Brown Trout (or ice fishing w/o the ice)

[Captain Ken]

Today I stopped by the little bait shop on Belvidere Road (Rt 120) and Jackson Street to get some bait and directions to the Com Ed. Pier in Waukegan. My son and I fished from 10-4. Got quite a few really little browns. He also caught a pretty big carp. This was my first time fishing from shore there--They tell me the trouts and even some salmon will be there all winter and that some days they are "really killing 'em." Of course, last week, the week BEFORE I figured out this was something I should do, was when they were "really killing 'em." "Some guys had two on at a time." they tell me. So, I'll be out there again in hopes to "really kill 'em".

Here's what you'll need- I used my walleye spinning tackle and it was fine. Some guys had longer whippier rods...that's what you are supposed to have. Pyramid style sinkers 1 - 1 1/2 oz. Pyramid is needed cause of the strong currents. I rigged the pyramid on a sliding drop by tying a short piece of mono from the sinker to a swivel. Put my line through the eye of the swivel and finished with a second swivel. Then I tied a hook on another piece of mono and attached that to the second swivel that was at the end of my line. I am not sure the dropper is necessary ---could probably just lindy rig it and it would work. "Lake Shiners" was what I bought at the bait shop. The guys down there were using cast nets to catch shad which they fished mostly dead. I used a stinger hook which helped with some hook ups and also with keeping the bait on my line. They seem to nibble at it a good deal---then again we were catching small ones. The bigger ones may hit it hard. About a number 6 hook should do the trick for the main hook. Bring a minnow scoop if you use live ones cause your hands will get cold. It was WINDY down there, so dress warm. Oh, you'll need a landing net with a SUPER long handle if you fish on "the pier" and be careful not to fall in when you are getting all excited about the fish your partner caught. I say your partner because if you are netting your partner needs to be the one with the fish on. I don't think you can do both. If you fish in "the river" (the warm water discharge) you'll be happy you brought along some bank pole holders cause it is sandy down there and there is no good place to rest your pole. Don't forget your license and lake Michgan stamp.

Give it a try...I hope you get there wheen they're really killin' 'em. Either way, drop us a post here and let us know how you did!

Ken

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Captain Ken Kessler
www.captainken.com
Guiding in Illinois and North East Minnesota
847-970-9108 Illinois
218-742-4680 Minnesota

[This message has been edited by Captain Ken (edited 12-08-2002).]

[Captain Ken]

This past weekend we put the boat in the big pond and zipped on down to the power plant. The water in front of the plant was about 45 degrees, for the most part, where we were fishing. I probably could have gotten a little closer, but A) did not want to tick off the shore fishermen and did not want to get hung up on the sand bars.

Anyway, we caught zip fishing with shiners and shad on the bottom and on a slip bobber. It was 3-6 feet deep there. We trolled all around where ever the water was greater than the ambient 32.5 degrees and had one hit for what seemed to be a small fish. Used a Silver J and a Mepps spoon that looks like a rainbow trout.

Gave up there after a couple hours and went back to Waukegan. Had some little minnows with and would have fished for perch but we harly marked anything at all on the locator off the North side of Govt pier.

Today I went to the power plant and fished for a couple hours with freshly caught shad. It was really chalky in the water due to wind. Fished South side of pier and also by the mouth of the river. Also by the blue shed. A few little hits by the shed was all.

The barometer dropped yesterday too.

Ken

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Captain Ken Kessler
www.captainken.com
Guiding in Illinois and North East Minnesota
847-970-9108 Illinois
218-742-4680 Minnesota