Despite a report from a buddy who didn’t have a bite fishing off Milwaukee yesterday I had to take advantage of the nice weather. I was chomping at the bit not having fished salmon since the 1st week of September. The recent blow made for dirty water out to 70’ so I set lines in 85fow just south of the Filtration Plant and took a NE heading. When crossing 100’ the 2 color with a 3F org/chartreuse Evil Eye got slammed while Craig was hooking on the OffShore taking a 9# Laker. The 75’ rigger white Dodger and Siggs aqua/glow went off with another Laker while bringing in the first.
I was looking for silver fish so kept heading NE and 2yr old chin took a reg Raider Green Tiger down 105 in 135fow. Then a bow hit a 3set Dipsy white Opti flasher and Siggs aqua/glow 55loc. I couldn’t get turned around because then the 75’ rigger went again with another 2yr old. 105 rigger and Grn Tiger a nice 3 yr old that made some great runs. The Green Tiger had been the stud color this summer so I put another on a 70’ rigger with SWR and changed out the white blade for green/glow Opti flasher with Sigg’s Bluegreen Aqua crinkle as the sun was up. Both went twice with 2 yr olds. I put 6oz Snap Wt on my full core and mag Oz and 4oz Snap Wt on 45# copper and Mag Bloody Death to attempt to get down where the riggers were working and never had a sniff.
I wanted more baits deep without the 4 rigger tangles so I put a second OR-8 on my 105 rigger. I put another Grn Tiger on a small Dipsys and ran it out 4 passes and put it down 105 and changed to a SWR on same rigger with another Reg Grn Tiger. That paid off as both fired a couple of times each over the morning. Then the 2 color and org/chart Evil Eye took a dandy bow. I put a regular Raider Double Orange Crush on a 5 color and that took another bow. At one point we were 11for 11 and Howie had to say it so the 12th bite on a 3set Dipsy 55loc and reg Raider Orange Muffing pounded it good but escaped. 70’ SWR rigger and Green Tiger took a bow.
We were sitting on 14 a little after noon and said let’s give it another 15minutes to see if we can get out limit. Both SWRs fired, 70 & 105’ down. While we were boxing those the 90’ grn/glow Opti hooked up so throwing fish back. While clearing lines we found a small coho being dragged on the stacked Dipsy down 105. Surface temp was 51.5 and down 90’ 49.2. Trolled 1.8-2.2 on the Depth Raider and most fish came between 150-185fow. Marked some surface bait and some hay stack pods on the bottom. We did have occasional suspend marks but not a lot. Certainly seemed like the biters were either in the top 25’ or deeper than 75’. We went 18 for 19 with 4 bows, 2 LT, 1 coho and the rest kings. Weather looks great for the AM and despite throwing the Stabil in the tank today I’m waiting for a call back to see if I can get a crew for tomorrow. One never knows if we will get another day calm enough to venture deep.
Tight lines and full coolers,
Grey Beard
Nice first report Michael!
First time I can remember seeing an open water Lake Michigan salmon/trout fishing report here on IDO in late October.
That sure is a lot of info to digest!
How in the heck do you remember all that stuff?
Nice bunch of fish though.
Bet you didn’t have many other boats, (if any) out there with you either.
Wow, those are some solid looking fish. Nice to see a Milwaukee area report. I have family there and may have to give the big lake a shot some time.
I’ve never salmon fished, but have heard it is tough to forget once you’ve been into them…. looks like you where into them big time.
Thanks for a great report, keep ’em coming!
Nice job, Greybeard!
Agreed! Great report Grey Beard
Those salmon look like a blast! Thanks for the report!
Always go fishing when you can!
Excellent report and a fun read!!!
Outstanding
Tons of great info Greybeard and like Joel stated…….how the heck do you remember all that stuff? I have to think hard just tying up a Dubuque 3-way rig 
It’s good to see you reporting on this site, Grey Beard. Have enjoyed your reports on “the other site”….always very informative. This one makes me want to put the downriggers back on for one last open water outing…..tough to beat the in-harbor brown trout pitching bite though, connecting with the fighters in a hands-on manner….hmmmmm
may have to do both!
Thanks for a great read
Nice job with the fish and great report .
From Jeff
Greybeard, thanks for posting a report on a section of “the water column” that doesn’t get hit here much on IDO. I’m sure the salmon folks know what you’re talking about but I would sure love to learn the basics of what you’re doing and how to do it. Maybe next report could include the 411 of down rigger fishing and what you’re using to catch these fish. Do you have any pics of the lures/baits you use or something like it to give an idea if not the actual specific bait?
Either way, good read and keep posting.
Thanks very much for all the positive feedback on my first report on IDO. If the fish gods are willing, there will be many more in the future.
As Joel said there aren’t many of us fishing the big pond this time of yr. Only saw 3 other boats on Tuesday and it was great weather. Fishing can be excellent throughout the fall. However the lack of fisherman to help locate the schools and the ever-present fall winds makes for a challenge for those of us willing venture out. I’ve had 25 fish limits while others are deer hunting.
People often ask how I remember all of the lures, depths etc. As with other types of fishing, we develop our favorite colors and methods. They can vary throughout the fishing season but we usually remember what, where and how we caught fish under those conditions and pull it out again. To a certain extent I try to limit my lure selection a bit as it just gets confusing. However, it seems each year something that was hot last summer now isn’t and something new revs up. I’m fortunate to be on the pro-staff for Raider spoons so they get a lot of play in my spread. If you want to see what the spoons I mention look like you can check their website. If you want to know the colors I like you can send me a PM.
For Micah: Your request for a primer on trolling is so broad and general I couldn’t do it justice here. However the best book I’ve read on trolling for salmon is Dan Keating’s first book that he wrote with Chip Porter, “Great Lakes Salmon & Trout Fishing – The Complete Troller’s Guide”. It is a real short cut for learning the various techniques. His second book, “Keating on Kings” is also a great read and I’ve read it more than once. You can google search a source for his books.
Grey Beard
Nice, thanks greybeard.