Lake MIchigan Fishing Report

[Lindyrig81]

im leaving tomorrow at noon, I hear the water temps are real low, 40-50's, even some 30's

[fishgutz77]

I've been whatching the wind now for two weeks and theres been a lot of off shore wind bringing up cold water close to shore.

we've always done better with that NW and West wind at baileys. but usually by now the surface temp is around 60-62

[Tom Linderholm]

Lindy, take a look at this site Here!

That updates daily and gives you a better idea of what you are stepping into.

Good luck and be safe.

[Fishin' Magician]

The fishing out of Algoma the last couple of days has been nothing short of great, but.... you had to be in the right spot. That right spot has been north of town in 60 - 80 fow. The best bite has been trolling north around 2.0 knots at a C.O.G. of 30 degrees. The last two mornings we have limited, 25 fish yesterday and a 20 fish limit this morning by 6:20 A.M. A lot of nice 4 year olds are being caught, our largest this morning was 24.5 pounds. The Kewaunee/Door Salmon derby starts next saturday, too bad because I'm sure this fish would have placed in the top 20. I'm guessing a 30 plus will take it this year. Our best action came on 100' dipsy's dialed at 3 with a fish scale chrome hot spot and an aqua frog fly. Spoon bite on the riggers has been a little slow but I have picked up a few fish on an NK black and green with a glow ladder back. We've got some nice cool water in close to shore (high 40's to low 50's) and that's why the fish are there. If anyone is thinking of coming out now is the time. If you do come out you can look me up at the Fishin' Magician complex on the Ahnapee river just north of the second bridge. If I'm not around please feel free to call me at 920-255-2710 and I'll tell you what I know.

Good Luck, Have Fun and be Safe.

[matthothand]

I figured I'd take a break from packing and tying some different flies and see what's happening out there. We're fishing Wednesday afternoon through Sunday morning. Hopefully we hit some decent weather. Has anyone been getiing any steelhead? I usually run something orange on top (board) but in all my trips have yet to mix up the bag. I'll try to get a report up when I get back.

[Sutty]

An orange spoon up high is usually the go to weapon of choice against steelhead but they hit flashers and fly's and typical salmon shwag to. Usually you find them up high in cold water, so usually out deeper. Last year I caught one on a f/f down 90 on a rigger. Two weeks ago I caught one on a flasher fly down 40 in the early morning.... You will run into them eventually. Usually they are flying across the surface before you know what rod they are on.

[tunrevir]

We had some success this past weekend on Steelhead in the top 35" of water. Threee came off black and gold proking magnums, one off a flasher and fly and one hit and run off a 4" orange spoon down 30' The fish were scattered but the steelhead were up high. All of our fish came off boards and leadcore with a bonus 20+ king off a fulcore rig. We ran up to Washington island and found the kings very cooperative when we could get out due to wind. They hit flasher and flies late evening, j-plugs on riggers early and spoons in between. I fished with another boat and they fished a 1/2 mile away from us and caught everything on spoons early, flasher flies late and we caught everything on riggers with j-plugs so make sure you put out a mixture in your spread and cover the depths. Sounds like everything right now is flashers and flies and spoons relatively shallow out of Algoma but don't let that deter you from running a few j-plugs in your spread. Let the fish tell you what they want. You'll see a pattern emerge. Good luck and tightlines, I am hoping to head back in a week to take advantage of what is shaping up to be a nearshore shallow water bite with the water temps.

Tunrevir~

[fishgutz77]

Thanks, for the update. We will hit the water about 4:00am on thursday at Baileys Harbor and work from there. Water temps are shaping up nice with predicted nw winds on thursdays changing over to SW and then Westerly on friday and Sat.

Overcast skys have been some of our best fishing over the years and looks like plenty of that to come as well.

[Northdrifter08]

we are up the next weekend at Baileys and will be at Gills a least one of the 4 days.

