Lake Michigan, Racine/Kenosha

[Eric Haataja]

This past week it was crazy down in Racine and kenosha for Coho's a few friends of mine did extremely well easily limiting out with orange dodgers and small peanut fly's.

Get out there!!!!!

[Fireman58]

Hey Eric, How far out did they have to go, south they are hitting them in40 to 80 ft. Same set up.

Fireman58/Dave

[benfishin]

:) Fished late last week out of kenosha. Caught a 3 man limit in a couple hours. Fish were in shallow the day before, but we didn't find them thick until 70 feet. Marked our first double and trolled circles round it until we were filled. All two to five pounds. Orange dodgers and any colored peanut fly worked. Had a spoon out and never got a bump.

[brewcityfishr]

Has anyone been out for coho's at all? just wondering if any early birds showed up yet. I cant wait to get out for those guy's. guy's to the south are still getting quick limits of coho's and starting to pick up a few kings in the 10-17 pound range already! should be a great year! good fishin'

[Reel Addiction]

From what I've seen/heard Kenosha and Racine are yet to heat up so it seems like we're at least 3 weeks away from Coho madness. I'm really hoping for it this year since last year was a bust.

[Finn Lander]

I plan on fishing out of Kenosha on Friday morning...mainly looking for cohos. I'll post my success or lack of. I haven't heard anything about this year, and last year I didn't do as well as previous years. Hopefully this year is better than last.

Finn Lander

[deno b.]

A couple friends of mine have been fishing off the south pier, and they have had good success. To me it sounds to early, because last year Memorial Day weekend I caught alot of fish. I might try it soon as I get time, maybe Friday will report then. Good Fishing. Dean

[brewcityfishr]

Yeah, last year was really slow for us also. we did ok out of Racine but it was really slow in Milwaukee, not a normal year. we started to get limits the second or third weekend of may out of Racine. from what I seen/heard from the guys down south, it should be another record breaking year for coho's! very nice fish this year. we'll see......good fishin'

[Finn Lander]

As bad luck would have it, my kicker motor had a stuck carb float and wouldn't allow gas to run the motor. Difficult to fix out on the lake. Tapping it wouldn't free it up. I never dropped a line in the water, because my I/O doesn't like to troll under 3.5 mph. Talked to one guy at the launch who said that they (cohos) aren't up in Kenosha quite yet, but he has been having success boating down to the IL state line and gettin' them.

[cheddermelt]

Started out today at 5 in the morning 1 dipsey, 1 flat line, 2 down riggers, and 1 board. Used j-plugs, cranks, and spoons and notta :( only was able to stay out for a 1.5 hours due to boat troubles was in the 45-48 foot range marked plenty of bait fish and other fish but no takers!!! Where are the coho? rumor has it they have been gettin them about 8 miles south of ktown but i have yet to see anyone with a solid report. Any help on where the fish are at would be great. Till then good luck

Chedder

[luv2fish]

Everyone i have talked to has said the same thing...a couple weeks yet. I here ya though, i got the itch myself. If your specifically targeting cohos i would scratch the plugs. Stick with the obvious 00 fire dodgers w/ peanut or "coho" flies and drag a couple spoons for good measure.

Keep at it, the action can only get better.

Tight lines,

Ryan

[cheddermelt]

Thanks for the reply! I am honestly just wanting to catch salmon, or trout ik the coho's arent in yet i honestly just wanna get something trollin. i think the coho's arent gonna come in thick but thats just my opinion i think we have had too much inconsistent weather and it has messed up the cycle but i would like to get some chins, browns, or lakers trollin i would think with the water temps being so low the lakers would be in but ik they dont stalk up like they do in milwaukee any info would be great! thanks!

Chedder!

[Finn Lander]

Fished Saturday morning 6 - 11 am in the gales of Kenosha. Difficult fishing to say the least. Worked all the way down to the border and back in depths from 20' to 40'. Nothing to show for the effort as I was skunked for the first time ever in Kenosha, during coho season, in 15 years. This is usually prime time. Surface water was still cold...47 degrees, strong NW winds made the top water temps drop to 44 degrees by 11 am. The water is usually 50+degrees by now. Ran 6 boards with coho stuff and 2 riggers w/ spoons and thundersticks.

What gives?

Kevin

[Bullhead]

Finn Lander,

You were right to point out the change in water temperature. The West winds caused all the warm surface water to blow out and the cold water came underneath near shore. I fished Sunday and fish were coming in 115 to 160 ft of water on the state line. We had 48-49 degree water temps at 125 ft.

They'll move back in closer to shore this week. 80 degrees for two days with south winds. It should be Coho madness this weekend all the way up to Racine.

Don't fret. if you get a chance to go out this weekend....G0!!

Brian
Racine.

[Finn Lander]

Bullhead,

So did how well did you do last Sunday?

[Bullhead]

We only unded up 2 for 5. One coho and one 10 lb rainbow. Ther others came off on the surface when the coho's were doing thier normal surface shake.

We fished for three hours 10 am-1pm, but the first two were in 40 - 50 ft. All our hits came when we went deeper in the last hour. First one came at 115 ft. We talked on the radio and all the Waukeegan boys were slamming them in 130-150. The water temp was noticably warmer on the surface out deep. From 44 at 50ft to 49 at 125 ft.

Just a matter of time and they will be across the border in numbers. This weekend might not be pime time...but it will be good.

I'll probably be out Sunday and Monday. And if it works out maybe Thursday afternoon.

I'll be posting alot.

Brian
Racine

[shipdog]

Not a report but an observation.....I walk the harbor everyday and this week the seagulls have had a feeding frenzy on the dying alewives in the boat harbor...it's been crazy...wish the ho's were showing and the weather a bit more stable for my small craft. Understandably so, haven't see many boats fishing or heading out.

[Bullhead]

You're right about the bait fish. The Alewives are thick in the harbor right now. I've been thinking about getting a good throw net to harvest some of the pack for cureing. That way I'd have whole fish for my new bait rigs i'm gonna run this year.

As much as I've fished out on Lake Michigan, I have to admit bait rigs are new to me. But I feel confident that they'll work...sometimes better than artificial. Just another investment.

If anyone has any pointers, I would appreciate the info.

