wisconsin) now can claim to be the holder of the world record Brown Trout. Forty one pounds 8 ounces smashing the state record by 5 pounds! Just nudging the old world record by an ounce, now the world is taking notice. We are now the Flaming Gorge, the Tierra del Fuego Argentina, the White River Arkansas. Those were the destinations for the biggest Brown Trout in the world. Now it’s right here, Lake Michigan.

Wisconsin has the record! I haven’t been this excited since the High Flyers took back the belt from the Heenan family (back when it was real… wink)

I have a few speculations I will share with you next time along with some insight from fish scientist and goby guru Dr. John Jannsen.

The water got a little warm as of late. West winds will have us back in action. Try some smallie fishing till things cool off.

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags!
Marc

McKinley Musky

2010-07-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

OK, if you haven’t seen it yet here it is. A 48” Musky that was caught off the McKinley Breakwall on Wednesday July 6th. (Photo by Jim La Rose) I got word now that the angler was identified so maybe some information can be collected from it.

It appears to be a Great Lakes Spotted Musky, but where did it come from. Did it migrate from the Green Bay area recently? Did it migrate 10 years ago and live in our harbor all this time. Unless the DNR can make some type of positive ID, we will never know.

But it does make for some interesting speculation. Everything else in our harbor, inner-harbor, and adjoining rivers thrive here. World class brown trout, steelhead, salmon, giant pike, and even bass and walleyes these days. Why not muskies? Plenty of habitat. A warm water sanctuary in the winter. And, more than enough to eat. Alewives, big gobies, loads of suckers, perch, small trout, and all winter long huge gizzard shad. And, thousands of acres of water without leaving the harbor.

A musky is about the only thing that I haven’t caught along our Lake Michigan shoreline in the past 38 years, but maybe it isn’t all that crazy. Back in the late 1970’s I’d have never believed that you could catch a smallmouth bass here in our harbor, and look at that fishery now. The same with Walleyes. You can actually target these species and catch them now. Jeeze, they held the Bassmaster Classic in Chicago’s harbor. That would have been a science fiction story back in 1978.

It isn’t the first I’ve heard about Muskies in the area. Years ago the DNR would find one here and there in the fyke nets they placed out in front of the old Pieces O Eight. That area that the old timers always called Oyster Bay has always been a great Pike spot and even one of the consistent places to hunt them back in the 1980’s. It was always one of the few areas that held weeds. Now weed growth is back and Pike and Bass populations are up. It is possible that a few Muskies could be roaming those weed beds too.

So is it a fluke? Ya, probably. You won’t see me out there chucking a custom painted Baby Brown Trout Suick (although I will have them available at http://www.jacksonlures.com/......... Just kidding, caaalm down!) in hopes that lightning will strike twice, but it sure made people sit up and take notice. There will be a lot of water cooler and tackle shop counter talk about this one. I haven’t seen a photo passed around the internet this fast since Paris Hilton made a home movie.

To the angler who caught it, bravo to you. Yes, he whacked it and could have released it… blah, blah, blah, whatever. I’m not going there. It’s a legendary fish for the pier. Scott Walker should pony up $600 for the guy to get it mounted and hang it in the McKinley pavilion for everyone to see. Just like the meat department at Trigs in Eagle River! Who doesn’t stop to look at a Musky hanging on the wall, right! It’s Wisconsin. We love a stuffed Musky as much as we love rummage sales, cream puffs, the booze paddle game at the church festival, and the chicken dance (Bob Kames, god rest his soul).

So next time you get bit off without a tug, get an alewife back that is shredded to ribbons, or see one of those big gizzard shad float up in the inner-harbor that look like Freddy Krueger went medieval on it, you will just have to wonder now.

Tight lines and smooth drags…….
Marc

Things are looking up

2010-06-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

Some time has passed again, waiting for something great to happen. There has been a little activity off McKinley, but no one is setting the world on fire.

The perch season opened since I last wrote. That always brings quite the influx of young and old to the lake front. It always surprises me that we have a lake full of Chinook and Coho salmon, and Steelhead and Brown Trout that are of world class proportions, but these little panfish bring the fishermen out of the woodwork when the season opens. I guess I shouldn’t say little panfish. We have had some 13 and 14” and I have seen some bigger ones.

We have caught ours by accident on jigging spoons while collecting alewives for bait. The hard core perch hunters have been using small fatheads, little goldens, or Milwaukee (Emerald) shiners on a jig head or under a slip float. The real gurus who are getting their limits are getting down there early (like 3-4 am) and walking off about the time I show up!

These guys take this seriously. They are like perch ninjas. They show up early, crawl out on the rocks, get their five and get out before anyone can see what they are doing or where they are fishing. They aren’t doing anything illegal. They are just secretive about their spots.
I have seen some real monsters. We had some up to 14” and I have seen some that have to be 16” or more. DNR fisheries biologist and long-time perch expert, Matt Coffaro, speculates that these giants are probably remnants of a great 1998 year class. Those are 12 year old perch!!!

Trout and salmon have been slow but improving. A few Kings have been caught very early each morning off McKinley and then a later wave of Steelhead show up between 6 and 8 am. The water is a good temp so the Browns should start moving back in. The good part is when they come back, they usually stay around if there is enough to eat. They can tolerate water up to about 64-65 degrees before they are forced off-shore.

Live alewives have been the best bet, although this weekend I took a nice Bow on the summer favorite, the 3” pearl tube jig. It has always been great bait for working deep. One quarter to one-half ounce heads, and 3” or 4” Pearl tubes. Cast them out, let them sink to the bottom, and work them back with 2-3 foot lifts of the rod. They glide and dart like a fleeing or injured alewife. The hollow bodies allow you to add some cod liver oil or Pro-Cure scent.

The July 4th weekend looms ahead. This is usually the unofficial start to summertime patterns. Pray for west winds and ample bait and this should start to get fun!

I'll talk a little Skamania next time.

Tight lines and smooth drags…..
Marc

Slow fishing

2010-06-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

Any of you that follow salt water fishing have heard of kite fishing. You use a kite to take a bait out away from the boat similar to how we use side-planer boards around here. Well, Mike Schwister (shown in the photo) redefined “Kite Fishing”. He actually caught a kite! That guy can catch anything. ( A Do-It Flutter Jig in case you are thinking of targeting Kites). He’s still working on that picnic table. We’ve all hooked it, but no one has been able to land it!!!

You can only imagine how slow the shore fishing has been if the best I can do is a picture of a guy that caught a kite. That’s been our best catch lately. DNR’s Matt Coffaro had a great quote this week that sums up how all of us feel right now. “I don’t mind not catching fish but I would at least like to have an excuse”. I couldn’t agree more. The water is a good temp. There is enough bait around to interest some fish. But there is just nothing going on.

I can’t even find many people even trying these days. The boats are doing great. The shore guys aren’t.

Things will change, be patient. It's a good time to get your gear ready for the mid-summer blitz.

Till then, tight lines and smooth drags.

Marc

Alewives are in!

2010-05-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

It has been a struggle this spring. No two days have been the same. There has just been no consistency to any aspect of the fishing. Wind, rain, hot, cold, murky water, clear water, warming waters, and cold up-wellings. It may sound like “fisherman’s excuses” to people who don’t do this on a regular basis, but as shore anglers, this is how it is and you can’t really beat yourself up over it. When the fish are there we have caught fish. When they aren’t there you spend time looking for them and hope to find a straggler in between. They are being pushed around daily by the weather.

Guys in boats can search, but as a shore angler you have to play the hand you are dealt every day. But I’ll tell you one thing, in the past 6 weeks I am glad that I haven’t been waiting to take a boat out. It has been wind and high seas. This past Saturday there had to be 6 to 8 footers pounding the rubble wall on the south shore. As a shore angler, I have actually been pretty lucky to find some sheltered areas and still fish through all the storms, high waves and muddy water. It hasn’t been great, but at least we are still fishing. I know I wouldn’t have taken a boat out on most of those days.

The good news is that the alewives are in! As per usual, there are none one day and thick in the harbor the next. They are very concentrated in the area of the mouth of the Milwaukee River. The river under the Hoan and the area behind the Amphitheater are easy pickin’ right now for alewives. Beyond that they are still scarce and will be until we get some warm water back in the harbor. Right now, they are holding tight to that area because it is the warmest water available.
We fished the area a little Saturday morning and had a couple nice alewives murdered on bottom rigs but it appeared to be smaller fish after seeing the bite radius on the dead baits. Finding the edge of the bait pod may be the trick right now. It’s probably not accessible to the south of the river, but to the north you may be able to find that edge. The edge is going to be better than right smack dab in the middle of the alewife pod.

Another piece of good news is that the gobies are also in ( I never thought I’d be saying it was good news to see gobies). It’s another food source that can attract Browns. Goby imitating jigs fished along the bottom are a good option. Just in case someone reading this doesn’t know… you can’t use them for bait!!! Olive jigs, tubes, or Gulp Gobies are good imitations though.

I’m not a live bait user for the most part, but I will make an exception for the alewives. It’s hard to beat them when they are around (plus they are free!). And, it’s not like you are sitting under a shady tree sleeping till something bites. There is an art to this. Catching them, keeping them lively, and presenting them properly. And when your line starts bouncing telling you that the alewife is getting nervous, it’s an adrenaline rush.

