Video May 1st Fish Report

Milwaukee Fishing Lake Michigan Salmon Report 4/24/11

Milwaukee Fishing Lake Michigan Salmon Report 4/24/11

By Wisconsin fishing charter Capt. Jim Hirt
Early Coho! Early Coho! Early Spring Coho!
We had two charter trips this weekend with great action both time periods. In the morning we had good numbers on Coho, one twelve pound Lake Trout and a small Brown Trout. Afternoon was even better with sixteen fish total. Mostly Coho both charters with a nice eleven pound Chinook in the afternoon. The hot bait was the regular size Reaper Peacock made by http://www.badgertackle.com We also had action on orange flashers and flies. If you would like all my reports go to http://www.jimhirt.com and subscribe they will go to you first every time I post.

How!
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. Our best presentations are 2,3,4,and 5 color Cortland lead core and downriggers 12 to 45 feet down. The fish have been on regular and magnum spoons. The Reaper Magnum and regular Peacock Silver spoon by Badger Tackle have caught most of our fish. Six inch orange dodgers and Johnnie Peanut Flies are also doing a good job. Our best boat speed is 1.7 to 2.0 mph. Slide Divers are producing very well set to #2 with 30 feet of line out.

Where!
Head northeast out the north gap Milwaukee and fish north in 45 to 70 feet of water. Water color may be an issue if it is cloudy move in and out of the cloudy water for the best action. The color break is holding most of the fish.
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© 2011, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.

Trophy Lake Trout Fishing Lake Michigan

By Milwaukee fishing charter Capt. Jim Hirt
I received this e-mail recently and thought it was a good question that more anglers would be interested in. Should you have a question please e-mail me from my Website contact us page http://www.bluemaxcharters.com I will be pleased to answer. My charter season will be under way soon and it may take a while to get back to you. Read all my articles and see video fish reports at http://www.jimhirt.com

Captain Jim:
I was reading an old article you posted a few years back regarding trolling cowbells and spin-n-glows. I was wondering if you could tell me what your leader setup is on a rig like that.
I made 5 cowbell rigs, 24 inches long, followed by a spin-n-glow on a 24 inch leader as well. I was going to attach that directly to a 3 way swivel but was wondering if I’ll need a greater leader length?

Lake Trout head to tail
Before we get directly into the answer I would like to provide more information on this species and presentations that are effective for them. I would like to explore location, presentation and lure selection for Lake Trout. Fishermen everywhere covet them for their table excellence giving them a nickname of poor man’s Lobster. Lake Trout baked or poached and served with melted butter is a feast fit for a king.

Ecosystem of the Lake Trout
This slow growing member of the Char family can attain a life of over fifty years and have been known to grow to more than 50 inches and reach over 100 pounds. Lake Trout are mature enough to reproduce when they are six or seven years old. Some Lake Trout respond to a homing instinct. They return to the same spawning grounds year after year, while others do not. This trout lives in deep cold lakes. Their preferred water temperature is 50 degrees or below. In the summer they stay deep and can usually be caught by deep trolling. But as the water cools with the fall season and into spring, artificial lures and flies may take lake trout fished shallower, near shore.

Rules of the road
Finding a trophy may be a difficult task although I feel following a few rules will augment your odds for success. I have found that in twenty years of fishing my biggest have come on spoons. I believe the reason for this is spoons will maintain an attractive appearance at very slow speeds. When you think Lakers think slow. This very cold water species has the slowest metabolism of all the game fish. If you have not caught a Lake Trout, you are trolling too fast. The bigger the Lake Trout the colder the water they prefer and the slower they move. A quality large spoon that trolls well at speeds below one mile per hour is required. Keeping in mind that you will be working in deep water below 100 feet.

Don’t forget about color
The color choices should be in the bottom half spectrum of the rainbow. There is not much light down there and green, blue, indigo violet colors will sustain some color at these depths. A silver plated spoon will reflect light better in low light and used in combination with the colors is a good choice. You might try the new Badger Tackle Reaper glow in the dark spoons as well. They were very productive for me this last season. The lack of light has brought me to my favorite presentation. In some cases bouncing the bottom is the only way to provoke a strike.

