SE WI harbors

[collinfishes]

Pretty slow day today. Got some nice fish though :). 2 nice steelies and a nice brown. Did a lot of moving around and it paid off. Wouldn't sparying wd 40 on your blades be kinda bad for the lake?? I don't know though.

[cheddermelt]

gonna hit up Mckinley and see how it goes will post pictures and my later report when im done.

Good luck all,

Chedda

[deadeternity]

Cheddarmelt, good luck man. Save some fish for me and Joe :D.

Eric, thanks for the info on that auger. I really want a power auger but the budget is slim this year. But I will check them augers out and most likely purchase one for next winter......

[vdubdipr]

ive heard that they sell an attachment for ur cordless drill for the hand augers.. li batterys are way better they say...

[cheddermelt]

Well got the paycheck spent some money on an ultra light. Didnt test it out at Mckinley, But since Joe had my net i pretty much screwed myself for landing a fish. used an ultra light with 4lb vanish a small split shot with a purple egg sucking leach. Not really impressed with the vanish i only put on about 110 yards and i was still having tangles and loops in my spool. I think ill just stick to pline and gamma from now on. went 0/2 had a nice brown on but snapped me right at shore. It wasnt a winter which is suprising because they should be coming up rivers and in the harbor soon i would think? and lost a dark red steelie (kamploos?) was head shaking doin the yo yo and then made a run and lost it. All i really know is skamania since they are long and skinny. This steel was shorter and more stout from what i could see. but im not to aware of the types of steelhead stockings down here. Ik in the superior chain and Deluth area Kamploos are common but not sure bout down here. Well i guess better luck next time. Heading up to green bay tonight for some monster pike, waldo, and perch.

Good luck,

Chedda

Eric,

Love the "ice fishing" on lake michigan for browns and steels videos online. Already savin my money come January im lookin at gettin on that air boat and knockin them fish dead!!!! Also in the guide trip is driving that air boat included in the package? man that thing looks raw to drive i would love to test that out lol

[collinfishes]

Got out today for a couple hours later in the day. Got 2 nice browns and a small northern. Wish I could post pictures but I can't do it from my phone :/

[collinfishes]

Got out yesterday for awhile. Got one brown. And one snap off. Missed a few flags as well. Lots of guys didn't really see to many runnin to flags. This rain will probably screw things up alittle bit. Gonna go give it a try in some open water ill let you know how it goes.

[Eric Haataja]

In regards to the Vanish I use the Vanish Gold transition for main line and stren floro for leaders or 100 perent flor trilene makes. Probably my all time favorite line for never get many line tangles is 8 lb trilene XL.

Hope that helps and be safe on that Ice I'll wait a bite longer now with the warm up....

[collinfishes]

Didn't get to open water instead me and buddy went out on the ice and its a good thing we did. My buddy got a monster brown and another nice brown and I got a nice brown in about an hour of fishin started to rain alittle so we packed up.

[Lenda]

Yesterday was much better than today. Saturday= 19 fish, Sunday=7 fish :( Here are a few cute ones.

[deno b.]

holy wind bateman. very windy day kind of slow. manage to get this rainbow along with brown. As far as the harbor don't think its been producing as much as i would like. saw some brave people fishing on the ice up the river. With colder temps thats were i will be. be careful and enjoy.

[collinfishes]

Not much action today. Did get a double header though :) which was pretty intense because I was fishin by myself got both fish in though. One was a nice brown about 12lbs and the other one was nice brown too. Lost one as well.

[collinfishes]

Got out yesterday and today. Got skunked yesterday :/ and got a nice steelie today. Water clarity is still pretty bad.

[SheHateMe]

Well I braved the cold and did a little ice fishing in the marina. Went 8-10 (6 browns, 1 bow, and one laker). The browns and bow were caught jigging a small spawn sac and the laker was caught on a tip up with a shiner(First laker I caught out of Lake Michigan ice fishing). Only was able to get his one photo, I guess my camera batteries did not like the cold. All fish still swimming.

[BigMusky]

hit milwaukee harbor today for first time through ice...got one brown and one nice steelie in four hours. Brown on spawn sack and steelie jigging. There was tons of ice where I was fishing and good water. Missed two other fish on spawn.

[collinfishes]

Got out today and did alright me and my buddy got 5 fish 2 browns 3 steelies. All on spawn. Merry christmas :)

[deno b.]

Good day on the ice, got this rainbow on a tip-up w/ spawn sac. Barely got it through the hole awesome fight. Got it through the hole and the hooks straightened out, pinned it on the side of the hole and pulled through. Biggest one i've gotton through the ice. about 31inches. good fishing

[collinfishes]

Did ok today. Got 2 on the ice. Missed 2 others. Lots of people out today. That's a beautiful steelie :)

[collinfishes]

Did pretty good today got 4 on the ice and my buddy lost one jiggin. 2 steelies 2 browns. Hope this rain doesn't muddy the water to bad :/

[Eric Haataja]

I'd bet it will suck down there (Racine) for at least a week or so....Maybe longer?? Thanks for the reports collin!

Eric

[blitzfish]

sadly, the first time I am able to hit the ice sounds like it will be a nasty one. I am heading to milwaukee in the morning and hoping to pick up a few, but no high hopes here!!! Hope yesterday's bite lasts till then!!! Blitz

[collinfishes]

Ya the water got worse as the day went on today. Got 3 steelies and a brown and my buddy got a brown. Spawn did it for us. By around 1 o'clock the water clarity was horrible. :( time to panfish :'(

[blitzfish]

There was no water to be found on the ice in McKinley Marina. Must've just drained into the big pond.

[deno b.]

Just wondering if anybody has been down to the Racine harbor lately? Have not fished it since all the rain last weekend. Thinking of heading down there this weekend but if the water is still all muddy, i'll go to plan "b". Wait...... i don't have a plan "b".

Any info would be great. Happy New Year. deno b.

[collinfishes]

I went past the harbor today and the water still looked really muddy. No one was fishin either. The river is still kickin good too I would say at least a couple of days till the river is back to normal and a few more days till the harbor clears up. :( but who knows. for now I'm stuck fishin for panfish still fun but not as fun as them browns ya know :)

[collinfishes]

finally got on a computer to post some pictures. heres a few from the past couple weeks. i got to many to post :) one is of the double header i got :)

[Siebold]

I finally got out after some trout this afternoon. I went 1-1 with a nice buck steelie that was about 6-7lbs. Fish was caught on spawn. Nothing caught while jigging. Ice varried. I had anywhere from 10-13 inches with one spot that the auger went through after only 4-5 turns so be careful. Water clarity seemed good.

[collinfishes]

Man this past week has been toughhh for me. Haven't had any action till 2 days ago. I went 1-2. With a small spawned out brown jiggin. First fish I've got jiggin this season. Then yesterday went 0-2. And today me and my buddy went 1-2 my buddy got decent male brown on spawn. I missed one on the auto fisherman as I was settin up :( water clarity is still kinda bad. Should change soon Haven't seen anyone doin any good either. The fish have been droppin the bait real quick the past few days also. Even went up to milwaukee harbor last weekend and nothin lots of guys out and didn't see anyone runnin to any flags either. Good luck everybody. Collin

[collinfishes]

Oh I also fished up the river by the cable bridge and boy was that ice sketchy. Was about 2 1/2-3in. of ice. Middle of the river was still open. got skunked. Was only there for about 3 hours. seen 3 fish move up river.

[sruege]

does anyone know a place i can buy "GOOD" spawn sacks in milwaukee? I'm not good at making my own and would like to buy some..if you sell spawn sacks call me at 262-353-6219 that would be great! thanks

[luv2fish]

This came up in the forums section awhile ago....Fishin Hole on Layton Ave and Bobs on HWY 100 have the best spawn around....

[sruege]

thanks i hit up Bob's..what a nice guy!

[collinfishes]

actually got into a couple fish today. me and my buddys went 3-5. 2 browns and a steelie. All fish were caught on spawn.

[collinfishes]

Perfect day for fishin today finally there was no wind :) fish cooperated alittle to me and buddy got 3. All browns. the one my buddy caught was crazy he set hook and his line snapped at the reel. Some how he grab the line before it dissapeared in the hole and got the fish. also guys next to us got a perch! First one I've ever seen pulled threw the ice down there. Water is still alittle cloudy but a whole lot better then it has been. Good luck.

[Eric Haataja]

I have been out in both the summer fest lagoon and Mckinnely and the bite has been pretty decent with a few (3-4) on a slow day and as many as 12 on a good day. Minnows, skein, spawn, jigs with gulp jigging spoons and jigging raps are the ticket each day is a little different......

Check out that coho we caught through the ice .....I was told that it could actually be a line class record for ice fishing..... who knows we threw it back. We landed 2 coho's this particular day.

Here's a few fish and video's from this past week.

[Eric Haataja]

Here's a few more pics and videos from this past week.

Eric

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB8ofKDyCGw&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tYWGgQRj8&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mInEs_xOzu8&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SzVTTBL1To&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGO8gs47A-s&feature=channel_page

[blitzfish]

ur making me jealous cuz I haven't even iced one yet this year, but then again I have only been out one day so far for them. I may try this weekend though.

