Lake Michigan Charter Fishing Reports

Pearl Harbor Day. Reminded me to make a post. The 2025 season was solid. Coho salmon made up made up 45% of the catch this year. It was a very good season for Coho fishing. It started on April 9th out of Milwaukee and kept going strong through mid June. Chinook salmon came in second at 35%. The last 3 weeks of the season were outstanding Chinook fishing. The action was from Milwaukee into Illinois. This is a good sign for the 2026 Chinook salmon season. But 2025 was not so good for trout. We did have a good season for Brown trout though. The first three weeks of the season, several weeks in August and the last few weeks before we pulled the boat were great Brown trout action. We caught a lot of smaller Brown trout, which should lead to some good early spring action. Also, 4 of our 5 biggest fish this year were Brown trout. The Rainbow trout were down in numbers but this could be because we did not have to fish far off shore this year. The Lake trout numbers were way down. We boated less than 60 Lake trout in 2025. The last two seasons our Lake trout totals are way down. this could be because we don't target them as much and the stocking totals are down in the southern part of Lake Michigan. 

Our biggest fish caught per species were Chinook salmon at 27 pounds. This was also our biggest fish of 2025. We caught this fish in mid August in 50 feet of water. The mature Chinook salmon were down in size and averaged 15 pounds. Brown trout cam in at 23.5 pounds and this was the second biggest fish we boated. We also boated a 23, 22 and 21.5 pound Brown's. These came in at 3rd through 5th place for biggest of the year. Lake trout was 21 pounds. We had several Lake trout in the 15 to 19 pound range as well. Rainbow trout was 14.5 pounds. Coho salmon was 7.4 pounds. We caught a lot of Coho salmon and they were good size to start the spring but the average was about 5.5 pounds during the summer. The size of fish was down from the last several years but the fish were healthy and the catch rate stayed solid the entire year. This to me is a good trade off. 

I will break down the 2025 season by species. Go over what happened and what to expect over the next couple of months. We hope to have our first fishing report on March 24th in 2026. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your 2026 fishing trip. We are booking trips now. Below are some pictures of the biggest fish of the season. The big Chinook, Rainbow and several big Brown trout. The lasty picture shows a guy holding a 22 and 23 pound Brown trout. His lucky day. 

Well our season finished on November 7th when we puller the boat. The last couple weeks of October and the first week of November were nothing short of incredible. The best Chinook salmon fishing of 2025 and this bodes well for 2026. We caught two and three year old Chinook salmon but most were two year old. This year class for the most part eluded us this season and we were concerned about next year. We are not now. This was the best bite we have seen in years and we heard the same from down south. We also had a good bite on Brown trout near the end and we saw a lot of younger Brown trout and this also makes next spring look solid. We could not get out much due to strong winds and big waves on most of the days but when we did it was crazy good. The bite started in 120 to 150 feet of water but ant the end we were in 70 to 80 feet straight out of the North gap of the Milwaukee harbor. We worked a stretch from the Filtration plant to the Main Gap. There was a lot of bait and the bites cam from 30 to 60 feet down. There were a couple of trips that you only need to run three rods. When we pulled the surface temperature was 51 degrees and this was right to the bottom at 60 feet down. As of today the water was still 47 degrees and I bet they are still biting. 

We rand lead cores on the boards from a four color to ten color. All Singer spoons and the Carmel Dolphin, Gold Hud and Blue Dolphin. But the best set up was a white flasher with a Howie Little Boy Blue Fly. The last couple trips we would not need to run anything else. We had one on our deep downrigger set at 60 feet and one on each of the wire dipsy rods set at 100 and 120 on the line counter. We would put it in the water and we could of just held the rod and it would get bit. We ran a coupe of one color lead cores on the side down riggers as well. We caught 25 fish in and hour the last trip. 

