wisconsins fall coho salmon

This fall Ive had a real tough time landing a lot of cohos. Sure I've caught tons of kings, but it still upsetting in some regards. I should be happy I caught 2 nice ones, right? Well, after the stellar coho fishing we experienced last year, I'm sure anything would pale in comparison.

blake(2) with by far the coolest fish of the year

The cohos enter the rivers shortly after the kings. While the numbers of the kings begin to dwindle the coho are just reaching their peak. Its an exciting feeling when you realize you have a fresh coho hooked rather then a half rotten king you come to expect. You can always tell by their violent head thrashings they are known for just after being hooked. Coho are capable of long and powerful runs but will normally tire after a few good ones. They are built a little more streamlined then kings and their body mass is pure muscle. They typically run smaller then kings but what they lack in size is made up for by their out of this world colors and acrobatics. They will go toe to toe with the larger kings for the best gravel to spawn on and their arrival into the rivers are always anticipated.

So what if I'm 2 for 7 on cohos this year, any man is a lucky man just to have landed one of these great fish! Here is the link to the post on my first coho this fall.

my second coho salmon this year

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egg sucking bunny leech

The egg sucking bunny leech is one of the best salmon or steelhead streamers around and its quite easy to tie as well. Lots of flexibility in color choices and the rabbit puts of a ton of movement in the water.

head- bead
tail- marabou
body- rabbit strip

There's about six wraps of lead under the rabbit strip to give it the extra weight I wanted. You can vary the hook size and some crystal flash (if you choose).

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spawning coho salmon

Coho salmon spawning in the Lake Michigan tributaries in Wisconsin.

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wisconsin's late running king salmon

check out the eggs pouring out of her

Not all of the kings enter the rivers at the same time. They come in waves that are spurred on by the rain and increased stream flows. On a good wet year numerous waves of kings will be pushed up into the rivers all at different times. What that means for anglers is that you have a lot longer time frame to find fresh fish that are eager to bite.

fair hooked with the green estaz egg

King fishing is very easy in some regards but in others it could be some of the toughest fishing around. Keep in mind these fish are not in the rivers to feed, they are on a spawning mission. Yes, you can normally see the fish in the shallows or if your fishing a deeper pool frequently these giants will tend to surface which should give you confidence that your in the right place. What makes them difficult is it could take 100's of casts with a few different fly changes to get them to strike. I have found the best way to avoid snagging and getting fair hooked fish is to fight the temptation of watching your fly and focus your sights solely on your indicator. This method isn't fool proof but so far this fall I've only accidently fouled one fish that I couldn't shake the hook off and had to land.

neal's big male sheboygan river salmon

On our recent trip to the Sheboygan river we had our hopes set on catching a ton of coho but instead we found some eager late running king salmon. Neal's largest king of the trip wasn't ready to be landed even after a near ten minute fight. That fish was just heavy enough to not be able to move even though the fish was done fighting. Its own weight sitting in the current was almost enough to max out the eight pound test fishing line we use. With a little luck, he put enough pressure on the fish to turn its head. With the last burst of energy the fish had, it bolted out of the deep pool downstream and right into a shallow patch of gravel. What a great fight!

fighting a nice king on the sheboygan river

All our kings were caught on egg patterns and the estaz eggs reigned supreme. The estaz were tied in green, pink, and orange. My best king came from shallow gravel drifting a size 17 small trout egg. I'm shocked to say that the hook came back intact. I thought for sure it would have been straightened out of at least a little bit bent but light line and small hooks will force you to play a big fish pretty soft. Now that's what king trib fishing is all about.

sheboygan river salmon on a tiny #17 trout egg

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wisconsin's coho salmon are running

King salmon are still present in Wisconsin's Lake Michigan tribs but their numbers have seriously declined from the pinnacle of their run earlier this fall. Most of the early running kings have already spawned and since then, died. Their stinky corpses pile up in the slack water and it gives a good indication of just how far into their run we are. Late running kings are still present and some can still be quite fresh but look for them in smaller numbers.