I was recently given the opportunity to talk about the intricacies of fishing with live alewives for the coveted In-Fisherman Magazine which will appear in the August issue. The hardest part was condensing everything I wanted to say into 1100 words, but I got the basics.

Till next time, tight lines, smooth drags, and it getting warm enough now to take a kid fishing!

Marc

2010-04-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Here is the lone ranger, Mike Schwister, in his new Hobie and one of over 200 fish that came aboard during his Easter week trip to the Honeymoon Island area near Dunedin Florida. Mike reported tons of Specks, and then a mixed bag of Reds, Spanish mackerel, little sharks, and whatever else that would eat a Gulp! Shrimp on a Do-It jig head. This is an incredible inshore fishery and it’s good to see and hear that it is recovering after a historically wicked winter. Doesn’t this shot make you want to soak up a little Florida sun?

The Report

It remains a weird spring. There are some good fish out there for the shore fisherman, but there have never been good concentrations of them in any one spot. It has been straggler fishing all spring. Spoons, Thundersticks, small crankbaits like Storms Flat Wart, jigging spoons (Do-It Flutter jigs), and 3/16th white marabou jigs have all had some action, but there is no “can’t miss” pattern or hot spot along the Milwaukee lake front.

The good news is that there have been a few boats trolling just outside the harbor and picking up a few 10 to 12 pound Kings. History usually shows that when the Kings show up it’s because the Alewives are moving in. I also see the birds following the boats out of the harbor, which is another tell tale sign. I’ll be out this weekend doing some recon work to see if I can find them.

The steelhead run is all but over. Stream temps are quite high for what we are normally used to. The tributaries are full of suckers right now.

I’m trying to get a handle on why the Power Plant in Oak Creek is so slow. Not much going on at all and the discharge water is not all that warm.

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags.
Marc

A slow start from shore

2010-03-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

The Report

For the shore angler, we have had a shaky start to the season. Changing weather conditions is really the culprit. We have had to deal with a lot of wind, murky water, and hot and cold weather. So the word for March is inconsistent, to say the least. Straggler fishing. Move around and cover water.

That all said, it is only April 1st and still plenty of time to have a good spring. The thing that has seemed to pass is the great Ice-out opportunity that is usually good for a giant Brown or two. We just haven’t seen that yet and maybe that chance has passed.

The bait in the river is GIANT. Gizzard shad in the two pound range. That’s really doesn’t help us much unless there is some smaller stuff mixed in.

The coming warm up is what we needed. Watch for the surface to warm and the wind to pile it into specific areas of the harbor. This will start to attract bait, and then trout. Until the waters warm and the bait congregates, we will be straggler fishing. One here one there, no pattern. As uncomfortable as it may be, there are times when you will have to force yourself to fish in a wind-blown corner. The old adage "the fishing is the best when the winds from the west", doesn't work in spring. West winds blow out any warm water we may have. A little easterly component doesn't hurt right now keeping warmed surface water near shore.

Stick with the go-to stuff right now. What is that, you ask?

I’ve often thought about that as I lug my 35 pound back pack around wondering if I really need all this stuff. “ What would I take if I could only fill one small pocket tackle box?” Here’s what I would have.

2/5th Cleo, Silver and Green
2/5th Cle, Gold and Orange
½ oz. KO Wobbler, Silver and Green
¾ oz Kastmaster, Silver and blue or green
#2 Mepps Syclops Silver or gold
4.25 “ Thunderstick (AJ) Gold Prism (#183)
Daves Deep KaBoom or a Deep Thunderstick Jr., Gold Prism
Deep X-Rap (XRD-10) Sliver with a black back.
A Shad Rap, Berkley Frenzy Diver, Berkley Flicker Shad, or a Storms Rattlin’ Flat wart (no longer made but the holy grail of shore casting crankbaits)
¼ ounce bullet heads with a bag of 4” Gulp! Minnows (pearl or watermelon pearl)
And last but not least some of my white marabou minnow jigs.

I could cover quite a bit with that arsenal.

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags........

Marc

The Skyway- A Pier Fisherman's Dream

2010-03-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

Last week I mentioned that I wanted to talk about the Sunshine Skyway Piers near St. Petersburg, Florida. For those of you not familiar, let me give you the back story about the piers.

The original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was completed in 1954 spanning Tampa Bay and linking St. Petersburg with Palmetto. They list it about 6 miles long. In 1980, a freighter collided with one of the pier supports sending a ¼ mile section into the bay killing 35 people.
The old bridge was demolished in 1993 but the left two sections, one on the north end and one on the south end, for fishing. This is now known as Skyway Fishing Pier State Park. A new and I may say, quite spectacular bridge was built and finished in 1987 and runs right next to where the remains of the old one stand.

So, what’s left for fishermen is the longest fishing pier in the world. I don’t know the exact lengths, but I was on the south pier and it was about 2 to 2.5 miles long. There is a full service bait shop about 1.5 miles out. The one on the north end is about 1.5 miles long. You pay your fee and drive out and fish anywhere you’d like. Your pass is good for 24 hours and is good on either pier.

The beauty of the pier is that nearly anything that lives in the Gulf can be caught from this bridge depending on the season. The day I fished there I saw no action at all and there were only a few other fisherman out there because the fishing had been poor. I was told that it was common to have 700 to 1000 guys on the pier 24 hours per day once the fishing picked up.
Grouper, Snapper, Snook, Tarpon, Flounder, King Mackerel, Spanish Mackerel, Specks, you name it, it can be caught here. And SHARKS!!

Yes, they specifically fish for big sharks here at night in the summer. Their website and pictures on the bait shop wall show some impressive toothy critters. Their reels, the size of 3 pound coffee cans. Rods like pool cues. Eight pound Bonito rest frozen in the bait shop coolers waiting to be baited for sharks. I know we fish some big Suckers up here for musky, but looking at an 8 pound fish ready to be used whole for bait was a shocker. I could only think to myself, “were not in Wisconsin anymore, Toto”.

The bait shop operator (from Muskego, Yes, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting an ex-cheesehead down there) told me a story from last year. For a two week period, fishermen were getting stringers stolen, fish clipped off during fights, and tackle stripped from the rails. After reporting the occurrences, the Florida Fish and Wildlife started to patrol the area. One day they actually saw it and shot the photo from a plane. They approximated it to be a 17 foot Bull Shark!!! There isn’t much you can do but wait for it to get bored and take up residence somewhere else, which it finally did.

He also told me about a great King Mackerel he hooked last year. It was a 35-40 pounder, best of the season, and he fought it for an hour till he finally got it next to the pier. The other anglers readied a pier net and just as they lowered it to the water to snatch up his prize Kingfish, a shark helped himself to everything but the head. Disappointing, but man what a story!
For a pier junkie like myself, this was heaven on earth. It has all the species and excitement of an off-shore trip without the cost and the sea-sickness. As I mentioned, I didn’t catch a thing out there that morning. It just wasn’t the time to fish the piers yet and the only action was shallow. But I saw Rays, Dolphins, dozens of birds who were very interested in my bucket of live shrimp, and a great sunrise.

What a great pier and I can’t wait to fish it again someday under better conditions. Florida is refreshing for a shore/pier guy like myself. They actually make fishing areas and encourage people to fish from bridges, piers, beaches. The shore spots are endless. It’s very unlike here where it seems like we have to fight to keep access for fishing along many of our shore locations.

The Report

The wind, rain, and run-off really messed things up temporarily. Some good news is that the tribs opened up and the fish in the harbor seemed to have spread out a little. A little of anything could work right now. Spoons, cranks, jigs. It’s that time when a big fish could be around! When this clears a little, we should be back in action!

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags……

A little Florida to break up Winter

2010-03-09T12:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I’m back from my long-awaited trip to Florida. It was less than spectacular on the fishing front, but there was enough going on at least to keep things interesting.

I was in the Bradenton area (south of Tampa) and fished Anna Maria Island city pier, the causeway through Palma Sola Bay, the Green Bridge in Palmetto, the Skyway Pier, and several locations in Siesta Key. Overall the water temps averaged about 8 degrees colder than they should be at this time of the year due to the horrible winter they have had. Even months after the devastating series of cold fronts they had around the second week of January, dead fish could be seen decomposing in the shallows. I saw some Snook in the 30” range, white and rotting on the bottom. Reports I heard while down there are guessing at possibly 1/2 million Snook perished due to the cold water conditions. They have a temporary closure on several species till they can assess the damage. Snook is closed till fall and I would guess that it may be extended even further.

There was a noticeable lack of baitfish which is having a huge effect on the fishing. Some of this bait population also perished, and the rest just isn’t near shore to draw in the larger fish. It was actually very warm the first four days of our trip reaching 81 at one point. Even a short warm-up like this was bringing the skinny water back to life. I did see some small schools of mullet and a rare sighting of a school of Ballyhoo in the shallows off the Green Bridge in Palmetto.

My effort on the big piers (where I am more familiar) was dead. A call back home to fishing buddy Mike Schwister put him on the internet for me for a quick fishing report check from 1300 miles away. Mike said, get off the piers and head south and find some skinny water and grass. Bingo, right on. I found action down in Siesta Key the next couple days and saved the trip.

Let’s be honest here, the fishing was slow. But moving south put me on at least some action. Ladyfish saved the week for me. They aren’t huge but like everything else in the salt, they fight a lot harder than most things in fresh water. Ladyfish will scream a little line off the reel but they really put on an aerial show for you, jumping 6-8 times during the fight.
Outside of that the usual Pinfish and Blowfish kept you sharp and some bonus Flounder to feed the locals fishing along side of you.

