[Lucky Dog Charters]

The fishing at North Point and I`m assuming Kenosha and Waukegan as well, has no particular pattern. What`s a good bait for one boat doesn`t work for the next. I`ll hail another Captain and ask what`s working for him, put it out and just give it a good washing. Same area, depth, direction speed and everything else. I haven`t had a "Stud" bait work for more than one outing at a time, and have had trips where over 50% of the hits come on one rod.
I`ve been fishing the same general area with mostly Lakers on one day, steelies the next, Kings the following. We`ve had doubles with a Laker and Steelie, King and Steelie, Laker and coho ect.
On one trip I noted the water temp changed 7 degrees within 3 hours of fishing with strong currents changing direction daily as well.
There are plenty of marks, and bait out to 200` yet most of the fish I`ve cleaned had empty bellies??
There has at times been a good early bite, with some boats taking 10 or so fish in the first hour and a half, the next day it`s only a few.
By what I`ve heard from clients the fishing is pretty much the same for whatever body of water and species they are targeting, changing daily.
Don`t chase the radio, and if you get a couple of rods to go, work the area. Change your bait`s until you find what works. I`ve had to change spoons from magnums, to stinger size back and forth as the sun came out as well as light to dark colors.
The fish we`ve caught all appear to be well fed, and healthy, and many Kings are in the mid teens.
The season is flying by as it`s already July so to avoid the woulda`, shoulda`, coulda`, make an effort to get out and enjoy some time on the Lake.

"Wet Nets"
Captain Jim

[hadley 1]

Thanks for the info. That makes helps me understand why i was having such erratic luck out there myself

[Greylion]

Strange year, I'm still wondering what is making so many active fish stay South off Ind./IL waters? Is it just water temp or is it an abundance of bait or currents? As that whole Southern bowl warms up will the fish come up the West or East coast or will they migrate up the middle of the lake? The fish in the Waukegan area, and I've marked a bunch just haven't been aggresively feeding, at least on what we've set out, why? Last season had it's slow June too, but this year the whole West coast of Lake Michigan is whining according to reports I've been reading. That's unusual to see so many ports with slow fishing in July.

Hopefully this is just the lull before the storm of good fishing? Either way we'll know soon.

[NO-WAKE]

There are Pros and Cons to the current salmon activity:

Pros -
* fewer net repairs
* more time to enjoy the sandwiches
* work on an even tan
* interesting radio banter about everything
from clean lures to hog hunting
* boat easy to clean without those pesky fish
* brag about the one fish caught with the easy to
spell venerable j-plug
* knives tend to stay sharp
* lack of blood stained attire makes for less
conversation after being stopped for speeding

Cons

* it's not fun

Lets hope tomorrow will find the fish have regained their appetite. Good Fishing.

NO-WAKE

Have Reel, Will Travel

[bear40doux]

I went out this morning on a charter out of winthrop harbor. We had a pretty good day for this slow of year. Down riggers didnt do anything for us today. Every fish caught was on a dipsey or outside lead core. The dipseys had flys and the lead core had spoons. Hope this helps. Every time we had a hot bite was when the waves calmed after a good thrashing.

[lars q]

-a big reason, maybe,...according to tom skilling, wgn weather guru, is that lm surface water temps are 10 to 15 degrees below last year at this point...

is the "dead zone" now, instead of late june???

it was truely hard to find the thermocline last week when i got out (45 feet down in 70-90 feet of water).

what do you think mr. jim?

jim is THE captain, watch his reports!

[SalmonMoocher]

Great analysis Jim. It's possible that we are still in a late spring pattern - that's how it feels any way. The surface temp of K was 62 degrees on Monday - all the way out to the hill. I just got a report from a friend of mine who fished late in day yesterday and said surface temp was 53 degrees in 60fow, which is pretty close to shore up there.