Fished Saturday a.m & p.m. and then again on Sunday morning chasing salmon on Lake Michigan with Quintin Biermann & his cousin Luke. The bite was not as good as it had been but we did manage to find enough willing fish to make it plenty interesting. The late afternoon bite was definitely better than the early morning bite.
For sure, part of the slow action on Saturday morning was the fish had moved somewhat from where we were catching them the weekend before so we did have to relocate active fish. Talking with other anglers at the fish cleaning station during the middle of the day on Saturday did get us some valuable information on better area’s to concentrate our efforts on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
Knowing how far these two guys had traveled to get here definitely added to my desire to put these guys on fish. Nothing worse than telling stories of all the nice fish your catching, setting up a trip with someone with great expectations and then having the fish take a hacienda when your crew shows up. Been there and done that to many times before and if at all possible, even though I was dead tired by mid-day on Saturday due to sleep deprivation, I was determined to not let that happen again.
Last year, fishing glow spoons in the dark was lights out, fast action and at times, it was difficult to even get my usual 6 rod spread in the water due to the fast action. This year, fishing in the dark before sunrise and after sunset is still proving to be a tough go for my boat.
Right at daybreak or like on Saturday evening, just before complete sunset, the action has been pretty good for my boat. Saturday night, the action for about 45 minutes was almost crazy good. Unfortunately, several of the big fish created multiple problems for us and all the bigger fish escaped the net. Basically, they never made it to the net before coming unbuttoned and we ended up coming out of that flurry of activity with several shakers and one nice two year old King which put our afternoon total at 7 fish boated out of approximately 10 or 12 hookups.
Sometimes that’s just the way it goes and probably more often than many of us would like to admit.
Our best bait for the weekend was probably the double aqua fly pulled behind a green flasher which is shown in this picture.
Our 2nd best bait would have to be the LBB fly behind a white flasher. (shown in picture below)
A close third was a bit of a surprise and I have to thank Greybeard for turning me on to these baits a couple years ago. That would be a Brads Cut Plug filled with Starkist Tuna fish. I’ve been carrying a box full of these around for the past 3 years and they’ve gotten only a small amount of time in the water during that time. After this weekend, that may change on future trips.
Wonder Bread was the best color for us and unfortunately, I don’t have a picture to post of it at this time.
By the end of our adventure at 10a.m. on Sunday morning, our tally looked like this: 4 fish on Saturday morning (2 kings a coho & a laker) 7 fish on Saturday evening (3 kings, 3 coho & a laker) and 4 more fish on Sunday morning. ( 4 kings) I’m writing this quick over my lunch hour and don’t have my notes available at the moment so the exact species count may be a little off but the numbers are accurate.
Basically, Quintin and Luke took home 15 fish which isn’t quite as good as what I had hoped for but far from what I feared for a while there on Saturday morning.
Both these guys handled the rods & boat driving duties just fine and that always helps a lot. Plus they were both good company in the boat which made the time go by pretty fast. As a side bonus, “Larry the Laker” will for sure get plenty of air time in my boat on future trips. One of the fun, little benefits of fishing with different people.
Despite the sleep deprivation part, it was definitely fun meeting and fishing with you two Quintin & Luke although I sure wish I had snapped a picture of you two sleeping in the front of my Tundra on Sunday morning. Looked a lot like a couple of giant tuna stuffed in a can not nearly big enough for comfort. I have no idea how the heck you guys can sleep in those odd ball positions.
Little Boy Blue fly behind a white flasher.
Nice job Joel. That salmon fishing can be some tough hours for sure.
Joel !!!
I seen ya… I was in that Air Plane at about 5pm !!
I was waving at you… didja see me ???
Great report buddy.. as I was coming in over the lake I did see several anglers out and wished I was one of them…
So how did you fish the cut bait plugs? If the fish aren’t biting, I’ve seen Joel change baits every 10 minutes. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed someone work so hard to find the bites.
Great report and very nice Joel, that fly and flasher combo is also identical to the we fished on our trip out there.
We fill them with tuna and fish them behind a flasher.
Sounds weird I’m sure but the dang things work!
John Schultz and I fished aboard Greybeards boat in October a year or two ago and put a four man limit in the boat by 9:30am using Brad’s Cut Plugs.
I know he uses them all the time but it’s taken me awhile to figure out a program for them that works in my boat.
No question, I owe a lot of what I’ve learned about salmon fishing to Greybeard. (aka Michael Collins)
Without his help, I’m sure my salmon fishing success would be much, much less.
Joel, Have you guys ran into any major thermal breaks at the surface? I’ve been watching the lake imagery and a lot of the temps look blah for what I want. Trying to get a day out on surface steelhead with the noodle rods – no interest in trolling.
Randy,
On Sunday morning straight out from the filter in 80′ of water the thermocline was as close to the surface as I’ve seen it all year.
Surface temp was around 68-70 degrees and the probe was only down 20′ where water temps were 46-48 degrees.
Thanks again Joel, we both had a blast. It was fun to fish a new port, fish with new people and make some new experiences. Like you stated it seemed some of the better fish of the weekend left us with our imagination spinning. Case in point the planer board fish that took close to 250 feet of line before giving any ground. Sleeping in the front of a Toyota tundra feet wedged on the dash was something I can wait to do till next years salmon run. As well as “Larry the Laker”, let us not forget “Wicked Tuna” when the cut plug rod screamed back. I love salmon fishing just wish it wasn’t 10 hours away. But screaming drags and the jet clear waters of lake Michigan make it all worth it. – QB
I went out of Kenosha Saturday afternoon and my 19′ Lund had a heck of a time….it was rough. My 4 yr old lost his lunch over the side of the boat just after setting lines….so back home we went. No fish.
Bummer trpsht.
No matter how big your boat is, a guy always has to keep one eye on the weather.
Thanks Joel. I’m looking for the few times you see the garbage slick boiling over. Made a couple trips out and had one decent day in 310fow sight fishing the surface. Winds started to pick up and that was a LONG haul in a bassboat. Ended with 8 steelies and a few more that unbuttoned. #4 gold french blade spinners and orange weighted bodies (similar to the oslo’s used in MI City and St Joes for skamani’s). Haven’t lfound a good temp break rolling on the surface since
Good to see you survived taking those two kids out fishing. Both good friends, and good fishing partners.I usually fish out of Sheboygan, but maybee I’ll have to try Mil.
Joel,
Looks like you did as well as most as the catching lately has been inconsistent and toughest Aug fishing I’ve experienced in many yrs.
I’m not sure if you forgot to mention or not using it but 99% of the time my cut plugs have the Roasted Garlic Tuna in Oil. I along with many others believe the garlic helps a lot. I’ve been running 42″ leads behind both dodgers and Flashers. Thanks for the compliments, you are a quick study.
Randy: had a slick line that lasted miles last week at Racine from Wind Pt to past the harbor with a 5 degree break in 35fow. Loaded with bait on the warm (east) side and trolled it for 1.5hr and zero bites despite some hooks on the screen. This time of yr rare for me to see a temp line in rainbow country, ie water >150′. As you likely know those surface breaks much more common late May to very early July and can be wild action when you find one.