Jigs and Gulp! shrimp or Gulp! minnows were the hot item. With the bite so slow I was reluctant to experiment too much although I threw some gold spoons and Mirrodines here and there but no action. I did try some live shrimp but all I seemed to do is feed the Pins. I should have just boiled up the shrimp.

Ironically, I paid $3.99 per pound for ground beef at the local Publix. I also bought a pound of raw shrimp with the shells on to use as bait or just to sweeten up a jig. The shrimp was $2.99 per pound!!! We laughed that we should have just eaten shrimp all week!

For anyone heading down there, the Anna Maria City pier is a great place for a Grouper sandwich and just about anything they serve from what we had. The restaurant is about 700 feet out in the bay on a pier. If you are still, you can feel that it moves with the waves! If you can’t feel it, look at the wine glasses hanging above the bar. They swing ever so slowly.

One thing I really want to do again is fish the Skyway. I’ll close this up for today, but my next blog I want to talk about the Skyway. What a treasure that pier is. For a pier rat like me, the Skyway is heaven on earth.

The Harbor

Back home here, the action has been slow for shore anglers. A few fish are being caught under the Hoan and ice is out at most places. Watch for the ice to go out in the McKinley basin. This is always a good bet if you can time it right. My late father’s one time world record Brown (8# test) was taken on the weekend that the ice went out on the McKinley area. We had three fish over 20 pounds in two mornings culminating with his C&R world record. There are a lot of big fish under the ice and when it goes out there is a great opportunity till they disperse. Suspending minnow baits like big Husky Jerks or X-Raps are great for the big ones. Work them slow.

Till next time, tight lines, smooth drags, and take someone fishing!

2010-02-19T13:13:00.001-08:00

Let the games begin!!! I know it is only February yet but I think we have officially had “ice-out”.

Yes, we may skim over here and there but for the most part the open water areas of the harbor are free of major ice and fishable. Browns are starting to hit under the Hoan. For the most part the action has been on the bottom with spawn (yawn), but as Tom Frohna shows here, you can catch them on lures too (yea!). Toms hit a shad colored Rapala DT crankbait fished along the wall at daybreak.

I am so refreshed to get back out in the harbor and say good bye to the inner-harbor till next winter.

The next six weeks will be our best shot at a true world class Brown Trout here in the Milwaukee Harbor.

It will be two years now, but in my next blog I’d like to recap Mike Schwister’s goliath 31 pounder taken on March 1st of 2008. It was without a doubt the biggest Brown I have seen in person. What a great morning. And just remember, there are bigger ones out there!

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags….. and take someone fishing!!!

Marc

Winter Sucks!

2010-02-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

I have just about had it with winter. This is the weather equivalent to waterboarding for me. There is no dosage of vitamin D that will help me right now.

The winter is usually tempered for me by the open water fishing going on in the inner-harbor. But this year it has been lukewarm mediocre at best since New Year’s Eve. There have been a few Browns and Rainbows caught here and there, but the most consistent species has probably been the Walleye this year. There has been a lack of shad in the areas open to the public and that has always been the key to having a decent winter Brown Trout bite. In the past twenty five years it has been a feast or famine fishery sometimes catching 10 fish per winter and at times having 100 fish winters.

It has been dependent on a variety of weather situations over the years. Big thaws or winter rain events will screw it up by moving the bait and making the rivers brown and muddy for weeks or better. I don’t care how good the bite had been, a big rain or melt will shut it down and change everything. A warm winter will never allow this inner harbor fishery to set up either. A warm harbor means there is no urgency for these fish to look for warm water.
Unfortunately, some of the best years have been when the winter was cold and dry. The situation that this fishery faces right now is the dwindling use of Valley Power Plant which discharges warm water into the area and provides the open water that we have all winter. I have been told that this plant now primarily provides steam for the downtown businesses that still use steam. So the water isn’t as warm at times and it also doesn’t affect as much area as it did years ago. There were years when the confluence area near the Shoe Polish factory or the area near Canal and 13th street never froze. In the past few years, it consistently freezes.
Well, I can just hope that we are back out in the harbor in the next two to three weeks.

The attached photo is a nice 21 inch walleye taken by Tom Frohna last weekend. As much as I joke about the ambiance of the inner harbor, the diesel train horns, sirens, weird smells, security people with tazers, escaped live stock, panhandlers, three legged dogs, goose poop, and this general background noise that makes you feel like you are in the mechanical room of a large building…. It serves a purpose. It keeps many of us sane for a couple months. Let’s face it, we’d be braggin’ up a 21 inch walleye if we caught it on any lake in northern WI, so it’s a pretty special fishery to be able to catch it in downtown Milwaukee.

Two Legends Pass on:

This past couple weeks has been tough on the fishing world losing two legends. The first was Captain Mel Berman, a Florida radio show host, and legendary angler. He also has one of the best websites on Florida fishing that there is. For those of you from the Midwest not familiar with him, in Florida, mentioning the name “Captain Mel” is like mentioning Al Lindner up here.

The other was Jack Burns, legendary musky fisherman, educator, and advocate for catch and release musky fishing. Jack was the editor of Esox Angler magazine.
Both of these guys were true professionals and will leave a huge void in the angling community.

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags………

Marc's Marabou Minnow

2010-01-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

I have new respect for pastors, priests, and ministers. Their ability to come up with a Sunday sermon every week that captivates the congregation for 15 minutes must be rather difficult. Oh, it’s a breeze at Christmas or Easter, but in between they must have to scratch for ideas. That’s kinda where I have been lately. Back when I started this blog I didn’t know what to write about because there was so much going on. Now, in the eye of the winter, things have been quite slow along the lake and not much to cheer about. The inner harbor has been fishable, but not all that great. The harbor has been frozen, thawed, frozen, thawed…. very unpredictable.

So I thought, well what am I doing here…… making lures for next month. My backpack was down a good pound (from 30 to 29) so I figured that I must need to resupply jigs.

For the past 5 years, I have noticed that I am catching more and more Trout and Salmon on jigs. They fish deeper and actually represent the baitfish in a more realistic manner than some other lures. And, with the clear water near shore much of the time now, a more subtle presentation is better. Five years ago I began to look for a jig design that would imitate Smelt and Alewives, be easy and fast to tie, and strong enough to handle fish in the 20 pound range. It didn’t happen overnight, but I did come up with a jig design that answered all my challenges. I’ve kept it under my hat till now, but since it will be featured in Midwest Outdoors in February, here is how to make a “Triple M”, Marc’s Marabou Minnow.

I tried a variety of heads and ended up very happy with the Do-It Minnow Head Jig (JME-7-A1). It’s always been a favorite of mine and now that it has the recessed eye sockets it is my favorite for tying baitfish patterns of any type. The sizes you are going to use at Lake Michigan are the 1/8th, 3/16th, and 1/4th ounce sizes. The 3/16th is what I use about 90% of the time. I have been using the Mustad 32833BLN in 1/0 in the 3/16th. That hook is awesome. Reinke has them.

Place the jig in your vice and tie a white thread base from the head down to the bend (but not on the bend) of the hook. Put a little head cement on the base. Now tie in two matching saddle hackles, either white or white grizzly (barred) at the as the tail. You can use neck or saddle hackles (strung) or something like a rooster neck that is sold for bass and saltwater flies. Wrap the hackles tight and secure with a couple half-hitches. Put a little cement on the wraps. As a side note, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails clear nail polish is great head cement. Target, Walgreens, and Wally-world all have it. If anyone gives you a look while you are shopping the nail polish isle, just yell, “What?….it’s for fishing lures!”

Now wrap forward right to the head and half-hitch. Pick out one white marabou plume and tie it in along the side of the jig. Now rotate and tie in another one on the other side. Don’t overdo the marabou!!! More is not better!!! Look at the jig and see how it looks and that there aren’t any bare spots on the jig collar. If there is, add a little. Now, add a little contrasting color to the top of the jig to give it a little color along the back. Black, olive, blue, purple, and chartreuse are all good. I use purple or olive most of the time because it looks like an Alewife, Smelt, or Shad.
Last is a little flash. On each side, tie in a couple strands of Flashabou , Crystalflash, or Firefly. Personally, I have been using a little bunch of a product called Polar Chenille. Here again, more is not better. Two strands of Flashabou doubled making four strands on each side is all you want.

Finish off the head wrap and you are done. One of the best Lake Michigan fish catchers you can have in your tackle box. Most of the time I don’t even paint the heads. Bare lead covered with Hard as Nails is all you need. If you’d like, pearl powder paint is a good color too. I either paint eyes or use a gold or silver 5/32” stick on eye.

The jig looks like a drown rat once you get it wet, but don't worry. It looks alive in the water! There are more durable materials than marabou, but nothing else comes alive in the water like it. Let them dry thoroughly before you store them and they will look great for the next outing.

I’ll get more into fishing them later, but if you need something to keep your fingers busy this winter while you pretend to watch American Idol with your kids, tie up some “Triple M’s”.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a video is worth volumes. If I can figure out how to get a short video of me tying a Triple M on this site I will do that soon.

Till then, tight lines and smooth drags…….

Milwaukee's Inner-Harbor Open Water Winter Fishery

2009-12-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I have had a couple requests for some detailed information regarding fishing the Milwaukee Harbor and Inner-harbor during the winter.