Tight lines,
Brian
Racine

[Bullhead]

Fished last night for about 1.5 hours. Just south of Racine in 130 ft. (6.7 miles from the harbor). Started setting up about 5:30 and first coho came before the rod was in the holder. The rest were scattered throughout. Then at 7 the winds switched to the North at about 25 mph. It only took about 10 minutes and flat seas turned into 3 footers and we knew it was only going to get worse. Pulled lines and headed in.

headed back out on Saturday 4am. Radio Dawn Treader on 68 if anyone wants info.

Brian
Racine

[Bullhead]

K, same spot as Thursday, 120-145 ft a little south of Racine.

The Cohos are officially here!! As well as some big kings. We were 10 for 12, 9 coho and 1 laker in about 3 hours. The kings aluded us...but saw a lot of them at the cleaning station...including a 21 lbr. Woot. Gets me excited.

A lot of the cohos we caught were a little deeper. 5 - 9 color leads and dipsy set a 2.5 out 70-88 and rigger set at 55. Also bigger Lbb flies worked great as well as aqua peanuts and orange spoons.

I'll be out there again tomorrow. You should be too!!

Radio Bonafide on 68 if ya want some info.

Brian
Racine

[Grey Beard]

Brian,

Thanks for the reports and good to hear the fish are finally showing up. Worried the fantastic catches in Indiana and IL this spring would cut into our numbers. Sounds like lots of bait around so the fish should hang for awhile.

Recently had eye surgery so off the water for 3-4wks thus must live vicariously thru the posts. Up in the air whether I'll be down for Cash on the LIne but just drooling to get out there.

Grey Beard

[Bullhead]

Hi Greybeard. Hope the surgury went well. I'm sure you'll be back on the water in no time. You should start wearing an eye patch anyway. You know...to strike fear into the compitition!!

Well yesterday was not as productive fish wise. The captain was on call for work and couldn't make it to the boat until after 9. The winds were blowing out of the north, but we went out anyway. Started fishing in 120 ft, 3 ft waves. They kept building though...had some 4-5s after about an hour. We rolled with them and it was hard to stay slow enough for a good trolling speed. Ended up 1 for 3. Big flies on the dypsies got the hits.

I think the fish moved in on us, but we couldn't really manuver the boat to search for them. The surface temp was 49 in 70 ft of water and dropped to 45 out in 120 ft. A complete switch from the day before.

There is a lot of bait out there. Every fish we've cleaned have been stuffed with alewives. Most of the alewives are large too, going 4-6 inches long.

Don't know if I'll make it out this week. But we'll be back at it next weekend. Gotta do some final preparations before Cash on the Line June 6th.

Brian
Racine

[Bullhead]

Made it out tonight on a friend's boat. Set up in 55 at 6 pm and went 12 - 14 by 7:30. Ended with a tripple and released two of them. 8 of the 14 bites came on dypsies set on 3 out 35 and 55. Riggers and boards took fish as well. Fished with all flies big and small. The best were LBBs and peanuts with that same lbb tinsle.

I love it when the cohos are in like this. Last year we couldn't buy a coho. This year seems to back to normal.


Brian
Racine

[Eric Haataja]

Great Report thanks!!!

maaan those are tasty fish!!!!!!!!!

[Bullhead]

Made it out again Thursday after work. ( I have a really great wife)

Set up just out side the Reef Marker in 55 ft of water and headed S-SE to 70 ft. Ended up 16 for 16 with one released at the end. The riggers were the hot set up last night with 8" green and white inticers with Lbb and green glow flies. Those caught 10 of our fish set 32 and 47 down. Dipsy's and boards caught the rest with orange blades and peanut flies.

I'm heading out there again this evening after work.....It's a sickness;)

Brian
Racine

[Grey Beard]

Racine 5/29/09

This is the latest I can remember for my first outing on the Big Pond but worth the wait because the cohos were hungry. Set lines about 530 south of the donut in 55fow with an unexpected gusty west wind. First bite Opti dbl glow on white with Siggs White crinkle down 40’ and fired twice more and no stick. Only one other rigger bite the whole AM with a SWR down 35’ with Raider reg cracked ice on gold, the only spoon bite of the day and that fell off. Riggers went dead after 0700.

Fortunately the dipsys were really working. Hot setup was the wire 100loc with Exten glow Opti dodger and Siggs Bluegreen/glow took 5 of 6 bites. Wire dipsy 75loc White/mt.dew/glow Opti with Siggs white crinkle 1 for 2. Three set dipsy 35loc 8” Bechhold orange with Blue longtail 3 fish and same set on 5 color 3 for 4. Other 3 set 30loc 6” red flasher and bluegreen coho candy 1 for 1.

Four color with 8” red metal flasher and Blue Longtail 3 for 3, Fullcore Opti smoke dodger and green crinkle 2 for 3. Two color 6” red flasher and blk/purple 2 for 2 and 3 color MtDew/Orange Opti and lbb 1 for 2.

I expected more bites on 2 and 3 colors but fish were deeper until later in the AM when they finally fired. I ran spoons for awhile on 3 and 5 color as heard a few bows in the area but no takers. The 8” dodgers and flasher worked better than 6”. Surface temp 50.5 and 45 down 40. Raider speed 1.8-2.1 and best action around 60fow. Ended up with 20 coho and don’t think any of the missed fish were kings or bows. Another boat had one of each but the cleaning station was all coho when I was there. Heard some radio chatter that fish were also biting 100-170fow.

Sure is nice to have numbers of coho around which didn’t happen that much last summer. Size is avg for this time of yr but that’s good. Saw a good amt of bait.

