Downtown Crankin' – Multi Species Bite on the Milwaukee R.

After weeks of being too busy to fish, finally found some time to get out and chase some of our returning salmon and trout this weekend. I had a couple of hours to fish saturday after dinner, so launched the boat at South Shore and tore off across the harbor toward McKinley. Upon arrival, I was shocked at the amount of shore fisherman and boats! Ive been fishing the fall return for about a decade now, so the usual fall crowds are not unfamiliar to me, but this was unreal. Multiple arguments going on between boaters and shore, almost nowhere to fish, and very few active fish around from what I could see. I don’t know what has happened in the last year, but the floodgates of people wanting to catch their first trout\ salmon have opened.

Anyways, ended up spending a couple hours just putting around on the TM casting cranks and taking inventory of what was going on with the bite. Skein fishers were having some luck prior to sundown and once it got dark, cranks and spoons started to take over. Couple fish being caught here and there, but nothing to write home about for how many guys were out trying. I ended up going 1/2 with a male king making it into the net, and losing the other one to a shore fisherman. Both fish came on a #7 firetiger flickershad. Suprise, suprise…..

Left the marina feeling kinda down. Bite was not as good as I had hoped, there didn’t seem to be that many fish around, and I could not believe the etiquette that some of the newbies brought down to the lakefront. I had cleared all of Sunday to fish, and now I had absolutely no desire to go back to the main stage of this weekends show…

Met my good buddy Jimmy down at the launch at 7 on Sunday morning determined to have a better day. As we blasted across the harbor I decide not to go all the way to Mckinley but took a hard left halfway across and decided that we’d spend our day in the river, and if nothing else stay away from the crowds. As we made our way up the Milwaukee, we used our eyes and electronics to locate fishy looking areas that we planned to fish on our drift back down. We saw several trout and salmon surface and noticed good marks stacked up along current seams and deeper holes.

Pushed up as far as we could and started off by drifting skein in some deeper holes. Managed two kings that way, but as soon as the sun made its way above the tree line, that bite seemed to die. So, we started a controlled drift back downstream. First hour or so was pretty slow. I had just lost a good salmon on a crankbait when Jimmy hooked up on one. Almost a double. Got his fish in and decided to disect that area more fully. Long story short, we ended up catching all sorts of fish in a 200yd stretch of the river right downtown. We caught kings, browns, bass, rough fish, pike and lost a walleye, all casting crankbaits. The game fish were all on the smaller side, but it was really cool to see them hanging right in with the salmon and trout.

It definitely was not my best day of fall fishing ever, but one of my most interesting. We had a good stretch of river all to ourselves, in a city of a million people. Something really cool about not knowing what you might catch next all while enjoying a beautiful morning in downtown Milwaukee while 90% of the people around you are still asleep. So next time your “go-to” bite falls apart on you, go exploring. You never know what you might find…..

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In all my years of fishing the big lake, I don’t think I have even considered fishing up river. I have taken the boat up there with the wife and daughter but have never fished it!

so thats what it looks like during the day LOL. Great outing and you have that right with 90% are still sleeping. I’ve been staying clear of the harbor and hitting the river around midnight as time allows. Glow painted flatfish, glow Kroc’s have been pretty consistent. Busted a couple off on the flyrod that bummed me out.

That crappie’s eyes were bigger than his stomach! Great report, Nathan.

Nice report Nate!
Way to take advantage of what apparently no one else considered.

@Art I’ve been fishing the river from shore for years and often take the boat in there for dinner and drinks with the woman, but never fished it from my boat before. I was pleasantly suprised.

@James- I’ve caught lots of crappies on crankbaits before. Especially in the fall, but usually on really small ones. Gotta say I was pretty suprized to see that guy latched onto the DT-10!

@Randy- Id be real careful about doing that. Milwaukee river is not open to fishing 1/2 hour before and after sunset during this time of the year. ……

@ Nate From September 15 to December 31, fishing by any method
is prohibited from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise.
I should have mentioned that is was now closed for night fishing up the river.
For Milwaukee, it is a gray area. Some may define the tributary as the mouth opening of the harbor to the lake, and others as the end of the sea wall of the river into the harbor. Fish at your own risk

OK… I’m really glad I read this pst for two reasons now. First great read on a area so close… really enjoyed it. And, as close as I always try to be to knowing the regs and those things, never had a clue that there were areas not fishable at night. Never fished the river mouths before, but still, I had no idea.

Racine, is there a rule along the same lines? At the mouth, further up-river by the state street bridge? Won’t be down there, but you guys have me interested in the rules.

Chuck Melcher wrote:

OK… I’m really glad I read this pst for two reasons now. First great read on a area so close… really enjoyed it. And, as close as I always try to be to knowing the regs and those things, never had a clue that there were areas not fishable at night. Never fished the river mouths before, but still, I had no idea.

Racine, is there a rule along the same lines? At the mouth, further up-river by the state street bridge? Won’t be down there, but you guys have me interested in the rules.

Racine is exactly like Milwaukee – the tributary to the first dam or lake – in that case Horlick Dam. Now, where does the tributary actually begin? Sea wall by Pughs/coast Guard, or at the end of the piers as the harbor opens to the lake? I’ve asked a number of different wardens over the last 30+ years and got different answers. I fish up to the first obstruction (bridge,…) and never had a problem. Old warden in Racine use to come down and fish with us at night along the old publishing building (gone now).

The purpose of the law is to prevent people from fishing with pitch forks in the river at night as the fish are going up the rapids from hole to hole – Lord knows I reported a lot of people for doing it. Most wardens will be patrolling the upper trib areas where the fish are more prone to running into people that prefer to dis-obey the law. Fishing the “mouth” of the river is a gray area and I would recommend having your local warden clarify if you are concerned.

Thank you….. makes sense. Good info, and reading for sure.

@Randy- Completely agree about it being a “gray” area. The way the law is written doesn’t exactly jive with the way some of the harbors and rivers are setup up and down the coast.

As you said, the whole spirit of the law is to prevent snagging, but I stood next to a guy as he got busted for throwing a cast about an hour before sunrise down there one time. Back when I used to shore fish the river a lot more. We’d get to spots an hour or more before sunrise sometimes and just stand there until it was legal to fish.

So, me and a buddy are sitting down there drinking coffee and waiting for the sun to get up when another guy comes right between us and starts chucking 1oz Cleos into the hole we were planning to fish. Guy maybe gets 6 casts in and a C.O. comes out of nowhere and just walks him outta there. Talk about Karma.

Thinking back on it, we were pretty damn stupid just to be hanging out down there in the wee hours of the morning anyways. There’s a lot of homeless people that live down there, and only MOST are harmless. There are definitely some nuts ones….

Anyways, I pretty much knew you were aware of the regs down there, but just mentioned it so others reading this would know as well. It’s a neat fishery, but one that I think is probably best explored in the daylight.

Nate, it’s like that for the few outings I do on pikes, root, boygan, or pigion. Take clients down early, then sit and wait. If only I could relive the late 70 ‘ s / early 80’s. 4 or 5 us could fish the root for days and most likely not see anyone else.