Fishing Report and More Hot Lures

Fishing report for Lake Michigan Milwaukee, Wisconsin. East wind and the normal warming of the water are setting up Lake Michigan into a summer pattern. The key any day on the water is temperature and baitfish. Find those two ingredients and you’re on fish.
There are coho salmon at all depths on flashers, dodgers, rotators and flies. Most of the attractors are working. Watch your speed, as they are very speed sensitive. I have been running them between 1.8 and 2.4. The surface temperature is up to 62 degrees and the rainbows are turning on. They are coming on half cores of lead with Vulcan #2 Green Dolphin spoons.

We’re taking a mixed bag of 50% Coho, 25% Chinooks and 25% Rainbows. We are getting our best action in 80 to 200 feet of water off of the filtration plant. Look for the huge schools of baitfish for the best action. There are also Chinooks around between 10 and 14 pounds. Big spoons are working for the big boys on downriggers presented from 25 feet to the bottom. The best spoon for us at first light is the Vulcan #3 Fire Tiger or Monkey Puke glow. Later in the day they go to Michigan Stinger’s Stingrays in the glow puke color. Enjoy our great resource.

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In previous articles we covered the LTLR. Now let’s focus on three of my favorite lures. In this article I would like to help you with what lures to run for a typical July or August trip on Lake Michigan.

This is a very difficult question. Where I can’t possibly go into all species and all situations, perhaps I can define what I believe will catch fish 90 percent of the time. Please keep in mind that the best lure not properly presented will not catch fish. Milwaukee is known for excellent Chinook salmon fishing, so I will focus on salmon.

If I were to run just one lure day in and day out and consistently catch fish, it would be a flasher and fly. Flashers come in dozens of colors, sizes and manufactures. The one I would select would be an 8-inch Pro Troll Hot Chip 8. E-Chip technology is blowing away the fish. Color, speed and the length of the leader from the flasher to the fly are critical to all attractors. The leader should be 22-25 inches. I measure from the end of the hook to the back of the flasher. This measurement may change day to day.

The length of the leader will affect the speed of the fly. The bigger Chinooks may require a longer leader. Colors are all over the map. You can use combinations of white flashers with white flies deep and green with green flies above 60 feet. My number two choice would be two different spoons.

For first light fishing I like the Badger tackle Vulcan or Reaper glow spoons in the size number two or three. This spoon has put more fish in the cooler than any other spoon I run. The other spoon to try is a Michigan Stinger. All of their colors work for different situations.

Two of my favorites for kings are the SH77 Blue Dolphin and SH60 Kevorkian. Use these lures when fishing in over cast or sunny situations. Below fifty feet down the Kevorkian is best. Run spoons on your Slide Divers and flasher flies on your downriggers.

A simple and very effective way to produce fish on calm days with clear skies is to run just two spoons. The lead from the spoon to the downrigger should be one hundred fifty feet. This presentation will not allow tight turns.

When the morning bite stops, go long to continue catching fish.

Have a great fishing season. Let’s go fishing!!