We are booking for 2026 and our late March trips are almost all booked up. We run trips the last week of March and first two weeks of April for Brown trout. This has become a hot time to book. But we are booking for the entire year and weekends go quick. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on what looks to be a good 2026 season for catching salmon and trout. Below are some pictures of our last several weeks in 2025. The first two pictures are of the last trip we did with friends in November. Collin and I caught the last ten fish in ten minutes. The last picture is a witch on a paddle board we saw coming in on Halloween from a trip. 

We are nine days into October and when we can get out the fishing has been good. Strong winds have caused us to cancel some trips. The best action for us has been 140 to 250 feet of water from 43.02 to 43.08 or just north of the North Gap. The water has been warm and the action has been 60 to 150 feet down. We have been catching a lot of nice 2 and 3 year old Chinook salmon, Rainbow trout and a few Lake trout. Eventually the water will cool off and we will start fishing the shoreline but for now we are having to fish deeper water. It seems like most Octobers of late more and more salmon are showing up, along with more bait. 

We are running 6 to 9 lines and that is all that is needed. We run our two deep downriggers set from 80 to 180 feet down, depending on the bite. We are using 20 pound downrigger balls. We use a 11 inch white and pearl flasher and an 8 inch white and little boy blue tape flasher. Both have Howie Little Boy Blue flies on them. The wire dipsies have the same set ups with the big dipsies. We set these from 120 to 250 feet on the line counters. The bite is deep. We run only one side downrigger with a Stinger Gold Hud down 60 to 70 feet. The boards are cooper from 300 to 450 feet of copper. We run the Wonder Bread Moonshine or Stinger Gold Hud on these. This has been a tried and true spread for October Chinooks when the water is warm and the fish are deep.

We will be in the water until November 7th and hoping to have some good days of wave conditions to take advantage of the good bite. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get in on the October and November salmon and trout bite. We are also booking for 2026, so make sure to call and get the date you want. Below are some picture of recent trips. 

We are coming to a close on fishing for the mature spawning Chinook salmon on the first day of fall. But we are still catching a lot of two and three year old Chinook salmon. We ran a couple of trips last weekend in the Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic rivers. Unfortunately the water had warmed up but there were a lot of salmon in the rivers. We have been fishing 50 to 65 feet of water from the water treatment plant to Fox Point for the last week. The water is in the high sixties on the surface but near the bottom in 60 feet the water temperature has been around 49 degrees. We have been catching some nice Brown trout, Chinook salmon and a few Lake trout and Coho salmon. It looks like we will hopefully be able to fish this area of south of Milwaukee by the Green can and a few miles south of that for the rest of the season. We are still catching a mature Chinook every other trip and some of the Brow trout have been in the 15 to 20 pound range. 

Our spread has been 4 to 10 color lead cores on the boards. Stinger Gold Huds, NBK Green Gold or Silver and Carmel Dolphin spoons have been best. We are running wire dipsy's set at 70 to 90 feet on the line counter. The hot set up has been a pearl/white Luhr Jensen flasher with a Little Boy Blue Howie fly. We are running one color lead cores on our side downriggers. These are set between 30 and 40 feet down and we are running the same spoons on these as on the boards. We only run one deep downrigger near the bottom with a flasher but this has not been productive, so we have not run it much. The board rods have been our best. 

We will be fishing into the first week in November and we have openings. This should be a good time to catch a mixed or Chinook salmon, Brown trout and Lake trout. We have had a lot of success during this time of year. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to book a fall Milwaukee charter fishing trip. Also we are taking reservations for 2026. Weekends go fast. Below are some pictures of recent trips. I have a picture of the full moon setting over the Hoan Bridge.  I also have a picture of our first Brook trout we have ever caught on a charter. 