[collinfishes]

Me and a couple buddys went out 3 days ago and did ok. Got 2 on the ice and hooked and lost atleast 9. :( still was fun to be out. I got a brown jiggin and my buddy got a brown on spawn. Me and a buddy went out the next day and he a got a brown.

[deno b.]

This weather SUCKS!!! I'm going through fishing withdrawals. Symptoms are not being able to fish, uncontrollable shaking, involuntary eye twitching, and getting pissed off cause I can't go outside to fish.

One more day of this then I better go get my head checked. I wonder why I live here, then the temperature reaches 25 degrees farenheit and then I am all happy again.

Hopefully DR. Phil uses this site. I feel better now.

[blitzfish]

Well... thats sad... there is one more day left of this then the low is supposed to come through saturday morning along with some warm weather!!!

[collinfishes]

Got out today after bein couped up inside for two days and did pretty good. Me and 2 buddys got 7 and missed 4. All browns. Spawn did it for us. Water clarity is finally better also.

[blitzfish]

Must've been great to have that dropping pressure, now it seems like it's going up a little again, but shouldn't be too bad tomorrow. Was thinking about trying it down at summerfest but tossed a coin and decided Kettle Moraine Lake Sunday morning and try Summerfest sometime by myself during the week! Keep us posted collin!

[collinfishes]

Got out today with a couple guys. Went 5-11 or so. 4 browns and a steelie. Missed our share mostly me haha. Had 2 break offs :( spawn sacks did it for us today. Few hits on shiners too. Quite a few guys out today.

[samthemaster]

i got out today in the morning around 830-10. saw some fish swim by on the hummingbird. tried throwing my spawn sac right on the spot but no takers. maybe will try again some other day.

[BigMusky]

FOUND

I found an Aqua Vu MotoPod at summerfest grounds today...PM me to claim.

Finished day with one walleye jigging, lost a big brown jigging and had one one drive by on AF

[collinfishes]

Had an alright day today got a real nice steelie and a brown. Missed one and my buddy got a nice brown. Spawn sacks again.

[Eric Haataja]

Last 2 days have been good with 8 fish yesterday and 11 fish today. I have a crazy story to share that none of you will ever believe....luckily we captured it on video........ Fishing has been good in most of the harbors... I 'll post more details when I have time...lots of phone calls, and e-mails to answer along with tying spawn and getting stuff ready for tomorrow....

Check out some of the vids I posted on you-tube

http://www.wisconsinfishingvideos.com/play.php?vid=154

http://www.youtube.com/user/wibigfishcom

Eric

[deadeternity]

Nice site Eric, I left you a pick comment but after you read the comment I will have to remind you.....SHHHHHHH,lol

[collinfishes]

Had an alright day today managed to get a few on the ice. went 3-9. All browns. Spawn sacks did it for me color didn't seem to matter much. Had the fire dept doin training IN the water about 20 yards away from my tip up and still had flags flyin. It was pretty crazy seein them do that and was not expectin my flag to up at all with them in the water like that especially not more than once. Finally got my autofisherman set up right with the right pole to consistenly hook fish. I was about to give up on that thing haha. Definetly lost my share of fish today but still a fun day like always. Good luck.
Collin

[Reel Addiction]

I fished the summerfest pond on Saturday afternoon. Not a whole lot to report since we went 0-2. Lost one really nice bow at the hole (jigging a small jig and minnow) which sucked and had another flag but we didn't get hooks.

[sruege]

I know these are hard to come by as they are sold out in lots of locations. I stopped at Cabelas which had a sad ice fishing selection today. Gander mountain in Germantown sold out. The last stop was Fleet in Germantown I hit the jack pot lots in stock today! so if your looking for them thats the ticket they ran 49.99 with the reel included. good fishing!

[Eric Haataja]

Well I made it out this past week to film a T.V. show this past week in Racine and we had some fantastic action.

We started off ice fishing in the harbor where we did fairly well the first day landing about a dozen nice browns with one really nice one James caught! Before I go any further I have to say James can really heat things up when it comes to a tip up race! I mean this guy seriously can heat up the ice when he see's a flag pop! So my point is I did not get much time reeling in many fish because this guy would just come flying by me like a track star.....I suppose that's what I get for being a bit out of shape!

Our second day we fished up in the Root River through the ice and did well on browns and steelhead with some really good action landing some nice fish. The best baits in the harbor and rivers these days were gulp, skein and spawn.

On the third day we did a little something on the crazy side we took a chance as the harbor opened up just for a day or two and Made it out to some big ice flows where we just put the smack down on the browns and steelhead!!!! My guess would be that we caught at least 40 fish maybe 50+ in about 5 hours of fishing. We have some crazy video as well with us ice fishing and fish jumping in the open water behind us...

Laslty on the 1st day we fished some how we caught 2 fish on 1 tip up. Don't ask me how the heck it happened other than the brown got the line some how stuck in his mouth as he swam by and another brown east the eggs ....you'll have to see it to believe it and then it's still hard to believe!

Fishing was a little slower today we landed a couple of browns with my 1 client but nothing fantastic today.

That's about it...My ice fishing Brown Trout school was a blast this weekend and I'm heading back on the ice again tomorrow!

I'll get some pictures up asap but we're in the process of making some major changes to the site so hang in there for a short while.

[flunker24]

So for the first time ever here in Milwaukee I made it to the Harbor just to check out the area and the ice, brought along an ice scooper and a jig pole just incase i found a hole i could break in and actually found one, jigged some gulp for a bit, saw a frabill shanty out there, that was it, maybe it was you Eric? Then headed to Summerfest Grounds, no one was there.... walked around on the ice for a bit. I was lucky to talk my friend into taking me. (I don't have a car down here) Got an ice auger lined up and a fishing buddy so hopefully I can start actually fishing this winter!

[Needtofishmore]

I'm just curious ... does anyone ever ice fish in the harbors for browns after dark?

[collinfishes]

got out this weekend and did terrible haha. 0-1 both days. monday was alittle better. me and my buddy went 3-14 all browns. one nice one about 15lb. i lost a real nice one jiggin. and every other fish i had haha. spawn was what did for us. today was still slow but alittle better i went 4-4 and finally didnt get skunked and my buddy missed one. all browns again. got a nice little eater around 16in. was gonna let em go but it was hooked in the gills and bleedin :( biggest was about 13lb. saw the craziest thing ive seen in awhile. i saw a goldfish swimmin right under the ice! it was a pretty big one too. wouldnt mind catchin a couple of those threw the ice :p ill try to post some pictures later.

[Eric Haataja]

Here's a few pics from this past week

[Eric Haataja]

A few more pictures from both Racine Harbor and Milwaukee Harbor.

[Eric Haataja]

Nothing like a perfect sunrise followed up by a day of lots of action on the Ice this past week.

[collinfishes]

pretty slow again today me and my buddy joe got 2 and missed one i got a nice brown and he got a steelie. heres a couple pictures from yesterday.

[collinfishes]

heres a couple nice ones from last week.

[collinfishes]

eh one more... :D

[collinfishes]

Fishin has been tough these past few days. Went 0-2 yesterday :( and today we went 4-11. Did a lot of movin around. Fish didn't want to cooperate too much anywhere. Tomorrow should be interesting.

[deno b.]

Fished the jamboree in racine harbor, kind of a slow day did manage to catch a couple of browns. Lots of guys fishing the tournament last I heard 106 people fishing. Still was a good time, already looking forward to next year, a well organized tournament. good fishing

[deno b.]

Here is a picture from the derby.

[Needtofishmore]

I didn't know about the tourney and didn't enter, but did get one decent female today. First one through the ice! Thanks for the info last weekend, Eric!

[Eric Haataja]

Nice fish!

We also fished in Racine today and did so so we ended up with 7 fish up in the river and missed 6-7 others and had guys snap a few off. We had non stop action early in the morning then things slowed a bunch for after 10 A.M. we had a triple header and 2 doubles at one point. The bite up in the river has been good!

[deno b.]

Fished most of the day on the mighty root. Ended up getting a rainbow and a brown on spawn. Kind of a slow day, didn't see any other fish caught. At about 1:30 a buddy of mine got a real clean bow, other than that a slow but fun day. good fishing.

[Eric Haataja]

I will be giving a open water brown trout school listed below for the cost of $75.00 specifically going over everything I know about how, where, why and what to use to catch and target big brown trout on both spinning tackle and trolling techniques. This will cover both spring and fall time techniques which change tremendously. The Class will be limited to 30 people.

So if you looking how to troll for Big Browns, or target them in shallow water in spring summer or fall, I will discuss the various techniques and specific places to fish for them. Check out this class it will be very detail orientated!


Send me an e-mail at haataja2@netzero.com or call 414-546-4627 I have about 20 seats still available.

Gander Mtn. Franklin Salmon Event
February 21st at Gander Mtn. Franklin

[Eric Haataja]

The bite has been either good or slow as of late, I had one of the best days ever Ice fishing where customers and myself landed 22 fish on the Ice. It was ridiculas with the amount of fish we had on and snapped off as well. At one point we had 4 fish on at one time with a triple header and 2 or 3 double headers fishing here in Milwaukee.

The funny thing is that I have a lot of footage on video but I forgot my battery for my camera in the charger so I'm waiting for a freind to e-mail me a few pics.

Then the next day day we caught 2 fish in the same spot...go figure?? Heading back out again tomorrow to see if the fish are there!

