Brown Trout on a feeding frenzy in February. Check out the rest of my report how Capt. Rick and good old buddy Ted Peck caught these nice Browns in 10 fow, open water.
Friday night Ted gave me a call at work and told me his good friend Capt. Rick called from Fishmeister Charters and told him the big Browns are biting. Ted told me Capt. Rick and his friend Capt. Mike from Screamin Minnow Sportfishing Charters spent hours clearing the launch at Bender Park in Milw. Capt. Rick ask Ted to bring his boat and a friend which happen to be me Saturday to fish for some Brown Trout. Of course I jumped at the chance right away and met Ted half way to Milw where we road into Bender park together to meet Capt. Rick for a great day on the water to catch nice Browns like the one Ted caught in this picture on the left.
We hit the water by 6:30am and water temps at the lauch was 32 degrees. Let me tell you there wasn’t much room to back your boat in, they cleared just enough away to get a 17 foot boat in and no bigger. With winds out of the west or any direction but east your ok. If you get winds out of the east ice gets blown in and you can’t launch or get you boat back out if you stay out to long when winds change. That’s why it’s smart to know what your doing like the Capts. It only took 5 minutes to get where we had to fish and it was close to shore you could troll without getting hung up to catch nice fish like these Capt. Rick and myself caught at the same time on the right.
I must of missed at least 5 nice fish until I got the hang of it. It’s a little different than trolling for walleyes but close. All fish were caught trolling water in 8 to 12 feet. You had to find the warm water discharge current from the power plant and follow it. At times the water temp was 10 degrees different from 20 yard away. All fish were caught on stick baits and it seem natural color worked best. Here’s one of the first Browns I caught in this picture on the left.
If you would like to give this kind of fishing a try or any kind of fishing on Lake Michigan give Capt. Rick a call at Fishmeister Charters at 262-639-9562 or check out his web-site www.fishmeister.com also you can call Capt. Mike at Screamin Minnow Sportfishing Charters at 262-635-8642 or email him at [email protected] These captains will get you on fish.
Thank You Ted for asking me to go on this great outing, and yes Ted did catch the biggest fish. I finally thought I had him in the bag and at the last and I mean last Ted pulled it off once again
Until next time Ted, once again thank you for a great time again. And Capt Rick thank you also for all the work you did to make this day happen. Remember this lake is not for 12 foot jon boats and 2 horse motors like the guys we saw when we were coming back in and they were going out. There boat did cap size but they were saved. Big lake big boats I aways say. Until next time please be safe and take a kid fishing.
All Photos can be clicked on for a larger view
This bite is gonna continue well into March–maybe April. It’s pretty much a sure thing–if the ice will let you get out there. If you go, log on to Fishmeister’s website; http://www.fishmeister.com–there‘s a lot of solid information. Be sure you take cell phone and marine radio. This is a very unforgiving place! Going with one or two buddies is a good idea—real tough to set lines and steer the boat by yourself. The best days are those with a west, southwest wind when the weather is a little miserable. Nobody out there equals a 50+ fish day most of the time. We didn’t have anything bigger than 10 pounds, but the fishmeister says a 29 pound brownie caught here a couple weeks ago. Capn’ Mike charges 90 bucks a head–money well spent to experience this unique bite!
It was fun watching Bola and Capn Rich catch fish. Only touched the rod once on this outing, as luck would have it this was the pig of the day…a small pig at 10 lbs….but still a pig, and lots of fun!
Jeff, Ted,
Man, that must have been a ball. Those sure are beautiful fish. When you look at the girth of the their bodies at the tail you know they are powerful fish. I was planing on going to Duluth to take my Coast Guard oath. I might have to change my plans and go to Milwaukee instead. Anyone interested?
John
Are you joining the USCG? Congrats! My daughter is a BM-3 and nephew is coming aboard next fall. Bender park is easy to get to. Go south on I894-94, past the Mitchell airport. Follow I-94/chicago signs to Highway 100. Exit and head east several miles to Highway 32. Head north on 32 one block, then turn east and head straight for the lake–you’ll run right into Bender Park.
Regarding Duluth: Might want to wait until 5/18 when the St. Louis river opens to angling. When those walleyes come out of chilly Lake Superior and hit the 70 degree water of the St. Louis they fight like smallies on steroids!!!
Nice catch of Browns, guys…..seems strange seeing Jeff with anything other than a nice eye in his hands.
Enough to get you off the Rock couple times a year, Jeff??? Been trying for couple years, but to no avail…maybe this year?
Ted,
No, not joining, just the OUPV license.
John
headed to St. Louis for this soon myself. They have all the paperwork–including broomstick of wicked witch of the west. they wouldn’t accept a photocopy so had to send the original. Are you taking the restricted OUPV ? Western Rivers endorsement? Inland endorsement? I’m going for western rivers as most of my guiding is on running water.
Didja take a course? Folks at USCG/St. Louis say some courses are of dubious value at best.
