Illinois Wisconsin Fishing Blog

A fellow emailed me this week and wanted to introduce me to his blog named Illinois Wisconsin Fishing, and now I'd like to extend the same gesture to you, I'll suggest you click here to visit the site and have a read for yourself.

As it turns out, fishermen make fish stories and, big surprise, we want to tell them.  That's how this little project started out for me.  Now I'm a few hundred posts deep and still look forward to punching keys after a good outing.  It even motivates me to get out sometimes, as I know I can't write about my adventures until I actually have them.  So as David (the Chicago Trout Bum) supports me and I him in our parallel quests to enjoy the aquatic gifts we've been given, I hope you support Illinois Wisconsin Fishing by having a read.  I'm going to start keeping my eye on the site, no question about that.

Northern Minnesota : July 2010

Each year I am lucky enough to spend a week or two at a cabin in Northern Minnesota with some wonderful scenery and world class fishing.  The lake the cabin sits on is full of large Walleye, mean Smallmouth, big Musky, and a good smattering of Largemouth Bass and Northern Pike.

Dusk falling away on the lake as my girlfriends father keeps us on a good line using the depth finder as a guide when a visual of the reeds falls away.  Nights spent under the inky sky of Northern Minnesota, quietly moving through the lake in a boat older than either man on board has become part of who I am.  I am one who appreciates water and sky and stars, but there is something exactly perfect about summer nights up there.

I spent the week of the 4th of July up there this year and spend every night trolling and casting break lines and reefs for Walleye and Smallmouth.  I was lucky enough to land a 22+" Smallmouth, a personal best of mine, adding to my other personal best this year (caught on memorial day weekend) 8 lb. walleye from the same lake.

The warm year has made our usual style of fishing the shallow break line less effective and we were forced to use new strategies to find the fish.  I welcome a challenge and it was fun learning some new water this year.

The Smallmouth, which hit an x-rap, trolled over a sloping boulder field.  I found that trolling a soft zig zag between slightly deeper and slightly shallower than the lure runs often results in good hits from big fish.

I also had a chance to play guide a couple nights, captaining one boat or another with two good comrades with me.  We had loads of fun and got some great fish in the boat.

 This is Chris, who recently returned from Iraq, it became my goal to get him a good Smallmouth, as he told me he has been having a Smallmouth dry spell and hadn't caught one in 4 years.  We got him a decent fish, followed by his personal best, pictured above.  Icing on the cake was him bagging a personal best walleye, unmeasured and released I would put it around 24" and somewhere around 3.5 pounds.  It was a great fish.

Here's Nick with a stringer of Walleye that fed the whole cabin dinner the next night.  That night was one of the few that we managed to identify a pattern and methodically filled a stringer with enough to feed the gang.

Another great part about the location of this cabin is that it is just a 15 minute drive from a small lake that is chalk full of nice Largemouth Bass and feisty Northern Pike.  Catching a dozen or more of each in a short morning is no where near unheard of.

Only accessible by canoe and kayak keeps the fish many and the shoulder room generous. Here is Rich with a northern on the line.  You can't beat the scenery here either.  It's as good as any post card you'll ever find.

Finally a nice largemouth being released kayak side.  A huge plus of fishing from a canoe or kayak is that boat-side release is done with ease, most fish never need leave the water to be released.

In short order I will be leaving for a week in the Upper Peninsula, where I will try my hand at trolling for lake trout.  Flashers, Dodgers, Flies, Spoons, and Body Baits are prepared, leaders are ready and rod holders are installed on our 16 foot aluminum.  It's been a great summer.

The Re-writing of Your Famous Fishing Hole or, The Great Milwaukee Flood of July 2009

Dear friends and followers, it has been long since I've posted anything.  My days are long and my nights short, time for fishing is scarce, and time for blogging is more rare even than fishing time.  Tonight, however, I find myself in South-Carolina after 13 hours on shoot, we're photographing a major bank headquarters in Charlotte NC this week.

Tonight I need to bring you some photographs (not mine unfortunately) of my beloved Milwaukee area.  Shorewood (where I spent 4 years of college) got 11.6 inches of rain yesterday and flooded out not only the Milwaukee river, but the streets, yards, and basements no doubt of many of my former streets and apartments.