Here's a few pics from this past week.

Eric

[collinfishes]

fishing has not been to good the past few days. saturday i got 0. haha. yesterday was better than the day before but not great we went 3-3 all browns, the one i got was a dandy. today i went 1-1 with a nice steelie up in the river. also had some real nice guys come and drill holes a couple feet away from me so i called it a day :mad:

[Eric Haataja]

Sorry to here that Collin I think we've all had that happen more than we'd like to talk about....

Here's a few fish from Recently.

Eric

[collinfishes]

did ok today went 2-3 both browns. that wind today was something else. had some more guys come and drill with in feet of me again today. :confused: haha oh well. eric man im so jealous of those lakers, those are some beautiful fish. oh and thank you for the help with my autofisherman its hooked up with every fish since then and so has joes. :)

[Eric Haataja]

Glad to hear the automatic fisherman is working well for you guys! There's lots of small details that make a big difference when it comes to trout fishing! Take care and nice job today!!!

Eric

[deno b.]

Was able to get this nice brown jigging. Awesome day on the ice.

[Eric Haataja]

Made it out today with Steve P. from North American fisherman Television and Magazine and we fished the harbor for browns and did very well. By 1 P.M. we had enough fish to film an entire show. We ended up going 12 for 20 today with a couple of brutes. The show should air in about 4 weeks. we were supposed to fish for 2 days but wrapped things up just after 1 PM


Fish were hitting, minnows, spawn, skein, gulp.

I was very surprised with this big cold snap that the fish would be snapping but it goes to show, you just never know unless your out there trying. I did not take any pictures.

Eric

[mplant1]

Special thanks to Eric for the help and tips I picked up at the Trout Seminar. Awesome advice, and I learned a boatloat!!

Fished Kenosha harbor and picked up two Browns, both around 4-5 lbs each working brown spawn tied in pink sacs about a foot off the bottom using a slip float.

Gonna try Racine this weekend!!

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa280/mikedogg195/trout2b.jpg

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa280/mikedogg195/FHtrout2.jpg

[deno b.]

made it out from 9-2:00 with a friend. not a bad day caught four fish all browns. Pictured is two of the biggest browns i've ever gotton through the ice. Just a couple of slobs.Three fish caught on auto-fisherman and one other caught jigging. Slow day for jigging.

Very windy out there, all fish cpr'd Good fishing!!

[collinfishes]

fishing has been slowly getting better. this warm weather should help i hope. yesterday me and a buddy went 3-5 all browns and today i went 2-3 again all browns. got em both on 3lb test which was a blast :D. those are some real nice fish dean. nice job man. :) heres some pictures from today and yesterday nothing huge. still fun though :D

[Eric Haataja]

3 lb test that's crazy....... That's cool though...Just wait until you hook a pig or a chrome big steelie you'll wish you had 6 or 8 :-)):D:D

Nice fish Dean!!!!!

Eric

[chihook]

Here he is! My first brown through the ice in Kenosha harbor on Super Bowl Sunday. Caught using skein on automatic fisherman that i learned how to use from Eric at the ice fishing school. Thanks a lot man! It was also caught using the skien you gave me. Great times and I truly appreciate the instruction.

[Eric Haataja]

Very cool glad to see your having some success! Kenosha like I said is one of the best harbors to Ice fish for Big Browns. Typically there's not as many people that fish there as well which makes it even more enjoyable.

Great Job!

Eric

[collinfishes]

haha ya i cant wait to hook up with a big one on it. it should be interesting thats for sure. fishing today was good we went 6-14. well i didnt even get a bite all day :( but joe and joe got into em. all browns with one big ole male. spawn and skein both worked.

[deno b.]

made it out today from 7-2:30. Caught 3 browns on the autofisherman and one on a slip bobber. Not anything to big. Ice was really starting to melt made for a sloppy day. Here is a picture of one of the fish. good fishing and be safe on the ice with these warm temperatures.

[collinfishes]

decent but very frustrating day today. i went 2-7. got a brown and a steelie.
but i lost an absolute monster steelie. it ruined the drag on my reel with the runs it was taking, had almost to the spool a few times then it just popped off :mad::(:(:(:(:(. still a good day though. i was the only one to get bit today out 3 guys. funny how that happens. ima be back for that steelie tomorrow :D

[Eric Haataja]

I was also in Racine today, up in the river and it was just absolutely nuts!!!

With 3 of us we went 19 for 31 and should have easily landed 25 fish that were rushed or snapped off. Steelies, browns etc...at about 9-10 A.M all Heck broke loose for us and all we did is literally run non stop for the next 3 hours with maybe a 5 minutes break in between battles. We had 2 quads ( 4 fish on at a time) and we landed 1 quad and got 3 of 4 on the second quad. also had a triple and countless doubles. Had a great time sharing stories with spawn sac dick and a few others. Just a great day to be out there on the water (hard water) that is....

Both spawn and jigging caught most of our fish, most bites came a bit higher than normal and we caught our fish 2-3 feet off the bottom, the other weird thing is that i caught a bunch of fish on coho eggs today which was odd but seemed to make a huge difference for a while.

There were a few other fisherman around us but I only saw a couple of other fish caught all day by us, so I think the different eggs made a big difference today. I ran out of coho eggs and things slowed down for us. Caught a few fish on brown eggs but not nearly as many. I'll try to post some pics when i get some time....gotta get ready for tomorrow.:rolleyes::rolleyes::):)

Got some good video as well!!

Eric

[Needtofishmore]

We thought we had a good day today (4 for 8) ... and then I read Erics report. WOW! :eek: Here are a few pics of our 3 browns and one steelie.

[WiSalmonUnlimited]

First post . Ice fished Racine reef point marina today and we did pretty well.

Check out the NEW Salmon Unlimited of Wisconsin website:

http://www.salmonunlimitedwisconsin.com/

http://www.salmonunlimitedwisconsin.com/forum

Check the message board for pictures under "On Shore Reports". I am not trying to take away from this board, but just give everyone another site for reports and info

Thanks,

Chris SU Wisconsin webmaster

[deno b.]

Was out in Racine for a good part of the day. Did well, ended up getting six fish all browns with one clean rainbow. Missed a bunch of others. Guy I was fishing with had a real nice rainbow on, fought it for a while but lost it at the hole. Snapped his line.

There was a real friendly guy fishing next to us with his two young sons. Watch his one kid bring in a nice brown. But a little while later we heard his youngest son screaming for his dad. Ended up falling through the ice, by the pipe that goes under the road that connects at the boat launch. His dad ended up pulling him out. But i'm pretty sure the kid caught himself, so he did not go all the way under. Just sucked hearing that poor kid scream. My point is, There are some unsafe spots down there now with these warm temperatures, like along the piers, they can get real thin ice. I don't mean to preach, it all ended well down there. Just be safe. Here is a pic of my buddy and me with a couple from today.

[Eric Haataja]

Thanks Dean for the heads up on safety, I just can't imagine if things went the other way, thank god he did not go under the ice!

Guys there's a lot of area's that have been froze over a while with pumps and current so stay in the main channel and you should be safe, some piers can be unsafe along with the area's by the pumps.

On a side note the fishing has been tremendous down there!!

Eric

[collinfishes]

decent fishing today. we went 4-8 all browns some pretty nice fish. spawn and skien worked for us. hope fully this rain doesnt mess it up too bad :(

[deno b.]

Manage to get the long rods out this afternoon. Fished the boat launch from 2-3:30 with spawn sacs under a slip bobber. Got this little girl maybe 5lbs, small one so I keeped her. It was hard to gauge how many fish were still in there. But in the hour and a half I was there saw one brown cruising and another one jumped. Nice day to be out. Good fishing. Dean.

[collinfishes]

fishing today was pretty good. it really picked up mid morning we were running back and fourth every 7 min. or so then they shut off. got one or two in the afternoon compared to yesterday where it didnt pick up till the afternoon. we ended up going 7-10 today. got 5 browns a northern and a steelie. was really nice to see a northern come threw the hole. even better to watch it swim away. ice seems to be holding out. some spots are getting bad though, waters muddying up already too :( this lovely rain shouldnt help too much either. nice to see you got one on the big rods. gave em try yesterday, it felt pretty goofy casting a big pole again :p

[gloomis]

1st time fishing Racine yesterday, fished up in the river in front of the restaurant. Skunked... 1st time I've ever since a tip-up get blown right out of a hole... tried shiners, gulp, zips, and skein...nice day anyways

[Eric Haataja]

Nice job collin!!

Here's a few fish from this week.

[collinfishes]

thanks man. those are some nice fish. fished in this beautiful weather today and we did pretty good for the little while we were there. ended up going 5-10 in like an hour and half, then they slowed down pretty good. 4 browns and another northern :) got a decent brown on the 3lb. today. its just to much fun on that pole :D:D:D im goin for 1lb. next :p probably coulda toughed it out and got more but we decided to call it a day at 11:30. went past the river also and man it was roarinn. west winds should help get rid of that chocolate milk alittle quicker i hope.

[MuskyNate]

So how's the water is it real dirty?