Set up defined
Use a wire line rod with 30 pound wire terminated with a plastic keel. The plastic keel has three positions to attach to it. One goes to the wire line another directly to the weight. Some anglers use a mono line from the keel to the weight so if you get hung up the mono will break and you won’t loose everything. Use eight ounces to one pound weight for good contact to the bottom. The third position is used for the connection of bait or lure. Use a three foot 40 pound monofilament lead to an 8 inch silver or glow in the dark dodger and a 3 foot lead to the spoon. Cowbells are a similar presentation with a few changes. From the keel attach the cowbells and then two foot leader to the spoon. When you would like to use a Spin N Glow attach a three foot 40 pound leader behind the Cowbells then the dodger and two feet to the Spin N Glow.

Working it
Troll with the bottom contour letting out enough wire to allow the ball to bounce on the bottom. A word of caution, some bottoms have lots of hang ups and it takes a constant vigilance on your part to avoid hanging up and still keep constant bottom contact.
As you read earlier, when the water cools in fall they return to the same spawning grounds year after year. The eggs are deposited over a boulder-strewn or rubble bottom structure, in depths from 40 feet to about one foot. This affords the angler another opportunity to get into some serious laker action. Work this shallow water with the same wire line rod. Go with 4 ounces of weight no flasher and standard Reaper Big Joe red/green or Reaper Peacock blue/green spoons. Motor troll the shallows while hand holding the rod bouncing the bottom as you go it‘s a blast.
Let’s wrap this up with my favorite Lake Trout lures. Dodgers and magnum spoons are my first choice with dodger Spin n Glows a close second. The two most productive Lake Trout spoons for me in recent years are the glow in the dark Reaper Green Fox Glow and Fish n Chip Silver both sold by http://www.badgertackle.com The standard Reaper in the silver combinations are best for shallow water.
Good Luck let’s go fishing! Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters. He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or web site at http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright© 2011 James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.

Great Lakes Lure Set Ups 2011 Part #2

Great Lakes Lure Set Ups 2011 Part #2
By Lake Michigan Fishing Charter Milwaukee Capt. Jim Hirt
Current information is critical to being at the top of your game in any sport. Fishing is no exception and perhaps more critical than other sports. This article will focus on what to use and where for the 2011 season. Read all my articles and see video fish reports at http://www.jimhirt.com

Mini sets what goes where?
On the deepest lines in the coldest water I fish for Lake trout. All the deep lines are matched for speed, color and preference of the target. This is a good time to talk about color as it relates to the amount of light. You may or may not remember learning the colors of the rainbow in school. The colors are remembered by this acronym “ROY G BIV”. These letters mean red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. There are exceptions to every rule. Most of the time I run lure colors of red, orange, or yellow when that lure is presented in the portion of the water column with the most light. The other end of the rainbow blue, indigo and violet are used in darker or low light situations. You may ask what about silver and white? I consider these as neutral or they will work in any type of light. All the other colors fall into either bright or dark. Bright lures are used in bright light conditions dark lures in low light.
Now let’s get back to setting our deep lines. Go with colors for low light that work well at a speed you intend to run and in the size of the baitfish. Large Reaper magnum glow spoons, dodgers or flashers with flies, or spin-n-glows and lake trolls work most days. Look for temps below 45 degrees for the biggest Lake Trout. This presentation is usually on downriggers working below 100 feet deep. I will get into downrigger presentation in another article.

Midway down the water column
The next mini set will run in water above the deep lines. Fish the 48-53 degree water spreading the lines to run about every ten feet of depth. Here we are looking for Chinooks and Coho salmon. I like a mix of dodgers, flashers flies and spoons. Of these three choices spoons are the easiest to present and most productive. There is a variety of ways to work the middle of the water column but, without a doubt lead core and copper lines on planner boards will be the most successful.

High lines
The balance of my lines will run in 54 degrees or warmer water looking for rainbows and browns. Depending on how much warm water you have to work with you can cover it with long lines, diving planers and lead core. The mini set in the warmest water with lots light should have the lures with fastest action and brightest colors. Minnow type lures are a great productive choice with their fast action.

