Lake Michigan Milwaukee Nov 1 & 2

Day two was just as good as day 1. Sidewinder gave me a report of great action fishing solo Sunday in 55fow off the filter taking a limit and finishing up with a triple. Reading of some beautiful November weather forecast for Monday I had to put a crew together. Things didn’t begin too well as the 200 Yamaha didn’t fire (but did by the end of the day) so put-put to 45fow and set up. For the first time in 15 yrs with this boat hit the livewell switch and had that overflowing on the floor before all the lines were out so wondered what kind of a day we were in for. The seas were rocking quite a bit more than forecast but the fish started hitting on the 55’ contour. A lot of small shaker kings mixed in with nice fat 2 and 3 yr olds. First fish was a 5 color with reg Dbl Purple spook and a nice bow. In between a couple of more shakers another bow on 4 color and reg Hot Lobster.

Then I began losing track of what we were getting bit on. I think we boated the first 16 bites but only 8 in the box. Nice schools of bait balls on the bottom and some surrounded by hooks. We slid into 45fow and more small fish and then headed deeper and on the turn in 60fow a triple and never got turned around again to past 85fow. One and ½ small circles from 65 to 75fow and we were done. When we had number 19 and 20 hitting the cooler we had 8 rods out and before we could clear lines every rod took a fish. Boated around 40! Best setups were wire dipsy 2set 48loc and reg Pink Tiger, a regular pink/blue with black dot prototype Raider Josh made a few yrs ago that didn’t get launched. Worked so well we dug out the only other one I have and it fired a few times on the 35’ SWR. Brads Wonderbread and 36” lead on Opti white/pearl down 50, Brads shamrock on 22’SWR, Brads Seahawk on 8 color multiple hits and 7 color reg Broken nose. Ended with 2 bows, 2 browns and 16 kings. Surface temp 51.5-53 and 48.5 down 22 trolled 2 on the Depth Raider.

I talked to my wife on the ride home and she said you better get out your call list and go Tuesday because how often will you get that kind of fishing and weather in November. Yup, followed her sage advice and before I got back to Madison had called Red Rider and Curt Kell who were more than happy to meet me and Bob at the dock at 6AM. 200hsp fired, seas were calmer and the fish were where we left them yesterday. The dipsys remained hot with the same sets as yesterday. The one of a kind prototype reg Pink Tiger that killed them last fall has very little tiger stripe left but took 6 or 7 fish on a wire dipsy 2 set 50loc. Sure hope I don’t lose that one. The pink/blue/blk dot prototype 1.5set 60 loc almost as busy. 7 color reg blue Tiger, 4 color reg dbl orange crush, SWR down 18 Brads Shamrock, 8 color Brads SeaHawk, reg grn Tiger 3.5 set 75loc took fish. Flasher with Brads Wonderbread down 50 surprisingly quiet until I raised it to 38 then fired around 7 times. Got in as shallow as 60 then hit more shakers so headed back out and before we got to 75’ we had our 20th at 930, 1 brown and 19 kings. I presume these kings to be two yr olds as the biggest today might have been 6# so sure hope there are bigger three yr olds out there.

Surface temp had cooled to 50 and hit 49 just before entering the gap. Down temp stayed same as Monday at 48ish down 20. Trolled same 2 mph on the Depth Raider but both days got bit a fair amount when slowing to net fish. The bait fish in the stomachs were small and never ran a mag sized spoon. Yes, we released the spawning colored male Lake Trout because the season closed 31 Oct.

Fish cleaning station at McKinley is closed and porta potty gone but all the docks remain in. This retirement stuff is OK and fishing weekdays with only 4 other trailers in the lot works for me. No plans to winterize for a couple three wks at least.

I hope the new smaller version of Brads Cutplug shows up soon so I can try it. The smaller size should rock for walleyes with a scent trail in cold water.

Tight lines and full coolers,

Grey Beard