I don’t care much for ice fishing so this fishery has kept me sane for the past 21 winters. I’ve been downtown in the winter since I was a kid and always noticed that there was open water. By the look of the water I always thought, “What could possibly live in that water”. Well, as time went on and they stopped using the Milwaukee and Menomonee rivers as an open sewer, suddenly the river started to come alive. You may still look at the river these days and think it still looks pretty murky. Ya, it’s not the Deschutes yet but believe it or not it’s much cleaner that it was 20 years ago and it gets a little better each year.

Depending on the severity of the winter, the river from the red light house (the “Milwaukee Pier head “behind the Marcus Amphitheater) up stream to the power plant on the south canal or to about 20th and canal on the Menomonee. The Milwaukee generally freezes up north of the confluence where the Milwaukee and Menomonee meet (about 2nd and Seeboth by the Post Office). If it’s really cold the river under the Hoan will freeze up to that confluence point. The river is kept open by the warm water discharged by Valley Power. Even during the deepest cold snaps of the winter the water will remain in the 40’s in this area from Valley Power downstream to the Milwaukee/Menomonee confluence, and up the Menomonee to about Ember Street. If the winter is mild or even during a January thaw, other areas will open up and the river under the Hoan (the whole stretch, not just under the bridge) can be very good. You will know when the action gets hot because you may see 100 guys in that stretch of river. But don’t fret, its 2000 feet of fishable water so there is always room somewhere.

The clarity of this inner-harbor is generally on the murky side, but also varies with runoff. When we have a big melt or winter rain event, it will get very muddy like coffee. At that time you may just want to wait a few days for things to clear up. I’ve rarely done well when it was super muddy.

In general, the water in this inner harbor area is about 15 feet deep. It is deeper under the Hoan because it is dredged for shipping. In the middle under the Hoan, it is about 25-27 feet and about 15 along the wall. This stretch under the Hoan is a little clearer than upstream and the only place where the action can be from top to bottom (but nearly always on the bottom). As you get further upstream, almost all of the action will be in the top 6 feet of water. I’ll get into that later.

So, what can you catch? Well, it is going to be primarily Brown Trout, a few Steelhead, and an occasional Walleye. It seems to vary year to year. I’ve caught Smallmouth, Largemouth, bluegills, Crappies, some BIG Pike, Catfish, Carp, and even a Whitefish out by the lighthouse. We have a VERY unique fishery here. As the harbor cools (usually less than 38 degrees) you will see a migration up the river. As far as I can figure out it is for two reasons. One, warm water. This area influenced by the discharge at Valley power will be as much as 15 degrees warmer than the outer harbor. Two, FOOD!!! This inner harbor is full of Gizzard Shad. Not Alewives, but a species that thrives in our inner harbor and one of the reasons that Milwaukee’s harbor is such a great Brown Trout fishery. These fish eat all winter long!

How to catch them? Well, I’m going to break this into two parts. First, the area under the Hoan Bridge. This area is deeper and like I said earlier the fish seem to be more near the bottom. You will see the majority of the guys there soaking spawn or minnows on the bottom on a slip-sinker rig, or on a wolf-river rig. It’s very sedentary fishing but it works. These guys catch a lot of fish doing this so you can’t discount it. It’s just not my cup-O-tea. Soaking spawn under the Hoan is a lot like ice-fishing to me. You just kinda sit there and wait for something to happen. But they love it and it becomes a social activity. Get some lines in the water and then walk up and down the wall exchanging lies or complaining about the Packers. For those of you who want a more active approach you will need presentations that work deep effectively.

Lets start with Jigs. White marabou or bucktail jigs about ¼ to 3/8ths ounce are perfect. Jigs and plastic are also good. A ¼ to 3/8th ounce bullet head (with a sturdy hook! Go to Reinkes) tipped with a 4” Gulp! Minnow, Zoom Fluke, or Lunker City Fin-S-Fish are all good choices. Honestly, the Gulp! are hard to beat. Shad colors or all white (or pearl) are all good choices for plastics. Lunker City’s Arkansas Shiner, or Gulp! Watermelon Shiner are two good ones. Cast them out and work near the bottom (within 3-4 feet) with either a straight swimming action or a swimming action with a quick snap now and then. Strikes will be a little thump and then answer back with a quick snap of the wrist. This is where the Gulp! help. The fish don’t let them go and actually try to eat them.

Jigging spoons are also an excellent choice. Silver, pearl, or firetiger are good colors. Spoons around 1/8th to ½ ounce are good sizes. Either jig them vertically next to the wall or cast them out, let them sink to the bottom, and work them back with a lift-and-drop motion keeping them near the bottom. Some regular casting spoons are good for jigging too. The 3/8th ounce Krocodiles and Kastmasters are very good. A Kastmaster is what landed my fishing partner Mike Schwister’s massive 31 pound Brown in 2008.

Blade baits like Zips, Sonars, and Cicadas are also a good option. Again, work them vertically or cast them out and yo-yo them near the bottom.

Another excellent bait that is not very well known is a tail spinner. The most famous is the Mann’s Little George. There are some others on the market that are all good. Like jigging spoons I make my own using Do-It molds, but jigging spoons and tail spinners are available from Cabelas or Bass Pro Shop in Gurnee. Tail spinners are cast out and allowed to get to the bottom. Then reel them in just fast enough to keep them off the bottom and keep the blade spinning. Lift and drop now and then just to change up the pace.

One last technique worth mentioning is a Carolina rig. This is the same technique used by deep water bass fishermen. Thread a ½ ounce (or more) bullet sinker on the line and tie on a #7 swivel. To the other side of the swivel, tie on about 4 feet of 10 pound mono or fluorocarbon. On the end tie a #1 or 1/0 circle hook. This rig can be fished with a live or dead minnow, salted smelt, or a 4” Gulp! minnow. Cast the rig out and let it settle to the bottom. Now reel 4 turns and let it settle back, watching the line. Wait about 4-5 seconds before you repeat. Strikes will nearly always come as the bait is settling back to the bottom. You will see a jump in the line. Since you are using a circle hook, just start reeling and you will hook up. The Carolina rig is a good choice if the fish are hugging real close to the bottom or are very inactive. Start with lures and go to the Carolina last.

OK, now let’s talk about the inner-harbor. Once you get past Erie street the fishery changes. Now you get into murky water and fish that are feeding higher in the water column. The reason is the clarity and the Gizzard shad. And 180 degrees from the rest of the fishery, the bite actually gets higher in the water as the day progresses. If the sun is out, you will actually see Browns feeding near the surface in the afternoon. I have actually had the opportunity to get Browns to hit a topwater plug in the afternoon. The only problem with topwater plugs is that in about 15 seconds after casting them, you will have 20 seagulls trying to pick it up.

The lures in the inner harbor are all about sound and color. The water is murky and they need a little help zeroing in on them. Crankbaits, rattle baits, minnowbaits, spinners, tail-spinners, and blade baits are all good. Spoons can be good in the afternoon if they throw a lot of flash.
I like plastic cranks like Berkley Frenzy divers, Flicker shads, Flat Normans, Bomber Flat A’s, Storm Flat Warts, Rapala Shad raps (the plastic ones), and anything else about 2 1/2 “ long that runs about 6-8 feet deep. About any rattle bait works. For minnow baits I like Thundersticks, X-Raps, Husky Jerks, or the Dave’s Deep Ka-Boom. For colors, Chromes, Shads, or Firetiger will fit the bill. All white is good too.

A #3 or #4 Mepps Aglia or Aglia long is also a great inner-harbor bait. They like that whirr of the spinner blade. That makes the tail-spinner great too. They cast a mile and can be reeled up near the surface too. Nothing fancy here, just chuck them and reel them.

Here in the inner-harbor too, the fish love the wall. Vertical jigging with a blade bait or jigging spoon worked right next to the wall can be deadly. Most of my vertical jigging everywhere else is done near the bottom. Not here. In the inner-harbor, jig down about 4-6 feet. Jigging near the bottom will get you hooked up with a catfish now and then.

If you want to use live bait, a medium to large golden shiner fished 3-4 feet below a slip bobber can be good. But honestly, casting with lures will out fish a shiner if they are really aggressive on shad.

The shad are anywhere from 1” to about 3 pounds. Yes, I have caught them on crankbaits and they are huge. The ones they seem to seek out are from 2”-4”. These are almost always what I find in stomachs. They can’t be caught on a gold hook like an alewife. They are filter feeders and would have to be netted with a smelt net. But honestly, I have caught some and thrown them out on a float and never caught anything on them.

So, where do you fish? Let me start first by saying that there really are no “public fishing spots” in the inner-harbor. There are some spots where the businesses are gracious enough to let us fish there and don’t ask us to leave. I can’t emphasize this enough…. treat all these spots with the utmost respect! Don’t leave garbage, dead minnows, make warming fires or pee on their property. And I know it isn’t your problem if you see garbage left behind, but if you can throw something away do it. These businesses could very easily say, NO FISHING--- KEEP OUT!!! And they have every right to do it.