Summary
Run Mini Sets for all your targets in the temperature zone you expect to find them. Temperature is the key to success with the correct color and action in the depth of water you are fishing.

Check out http://www.badgertackle.com for Reaper, Vulcan and Nestor Wobbler spoons proven and tested by anglers worldwide. Have a great fishing season. Captain Jim. 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© 2011, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.

Finding Spring Fish on Lake Michigan

In the last article, we started with the importance of location, tackle, temperature and good record keeping. I also covered some of my key ways to find fish in early spring on Lake Michigan and the hot set ups to keep the rods dancing.
Let us now go into more detail on location of temperature breaks and how to work them. The first and perhaps most important is how to find these sometimes subtle temperature changes. 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 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. Also check out 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 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© 2011, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.

Milwaukee Salmon Fishing Heaven!

Where do I go?
Milwaukee fishing is as easy as it gets. We truly have a world-class fishery. There are three launch ramps for trailerable boats within minutes of dozens of hotels. McKinley Marina 1750 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, South Shore Marina 2900 S. Shore Dr. and Riverfront Launch 650 S. Water. McKinley Marina 414-273-5224 can arrange transient slips for those who would like to do an overnight. For general information on ramps and fees call 414-257-6100. Shopping abounds for the ladies who prefer not to fish. Excellent dining, in all price ranges, will make your family outing complete. The Milwaukee Visitor Bureau 800-554-1448 is a great source of information. Wisconsin has a generous daily bag limit on Lake Michigan. You may keep five total of salmon or trout over ten inches. Possession limit is two daily limits. You may use three rods per person.

How do I catch fish?
I would like to share with you some of my keys to finding fish and the hottest set ups for very early presentation. I start my season in early April and the most important factor at this time is temperature. I recommend launching at McKinley. When you come out of the marina, stay inside the break wall. This area is well protected and is always fishable. Proceed south about one mile to the mouth of the river. The best early action will be where the warm river water meets the colder water. The mouth of the river and harbor breakwall gaps is where you want to fish. The most active species will be salmon and Brown Trout in the 5 to 12 pound class with many limit catches.
Presentation?
Motor trolling is the method I use for most of my fishing, and I will explain one of my basic spring setups. I fish all my lines on planner boards with twenty-pound test line. Use a six foot leader 3/8-ounce keel sinker twenty feet behind the board. I recommend a boat speed of 2.0 M.P.H. Run small crank baits, medium size jointed minnow type lures and some spoons. 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 Badger Tackle Vulcan glow in the dark lures sold at http://www.badgertackle.com are an excellent option. 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© 2011, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved.

Video Fishing Report Lake Michigan Sept. 11th 2010

Video Fishing Report August 26th 2010

Here is my written report. I am working on a video it should be done soon! Have a hot Summer!!!

Milwaukee Fishing Salmon Reports August 9th 2010
By Capt. Jim Hirt
The fish have been moving around and some days are great and some days you have to work for fish. Most productive presentation the last several days has been Magnum Reaper spoons in silver with green or blue green accent stripes. The Magnum Peacock and Fish n Chip have been my go to spoon for my 4,5,6 and 8 color lead cores. Downriggers are also producing with the same spoons and some flasher flies. The best depths for downriggers have been 25, 35, 45 and 60 feet. As you can tell the high lines are taking most of the fish in depths of 60 to 100 feet. We have had some great Coho to 11 pounds with many Chinook in all sizes up to 22 pounds. Lake Trout are always available even on the slower days when you slow the boat down to 1.5 MPH measured at the ball with the Depth Raider. The Depth Raider is an essential part of your tools for trolling with the current we have on Lake Michigan. Speed up to 2.1 when working the Kings. Shore anglers are having decent action with cold water now at the break walls near the bottom. Let me tell you where and what to use. To see my how to video fish report go to http://www.jimhirt.com
Travel northeast out of the North Gap about 3 miles at a 60 degrees compass for the cold water that holds the fish. Look for fish from 20 to 60 down on all presentations. Slide Divers with 70 feet of line out are a steady producer with magnum Reaper Peacock or Fish n Chip spoons. Glow spoons have also been working all day long in the magnum size like the Reaper Fish Fry.
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.

Fish Report Milwaukee July 9th 2010