Ed I wouldn’t turn you down any more. I can’t believe what I been missing
Just got the most recent Great Lakes angler magazine…See they have Oak Creek as one of 10 hot bites for March—article is right next to picture of Capn Mike and a client. He only charges $90/ person and has these fish dialed in…great way to break up the winter. You’re almost certain to get a limit of 4-10 lb fish. Nice orange meat, super on the grill. Figure 5 lbs x 5 trout=25 lbs divided by 2 is 12 lbs of fillets x $7 lb equals $84…factor in a tip and you’re talking the cost of an average Friday nite fish fry which is probably more fun than watching your brother-in-law gag on a piece of cod, allowing for all the meat you bring back to the cave for momma…no double entendres intended !
Ted,
Took the course in Alma in December so we will have unrestricted OUPV license. The course was very good and would do it again. I understand there are some not-so-good classes around. Just need to take the oath and finish the physical and I’m done. After Jeff and your post I’m thinking about combining a fishing trip and a visit to the Milwaukee CG station for the oath. Thanks for letting us know about the fishing opportunity.
John
you won’t be disappointed, John…advise calling ahead to book a trip with Capn Mike. This bite is a hoot..and you’re just down the road about 8 miles from MSO Milwaukee.
Ted & Jeff:
I actually got out last Monday in my own boat and it was great to have it back in the water again. It was even better to have it on one of the Great Lakes. I knew it wasn’t quite trout trolling ready, but you have to get your hands wet and that is what I did on that day. Only managed to break a tip off one of my good walleye rods!!!
Today I hooked up with Capt. Mike in his boat the
“Screamin’ Minnow”. We had a great morning of trolling and then did some jigging as well. Here is one of the first browns this a.m.
Mark
And Capt. Mike to me to school jigging “Zip ” Lures!!!
And another!!!
And Mike kept bringing them in. Our average jigging was over 7#, they were just beautiful fish. We released all of them with the exception of the injured ones. There were only two and half of one baked up mighty nice this evening. Bringing the smoker back to Kenosha from Minocqua on the next trip. Mike struggled with this one pushing 10#.
Mark
but he finally won!!!
He kept the hot stick!!! I should mention that we caught all of our fish pulling crankbaits to start with and then switched over to spoons later and finally jigging the blades. Only one came on a R&R spoon in the monkeypuke color!!!
We trolled for a little while after some jigging, but the water was just not quite clear enough in the area that we were in so we went back to jigging.
This next fish was another dandy.
Now all I have to do is buy a rod holder set up and several new rods to troll with and I will be set. Following this mission, I am off to the Cabela’s/BAss Pro webpage for some shopping.
This last fish we thought was going to be a real dandy, though we knew it could be snagged. It peeled off about a 100′ of line at one time during the battle. Capt. Mike kept trying to pass the fish off on me and I told him, you hooked it you get to finish it. It ended up being a snagged fish. It kept us hoping for a huge fish. A 24# fish was caught in the same area just last week and since Ted and Jeff were here, I believe that a 29# brown has been caught. That will always keep me interested!!!
Thanks for the update Mark, I’m glad you and Capt Mike had a great trip. Those are some nice fish
, How was the boat traffic?
Jeff:
Boat traffic was nil today. Great during the middle of the week and 30 degrees. Wish I was little better setup, I would consider going again tomorrow early. I do need to work, but it would be great to hit the first light deal!!!
I did just putin a $375 order for better boards, two line counter reels and a couple trolling rods and a couple dipsey divers for trailing some spoons. getting closer, really need some rod holders now. Just another $400!!! That’s a grand getting ready to do this. Just have to look atit as an investment. Will be fishing Kosh and the Rock this spring & summer too!!!
Mark
Mark I did the same thing after I got done fishing that day. I didn’t spend as much money as you because all ready done that last year. What I did buy was those little red trolling boards. I don’t know if you used them, but when we were out there that’s what we used. Those little boards will work great on Kosh, I’ll start a trend out there this year. Hopefully I’ll see you out there this spring and summer. Most of the time I’ll be in the Rock River fishing. Spring I’ll be fishing the river where it comes out of the lake by Newville and the summer I’ll fish the river where it comes into the lake at Blackhawk Island. Some where in between there I fish the Lake.
When you read one of my report this year and you going to be in the area let me know and we could hook up. 
Ahh Mark you have stirred my memory cells. I grew up on that big pond 75 miles north of Milw. It is a great fishery. I can remember screaming drags and watching 300yds of 6# line disappear with a new spoon as a teenager. More grass cutting and snow shoveling money gone again.
The power of some of those fish is unbelievable. You’re gonna love it. 
Rock:
That is true alreaady. I spent a lot of time on the piers of Port and Sheboygan. It’s really a lot of fun in a boat without a lot of people around you!!!
Jeff:
Yes we used the little boards from Church. They worked so much better than my older boards and as I looked over the new designs, they are so much better than the boards of old. I bought my old boards to use on Kosh and never used them much until I moved to Minocqua and row trolled for muskies. These TX-6’s were very, very nice!!! I plan on using them on Kosh, Genevea and Delavan for walleyes.
Mark