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard

[Reel Addiction]

Based on the reports I decided to head to Racine with my brother this morning instead of Milwaukee. Got a late start since my brother mis-placed the snooze and the off button on his alarm clock....:mad:

Set lines in 55fow at 7AM it was a zoo out there. We didn't get a single hit until 9AM in 70fow a nice coho that we lost at the boat. By 11AM still a skunk in the box and we had about enough, so we decided to slide out deeper. Picked up 2 as we were pulling lines, a small king and a 5# coho. We pulled the lines and ran out to 150fow and started trolling east, this was the ticket.
We found a pod of fish between 160fow and 170fow and limited out by 12:45PM. What a difference that move made!!! Ended up 10 for 12 (8 Coho's and 2 Kings largest being 8#'s)

Here's what we got them on.
4 fish - Rigger set at 35 Green Blade/ Silver Tape Hot Spot w/aqua fly 100ft behind ball
3 fish - Rigger set at 47 Green Dolphin Silver Streak 4.5"
2 Fish - Slide Diver 100loc Orange Blade / Silver Tape Bechold Flasher w/blue copper cheddar fly
2 Fish - 2 Color off of ski Orange 00 Dodger w/ blue copper cheddar fly
1 Fish - 2 Color off of Ski Orange 00 Dodger w/ green copper peanut fly

[Eric Haataja]

Great report guys glad to here you have your vision back Grey Beard!!! I feel sorry for those trout and salmon now!:)

[shipdog]

6-8 today with a drive by. All ho's about 4 lbs; largest for us was 5lbs. 3 of 4 came on 3 color lead off port side board in 60' of water on Blue pearl peanut fly. for 1/2 hr or so, couldn't keep em off that setup. 3 of 4 came on rigger 20' down in 60' of water on double aqua peanut fly. All 00 orange dodger. Nothing on the green/gold fly. We started in 30'; nothing....trolled to 50'; nothing....went to 60'ft and found em. Guys at station had found em deeper than we were.

[Grey Beard]

Saturday’s reports sounded like fishing had slowed from Friday south of the harbor so decided to go a bit north. Marked lots of bait in 70fow so set lines and trolled SE. In the first 1.5hrs 1 for 3, 4 color 8” Bechhold with blue longtail 1 for 2 and full core white dbl glow Opti LBB. Then a couple more bites as we crossed the third hill, 2 color 6” red flasher and blk/purple fly. Kept going and 2 bites as we crossed 140fow. Turned back and no more bites and that happened every time we turn back…nadda. Heard from a friend he had 4 fish fishing the edge of the third hill and 2 were 16# kings so headed back in. Took a bow on 4 color and Bechhold Blue Tail 108fow and then quiet again.

Headed SE again and when we crossed 170 started getting bit but most on the above 4 color which ended up going 8 for 10. I put the same setup on 2 and 3 color and dipsy and no bites…go figure. The only difference I could see was the hot one only had 1 hook left in the tandem snelled octopus 3/0. Rigger fired 60 down Opti mt dew/orange and Siggs Bluegrn/aqua, the only rigger fish for the day and running 4. Wire Dipsys with a variety of stuff and loc no bites. Braid Dipsys 2 for 3 40loc PwdAqua coho candy. One rigger bite down 100 on White dbl glow Siggs Bluegreen/glow but couldn’t pull off the release so figured a small LT that was gone by the time we got the rigger up. Tried some spoons on 2 and 3 colors for a while but nothing. 8 and 10 color silent with flashers so tried the old reliable Dbl Purple Spook and nothing. Bright day so put a Mag Raider Sister Sledge on the full core and fired in 5min with our second bow. Put one on the 8 color and another bow. Fullcore then took our first king of the yr, 7# and a fat looking “3yr old” making me think later this summer will have some nice ones. Score 1 king, 3 bows and 13 coho.

It got to be quite the hoot that one setup would take 8 of the 17 fish and 10 of 25 bites running 15 rods. Saw a lot of bait out deep but didn’t mark many fish. Surface was 46 and 43 down 60 and 40 down 130. Speed was 1.8-2.1 on the Raider. We fished for 9 hrs for those bites and heard it was slow for most boats. Wonder where we will finds some king for this Saturday’s Cash on the Line?

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard

[shipdog]

I forgot to mention. The Coast Guard was checking boats on Sunday, which I was pleased they were doing especially since I have a small craft. They do a nice job.

We didn't have any problems, but make sure you are compliant...and safe. My flares were updated, but I didn't realize flares expire. The guard said that is what they find the most....he also said make sure u check the expiration when u buy the flares as sometimes retailers will still sell even if near or past the expiration.

[cheddermelt]

Fished both friday and sunday in the 75-115 ft range. have been using peanuts on downriggers, peanuts and dodgers on down riggers, dodger fly combos on riggers, dipsys and dodger peanut and fly combos, boards leadcore and spoons, and riggers and spoon combos. and covering the 30ft ranger all the way down to the 70ft range. both days went 5/7 with mixed bag of lakers and coho's. have been markin fish but havent really been pounding the fish. both days have had the lines in by 600am to 630am but most of the action seems to be around 8-1030am. was wondering if people are getting them out deeper in the 150-200ft range or are they just spread out throught the water column? when i have been out there i have seen people all over but mainly in the 75-100ft range but no boat really seems to be pounding them. any advice would be great!

GL,

chedder

[yatch]

Fished out of Kenosha this morning. Most of our time was closer to Racine with the south west wind. Went 8 for 9. All Ho's, 60 to 80ft. best lure was a 5 color with a flasher and green peanut off of a board. Bigger fish this year. Several about 5#. All the fish I marked on the sonar were headed north toward Milw. so get ready. :D

[Grey Beard]

Friday pre-fishing for Cash on the Line we were looking for kings so started about 3mi SE in 80fow and zig zagged south 80-95fow. Put out a mix of mag spoons and flasher flys and 2Js, full and 7 color and the full had one brief rip and that’s it for both. First bite Mag Raider Green Tiger down 60 a small LT, 6 color Mag Yellow fever 2 coho and Mag Bluetail rigger down 70 a coho. 75loc Dipsy Opti White/glw/blu and LBB 1-2 coho.

About 3 mi south of our start ran into our buddy Eric on Wet dream who was quite a bit ahead of us in bites so we switched to his program of deeper sets and more flashers. Turned back north and action picked up on riggers with White Opti dbl glow and Siggs white crinkle down 90 and White Opti glow/mt dew and white crinkle down 70 doubled. Wire Dipsys 2 set 150 and 170loc White Opti glow/blu and dbl glow with LBB and white crinkle were producing. Decided to cover more water and first pass east hits at 114, 123, 130fow. Lots of bait on the surface and marks down deep so spent the remainder of the AM working back in to 95 and out to 140 working 4mi north and steady but not hot action but zero kings. 150 dipsy quiet for a while and moved it to 190 and resumed working. We did put a Green silver/grn Opti LBB on 70’ rigger and popped 3 coho but other sets left the White Optis on all day.

