salmon fishing (milwaukee harbor, wi)

So to say the least, this year hasn’t been the greatest start to the salmon run (mostly due to the lack of rain). I also contribute this to the apparent fact that I’m a terrible harbor fisherman and have had some terrible luck on delivering the fish when I have hooked up in a harbor. Others that I have met do a tremendous job plucking fish off inside the harbor walls before they hit the rivers.

Tom Harris over at Great Lakes Angler seems to be one of those guys who can catch fish in the harbors and in the rivers. I’m beginning to believe he thinks like a salmon. He has some great posts recently on how he’s been taking some big fish out of a little kayak. That takes some real guts. Great fish Tom, thanks for sharing them with me. There’s a ton of great info on his site, make sure you spend some time reading his past posts.

http://www.great-lakes-angler.com/

big salmon in a little boat

better shot back on land

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vulcan lakes preview (mchenry county, il)

Ever since I’ve been able to drive and started to travel to different locations I’ve heard the rumors of a private gravel pit that held fish of monstrous proportions. Bass and walleye past the 5 pound range, and pike the size of children always kept me wondering if it was worth the risk of sneaking in? This place has long been a no trespassing area and it was strictly enforced by local police. The signs along the highway clearly stated the cities intent to keep this hidden gem a secret for just a little longer.

vulcan lake, crystal lake, il

Well things do change and a 10 year itch is about to be scratched. Residents of Crystal Lake are probably already aware but Vulcan Lakes is about to be opened to the public. I spent Sunday afternoon in the Huntley area going to my oldest son’s football game (go Timberwolves) and was able to stop by and see it with my own eyes. They are building a beautiful new facility that very much reminds me of Independence Grove. It also seems that it will be operated very much in the same fashion as IG. They will have pricey boat rentals and even steeper prices for those who aren’t residents. I’m not sure if it’s residents of the city or county but either way being from Lake County I’m going to be taking a hit. They are going to be open Oct 1st till the end of the month which is just enough time to give us a taste of what’s to come. From what I read they are going to be strictly catch and release for the first 2 years and haven’t heard anything about ice fishing.

Fishing should be great and people should make the time to check this out. If you’re a fan of IG it’s a must. Here is the link and the map...

http://www.crystallake.org/index.aspx?page=326

View Larger Map

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fly fishing the fall run (root river,wi)



fair hooked headshot (look close)

Low flow early fall fishing on the Root River in Racine, Wisconsin. This fish was fair hooked on a pink estez that I bounced past her. She was sitting in a pool with a gorgeous brown and a big king. We saw almost a dozen fish today and all were below the weir. This one’s coming home for the smoker!

a root river early fall steelhead

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salmon fishing (racine county, wi)

I set out in the morning with one thing on the brain and that was to hook and land a king salmon. I made my way towards the city of Racine carried by the anticipation of landing an early fall fish out of the harbor. I exited off the highway and turned east towards the lake. On my way the thought ran through my mind of stopping by the Root River and checking to see what was going on down there.

With a quick course adjustment I found myself driving along the banks of the river. For a fall Saturday the crowds were almost non-existent. I’m sure that most people didn’t think that any fish had made their way up the rivers yet even though fish are stacked up in the harbors. The complete lack of rain in the areas have the Wisconsin rivers flowing at a slow low flow. This was the first time I had actually witnessed what the river looks like with a flow less then 50cfs.

the root river flowing under 50cfs

I decided to go to island park one of the parks closest to the harbor thinking that if some fish had made their way up the river they would still be in the bottom reaches of the river. I parked next to the only other car in the entire lot and decided to hop out and take a walk around. I made my way to a nice section and found another angler working a nice riffle. I stopped to asked if he had seen any fish yet. As he began to tell me about the 3 maybe 4 fish he had seen pushing up the river he hooked up almost instantly. The fish ran straight up river over the rock riffles he was fishing and made its way into a deep stained pool under a tree. The angler played the fish with great skill dropping the rod tip to just above the water in order to avoid snagging the tree overhanging the water. One minute later he beached the fish on the bank and unhooked the tiny red and silver fly from the fish’s mouth. The fish was hooked as fair as it gets right inside the mouth in the lower jaw.