With a good portion of the kings gone the cohos now have plenty of access to the spawning gravel. The mild rain we experienced last week was just enough to stimulate a run of fresh coho salmon into the Oak Creek in Milwaukee Wisconsin.The coho are active enough to chase a fly on a fast strip or move to hit a fly on a dead drift. Look for these salmon to be active for the next few weeks taking into consideration the flows.

This coho was taken on a heavily weighted streamer retrieved at a lightning speed. She hit from the darkness of a deep pool and her power was tremendous.She took two very impressive runs leaving me with some serious slack line when the fish came racing back towards me. But, it was my day, and I got the best of her. She was beached in just a few short (but adrenaline pumping) minutes. Neal made his way over just in time to squeeze in a photo.

an oak creek fresh female coho on the strip

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milwaukee river king salmon fishing

We’ve had only one good soaking of rain so far during this fall tributary fishing season and all the water has quickly run out from the smaller rivers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled we even got some rain this year after looking back at last years dry fall. But, I’m eagerly anticipating the next dose of heavy rain, maybe it can push some of these cohos that are currently staged in the harbors up into the river systems. Not every day of king fishing goes like this but we hit the timing just right. Some fish are spawned out and half zombie already but there are plenty of fresher fish that can still be convinced into eating.

Its not to often I fish with a large group of guys but this past Saturday I hit the water with four other guys. Blake(2) and his father Pete, Neal, and Paul all met me early for some king salmon action on the fly. It was an early morning and it looked that plenty of people all had similar intentions cause cars were lined along the local “hotspots”. We walked a good distance downstream to get away from the congregation of people. As we climbed down the steep bank the sun was barely over the horizon but it was evident that a good number of fish were present by the amount of swirls and splashes close to shore.

After the sun really stared to give off some good light, it became evident truly how many fish were in the river. Blake(2) was the first one to fair hook a fish on a hot glue egg pattern trailing a natural colored streamer and everyone was quick to follow suit. Being such a large group, it seemed like every 5 minutes someone was hooked up.

Of the five fish I hooked clean, here are the two I actually landed-

a spawned out milwaukee river salmon

my second milwaukee river salmon gave me the best fight of the year!

Paul got his very first king salmon on the fly! And then his second…

congrats paul on your first of many

You always hear about the steelies and browns coming up the river after the kings just to snack on the protein rich eggs. These smaller trout should be found hanging right in back of the salmon gorging themselves on their eggs. They should only stop to avoid a pissed off king that came racing back to chase them off their reds. A few short moments later that trout should be right back in the feeding position. We saw this play out right in front of our eyes over and over. This fish was the result from drifting a power egg across the back half of the spawning gravel.

a small milwaukee river steelhead with some awesome colors

I really loved just sitting on the bank under a shady tree hanging with a few guys talking fly fishing. Today wasn't all about the good fishing, but it sure helped. I don't think anyone left without a sore shoulder or feeling pretty beat up from chasing fish down the river but everyone made some new friends.

I’m looking forward to seeing what photos Blake(2) has on his camera and I will throw the link up as soon as he puts his post up.You can also find everyone of these guys over on the forums so be sure to stop over and drop em' a line.

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southeast wisconsin tributary update

The water we had last week caused some quick swelling in the tribs but a lot of the smaller rivers have dropped very quickly. Even though the root had a tremendous push of fish in the last week, flows have fallen to under 30CFS leaving most of the fish in the rivers spooked. This weekend tons of people were out snagging fish and keeping them and the fish currently in the river don't stand a chance with their back half out the water. The root, oak, and pike need some more rain before considering them in good condition.

This weekend look to the bigger rivers like the Milwaukee and the Sheboygan to just be coming down to fishable flows. The action could be tremendous there this weekend.

