Great Lakes Angler

70 degree weather and sunny skies over lower Lake Michigan this weekend threw a wrench in the gears of harbor fishermen in Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Racine.

The bright sun, high pressure, and mild weather took the chill out of the air and sent fresh trout packing for cooler, deeper, darker lies beyond the reach of shore fishermen. King salmon are still around in handfuls but targeting these fish is almost unsportsmanlike, considering they are literally floating in their own deathbed at this point. Look for cooler weather to bring these hard hitting hard fighting trout back to the reach of your spawn sack or spinner. Continue reading

A great comment left on the article in the tribune :

My Bulletproof Plan

I’m going to take my boat to the barrier, run the motor in neutral to get the carp to jump, and when they do i’m going to punch one right in its face as hard as i can. As it falls back toward the water in a daze, i’ll yell “and tell your friends to STAY OUT!!”. Problem solved. Continue reading

I had the pleasure of reading this article by David, founder of the Chicago Trout Bum. The article goes into man’s relationship with the Brown Trout in America which, as we know, was introduced to America in February of 1883. Continue reading

Enough fish photographs and lines of text that paint photographs of their own.

Enjoy This is Fly.

Trout Fishing, written by William Earl Hodgson in 1904

Some fun reading material for you, reasoning why trout act the way they do, not much has changed in 105 years.

The Milwaukee harbor is starting to swell with Brown Trout and Steelhead, which will park themselves in the harbor until spring. This is great news for any angler who may be sick of reeling in zombie King Salmon. Continue reading

This could be good for you, for me, and for every water loving Milwaukee going fisherman.

Straight from the Bay View Compass, this article details the acquisition of more than 80 properties to rebuild this concretized river. The plans call to divide the river in to three “phases” Continue reading

While reading through this issue of LIFE Magazine on Google books I ran across this article.

Text as follows:

“The fossil skeletons of a fish within a fish give 90 million-year-old record of a glutton”

“Ninety million years ago a 14-foot-long tyrant fish called Portheus swam through the great shallow sea that covered what today is Kansas. Like its distant modern relative the tarpon, Portheus was a fierce predator, armed with a bulldoglike lower jaw for lunging at prey from below. It came upon a 6-foot-long herring-type Ichthyodectes and proceeded to swallow it whole. This huge wriggling repast may have been too much for the ravenous Portheus. At any rate, it died with its belly full. Then it sank heavily into the sea ooze, where it became fossilized in the clay while the Cretaceous American Sea vanished about 70 million years ago. Uncovered under the dry land of a cattle ranch near Quinter, Kan., this skeleton-within-a-skeleton, vivid evidence of the reward of gluttony, is believed to be the most ancient fish-eat-fish record ever found intact.” Continue reading

It’s that time of year again, white knuckles, rosy cheeks, numbing feet in waders, frozen guides on the fishing rod… It can only mean one thing. It’s steelhead time.

Things are looking good.

The image above shows exactly what you want to see if you are a steelheader who is confined to the weekends to chase these silver trout. Continue reading

From the Milwaukee Riverkeeper:

“Milwaukee Riverkeeper fought hard over the last couple of years to have the Kinnickinnic River recognized as one of the nation’s “Most Endangered Rivers” and to advocate for an extensive cleanup effort. The first leg of the cleanup was the recent dredging effort between Beecher and 1st St. led by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources” Continue reading

It was a slow night in Kenosha on Wednesday as I met with Mike and Dawn to float spawn sacs under lighted floats. I had a take down within 15 minutes of being there but upon setting the hook found nothing on the business end. Continue reading

I had the wish to photograph the Bayport Power Plant in Minnesota from across the river in the darkness on black Friday. I set out in search of a proper spot along the bluff across the river to capture this steam expelling stack that I used as a compass throughout my childhood, as it could often be located through the trees of even the denser woods of my home town. Continue reading

A shark with a massive gash on the left side of it’s body successfully gave birth this week from that gash. It happened in New Zeland.

Watch the video here from CNN.

This time it’s from the Wisconsin State Journal, in Madison. Read the full article here.

I would agree in full that too much is at stake here for shrugging. Continue reading

From Freep.com, this article details the Asian Carp invasion even further. Delving into what it might do to our Great Lakes fishery and ecosystem, terms like “a potential desaster for many of our sport fisheries”.

The carp have become the dominant species in the water systems they have intruded upon and show no signs of slowing down at the great lakes. Continue reading

A friend, Keith, landed this beauty of a brown this weekend on his fly rod. Way to go Keith.

We could use some more rain soon to keep things moving, the fish left in the river are starting to get docile and lack activity. A new push of fresh fish would be great news.