hooked up!

a well played fish under the trees

a beached salmon

He turned to me and continued right along with his story of how his brother had landed an even larger specimen here just the day before. With his story complete he took his fish back up to his house (right on the river) where his dad was planning on smoking the fish later that day. I went back to the car and decided to put the harbor fishing plans on hold for a couple hours. I geared up and made my way back to the pool he had graciously given up to me.

my alaska-boo

I fished that pool hard and even made my way around the entire island park scouting for fish. I wasn’t able to land any fish but did foul one that came unbuttoned during the tussle. I was able to spot 3 more fish in the time I was out there but that was it. I did come across an interesting landowner who came storming down to the banks from his backyard throwing huge rocks at the ducks floating the river around his property. He was screaming profanities at the ducks the whole time. Not sure what that was all about but you do run into all types.

harbor side fishing for salmon like they are bass

I took the remaining time I had left and went down the harbor and fished for a few more hours fighting off the wind and drizzle. I was throwing a bait recommended by a new friend that was off the beaten track of just spoons, crank baits, and spawn. I worked my darter head and fluke jr. combo just as if I was fishing for bass. An hour of casting resulted in one solid hook up where the fish dogged me and with an arial display he broke my 8 pound test line. That fish was over 10 pounds and he had my number, today it wasn’t ment to be. For all the disbelievers, there are fish in the river already. One big rain and we will see a nice run of fresh fish. I hope to be there when it happens.

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trout fishing (iowa county, wi)

I did some exploring in Iowa County Wisconsin of a trout stream I’ve never been to before. I fished with a new friend I just met. We worked this stream for almost 3 hours with no fish. The water looked prime but unfortunately no fish spotted and no fish hooked.

an iowa county trout stream

On the way back we fished a Dane County stream where my new friend caught 2 palm sized brookies. We met a local angler in the parking lot who shared some knowledge of streams in the local area. He gave us some great ideas of some spots to try next spring. As far as I’m concerned this was the last trout trip for me in 2010. My focus now is all about the salmon and attempting to fill my streamer box in the next couple weeks.

Damien, it was very nice to meet you and enjoyed hanging out even if we didn’t catch a lot of fish. Thanks for your insight into harbor fishing and looking forward to seeing you in the tributaries.

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bass fishing a private lake (lake county, il)

Today my friend Scott sent me these shots of a nice bass he caught on a private lake in Lake County IL. He was working jitter bug over 20 feet of water during the evening hours. Nice catch buddy!!!

nice lake county bass

here's a second look

Please feel free to send your stories and fishing pictures to be featured on this website. You can reach me from the email under the “contact us” page.

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bass fishing (waukesha county, wi)

Spent the day fishing with my buddy Neal. I picked him up early and headed north to fish a few different Waukesha county lakes. The journey was pretty painless other then the slight navigation error which put us behind twenty minutes or so. The fact that we were a little slow getting there wasn’t completely a bad thing because the last quarter of our drive we watch some nasty storms roll over the entire county. Even after arriving we had a number of intermittent small storms roll through the area . One minute it would be sunny and the next thunder and lightning would warn you of the approaching rain shower. It was like that all day long and the fishing seemed to be better during the times it was raining. Neal thought that it hid our presence better from the wary game fish in these crystal clear waters.


Lake 1

the channel that opens up to Lake 1

We used some different presentations given the circumstances. Spent some time trolling live bait harnesses and spoons, dropshoting finesse plastics, and mini-mites and live bait under slip bobbers.