First for the fishy stuff.  The Milwaukee River bursted its banks to over 16000 cfs.... I've never seen anything like that, not even in the mid-June flood of 2008.

Secondly my favorite tributary, Oak Creek, every year my gravel runs and boulder spots are a little different, I have a big feeling this year is going to be something extraordinarily different.

If you plan on hitting your spots for Skamania strain Steelhead anytime soon, I would highly recommend getting in a good scouting session as soon as the water gets low to figure out the new bends (or lack of bends) in the rivers.

Here are some photographs from various photographers in Milwaukee who submitted photographs to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and others.

This is at Oakland and Edgewood, just a few blocks from where I used to live.  When I lived in Milwaukee I would bike through this intersection with my salmon rod in my backpack to fish  the Milwaukee River. Thise are the tops of cars you are seeing in the foreground, that middle car is floating...

If I had my kayak in Milwaukee you know I would be out exploiting nature for some fun in the flood.

Finally, this is an image my friend Steph made in the UWM union parking garage.  I worked just behind where she is standing during the making of this photograph.

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I need to share some of my recent stories with the blog and I promise to soon.  Maybe tomorrow night I will have a bit of energy left in me.  Until then, nice to be back hitting some keys.

Tom

Milwaukee Area Steelhead Report : Early April 2010

As the days get longer and the water warms we must unfortunately bid farewell to what has been an amazing spring steelhead season, while there is still a couple weeks left of good fishing and possibly a week or so more of leftovers we have to be thankful that we had such a banner spring. I remember last year freezing my knuckles and bearing into the wind while trying to throw casts into stained, turbulent waters from a string of massive March rains. This year I broke sweat in my tee shirt more than once. I casted to clear pools swirling with silver, hard hitting fish while the sun rose and the air temperatures broke sixty before I could see my shadow finding its way along the stones by the river bed.

While large rivers are likely to be blown out by this string of vicious storms we had this week look for the small tributaries to pay dividends in the last late runner steelhead to make their short shots up into the rapids to spawn. Suckers should be mixed in now from every stream from the state line, well north of Milwaukee.

I have recently neglected to write about my fishing experience I had with two fine gentlemen who I have only recently had the privilege of knowing, and today I intend to share our story.. I took co-worker Scott and his son Ryan, who happens to be my age, up to Milwaukee for a day of river hopping and casting.

We started out at a spot that is secret to a friend or two that showed it to me; so to them I am bound not to divulge it's whereabouts, I will tell you its pools were packed with eager fish that dropped back to larger, deeper, darker pools as dawn turned into mid-morning. At first light I managed a lovely hen from an eddy behind a large boulder in a deep pool. I tightly swung leech is all it took to start the tango.

Ryan (left) and myself (right) with my first hen of the day. What a gorgeous fish.

Ryan (who I should mention casts like silk, Ryan is a trout fisherman and has never Steelhead fished before, or used an eight weight) proudly banked this mean looking male Steelhead from a small but deep pool near where I picked mine off. The fish fought hard and was bound and determined to put its nose into the opposite bank, as we were releasing this fish we thought it would be advantageous to the well being of the fish for me to assist in a quick net job. The fish posed kindly for a photo or two and took a dip into the rapids where it recovered quickly. Nice work Ryan.

Scott standing proud with Ryan and his first Steelhead, and its a large one to boot!

From that first spot we found ourself on the banks of the Menominee, where Scott tagged his first Steelhead ever, only to have it give the hook back to him after a few seconds of fight, many of us have danced that short dance before and I'm sure all of you out there can feel Scott's pain when he saw the mammoth trout spit the hook back in his direction after such a short fight.

Ryan and I, upstream of Scott found a pod of no less than two to three hundred suckers... It was like nothing I've ever seen so we edited our presentations for some fun in the sun with suckers, we rolled the smallest nymphs I had in my steelhead box along the bottom with split shot above to keep it below the downward facing mouths of the Suckers. we landed something like 13 of these 1-3 pound fish who I must say are a blast on the fly rod. They are hard fighting little monsters. All were of course released after a short fight.

From here we moved on to the big, hard flowing Milwaukee. I hooked what would be the biggest Steelhead of the day, a dime bright fish I would put somewhere near 12 pounds. It jumped no less than two feet out of the water in the huge run I was fighting her, when she jumped I saw my egg pattern zip out of her mouth and I nearly took it in the face, fortunately I ducked just in time and it flew by my head. Oh well. I promptly hooked and landed a disappointing sucker upstream and called my Milwaukee River experience finished.

