Coho!

[Captain Ken]

May 4, 2003 After stoping at the Salmon Connection for a few flies and to learn they are going out of business in June (due to property being sold) Captain Ken and son Chris went out of Winthrop Harbor hitting the water at about 11:00 AM. South by South East wind, around 10 knots. A good 1 foot chop was present. Water was clean and clear.

Headed out and South to 30 - 40 FOW. Down riggers down to 10-12 FOW with OO orange Dipsey with green and black flies (smaller kind). 12-18 inches between dipsey and fly. Let out 50 - 75 feet of linw behind ball due to clarity and depth of down rigger. Yellow birds with various crank baits - mainly firetiger and silver colors. Crank Bait size 1.5 - 2 inches max. 30-40 ft behind birdies. 1.9-2.0 on GPS. 4 down rigger releases but 0 fish boated. First DNR inspection logged for the season. Then went to Waukegan Harbor for a hot dog, on the way back stopped in front of Com ed and set up to troll in 16-18 FOW. Water was less clear. Marking lots of fish between 8 ft and the bottom and noting many sea gulls. Silver cranks with Green were the ticket. Two Coho taken: one on flat line and one on a bird. Both on crank bait. Only had one down rigger in due to cable fraying on the second one. No action on it. Again going 1.9-2.0 on GPS.

Reports at the dock stated that Saturday was THE day and Sunday was much slower with many short strikes.

Capt. 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

[Captain Ken]

Coho have been running pretty well, overall. Last week was marked by "limit" catches. Saturday things slowed a little, Sunday a little more and Monday was really slow. Hoping it'll pick up again soon, but if you work for them you will find them. Fished the SU tourney Sat - our team caught 9. Sunday fished the new members tournament with Steve from Trollinator. Our team checked in 4 fish. Monday I took 2 anglers out on a guided trip and we hooked five and landed 3. Slower than I would have liked, but I was glad we did better than the average of zero that the others at the launching ramp had in their box.

There really is no consistent pattern-- mostly red/orange dogers and smaller green flys or squids. Caught a few monday on blue. Dipseys with only 3 or 4 level winds or riggres run about 12 seem to be most consistent, but I have heard of guys taking fish from down at 40-60 in 80 FOW as well. Dipseys, doger and fly have been the best producer. If I had to pick a place to start, I'd begin at 25 FOW and work out. 1.8-2.2 MPH on GPS. I put in at Winthrop.

Been really foggy. Real fun on Lake Michigan is hearing what you find out is the gypsum freighter "Buffalo" in the fog, knowing it's headed your way and hoping that the Captain sees you on his radar.

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

[Guest]

We got our 3 man limit on Sunday. Launched out of Burnham. We fished the lighthouse breakwall in 20-35 FOW. Red dodgers with small rainbow colored tinsel flys fished 10 ft down caught the most fish.

[Captain Ken]

Wow! What a difference----they sure weren't biting like that around Winthrop Harbor! The salmon and I have a score to settle so they had better watch out next time out!

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

[Captain Ken]

June 4, 2003
Conditions: Cloudy
Air Temp: 66° - 70° F
Water Temp: 42° - 50° F

Out of Northpoint today (as usual). On water at noon and off with limit by 4:30. All nice coho. 1 on yellow bird and rest on dipseys. Coho killer fly as well as a purple/black hair fly. Red/orange dodgers, about 2.2 MPH on GPS. The waves were KILLING me at first, but the lake calmed down some as the day went on. Caught fish anywhere from in 70 FOW to 18 FOW. The dipseys were about 4 level winds down and the yellow bird rig had about a 1 oz worm weight, red doger adn fly. I quit the down rigger 'cause it was seemingly unproductive and I was alone, so did not want to "waste" a line. I had started by running it down in the upper 30 lower 40 foot range in 50-75 FOW. Marked an occasional fish at that level, but no takers. When I came in, a really nice Captain and his mate from one of the Charter boats (had Barbara or Barbie in the name - I always see it, I'll have to pay closer attention) told me they had found some nice kings earlier today. I hear they are beginning to come in. When I came back to port all the charter boats were fishing in about 20 ft of water and fairly close to the mouth of the harbor.

All in all, GREAT day. The coho are getting chunkier. I ate 1 fillet upon my return- grilled with cajun spices---Ummmm!

Hoing for good fishing adn good weather on Sat and Sunday as I have a tournament on Saturday and clients to take out of Sunday.

Captain 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

[Captain Ken]

Well, when going out of Northpoint what I have learned, at least for now, is that the Coho seem to have moved WAY off shore and are in 100-140 feet of water. Funny thing is that they still are near the top. Went out today for a bit before the winds started to really blow. Since the "Holy Masquinongy" is a "small craft" and since there was a small craft advisory, I decided I would give the waters 50 feet and below a straining for a couple hours so that I could be close enough to port to run in when the waves began to kick up. Picked up one coho that must have been lost. Marked VERY few fish from 16-50 feet. All the charter boats went so far out I could no longer see them. So, when the weather is a little less windy, 140 feet will get a visit from Captain Ken. They tell me that S of Waukegan the fish are still reliably in about 60-70 feet of water, but again the coho are often being taken on boards or dipseys without a lot of line out. I have to check this out as well since I have not yet launched from Waukegan. Also on my agenda is to visit Julian's reef for some lake Trout. This will also take a relatively good weather day since the GPS coordinates seem indicate it's about 12 miles out (?) - not entirely sure and more research will be needed before the trip is made.

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