The dropshot accounted for the majority of our fish and was especially deadly when working the deep drop-offs. You were even in better shape if you could find the isolated patches of weeds located close to where the bottom began to taper off. We tried some different shapes and sizes of worm but the fish ate a purple zoom 4 inch finesse worm the best. We landed maybe a dozen bass on that zoom worm. Here’s a couple of my better largemouths.

a nice bass

another nice bass

Trolling live bait on bottom bouncers gave up only one strike from a meager bass that I lost half way to the boat. We took a fair amount of pan fish on mini-mites and crawler pieces. We even landed a rock bass and a tiny perch that would have been better suited for the fish tank.

me with my friend Bill the gill

rock bass

Lake 2

can you say portage?

neal strecthing his legs after our portage to Lake 2

Halfway through our fishing day we made a portage to a different body of water. The tunnel was narrow and we had to carry the canoe through to the other side. We managed a couple small bass on this side but from what I saw they were not nearly prevalent as they were on Lake 1. I’m glad we spent some time exploring Lake 2 because we picked up some awesome bonus fish that more then made up for the smaller and more inconsistent largemouth fishing.

Here’s my one and only fish (a rainbow trout) that I took on a slip-bobber and minnow combination. The fish took the hook deep and couldn't be revived so it came home for dinner.

a bonus stocker rainbow trout

Here’s Neal’s bonus fish (a nice smallmouth bass) that crushed the dropshot and worm combo right on the drop-off.

a smallie to top off the day

I had a great time on the water today with Neal. We caught a lot of species of fish, and even though none of them were lake monsters it still felt good to bend a rod during the holiday weekend. Happy multi-species Monday, Happy Labor Day and god-speed to the salmon making their way to the tributaries to spawn.

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salmon fishing (racine harbor, wi)

With a couple hours to spare this morning, I made my way down to Racine harbor. Any one who knows me knows I hate harbor fishing unless maybe in the winter. It’s just so hard to fight off the urge to sink a hook into a fresh chromer. I fished the outer wall right in front of the harbor club. There were maybe 8-10 others out there casting when I finally arrived just after the sun rose, and the charter boats were in fishing close. Looks like the cooler weather we've been having this last week is pushing some fish into staging position.

sunrise at racine harbor

The first thing I hate about harbor fishing is navigating the giant boulders (some the size of a small car). Some of the cracks in between these rocks are 8 foot drops into a nasty looking holes. Throw in some strong wind, spray from the waves, and darkness and I’m freakin out!!!

The second thing I hate about harbor fishing is throwing a half ounce spoon 500 times. Not only is it tiring but it’s a little boring, if you ask me. Some may not agree but where’s the finesse in that?

rocks in front of racine harbor

Either way, there I was tossing my half ounce blue and silver k-o wobbler blindly, over and over. It took thirty minutes before something smashed my spoon. The hit came seconds after the lure hit the water only able to take a few cranks on the reel. I fought that fish from way out all the way back to the rocks where I was standing. Then the fish , which was only 15 yards out, makes a sudden turn followed by a deep throbbing head shake and the hook shook free. Rats… Why am I not sealing the deal?

The fish was chrome and it was big. It never jumped and the headshakes were big. I think it was a fresh king salmon but who knows? Every one I met had caught no fish either. The guy fishing the closest to me was the only one that told me they hooked one also. He lost his much quicker though. On the walk back to the car I did find some fresh blood on the rocks, somebody was catching them… The kings are moving in close right now and with some lucky weather we will be stalking the tribs again soon. Monday I’m fishing a carry-in access only lake, and next weekend I’m going drift less, hope the salmon are running by then.

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fly fishing trout (dane county, wi)

I made the early drive into southern Dane county for a solo fishing and recon trip to check out a new creek. As soon as I crossed into the hill filled county the fog was apparent and the cloud cover was complete. I found my creek and drove from the headwaters down to the mid section of the creek checking out the bridge crossings along the way. The head waters were skinny and looked to average no more then 2 or 3 feet.

the creek's headwater

The mid section looked to average no more then 4 or 5 feet.

just downstream

Once I was geared up I started the hike from the dnr lot down the path to the creek bank. Every step further I took into the field the more and more mosquitoes found my exposed skin.

mosquitoe heaven

By the time I made it onto the creek I had over 30 bites on my neck, face, and arms. I made my way a short distance up and down a small section of the creek looking for fish and structure. Within 30 minutes I had enough of smashing mosquitoes off me by the half dozen, and made my way back to the car.