Leadcore was pretty dead except for 7 color Mt. Dew Opti with glow/silver and Siggs Bluegrn/aqua 4 for 5. 10, 8, 5 color 300’ 30 and 45 copper dead with various presentations. It was back to the old days of Dipsys and riggers working. At the end of the day put out the 8” orange Bechhold and Bluelongtail and it did manage one rip but no fish. Worked the speed on the Raider 1.8-2.2 and 2 seemed the best. Surface in 140 was 46.5 and down 90 43.5. Ended up with 21 for 27, 3 LT and rest coho. Didn’t sound like other had much for kings either with 0 to 3 per boat.

Unfortunately 30mph north wind hit about 1AM Sat rocking the boat in the parking lot. The little flag on the radio antenna was whipping so that it sounded like firecrackers going off so kept some of us awake. It continued to blow at about 20mph at check in time of 415 so the tournament committee wisely cancelled the tourney. Good news is they plan to hold it later this summer and possibly the date of the cancelled Silver Challenge, 15 Aug. They will have time to work on sponsors for some big fish prizes. They also changed the amateur rules so you can box your legal limit of those on your boat and weigh you best 15, same as the pro side. I’m sure Senile Too will keep us posted.

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard

[Eric Haataja]

Thanks for the awesome reports Grey Beard!! Fantastic!!

[cheddermelt]

got our lines in the water at roughly 5:30 in the morning first fish came 2 mins after setting our first rigger. first fish was the smallest bout a 2 pound yoyo. Got into some nicer yoyo's this trip all around 5-6 pounds but very fat which was good to see! fish came on various spreads from leadcore planners with spoons and reef runners, down riggers and spoons and fly's with dodgers, dipsy's with dodger fly and spoon combos, and peanuts. From what i heard all fish were comin deep from previous reports but we stuck in the 85-95 feet of water and limited out before 9 am. great day out. almost wish i was getting paid to catch fish :( economy has been hit hard around the ktown area.

GL be out later this week,

chedder

[shipdog]

Tough day today for this guy in the pro mag. 2-2. Both on typical spring coho setups. one on 3 color lead and the other on 2 color lead. my riggers did nothing. trolled from 60' to 100' with nothing. had some boat probs, so didn't want to venture deeper. decided to troll in and had a double in 60' of water. that was it for us. had to take the boat to the shop, so i'm out for the next week. :mad:

there were some guys at the ramp with the big goose, and then others with nice mix of fish. i heard that some of the summer pattern stuff was starting to work in addition to the spring setup. My buddy out of waukegan, IL boated 10 today but they were all over the board on what they were hitting. he was in mostly 90' of water.

[brookiereleaser]

report,

got out friday with a buddy of mine at about 5pm

went out to about 90 fow and setup coho rigs w/peanuts on dipsys and one rigger witha monkey puke spoon,

basically my first time out using a rigger so it was more of a test run to figure out how to use it properly ,

missed one fish that hit one of the flies on the dipsy but nothing else the entire night

I have a question for those reading their locators.

I have a fairly basic eagle fisheasy and it works well in shallower water but when i get out to these 100' depths i dont really mark much . Is it common to troll around out in those deep areas and not see so much as a speck on your locator all the way to the bottom unless theres fish. Im just wondering either im not on fish and thats normal looking for the most part? Or should i be marking clouds of baitfish and stuff fairly frequently. I feel like i marked a few "clouds" while i was out there but i couldnt really see much in the way of typical arches. Have you guys found that the more entry level fish finders are just not strong enough at these depths or is it pretty common to have dead zones out there where all you see is the bottom and nothing in between?

what levels have you guys been marking the most fish at out there around 90-100 feet. Im curious as to where i should zoom in on my locator for depth range to have a better chance of spotting them.

thanks.

chuck

[shipdog]

I know this is the Coho thread, but didn't see another one for Keno/Racine kings.

Did a quick trip this a.m. before work on the 16ft pro mag. 4:15-7:00 a.m.. 3-3 with a drive by. 2 kings and 1 steelhead. 1st king (7-8 lb) came in 55' about 25' down on rigger w/ blue dolphin 4:45 a.m....went to 70' and picked up the steelie (3-4 lb) on chartrues dipsey 3 setting 84' out on lemon ice..... Went back to 55' and pick up 15lb king on the same dipsey 125' out @7:00 a.m. and had to pull lines to get to work..drive by was on the blue dolphin....should have stayed in 55 fow.

Here's my buddy holding the fish...enough to wet the appetite for quick run before work

[memert]

i got 5 big king to today the bigest at 23ld and the smalles at 16 ,anything else happening up there?

[shipdog]

First trip with the boys last evening trying to get them their first kings....had to go off my buddy's boat given the conditions. The 7 year olds held up like champs.

3-6 w/couple drive bys (3; 7-8 lb kings). from 6:30pm-9pm

The rule was they had to reel in the fish so only coaching from the dads..... started with a double with the boys and they both lost their first kings after decent fight...welcome to salmon fishing boys....later, both 7 years olds landed their first kings....mission accomplished.

No real pattern on depths. However, we did troll with meat, 30' DR in about 55/60FOW. That setup was 2 for 4Had a hard time keeping em hooked.

Will post pix later

[Cat Man J.J.]

Made a few phone calls this morning but fished Wednesday afternoon alone again. With the cold water all over I figured I'd try shallow in front of the harbor area first and if I didn't get anything after a little while head deeper. So I get ready to start setting lines and see what looks like a stick in the water ahead of me and then it moved. trolled over to see a 15lb. king dying on top of the water, made a few passes at it but I couldn't get in the net. The fish had a little bit darker coloring but not to bad, hope someone else picked it up. Worked the 30 - 40 fow for about a half hour dodging the crap in the water then pointed the boat east and started trolling towards the hills. Got about half way across the long 50 - 60 fow area and picked up a small king on a four color orange crush spoon, would have threw it back but it was a mess and I didn't think it would make it. Fished the 65 - 95 fow for a couple hours didn't mark much, no bites, about 6:30 I started my way back got about half way back through the 50 - 60 fow area and bam. The four color with the blue/green dolphin started screaming, after a half hour battle man against fish I finally got the fish to the side of the boat. Four tries with my net that was just a hair too small I gave up on the net and landed the fish by hand as the sun was going down on a smooth as glass lake. Not sure on the weight but the king measured 35 inches. J.J.