[collinfishes]

got back down to the harbor with the big poles from 12:30-4ish and man those fish were happy to see me haha. ended going 6-16. 4 steelies and 2 browns most of the fish i lost were steel too. one of the steelies i got snapped me off then i caught him like an hour later and got my hook back haha gotta love it. then they seemed to shut off at about 3. had some guy come right on top of me and cast his bobber 3ft. away from mine the whole time i was there. his bobber never went down :D the water across the street was chocolate milk and the side i was on was gettin close :/ once the rivers drop alittle fishing should get pretty crazy. wish i coulda got some better pictures but i by myself.

[chihook]

Fished Kenosha harbor today on the ice and it was pretty slow. I landed the one fish I saw caught all day. The one fish though was the biggest brown trout I have ever pulled through the ice. It was a beast and it was all caught on 8 pound test. He was caught with skein about 1 foot off the bottom. I was using a tip down and it worked great. a beautiful day on the ice with slow action but one really nice bite. he cpr'd and is still swimming the harbor tonight. What a monster of a fish.

[Eric Haataja]

What a brute congrats on an awesome fish and an even better release! I tip my hat to you! Great job!

Eric

[blitzfish]

tried port Washington for a little while sunday morning by the discharge. Good to have the bridge across the creek done, didn't even see a single fish sadly. no hits either.

[Eric Haataja]

Sunday was definitly tougher for us as well. We landed 8 or 9 browns in the Milwaukee harbor in the boat but the bite was not good! :-((((

[collinfishes]

ended up going 0-2 sun. at the harbor, what a difference a day makes. went inland yesterday and we did pretty good no big boys but lots of little ones missed a few nice ones though. me and joe got the biggest double header of northerns ever :p bluegills were pretty slow. got a decent large mouth too. went back down to the lake today and it was pretty slow and the water was still very dirty. we ended up going 2-7. spawn, skein, and jigging worked.

[sruege]

looking for ice conditions at the Racine Harbor? anyone been down lately? would like to get down this weekend and want to be safe about it!
thanks

[Eric Haataja]

It should be clearing up down there?? How is it collin?

[collinfishes]

the ice is all over the place down there. its anywhere from 4in. to 12in. so be careful down there. water is still real bad. could barely see the bottom of the hole. fishing today was slowww. ended up going 2-4. was realllly nice to have the place to ourselves today even if the fish didnt want to cooperate.

[Needtofishmore]

When the ice gets thin ... if you can get to a pier (from the stairway) are you allowed to fish from them? I'm thinking a hand auger and setting Automatic Fisherman right on the pier. Will I get kicked off in Racine or Sheboygan?

[sruege]

thanks for the report collin saves me the trip...gonna try sheboygan.

[Eric Haataja]

Made it out with some clients from shore one day this week and we just crushed the fish! Clients landed 19 fish in 5-6 hours of fishing along with missing several other fish. Very good day from shore! Minnows, gulp, spawn, skein and casting cranks all worked for us.

Check out how few dots or spots the one brown on the pier has...Pretty cool unique fish!


I love to shore fish!

[Eric Haataja]

A few more fish

[collinfishes]

fishing was pretty slow today. we went 1-5 in 8 hours of fishing with 5 guys. water is still dirty. ice was cracking pretty good. so shes making ice.

[collinfishes]

heres the only one from today.

[fuzzyfishin]

Having no luck using gulp. Been using 1/4 jigheads. Can I get a little help in rigging? Thank you.
Planning on gettin to Racine on sunday.

Collin, great picks. May see you down there on sun.

[antiskunkmonk]

Would like to make a trip to racine this week. is it worth the effort? How bout it Collin, Nobody knows the harbor better than you. Get that one on one pound test yet?

[collinfishes]

the water is still muddy but it didnt look too bad. the rivers cleared up so the harbors next. tried up river this morning and it was pretty much impossible to fish with all the ice chunks floating down. so we went to the harbor for alittle while and did alright. ended up 3-8.

[Reel Addiction]

Fished Saturday afternoon in the snow and went 0-3. Not a steller day since I broke 2 off at the hole.:mad: All fish hit medium shiners, nothing touched the spawn.

[fuzzyfishin]

We had a steller day. Not a fish landed. Two dropped/flags, one 2sec fight. Saw 4 fish caught all day (7-4pm) Tried everything from scane/eggs spoons gulp notta. This was at Mckinley yesterday.

[deno b.]

Fished from 8:00-3:30 what a blast. Just about ready to give up on icefishing want to get ready for open water. Been a great year icefishing and the fun continues.

Me and three buddies got out landed seven or eight fish today all browns. Most were females, one was full of eggs, squeezed the eggs out and released her. If there was ever such thing as a honey hole well I witnesed it today.

We pulled out three fish out of that hole, but my buddy must of missed eight fish out of that hole. He was fishing a longer rod with a slip bobber just could not connect. So I was by that hole and the bobber went down so I got it. Pulled out a nice brown.Then when my friend was leaving who was missing fish i put my auto fisherman in that same hole, not five minutes later we hooked in a nice brown. Fun to see mly friends face when we pulled out a ten pound brown out of his hole. Awesome day on the ice. good fishing. LAKE FM RULES. haha

[deno b.]

Forgot to mention on my previous post. The picture of a friend with his zipper open. He did not even know it was, thought it would make for a good laugh.

[Lake&Pond]

Started in river yesterday morning but with the amount of ice/slush flowing down and the cooler temp. it made for tough fishing. Headed to the harbor and fished from 9:30 to 3:00. Ended up 1-1, one brown.

[collinfishes]

ventured out on my own today and tried a new spot. and its was alright. went 3-4. all browns with one decent female around 10lbs.

[collinfishes]

pretty interesting day today. started out in the harbor and went 0-9. just couldnt get a hook in em or get a chance to set hook in em, so we decided the river would be a idea and fishing was alright. we ended up 5-9. joe and joe got em all today. i got one 4in rainbow, a ko wobbler, and a bobber :p then me and joe found an old canoe and had some fun drifting the river in that. got some pretty mean looks from guys as we were floating past. sorry guys :p:D we had fun till we tipped her over and joe got soaked haha. very fun day though.

[collinfishes]

:d:d:d

[blitzfish]

I thought that was you. My buddy and I were coming as you were walking towards your car. We didn't have as good of luck as you though. went 0-4. oh well, guess I'll wait for the next warm spell.

[collinfishes]

got out today and fishing was pretty good in the morning i got down there late and my buddys were already 6-6 at around 930 we ended up 7-11. and decided to go to the river around 11 and did ok up there it was pretty slow, went 3-5. i didnt catch anything at the river again haha i was to distracted with the canoe and 6in. browns. :p oh also the river came up about 2-3ft. in about an hour and turned to chocolate milk :(:( only got 2 pictures

[cheddermelt]

Fished Kenosha harbor yesterday 2/26. Probably one of the worse conditions i have fished in a long time but managed to go 1-2 with spawn and bobber. fished right by the tube. Within a 1.5 the tube was pushin out chocolate milk and then fishing sucked! it is crazy to see what gets dumped into Lake Michigan there was a sled a bunch of garbage and nasty stuff comin out of the tube. I wish i would have taken a picture but by then i was soaked to the bone and could barely feel my fingers.

Nice female winter brown caught pictured and gave away lol

good luck,

Chedder

[collinfishes]

the harbor is now chocolate milk and so is the river. :(:(:(:( i didnt even wet a line today :(

[Reel Addiction]

Collin,

Do you think it's worth an attempt tomorrow or is it that bad?

[badgerfisher]

Does anyone have a report as to the water clarity in Sheboygan harbor? Thanks.

[collinfishes]

ah i dont think its even worth it but thats up to you.

[antiskunkmonk]

Want to fish saterday. Seen Eric with Winkelman on the tube and it got me all pumped up for some brown action. My luck the video was from last year. They were fishing tip-ups and we all know how Haataja feels abouy that. What about you Collin? Think its worth a try tomarrow? I suppose the river is just a torrent, so I would guess the farther we get away from it the clearer the water will be??? Let me know whats going on. Well probably see you out there tomarrow.

[Ben Kueng]

Spent a few days checking out other harbors this week with mixed results. Water clarity varies greatly from south to north, but there are plenty of good spots that are still holding fish. fished yesterday with clients and di pretty well. We missed the morning bite,moved spots around 11 and finally got on some nice fish. Ended up 6 for 6 on spawn.

Some of the better spots around SE WI should be barely clearing up just in time for more rain and above freezing temps this week..About time to pull the boat back out anyways!!

Good luck!

[chihook]

how is the ice depth at Racine and Kenosha?
haven't been fishing for a couple weeks and i am thinking of heading down soon.
thanks

[collinfishes]

going to the harbor in about 10min. but went to kenosha the other day and ice was pretty scary. first hole we drilled went threw in like 1.1 sec. there was only 2in. then 15 ft. away there was 10in. and 10 ft. away from that there was an inch and some frozen snow. we were in the new marina. water was horibble anyway. went out after some carp yesterday in some ponds and lakes around here and didnt get one bite on the carp lines. moved around to a couple different ponds and got into some decent perch crappies and gills then we got kicked out haha. oh well.
collin

[fuzzyfishin]

Came down yesterday to try some openwater fishin. Found it was iced up at the launch area. Was just there last thur. Crused around to find a spot on the river to wet a line and saw it also froze up.
Can anyone give direction to the dam incase this haps again. The drive from Whitewater is a long waste of petro.
Thank you

[cheddermelt]

Hope this posting HELPS!