Howdy all... sorry about the late posting.. We got back last Wednesday and had a blast... For the few time we got out we ended up 13 for 16, with 12 salmon and one steelhead.. The size of the salmon impressed me, our smallest salmon was 12 lbs. and the average size was just over 15 lbs. with the biggest ones weighing in at 21 and 20 lbs... The steelhead was about 5 and it ended up on the grill in between short trips out... As far as where, we caught all of our fish in the Gills Rock and Elison Bay area, and everyone on spoons... the best producer was what we called the Bret Favre spoon...purple and gold... and the rest on super glow spoons...... What a blast we're trying to get another trip together befor the end of the summer...

[Northdrifter08]

Few other items... we did our best around the nearshore reefs (or shoals as they are called in Door Co.).. We triggered most of our bites coming off the edges running 50-70' down... And as it was mentioned, the one steelhead we caught was in the upper 40' of water...

One thing that was noticed was the amount of bait fish... You would see the clouds on you graph and you could see the poles wiggle as you went through them... we even snagged an alewife once... impressive amounts... Hopefully for the making of 30+ lbers. in the near future...

[fishgutz77]

The fishing was a bit slow from other years and we had a good thing going until we lost a #4 tiger patterned j-plug which was taking the big fish. this was the blinking model.

4 am to 6 am was the best bite and 7:30pm to 10pm.

J-plugs pulled at 50ft worked on deaths door and baileys

1/2 core with plugs took some fish

Blue glow fishlander spoon was a hot in the am.

We did not do well on dipsys so we pulled them and went to lead core.

never took a fish on flasher fly combos but saw several fish boated using them.

most outings were 3 fish outings and we ended up with a dozen

The fish of me in the photo was 23.87#s what a battle, he lost.

We had a great time but finally got blown off Deaths Door sunday morning with 5-6 footers after getting 3 more dandys.

[tunrevir]

Nice Job there Fishgutz! That 23# fish is a piggy. Best we did was 20 but many fish in the 12-17# class. We fished both Algoma and Washington island. Interesting thing was had a couple friends 1/2 mile upshore and they were getting all of the fish early on spoons and late on flasher and flies while we caught all of our fish off j-plugs for the most part. Just goes to show you need to work your spread with a bit of everything and let the fish tell you what they want. Going back to Algoma this next Friday for a whirlwind tour Fri-Sunday a.m. Looking for a few more nice kings.

Tunrevir~

[fishgutz77]

Makes me wish I could get back to fish the last few days of the K D salmon derby.

Good luck.

[tunrevir]

Fishgutz77, did you enter t6hat fish in the KD? There are a few larger fish up to I think 27 but that fish of yours should place out.

Tunrevir~

[BSG]

Just returned last night from Baileys. Went 30 for 40 and about 10 shakers. Nothing under the 5-6lb range went in the box. Hot setup was 50ft down with Moonshine Nightcrawler spoon. Then followed really close by the Moonshine Happy meal or flounder pounder. Few fish caught on J's, otherwise all spoons. Mornings were best, with our action shutting off at about 8am. Had a 21#, 2- 20's and prob 6-8 in the mid to high teens. Our highlight was boating a double consisting of a 21 and an 18. Then immediately after netting the 2nd fish, another mid teens get caught. Here's a few pics. More to follow after i get the other camera back.

[fishgutz77]

That fish was caught friday evening befor the kd kicked in.

I took the lowest reading on the digital scale as the boat was bouncing around. the high reading was 24.3 This would be a money fish for sure I think though.

Nice fish guys,who makes the moonshine spoons?

I finally gave up on F/F combos cause they just weren't producing. We caught most fish on glow or lit J-plugs 50 down no matter what the water depth. even on 1/2 core the plugs did produce some nice fish. All our fish were bigger than last years fish on average.

[tunrevir]

Too bad about the timing on that fish there Gutz but still a brute! Nice job out of Baileys guys! I can't recall if it is just moonshine spoons or if there is another name for them. Did an experiment this morning before work and glowed up all of the spoons in my box. The moonshine spoons held a charge for 45 minutes the fishlander spoons held a charge for nearly 1/2 hour and the prokings would dim out to nearly nothing after 10 minutes if anyone is interested. Each spoon was given a three flashes from a camera flash to charge when I did the test. Just a little early morning amusement:) headed out next friday and can't wait! Taking my dad along so hoping to get a few big fish into the boat. Last year we hooked something on a fullcore rig that was a screamer and my dad got to do battle with it for nearly an hour. The fish never got any closer then 200' as he would gain 20 yards and the fish would smoke off 30-40. It came unbuttoned as we were pulling up all the other lines to start chasing the darn thing. Sure wish we could have boated that thing!