I took an hour driving around and visited the near-by river and 2 of the closest towns (one of which had a fully operation blacksmith). Around 9:00am I decided to man-up and made my way back down to the creek. Thank god the bugs had dissipated by this time. I waded up the creek fishing ahead of me and found just how difficult this creek was in mid-summer. Branches and brush were everywhere just waiting to grab my flies. Some sections of this creek narrowed to only a couple feet, and some sections were deeper then they were wide. I was fishing a floating beetle with a heavy scud dropper behind it. Fishing my way up stream was almost impossible and with only an hour left I made my way back down stream.

On the way back downstream I was feeding my line down the creek ahead of me. This proved to be a lot easier and quickly I was rewarded with a strike that I was unable to connect on. I floated my line around a sharp turn with a rock and gravel outside bend. This time I watched the indicator take off and I set the hook sharply. This time I felt the fish tug back. I hand-lined the fish in and pulled him out of the water. This fish was my first brook trout ever!!!

my first brook trout!!!

This has been my first season fly fishing for western Wisconsin inland trout and there have been many firsts this year for me. I have always been a spin-fisherman up until 3 years ago when Neal introduced me to tributary fly-fishing. Since then my passion for the art fly-fishing and fly tying has grown tremendously.

This spring creek was healthy and cold even with temperatures reaching into the high 80’s and 90’s around here. I was able to spot many fish on my way up and back down the creek. I spooked quite a few on the way up (even one I estimated to be around 2 pounds). This creek could be an absolute sleeper and I will hold its location close to my chest. I will be back soon…

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bass fishing (kenosha county, wi)

The mosquitoes have been ferocious the last couple years but this year in particular. The hassle of loading and unloading my canoe is almost unbearable if its anywhere close to dawn or dusk. My legs sustained multiple bites this weekend and have yet to loose the chronic itchy feeling even now as I’m writing this post. The summer is starting to wind down. The days are starting to shrink and the kids are getting prepared for the new school year starting here this week. This leads me to my point that salmon season is right around the corner. Time to pull out the vice and stock my fly box before the air begins to cool and the trees turn their fall colors.

neal's first bass

my first bass

This weekend was still hot and the air was still muggy. Neal and I were out for some mid summer bass on a private lake I had never fished before. We were throwing drop-shots with finesse plastics and live bait on slip bobber rigs. The action was consistently slow and managed to land 6 fish over 6 hours. Nothing here to brag about and most of the fish were small. It was still nice to be out on the water and better yet it was under a 20 minute ride from the house.

neal's best bass today

my best bass today

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a look back- 09-28-2009 fly fishing salmon (tributaries, wi)

This post is a continuation from my previous post. This is the second day of a fishing trip I went on with Neal last year. If you didn’t read my last post then click here.

09-28-2010

We awoke that morning to find a puddle of water on the bottom of our tent. The rain last night wasn’t a downpour but more like a consistent drizzle that gave everything a good soaking. Since camp was right on the banks of the river we were able to see the flows hadn’t been affected by the rain last night. The decision was made to pack down the entire camp and be on the river in the next hour. The sun was just starting to give us some light and that made breaking down the tent and reloading our gear into the truck super quick. Breakfast consisted of pop-tarts washed down by red bull and after brushing our teeth we were ready to fish.

A short drive and we were ready to stalk some salmon. The lot was practically empty only having one other car in sight. I love fishing weekdays! We made a short walk to the first “sweet spot” in the river, a place we never were able to fish the day before due to the other anglers that had this spot locked down. Just walking down the bank, I spotted a group of 3 large fish pushing up and down the front of a gravel bar. Neal conceded the spot to me and I gratefully accepted preparing to send my purple egg-sucking-leach into the war zone.

wisconsin tributaries

On the third cast into the pool I hooked up. Neal stuck around long enough to help me land the first fish of the day. We took a quick photo and both Neal and my fish headed down river. I stayed to work the remaining fish I had in front of me.

a solid salmon to start the day!!