From Milwaukee we took a ride down to Oak Creek where, to my surprise, we found very few people, and quite a few fish! I bagged a large, bright red with a nice green back, male fish who ran me all over 2 pools and the rapids in between before I unhooked him near the bank. He jumped 5 times, uncharacteristic of a spring steelhead, lots of fun. I later hooked a female who I lost after a minute or two. Finally at the end of the day while Ryan and I were working a pod of fish in a deeper, we hooked a female, brought her to the bank, she was loosing eggs as we unhooked her so we decided a photo was not as important as letting her get back to it.

All in all, 4 locations, all with at least one fish of one species or another landed by at least one angler. We fished for 12 hours straight and had some sun on our arms and faces to show for it. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I think I may have converted a couple of trout fisherman to Steelhead fishermen that day. Although I should use a different word than converted because they, as I, certainly enjoy a wily trout on the end of my line any day.

Great to fish with you guys, I can't wait to take you out for another day of Steelhead fishing in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee Area Steelhead Report : 3/28/2010

Flows are getting low around Milwaukee, water is clearing, and Steelhead are easily spotted in the ends of deeper pools and across most gravel beds. Nymphs are taking fish, and streamers swung through turbid water in the entrances to pools have been very productive.

I personally went 6/8 this morning in Milwaukee in the early morning hours. Fish were very active at sunrise, and activity slowed as the sun got higher in the sky.

When fish are within sight it is important to stay low and use stealth and precision when casting. Your first three casts are what you likely will hook that fish on, Steelhead are quick to wise up to your game and if your casts are loud, splashing hits to the water near them they will show you their tail as the exit the scene.

Two of the fish I landed today were females, the other four were male. In an uncharacteristic fashion I kept this small specimen that had already spawned as my family is coming to town in a couple of days and I thought some fresh fish would be welcome on the dinner table.

The other female was so fresh out of the lake that she was all silver and for a second it looked like I was fighting a spring coho in the current. She took me downstream almost to my backing, and than ripped upstream straight past me as I cranked my large arbor fly reel as fast as I could to keep up with her. She took me through rapids and across gravel as I finally landed her, I knew it would be cruel to keep her out of the water for any amount of time to get my camera and as I was fishing alone I let her powerful tail slip from my fingers as she burst back into the flow and disappeared.

Another perfect morning between gravel beds. I'm taking some co-workers to Milwaukee Wednesday to show what being buttoned up with a Steelhead feels like. I'm only asking for fish apiece, and we have all day to make that happen. Can't wait.

Get out there, this run won't last for much longer and the middle of September is a long way off my friends.

South-Eastern Wisconsin Steelhead Fishing Report : 03/21/2010

The Steelhead fishing has never been better in Southeastern Wisconsin if you are familiar with its water and know how to get away from crowds and fish a variety of water.

This past Sunday two friends and I made it out to a spot few make it to and managed to land 16 steelhead in under 3 hours. All were landed on flies, spawn sacs, and hair jigs. Fast water held steelhead that I plucked with a variety of flies swung swiftly through the minefield of fish. My friends pulled some wild fish out the slower moving tailouts with spawn and hair jigs.

I have never had such an action packed morning Steelhead fishing in my life. It is the kind of fishing everyone dreams of and when it comes you can barely stop smiling for a second. Fish ranged from 5-12 pounds and more males were caught than females, but only my a small margin. All but two of the females we caught had already spawned but were still very bright.

This is a good learning tool, above pictured are two Steelhead of almost exactly the same size, the top male and the bottom female. You will notice the male has a longer mouth, which extends much past the eye, while the females mouth is smaller. The male has the double red stripe, which develops deep into spawning. Males generally have larger heads, some develope a kype, or hooked jaw, you will notice the length of the gill plate is greater than that of the female.

Here is Mike with a larger male of the day.

We had multiple times during the morning in which we had two anglers hooked at the same time, we even landed a couple doubles and photo opportunities presented themselves! We took care to keep the Steelhead in the water at all times, even when unhooking and only lift them for a photo or two. All 16 fish were released.

Double steel next to my wonderful fly rod.