Tunrevir~

[Roosterslayer05]

Well boys im heading to algoma next thursday to try michigan for the first time out of my own boat. I have a couple questions. I fish superior and concentrate on temp breaks and scumlines, should you look for these conditions in Michigan also?( do the fish congregate around these like they do on superior?) What should I be looking for on the graph to indicate im fishing productive water? Also im going to be runing a set up of 4 riggers, 2 dipseys and 2 boards. On superior I catch fish all year on boards, but would they even be worth runing on michigan? Or would I be better off runing stackers on the riggers for those two lines.

[chaffmj]

tunrevir,

Where can you get moonshine spoons at? We are headed out next Thursday night to Door County and we have j plugs,flies and lots of prokings but no moonshines.

[BSG]

Moonshines can be found online, best selection is at a place in duluth, I doubt i can say the name of the place, but it starts with marine, and ends with general. Do a search. Best online selection i've seen. Otherwise, in green bay, there is a Fleet Farm, awesome place for spoons, but not an awesome place for your wallet. Moonshine spoons glow longer than any other like T said. Nightcrawler, Blue Lemon, Happee Meal, and Flounder Pounder were always out when the light got low. You glow them up, and don't have to worry for 30 mins. Good Luck Guys.

[chaffmj]

BSG,

Thanks for the info.

[fishgutz77]

Bring it all, the boards will work with lead core early and you can pick up some 10-12# steelies in the top 30 fow.

Temps do play a big part if you have a raider or subtroll that's nice and you know the game. They have had some off shore winds now for a couple of days which should help bring kings close to shore and start looking for alewife in 40-50 fow and then work deeper. we found them all the way up into 40 fow at Baileys.

The fishlander blue glow was a great early morning spoon and be on the water and fishing by 4:00 am or you'll miss the bite.

If you can find the lighted #4 j-plug in fire tiger thats a good one. spendy but good.

This was my fourth year in my own rig and it's been a different learning curve every year. Dipsy's go 120-150 back on a 3 setting.

Flasher Fly combos take a ton of fish and I would recomend about a 21" lead on the fly.

Good luck.

[tunrevir]

chaffmj, I found a few at GM in Forest Lake but if you are going over to Washington Island the marinas have them. I picked up a couple of different colors and patterns at Jackson marina right where the ferry comes in. There is a trading post on the island as well that carrys them and if you have the time the FF in Green bay carrys a nice selection. There was a particularly hot proking that I only found on the island which is pearl with a rasberry red ladder back that took alot of fish for our group. Mother of pearl/wonderbread jplugs took some nice fish for us as well. white cracked ice flashers and little boy blue or aqua frog produced well right before dark down near the bottom. Good luck out there, be safe and have fun!

Roosterslayer, you'll find fish on the scumlines and temp breaks if you can find them. Scumlines are awsome for rainbows. I typically run a 5 and 7 color leadcore off boards, dypsies off the sides and two riggers. I like to run a swr off the one rigger(2-3 colors lead core) and plain mono off the other. I will change things up and run 16-20 oz snap weights down the chute or a full core rig depending on the time of the day. With three in the boat I run halfcore and full core off boards, then dypsie, rigger, 1# ball down the middle, rigger, dypsie, fullcore and halfcore off boards. The 5&7 color rigs took some nice steelhead and the fullcore took some nice kings. Bring the arsenal, experiment and have some fun. I run my fly leaders between 21 and 23 inches. I'll be up next Friday evening to Algoma for the weekend, I'll have the radio on 16 or 68.

Tunrevir~

[BSG]

Here's some other pics from our trip.

[fishgutz77]

Nice! We had just gotten back from being blown off deaths door when we spotted you guys pulling out of Baileys. I think it was sunday morning.