Algoma
WI 7/11/04
Algoma ,Sturgeon Bay and Kewanee all reporting huge catches of 3 and four year old fish. Some charter boats in Algoma reporting 50 fish per trip. Steelhead fish are on the surface all over but not taking any spoons, I feel that they are all full from the huge fly hatch we had last week. Salmon are as close as 34 Fow and can be caught in 350 Fow. Where ever you are when the fish start feeding you catch fish. On Sunday this week end many boats breaking lines and losing
equipment because of there equipment being stressed out from the day before and time not taken to check for nicked lines. The other thing is catching fish in such shallow water there is no room to tire the fish out and the fish are too green by the boat and you all know what a 20# plus fish will do when it sees the boat. After a day and one half of this happening to me I figured that speeding up the boat and getting the fish around 300 feet away would give you some more room to fight it. This also
stopped the doubles and triple hits.
As for what is working during day light hours I would say any white and green flasher with a Aqua fly and any Twinkie rig Fishermen are fishing well past midnight and catching fish all night long. One boat at our campground reported to me 5 fish on at the same time at 11Pm on Saturday night using glow spoons. I had hard enough time netting fish in the day time I did not need to be out there in the dark fishing these large tunas.
There are some people think because of the large amounts of raw sewage that was dumped into the Milwaukee are Lake because of the flooding caused the number of fish to move north. I myself do not know the reason but I am having fun. One thing I did notice was because of the huge number of fishermen the Sunday Am bite was allot less fish. Fish population not being hurt in the Sturgeon Bay Bank reef nor Kewnea area as of yet.
because of less boats. there are lines at the boat launch and as much as one hour wait in the AM in Algoma and the fish grinder at the public launch is going twenty four seven
Soon the bait piles will be all gone and the fish will move, I hope neither do for I fish a 9 day tournament starting in two weeks..........Capt. Terry
Waukegon, IL 7/11/04
Captain John--
Finally got the chance for my maiden voyage for open water fishing on
the big M this year. Weather was spectacular with little wind, lots of
sunshine and nearly flat calm seas. Set up fishing in 65 FOW due east
of the harbor. Most of the fleet was fishing south off Great Lakes
Naval Base so I turned and headed north. I was by myself so could only
use three rods. My supply of frozen alewives was still frozen so I
started by putting out flasher/fly combos and spoons, until the meat
was ready.
Got no bites so continued NW towards deeper water. By the time
I got to 95 FOW, the fresh baits were ready so I pulled the double
spoons I had on one rigger and replaced it with a Blue-green Dolphin
Reel-Flasher and a chartreuse Twink. I used the whole alewife in the
bait head and sent it down to 60 feet. I put a Black Mamba
Reel-Flasher on the other rigger with a Monkey Puke Twink and sent it down to 45
feet(I had previously determined that the thermocline was between 45 and
60 feet). I used a super line Dipsey for the third rod and put on an 8"
white/glow Fishcatcher with my homemade double-hook cut bait rig
(pictures of how it was rigged will be forthcoming when developed).
The first bite came at about 9:00 and a nice four pound coho hit the
Dolphin rig and was the first victim. The chatter on the radio was that most
boats were having sporatic luck at best. The fish seemed to be
scattered with some boats doing better in shallower water, 60-70 feet,
while others were doing better in 135 FOW. There were some tunas
caught to 20 lbs. I had four other hits on the riggers that did not hook up.
Just a torn alewife. My second fish was another coho that hit on a
wire dipsey rig that I use to replace the super line dipsey, same
Bechholds/cut bait rig. I quit at 12:00. Not great fishing by any
means but not bad for three rods. I plan on experimenting with the
hooks on the Twinks to see if I can improve hook-ups. I had the same
problem last year.
Regards,
JGESox
================================
John, another report for the Little Bay de Noc waters,
a continued improvement this past seven"
yesterday and today has seen somewhat of an improvement of biting
fish. Yesterday most fishermen were catching fish, lots of undersize walleye
but ending up with a some good catches of eating size walleye. Water
surface temps. have dropped a bit to around 51' to 53' in the upper bay and a
degree or two lower in the southern Bay. Best bait presentations seemingly are
a plain floater rig in chartrueses and the Walleye's Choice floater with
small blade in white was working today for us and another fishing companion
boat to us. Tipped with both small crawlers and leeches it didn't seem to
matter once finding some good groups of fish. It's reassuring to see these
smaller fish 13 to 14 inches telling us again of some real good year classes
coming up. No question some warming weather should perk the bite each day, so
don't give up guys although not "jumping" INTO THE BOAT fish are getting more
active each day.
We are also going to start tracking and locating
Smallmouth Bass as they too should start getting active. This fishing
is probably one of the most overlooked fisheries up here. Lot's of really
nice bass exist up here and provide some great action and fun!!!!!! We'll
be back on the waters tomorrow, good luck, have fun and we'll see you on
the water. Contact us for upcoming open dates that we may have and we'll
get you on the water,
Capt. Marty http://www.littlebaydenoc.com
those fish are out there fishermen but its mean't working for them
which most of us do and understand on a daily basis.
The entire bay has been seeing some catches of fish throughout.