We are in t he beginning of September and Chinook salmon are starting to stage for spawning. This is the last couple of weeks we will have for the mature Chinooks before they head up Milwaukee river to spawn. The action has still been good for mature Chinooks and we have been fishing 100 to 130 feet of water for the last ten days. The break is 70 to 85 feet down to where the water temperature starts to hit 55 degrees. The best action is below 70 feet of water. There has been good action from Fox Point to past the Green Can. We are catching mostly Chinook salmon but there has been a good number of Brown trout caught as well. We are still boating some Coho salmon and Rainbow trout as well. A good size Chinook salmon is 15 pounds this year. Smaller than the last several seasons. But they are putting up a great fight. 

We are running only 8 lines because we are focusing on fish deeper in the water column. Our board rods are all coppers from 300 to 450 feet. We are using Moonshine spoons and the best are the Wonder Bread and the Green Flunder Pounder. We are using wire dipsy divers. We have used both the standard and magnum size. The standard is set at 25 degrees and we put out 125 to 175 on the line counter. For the magnum we set it at 25 degrees and out 150 to 200 feet. Our best set up is a whit Hot Spot with glow tape on one side and lead tape on the other side. We are using a Howie Bull Frog fly in these. We run just the back two downriggers. The deepest is from 100 to 130 feet down. We run an 11" white flasher with a Super Frog Howie fly on this. The flasher is 4 feet from the 20 pound downrigger ball and the fly lead is 42". The other downrigger is 75 to 100 feet down. We are using a one color lead core, with a spoon. Either a silver NBK Green Stinger or a Moonshine Wonder Bread. 

We should still be catching mature Chinooks over the next two weeks but after that it will be tow and three year old Chinooks. This fall looks to have some good Brown trout, Lake trout and Chinook salmon action. We will be running trips into the first week of November. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your fall Milwaukee charter fishing trip. Below our some pictures of recent trips.

We are through the first two weeks of August and like most years it is a time for catching some big fish before they spawn. Since the Brew City tournament the water has cooled back down. The surface is still at 7p degrees but down 20 feet it is 45 degrees. We have been fishing from 70 to 25 feet of water. The big rain storm that dumped more than 10 inches of rain in Milwaukee has caused a lot of sticks and logs to be floating around. The action has been good from Fox Point to the Oak Creek Power Plant. There are less sticks and logs south of Milwaukee right now. For several days we could only run four lines because the action was so fast. We boated are four biggest fish of 2025 over the last seven days. Two Brown trout at 22 and 23 pounds. Both Brown trout were caught on the same trip and by the same person. Today we caught our biggest fish of the year, a Chinook salmon weighing 27 pounds. I would say there has been less than 20 fish caught this big or bigger on Lake Michigan this year. 

When we were able to run only four rods we can two wire dipsy rods. Each set at 60 to 100 feet on the line counter. These were the standard size dipsies. We ran two downriggers set at 45 and 55 feet down. At this time we fished 60 to 70 feet. All four set ups had flashers, either chrome or white. We had either a Howie Bull Frog or Willy fly on these set ups. Fish were hitting almost as soon as the rod was set in the holder. This lasted about 4 days. Then the bite got tough and we slid into 25 to 35 feet of water. There we ran two board rods a side with lead core from three to six colors. On these we had Stinger Green Dolphin, Gold Hud, Carmel Dolphin spoons. The stinger size worked best. We switched to mono dipsies set at 40 feet on the line counter. Same spoons and this is what caught the 27 pound Chinook salmon. This came on a modified Carmel Dolphin. We ran two one color lead cores on the downriggers with the same spoons. If we go back to 40 to 60 feet we will switch to flasher flies and wire dipsies. We will also put flashers on the two back downriggers. But we are been running as few as four rods or as many as 8 rods. We usually run a twelve rod spread this time of year. Real good Brown trout action in 20 to 30 feet or water right now. 

The next few weeks will be about the big fish. We have opening so call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip and catch your big fish. Below are pictures from the last several trips. The first few are the big Chinook and Brown trout. 