Lets start at the lake. The harbor behind the amphitheater and the river under the Hoan are very good spots and wide open to fishing 24/7 all winter. The problem is that these will sometimes freeze. Once they freeze it doesn’t mean that they will stay frozen though. It doesn’t take much to get it to reopen. Sometimes just a barge and a west wind and it will be open again.
Moving west, there is a parking lot between the Hansen condos and the new Bostrom condos (next to Riverfront pizza). You can’t park in the lot, but they have let people fish there for years. Up from that is a small area next to the Hoffmann shoe polish factory (1st and Erie). For those of you familiar with the area it is where they used to park the Deluge Fire Boat. Right across from that is a new spot that I haven’t explored yet. On the west side of the river right at 1st street and north of Pittsburgh is a new walk way in front of some new condos. It looks like public walk. Looks like it could be good.

On the north –west corner of the river right at the Milwaukee/ Menomonee confluence is a spot where the rail road crosses the river and there is a parking lot for the Post Office trailer storage(2nd street). There are always a few guys fishing there. West of that is our first premier spot, the MMSD headquarters building (2nd and Seeboth). Here there is 500 feet of wall to fish facing north along the Menomonee, and another 600-700 feet facing west along the canal that heads towards the power company. The next premier place is right across from there and is the new Harley museum. Through the negotiation of the DNR (thanks, Matt Coffaro!) and Harley we are now allowed to fish both the north and south sides of the Harley property. The one on the south gets even closer to the power company. This area is accessed via 6th street at Canal Street. Up Canal Street is one last area up the Menomonee. At canal and Ember is a company called Sigma Environmental. The Hank Aaron trail starts there and extends all the way up to about 26th and Canal (across from the Milw. Co Skate board building). All of this is fishable, but now you are getting into areas of the Menomonee that freeze from time to time.

These are some of the easier accessible places. There are others that I can’t really mention. Not because they are secret, but because you really aren’t supposed to be in there. You can usually fish there early on weekends but not during the week when they are conducting business. They will ask you to leave or have the MPD ask you.

Well, there is winter fishing in the inner-harbor in a nutshell. If there is anything I could elaborate on send me a comment and I’ll be glad to do so.

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags. And best wishes on a great New Year.

After the Storm...

2009-12-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, I approached the lake with caution after the previous week’s first bout with winter. November and December storms have usually left the most damage and scars to the lake front in the past. I’ve seen 5” pipe railings bent over, sailboats dashed on the rocks and smashed to smithereens, and in general it usually leaves everything with a coat of ice that lasts till April. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes the lake was pretty riled up and green, but like a vigorously shaken snow globe, it all settles back down in a few days. I guess what surprised me the most was the lack of snow. Actually not one flake could be found. After reports of 8 to 17 inches in many locations, there was no snow at all along the lake shore.

Even with the lack of snow and calm seas on Saturday, there were signs that the lake was pretty angry a few days prior. In the attached picture you will see a large stump on the path behind the Marcus amphitheater. Just to see how heavy this chunk was I tried to roll it over. I could rotate it a few degrees but it had to weigh a couple hundred pounds. This chunk of stump was actually thrown over the railing and onto the path. The water’s surface is about 6-7 feet below the asphalt and the railing is another 3 feet above that. The waves IN the harbor were big enough to toss this stump up and over the railing.

The power of the lake never ceases to amaze me. As I mentioned before, I have seen it bend steel, undermine concrete and asphalt, destroy moored boats, and move boulders that could only

be placed with the heaviest of construction equipment.

Back about 10 years ago we had a massive December storm that left the McKinley pier covered with about ten feet of ice. This was the year that the pipe railings on the inside of the wall were actually bent over about 30 degrees. They attempted to repair them the following spring, but many of them couldn’t be completely straightened. Even now if you are strolling along the pier, look down the railings and you will see that they aren’t quite straight anymore. The Coast Guard navigation signs that are at the bend of the pier are about 18 feet above the water’s surface.

They were creased around the steel pole like tin foil. The scars of a winter storm!

What’s going on…..

Winter crept up on us silently and then hit us in the head with a sledge hammer. Some areas of the McKinley harbor actually froze but have since reopened. But, there are ice chunks floating around now making wind-blown areas unfishable at times.

It is probably time to start searching the inner harbor. It’s not my favorite fishery, but it beats not fishing all winter. Not fishing is not an option. I’ve always said that if you had to give the city of Milwaukee and enema, you’d put it in right around the areas we are fishing in the inner harbor. But again, I’ll take it over ice fishing any day.

On Saturday, I hooked and landed a 30 pounder……….. Carp that is. She hit a jigging spoon worked along the bottom right next to the sea wall. A Carp wouldn’t normally take a lure like this but when the gizzard shad are in everything becomes a predator. I actually had a couple Brown Trout follows on a fly rod but they wouldn’t hit and I had to leave before I could figure out what would trip their trigger.

The outer harbor isn’t done yet, but I haven’t seen a lot of activity there for several weeks.

The Oak Creek Power plant is reported hot right now, but the weather will determine how accessible this will be to anglers.

For now, tight line and smooth drags….
Marc

Big City Walleye

2009-12-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

I think this is what makes this Lake Michigan shore fishing so intriguing. You just never know what you may hook next. In the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, November 29th, I hooked into a decent fish off the outside of Milwaukee’s McKinley break wall. It felt heavy but didn’t take off screaming like the usual Salmonid would. It kinda rolled and sulked near the wall. Not having a light on me I called to my partner (“I-T Tommy” [you heard it here first] as he will soon be known soon by the other McKinley Alumni such as Garage Door John, Deaf Richey, Santa Claus, Steve the Brick Layer, Cigar John, The Professor, and last but not least, Big Wally) that I had a fish on.

As I lead the fish along the wall towards him, I was able to get it close enough to see it. No, not a Brown or a Steelhead. A WALLEYE…. and a big one at that!!! He slipped the net under it and WOW, a 27” Walleye in the backdrop of a major metropolitan city. We quickly photographed it and released it to become a thirty incher someday soon.

That just got me thinking again about what an incredible fishery we have here sitting right here on our shore line. You don’t even need a boat!

I was thinking back about what I haven’t caught in and around our Milwaukee Harbor, and the only thing is a Musky! Salmon over 31 pounds, Browns and Steelhead over 20 pounds, Lake Trout, Coho Salmon, Whitefish, Pike up to 40”, jumbo Perch, Crappies, Bluegills, Bass up to 20”, Catfish, Carp (some real giants!), and in the past 10 years, some dandy walleyes. And the prospects of a Musky are certainly there with numbers growing in the Milwaukee River. All it will take is a few to venture down from Mequon and find the inner harbor and the abundance of Gizzard Shad. It sounds crazy but I never thought I’d be catching Bass or Walleyes out there 30 years ago. If you would have told me in 1980 that the 2000 Bassmaster Classic was going to be held in the Chicago Harbor, I would have checked your arms for needle marks. But it happened.

What’s going on right now?
Browns and few Rainbows are reported off McKinley. There is a shot at a three year old King off the deep end right now with the late season trollers taking them in 25 feet of water just north of the pier. One of my top 5 epic battles took place in late November a couple years ago after hooking up with an 18 pound three year old. Also, there is some action around the Amphitheater and in the Lakeshore State Park estuary. They are targeting Perch under the Hoan, but it seems like a lot of work for two or three fish.

Independent Tackle Shops
I had the opportunity to shop for a reel last week. After checking in with all the “big boys”, I decided to try the Fishing Hole in Cudahy. I hadn’t been there in a while and was pleasantly surprised to find some outstanding deals and an incredible selection. Roger has always prided himself in having the biggest selection of lures, reels and rods specifically chosen to the needs of the local anglers. He has really weathered the storm of the big tackle chains and has to be one of the biggest independents in the state. I have nothing against Cabela’s, Gander, or Bass Pro, but remember the independents when making your next purchase. I forgot what great selection he had and it only seems to get better.

Till next time, tight lines and smooth drags…
Marc

A Great Reel under $100

2009-11-11T07:43:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago we were encountering some big salmon in the harbor of Lake Michigan. After a lack-luster start to the season, I neglected to up-grade reels for the salmon run. Honestly till that point we really didn’t need to. Then, one particular morning we nearly were spooled by a possible twenty-plus pounder. It graciously saved us the embarrassment by snapping itself off on a sailboat mooring. But, that was my wake-up call. Time to get serious.

Going through my tackle, I was trying to decide what reel to change to. As my wife will attest to, I have quite a selection to choose from. Let’s face it, I have been fishing seriously for 35 years now and have accumulated quite a few. Some on the middle price range, but more recently most of them in the $130-$150 range. Space age materials, ball bearings on nearly everything that turns or spins. They are like fine Swiss watches these days.

So, what do I choose to challenge this year’s Chinook salmon? What one do I go to when I know it is going to have to keep up to the explosive runs or hold up to the stress from the long fight of a bull-dogging salmon. The new shiny 15 ball-bearing $150 model, right? Wrong!

I fall back to my old friend. My 22 year old Daiwa Tournament SS reels. It made me think as I spooled them up. This is a forgotten reel and it is still available today. They never changed the design since 1987. They got it right the first time and luckily the shiny-shoe guys at Daiwa didn’t get a brainstorm to change it to “make it better”. It’s as rock solid as any reel out there right now at half the price. In fact, back in 1987, when I fell in love with this reel, I was paying $99.99 (the tags are still on the box). Get this. They are available right now for $89.99. Besides rebuilt starters for 1990 Ford Rangers, what this valuable has actually gotten cheaper in the past 15 years!

