Lake Michigan Milwaukee December fishing

As sit at home and recover from hernia surgery, a coworker and fellow outdoorsman asked if I wanted to chase some Browns and steelhead. Since he was willing to do the heavy lifting and boat launching and loading I agreed to spend a few hours out this past Sunday before the bottom fell out of the thermometer. After launching the boat, we headed for the main gap and quickly realized that there were people standing chest deep in the 38 degree water getting baptized. CRAZY doesn’t seem quite the word to accurately describe a preacher standing chest deep in the lake dunking people under the icy water. BRRRRRRR! Thankfully the fishing wasn’t as icy as those people! We made a few trolling passes through a few spots I had success near earlier in December with a couple of browns to show for our efforts. I wasn’t happy with the number of marks so I trolled inside the wall to the main gap and out into the lake. As we exited the harbor, the screen lit up with marks and the six line fire drill was on! Four Browns and one steelhead would make it aboard and a larger steelie shook the hook as we reached for the net. A quick reset of the lines and we headed back towards the massive school we had just run the strainer through. No hits going in through the gap so another quick turn and we headed back out through the way point we had set. 4 more fish would make it into the net on this pass- all Browns. Fun stuff for sure for a guy with a sore a abdoman and a 20 pound weight restriction! We reset the lines and trolled through the same point several more times, catching 3 or 4 fish every time through. We quickly lost track of how many fish we hooked but I would guess 35 or 40. My buddy kept a couple of the larger steelhead and the rest were quickly returned to the lake to catch again another time. All fish were caught on NBK, blue dolphin, green dolphin and an orange ladder back spoon. What a great way to end the year and pass the time as I recover. I sure wish the warm weather would have hung around for a New Year Day trip! Stay warm- stay DRY and have a Great New Year’s.
Art

Hey Art that sounds like an awesome outing and a heck of a way to end the year. Get well soon and hope you have a great 2015!

Dave

Sounds slike some great physical therapy. I’m jealous.

Fun times!! I was in Racine and that wind along the lake was brutal!!!

Randy Wieland wrote:

Fun times!! I was in Racine and that wind along the lake was brutal!!!

It was brutal especially with the cool temps. I think it was also a blessing with the blue bird sky’s and gin clear water we were fishing.

Art – sounds like you put the finishing touches on what appears to be a very good year on Lake Michigan.
Nicely done!

Hope your recovery from hernia surgery continues to go well. I’m also laid up for a few more days after having foot surgery back on Dec 17th.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Joel! I feel I had a great year on Lake Michigan in 2014 compared to a lot of people and plan to catch fish in 2015 as well. Hopefully things find a balance on the big pond and the fish cooperate. Take care of that foot!

What a great way to round out the year! Sounds like a blast!