Twenty minutes later I followed my friends footsteps down river stopping to work a couple isolated pods of fish. I hooked up on four more fish and landed two. One of them was fouled and the other was fair. These fish I had to tail grab by myself.

as close to fair as it gets

I walked up on Neal playing a foul hooked fish that we caught and released. Neal had chased the fish a good distance upriver. He told me “bro, you won’t believe the amount of fish in the next pool down”. We made our way to the pool and sure enough he was right. At least thirty fish were packed in that fifty yard stretch. This is where we spent the rest of our day.

neal with a nice king

me and my new friend jack

my new friend buck

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a look back- 09-27-2009 fly fishing salmon (tributaries, wi)

With my favorite fishing season (fall salmon in the tributaries) right around the corner, I’ve decided to take a look back to 2009 at one of the best king salmon trips me a Neal shared. It happened to be the first salmon trip we took that fall. This post was partly brought on because of the extra thought I’ve been putting towards the upcoming spawning migration and partly because I blanked this weekend fishing in-land trout in the driftless area of Wisconsin. At least my car held up this weekend with no issues. Lets rewind the clock 14 months…

09-27-2009

We were making this a two day trip where we would be camping overnight. It was a Sunday morning and Me and Neal were heading to fish for king salmon. A local guide had tipped us off that fish had already began to move into the rivers in Northern Wisconsin. We were up and on the road by 5:00am to put most of the miles on his truck before the sun showed up. We made the river by 8:00am and did some scouting around before deciding on where to fish. A quick stop at the fish weir and we could see a few fish pooled up by the fish elevator but the numbers just weren’t there to say the run was in full swing. Maybe we were a little early? Well, we are here now. Lets go fishing.

salmon sitting under the dam

The first morning of fishing was exhausting to say the least. We covered lots of different water working tons of different flies. We pounded the water for almost 6 hours with out even seeing a fish. By that time we were tires and hungry and voted that it was time to break for lunch. We drove back into town and found a nice pub and had a burger while pretending to be Packer fans. That close to Greenbay we should be careful things don’t get out of hand. After lunch we went shopping for some food to have at camp and then we drove to the campground to set up our tent. After our camp site was in order we headed back to the river.

The afternoon on the river started the same as the morning did. We arrived and started to scout the water placing some random casts to some decent looking pools. Still no fish in sight! Just as I thought it couldn’t get worse it started to rain, thank goodness we packed the rain gear. As the initial down pour started to slow something magical happened. It was like a stampede of wild bulls, instantly dozens of fresh silver kings come bulldozing up the river. Salmon aren’t graceful like steelies, the urge to spawn will motivate them to navigate water only a few inches deep practically beaching themselves. Fish were blowing the water up all around us. We both thought the fresh water the rain brought into the river system caused the fish to move up from the deep holding pools down river.

Within minutes Neal yelled “fish on”! The battle was on, that first fish was up and down the river putting Neal’s tippet to the test. He fought the fish well even having to flip the line off a boulder after getting wrapped around it. A few minutes later I tail grabbed our first salmon of 2009.

now thats a king salmon

Now it was my turn to try landing a river monster. The sun was setting as the beast sucked the fly into its mouth. I reared back quickly on the rod and the fish took off. Line was flying off the real as I applied soft pressure with my hand. This fish felt like it really had some shoulders and quite possibly could be a personal best for me. It took some time to tire her out but I finally got her turned from running up current. With the fish coming back down stream I guided her over to Neal. Another solid hand grab and we put the camera to our last fish of the day.

my turn for a trophy king salmon

By the time we got off the river it was dark. We headed back to camp and grabbed some firewood on the way. Time to have a nice campfire, some brats, and a couple stiff drinks before calling it a night.

To read about the second day the click here.

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fly fishing trout (dane county, wi)

Why does it seem my luck has taken a turn for the worse? This was the second time that I’ve experienced an automobile breakdown on the side of the road in the last 2 months. The first left my car crippled in a small Illinois side-of-the-highway town over 120 miles from home. Two different tows and two repair bills and the car is still having problems. I currently still have a friend doing some work on the vehicle as we speak to stop an oil leak. Both shops never fixed what was actually wrong with that car (a loose hose above an O2 sensor) and my friend saw the problem with in 10 minutes of looking at my engine. A couple turns from a screw driver and the car hasn’t died since. A good mechanic is worth their weight in gold.