Water surface temps. running about 53' to 56', winds from the south
today and cloudiness developing as the afternoon came to a close.
Best bait choices still seem to be using floating jig-heads tipped with
crawler halves and weighted with light weight bottom bouncers or
slip-sinkers in 1/4 ounce and less.
Talking with good friend and Green Bay native, Bill Feucht staying at
Brock's Resort for the week some of the fisherman there for the week
getting out used similar methods but only double split-shots for weighting down
the floater and letting out lots of line.
We tried looking for some active Smallmouth Bass in the shallows where
rock, shale and sand was present and casting white skirted spinner baits
managed to catching 9 nice bass one being just under 5 pounds. Warming temps.
should perk the bass fishing as well.
Anglers fishing Big Bay reported about the same results, slow fishing
and spotty catches. Water depths and most fish are coming in 18 to 26 feet
of water, a little tip and concentrate on the mud areas through the bay.
Keep in touch fisherman, looks like some weather is coming through here
in the next couple days. Will definitely help the water levels, those of you spending time on the bay should definitely see the dark, dirty waters that the upper bay has wasalways a "positive" factor in fish catches in past years!
Keep in touch guys, tomorrow is another day.
Capt. Marty
http://www.littlebaydenoc.com
5/30/04
Hey Capt hope you had a good Holiday weekend!
I just missed you Saturday evening. I ran into Bob Hicks on the dock in Ludington. Paul "usetobe" was docked at he same dock. He said you had just left. Unfortunately we never got out Sunday or Monday due to the weather. Sounds like I missed out on some good fishing...Oh well the family had a good time anyhow, getting away for a few days.
I fished down by me in the morning on Sat. till we got chased off by storms then headed up to Ludington. Picture is of Spencer Allen. His first ever Salmon and first time out on Lake MI. A nice chunky 8lbs Coho.
Port report to follow...
All the best!...
Mark
<t><
IN Coho Action 5/3/04
E.Chicago IN
I was able to get out for a few hours after work tonight with my Son. Anytime I can fish with my son I go.
Water temp was 52 with the wind out of the East at 10-15 mph. It had been relatively calm today from the reports on the radio. The wind had picked up a few hours before we got out and it started out a little bumpy.
We fished from the Harbor mouth to the first light most of the evening.
Hot bait for the second time out this year was a Mag. Orange froggy spoon off a rigger down 22’ back 60’. I never got this spoon wet last year and it’s been on fire this year. The other bait that took fish was a OO dodger orange with a GN/YW fly. Off a yellow bird back 20’ with a 5/8oz keel sinker.
We ended up going 6-6, 5 Coho’s and one small king that we released back to grow up some more.
Spending time with my son, a beautiful Sunset over the steel MillJ and a few fish. I can not think of a better way to end a dayJ
Fish-On!
Mark
5-1-04
Hopefully the weather today is not an indication of things to come this month! Cold, windy and rainy is what greeted us this Morning as we headed to the marina. I had a special guest fishing aboard the “VistaCruzer” today, Dave “The Master Baiter” Schmittou. Dave was coming south for some business so I talked him into making a pit stop on his way through. I could of not had a worse weather day to fish then today.
With a good 2 to 3 foot chop and wind a rain blowing we started to set lines at 6:00a.m.. The report at the end of the wall was 7’ coming through so we craved out a small trolling path inside the harbor and played dodge boat most of the morning.
Water temp was around 51 degrees with the wind out of the North at about 15 to 20 mph. The best troll was down wind or turning from up wind to down wind. Fish came all over today with no real pattern red dodgers (00) green/yellow flies green/crinkle flies. Mag orange froggie spoon and fire tiger stick baits. Riggers at 18’ back 40’. Slide divers dialed on 4 out 35 and 44. Yellow bird’s 5/8oz keel sinkers back 20’. We ended up going 11 for 12 all Coho’s from 2 to 4 lbs.
The only thing colder then the weather today was looking at Dave! We all had our winter suits on and he fished in a shirt and hat!! Despite a few mishaps (If anyone finds a yellow Eagle claw rod With a King hooked on a black J-plug give me a call. I believe that fish was headed up to MI last time I seen the rod and reel!) and lousy weather it was good day on the water.
Fish-On!
MarkFlat calm with a slight north wind with the temps in the low 40’s greeted us Saturday Morning on the lake. Two days of a prior big blow had the lake turned up pretty good. Water temps where around 45 to 47. With a cold front on the horizon headed our way.
We headed over to Gary lighthouse to set up for the day. The first thing that greeted us was the chatter on the radio that the fishing was terrible. We set lines with a mix of body baits, Spoons and 00 dodgers and peanut fly’s. Our total for the day was 3 for 3. One brown, one Coho and a nice 9lbs King (first of the year). The brown came on a small Streak spoon (bumble bee) the Coho and King came on dodgers and peanut fly’s gn/sl/bl (Capt Tim’s). All the fish came off yellow birds 15 to 30 stretch with 5/8oz keel sinkers. Slow best describes the action for today. It was nice to get on the water and fish with my Son again. Even though it was slow we had an enjoyable time.
Fish-On!
Mark
