Fishing was absolutely insane during Salmon-a-rama. I got out for 5 trips in my kayak – all early AM trips. To be clear, I released most fish that weren’t going to have a chance at making the board, which allowed for some inflated numbers.
My first 3 trips were up in Port Washington, where I usually fish. I caught lots of fish – catching 34 salmonoids (1 brown). Lots of 8-14 lb kings and lots of 8-10 lb cohos. I fished Sunday (9 fish), Wednesday (11 fish) and Thursday (14 fish). Managed my first triple on Thursday, landing all 3 kings. Of those 34 fish, 20 were kings, 13 cohos and 1 brownie. Flasher flies and spoons were getting it done. However, I wasn’t satisfied with the size, so I moved south for my final two trips and fished just north of Milwaukee.
I set my 2 personal best for salmon in a day Friday and Saturday morning. Friday was perfect, cold water in tight and we found a pocket of warm water. Early on, 35-45 fow was hot, but as more boats started showing up, the bite slowed. Seeing gulls slamming bait on the beach, I slid into 15 fow and it was game on. Kings and coho were slamming spoons in 12-18 fow. A buddy was catching them even shallower. Friday, I ended up keeping 4 kings over 15 lbs (up to 17.89 lbs). Caught four more over 12 lbs. Insane fishing in a kayak.
Sunday, I beach launched and realized the water temp near the beach was 67 degrees. Obviously that wasn’t going to get it done. Managed 6 fish out in 50ish fow on spoons, including a 10.72 lb coho in the kayak that would end up being the biggest coho registered on Satuday and got 5th place overall for the tourney. Even though I had 6 fish, most were small, and there was an armada of boats out there. Once the sun came up, I hadn’t had a hit in over an hour and was seriously contemplating heading in. 5 days of fishing, 4 days in a row, where I put over 90 miles on my legs trying to catch salmon were catching up to me. I noticed some dirty water in by the filter. I slid in and noticed the water temps were 58 degrees. With the dirty water, I threw on a crank to go with 2 spoons in 20ish fow. Crank got smashed within 5 minutes. Ended up running 2 crank rods, going back and forth through the dirty water between 6:00am and 9:00am catching 11 fish, losing 5. Mostly kings, up to 17.87 lbs, but also got a coho and a nice brown. That 17.87 lber screamed out 450 ft of line like it was nothing. Those shallow kings are insane – they also jump like they’re steelhead.
If you’ve been away from Lake Michigan fishing in recent years, I urge you to get back out. Fishing is amazing right now. In my hobie kayak, I managed to catch 67 fish in 5 trips (46 kings, 19 coho and 2 browns). Good luck and tight lines. Pics are some fish caught in Milwaukee. The two were from Saturday (coho in the yak yet), and the 4 were from Friday. All pictured over 15 lbs.
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