Milwaukee Fishing Lake Michigan Salmon Reports 5/4/2010
By Capt. Jim Hirt
Early May fishing has been medium at best. We’re taking a mixed bag of Chinooks, Coho and Brown Trout. You may target your species by working the temps the fish like. The Milwaukee harbor and gaps are holding the best Brown Trout fishing. This warm water fish is finding the best temp where the water flows out of the harbor. All size spoons in orange and silver are working also the Nestor Wobbler Sun Burn Glow has been a regular producer. Coho are north and south in 30 to 50 feet of water in the top 15 feet. No big numbers on Coho yet but this should improve in the next week. Orange 6 inch flashers or dodgers with green Johnny flies are my go to bait for Coho. There has been a morning and evening bite on the big Kings. Mid day is when we are catching most of our Coho and smaller Browns. On the early and sunset bite bigger spoons and plugs have produced fish. The Vulcan Silver, Reaper Magnum Peacock or J-plugs #3 silver and some fish on glow spoons in the larger sizes are working for kings. Downriggers 14 -24 down and Slide Divers at 10 to 20 feet have been best. I hear some of the boats have been out in deeper water but the water inside of 50 feet has worked for us. The boat speed of 2.2-2.5 gave the best results. Vulcans, Nestor Wobblers and Reapers are sold only on the web at http://www.badgertackle.com Have a great fishing season. Let’s go fishing!! Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters. He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site at http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright© 2010, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.
April fishing remains very good when you can get out. The weather has created some problems with presentation and access to the best fishing areas. Most of our charter trips are catching limits on Lake Trout with good numbers on Brown Trout as well. East wind has caused the water to become cloudy near the shore and harbor gaps. Glow spoons like the Nestor Wobbler Sun Burn are taking fish in this cloudy water. The water flowing into Milwaukee harbor is 58 degrees and the water at the river mouth is too stained to produce fish. We have been fishing the temp breaks at the harbor gaps and north of Milwaukee in 35 to 50 feet of water. Lots of bait fish around. Our best presentations are 3,4,5,and 6 color Cortland lead core and downriggers 20 to 35 feet down. The fish have been mostly been on magnum spoons. The Reaper Magnum Peacock Silver spoon by Badger Tackle have caught most of our fish sold at
http://www.badgertackle.com Michigan Stinger NBK and most of their silver orange spoons are also working for browns. Depending on wind direction the north and south gaps are producing fish. Chinook fishing has been slow they should show up in numbers soon. Our best boat speed is 2.1 mph. Slide Divers are producing very well set to #1 with 35 feet of line out. Have a great fishing season. Let’s go fishing!! Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters. He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site at http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright© 2010, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.
April fishing is very good. Most of our charter trips are catching limits on Lake Trout with a few Browns. Clear skies with the wind out of the west at 15-25 mph have been the norm. The water flowing into Milwaukee harbor is 58 degrees. We have been fishing the temp breaks in front of the river mouth and harbor gaps and north of Milwaukee in 35 to 50 feet of water. Lots of bait fish around. Our best presentations are 3,4,5,and 6 color Cortland lead core and downriggers 20 to 35 feet down. The fish have been mostly been on magnum spoons. The Reaper Magnum Peacock Silver spoon by Badger Tackle have caught most of our fish sold athttp://www.badgertackle.com Michigan Stinger Jawbreaker and most of their silver orange spoons are also working for browns. Depending on wind direction the north and south gaps are producing fish. Our bigger Chinooks have been caught at the north gap. The fish at the north gap came on small Vulcan spoons. Silver blue spoons worked best for us running 60 feet behind the ball on downriggers 8-15 feet down. Our best boat speed was 2.4 mph. Slide Divers are producing very well set to #1 with 20 feet of line out. Have a great fishing season. Let’s go fishing!! Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters. He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site at http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright© 2010, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.
In previous articles we covered general overview and the specifics of temperature breaks and their location. Now let’s continue with spring presentation and location. If your season starts early as we do at Blue Max Charters, you will be on Lake Michigan when the surface temperatures are below the preferred temp of your target species.
I will cover late May and early June in this article. This time period provides great action on Brown trout, Chinooks, Coho and Rainbows. Browns, at this time of the year, will come on similar presentations, lures and locations as I described in the last articles. Look for temp breaks with bait fish and the warmest water. This time of year you won’t find water that is to warm for Browns. I like small Vulcan spoons with silver, green or white blades with green, orange or blue accent stripes. Work the top 25 feet of water.