[collinfishes]

got out the last 2 days and fishing was alright. wed. we ended up getting 2 doubles and two drive bys. 3 kings and i lost a reallly nice laker boatside. thing didnt fight the whole way in and i thought i had on another "dipsy fish" cause it seems to happen to me quite a bit haha but as soon as it saw the boat she started head shaking an rolling got it about a foot away from the net and boom it popped off. not sure how deep we were that day joe forgot the fish finder so we were just out there. yesterday was alright too i started on shore got a nice little 15lb chin right away then got a call to head out on the boat around 630. ended up 4-6 nothing big. 3 kings and steelie. had a hit on one pole and thought we missed it, half hour later i go to pull that line thought i had a nice dipsy again, got it about a 100 back and the dipsy starts fightin back, then a steelie comes flying outa the water haha turns out that hit was a fish. one king on a rigger 75down 75 back. the rest were on dipsys. spoons and flies worked for us. color didnt seem to matter as long as it had some glow. got a couple new guys into there first kings so it was all good. fish were in 66-89fow. :D

[collinfishes]

fished on shore the past two days and its been slow to say the least. i think all this weather messed it up alittle. friday morning the lake was pretty calm and the water was still tap water clear. the lake kicked up at about 1 and it muddied up quick within 30 min or so. couple of short hits on spoons was all the action i got. joe had a bobber pole sittin in the rocks and we forgot about until we seen a nice chrome steelie come flyin out of the water and looked over an his pole is screamin line and bouncin crazy. that was all the action for the day. yesterday we thought hey if there likin spawn will soak some bobbers for a couple hours. well between the wind, tangles, and increasingly muddy water we gave up after 3 hours er so empty handed.

[Fish Tales]

Tried the harbor this morning for two hours. Fished along the wall between the pipes, using a spawn sack under a slip bobber. Nothing for me, but a few others were luckier than I. Baits of choice seemed to be evenly divided between spawn, shiners/alewives and spoons. Hope for better days ahead. Question - How old is too old when using frozen spawn sacks. I had some at home here in the freezer that were cured in Borax about 10 months ago. They still have a nice peach color to them. Would I be better off seeking fresh ones?

[blitzfish]

FishTales... it is completely personal preference. I have used eggs that old a few times and they tend to last even longer if they are cured first. They normally work just fine for me, though i would still say that "fresh is the best"...

[Eric Haataja]

My buddy is fishing as I type this, off the south pier and has caught 4 kings from shore with one magnum 24 1/2 lber the bite is hot down there now!

[kayakfisherman]

I got out this evening for some browns and they were biting pretty good. I started off trolling and after changing a couple baits I got a nice 12 lber on a crank behind a slide diver the second fish about 7 lbs hit the same set up. After a couple more laps I decided to start casting. I caught 3 more on a rattling rogue before my spinning rod broke and I had to head in. The water is so cold that the fish are all over near the surface and even into the shallow water. The key to getting bit was to give the rouge a real eratic action with some long pauses. All the fish caught casting were on the pause. Sorry about the lack of pics i forgot to bring my camera

[collinfishes]

fishing has been alright the past few days. that water is ice cold for now. sunday i ended up 2-2. a steelie and a little king on a tony the tiger spoon. yesterday we went 1-3 on the boat with a little shaker. fished 20-90fow and all we could find was a shaker, a break off and one that shook loose. thank you to the nice fella that cast over our only line out as i was pullin it and then start yellin and swearin at me like it was my fault you made a stupid cast. your lucky you got your stuff back and all your line. ugh. SORRY about the rant i needed to get that out haha. got the shaker on the same spoon ive been throwin on shore. 65 back 35down in 41fow. break off was on a doger/fly on a dipsy in 66fow and the other one was on a silver plug on a rigger 65back 83down in 86fow.

[rootpro6]

edited

[shipdog]

My last 3 trips out of Keno have been dismal.

1-3 last week friday off of stinger monkey puke on 4 color in 52 fow with 2 drive bys. All my "action" came in 52 FOW between 600-640 am. 7lb king

1-2 on Tuesay off of smoke dodger with siggs rig aqua fly in 60 FOW; clear dipsey; 3 setting; 50 out. 6lb king

Did an evening trip yesterday and didn't even have a release. We didn't get lines set until 700 pm, so late start. Worked 65-40 FOW as best i could given our time throwing what i have in my box (flys, #4 j-plugs, small and mag spoons) trying to vary speed, depths, line, etc. i'm not the most experienced, but First time i've ever been blanked out there even for a short trip.

Anybody have any reports on Kenosha in terms of depths fishing and fish? It seems hard getting reports on Kenosha right now. Much appreciated.

I see they're spanking them in milwaukee and doing OK in waukegan, so I can't figure out what i'm doing wrong here in keno. I'd like to blame the fish, but I usually find it's the fisherman. :)

tight lines

[collinfishes]

fishing remains good from shore and in the boat. the last few days have been fairly slow for me but im still consistently hitting fish so i cant complain. the fish have also been everywhere so there really is no hot spot, weve been hitting fish from north pier, mouth of the river, all of south pier and in the boat launch also a few in the marina. also i hear there doing very well in milwaukee but whats new. kenoshas been hot too but a completely different bite down there. yesterday we got all hos and some nice ones at that. i got mine off tony the tiger and joe and ryan got theres on cranks and gulp. today we had a few goofy catches my buddy ryan got nice carp off gulp in the early am, he said it inhaled it too. joe got a gizzard shad and a tiny shaker king and of course i got there late and got nothing haha. LOTS of people out today on shore and even more out in boats, i counted 16 boats circling a fairly small area all morning. gonna head back out and see if i can get into something. oh heres a picture of a snake i caught the other day out at the fox. it was prolly close to 18in didnt really wanna get close enough to find out the exact length though. randy im sorry if using frogs is illegal both were released relatively unharmed haha frog was a little shaking up but he hopped away alright.

[shipdog]

Thanks!! I also heard from somebody else that they did real good Wed am in 30-50 FOW in Keno...said the bite was better later in the am than early... so I've got some tweaking to do on my presentations...appreciate the info!!

As a side. I do walk the Racine harbor almost daily...there are a ton of browns in the boat harbor....don't think one can fish there right now, but just an observation.