Yesterday- went down to the harbor everything is locked up with ice still but there is a small opening by the pipe. Then walked over to the small boat harbor and there is still solid ice talked to 3 guys none of them had luck but reported that a guy caught on in open water by an airrator other then that pretty dead!

Today- went down to the pike talked to 2 anglers both were only fishing for about 10 mins each and reported nothing but the river looks good. one of the angler said he was at the root and got nothing but the river looked good he said. lots of anglers there too.

[collinfishes]

finally got the skunk out today :D moved around alittle from the river to the harbor then back to the river. we went 1-2. not too good but with how dirty the water is everywhere, im happy i got one. oh watch them pull a car out of the river today at lincoln! itll be on the news later if it hasnt already.

[Ben Kueng]

Fishings was pretty good for us this week! Clients landed some real nice browns and a couple steelhead..

[antiskunkmonk]

Went to mckinley harbor friday. Ice is receding along the edges. Fished off the peers at the north end. Went 0-4. Saw one nice brown iced, female, full. There were at least a dozen other fishermen out from the launch around the point and rock wall. Noticed at least 6 flags and fish lost. The water was still surprisingly clear and the weather was awsome to just sit on the peer and watch the automatics. Would have thought the fish would have been more active. After all this rain I figure were done on the harbor itself. Time to wait for soft water I guess.ANTISKUNKMONK GOT SKUNKED! Whats new

[Doors]

The warm weather had fresh steelhead and browns lurking the harbors this weekend with the rain and run off.
Fishing was good and we missed a fair amount of fish.
This was my neighbors first brown trout!
Look for the spring run of fish after things settle down.

[collinfishes]

man its a sad story down at the harbor. the water is horrible down there. its like chocolate milk x759. i havent tried to get out on the ice but im sure that its not a good idea anymore after all this lovely weather. :( we do have some strong west winds forecast for tonight and tomorrow so maybe thatll help a little. this suckks. once this all clears up though its on! :D

[brewcityfishr]

Yeah, the Milwaukee harbor is bad also. dark brown water flowing into the harbor with ice and wood chunks floating around. I hope the west wind will help filter this crap out a little. the boat is ready to go for the weekend!!! good fishin'

[deno b.]

Just got done watching North American Fisherman on Versus. The star of the show Captain Eric. What a great show to watch, good job Eric you sounded like you really knew what you were talking about j/k. Believe me he does.

A couple of times this winter I have had the opportunity to ice fish with Eric, not only did I have alot of laughs, but as a added bonus we caught alot of fish and I learned alot, so I thank-you. I just wish that showed didn't air so late in the ice fishing year because now I am fired up to catch some fish through the ice. oh well.

[gloomis]

Drove by the Kenosha Harbor this morning. All of the Ice Chunks blew out of the Main Harbor. There were 4 guys fishing by the "Tube". The North Boat Launch is still iced up (lots of the ice chunks still in there) The South Harbor is starting to break up as there are a few open spots now....

[Eric Haataja]

As soon as the water clears up that pipe should be on fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great spot! Thanks for the heads up!

[Rempump]

Heading to the Mil. Harbor tommorow afternoon. Looking for any info on the water condition. How has the fishing been? Anything working better than others? An help is greatly appreciated! Good luck out there!

[Ben Kueng]

Put the screws to the browns this week! Lots of fish moving into the harbor right now and more will follow with the warming trend.

Fished on 2-18" of ice so be carefull if you head out.Lots of bad spots around the pumps. I partially fell through 4 times this week trying spots that I shouldnt of been, which made for a rough rest of the day.

Our worst day this week we were 7 for 12, best day this week we were 12 for 16. I sure hope it stays this good through the weekend!

Ill post a few pics from this week when my clients email them to me.

Spawn sacs were the hottest bite this week. fish were hitting very lite so you had to watch your bobber the entire time and get to the tip-ups instantly. Also had multiple hits on shiners, but mostly just drops..

Should be at least another good week of fishable ice down there..

Ill be starting walleye trips on the rock as well as many other open water bites around SE WI starting this week. Also headed down to IL for some early season musky fishing on wed this week!

[BigMusky]

Milwaukee Harbor had alot of guys on it this weekend...tons of boats by the discharge wasting time. Pumps were not runnings and it was dirty...so water was same temp as everywhere else and not the usual fish magnet. Everyone I was talked to had the big skunk going, whether trolling or jigging. I hit some of the gaps hoping cleaner water would yield fish...but nothing so I ventured out to a main lake rock pile and stuck a 13lb Laker and missed another on spinning tackle. Only action of day, but was awesome battle and worth trip. Be careful running full board as there is still mini ice berg around that you do not want to hit at full throttle

[Eric Haataja]

I here ya Ben this week the fishing was unreel!!! In 3 days of Ice fishing my clients caught 25 fish 1 day, 23 fish the next day, and 17 fish yesterday! Today it was a bit slower for us we went 11-for 23 lots of hits and drops. Our worst day this week was today with 11 fish.

Talked to a buddy of mine who absolutely crushed the walleye's in the boat at Depere today.

Eric

[collinfishes]

made a trip up to milwaukee not really knowing where to go, just the intentions of fishing. not really the best idea but we didnt get lost just couldnt get to the river, we could see the river from the road though. haha then when we got down to it, it was roarin and covered with ice chunks. went down river and fished by mmsd for the first time hoping for at least some carp at that point. saw a bunch rollin but couldnt convince em to eat. joe got a shad so i guess we didnt get completely skunked. im startin to wonder if i can even catch a fish anymore. glad to here you guys have been puttin the hurtin on em. gives me a little confidence on the water.

[gloomis]

Couldn't take looking at the ice at the launch anymore, so we decided to launch and break through ice to get into the harbor.

Once out there, we went 1-3 from 9-12:30. Caught 1 Brown, pic attached. Had another one on a rigger and broke my line :mad:... Had another one hit, and it let go. Mostly trolling stickbaits near the bottom.

It was a great day to be out.. Only saw 1 small fish caught from shore

The ice by the launch should be all gone by tomorrow. The piers are in (they never took them out)

[deno b.]

The harbor is back. Made it down there from 11:00-3:00. Haven'nt been down there in at least three weeks due to water clarity. But the water was not to bad. Caught a this brown on a spoon, Me and two other guys caught between the both of us got four fish all browns.

One guy was trolling spoons and got six fish. And another guy i talked to was throwing crank baits, he got five. Be back in the morning. THe fish pictured must of jumped four times, these are fighting so much harder now the the ice is out.

[Needtofishmore]

Nice job, deno!

Can anyone tell me how long they allow you onto those piers? April 15?

[deno b.]

needtofishmore- I have no idea when you can fish until down at the harbor. Who knows what reef point marina has up there sleeve. My guess would be it depends on the weather. Hopefully its a few weeks away yet, because when the first boat is in there you won't be able to fish there any more. Supposed to be a nice day tommorow, so get down there the fishing should be awesome!!!!!

[Eric Haataja]

I fished from shore as well but in a different harbor and I had 1 client with me. He landed 16 fish (trout) from shore in 6 hours of fishing and missed another 8 fish. Cranks, spinners and live bait all worked. There's something very cool about catching these fish from shore brings me back to the days when i was a kid!

I'll post some pics in a bit! Nice job Dean!!!!!

Eric

[kayakfisherman]

got the kayak out a few times in the past week. Cranks have been doin pretty good

heres a pic of the biggest it meassured 35 inches and had a 20 inche girth
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/hckyfish/DSC01640.jpg

[Needtofishmore]

That is really cool! I've been thining of getting a float tube to fish the harbors ... I've got to believe it would work in the spring and fall around the docks! Are you catching fish in the lake or the harbor?

[deno b.]

Made it out this morning just a few hours. Fishing was slow and boy was it cold. Did nothing on spawn sacs, but on my second cast with a gulp minnow got this beautiful female brown. Was able to squeeze out a few eggs, she was released. Moved to a different spot tried to get out of the wind, for the first time got a carp on a sac, did not even know she was there bobber did not move, when I was reeling it in is when I felt it.

Did not even want to touch that carp, but I figured Colin would enjoy me catching a carp down by the harbor, so I had to have my buddy snap a photo. GOOD FISHING carp was also released.

[collinfishes]

haha nice!! im jealous now, thats a real nice brown too. good job dean. :D

[andyj]

Went to check out Milwaukee, just about all the ice is gone. Tried from shore for about a hour and landed two buck browns on spawn. I got to get the boat out there soon!

[kayakfisherman]

Needtofishmore

im getting the fish in and out of the harbor. A float tube works great in and around the docks but if ya ever want to troll or go outside the harbor they arent quite as good as a kayak

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/hckyfish/3-22-09.jpg

[fuzzyfishin]

kayak, that looks like a blast.

[Eric Haataja]

Had a client out for 3 days this past week and this particular day we caught 18 fish but we had 5 browns over 15 lbs it was an unbelievable day and experience, mixed it up a bit and found a nice big pod of fish. He truley caught his fish of a lifetime on this day!

[collinfishes]

well as of now no one is allowed on the piers in racine harbor. :(:mad::mad: i just got kicked off and the guy told me that once the ice is gone your not allowed on. :(

[Needtofishmore]

Sounds like it's float tube time! :D

Can you still fish from the shore / rocks? How did the water look, Collin? Did you get a ton of rain yesterday?

