Salmon Fishing Door County

Has anyone salmon fished Door County this year? Fished out of Gills Rock last year over the 4th and had a GREAT time! Weather was great and the fish cooperated. Got new line on all the poles, downrigger board mounted on the back of the boat, new hummingbird installed and about $120 worth a new gear/spoons that I probably didn’t need but can’t wait to try out. These next 4 days at work are going to be torture. Here are a couple of pictures from last year.

P.S. If you have never played tug-o-war with a 20lb KING, you need to make a trip to Lake Michigan.

I see you use spinning gear for trolling – That makes for a lot more fun with them. I still have a couple 12′ noodle rods we used back late 70’s into the 80’s when I lived over there. Sure do miss the days of 30# fish though.

My dad and I plan to hit Algoma in the middle of July. I fished it before not 100% sure of what were doing but do enjoy it. Good luck

How deep were you fishing out there? I have tried Gills a couple of times, haven’t had any good luck during the day but the evening bite can be hot.

Headed up there this weekend. Usually the 4th is pretty decent but I haven’t heard much yet. Have you heard anything about the bite?

I hear that Bailey’s is just starting to go decent.

PM me and I’ll give you a report when we return.

Scott

Will be up at Gills Rock from the 9th through the 16th. Been fishing out of there for 25 years. Gonna have to fish alone…wife has a broken right wrist and both of my sons are unable to come. Anyone need a seat give me a call.
JD – if you aren’t having luck on the AM trip start earlier.
We have baits in the water by 4AM
Been getting a few reports that the fish are starting to show up and seem to be bigger than the last few years/
White Lund Tyee 200 Yamaha…aka Red Herring (But we don’t talk much). (PS probably going to put this boat on the market after this trip.

I know a couple of guys that pounded them two weeks ago, they are also heading back over this weekend, all i know is they went outta sturgen bay

Randy, Yeah we use what we have, some of those reels and rods are over 25 years old, every year we go fishing out there we try to buy a new one or two.

J_D, Last year we caught fish anywhere from 70 fow to 120 fow. I say it every year, but this year I am going to start writing stuff down so I can give a decent report and remember for next time. We fish mainly spoons and j-plugs on downriggers. Sometimes we try dodgers/flashers but not usually (always seem to get a huge tangle!). One thing I have learned that being on the water with poles set at 4 am is never too early when fishing out of Gills.

Fairbairn, no I haven’t heard anything about the bite. Posters on other sites do not talk about the tip of door county much, so I guess we are going to have to change that.

Guthook, we come back to MN on the 9th but if your looking for a fishing partner I would definitely turn back around and come back out the 11th 12th and 13th if you’re interested in running a few more poles. Plus it would be a great learning experience for myself because quite honestly we are more lucky then good.

Outdraft, Thanks for the info, I have never fished Sturgen Bay but have heard good things in the past from that area.

Thanks for the info guys,we will get out a little earlier this year. Will be coming up in two weeks and will give a report when I get back. We camp around baileys so we do most of our fishing there, but usually head up to gills once or twice during the week. Good luck on your upcoming trips and let us know how you do.

Great fish guy’s!! I’m Looking for a report for Gills, Bailey’s or Rollies we stay there and move around a bit. Will be out July 23ed – 30th any help would be great.

Tough fishing for us last week. The fish are out there but getting them to bite was tough. Best action we had was at baileys from 5-7 am and then from 7-9 pm. Best day was three fish, mostly ones and twos. Green flasher/fly was our go to bait. Gills was dead, we fished two nights graphing massive amounts of baitfish, but didn’t get one hook up. Lots of people out there too, but didn’t see anyone reeling anything in. As we were on our way out it sounded like fishing was getting better around the bank. Good luck, once those fish digest all the baitfish from the last couple weeks there should get going again.