Milwaukee Charter Fish Report & Small Details Big Rewards!
By Capt. Jim Hirt
Fishing report for Lake Michigan Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rainbow trout, Chinooks and Coho have been active during the past week. The area and depth have been constant as the big pond settles into a summer pattern. The best water has been 80 to 150 feet with Rainbows coming on Slide Divers set to #3 with 80 feet of line out and 5 color lead core with small Vulcan #2 Silver Sky spoons. This is a midday bite between 10 am to 4 pm. This same tackle will take Coho early and Rainbows thru the day. You can also catch Chinook all thru the day but the best bite has been early and late in the day. Look for them in water below 50 degrees. The temp break to 50 degrees is at 70 feet. Fish for them from 70 to the bottom on downriggers. I find the best action about ten feet off the bottom. Magnum spoons like the #5 Monkey Puke and Fish n Chip Reapers along with most of the different types of rotators with green or blue flies are taking the big ones. Watch your speed, kick up your speed to 2.4 to 2.6 for Rainbows and between 1.8 and 2.4 for Kings. Have a blast!
I would like to point out several items over looked by most fishermen that should be a focus every time on the water. Attention to detail and organization is the key to success in most everything we do. This also holds true to any type of fishing. Motor trolling is a mix of the perfect bait presented in the most favorable way. If I were to pick just one of the two most important factors in trolling, it would be presentation. Most fish will reject the best lure at the wrong speed or depth. Those of you who do not have a budget of $500 for a speed and temp gauge must learn to read what I call blow back on the downrigger cables. As the weight with the lure behind it runs below the water, the force of the water pushing on the weight creates an angle as the wire enters the water. If the boat was stopped, the cable would hang straight down and your lure speed would be zero. As the boat speeds up the weight swings back this is blow back. This will tell you a whole lot of things about what is going on down there. Sometimes there are currents or you may be traveling up or down wind. Focus on this angle to regulate the amount of boat speed required. Experience is the best teacher here. Note the cable angle visually when you are producing fish to duplicate the speed. When you are not catching fish increase or decrease your speed. No two boats, days or lures produce well at the same speed.
The second detail I believe is neglected by some is lure size and color. Whenever fishing is slow it is always a good idea to try a variety of sizes of lures in the same color. Go with small, medium and magnum spoons in the same or similar colors. This will help you determine what the fish are looking for. Many times big fish will hit small lures due to their neutral or negative attitude and not have anything to do with medium or magnum lures. Another reason for a variety of sizes is fish come in all sizes and if you run all large spoons you may be missing a great bite on medium and small fish. The other obvious reason is to match the size of the baitfish. Over the years I have found this technique will keep the rods dancing on slow days. The message here is don’t get locked into speed, size, color or location. Change is good when the action slows down work with the variables. Catch a bunch!! Jim charters out of Milwaukee, WI. with Blue Max Charters. He can be reached at 414-828-1094 or visit his web site at http://www.bluemaxcharters.com Copyright© 2006, James J. Hirt, All Rights Reserved
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