More double trouble.

All told we lost count of lost fish but I was broken off three times and had two more shake my hook. The action was non-stop and the fish were in the mood to pounce. At first light I made my first drift and watched a steelhead shoot up 3 feet to meet my fly and smash it, I missed that first hook set, but it got my adrenaline pumping so 5 minutes later I certainly hit my second.

We had three holes to share between the 3 of us and a 4th and 5th were downstream just about a quarter mile. It made for great rotation, hook up a few times, sit out for a minute and change places and start fishing again. A great way to share the water.

The male fish were certainly more aggressive and would charge streamers and jigs, females weren't shy, but would do little to meet you half way, casts needed to be landed with precision and depth perception while stripping the fly to their strike zone was crucial.

Get out if you can. There are fish to be taken from Sheboygan all the way to the state line and you'll be sorry if this season passes without getting your hands on some Lake Michigan Steel.

Oak Creek Fishing Report : Mid March 2010

Oak Creek has stabilized and Steelhead are staging nicely. The river has a variety of sized fish in the system right now from 15-20" juveniles to 30+" four and five year old fish. Chambers Creek and Ganaraska are the strains most prevalent in the river at this time.

Fish will lay in deep pocket water until the sun hits the gravel and the water temp warms slightly. Look for 8-10 a.m. for fish to start heating up and getting active on beds.

Egg-Nymph fishing seems to work but I picked 2/3 of mine on leech patterns today. I only landed one champion male Steelhead today. No fin clips, thick like a football, I didn't weigh the fish but 6 pounds would be my best guess.

More on the tributaries to come, it has been an exhausting day between sneaking out for a full throttle fishing trip this morning, followed by a full day of work ending just now.

My advice is to get out and dance with these wonderful fish while you can, and please consider releasing them as they are such beautiful fish.

Mike's First Steelhead

A fellow named Mike emailed me with some questions about Steelhead fishing a few months ago. I did my best to help him in any way, and so did the Chicago Trout Bum. I had a nice email in my inbox this morning.

Here is part of the email:

Thought I'd write to personally thank you yet again. Have been out a few times already this year, but nabbed my first spring run steelhead yesterday.

I now FULLY understand the obsession. It was wild. I only got to get out for about an hour after work, but as I came around a bend I saw at least 2-3 of them swirling around in a deeper pool. 2 casts is all it took.

I also hooked up with two others but lost one very quickly (2-3 seconds) and lost another one when it ran 40 yards downstream and underneath a log!

Two casts is all it took, now that my friends, is poetry.

Here is a photo of his first Steelhead ever, something to be extremely proud of. I remember my first Steelhead well, but we'll save that for another post.

Mike wanted to know the strain of it and he guessed chambers creek, by the shape of it and by the time of year I would wager his guess is right on. I applaud him for diligence in research into Steelhead Strains of Lake Michigan. I wrote up an article on that, you can find it here accompanied by some photographs of Steelhead that I have caught myself.

Saint Patrick's Day in Chicago : The Green Chicago River

For those of you not able to get a glimpse of the Chicago River this weekend I bring you some photographs from a unique vantage point. My work brought me up onto the 28th floor of a downtown high-rise on the river where we photographed for the day. I snapped some images of the river and the spot that the river meets the channel, making for an interesting break line where the green water met the discolored North Shore Channel-Chicago River water.

A view of the Merchandise Mart and the green River.

A view of the spot the stain hits fresh water.

Looking back at 333 East Wacker with the Chicago River in the foreground, shot from in front of the Holiday Inn.

In Steelhead news, fish have pushed into Wisconsin tributaries and persistent anglers are buttoning fish. Look for warm ups this week to really get things going.

Enjoy the photographs and happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Wisconsin Tributaries Stabilizing, Expect Steelhead Soon

With a week of warm weather dumping thousands of gallons of water into the tributaries of Lake Michigan the flows have skyrocketed and water temperatures have warmed up.

This influx of water should directly correlate to numbers of fish pushing their way up from lake Michigan deep upstream.

Flows seem to have topped out and hopefully will recede over the next 5 days or so, when the flows get back down under 300 cubic feet per second and conditions have some stability we will be able to get out there and dance with Steelhead in some of the best river fishing of the year.

Keep checking in for more forecasts and conditions, I'll do my best to keep you updated.