This time I shredded a tire on my wife’s truck while traveling the 90 expressway heading north to the driftless area. It was 5:30 in the morning when I had the left rear tire blow while driving. I forced my way onto the shoulder where cars were flying past me with out even moving over. I was forced to keep one eye looking over my shoulder at all times. Finally the Wisconsin State Police showed up to give me a hand with an industrial jack and some traffic control. We get the new tire mounted and time to hit the road… Guess what happens now? I go to turn the car on and the battery is dead. 40 minutes later the tow truck shows to jump my truck and 79$ later I am back on the road again!! Even though my brain said to turn for home after the blow out I pushed forward.

My 2 hour and 20 minute ride turned into almost 5 hours. On the way I stopped of to do a little recon of a small stream just to south. Rumors of big dumb trout carried me there. In the middle of the summer the overgrowth looked almost unmanageable. The creek was skinny and cold and looked like it had some major potential. I will have to remember this for next year in the spring…

a beautiful driftless creek

Finally I made my destination. All this hard work and I had only 2 hours to catch something. The water was up 2 or 3 feet still from the heavy does of rain we received earlier this week. It was also stained a nasty rust color. I already made the decision to fish the closest park to the headwaters to find the best water quality. I fished a pool in-between a bridge and a set of riffles. I did see some fish rising to the opposite bank and it kept my interest for an hour and a half without any strikes. I moved upstream and spent the last 30 minutes fishing a serious bend that dumped in to a slow pool. A series of cast to the pool turns nothing up. I moved closer to the tail-out of the bend and one long cast resulted in a long overdue strike.

fishing stained water

This is my second trip where catching even one fish came down to the last 15 minutes. I kept my head on straight and fished hard and it worked in my favor. Maybe I didn’t slay them but catching one fish on a day I could have caught none is a victory to me.
 

rainbow trout success!!!

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fly fishing trout (blue ridge, ga)

This was the last day of our vacation. I still had one goal in mind and that was to catch photo and release a Georgia trout. With only a couple hours to fish I made the choice to fish the Toccoa River again since I had caught one fish and hooked three more there the last time. I wasn’t able to grab a photo of that slippery 9 inch bow, that one jumped right out of my hands the second I unhooked him. Note To Self- photo all fish before unhooking them, especially when your doing so from in the water.

check out my previous post here from- 07-11-2010

The sun was just rising as I pulled into the gravel lot sitting under Blue Ridge Lake. The fog was just as thick as it was when I was here the last time. I’m not sure if there’s always fog on the Toccoa or not? I will say its welcome any time I’m ever there. Even when the sun is up and the day begins to really heat up, your glad when the breeze pushes a gust of 70 degree fog over you. The cold air smells clean, feels moist and your instantly cooled.

sunrise on the toccoa river

I chose to work the same deep slack water pool where I had seen trout rising before. After a couple fish broke the water on the surface I felt a little bit more confident in my decision to return here. That feeling quickly disappeared after I had used up 75% of my fishing time, gone through a half dozen flies, and tried working the pool from 10 different angles. Then it happened, it’s the worst feeling a weekend warrior could ever have. The phone rang, I looked at the screen and it’s the wife calling wondering when I’m gonna be back. We settled on 90 minutes from then, which gave me 30 more minutes to catch a fish and 60 to get back to the lake house. Game on…

I changed my presentation one last time, I tied on an elk hair dry fly with a size 22 copper john dropper. Eight drifts from that it happened, and my dry fly got pulled under the surface. I set the hook and the fight was on. I hand lined in my second Georgia trout, this one was a small brown. Quick photo on the bank and my mission was accomplished with just minutes to spare.

a georgia brown trout

I’m happy to say I explored many truly awesome areas in the Chattahoochee National Forest, and I would recommend to anyone to give these trout a shot if your ever in the area. Even though these seem to be smaller then the average fish I find in Wisconsin, the scenery here more then makes up for it. I’m sure if I had just a little more time here I would have been able to really catch some fish, but that’s not the case. Time to pack.

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