slamming salmon ???

Has there been any talk about doing it again this year?? I had a ton of fun last year and want to come fishing again for them. Great company meet lots of awesome people and had great food!.

Chris Hazen wrote:

Has there been any talk about doing it again this year?? I had a ton of fun last year and want to come fishing again for them. Great company meet lots of awesome people and had great food!.

Ben and I were just taking about this event. Hopefully we can all get together again and give those salmon heck!

Good at least I am not the only one thinking about it. I just had a blast And would love to do it again.

James Holst wrote:

Ben and I were just taking about this event. Hopefully we can all get together again and give those salmon heck!

I’m in again for sure! That was a great time! It would be fun to hit a new spot on Michigan, maybe further North? Just looking to fish new areas!

I have been hoping it would come up… my backyard, and I really need to hook up with someone to see more about how it is done. Just starting to set my boat up, and learning a few tricks, while meeting others from here would be great. Was bummed to miss it last year.

Everyone I see posting says it is really slow now… hopes are that all changes as water warms.

I would definitely do this again if I can make work with my schedule. What a blast! Great people, great food, and a really fun time on the water. What could be better?

Keep us posted!

Dave

If the weekend works for me I’m in again. was lots of fun last year.

John Schultz wrote:

If the weekend works for me I’m in again. was lots of fun last year.

Got room in the boat??……I’ll TRY to stay awake this time…

Count me in again. I had a great time last year.

Mudshark wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>John Schultz wrote:</div>
If the weekend works for me I’m in again. was lots of fun last year.

Got room in the boat??……I’ll TRY to stay awake this time…

Nobody sleeps in my boat. You must have fished with Gary Sanders last year. Sleeping in his boat is fairly common.

I would like to give this a try depending on weekend? I’m originally from Milwaukee, so I know the area, just not the fishing.

As with many others, whether I’m in or not will totally depend on the dates picked.
But if it works out, I’d do it again.

A different port would be fine with me as well. Always nice to see and fish different water.

I’m with Ben on having it further North. For the people coming over from MN and western WI, it’s a lot shorter drive to Algoma, Kewaunee, or Sturgeon Bay than it is to Milwaukee.

Same as most of the other guys, if the dates work, I’d be interested in doing it again. Was a lot of fun last year, despite the poor fishing…

John Schultz wrote:

Nobody sleeps in my boat.

…Yep..By the time we got in Sat. night I was sleep walking …..not used to days that long…besides,my memory is not what it used to be….
Gary was a great Captain….
I’ll start training now and should be ready to go by this summer…

Wherever and whenever…I’m game…

Summer is rapidly screaming by. Has there been any discussion by anyone on moving this forward and trying to pin down a date or location?

Looks like we need someone to step up to the plate and volunteer to organize this.
Nate, Randy & I did the majority of the heavy lifting last year. Not sure how those two feel, but I would just as soon someone else does it this year.

Count me in! I’d be happy to co-coordinate with someone. Got SBC putting tracks and Canon downriggers on the new to me 2011 WX2100 early to mid next week.

John Schultz wrote:

Summer is rapidly screaming by. Has there been any discussion by anyone on moving this forward and trying to pin down a date or location?

I haven’t really chimed in at all yet because, well, to be honest the fishing has been pretty poor so far this year. Things have started to pick up in the past couple weeks, but before that, things were pretty bleak.

Action has been picking up with a pretty nice mixed bag of kings, cohos , and rainbows recently. There are also a ridiculous amount of lakers to be had should you dangle anything too close to the bottom.

I know Joel and I kind of organized this thing last year, and I’d be happy to help facilitate it in any way I can again this year IF people want to do it in Milwaukee again. I understand the desire to check out other ports though, so if people want to go somewhere else, that’s totally cool. I just probably won’t be able to make it. I’ve got a wedding to pay for this fall, and that means minimizing my fishing expenses for the summer…

On another note, I think it’s important that people realize that the fishing on the Big Pond has changed… I could be wrong, but I think the days of endless screaming drags are gone. Zebra mussels and now Quagga mussels have essentially “sterilized” the lake, therefore jepordizing the future of the alewife (a king salmons main food source). Our DNR has cut stocking in an attempt to maintain baitfish levels (a good idea IMO), but we are now fully seeing the effects of that.