[collinfishes]

thats what im sayin ive been wantin one for sooo long and just never got around to gettin one. ya you can fish from the rocks but your limited to a few small spots. the water was still a little muddy not to bad though.

[Needtofishmore]

I don't know what your resources are like but you can get a decent float tube from Gander MT for about $80. Then you just need some fins and a life jacket and your set. Just don't get caught out in the lake in a strong west wind or we'll be reading your reports about Michigan brown trout fishing! ;)

[deno b.]

What the heck colin what were you doing down there that you got kicked off. I haven'nt been kicked off yet. No i know they have been kicking people off. Just talked to a buddy of mine and he said he was down there and he did talk to some guys and they got the boot also. But then he was talking to one of the workers from reefpoint and he said you can fish the piers up until April 1. Nobody is on the same page. Not worth getting the ticket.

[Eric Haataja]

From what I was told they are not messing with high profile figures so Dean your exempt and that's why the guy just walks right by you and escorts everyone else off. Dean was a famous D.J. for 102.1 a while ago.....

How did you application go at 94.5 Lake FM??????:eek::eek:

:p

Seriously too bad about the shore fishing up date!

I was out today and went 12 for 22 all browns.

[collinfishes]

haha i was just fishin. i went back down there in the afternoon. i didnt go to the same spot but i did go back out on the piers and didnt get kicked off. went 0-1 casting. i did catch a brown but it was one of those crusty ones and it was foul hooked. it did fight good though even jumped a couple times. hah. ill be back down there tomorrow. :D

[deno b.]

Eric you crack me up that is funny. When I'm down by the harbor and somone tells me to leave that's all I have to do is start talking and they recognize my voice right away than I get VIP treatment. com-on we know thats not true.

Not a big fan of Lake-Fm, from Prince to Foreigner to Janet Jackson who cares. Don't be affended Eric I know what a Lake-FM groupie you are. Although, When I was fishing by you last week , as soon as you started cranking Lake-FM the fish really started to bite. So if the fish love it so do I.

Going to Tichigan tommmorow will report my results.
Has anybody ever seen Eric dance when he is playing his favorite radio station, and he is wearing full winter gear? It is truely entertaining.

[Eric Haataja]

Here's a few more pics of several of the 16 fish client caught from shore this past week, I've been fishing Port, Milwaukee, Racine with good success depending on the day but the bite has been good, ecspecially for big fish! Caught my first Salmon of the year yesterday which was cool!

I'll take a few big fish over lots of numbers of fish anyday! That't why typically try to target big fish, sometimes it's a bust othertimes it's a grand slam and this past week we hit a few grand slams! Lots of fun on light tackle. The worst day we had this week was 8 or 9 fish but all of the fish were 6-18 lbers.

Best day was yesterday for me where we had 22 fish in 5 hours and we had 11 fish over 10 lbs with a couple of big fish I'll post! Trolling cranks, spoons and jigging plastics was the ticket.

Found a pod of nice fish and luckily we had them to ourselves all week!

[Bullhead]

Fished Racine harbor with a buddy on Sunday afternoon from 3-6pm. Fished from the docs in the SW corner. Caught 5 browns from 5-12 lbs. Fist fish came on spawn sitting on the bottom. All the others were caught jigging gulp. Of course I lost the big one. My bait got hammered and 20 yds of line was quickly stripped out. The fish came up to the surface and I could just tell it was a 20+ monster. But a couple more head shakes and the bait went flying back to me.

My buddy threw every crank and spoon he had at them and couldn't get a bite. But after my 5th fish...well he decided to finally switch over to the "gulp" side. I kept telling him he's just got to believe in the stuff. I definately do.

Not a bad day considering I wasn't really expecting to catch anything. It was the fist time I tried the gulp minnows in the Racine harbor...but it won't be the last.

Go Get'em
Brian
Racine

[deno b.]

Was able to get out from 10-1:00. Ended up getting three, two browns and a rainbow. Rainbow came on the first cast with a gulp minnow. Browns on spawn. But it does seem lately that the gulp has been the best as far as casting. There was a guy fishing next to me and he had gotten three browns.
He was casting cranks.

My camera was not working so I was not able to get the picture of the othere two. When he was taken that picture of this rainbow we noticed that his line was tight, he ended up getting this brown on spawn. I also missed a huge brown on spawn had him close but he snapped my line. What a beautiful day to be out, hate to say this I was actually to hot. Guess I'm going to have to take out more spawn to tie.

[Needtofishmore]

How clear was the water, Dean? I'm hoping to come down on Thursday to do some float tubing.

[deno b.]

Needtofishmore- Water really was not all that bad. But when I was leaving, I looked out on the river side and you could see all of this dirty water coming in. Looked like a big oil slick. So who knows if it will affect the harbor by thursday or not. With this rain coming i would guess it will screw things up pretty soon. Good luck.

[fishermen50]

Browns are being caught all over the Summerfest areas. Behind Marcus ampitheater and all along the river from Riptide to the Red lighthouse. A few walleyes have been caught as a bonus along with some perch. Spawn and large minnows are the ticket they both seem to be good choices now. Tight Lines Rich

[Eric Haataja]

Thanks for the report Rich!

Eric

[kayakfisherman]

the last week was pretty good in kenosha and racine. Browns were biting cranks pretty well

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/hckyfish/Fishing022jpg2.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/hckyfish/Fishing024jpg2.jpg

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/hckyfish/Fishing019jpg2.jpg

[deno b.]

Fished the harbor this afternoon just for a couple of hours. Caught three rainbows and a slob brown (and I thought I was a slob). Got the brown on a gulp minnow, he hit once but missed it threw in that same spot and got it. Keeped this little rainbow pictured she will taste awesome. Nice to see the rainbows. Go get em. Dean

[collinfishes]

made it out today in the float tube :D man that thing is fun. didnt catch any fish but it was still alot of fun, very wet though haha. thought i patched up all the leaks in my waders hah i was wrong. talked to joe when he came down to check it out and he showed me a picture of a steelie that our buddy tyler got at the river today wooow! it was a monster. 20+ lbs. buck.

[collinfishes]

got out in the tube yesterday and had a blast only went 1-2 but it was so much fun to fight a brown in a tube. also it was the first triple of the year. i set hook into my fish then one of the guys on shore set into one then the guy next to him set into one. :D and i got the fish on gulp! of all things first fish ive ever got on that. never belived it worked but i do now haha. not the best picture at all but not the easiest ways to take a picture either. got up way late today but im gonna head out for the afternoon and see what happens.

[Needtofishmore]

Nice job in the tube! You're one ahead of me ... I lost the only one I've had on. Set the hook and it didn't move. After about 4 minutes it came into site and rolled on the surface next to me. Lots of huge brown spots! Yikes! It's an awesome feeling to be that close to them!

[collinfishes]

thanks ya its a blast. the one i got yesterday hit about 10 ft. away. was out in the tube again today from 1230-330. did ok went 2-2. the second one i got was the most energetic brown ive ever hooked. set the hook and it came flyin out of the water atleast 6 times then took a couple real hard runs thought it was a steelie the whole way in. gulp did it for me again i cant belive it works haha. 20-30mph winds tomorrow ill be at the river.

[collinfishes]

got the skunk today. the wind was pretty bad and it made it alittle bit harder to move around fished both harbor and boat launch. and nothin guys trolling picked up a few here and there. oh well ill be back out tomorrow

[walleyebum]

went 1-3 missed another big brown and a steelhead.

[collinfishes]

got out in the tube again. fishing was pretty slow. only got 1. jigged for awhile and nothing. then trolled for awhile and got a nice brown. seen a few other fish caught. mostly trolling.

[collinfishes]

brown from today.

[collinfishes]

got out in the lovely wind today and didnt do so good. went 0-4. :(

[collinfishes]

it was like a hurricane out there today . fished from shore for about an hour. then called it quits. got attacked by some geese too haha they were guarding a nest and doin a good job at it too. :D

[collinfishes]

fishins been slow but steady the past few days. in the tube and on shore. even got out in the boat with dean which was a lot of fun. cranks, spoons, and gulp are all catching there share of fish. today i got a big ole carp in my tube that was probably close to 25lbs could barely lift it in. :D it absolutely made my day. got it trollin a zip of all things. first time ive ever got a fish on one too. thought i was snagged till it started to move then it just took off screamin drag. saw a few rollin too so it looks like i might be done with the browns and start fishin for some real fish :p the picture of the carp doesnt do it any justice. but i tried to get the best picture i could with a huge carp on my lap haha.

[deadeternity]

Collins, I got 2 carp last summer when I was fishing perch. Both of these fish were at least 43 inches long, and they weighed about 40 pounds. They were very blubbery looking fish. I got them both on a 10 foot ultralight rod. One fish hit a tandem rig with 2 1/32 ounce jigheads with plastics. The other fish ate raw shrimp meat I had suspended under a bobber. I recently read a article in In-Fisherman magazine that spoke about flyfishing for carp. It would be pretty cool experiencing that. Considering people pay thousands of dollar to fish bonefish and snook down in the bahamas. Bonefish look like silver suckers to me. I can bet if them fish lived up here they would be considered garbage to most likely.....