Presentation for cold water
I set up 90% of my lines on planer boards working the top fifteen feet of water. The remaining 10% of my lines are on diving planers or downriggers for deeper fish. On all my rods in spring, I run a 20-25 pound test monofilament with a 12-pound leader. You need to go with a light leader to produce good action in clear water near the surface. Run the heavier test to a bead chain sinker or barrel swivel then an 8-foot leader with a cross lock snap. I don’t go nuts with Micro Filament or Super Braid lines because I think they are over kill for this application and add to expenses. Starting out this way I will have the rods loaded with the correct line for most presentations through out the season
Speed part of the answer
I set my boat speed at 1 to 2 mph. Slow presentation is key in spring. The lures you run is all about the amount of light, baitfish size and the size of fish you are looking to catch. Mix it up! When one lure produces I would double up on that lure. For Coho I prefer 6 inch orange flashers and a variety of different colored flies instead of spoons. Adjust the length of the leader from the flasher to the fly to get the best results. The general rule is one and one half times the length of the flasher. My experience is the colder the water the longer the leader. Longer leaders slow down the action. There are times when I run up to three times the flasher length. Most Rainbows will hit the flasher flies. When only looking for Rainbows, substitute bright color spoons for flasher flies. The Chinooks should also take spoons. Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters. He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site at http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright© 2010, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved
Your primary tool, and one you cannot do with out, is a surface temp gauge. I use the one built into my fish locator. It also has a graph to show the temp history over the last hour. This may not be necessary but it can help when mapping temp over a given area. The big pond is very cold in April and May also some years even into June. Your ability to monitor temp and stay in as close to the target species preferred temp will make or break your day on the lake. Let us assume most of the lake is in the forty-degree range and your target species is Coho, browns or Chinooks. All of these fish are looking for two things, temperature as close to their preferred range and food. I will go into food and or forage in another article for now let’s focus on temperature. Out of Milwaukee we are fortunate to have several rivers flowing into a large harbor. The rivers warm earlier than the lake and the mouth of a river is a place to start with a temp check. In addition, you should be checking each of the three gaps in the break wall that creates the harbor. A south wind will push the warm water out the north gap. This will turn the fish on in this area while the south gap is too cold for productive fishing. The way I start any day is to work the warmest water or water nearest to preferred temp I can find. After working this water, I move to cooler water. Sharp temp breaks are usually better at holding fish then gradual changes. Always consider the wind direction, not only when you are fishing but what it has been doing over the last several days. A light east wind on our western shore moves warmer surface water on shore and contributes to a rise in temp and a good bite close to the shoreline. All harbors with rivers have some current flow and the wind determines the direction that warmer water will flow when leaving the harbor. Fish that warmer water and into the cooler lake water keeping an eye on your temp gauge. When you get action note your location by land sightings and temp. Stay with that temperature to find active fish. If you have worked the harbor and gaps with no or slow action, look for temp breaks on the lake created by shifts in wind direction. Another option is to check tight along the shoreline in protected bays. At times I will run my lures in the shallow warmer water on side planners keeping the boat out in the deeper cooler water. Another area to check out is any warm water discharged from power plants. We have this opportunity south of Milwaukee by twelve miles at Oak Creek. I will go into details of spring lure selection and presentation in the next article good luck Copyright© 2010, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.
Motor trolling is the method I use for most of my fishing, and I will explain one of my basic spring setups. If possible I would max out the number of rods, because more is better this time of year. I fish all my lines on planer boards. Find one you like and run all the same type. For lures I like spoons crank baits, and jointed minnow type lures. These will cover most fish. The water is too cold for flasher flies and they will be used when the water warms to over fifty degrees. When fishing early in the season, fish metabolism or body temp is very low so a slow presentation is required. I run my boat speed between 1.5 and 2.0 miles per hour. The color of the lure is dictated by the amount of light and water color. On most days, in clear water I use white and black or silver lures. Hotter colors work best in cloudy water. You can’t go wrong with chartreuse in both conditions. The new glow in the dark Vulcan or Reaper spoons sold at
http://www.badgertackle.com in regular size are an excellent option. The old rule of thumb applies; bright lures bright days, dark lures dark days. I cannot cover all the bases in this limited space so I will go into more detail in future issues. Good luck Captain Jim. Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site at http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright© 2009, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.
The start of the 2010 Lake Michigan Season will be here before you know it and now is the time to think about early location and tackle. In this article, I would like to share with you some of my keys to finding fish and the hottest set ups for very early presentation. I have been a charter captain for over twenty years and these techniques have produced year after year. I am confident that you will achieve success applying these classic tips.
I start my season in early April and the most important factor at this time is temperature. I recommend a must item for you is a temp gauge for the surface and a notebook. Your gauge can be a simple hand held thermometer or a unit built into your fish locator. The notebook is all about what’s working and what’s not. I find if I can avoid duplicating non-productive techniques, I will improve my catches and enjoyment. Keeping record of your bad and good days is key to moving to the top of the list as an above average in your sport. I write down the date, time of day, conditions, cloudy, clear, calm, rough, port or lake G.P.S. numbers if you have them. Record this on every fish or at least at the end of the day. On a hot bite, I usually get caught up on my notes as soon as I can to avoid lost detail.
Fishing report | captjim | 
May 3, 2010 5:03 pm | 
Comments Off on Milwaukee Fishing Lake Michigan Salmon Reports 5/4/2010 
Subscribe
