Lake Michigan-Port Washington-Sheboygan-Milwaukee Fishing reports

[Joe]

Please have fun sharing with each other here.

[Rick]

Sheboygan County - In Sheboygan 8 inches of ice has been reported in the marina, but fishing there has been slow.

Ozaukee County - In Port Washington open water anglers have been catching brown trout and occasional rainbows near the power plant discharge. Both spawn and casting artificials have produced fish. The west slip has open water, and the north slip is mostly open as well.

Milwaukee County - McKinley Marina in Milwaukee has approximately 5 to 7 inches of ice. Anglers there have been catching occasional brown trout, and tip-ups have produced with both shiners and spawn. Ice anglers have also been fishing in the lagoon at Lakeshore State Park, but action there has been on the slow side. Open water anglers fishing the Menomonee River at the MMSD offices have been catching a few northern pike.

Racine County - The Racine harbor is ice covered, but use caution as the ice thickness varies considerably. Water clarity in the harbor has been somewhat poor, but both browns and rainbows have been caught.

Kenosha County - Ice anglers in Kenosha have taken a few browns on minnows and spawn in Southport Marina.

[Rick]

There has not been much fishing activity going on. The snowmelt and rain muddied up tributaries, and most harbor ice is in rough shape.

Ozaukee County - In Port Washington open water anglers have been catching browns and occasional rainbows near the power plant discharge. Both spawn and crankbaits have produced fish.

Milwaukee County - In Milwaukee open water anglers fishing the Menomonee River at the MMSD offices have been catching a few northern pike, and brown trout have been taken on spawn by anglers fishing the river under the Hoan bridge. Most of Oak Creek is ice-free, but the water is high and muddy after the rain this past weekend.

Racine County - The Racine harbor is still iced over, with reports of 6 inches in Reefpoint Marina. There are some large open areas near the docks, though, so please use extra caution if you venture out. Anglers in the marina have been catching brown trout on spawn. The Root River is open from the Horlick dam through Colonial Park, but flows are very high.

[Nathansdad]

We just got back from another great trip out of Port Washington fishing June 7th and 8th. We've been going on a chater boat out there for 7 years now and it has been good to us every year. The afternoon of the 7th we boated 10 4 year old kings. The morning of the 8th the bite was on fire. We landed 2 coho, 1 rainbow and 17 4 yr old kings by 10 am. For some reason they were biting a little short. Along with catching 20 fish we also lost at least another 20. The size of the kings was 15-20lbs. With the state of the economy it is no problem finding a boat to get on. If you get the chance get out there to experience some of this great fishing. Where elso can you go to catch numbers of big fish in a short amount of time.

[tunrevir]

Sounds like a super trip! Great report, sounds like you got into some quality fish. What was the hot setups? Flasher and fly, spoons, jplugs? Any colors that were hot?

Tunrevir~

[Nathansdad]

All our fish were on flies. Had a couple lines with spoons but nothing going on those. Frog was the color with a green flasher. The hot rods were the dipsies off each side of the boat. Surprisingly slow bite on the boards though we did get a few. Another hot rod this year was the rod straight out the back with 10 colors of leadcore out. Riggers were good to.

[A.W.Wolfram]

Lake Michigan - Port Washington 5/23-5/26

We got in town Thursday afternoon at the tale of a big NE blow. 6' to 9' swells. The forecast was for 8-14 kt winds for the AM so we kept the boat on the trailer till the morning.

Friday morning we had 6' to 3' swells and headed out. dropped gear at 70' and worked out to 180' with the first coho coming at 170. we turned in and and worked to shallows for some relief from the swells with nothing to show for it.

Friday evening she started to lay down and the fishing picked up. 9 Cohos, one king and a laker. 60' to 80' FOW with the fish coming from the top 25'. Orange 6" dodgers and peanut flys were the ticket. The 100' copper board rod did a great job and the king liked the new 10' stainless wire spiral dipsy diver rod I made just for this trip.

Saturday morning was more of the same. Th fish came from 120' to 70' FOW and still in the top 25'. 2 more kings and 8 cohos.

Thing took a turn for the worst as the lake laid down. 1 Coho Saturday night and a blank Sunday morning.

All in all it was a great trip for me. My first time on the big water, and i'm sure it wont be the last.

A.W.Wolfram

[DREZLER]

Just got back from Port Washington for 2 and a half days.

Ended up catching 28 cohos and 3 chinooks.

Hottest set up was 00 orange dodger with a aqua peanut flies fished on dipsies or 2 or 4 color lead around the 140 fow mark southeast of town. Second best was the same setup 50' down on a rigger. 250 copper and deep riggers both took some fish as well including some hot steel.

Dipsies were best at 30' out on the wire and 50' back on the braid.

Blue spoons and Mixed Veggies on boards and riggers both took a lot of fish as well including our biggest for the wkend which was only 8.5 pounds.

[tunrevir]

Nice! Sounds like a pretty good trip. Nice to hear some reports coming in from over in cheeseland.

Tunrevir~