It is hard to believe we are at the beginning of August. It seems like a couple of weeks ago we put the boat in. We fished the Great Lakes Milwaukee Brew City Tournament last Saturday and took 6th place out of 95 boats. We ended up with 125 pounds for 10 fish. The winning boat Net Result had 141 pounds. We boated a double grand slam, catching all 5 species at least two times and this helped us take 3rd place in the three fish contest. We took second place in the side bet and won a prize for a big fish. All in all it was a solid performance. We have 2 first place, 3 second place, 3 third place, 1 forth place and 1 fifth place performances over the years and this was the 25th Brew City. We started off the Water Treatment Plant in 90 feet of water. This was too shallow. The best action all day was 120 to 140 feet of water. After catching a few fish we moved at 8:00AM to just south of the South Gap in 130 feet. It was here for a two mile stretch south we caught our fish. The action was from 60 feet to the bottom. We had some great fishing up through last week Wednesday in 60 feet of water from the North Gap to Capital Drive. But Wednesday night a strong northeast wind blew for two days and warmed the water up. We did not fish again until the tournament, so we had to figure things out on the fly.

The Brew City spread is the same one we are using currently. We used copper boards from 300, 350, 40 and 450 feet. All spoons on these. The Stinger in the Stingray size we used the Yellow Tux non UV. This was great on the 400 and 450 coppers. We used Moonshine Pearl or Happy Meal on the 300 and 350 coppers. We also had this on a one color lead core. This set up was on a side downrigger set at 65 feet. The wire dipsy divers were magnum size and set at  15 degrees. We had them at 200 to 240 on the line counter. We had Derks Chrome wiggles, with a Willy fly on these. We had these divers set higher but they didn't get bit until we dropped them. The deep downrigger was set a few feet off the bottom. We had an 11" white Pearl Coyote and a Howie Bull Frog fly on this. A very productive rod. The other back downrigger had a 8" White Coyote and Bull Frog Howie down 100 feet. We tried multiple set ups on this rod but not much success. The best rods where copper and the deep downrigger. We kept to many small fish early because of the slow start. When we moved south it was a lot better action but the early decisions took us out of first place. We were very happy with the comeback. 

August and early September are a great time of year to catch a big Chinook salmon. These fish have been putting up a great fight. We have also been catching the other four species as well. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip Milwaukee charter fishing on the Silver King. Below are pictures from the last several days. The first six are Brew City pictures, including the hot spoons. We also have a young man celebrating his 15th birthday who landed a 21.5 pound Brown trout, which is the biggest fish we boated so far this season. Then there are a couple of pictures of some very young anglers, who boated their first salmon. After that we have a group in their 80's and the oldest holding a big Chinook. He is 90 years young! Followed by more pictures. Call and get out here!!

July is the month of the Chinook "King" salmon and our catch over the last ten days has been that. We have also caught a good number of Rainbow "Steelhead" trout. Ever year the mature or four year old Chinook salmon average size varies due to the amount of bait in the system. This year the average is 15 pounds and a real good size is 20 plus pounds. A very nice fish but a little smaller on average then the last couple of years. But there are more Chinooks in the system. Salmon-A-Rama is in full swing and we have a ticket for our boat that makes all of our clients entered in the nine day contest and a chance to win cash prizes, including the grand prize of $50,000. We have won cash prizes for over 20 customers over the years by catching big fish. We are still in search of a fish to land on the board. We have been luck this year with cold water. The break has been no deeper than 65 feet this year and for most of the season it has been 50 degree water down 40 feet or less. Right now the surface temperature is around 65 degrees but we have 45 degree water down 65 feet. We have been Milwaukee charter fishing anywhere from the green can or Cudahy to Fox Point. We have been working 40 to 100 feet of water. The catch has been 70 percent Chinook salmon but we have boated Coho salmon, Lake trout, Rainbow trout a Brown trout as well. 

