Lake Michigan

Stosh…. Thanks for the report!

As far as the comment about the DNR screwing up shore fishing on Lake Michigan, ?I ?should ignore the entire post…. But it seems like one of the ?least intelligent posts here in a while, what the heck does the dnr have to do with shore fishing challenges on Lake Michigan?

Stosh I really am glad to hear that you are having luck out there. The DNR has screwed  up shore fishing around here for good. The only real chance that the shore guys have to catch anything is winter and spring. I am not upset with you boat guys, but I am severely disgusted by the DNR for only caring about the boat fisherman. They can’t get inland lakes right and the shore guys are screwed because we have to hope they they can get this right.

Racine 6/5 Monday Night

Fished Racine on Monday night from 5-8:30pm. Went out deep with a primary coho spread, setting up in 170fow SE of town. Took a 5lb bow setting lines and continued on a SE troll to 215fow. Had good action in the 180-190 depth, with the 4 color - stubby coho killer dodger and green/silver fly leading the way. Hits were coming from 2 color rigs to the 60ft rigger, with hits on green, red, and black/gold flies. We worked the 180-190ft range until 7:30pm staying with 7 coho rigs and 2 mag spoons on riggers. We had many hits, but could not keep them hooked up after the strike. We were 5 for 12 when we decided to switch over to king rigs and head west to try for some weight up over the first hill. Outside lines were now 5 color and 265 copper to starboard, and 225 copper and 300 copper to port, 2 wire divers, and 3 riggers. Had 2 flasher fly rigs, one flasher/brads cut plug, and the rest spoons (primarily mags). We picked up 2 more coho in the 140-100ft range, with a chrome blue-bubble flasher and my "king me" fly now taking hits. We reached 70fow and the rigger ripped hard with the brads on it, but our poor luck continued, as he shook free just after the second run. We rapped it up just after sundown at a concerning 8 for 17 on the night.

Temps were a bit warmer, with 45 degrees down 55 in 180fow and 48 degrees down 55 in 80fow. Did not see as many kings inside 100 as we did last week, but there a still some around.

Likely get out again Friday or Saturday if we decide to fish the Big Pond Brawl.

See you out there,

Stosh
Lord Willing

Great report…. Thank you

Went down Friday night to fish the evening and following morning. With significant wind the previous few days, I decided to start in 85fow on a SE troll. Setup primarily for coho with 5 wide lines from 1/2oz mono to 5 color, 2 wire divers and 2 riggers. Popped a 2.5lb coho when setting lines and we were off to a good start. I did not expect that to be the last hit for the next 2.25 hours! We worked the 90-150ft range, spending most of our time in the 95-120 range. As the sun was lowering and we had about an hour left in the outing we trolled due west to see if we could get any late night king action in tighter. As we moved inside 70ft of water we were well rewarded, as a rigger went off yielding an 11 pound king. As soon as we were reset, a dipsy out 80 with a flasher fly rig started peeling line. Muscled it out of the rod holder and my sister Jill worked it back and forth for about 10 minutes and we boxed a nice 16.5lb king. Three more hits were taken in the next 20 minutes adding 2 more to the box, a 10lb king and a chubby 19 pounder. A poor night out changed around in a hurry, finishing up 5 for 6 with about 59 pounds in the box.

We went back in the morning after about 4.5 hours of sleep, setting up in 55fow with a mostly spoon spread on an east troll. Had two riggers down and one went off taking a 5lb lake trout. Finished our set and worked the 65-85ft range marking fish occasionally. No more action, so we moved out towards the 1st hill. On the way we pulled a 4lb king, then a the starboard rigger popped and just kept peeling line slowly. My friend Jim managed to stop him and worked him back to the the net as we slowed to a crawl to give him a better chance. It was an 18lb king that took a moonshine spoon down 65ft. At the 105 foot mark, we took 2 hits that were both steelhead. We boxed a lanky silver bullet about 8lbs and lost the other on his 3rd leap about 30ft off the transom. As we got to the 120ft mark, we reset 5 lines for coho and picked away for the rest of the morning in the 120-150ft range finishing up 9 for 13, with 1 laker, 1 bow, 4 coho, and 3 kings.

A big fleet of boats out for the holiday weekend. Action was mixed with some boats doing much better than others. Fish were caught outside of 200, but not in higher volume than in closer it seemed. Likely get out early next week for an evening run.

See you out there,

Stosh
Lord Willing

With westerly wind on Friday night we went out for the last 3 hours of the night setting up at wind point in 30fow. Worked the bait schools around the reefs taking one coho on a copper hud spoon on a rigger down 20 and then a brown on a rigger down 17 with a silver flasher and brads cut plug. Moved over to the root river mouth area and bait was still prevalent in the 20-30ft depth. Picked away at the coho adding another 4 to the box, finishing up 6 for 7 on the evening.

Went back at it in the morning, hoping to scout around for a more consistent bite. Took two passes near the harbor with no takers at all. The wind was now from the north and the near shore bait was not as thick as it was the previous day. We pulled lines and ran out to 75fow and trolled east to about 95 marking only a couple trout on the bottom and no bait. Pulled again and ran back in to wind point, where we found some pockets of bait, but took only 1 hit. Went back out in the evening and had a battery issue on the boat, so we stayed in close to play it safe. Went back over to wind point and worked the areas that were holding some arcs, mainly the 27ft range off the point and the south reef. The hits were few and far between, and we managed to go 3 for 5 with all coho. We also checked the harbor mouth just before packing it in, but almost all of the bait schools that were very thick there over the past week of so seemed to have moved on.

Word on the dock was that there was s decent bite in the 150-200 ft range. Likely head out deeper to chase them again early this week.

?A shout out to my old vessel The Machine, which I ?saw setting up off the cove in Racine on Saturday morning heading south. I hope you ?had ?a good day fishing.

See you out there,

Stosh
Lord Willing