Last year gave us a taste of what the future may hold here, and this year is starting off much the same. I think we still have an amazing fishery here, but it is no longer the king fishery it once was. We can still go out most days, and catch a nice mixed bag of fish and you might see a couple screamers. But, I think the days of laughing as you watch tackle bust are gone.I don’t mean to sound all doom and gloom, but a lot of you guys are looking to spend a good deal of money and time to come fish here. I think it’s only fair that you have reasonable expectations.

Anyways, if you guys wanna come down here, I’m all for it. Had a great time last year and would love to do it again. We’ll catch fish, and who knows, maybe things will really pick up… We’re still out here having fun though, and they taste as good as ever!

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Nice fish Nate! Can’t imagine catching a number of fish like that…. I’d be (and will soon I hope) thrilled with one or two a season like those. As long as there’s a chance of a screaming reel, I’m in.

If we did Milwaukee again, I would be more than willing to work with Nate and try to coordinate. If we pick a different port, I’m not sure how much I would have to offer as I typically only fish Milwaukee and Port Washington. It certainly helps to have someone that is local when coordinating, and I’m not sure if we have any IDOers in other lake Michigan ports further north.

Even though the fishery has changed from years past, I still love fishing the big pond and enjoy the change of pace from chasing walleyes. The years of limit catches of kings are most likely gone, but there are still enough around to warrant the time to chase them, in my opinion.

Depending on the date I am in. Haven’t been out this year yet and missed the early coho bite due to work as usual but would love to hang out and meet some fellow IDOers. Willing to even help coordinate what I can.

Derek

Salmon-A-Rama 2015 is July 11th – 19th, so I would pass on those weekends for the southern ports.
I’m booked out for all of July, so I won’t be able to make it then. Any chance we could make this happen June 27th?

I already have obligations on June 27th.

What about mid-August? Too late?

Ben Brettingen wrote:

What about mid-August? Too late?

Ben and I are in for any weekend in August. And we don’t really care which port, we just want to go fishing!

I can make any time in August as well. And like the two clowns above, don’t care where we launch from. Just want to get out and fish as well.

Mid Aug can/is a tough month for anything near shore in the southern half of the lake. Generally, water temps will peak and thermoclines are set up deep and pretty far out. I would look at a northern port for better odds of finding a good thermocline in a reasonable distance from shore

JD Winston wrote:

And like the two clowns above, don’t care where we launch from. Just want to get out and fish as well.

Looks like I’m going to have to borrow one of BK’s rubber noses for this trip.

Ben Brettingen wrote:

What about mid-August? Too late?

Mid August can be an interesting time of year. I like it for big fish personally, as the four year olds are starting to really sniff around their home ports. I usually see the first waves of kings push INSIDE in the last 10 days of August. Prior to that, they are staging just outside the harbor, usually as close to them as water temps allow.

As Randy said, at that point in the year, the water is about as warm as it’s gonna get, and that can make for tough fishing, but we never saw that situation last year, and tough to say if the water will ever really get “Warm” this year either. (were off to a slow start again).

The other thing to consider is that in later August, some of the kings will start to get a little “tan” their meat is still good, but maybe not as good as earlier in the summer.

Like I said, mid August is nice because you know the big Kings are close to home, but it can be tough to get them to go. They can be caught though, and you also have probably your best chance at a really big one at that time, as they have reached their peak weight prior to spawn.

I will be sticking close to home MOST weekends this summer, so I’ll leave deciding the date up to you guys. I should be able to make it most of the weekends in the time frame were looking at.

Pic is of the first Kings I found inside the harbor last year. (August 30th, 2014)

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