Our spread has been 4 to 10 color lead cores or 150 to 250 feet or copper for our board rods. We are using all spoons on these set ups and a multitude of Moonshine or Stinger spoons. A couple that stand out our the Carmel Dolphin Stinger and the Green Flounder Pounder Moonshine. We are using wire dipsy diver rods. We have Derks flashers and flies on these set ups. The Green or Chrome Snails Wiggle have been best, with a Willy fly. We are using a standard dipsy set at 30 degrees and from 80 to 150 on the line counter. Our side down riggers use one color lead cores and spoons. The same spoons that are on the board rods. These are set 20 to 40 feet down on the rigger. The back two downrigger rods are set with flasher fly's and we are using the same set ups as the wire dipsy divers. 

We are in the middle of Chinook season and we have openings in July and August to get out and catch a King salmon. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to do some Lake Michigan charter fishing. Below are some pictures of recent catches. One customer sent us a picture of salmon on the grill that they had just caught on our boat 2 hours earlier. 

We are now starting July. Traditionally the strongest month of the year for Chinook salmon. We are now catching Chinook salmon on each trip. We are also still catching Coho salmon, with Rainbow trout, Lake trout and even a few Brown trout. This year looks like a a good one for Rainbow "Steelhead" trout. We have been everywhere from 20 feet to 220 feet of water. We have been from Fox Point to the Green Can out of Milwaukee. But with colder water our best bite has bee 40 to 60 feet from 43.04-43.09 or the Filtration Plant to Fox Point. Our early morning bite has been very good on Chinook "King" salmon. After that we have been catching a mix of Brown trout and Coho salmon. We are now seeing some Chinook salmon in the 20 plus pound class. We have also had some good action by the 43.00 to 43.57 or Green can to the Cudahy Towers in the 40 to 60 foot depth. More Coho salmon and Rainbow trout in this area. The water is 69 degrees on the surface but 44 degrees at the bottom. A lot of alewives around, so things are currently set up good. 

Our spread still has some orange Stubby Dodgers on mono and braid dipsy divers. We set these at 40 and 25 feet on the line counter. Still good for Coho salmon. The board rods are all lead core. We are using 2 to 8 color lead core set ups. On these board rods we are using stinger size Stinger spoons. The Gold Hud, Carmel Dolphin, Blue Dolphin and Green Dolphin have all been good. The side downriggers have one color lead cores stet 20 to 35 feet down and we are using the same spoons as on the board rods. The back downriggers have Derks flashers, Green Squiggles or Pull Tab with Green Crink or Willy flies. One is set right near the bottom and the other 10 feet up. This spread has been solid for the 40 to 80 foot range. When we are in the 40 foot range we pull the back two downriggers. 

Summer is here and so are come bigger fish. This summer looks to have a good mix of trout and salmon. Over the next two months is your best tome of the season to catch a big King salmon. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to do some Milwaukee Charter Fishing on Lake Michigan. Below are some recent pictures. A few big Brown trout and Chinook salmon.

Tomorrow is the first day of summer and we actually can start taking our winter jackets off. It was cool start the season. Our catch is still heavy on the Coho salmon but we are now seeing Chinook salmon and Rainbow trout in the mix. July is one of our best months for Chinook salmon and it looks like it will be a solid summer for them. Coho salmon are still the top catch right now, with some days we are taking limit and others just a few. The water temperature was down to 48 degrees on the surface and although it has warmed up into the mid 50's the water is still cold below. With a lot of southerly winds coming up the water should stay cold for a while. This could keep good Coho salmon action around for another few weeks. We have been from 40 - 100 feet from 43.07-43.10 by Fox Point. We have also worked 80-150ft from the North Gap to the Filtration Plant or 43.02-43.04. 