The Daiwa Tournament SS was the first to introduce the “Long Cast” spool design which is practically standard equipment on all reels now. They feature a “Lifetime Bail Spring” which looks more like a ballpoint pen spring than the typical torsion spring on most reels. I do have to say that in 22 years I have never replaced a spring on any of five of these reels that I own. In that same time I probably replaced ten in my Penns which are pretty tough reels in their own right.

The SS features oversized drag washers which gives it very smooth drag reactions. The drag is what seems to fall short on other reels in this price range but not the SS. It has a silicon carbide line roller which doesn’t have a bearing in it but it has never failed to perform.

Last winter we took a trip to Florida and I took a little tackle along to fish the lake behind our house and also the piers in the gulf and ocean. I took two reels that I knew wouldn’t need service, and would hold up to whatever I would encounter. I never thought twice. I took two sizes of Tournament SS. One 1300 and one 1600 series. I ended up catching the biggest Bass of my life in the lake behind the house. I also caught hard fighting Jack Cravelle and the fastest fish I ever hooked, the Spanish Mackerel, off the Port Canaveral jetty. The reels preformed perfectly.

If you talk to a lot of anglers in their 50’s and 60’s and ask them what was the best spinning reel ever, most will tell you that it was the original black and white Zebco Cardinals. This era of fisherman hold these reels up against anything made today. These were popular before I started fishing seriously so I never owned one. I think that the Daiwa Tournament SS is my Cardinal. I don’t work for Daiwa or get comp’d any Daiwa reels. But dollar for dollar, I believe these reels, even after 22 years, are the best reel for under $100 and still going strong.

Till next time… tight line and smooth drags!

Rod Thief

2009-10-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

As I promised, I heard this great Musky story from a friend, Tim Hansen.

He and some friends and family take a long weekend in October each year and do some serious Musky fishing in the Rhinelander, WI area. They had a great trip this year (October 9,10, 1nd 11th) and landed 8 out of 20 hook ups, mostly on suckers. But, one fish had quite an adventure.

One of the anglers in the group had a sucker soaking next to the boat in about two to three feet of water. He had placed a tackle box on top of the rod to secure it. Suddenly someone noticed that the rod was gone and there was no sign of it in sight. Not only did the miss the Musky, the unlucky angler was now missing a three to four hundred Musky rod and reel.

A day and a half later, someone in Tim’s group spots the end of the cork handle of a rod bobbing on the surface in the middle of the lake. They motored over to try to pick it up and the rod popped under. They made another pass but this time they cut the motor and drifted in on it. They used a net this time and got the reel by the rim and pulled it up. Suddenly, the fish took off and the fight was on. After a good battle, they landed the fish and luckily it hadn’t swallowed the bait and was actually barely hooked.

The Musky, a 46”er, was the biggest of the weekend. It was quickly released after a quick photo.

Not only was the 46”er a memorable fish, but quite the story to go along with it.

Tight lines and smooth drags...

Marc

Jigging Spoons and Fall Salmon

2009-10-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

The Salmon fishing heated up this past weekend so I thought I’d hold off on talkin’ Musky this week. (photo of veteran angler Mike Schwister with a nice King)

A combination of cold weather and rain has piled a new wave of Salmon into the Milwaukee harbor and we had a blast catching them this weekend. They were a combination of very advanced males and some fairly clean females. After seeing a lot of smaller fish early, I was pleasantly surprised to see some heavier fish this week. No supertankers, but some upper-teens and twenty pound fish.

After catching these fish for thirty-five years I generally catch a few every fall and then actually start to avoid the areas where these fish are hanging out. Its not that I don’t want to catch fish, but some of these start getting a little dark and gnarly and catching some cleaner fish is a little more desirable.

This year one of my fishing partners is looking for his first big King so we have been stalking the spawners in the harbor trying to get him locked into a screamer. What has come out of this for me is trying some new tactics and I have suddenly discovered one that has all kinds of life back in me as far as fishing late fall spawning salmon. Jigging spoons!!!

We have found that if you find a deep water seawall where the Kings are traveling you can vertical jig for them and it has been much more effective than casting crankbaits, minnowbaits, and traditional spoons.

The Jigging spoons I am using are from Do-It’s Flutter Jig mold. The mold makes ¼ to 1 ounce jig spoons in lead. But here is the dirty little secret (look both ways to make sure no one is reading!) Tin!

Casting them with 100% pure tin reduces the weight about one-third and gives them a completely different action than if they were cast with lead. It also gives them a shiny silver finish that doesn’t oxidize like lead. It’s about $9.00 a pound right now but well worth it (It was twice that a year ago!). It sounds like a lot compared to lead, but it boils down to about $.30 per spoon for the larger size jigs. Add a split ring and hook for another $.25 and you have a world class jigging spoon for under $.60. How can you beat that?

Plain silver or silver with a chartreuse accent, or pearl have been the hot colors. Drop them down to the bottom and reel up about a foot. Now lift the spoon anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet and let the jig free-fall back to its original position. Stagger the lifts but always keep the jig moving. The hits will come on the free-fall and they are spectacular. You will be lulled into the rhythmic pattern of jigging and then suddenly interrupted by a solid dead weight and a violent head shake. At that point plant your feet and hang on.

This system really imitates baitfish very well so I am very surprised that it is working this well for the non-feeders. I guess that four years of intense feeding has them programmed to take an easy shot at a vulnerable baitfish even when they aren't eating.

I’d recommend a medium to medium-heavy rod and a reel with a quality drag for this system. Ten pound test is about all you can get away with despite the fact that the fish are going to weigh twice that or more.

I am going to cut this short for today and pick up a new topic later this week. I want to talk about a quality under publicized reel that has been around for twenty years now and is still available for under $90. Also, a great Musky story from a friend that happened last weekend.

Till then, tight lines and smooth drags.

Marc

Salmon Eggs

2009-10-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

NO! It’s not a picture of a human brain!!! Its Salmon spawn and I have a good curing recipe for you this week.

But first, what another bizarre weather situation we have had this week. Off-shore winds blowing to 50 miles per hour really stirred things up. It was like taking a bottle of Italian dressing and shaking it for two days. The water definitely cooled off about 12 degrees and the rain should have some fish migrating up the tribs. Extreme winds cause extreme changes. The latest coast watch satellite view was showing surface temps in the 30’s. If that is accurate we are talking about water pulled from depths of 200 feet or more during the latest upwelling.

OK, last week I mentioned that I’d like to share a spawn recipe that is very simple and won’t leave you with a pair of pink or orange hands. It works for loose eggs or skein and will keep for a couple seasons if kept refrigerated. This mix was given to me by DNR Biologist and Steelhead guru Matt Coffaro. I have tried dozens of recipes over the past thirty years and they all have pros and cons. I have also tried the commercial egg cures like Pro-Cure which work well but have some pretty serious dyes in them. Preparing with Pro-Cure can be done with rubber gloves but you still have to handle the stuff out on the water and that’s where the pink hands develop. But, this one is easy.

For this recipe you will need:

1 qt Water
1 Cup salt
1 Cup Sugar
1 pack of Orange Kool-Aid

Mix all the contents together in an old ice cream pail or other container that you don’t want to use for food later. It will get pretty fishy smelling. Now place your spawn in the container and make sure it is all covered. Add a little more water if necessary. For Trout spawn let the eggs soak for at least 4 hours. For Salmon spawn let it soak for at least 6 hours. I usually just let it soak overnight. Now remove the eggs and dump out the excess liquid. Don’t rinse them. Place them back in an air tight container and refrigerate. Skein can be cut into chunks and loose eggs will have to be tied in sacks. For a non borax solution, the eggs are pretty tough just from the salt.

You can vary the color by using different colors of Kool-Aid. A little cherry or strawberry will darken them. The traditional orange will color them pretty close to what they look like in their natural state.

Last Week:

The water near shore was near 70 again last weekend before the big blow. Nothing was going on so by Sunday I had enough and headed into the inner-harbor. The Milwaukee River, basically downtown Milwaukee. These views aren’t going to make it to the cover of Outdoor Life. This is urban fishing at its finest. These spots have developed heartwarming nick-names such as “The Sphincter”, and “Homeless Bay”. I have a saying about the spots we fish at down town, “If you ever had to give the city and enema, you’d put it in right around where we are fishing”.
But hey, if you can get past the sound of trains, sirens, traffic and a dull hum of valley industry, and the smell of cattle slaughter and that weird silty smell that seems to be anywhere near the river, it’s a pretty amazing fishery. I will get into it in greater detail later this year because this is where I fish open water all winter.
Well last Sunday I headed up there for less than 30 minutes and hooked three Walleyes and landed two. The two I landed were 20” and 22” and the third one I lost looked about the same. Not bad for downtown Milwaukee.

Next:

Well, hopefully I will have some good news to report from Lake Michigan. And, I am starting to get the Musky itch so maybe we can talk a little light tackle Musky fishing.
Till then, tight lines and smooth drags…

The Tale of Two Trout

2009-09-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

I don’t know what happened the first ten days of September. It was like the giant trout in North America went nuts. Not only the one had I eluded to in my last blog, but another beast from Canada that was nudging the fifty pound mark. When the dust settles and the IGFA shakes out all the details, both the world record Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout may have fallen in the same week.

The story of the new Brown record has been covered ad nauseum so I won’t bore you with the details. It was even mentioned on the local nightly news. Wow, they never mention fish or fishing on the nightly news. They must have an angle to work it into Obama’s Health Care Plan.

