Milwaukee, 7-20-14

Sorry I couldn’t get this posted earlier but a combination of total exhaustion and family affairs combined took priority
in this case.
Took the new Skeeter for its maiden voyage on Lake Michigan last weekend. Along for the adventure on this fine Sunday
morning were long time friend Wayne Henn, long time fishing friend Jeremy Williams and new friend and salmon fishing
enthusiast, Nate Kaminski.
Having 4 people in the boat at first seemed like 1 to many but once we were out on the water, it turned into a big advantage
as both Jeremy and Nate are very good at setting and rigging lines. That made my job pretty easy even though at times, we
ran 12 lines. I can’t even begin to explain how much easier that is to do with an experienced crew.
We launched the boat at 4:00am and headed straight out the north gap to 60′ of water, set lines and trolled south. Bad move apparently. A couple of drive by’s but not fish during the magic hour of early morning day light.
We then started trolling east to deeper water which didn’t really pay off either. I believe we got as deep as 120′ before
turning back towards shore. Trolling east was what finally turned the tide in our favor.
Below is a break down of what we caught fish on over the next couple of hours:
105′ dp, trolling west, 3 color lead core w/crabface spoon – big rainbow
95′ dp, trolling wast, 250′ copper w/spin doctor flasher & artic blast fly – big coho
85′ dp, trolling west, SWR on rigger donw 25′, rainbow
80′ dp, trolling west/north, 4 color lead core, orange slice spoon, rainbow
75′ dp, trolling west/north, 4 color lead core, orange slice spoon, rainbow

Those are the ones we caught. We also missed at least 2 others and had a couple of drive by’s.

The pattern you should be seeing here is similar to most reports that I’ve seen on other sites as well as here on IDO.
Most fish are coming from the top 40′ of water even when fishing out in 80-100′ of water.

I do think we may have done better on the riggers and wire line dipsy’s had my depth raider probe speed been working.
Without knowing the speed at the ball though, we made the decision to run primarily spoons. Speed is critical when
running Flasher/fly combo’s and without knowing what our speed at the ball was, we would have been doing a lot of guessing.

All in all, it was a fun trip and despite some anticipated glitches, things went pretty well and I’m looking forward to doing
it again this coming weekend at the IDO GTG.

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That should say “trolling west is what finally got things going” above. For some reason, the “edit function” would not work properly. (would not make the change)

Here are a couple more pics from Sunday morning.

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Wayne’s a tired but happy camper!

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another rainbow.

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another shot of Nate’s big coho.

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Nice ‘ho. Haven’t seen many in that size class for a while.

Since I’ve gotten back from florida, I’ve hit the shallows a couple times. Did an all-nighter in Milwaukee, early morning (2am to 5:30am) in Racine, and an evening 7pm to 11:30pm south of Bender.
Marked a few fish from midnight to about 4am then they vanished. Only a few browns for the effort and lost one screamer. This south blow we have going today will definitely change things up a bit. 18mph with gusts to 25mph. Sure would be nice to see a distinct temp break set up.

Friends of mine running out of Racine have been in the 260-320fow the last few days on big bait balls. They’re getting plenty of fish, but all running small. That is a super gas guzzling haul!

Some nice fish there Joel. What brand of spoon is the orange slice?

That sure is a nice coho! Nice report!

Nice fish guys! The weekend can’t come fast enough.

Dave

John,

Moonshine spoon

Not sure where I bought it but this is the only place I could find it on-line.
Look half way down the page.

Thanks again for taking me out Joel! Had a really good time. Ive gotta admit, when I got to the dock and saw there were going to be four of us in an 18footer, I was a little skeptical, but that Skeeters not built like any other boat that size Ive ever been in. Granted it was dead calm, four guys can run all over that thing and never tilts the tiniest bit! Super impressive ride for sure.

I know we didn’t get into any big kings, but those bows were a heck of a lot of fun and I’d give anything to find cohos the size of that one more consistently. Pound for pound one of the best fish around. Anyways, looking forward to doing it again in a few days!

Joel Ballweg wrote:

John,

Moonshine spoon

Not sure where I bought it but this is the only place I could find it on-line.
Look half way down the page.

I thought it looked like a moonshine but didn’t see it when I looked as I didn’t look at the half moon ones. You can save a $1.20 if you get it from LMA.