[collinfishes]

got out in the nice wind for alittle while this afternoon. nothin goin. saw some fish roll. dead, carp like that are the reason i love em. i spend a good portion of my year fishing for em on the fly and if you own a fly rod and havent done it i highly suggest it. and man they fight a ton harder with nothin but sand around. even 6lber will take you for a ride. they get huge, fight hard and theres a ton of em pretty much anywhere theres water. what more could you ask for in a fish. one of my favorite fish for sure. :D

[Eric Haataja]

I love the picture with you and the gulp it's awesome!!!!!

Eric

[deno b.]

And Colin if you looking for some good recipes to cook up those CARP just ask Eric. j/k

[collinfishes]

haha alright eric lets hear em. got out with dean today and boy was it slow, did some trollin, castin, bobbers, jigging, everything and just couldnt get bit. :/ water was pretty muddy. stopped in the boat launch and we put the hurtin on some monster 6in. rainbows :p went like 7-23 on them. lot of fun just to get out and fish. also stopped by the river with joe and it was kickin pretty good fish for alittle while with nothin goin. heres a picture of a cute little guy i got the other day.

[andyj]

I knew I was going to have a busy few weeks coming up so I decided to hit the harbor for about 3 1/2 hours this morning before work. I spent the whole time trolling and ended up with a productive morning going 6-7 with half coming on boards and half on dypsy's with spoons. All were browns except for one rainbow. I released everything but the rainbow. The first fish of the day came on my first trolling pass and it was the biggest of the day, a big female brown. Good way to start the morning. Water temps were 47 degrees and the water for the most part was pretty clear. Here is the pic of the big female.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/1531/img1476.jpg (http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1476.jpg)

[deadeternity]

The funny thing is so many people have bad blood out for carp but I can vouch for saying smoked carp is better then smoked salmon or trout, and fried carp tastes 100% like fried catfish. I hate fish that is not fried, and I run for the hills when I smell or taste muddy, fishy tasting fillets. But if you like smoked salmon the carp will blow your mind, and if you like fried catfish you wont taste the difference between carp and catfish. The Europeans charish carp like we charish our panfish and walleyes, and it is a white fleshed fish. I am not gonna eat them because I am not fond of smoked fish or catfish (unless they are coldwater cats). Like any fish if you catch a smaller carp out of a cleaner body of water, it will be quite tasty smoked. Again, BETTER THEN SMOKED SALMON!!!!!

[kayakfisherman]

I got out the last couple days and some real big browns were biting. All on cranks some days up high and others down deep. heres the biggest and my biggest to date from the kayak.

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk217/hckyfish/36inbrown23JPGsm.jpg

its 36 inches long 1 inches longer than my biggest from a few weeks ago.


rob

[collinfishes]

i was actually thinkin of keepin a few i got threw the ice this year but never did. figured that would be the best time to keep em. ill probably end up tryin one next time i get one threw a hole. hey joe wanna smoke a carp for me :p i really dont like fish that much though. ill keep maybe a fish or two a year to eat and thats plenty for me. fish are way to much fun to catch anyway so id rather see em swim. thats a brown and half. nice job rob.

[Needtofishmore]

On a somewhat related note ...

Check out the results of the Baileys Harbor Brown Trout Tourney last weekend:

http://www.baileysharbor.com/events/brown-trout-tournament/

The top 60 fish were all over 10 lbs ... and the winner was just under 32 lbs. :eek:

I'll be getting the "marina cruiser" out for the first time tomorrow and heading for Sheboygan. They're catching smelt off the piers so there should be browns in the marina just looking for a silver J-13 to devour!

[collinfishes]

got out today and planned on lookin for some browns but what i found was a huge school of carp and i had a blast sight fishin em. went 3 for like 25 couldnt keep em on for some reason. lost a few submarines that were easily 40+ lbs. :( :confused: fished around in the tube for some browns and didnt get anything. also i got caught in some fairly strong current out in one the gaps. got pretty intense for a few minutes haha. after that i headed back for some more carp :D

[collinfishes]

got out for a little while today. inside of the harbor was chocolate milk so i took the tube outside to look for cleaner water. fished from the river to the boat launch and nothin. had the sheriff stop and ask me what the heck i was doin haha. also had some really nice people in a pretty good sized boat take off right by me after they all stared at me for a good min or two and made some nice 5-6ft waves for me. thanks :mad: its ok sling shot coming soon :D

[RedDoor Tom]

got out today and planned on lookin for some browns but what i found was a huge school of carp and i had a blast sight fishin em. went 3 for like 25 couldnt keep em on for some reason. lost a few submarines that were easily 40+ lbs. :( :confused: fished around in the tube for some browns and didnt get anything. also i got caught in some fairly strong current out in one the gaps. got pretty intense for a few minutes haha. after that i headed back for some more carp :D

What were you using for the carp? I was down by the yaht club yesterday lots of carp on the surface but couldnt get them to bit any suggestions?

[collinfishes]

if theres alot of em rollin they usually dont hit but theyll hit zips, corn, and worms most of the time. was slow today. i went 2-5 but this beauty made the day. first one ive ever caught. :D:D took a few big waves to the back but i got em.

[pmjasper]

For carp I found it best to try small 1/32 to 1/64 oz jigs, usually in darker colors (browns, blacks, olives) but white and yellow can work as well. Small topwaters will also take fish but with lighter line you end up breaking fish off and at a few bucks a lure, better to fish bread and a hook if you really want carp. The smaller jigs fall very slowly, which is the key, and carp will suck them in.

[collinfishes]

went back out yesterday for alittle while in the afternoon and ended up 1-3. got a nice brown and missed another. then the heart breaker haha. finally hooked into a true 40 in. northern had em IN my hands. one quick flop and back in the water it went and of course thats when the hook popped out and i watched it swim away ever so slowly. :( still was a blast and the power that they have is crazy.

[Needtofishmore]

Did you catch that while in your float tube?

[collinfishes]

no haha i wish. what a difference a day makes got out today and had one bump and that was it. probably gonna take the tube out tomorrow if the lake isnt to choppy.

[collinfishes]

got out this afternoon and did ok. went 3-6. 2 browns and a smallie. lost another big northern too :(

[collinfishes]

heres a picture of the smallie.

[Eric Haataja]

Nice collin I've been wanting to come down there for the spring big crappies and smallies but no time!!:(

Nice job!

[collinfishes]

thanks man. out of all the years ive fished down there those crappies have eluded me. i know their in there but for some reason they dont like me. hah. got out today specifically targeting them and nothin. i leave the craps for the old guys that hang out at the gas station by my house cause they got em down. :p

[collinfishes]

got out today and it was pretty slow. we caught some fish but had to work for em. joe got 2 smallies and i got a nice carp. we also went and did alittle bobber fishing in the river and got a few rock bass. :p:D

[collinfishes]

got out for about an hour this morning and got a decent smallie and some little rock bass. gonna go back down in alittle bit. well see what happens. :D

[collinfishes]

went back down for a little while and had some fun with some little rock bass. got snapped of by a shad some how and missed a steelie which really surprised me. all fishin little jigs along the shore. check out this monster rock bass :D

[bweb]

Does anyone have info on the Salmon bite on Michigan. I booked a charter for the 22 of may. I was notified by the charter service that the bite is off about a month yet. Is this the case? The charter service wants to reschedule towards the end of June. This carter service also needs work done on the hull of his boat. That part I understand. However this is suposedly and new boat in the water as of late april. I am trying to figure out if these two reasons are legit or if there is something else going on? I have already paid for the trip in full. The charter service has offered a partial refund for the delay, or should I just ask for a total refund and go elsewhere?

[avid1010]

Nope...it's still early. I haven't been paying too close of attention, but I don't think they're even doing much south of the WI border yet. Luckily you have an honest Captain. Wait for the cohos to get here.

[pmjasper]

Bweb,

The charter sounds legit. Hull problems can happen and if the work needs to be done, it needs to be done. as far as the coho bite, it is a little early and by June things should be in full swing. I would work with the captain and go from there. I think it will work out better for you in the end.

[brookiereleaser]

is there anything in the harbor or reasonably close to the harbor outside the gaps to fish for right now, i have a small boat that i take out but am i better off sticking to inland lakes right now or is there still a brown trout/laker bite going on around here?

[collinfishes]

went to the harbor for alittle while today and it was one of those days. first cast was a nice backlash and tangled knot and that shoulda gave me a clue on how it was gonna go. went 0-4 and lost some more lures hah oh well. heres a few from earlier in the week.

[collinfishes]

went out for a little while today and did alright. 2-2 on carp and went 0-4 on browns and a steelie. saw em mixed in with the bigger pods of carp and they would follow up my little kast master then id throw em a 2/3oz spoon and get to hit but couldnt keep em stuck. pretty exciting watchin a brown chase a spoon to the surface and smack it though. the carp were fightin extra hard today with some mean head shakes.

[Eric Haataja]

Collin that's sooo cool! Great pics of the carp and it looks like a blast! I wish I could come down and do that a while! I also heard they were doing very well for coho's off the pier last week!

[collinfishes]

thanks eric. carp seem to be about the only thing i can get down there lately hah. theyve been keepin me pretty entertained though. i havent got any cohos lately just a few a couple weeks ago. lost a really nice fish the other day snapped me off after a ridiculous run and then another straight at me and into some rocks. it was probably a king or a big steelie. went out for a little while today went 1-2 with a little smallie. man it was windy though.