Here's a nice brown Neal took on skein floated on a fly rod at the Root. Too bad that wasn't a driftless trout...

neal with a nice male root river brown

root river brown trout close up

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kenosha harbor salmon

kenosha harbor

So it took a little bit but I’m happy to say I now have a Lake Michigan harbor salmon under my belt. Casting cranks with Wizzo the salmon wizard and Neal, we went 3-4 in just a few short hours. Kenosha harbor was jam packed with fish and there was a lot caught this weekend. We smacked them in the middle of the day throwing cranks and fire tiger was a great color choice. Reefrunners and deep diving thundersticks all took fish.

kenosha harbor salmon

There’s a whole lot more to learn about harbor salmon but that might have to be put on hold for now. This rain the last few days just seems to keep coming and there’s some solid evidence that fish are moving up into the rivers. With a little luck, I could be holding my fly rod knee deep in a river this weekend. Time to get started on some flies. Such a procrastinator….

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here's some mid-week reading

Here's a little mid week reading to make the day go by quicker. Be sure to check out my friend Todd'd article on fishing for harbor browns. You can find his blog by clicking here!

Open publication - Free publishing - More adam glickman

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racine wisconsin, catching harbor salmon

todd's salmon from our trip to racine harbor

To put it lightly, harbor fishing hasn’t been very good to me. The concept of catching salmon inside the harbors for someone who has never done it can seem quite overwhelming. Maybe the task isn’t quite as large as I make it out to be in my head, sometimes, but you certainly have to put in your time.

I’ve been out this year with some of the true greats in the sport. Mplant, Todd and Damien have all given me great info on location, tactics, and theory but even still I’m 0-2 on hookups. I’ve devoted 4 trips to the harbors so far and have well exceeded 30 hours of casting and floating skein for two meager hits. I have the feeling my time is coming soon and I don’t give up very easy so stay tuned for a more detailed report. Until then, been sure to check out Todd’s blog and Mplant on the message boards for some up to date harbor info.

Click here- for the link to the trip I took with Todd

Click here- for a great forum thread written by the President of the Trout Mafia

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kenosha and racine harbor salmon

For a great report on harbor fishing for salmon, check out a post Damien threw up on the DTA

harbor salmon fishing in Wisconsin

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the super sugar river smallmouth

This was my final attempt at river fishing for smallmouth for the rest of the year. Instead of beating up some familiar water, I decided to explore something new. The Sugar River has always been a big question mark for me. Every time I pass over, I always wonder what type of good fishing I’m missing out on.

For those who aren’t familiar, the Sugar River is born in the hills of southwest Dane County in Wisconsin. From there, it flows just better than 90 miles to reach northern Illinois where it joins the Pecatonica. Both rivers converge just before meeting the Rock River in Rockton, Illinois. While technically the Sugar River is a trib of the Pecatonica, I would consider both to be tribs to the Rock. Its most sought after game fish are the pike, walleye, catfish, and the smallmouth bass. I’ve also heard rumors of big 20 inch browns coming from under the dams in the spring. That’s one rumor I would love to prove true early next year.

My plan was to start in Green County and hit every bridge pool and dam in the entire county. My first stop was a promising looking dam. The first thought that crossed my mind was to start with a tiny panther martin trout sized spinner. First thing in the morning I just like to get a fish or two on the board and then begin to upsize my baits. Fishing to and from the dam I caught 4 small bass and 2 small walleyes. Not a bad way to start the day.

a nice start to the day, a sugar river smallmouth bass

a small sugar river walleye in sight of the dam

From there, I fished the handful of bridges on the way down to the next dam. Instead of throwing a tiny spinner on spinning gear, I upsized to my bait caster setup with a white spinner bait. Thank God I did upsize my gear because the very next bass I caught was a toad and very well might be the best bass of the year. She was sitting on the inside of the bridge piling just where you would think she should be sitting. I roll casted up and under the bridge and took 3 cranks on my handle before the bait got thumped. The fish hit so hard it caught me by surprise. I quickly reared back and set the hook and all hell just broke loose. That fish dug so hard I had to back off the drag by 3 clicks. A few last minute aerial acrobatics and I pounced on her. Hands shaking I lifted the fish up and did the best I could to fit her completely in the picture.