[collinfishes]

went back in the evening. joe ended up losing a really nice king on his new favorite bait, gulp and a darter. only fished for like 20min. after joe got snapped off and i had dumb seagull get tangled up in my line (he released him self unharmed) and tyler some how cast half his pole in the water, the morale was pretty low haha so we gave up as the sun set. shipdog weve been doing very well on spoons behind dipsys. whites with green and whites with red have been hot. try a dipsy on 3 setting and set it back 183ft. it never seems to fail me no matter what i have behind it, or 269ft back. also flashers and my homemade flies have been taking some BIG kings :D i could whip some up for a few dollars, if anyones interested. :P

[collinfishes]

fishing the past few days has been pretty good it started out slow i got skunked 2 days in a row. then yesterday all hell broke loose. got joe to come out tubing with me and we put the hurtin on some browns and bows. ended up 5-15 yesterday. i had a steelie come out from underneath me and smack my spoon with less than 6in. of line out and almost gave me a heart attack. had that happen to us a couple more times after that. fish were all over. today we ended up 14-26. with 6 browns, a steelie, and the rest were sheepshead. for some reason we couldnt keep alot of the trout hooked up for very long, either theyd throw it on the jumps or head shake the hooks out. we had a huge school of sheeps move in for about an hour and fishing got pretty outta hand for that hour with joe and i hooking up almost every cast. we even got a couple doubles. we were out there yelling an laughing and splashing around like some kids in a pool. definetly the most fun ive had fishing in awhile. spoons did the damage for us. i got all of my fish on a spoon i bought at the dollar store at that. best dollar ive ever spent. :D it was joes first time being out in a float tube as well.

[collinfishes]

more pictures :D

[collinfishes]

couple more :D

[collinfishes]

few more plus a couple of kings my flies have taken :D

[Fish Tales]

Shipdog:

Why do you think one could not fish in the harbor now? Is there some dredging or work going on to prevent it?

Collin:

How would fishing be from the boat launch side of Fourth Street, off the floating piers? What would you suggest for bait/lures? I usually soak a spawn sack, but I have a J-13 and a huge complement of Krocs and Cleos. What would your choice be?

Also, how big were some of those Drum? The one Joe is holding is one of the biggest I've ever seen from this harbor...

Thanks,

Fish Tales

[shipdog]

i don't know the rules of that harbor and whether they allow casting in the harbor while the boats are there....that's all....i do see guys fishing it, so it must be OK.

[JMBrunner08]

Fished the harbor this evening for about an 1 1/2 down by the yacht club untill the rain came. Didnt catch any. Seen a ton of fish jumping. Was using a green KO

[collinfishes]

fishing has really been up and down the last three days and its been hard to fish a spot with out gettin pushed in the other direction in the wind so we could only fished where the wind would allow. wed. was pretty slow compared to the day before. we ended up 3-6 with only one sheep. water was gin clear and the sun was on full blast for awhile so it made for a difficult bite had lots of follows but had a hard time gettin em to commit. yesterday morning was absolutley nuts. as soon as we were in the water we were catching fish. we ended up 21-26 in about 2 hours then left when the rain really picked up, only 2 were sheeps rest were browns with some real footballs. we had two that we had to kick to the nearest shore to land. had atleast 5 doubles. we were out there gigglin like kids again at all the fish. got our buddy ryan into his first tube fish also. this morning you had work for em a bit and i ended up 2-2. only stayed till 7. water muddied up a bit over night. again spoons did most of the damage with a few on plastics and cranks. anything that resembled an alewive in any way caught fish. i really credit the float tubes to our good luck lately. its truly a unique experience out there and its waaaaaaaaaaaayyy too much fun!!! sucks i only have a few pictures. i left my phone in the car during all that rain yesterday and i cant get the pictures from joes phones on to here. oh well. ill just have to go back and catch some more :D

[Fish Tales]

Had a very nice morning Friday fishing the Racine Harbor. I arrived at 0515 and had the place to myself. Only saw two boats launch the whole time I was there. Put out two lines, both set up with lime-yellow spawn sacks under slip floats.

About 45 minutes into my stay one of the floats just disappears. I set the hook and the line began to blaze out of the reel. No jumps, but based on swirls this fish was out approximately 50-70 yards. She came almost as fast as she took off. Pulled her up with my right arm and netted her on the second attempt with my left. A gorgeous 28" Steelhead that weighed 7.13 pounds. This is the biggest fish for me out of the big pond, and (believe it or not) my first Steelhead.

About 30 minutes later, same thing, my float just disappeared. This was a short fight, as I brought in my first ever Coho Salmon, which was netted by a nice young man watching the action. This fish measured 18 1/2". It seemed small, compared to the Steelhead (I think they call it a "shaker"), so I put it back to grow up. That was it for the morning, and I left at 0800.

Two fish may not seem like a big deal to those who experience success on a regular basis, but for me this was affirmation that what I've been taught works. This was my first Steelhead and my first Coho. The Steelhead is the biggest fish I've ever caught. Both fish were caught on spawn sacks I learned to tie myself, using spawn that was given to me by a friend from a catch last fall.

I now have confidence in what I am doing, and look forward to many more successful fishing trips at the big pond.

[Eric Haataja]

Congrats Man ! To me that is one of the best reports I've seen in a long time and I'm greatful you took to time to share! Very very cool! Awesome report and great job!

I know they have been doing really well from shore in Kenosha as well for Browns.

Eric

[Finseeker]

With all of the west winds over the last few weeks I was able to break away from my inland fishing for a handful of big lake outings. I was finding fish in 35-45 fow trolling 3,4,5 color lead set ups, dipsys, and riggers.

For the most part the majority of my fish came on the lead core set ups with J-Plugs. The best colors for me have been Wonderbread and firetiger ladderback in size 4 and 5.

I have experimented with other colors and have had limited success with the riggers and Magnum Pro Kings down 25 and back 40 feet. The few dipsy hits I have had have been on a 2 setting and back 55 and 70 with Magnum Pro kings as well.

[collinfishes]

went down to the harbor for alittle while figured i could get something goin on small jigs an the ole cane pole an nothin not even a rock bass. walked around an man the lake was lookin good, place was packed but EVERYBODY was in all the wrong spots :p saw one decent king on a stringer an talked to a few guys that didnt get anything. yesterday joe went down to kenosha and fished the mouth of the pike and the harbor with nothin goin he said it was packed down there too. maaaaaan i wish i could fish right now.

[Grey Beard]

Lines were set about 0545 in front of the Root with 60 on the surface and 56 down 15 with a few marks and not much bait. First hit was a mono line on the Off Shore with a size 20 glow FasTrac. Hit twice on a 2 color size 30 black and white/red head FasTrac. Nadda on Js, mag spoons on Dispsy and riggers.

