After cancelling out on plans over the past weekend, finally made it out yesterday out of Milwaukee. started the morning by trolling outside the South Gap, having some decent action, but chased back into the harbor to get a reprieve from the wind. Trolled leadcore with 2, 3 and 5 color, and had two downriggers set at 30 and 35 feet, in 39 to 40 fow, mixing it up with spoons and cranks.
Moved into the harbor mid-morning to get out of the wind, and trolled for a while, with no success, though saw a couple other boats trolling inside, and pulling in some fish. Joined a couple other boats tied up to the wall, to drown minnows and shiners, and got in on some decent Brown Trout action. No big fish, but a bunch of cookie cutter 3 to 7 pounders being caught by all. Those using spawn sacks were out-catching our live bait, but we ended up with 2 dozen or so boated fish, and at least as many missed bites…seemed they were taking the fatheads and shiners, run a bit, but were’nt getting hooked on the set. The guys using spawn sacks, however, were seeing a much better hook-up ratio and boated at least twice as many as us.
Went back to the trolling for a spell in mid-afternoon, to see if we could find a bite with bigger fish, this time going out of the north gap. It was slow, with a drive-by and shaker, so back we went to the wall to finish off the day and run out of bait. Picked up floating alewives and stuck them on the hook, and worked just as well as the live bait.
Ended up with a 3-man limit of browns in the 3 to 7 pound range for holiday smoking, and hoping for some more decent days to get out and enjoy the action. the action should stay good for weeks to come, with bigger fish moving in. 
December 14, 2006 at 4:21 pm
#1308155
Your boat would be fine getting to the wall…there was actually a 12 foot Jon boat there on our way out to the south gap. Just gotta have some westerlies to keep it calm and warm. Call me if you go out.