My morning began in the dark, standing in the cool waters of oak creek under a thick blanket of still fog. The air temperature was 34 degrees and it was 4:30 a.m.

I had driven up from Chicago, rolling out of the covers at 3:00 a.m. The drive up to my favorite tributary was short and sweet, with only a few other tail lights racing through the November night with me. Continue reading

Sneaking away with a friend after work to try to entice a Brown Trout or two. Reports upon my return.

I’ll be at an undisclosed Wisconsin harbor, see you there.

Straight from the Chicago Tribune :

“Alarmed that Asian carp are swimming closer to Lake Michigan, state officials plan next month to poison a stretch of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.”

“The Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced Friday that it will dump Rotenone, a potent fish-killing chemical, into the canal between Romeoville and the Lockport Dam in early December.” Continue reading

Photographs of native and non-native trout in their rivers. This fellow hikes to remote locations, and gets in the faces of these fish with his lenses. Amazing stuff. This is everything I want to do. So much perfection. Continue reading

If anyone really wants to make the Great Lakes Angler happy this chirstmas this Abel Money Clip would sure slip nicely over the 3 dollar bills I have left after a year of buying rods, reels, line, floats, dozens of crank baits and casting spoons, dipsey divers, more line, trolling spoons (which I don’t even use…), etc. Continue reading

For the same reasons that corn from horizon to horizon here in America is bad for the land and for us, this video serves as a glance into what harm can come of farming Salmon. This comes shortly after the escape of tens of thousands of Salmon from a farm in British Columbia. Continue reading

This is grave news to be sure. We might remember this year as the last year we fished the great lake before the plight of the Asain Carp arrived…

Straight from an article today in the Star Tribune:

“New research shows the super-sized fish likely have made it past the $9 million electric fish barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a source familiar with the situation told the Journal Sentinel late Thursday.” Continue reading

I took a slight detour today on the way home from Hudson, Wisconsin. The Black River looked beautiful from the I-94 bridge and before I knew it my turn signal was on and my car was leaving the fleet of angry post-thanksgiving drivers. Continue reading

White Bear Lake will host what was an old tradition, the Winter Carnival Ice Fishing Tournament, and event that used to draw 10,000 people to the lake for a day of frozen knuckles, flopping fish, and prizes. They shut the tournament down in 1982, but now, for the first time in nearly 30 years, it’s going to be back for the 2010 carnival this winter. Continue reading

Yesterday my friend David, who runs the Chicago Trout Bum, hit a personal best Lake Run Brown Trout on the Milwaukee river. Read his report here.

He also got 2 Steelhead, not a bad day out. He’s back up there today, I hope he gets a repeat!

Some good news from freep.com, plans to shut down over 5 miles of the waterway near the Asian carp barrier are underway.

The following is borrowed from this article.

Closing a 5 1/2 -mile stretch of waterway and poisoning it is not something to take lightly. But it’s more than justified by efforts to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Continue reading

One of the only remaining options to save the great lakes from an onslaught of Asian Carp may be to temporarily close the locks that link the Chicago River to the Chicago Harbor at Navy Pier.

An article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel goes into more detail. Continue reading

I say the fishing should be good this weekend, but the Chicago Trout Bum tells you why:

“Swinging streamers continues to be a productive method though fish in deeper pools behind large sections of shallow spawning gravel are keying in on eggs. Pink, chartreuse and orange egg patterns have all been producing but be sure you are fishing them at a proper depth.” Continue reading

Keeping tabs on the water and the city I live in. Shot this tonight on the walk to the train from work.

Continue reading

Milwaukee River Open House

Again, from the Milwaukee Riverkeeper:

Enjoy the video!

Desert Bass from ra beattie on Vimeo.

A new issue of Catch Magazine has hit the… shelves?

Enjoy.

The second issue of the e-zine Fish Can’t Read, Fly Fisherman Can was released yesterday. Hot off the virtual presses, have a look at the website and enjoy.

I could do without the drop shadow… but hey, it’s not my magazine.

Near and dear to the Great Lakes Angler, due to their proximity to my childhood home in Hudson, Wisconsin, stand the Willow Falls. Below the falls here on the Willow River is where I caught my first Wisconsin Brook Trout, Rainbow Trout, and Brown Trout. I stumbled upon these photographs of the Willow Falls Dam before it was removed in 1992 as well as this photograph of the falls before the dam went in. Continue reading

A report from Mike P. over at Fishing Headquarters brings good news for those planning to hit the harbors this weekend!

Remember to be versatile, if fish are around and moving, don’t sit there all night with spawn under a bobber, try casting, try bouncing spawn along the bottom, try jigs. Continue reading