Two Rivers Wi salmon report

Those of you that know me know how much I have enjoyed chasing all types of fish, including salmon on Lake Michigan. It started as a yearly trip to Two Rivers, WI with my dad when I was a young boy. My first ever trip I was small enough that I slept the whole trip on the cooler as we never even had a bite. From then on at least once a year we would go fish with Captain Dick. As soon as I bought my first Skeeter I planned to make it ready to chase salmon and was busy mounting down riggers and rod holders on it and was making 3 to 4 long weekend trips each year doing it on my own. Friends and family joined and we had a blast. After a few years my dad’s coworker Bob bought himself a Skeeter and rigged it for the big water as well. We had ran both boats for just over a year but we decided to pull the trigger and all three of us went in business together and bought a charter boat and Salmon Chasers was born. Last winter found the three of us getting our captain’s license. Next was getting all our registration done with the new boat, the sate , etc. We were ready.

This has been our first full year running charters out of Seagull Marina and a fun one it has been. The fishing got a bit of a slow start this year with the cooler spring and summer. Last year by early May the fish were going nuts. This year it took until mid June for the water temps to start to warm up, but then we were off catching fish. Early on the kings favored flasher fly combos fished in less than 100′. White flashers with little boy blue flies or green flashers with green crinkle flies worked best. The numbers were down from last year but the size more than made up for it. The first fish I landed on the new boat was a 20lb class king. Not a bad start. By July the rainbows and cohos showed up and the numbers went up with it. The kings still liked the flasher flies but the bows favored spoons in oranges and blues. We were also fishing deeper with a lot of time spent in 200-300′. We weren’t getting limits but good numbers and still some piggies.

August still gave us a nice mix of fish. It brought the biggest rainbow to the boat I’ve seen at 19.75lbs. It also brought limits to some very happy customers. Cooler water temps had us doing most of our fishing in 100-180’. Early mornings and late evenings gave us our best bite but the last couple weeks we have seen a shift to a better mid day bite. A prime example of this and the highlight for me this past weekend being able to hook and land the biggest king of my life at 29lbs at 11:30am. And even better was to catch it during the dock doubles tournament at Seagull Marina and take 1st place. We spent that morning trolling spoons and j-plugs right in front of the piers in 15-30’. The fish weren’t in there as thick as the night before but some big kings and cohos found the cooler. The shore fisherman were getting their share of fish as well off the piers.

The season is winding down and we figure we will probably pull the boat in 2 weeks. Bob, Rich and I want to give a big thanks to those that fished with us this past year and look forward to an even better 2014. For more information check out www.salmonchasers.com