Pulled lines at 0730 and headed for the 3rd hill setting up in 95fow 61 on the surface and a surprising 56 down 102 in 110fow. Put flashers on riggers and one wire dipsy and that Dipsy at 155 loc 1.5set grn Opti/Siggs Bluegrn/aqua took a three yr old 140fow. 300’ 30#copper and reg size Oz took a bow 125fwo. That was it for 4hrs out deep, 2 for 2 running 1.8-2 on the Raider. There was a rippin current out of the south of about 0.75mph. Lots of marks 35 to the bottom and hay stacks of bait on the bottom. The major bite was set for 1045 so had hope but the fish seemed not to notice.

Lost a board today when the Power Pro broke at the rod tip. Didn’t make sense, as the PP was fairly new. Like many of you, I don’t know when to change it. Turned out the tip on a Shimano had a grove from the PP and cut the line. I plan to check the rest of my setups with a Q-tip to see if any other rods have the same problem. Kind of an expensive failure that happened the same way with an Okuma rod a couple of yrs ago.

Looks like I got my warm water and didn’t like it and back to wishing the west winds would return.

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard

[shipdog]

anybody hear anything in keno?...trying to do a quick pre work trip thur am hoping some of the 4 yr olds were closer....after reading Greybeard's report, i'm debating even going out...not trying to be a brownose, but if he's not yanking fish, a novice like me sure the hell won't.

if i do get out, i'll post....i'll be staying close to the pike/carthage unless anybody has any diff suggestions

keep feeshen.

[Fish Tales]

Based on various reports both here and elsewhere, the Chins are pushing up from the mouth of the Pike. You might want to give that location serious consideration. Night fishing has been the ticket! Good luck.

[Eric Haataja]

Lots of fish off of the mouth as well if you want to troll.

[shipdog]

Thanks guys....lines set by 0430. trolled from the harbor north to the pike....working 20-40fow; mostly 20-30. ran into weed issues once got into 20fow...i probably should have tried shallower and just casted, but tired of cleaning weeds and didn't have casting gear w/me

i didn't get too carried away and only ran 3 lines; 1 j-plug and 2 spoons. didn't mark too many fish...didn't see any fish jumping....didn't get anything.....

did a quick troll out to about 55' as that's all i had time for, running 6 lines (riggers; dipsies; lead); but nothing (nor was i expecting anything out there given previos reports). stopped fishing by 0700. Marked some bait fish here and there in the 50' range, but sporadic

bit bumpy on my 16' boat, but fishable.

i didn't have any company fishing shallow, or by the pike....there may have been 1 boat casting shallow but couldn't tell for sure....all other boats went deep right away and didn't even bother with shallow....i'm guessing the shallowest anybody setup in was 65', but most seemed to start deeper than that.

Not many guys fishing the harbor from shore by 0400, but was croweded by 0730.

keep feeshen

[Adam]

Eric:

Can you recommend a local taxidermy company/person to do a trout or salmon mount. My good friends girl, just landed a 22lb brown, and wants to have it mounted for her. Any recomendations would be great-

Fish was caught on tube :)

Thanks in advance

[TJPike]

Go to Artistic Anglers.com wont be disappointed...

[deadeternity]

www.artisticanglers.com

[Adam]

THanks guys, I think he was looking more local.

I appreciate the replies, but he is all the way in Duluth.

Any other suggestions.

Here are a few browns I caught last night, smaller but fun on 6lb Line!

[brewcityfishr]

I know he's not local, but this guys work is just amazing!! check it out- Anglingartisans unlimited.

[Fish Tales]

There is a renown taxidermist in Illinois (I think Northern/Northeast Illinois) named Tom Wendell. I think his work is discussed in depth on the Chitown Angler website. The only other one I know of in this area was Schmidt Taxidermy in Caledonia (Racine County). Can't vouch for his work though.

[brookiereleaser]

for salmon/trout

especially if i go with tom, do you guys like replica or real skin mount???

if price isnt a concern what do you think, pros/cons, is there a clear winner here?

thanks.
chuck

[TJPike]

Replica is the clear winner.They last forever and you dont have to drive anywhere to drop off fish

[deno b.]

Tom wendel is going to be doing a fish for me. He does have a web site tomwendelwildlifeartist.com. Check it out all of his work is on there.

Made it out last night, fished until 11:00 pm. Went 1for4. Thats all i have been using lately is skein on the bottom, its been modertly successfull. Here is a 20lb from last night. Good luck Dean

[dedfisher]

Long story short, 17 hours of casting, no fish. Water is 70 degrees off the south pier.

[collinfishes]

fishing has been slow but steady with atleast a couple of fish a day. hooked up with atleast 50 fish over the past 3 days and landed a dozen. way too many break offs on boats or rocks. ive never had this much trouble landing a king before in my life. fishing stuff is way too expensive to be losing it everyday. frustrating to say the least but i love it! cranks and spoons have taken some fish as well as spawn doing some damage. lots of little shakers around and those seem to be the only ones i can actually land. the daytime bite is almost non existent but the night time bite has been almost as tough. but pretty soon it wont matter what, when, and where. the fish will be everywhere on everything, i hope. what up with all the southerners this year. i feel out of place down there lately. :rolleyes: pictures are pretty bad but its what ya get from a phone in the dark... :o

[collinfishes]

couple more... joes been gettin lucky with all the bigger fish and a wild looking brown.

[deno b.]

Fished one day last week with a couple of buddy's. Wind was brutal but did manage to catch a few coho on flies. All fish cpr'd to the dinner table. Love the taste of coho. Good fishing

[Eric Haataja]

Nice Job dean those fish sure look tasty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brewcityfishr]

Hit Kenosha again yesterday morning 6:30-12:00. set up in 55' and trolled out to 180', managed to go 7 for 10 six coho's and the first king of the year. took the most hits between 130'-160' in the top 15' on dodgers/peanuts. king was on a blue dolphin spoon down 65. surface temps between 44-47. the wind really scatterd them out. hope they show up in Milwaukee soon. good fishin'

[kayakfisherman]

Well saturday I got out of work early and decided to try for some cohos right behind my house (I live right on the lake). Everyone I spoke to said the fish were out deep so I decided to fish some what shallow. I ended up with a bunch of cohos most of the fish came around 40 feet of water but I did get one on the way back in 29 feet. aqua color flies seemed to be best. I got to see one fish hit the surface three times around me before it crushed one of my flies.