Anyway, for us in the Great Lakes Region this was a day to lay claim to a very prestigious title. The world record Brown Trout was taken from our own Lake Michigan. Since Rip Collins shattered the 40 pound mark with a world record from the Little Red River, Arkansas has held the record since 1992.

Rockford Illinois angler Tom Healy was fishing with guide Tim Roller and hooked and landed a 41 pound 7 ounce monster while casting Michigan’s Manistee River. The fish hit a #8 Rapala Shad Rap.

In an era where we are seeing salmon sizes shrink and diminishing baitfish populations, the Browns keep getting bigger. I noticed this trend more than five years ago and started to theorize the causes. I did an article for The In-Fisherman that could explain some of it. Simply, the Salmon are geared to feed on alewives (dwindling population) and other pelagic baitfish populations. The Browns will diversify to other food sources as needed. Right now, Gobies!!! And lordy-mama, there is no shortage of gobies. I saw Browns gorged with gobies. I saw Browns hanging around the harbors (where the gobies are) all year long. And, I experienced Browns feeding on the bottom (where the gobies are) like Walleyes. Are the Browns in Lake Michigan getting to these enormous sizes due to the Gobies? I believe that is half of the answer. The other is the introduction of the Seeforellen Strain, a fast growing, late spawning strain that is accounting for most of the real giants being caught. Put the two factors together and you get a great shot at 25, 30 and now 40 pound Brown Trout. Tired of hearing about the “good old days in fishing”, there ARE the good old days for Great Lakes Brown Trout. Right now Lake Michigan is probably the best spot in the WORLD for a trophy Brown.

OK, let’s jump to Saskatchewan’s 106,000 acre Lake Diefenbaker. The self proclaimed “Fishing Geeks”, the Konrad brothers have done it again. These two young men, Adam and Sean (twins), are quickly putting their name above the legendary Trout greats like Ray Johnson (The Hermit of Flaming Gorge) and Del Canty.

On the evening of September 5th they trolled up a 48 pound Rainbow on a Rapala (Jeeze, it was a good week for Rapala!!!) breaking their own record of two years ago. The enormous sizes of trout on Diefenbaker are probably due to a stocking or accidental stocking of sterile (triploid) fish. These fish do not spawn and can concentrate all their effort to EATING!!! It shows, hey!
(Photo courtesy of The Fishing Geeks (http://www.fishinggeeks.net/))

What an incredible week in trout fishing history and two legendary fish. If that doesn’t get you out fishing this weekend you may as well put your tackle up on Craigs List!

The Report:
I think we received enough rain to get some fish moving this weekend. It will pull some Kings in from their staging positions and it will also draw some up the tribs. The water is still warm near shore so things aren’t perfect, but we are now at the point that they are coming in no matter what. Big spoons, crankbaits, and minnow baits tossed around the harbors are a good choice right now. A chunk of spawn under a slip bobber is also a good option right now and throughout the rest of the fall.

Next:
Speaking of spawn, I’ll give you a simple recipe to cure your spawn in my next visit.

Till then, tight lines and smooth drags.

Why Shore Fishing?

2009-09-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

The Report:

The Lake Michigan fishing was slow last weekend. There are a few migrating 4 year-old salmon around but they aren’t happy. The east winds have piled up a lot of warm water near shore and they are forced to enter water out of their preferred temperature range. The streams are low too.

I did manage to land a mature female fully loaded with spawn that weighed only 13.25 pounds. This follows my hunches that the returning Kings are going to run small again this year. They are solid healthy fish but don’t have the bulk that they have had in the past. I’ll wait to see the DNR results from the weirs this year, but I could expect these fish to average 3-5 pounds less than what we have grown accustomed to. The DNR is hoping to see weights up due to a reduced stocking. We will see.

For those of you heading out anywhere on a Wisconsin pier this weekend, get out early with some glow spoons and then work the deep areas after that. The warm water will have them in a funky mood.

The Lure of Shore Fishing Lake Michigan:

I mentioned in my last post that I’d talk a little about shore fishing Lake Michigan, or any of the Great Lakes.

Most people assume that we shore anglers fish in this manner because we don’t have a boat. In some cases that is true. For the rest of us pier rats it is because we love it. It’s a 12 month a year drug that gets in your blood.

I have done some trolling in my life and it just never tripped my trigger. I am not going to try to turn a troller into a shore fisherman here. There are thousands of boats trolling our lake every day and some love it. It’s very effective and there are some very good charter captains on the Great Lakes today.

But for me, dragging lures around behind a moving boat with heavy tackle just isn’t fishing. While trolling will catch more fish in the long run, I’ll take one salmon or trout casting over ten trolling any day.

Shore fishing gives you the opportunity to present the lure to the fish with a variety of creativity. They may want a spoon reeled quickly near the surface when they are chasing schools of bait. They may react to a crankbait worked erratically at mid depths to imitate an injured alewife. They may be hugging the depths and want a jig or jigging spoon presented along the bottom. They could be herding baitfish up against a harbor seawall and looking for a lure cast parallel and retrieved inches from that wall. They may be feeding on gobies hopping along the bottom and only bite something that mimics them perfectly. The scenarios are endless. As a caster, you have the ability to make all this happen. You are the puppeteer and the lure is your puppet.

The tackle is another huge difference. As a troller your gear needs to be heavy. Your lines are being clipped to downriggers, attached to divers or side planers, or pulling big license plate sized dodgers. It’s all part of trolling. Few trollers stop the boat (it tangles too many lines) when a fish is hooked and heavy tackle is also needed to land fish behind a moving boat. For shore anglers, this isn’t a problem. Light lines and rods can be used to enjoy the the battle. For most of the season I use 8 pound test. I have landed hundreds of fish in the twenty and even thirty pound range on 8 pound line. Tackle suited for Bass or Walleye can be used to catch these fish.

The biggest attraction is feeling the strike. When trolling, the rod is in a rod holder when the strike occurs. The first mate will remove the rod from the holder, set the hook, and hand it to someone to reel in. When shore casting, you feel the strike, you set the hook. It may be a slight tap. It may be the feeling that the lure is getting heavier and heavier. Or it may be a salmon crushing the lure going the other direction at 30 miles per hour nearly ripping the rod out of your hand. Once you experience this feel of the strike, you will never go back. Watching the line melt from your reel hoping that you have enough. Seeing a Steelhead vault from the water and fly four feet in the air right in front of you. Watching a 20 pound Brown follow a lure to the wall and eat it right before your eyes. Watching the line on a live bait rig start jumping as the alewife gets nervous because a big fish is stalking it. These are things that you can’t experience while trolling. These are the things that make shore fishing like a drug. Its’ one-on-one, you and the fish.

Next:
It’s like the 2000 pound elephant in the room. Actually, a 41 pound 7 ounce elephant in the room. How can I not comment on the new Michigan State record and pending WORLD record Brown Trout that was caught last week in Michigan’s Manistee River. What an awesome fish and great title for the Great Lakes region.

Till then, tight lines and smooth drags.

9-09-09 The Rest of the Story

2009-09-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

And now, the rest of the story...

There were probably three passes of line left on the reel so I had to do something. I reeled down and really started leaning on the fish with all the rod and line could take. I gained about three feet. I did it again, gained three more feet. The fish rose and surfaced. It was nearly at the rubble break wall that harbored the south end of Milwaukee. I yelled to Alex and pointed to the swirl, almost too far to see at this point. He thought it was funny and made some type of comment about who hooked who here.

It wallowed on the surface out there, probably ready to be netted but now it was 200+ yards off shore. I tried to gain line but the fish just seemed to plane to the north as I pulled. It wasn’t really fighting anymore, just using it weight to resist. The more I pulled the farther north it went. After five or so minutes of this it started to run again. I think she had been resting and was getting a second wind now.

I hadn’t really gained much line and was still was dangerously close to being spooled. If she was going to head north I had a chance to follow her. I called to Alex that I was going to chase her. He waved and said to take the net, but I grabbed a gaff that I had in the back pack instead. I knew I had to travel about 100 yards of rock and rubble till I could get to the beach and carrying a big net was out of the question. I asked Alex to watch my gear and bike. He waved and kept casting.

Like a mountain goat I hopped from rock to rock moving north with the fish. I had to keep up a steady pace since I had no line to give. Luckily I knew this hundred yard random pile of rubble as well as the sidewalk in my back yard.

I made it to the beach under the bluff and now I could travel along the water’s edge. For those of you that know this area, I was now about 100 yards north of where I hooked the fish and due east of the Cousins Center. It was a relief to move along the beach. In fact I was able to jog north and gain quite a bit of line. I was feeling pretty good at this point.

I had ridden the bike path above the bluff in this area a million times, never really going to the edge and looking down. My travel was interrupted by some type of storm water out-flow structure that I had never noticed before. Now what, I thought to myself. It was a huge pipe shrouded in more rubble. There was little flow coming out of it, but going through the water wasn’t an option. Previous flows had cut a deep trench in the beach that was too wide to hop over and too deep to walk through. While I surveyed the situation, the fish continued to take line. Slow and steady, but it wasn’t stopping.

I had no choice but to climb this thing too. There were more rocks and rubble and a bunch of thick soupy mud on top. Even from the top of the pipe I couldn’t see the fish. It was still too far off shore. I glanced at my watch. I didn’t know exactly what time I hooked the fish, but knowing when I left the house and how long it took me to get there I knew I had been hooked up for about 40 minutes at this point.