Edit: Can’t get the link to post correctly so going old school and just posting the URL.
http://lakemichiganangler.com/store/Moonshine_Half_Moon_Trolling_Spoons.htm

eyecatchum wrote:

Ive gotta admit, when I got to the dock and saw there were going to be four of us in an 18footer, I was a little skeptical, but that Skeeters not built like any other boat that size Ive ever been in.

Nate – That’s kind of funny!
Just so you know, the reason my MX-2025 doesn’t feel like an 18 footer is because it’s actually 20′ long.
It was a good time though and next time I’ve got an open seat, you’ll always be welcome to fill it. Like I said above, it’s always nice to have another experience Lake Michigan angler in the boat to help run rods.

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Joel Ballweg wrote:

85′ dp, trolling west, SWR on rigger donw 25′, rainbow

@Boog

Hey Joel – In an attempt to get a handle on the local vernacular, what does “dp” and “SWR” mean in your report? Thanks much!

James Holst wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>joel-ballweg wrote:</div>
85′ dp, trolling west, SWR on rigger donw 25′, rainbow

@Boog

Hey Joel – In an attempt to get a handle on the local vernacular, what does “dp” and “SWR” mean in your report? Thanks much!

dp = depth
swr = secret weapon rig – this term was created a few years back to describe a lead core setup that many people use on one of their down riggers. Its basically a 2-color lead core rod run behind the rigger ball.
This puts the lure about 10′ below the ball and far enough back to be out of the turbulence zone of the rigger ball.
Two colors is the most common for a swr rod but some people will run 1 or 1-1/2 or 2-1/2 colors. The most important thing is to remember how far below the rigger ball its running. Otherwise, you may end up snagging more than fish!

Joel Ballweg wrote:

Just so you know, the reason my MX-2025 doesn’t feel like an 18 footer is because it’s actually 20′ long.

Great post. Thanks! While reading your post, I was wondering if my 17ft. Alumacraft Trophy would be able to take it on the big lake. After being out on rollers on Lake Pepin last weekend, I am kind of thinking “no”.

I have always wanted to take my dad out on Lake Superior or Lake Michigan and do some salmon/trout fishing. Would it be worth trying in a boat that small? Is there a particular level of wind that would be safe?

Thanks again.

Thanks Joel. I get a “duh” for the dp one.

Nate – That’s kind of funny!
Just so you know, the reason my MX-2025 doesn’t feel like an 18 footer is because it’s actually 20′ long.
It was a good time though and next time I’ve got an open seat, you’ll always be welcome to fill it. Like I said above, it’s always nice to have another experience Lake Michigan angler in the boat to help run rods.

Yup, I get a “duh” for that one too. I was thinking 20 in my head but wrote 18 for some reason. I guess my point was that your boat is one of the most stable ive ever been in. Ive been in 21 footers and bigger even that rock n roll like crazy with more than a couple of guys in it. That skeeter just doesn’t budge. Really makes a difference with all that you have going on when salmon fishing.

flanders51 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>joel-ballweg wrote:</div>
Just so you know, the reason my MX-2025 doesn’t feel like an 18 footer is because it’s actually 20′ long.

Great post. Thanks! While reading your post, I was wondering if my 17ft. Alumacraft Trophy would be able to take it on the big lake. After being out on rollers on Lake Pepin last weekend, I am kind of thinking “no”.

I have always wanted to take my dad out on Lake Superior or Lake Michigan and do some salmon/trout fishing. Would it be worth trying in a boat that small? Is there a particular level of wind that would be safe?

Thanks again.

I started trolling lake MI in a 14′ Sylvan & 25hp. Its not the size of the boat, its the amount of respect and knowing your abilities. Best Lake MI boat I ever had was the 18′ lund Alaskan. Super low profile and didn’t get blown around. That low profile also kept it from rocking back and forth so much. After about 4′ SE waves or over 12′ NE rollers is where I called it quits. Rain gear was standard as it was a wet riding boat.

I was out last Saturday, lines set by 5:30 due to alarm clock issues. Soaked baits for hours, 2pm took a bow and lake trout on 5 color with an orange spoon in 110fow. Deep program was dead. Moved into 50fow in front of the harbor 2 lake trout and a coho in 30 min on 2 color. Called it a day at 6pm. Fished 50-170, I strongly agree with reports that fish are higher in the column coming on spoons.