a big sugar river smallmouth, possibly my best one yet

 After a few more fishless bridges and I arrived at my next dam. This dam funneled a lot of flowing water into a smaller opening. The result was white water being shot out down river. This water was very turbid and appeared deep as well. I felt like a jig and twister would be a good way to pick apart the seems, eddies, and deep pools. I switched back to spinning gear and went with a 1/8th ounce jig instead of my normal 1/16th. I tipped the jig with a white 3 inch grub which is smaller than the 4 inch grubs I have been using. I hoped these changes would get me bit here. After a few minutes of casting a very nice man and his wife walked down to see how I was doing. I explained that I was from out of town and just fishing for the day. As we talked further my jig fell to the bottom and there it sat for the entire length of our conversation. He finished with asking if I had caught any nice smallies. Just as I was about to answer, my light action rod bent in half.  Deadsticked on the bottom the fish crushed that jig. The fished used the heavy current to its advantage but finally gave in to the constant heavy pressure. As I scooped my second fat smallie from the Sugar, the crowd went wild. Not only was the original couple clapping but a few construction workers had meandered down to see the battle. I of course asked for a proper photo to be taken and the gentleman obliged.

another nice sugar river smallmouth bass

That last fish left me completely satisfied. With time to kill I went further into the back country hoping to explore a few of the Sugar’s tributaries. For a parting shot ill leave you with the photo of a pool I found a few miles below some classified trout water. This creek connects to the sugar and looks like a great spot for some pig browns come spring.

a nice pool on a trib to the sugar river

Peace out Wisconsin smallmouth, I will be back next year. I have a lot more water to cover on the rivers I have fallen in love with and a few new destinations that will remain nameless until then...

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giving credit where credit is due

Being a brand new smallmouth bass fisherman and the newly appointed president of “The River Snobs” (a made up group) I would like to take a moment to say thanks. Not to a person, but to a river.

This river begins in Fon du Lac County and flows just over 100 miles before emptying into Lake Michigan. Its watershed covers a 900 square mile radius and its flow is fed by three main tributaries. It gets a dependable run of great lakes steelhead, salmon, and trout but is also home to almost every warm water species of fish imaginable. Any ideas?

The Milwaukee River is correct and it has served as my base camp for learning the ropes of river bass fishing. Its water has kept me cool on the hottest summer days and has offered me a chance at some bonus pike and musky (even if the musky wasn’t my catch). I’ve been amazed at how clear the water is and how secluded I feel when wading its banks. The Milwaukee River gives you that “up north” experience while being just a stones throw from Wisconsin’s largest city.

a scenic milwaukee river dam

A lot of people have inquired about where to fish for the bass on the Milwaukee. I’ve bounced around quite a bit fishing both the main and west branch of the river. I can honestly say that every single access I have come across has had some good water with some fish there to be caught. This is a very long river, and even though its named the Milwaukee, it doesn’t mean that the fish are found just in the city limits. To tell you the truth, I have only fished bass from Thiensville and north. I had no one there to point a spot out on a map. All I started with was the desire to catch some fish and the rest came natural. To me, exploring new areas is half the fun of fishing. Getting off the beaten path and blazing my own trail is what it’s all about.

starting the morning off right

another milwaukee river slob smallmouth bass

What are you waiting for?

These photos are from my last bass trip of the season here. I don’t think I will be back until the salmon are in, and I will miss this river. 



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des plaines river dam

Went out to for a little exploring expedition tonight. I've wanted to check out this dam for the last few weeks and have just finally found the time to get around to it.

Never have I seen the water on the Des Plaines so crystal clear, it even felt cooler then normal. The bottom here was ninety percent sand and relatively shallow. Of course, I brought the fishing rod with and gave it a go but the mosquitoes chased me off after a half hour. I really need to pack the bug juice for Des Plaines River trips.

 

des plaines river dam

On the way out I did notice this…

des plaines river spring?

Is this a spring? Looks kinda man made.

Was this water being pumped in from somewhere else? Maybe that’s why the water looked almost drinkable? On second thought, maybe not.

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