Our spread has now changed. We still run one side of mono boards with orange B&B dodgers. We are using the large peanut flies on these. They are set 15 to 50 feet back from the board. The other side is coppers from 50-150 feet. We are running the 00 orange dodgers with large peanut flies. We have tried a wire dipsy on one side, with a Derks green wiggle and aqua fly. Otherwise it is still the mono on the outside and braid on the inside. We are using orange Stubby dodgers and either two inch slider or large peanut flies. They are set at 30 and 20 feet on the line counter. The wire dipsy is set 75-120 on line counter. On the two side downriggers we are still running orange Stubby dodgers. these are set 15 to 25 feet down. There are still a lot of Coho salmon around and to capitalize on this you need some orange dodgers in this cold water. The two back riggers are set anywhere from 40 to 100 feet down. We have used Green flashers and either aqua or the Willy fly. We use 27" leads, with 40lb test Pink Ande fluorocarbon. The Pull Tab Derks flasher has been a good one for us of late. 

Summer is here and the next three months are going to be fun. The best time of year for King salmon is now. We will still have Coho salmon, Steelhead and Lake trout as well. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your Milwaukee charter fishing trip. Below are some pictures from the last few days. One is of a 14 pound Rainbow trout. The picture has the Derks flasher I was talking about. 

We are a third of the way through June and it seems like just yesterday we put the boat in on March 25th. The last several days has been Coho salmon action still. We are still catching limits on a lot of our trips, with 11 fish being our lowest total on a trip in June so far. Almost all the fish caught have been Coho salmon, with 4 to 6 pound fish showing up in the catch. We have also boated a few Chinook salmon, Rainbow trout, Brown trout and Lake trout. But over 90% are Coho salmon. We have fished from the North Gap of the Milwaukee harbor to Fox Point. The best action has been from 15 to 50 feet of water. We had a couple of days where we fished 70-100 feet. The surface water had warmed up to 58 degrees but with a lot of south and west winds the surface water is back down to 48 degrees. The action has still been in the top 15 feet of water. The cold water should keep a good Coho salmon bite around for another couple of weeks before we start seeing a more balanced catch of Chinooks and trout. The Chinook salmon bite has not taken off yet but there is every indication it will be a good season for King salmon. 

Our spread since April 9th has finally changed, well slightly. The big change is we are now using the larger size peanut fly and some two inch sliders. Otherwise it is the same. We still are running a side of boards, with orange flashers and 5/8 ounce keel weights. They are 12 to 40 feet back from the board. The surface water is still between 48 to 52 degrees. The other side of boards is the B&B orange dodger, with no keel weight and these are set the same at 12 to 40 feet. These are all mono set ups. The dipsy divers are still a mono at 30 degree setting and a braid at 15 degree setting. We run the outside at 20 to 30 feet and the inside at 10 to 20 feet on the line counter. When we are fishing 15 to 30 feet we run just the two outside downriggers. Both are 10 to 15 feet down and about the same back from the ball. All the dipsy divers and downriggers are using the Stubby orange dodgers, which are the same length as the 00 dodgers but wider. If we use the back downriggers we are running 8 inch flashers, with Aqua or Bull Frog Howie Flies. We have used both white and green flashers but have not experimented much. The Willy fly or Nex Gen our the flies on all the orange stuff. The Coho bite has moved around but once we find them the spread gets them. 

We expect good Coho salmon fishing to continue this June, followed by some good Chinook "King" salmon fishing. The weather is finally starting to heat up and Milwaukee charter fishing this summer looks to be a good one. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on some fun salmon and trout fishing this summer. Below are pictures form the last several days of fishing. 

We finished off May and started June still catching Coho salmon. Over the last several days we have had limit or near limit catches for our clients. The catch is still almost all Coho salmon. We have boated one Brown trout, several Rainbow trout and a few Chinook salmon but the majority of the catch is still Coho salmon. We are starting to see the schools break up and thin out but there are still plenty of fish around and Coho salmon bite should continue for several more weeks. We will also see more Chinook salmon and Rainbow trout showing up in the catch. Yesterday, when we left the lake, the surface temperature was 49 degrees on the surface in 100 feet of water and 51 degrees just outside the harbor. The water is still cold. We have fished the Milwaukee harbor gaps, the shoreline north of town and we have also been working 80 to 200 feet of water from 43.00 to 43.04. The bite is moving around day to day but when we find them the set up has remained the same since April 9th. 