I continued to follow the fish north. No obstructions now. I looked up on the bluff and I knew I was east of St. Mary’s High School. I could see the Texas Ave pumping station. The boats moored to the north of the pumping station were all out by this time of the year, but now I started to worry about all the mooring rigging that was left in the water all winter.

Still moving north I was now at the far north end of the pumping station apron. I was almost an hour and easily a mile from where I started. I kept following the bike path north but now I was beginning to think that this was crazy. I also started to wonder if Alex was staying with my gear and how I was going to carry this fish back a mile if I did land it. Alex was always kind of a “fish for an hour” guy and I was figuring he probably wanted to leave by now. I’m sure he never guessed I’d be gone this long.

By now I am about two blocks north of Texas Ave. and no closer to landing this fish than I was an hour ago. The fish starts running east again and I swear it senses the gap in the break wall right there because it is running straight towards it. Enough is enough. Someone is going to win right now.

I tighten up the drag and grab the rod between the handle and first guide to get more leverage. I pull and the fish never budges. The drag loads up and then lets out a scream. I tighten it a couple more clicks and pull again. I felt a few head shakes and then nothing. She had won. I was soaked with sweat under my winter coat, tired and disgusted. I figured the line had broken but as I reeled in the 200 yards of line I had out I felt something on the end of it. As it approached, I could see my Tadpolly. I reeled it up and took a look at it. It was fairly new at the start and now it looked like you gave it to a dog to chew on. It had scratches and tooth gouges everywhere. The front hook was smashed flat. The rear hook was gone. All that was left was a mangled twisted split ring that held the rear hook. That’s what finally failed.

I was a long walk back to the power plant and Alex was still there casting his Krocodile spoon. He raised his hands out gesturing, where’s the fish. I didn’t even know where to start the story so I just showed him the lure. I gathered up my stuff and headed home.

The "big one" eluded me the rest of that year but it made me want it even more next year. I spent the winter feeling jinxed and rehashing the battle in my mind over and over. Could I have done something different? Heavier tackle? A bigger reel? A more powerful rod? No, probably not. This was just one of those supertankers that wasn’t going to be landed by some kid standing on shore.

I really loved Lake Michigan shore fishing up till that point. After that it became an obsession. Thirty five years later I still can’t get enough.

“Why shore fishing” is a topic that I’d like to get into next. It has nothing to do with boats, I have two of them. It’s about one-on-one and the challenge that I have recounted in this story.
I don’t know how big that fish was. I trust Alex’s guess at 30 pounds or more was pretty close. Fortunately, I did have the opportunity to land three or four legitimate 30’s since then so that day in November 1976 didn’t haunt me forever. It made me want it more. Thinking back, maybe I’m glad I didn’t land that fish that day.

For now, tight lines and smooth drags...

Marc

September 8, 2009

2009-09-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I was wrong. We had some beautiful stable weather last week but unfortunately it came along with some on-shore winds. It drove up the water temperature near shore about 12 degrees and shut us down temporarily. A few three year old Kings fell to the night-owls off McKinley, but other than that there wasn’t much salmon action going on.

But they will be in soon, whether the water temps are right or not. They are driven by the urge to spawn. Photo-period, the amount of daylight per day, is their calendar. Their bodies are changing. Many of them have stopped feeding. The area where they were planted four years ago is imprinted into their brains and the drive to return is all they can focus on.

It will be interesting to see what returns this season. The years of thirty pound fish may be gone for now. Although my unscientific observations sure don’t show a loss in baitfish populations, the Salmon are a tell-tale sign. Although healthy, they don’t have the bulk they did a decade ago. Watching Salmon derby results also shows very few over 25 pounds this year. So we may have to be happy with a lot of 12-18 pounders like last year. Still nothing wrong with that.

Back in the 1970’s when the Alewife populations were high and the stocking balance was a little lopsided with Kings, big salmon were fairly common. Twenty pounders were pretty normal. Twenty-fives raised an eyebrow. Everyone was after a thirty!

It was early November of 1976. I was 14 years old and finishing up my second season on the big-lake. The Lakeside Power plant in St. Francis was my home away from home. I felt like I was starting to figure it out, catching my share of fish, and learning the science of the ever-changing lake. Yet, the big one had still eluded me. The big run of Salmon had nearly ended and my goal of a 20 pounder had not been met. It frustrated me to no end.

It was a Sunday. A cold bike ride to the lake left me with a frozen forehead that felt like an ice cream headache. It was probably in the low 30’s but the Packers were on the radio and there were still a few salmon around, so life was good.

It was just me and one other older fellow that I had gotten to know from seeing him down there nearly every day. His name was Alex and he stopped each morning and casted for an hour before work. He had a heavy German accent and cracked me up with his pronunciation of Krocodile (a popular lure) and Brown trout, rolling the “R’s” with a heavy “L” sound. Alex was a great guy and one of the “Alumni” as I called them. The daily regulars, whom I think enjoyed heckling each other in a good humor fashion more than actually fishing.

The discharge at the plant was low that day so I set up close to the chute. A few dark nasty Salmon were milling around the rocks, ready to finish their life cycle. My first lure was a glow and green Tiny Tadpolly, an odd shaped plug that had some attraction to spawning fish. It only took a couple casts and I hooked up. It felt like a good fish, but I couldn’t really see it in the roiled discharge waters. Alex made his way down the obstacle course of rocks, broken concrete and rusted rebar that lined the shore at the power plant. I was about 6 feet above him on a different rock and Alex had now made it to the water’s edge with his net. It was a good fight, but within a couple minutes the fish was near shore and looked like it was giving up and coming to the net. It rolled up by the rocks and we both got a good look at it. Alex blurted out, “Oh my god, that’s a thirty pounder”. I saw it too and had never seen a salmon with a head that big in my life. The Tadpolly was firmly planted in crook of her jaw. Before he could net it, I think she finally realized that she was hooked. She exploded the water with her huge tail and headed east like someone had stuck her in the butt with a cattle prod.

Line melted from my reel and I remember the spool spinning so fast that a rooster tail of water sprayed off misting my glasses. I couldn’t stop the fish. I had about 225 yards of eight pound test on the reel and now praying that it was enough.

I had been spooling the reel first with some heavier blue Stren line (backing). This took up some space on the base of the spool so I didn’t need to replace as much line every time I changed. It also served as a warning that I was about 50 yards from being out of line, or “spooled” as we call it. Particularly in the summer when they have all their strength, these Kings could “spool” you and empty your reel without stopping. I had seen it happen but never had it happen to me. But, now it was starting to worry me. The double uni-knot joining the backing to the main line had just passed through the guides. Fifty yards left.

I started to tighten the drag a little. The fish slowed, but was still taking line in shorter bursts. Every time I recovered six feet, she would take ten. Alex had returned to his casting spot by now knowing this was going to be a while. I was in trouble. By now most Salmon would have tired and attempted their next tactic, run straight back at you faster than you can possibly reel. It would often give them time and slack line to throw the lure. Hopefully it didn’t work, and would give you a chance to get most of your line back. Not this fish. It was sticking to plan A, spool him!

See you tomorrow for the rest of the story.

Who am I?

2009-09-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the western shores of Lake Michigan.

My name is Marc Wisniewski and I hope to keep you posted on a variety of fishing related interests. They will vary from Lake Michigan fishing, Musky and Bass fishing, lure and rod making, new tackle, tactics and anything related to fishing.

I have been an obsessed fishing fanatic since I was about 12 years old when I discovered that I could ride my bike about three miles to the shore of Lake Michgan and catch some of the biggest trout and salmon in the world. After 35 years, I still love it.

I have done consulting work for tackle companies such as Mepps, Storm Lures, Suick and many of my developments are on the market today.

I am also a free lance outdoor writer and have published hundreds of articles over the past 23 years. I write the weekly (Thursdays, both print and on-line) fishing report for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. My other writing appears in magazines such as The In-Fisherman, Fishing Facts, Midwest Outdoors, Musky hunter, Wisconsin Outdoor News, and also on some websites.

I also love to make lures. Another obsession! One of the columns that I write in Midwest Outdoors is for Do-It Molds, a company that produces lead and tin molds to make your one lures and jigs. Hardly an evening goes by that I can't be found down in the "man-cave" whipping up a creation to catch something on my next outing. I also love to make wood lures and produce a Musky crankbait called the Party Crasher. I believe that this is my tenth year making that lure which has been sold not only here in Wisconsin, but across the country and even parts of Europe where they chase big Pike.

So there you have it in a nutshell for now. I make lures, build custom rods, write about fishing, and fish whenever I get a free moment.

Labor Day weekend looms on the horizon today and that has always been the unofficial start of the fall run of four year old Chinooks. We have been blessed with some cool water near shore this year so I am expecting a good September with a lot of big Kings hanging around the harbor, staging for their run up the rivers. In years when the water has been warm, they often wait as long as possible to come into the harbor and then just blast up the rivers on the first good rainfall. This year we should have very comfortable water for them near shore and a great opportunity to connect with one of these giants.

So, I will be out there this weekend and let you know whats happening. The talk of fall salmon reminded me of a great story from when I was young and just started chasing these fish. It's as close to a Hemingway Old Man and the Sea story that I have had and it took place when I was about 14. I'll share that with you in my next visit.

Tight lines and smooth drags!

Marc