[brookiereleaser]

man nice work in the yak .........

i fished out of milwaukee with my buddy and his new dog and all that happened was the dog yakkkked in the boat!!!!

pretty rough out there compared to the noaa report.....

were you fishing out of racine or kenosha,,,, i have yet to get a coho this spring and was bummed that all the reports were from 150 to 200 feet , but you give me hope !!! awesome.

[kayakfisherman]

I was about half way between kenosha and racine. my temp wasnt working but from what I was told the water temps were the same in shallow as out deep so I assumed there would be some fish in close. I marked fish and bait in as shallow as 15 feet but the water was pretty dirty in there.

[kayakfisherman]

I fished behind my house again and caught a bunch of cohos on the typical dodger and fly set up. The fish were really spread out. The shallowest came in 20 feet and the deepest was around 44 feet of water. I peddled the kayak about 10 miles round trip to catch my five.

[Cat Man J.J.]

Got out Sun. morning about 5:30am tried to get my Perch limit but after an hour or so jumping around looking for the Perch I put the Perch rods away and went out Salmon fishing. Set lines about 7:00am in 60 fow heading east towards the other boats, Got out to about 80 fow with no action and not much talk on the radio deeper I made a loop back in shallower and first fish came on a 4 color off a board 00 green and glow dodger aqua flash coho fly nice coho. Then worked the same depth for a while with no luck so I decided to head west shallower since there wasn't much happening deeper. Got to about 50 fow and started marking fish about 25' down and at that point the solo fishing got a little crazy. First a dipsey set 2 1/2 / 60loc/ standard coho rig 00 org. dodger green coho fly takes another nice coho. Took the spoon off the other side dipsey and put on another coho rig but a little deeper 100 loc. Not more than five minutes later it goes off with the drag singing. After the first big run it was kind of a stale mate for fifteen minutes not taking anymore line not gaining any either. But I didn't want to push the issue too hard by tightening the drag with the 20 lb. flouro line and coho fly. finally started gaining line had the fish pretty close and the hooked popped out, which was a little disappointing since I was really babying it to make sure I got em in the boat. Regrouped checked the gps got back on course and within five minutes the 4 color with the 00 green and glow and fly goes again. By the time I got the rod out of the holder the dipsey on the same side goes off too and is taking line, so now I have double going solo. So I put the 4 color rod back in the holder and took the bigger fish on the dipsey that was inside and closer. The first half of the double, a big coho pushing 10lb.in the cooler went back to the 4 color fish still on and converted my solo double with another healthy coho. Back on course and finished out my limit with another coho a good half mile inside all the other boats, all the fish caught of standard coho stuff in about 50 fow. I was back at the bubbler Perch fishing before 10:00am J.J.

[kayakfisherman]

I went lookin for kings this morning behind my house. I caught this nice brown on a spoon and a couple small kings. There was TONS of bait in shallow anywhere from 20 to 40 feet of water.

[kayakfisherman]

heres a couple more fish from this morning

[dedfisher]

Got out for the first time on monday. After casting from around 230 til 630 all I could muster was a couple shakers, but there were nice fish caught so I went back the next day. Tuesday seemed it would be no better than monday. I casted and casted with no fish until about 530 when I got a solid hit. Set the hook reel it in and there's my first ever king. Only a little 4 pound jack, but that really got my blood flowing. The next day I got out to my spot at 345. 15 minutes later Bam! another jack. Another fifteen minutes goes by, Bam! this time a football shaped female about 7 pounds. Some more casting, a shaker or two and then as my spoon was sinking and felt a light tap, set the hook and my drag goes nuts. I knew this would be my first good fish. After following her around for about ten minutes and regaining 100 yards of line two times I landed a nice 13.5 pound female.
http://i933.photobucket.com/albums/ad177/dedfisher/great%20lakes%20salmonids/Picture031.jpg
Thursday I woke up and I was tired and it was raining. Back to bed. Friday morning I got my dad out there and I'm glad I did. Not only did he get his first ever king but he got his limit from shore. It was lights out action from start to finish. So much that I had my spoon in the water half the time he did because guess who has net them all and walk them to the string. I would just get the fish on the stringer and go to make my next cast and he would have one on. He felt bad and let me fight one of his last fish a nice 12.5 pounder. I went something like one for five today . 3 fish I had on for about ten seconds the first two just got off and the third one broke my line. The one I landed was a 6 or 7 pound female. http://i933.photobucket.com/albums/ad177/dedfisher/great%20lakes%20salmonids/Picture032.jpg
Here's my dad with the the two bigger fish caught today the 12.5 he let me fight and a 13.
http://i933.photobucket.com/albums/ad177/dedfisher/great%20lakes%20salmonids/Picture034.jpg
And the whole mess of em.
http://i933.photobucket.com/albums/ad177/dedfisher/great%20lakes%20salmonids/Picture037.jpg

[Needtofishmore]

SWEET! Nice job!

[jmoczynski]

I was fishing last week off the beach in calidona every morning from about 5 to 5:30 I didn't have time to take the boat out but i realy want'ed to take advantage of the cold water close to shore.I was caching about 4 fish every morning Kings and browns all on a silver crockadile the first morning I got spooled by a big king.This last weekend we fished Salmon A Rama.We launched out of Bender Park and went south 20 to 25 ft of water.We caught 10 that morning biggest King was a 21.18# king that is in first place.Caught on 5 colors and a glow silver hoard.Went out Sun. The water warmed up about 5 degrees at 30 ft. So the fish moved out about 10 feet deeper.We caught 8 most fish half came on lead core and the boards with plugs.
Great action

[walleyenights]

Late report from sat, got out with my 2 boys and my oldest sons best friend!! hammered them everything on ko wobblers and moonshines. 2 kings (15lbs and 12lbs) 2 coho's 8lbs each 3 rainbows 7 to10 lbs and 1 5lb brown. Lost as many as we caught. Walleyenights!!

[dedfisher]

Anyone got a near shore water temp? Is it worth the drive up for me?

[Needtofishmore]

Here's my new toy, kayakfisherman. I just realized I have a portable locator that will work well in it! I am pumped! Vacation is right around the corner. All that stands between me and yak fishing is 4 days of work, 2 more visits to the chiropractor, and a colonoscopy tomorrow! :eek: