Lake Michigan trout

Some friends and myself are throwing around the idea of heading to the Milwaukee area early February for the big browns and steelhead in the harbors. Looks like a blast and something different. My question is for anyone that’s done it, is a guide necessary? Looks like they just fish in harbors with standard walleye gear. Any info would be much appreciated from anyone who’s done it. Thanks.

I lived in Milwaukee for 25 years and just north of it now. If you have done this type of fishing before you could get by on your own, but keep in mind that most use automatic fisherman paired with big spool reels. The gear is kind of specific for that type of fishing. The big thing with getting a guide is they know the ice conditions, with the majority of the fishing done near wood pillars and the main lake that’s ice changes often. They also know what’s been working recently. I hired Eric Haataja my first couple times just to cut down the learning curve.
I hit it now when I feel like playing hookey from work being its 10 minutes from my shop. It can be a blast with some world class fish.

Thanks Al! That’s kind of what I figured, but just wanted to confirm. Do you need the automatic fisherman so the hook gets sets because of their tendency to hit and drop the bait? I totally understand the ice condition thing and agree the first couple times a guide would be worth it. I knew about Eric from YouTube, but if he’s booked, do u have any other recommendations?

He’s the big name but if you do a google search I’m sure there are more. As far as the automatic fisherman, yes it is because they will spit it rather quickly. I have seen guys use jawjackers and gillotine. Anything that sets the hook right away. The big thing is large spools on your reels because they will peel off 80 yard on a run and most ice reels hold like 120.

The auto’s are only necessary if you’re using spawn sacs for bait. If you’re using shiners/fatheads, I’ve caught lots of browns and a few steelies using tip ups. If you really wanted, you could double hitch a rubber band on the tip up to “set the hook” once “X” amount of line is ripped out. This helped me land some fat pike on 6-8 lb fluoro with corner mouth hook sets. I will say, it’s nicer fighting the brownies on rods only because of the thrashing and head shakes. If you have smooth tip ups, you won’t have to worry as much about drops with shiners/fatheads. I do far better jigging anyways though. Hair jigs, small rippin raps, small spoons, etc. Think walleye fishing.

I’ll also add that don’t buy into everything you see on FB. There are some good days in the marina/lagoon around Milwaukee, but it gets tough on the weekends with all the fishing pressure. Brownies get pretty skittish and you’ll have guys popping holes all over and being loud. I gave up fishing for browns on the weekends. Also, remember that the guides might have 5-10 guys out (15-30 autos) to get 5 fish. They do a pretty good job of marketing…

I guess I left out the part about the weekends being a zoo. I don’t ever go there on the weekends but I should’ve known it was like everywhere else. Mark is right though about the other ways to fish them. I just usually use a spawn sac on two and jig with the other.