[collinfishes]

got out today like always hah. pretty slow went 1-2. started out lookin for carp and didnt see very many cruising or feeding. did manage to hook up with one but lost it after a quick run. moved spots and joe got a beautiful little rainbow right away then nothin after that. little guy was packed with alewives. it had like 9 in it minus the few it spit up on the way in.

[collinfishes]

went out for maybe an hour today. went 1-4 got an alright carp on 3lb. missed a coho and the rest were carp. phone broke after i took a few pictures and kinda ruined the day for me so i left. carp was a blast on my ultralight though almost got spooled a few times. wasnt big at all either maybe 8lbs. gonna go back later and try to get one of those submarine 40lbers :D sucks my phones broke no pictures for awhile.

[walleyebum]

what are you guys using for the carp?

[collinfishes]

heres the carp from the other day. really cool looking fish. :D

[collinfishes]

carp fishing has been a blast this past week. surprisingly metal has been taking most fish. even the perch cooperated alittle bit for us last night. nothin huge but enough for some delicious sandwiches. gotta love joes monster haha.

[collinfishes]

heres some more beauties. :D

[collinfishes]

went out today we started fishin perch and they werent cooperating too well so we went out trollin and did surprisingly well considering we had no fish finder, down riggers, net, not even pole holders haha. we used the cup holders as pole holders but it worked out and we ended up 1-4. joe got a nice coho? off a doger and fly. yesterday fishing was slowww still ended up getting 15 fish but it was definetly slower than has been and i got a monster coho :D:D

[collinfishes]

did some more trollin today. we picked up a nice little brown and then nothin for the next couple hours and we missed one more on a dipsy with a doger/fly when we were pullin up the lines. brown came on a dispy and a green/silver j plug. im pretty sure we were in about 70ft of water when we got the brown and the other miss.

[collinfishes]

went out trollin again with not much success. had something nice break us off on a dipsy with a doger/fly. nothin on spoons. stopped on the way in for some perch and got a few nice ones. also fished around in the launch and put the hurtin on some gobies and i got a nice skinny sucker :p

[collinfishes]

yesterday was good for us. got out at like 3 and fished till 10. ended up with 2 steel, a coho, a king, and a laker. spoons did the damage. purple thunder, green/white, and cracked ice. fish were in 70-90ft. marked a ton of fish right at dark.

[brookiereleaser]

collin,

what are you fishing the spoons on, downriggers, lead , dipsy's etc.

looks like you guys did really well out there, nice going.

[collinfishes]

we were running em on dipsys and riggers. yesterday was wild the lake wasnt to choppy when i checked it at like 12ish and by the time we got the boat in the water theres was some pretty nice rollers with some chop to em. we decided to go out anyway and it was slow only got one bite in about 3 hours of fishin. 1-1 with a little steelie on dipsy/purple producer fly.

[Eric Haataja]

Thanks for the reports!!!!!!!!

[collinfishes]

wheres the fish at eric? i know youve been whoopin em somewhere. :D fishing today was alright. got out at like 11 and the lake was fairly calm then it picked up and got pretty bad. had a wave come over the front of the boat haha and a few come close. went in for awhile and it layed down pretty good. we ended up 3-4 with a steelie, a king, and a ho. the king was my first time hookin into one that actually peeled some line. thought it was a tangle for the first 100 ft. but two good head shakes and that 100ft. of line gone in blink changed my mind. nothing big and wild but a nice fight and my biggest out of the boat so far. purple/silver and green/white spoons on riggers and dipsys did it for us. one hit on a dipsy glow doger/krystal flash fly too. 90-110fow.

[Fish Tales]

The poor Perch bite for me this summer has me thinking ahead to fall, so I am wondering if it is it too early to try fishing from pier/shore in the small harbors and launch basins with spawn sacks for the big boys? I'm talking about places like Bender Park, Racine and Kenosha Harbors. In the past I would soak a spawn sack under a slip bobber, but that wasn't usually until September. I'll definately take whatever I can get, but I am a big fan of getting those shoreline Brown Trout.

[collinfishes]

yesterday was a slow bite for us but we got some bigger bites that made it worth it. ended up 4-5. set in my first line, turned around to get my second line and my first line went. coho on a green/glow spoon on a dipsy in 66fow. the only fish i caught all day too. hour later i lost one on the same set up. then a king on a flasher/fly on a dipsy in 95fow. another king on a white plug on a rigger in 100fow. nothin after 10am. fished threw the afternoon with nothin then picked up another king at 845pm on a monkey puke spoon in 85fow on a rigger. i thought that king the other day fought hard haha not. the smaller king today peeled 670ft of line out in hurry on a pretty tight drag, that fish did school joe too though haha. but the power these fish have when there out there is crazy.

[collinfishes]

fishins been alright the past couple days, pretty much been stuck on shore which kinda sucks after a week of nothing but bein on a boat. got out the other day for some trollin and got the skunk. but we did get our buddy collin into some fish in the launch and now hes hooked :D finally found some craps in this lake after alot of failed attempts and the funny thing is they were in a spot that i kept tellin joe they were at but never tried it for some reason. once we found em though it was pretty much every single cast just had to stick with em. quite a few good sized rock bass and a bluegill in the mix too. all of our fish were in 12-19fow. small plastic jigs did the damage. color didnt matter at all but the retrieve did and you had to keep changin it up in order to get hit. nothing giant, most were 8-11in but thick healthy lookin fish. thought about keepin a few but the weird motor oil smell to em kinda killed my appetite. i even got a little sheepshead. which was a pretty nice surprise i havent got one of those down here in like 8 years. i may have to start huntin around for those guys now too :D

[collinfishes]

got into some more crappies yesterday. startin to get em dialed in alittle. pretty much the same as yesterday. got a few better sized fish too. seemed like those ones werent grouped up as tight as the smaller ones. small plastic jigs in white, chart., yellow, or clear red flake did the trick. fish were in 9-12fow this time. got into some more sheepies too! ended up 2-3 on them, well 1-3 i got mine all the way in and was about to swing em in, i prolly shouldnt have done that with a 5lb fish and the knot on my leader decided it had enough and popped off. first time thats happened to me with a uni knot but thats what i get for not retying as often as i should. man those things fight on an ultra light. :D got em on the same jigs for the craps and one on meat under a bobber.

[collinfishes]

i think i spoke a little too soon in my last post haha crappies have pretty much disappeared the past two days. did some perch fishing today for about 45min. only got 6 little guys on green plastics. i was surprised we even got those. yesterday we got out on the big pond fished in 55-70fow picked up one nice coho right at dark on a dipsy/purple/silver spoon. and today we headed north in 50-60fow. marked some fish here and there but nothing spectacular. ended up 0-1 missed a fish on a dipsy/green/glow spoon. as soon as bill pulled out the gordons fisherman coat it was fish on! :p

[deno b.]

Got out for just a couple of hours tonight. Fished out by the reef by wind point. Caught just this one on a fly/dipsey combo. Lots of boats fishing the can out there. Did not mark alot of fish at all.

Next week i'll have to try the Milwaukee harbor. Seems to be alot going there. Good luck Dean

[deno b.]

Made out for a couple of hours tonight. Caught this beauty on a char/silver spoon. What a awesome fight, its just cool how this fish take drag out. I ended up letting her go because I have enough fish in the freezer. There were a few people down there who saw that and I was heckled. One guy who was not even fishing by me walk up too me and told me he would of taken it. After we talked, I finally told him I guess you'll just have to catch your own. Lots of fun. go get em Dean

[Eric Haataja]

You know what I say..... Keep the kings and let those nasty browns go! :-)))

Nice job dude!

P.S. Lake FM

[Needtofishmore]

Dean, are you guys able to get on the piers down there? Any signs of Browns in the marina?

[deno b.]

You should be able to get on the piers sometime in november. There are alot of browns in the harbor. And will only get better with larger numbers of fish showing up.

[cheddermelt]

Been pounding coho's, steels, browns, lakers, a splake, and chins on tube's, zooms, kastmasters, J13's, and cleos best colors being firetiger, rainbow trout, orange glow, and green and silver. Best technique has been a slow retrieve! Here are a few of my fish i have been catching.

Also got a ? that big female laker had some skein in it, has anyone tried lake trout skein or sacs before?

[blitzfish]

Laker skein or sacs have always been one of my favorites. I love using it, but its personal preference really.

[collinfishes]

lots of fish not alot of hungry fish... seems to be the story as of late. yesterday joe and i, well just joe went 0-3 on browns joe hooked up with em on 3 consecutive casts and lost all just as fast. cleos got the hits. today we got out in the boat and went 4-4. joe got a decent king before i could get down there on a green/blue mag spoon. then they picked me up and we trolled around access and by mouth and up river alittle. found a few areas where fish were stacked up thick then the sun came out and they spread out pretty good. eventually we hooked up and got a very unexpected sheepie on a mag purple/silver spoon then another on a fire tiger j 13 then joe got a veryy nice steelie on a green plug about 15 seconds after he set the rigger. seen a few dirty ones caught on shore, one guy even got a carp. tomorrow its my turn to get one its been like 5 days and i need my fix :D:D