Our spread has still not changed. The water staying cold has given us no reason to change. We are still running mono board lines. We are setting our baits 12 to 40 feet from the planner boards. We still have 00 orange dodgers on one side and B&B orange dodgers on the other side. The small peanut fly is still the right size. On our mono and braid dipsies we are using Stubby orange dodgers and these are set 20 and 12 feet on the line counters. The water is cold and these fish are hitting on the surface. Our side downriggers have a 00 dodger and on the other side a Stubby. We have these set 10 and 15 feet down and 15 to 25 feet back from the downrigger ball. Our two deep downriggers are set with green dodgers from Derks and Aqua or Frog flies. We just have had no reason to change. 

June, July and August are a great time to book a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip. The weather is finally warm and this is the time or year the mature fish will be at their peak size. We have opening all three months. June gives you a chance to still cash in on the Coho salmon bite and catch some Chinook salmon as well. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your Milwaukee charter fishing trip. Below are some pictures from the last several days. 

This has been a very good Coho salmon season so far on Lake Michigan. Milwaukee charter fishing has been outstanding. Begin April 9th and has kept going. This last several days has been solid. The big northeast winds last week Monday through Thursday did slow things up a little. When we got back out fishing the in close action had slowed. We found fish in 12- to 220 feet of water straight out of the North Gap of the Milwaukee harbor. For a couple of days that was are best action and our deep downriggers were the best set ups. By Sunday we were back fishing the gaps of the Milwaukee harbor and the shoreline north of the harbor. We worked the 30 to 40 foot level. When we were out in deeper water we did catch several nice Chinook salmon in the 14 to 16 pound range, along with Coho salmon. In shallow it has been all Coho salmon. The water cooled off to 47 degrees on the surface. 

Our spread changed a little out deep. We used one wire dipsy and our two deep downriggers all had eight inch flashers with larger flies. White flashers with the Willy fly worked best. But when we got back in to shallow water we went back to all orange dodgers and small peanut flies. We still are using B&B or 00 dodgers on the mono board rods. We have these all in the top 5 feet from the surface. The dipsy rods are still one mono and one braid set 20 feet and 12 feet on the line counter. On these we do use a Derks small flasher that is orange and black dots. The downriggers have either a 00 dodger or Stubby's, which are wider 00 dodgers. We are using 30 pound pink Ande fluorocarbon leader for our fly leader. We use 27 inch leader on the B&B and 17 inch on everything else. We have used a few larger peanuts and sliders but the small peanut flies are still best. 

We expect June to be another very good month for Coho salmon action. Chinook salmon should also become more regular in the catch. But the next three weeks will be the last of the best Coho salmon action. This looks to be a great for salmon fishing. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on some fun summer Milwaukee charter fishing for salmon and trout. Below are some pictures from the last several days, including some nice Chinook salmon and our second Lake trout or the season. 

We have not been out the last three days due to strong northeast winds and waves from four to eight feet. Not enjoyable to be fishing in those conditions. During the last week outstanding Coho salmon fishing has continued. We started the week at the North Gap and beach, then we fished from Atwater beach to Fox Point in 15 to 25 feet of water. Then we worked the Main Gap and finally ended up in 80 to 200 feet or water from 43.02 to 43.04. But everywhere we went we found good action. The water temperature on the surface started from 48 to 50 degrees but by the end of the week it was 43 to 46 degrees. We had a lot of west winds that cooled the shoreline off. It also seems that the winds have been strong no matter the direction. Our best action is still right on the surface. The Coho salmon have put on a pound or so of weight since early April. There is still a lot of bait around and the strong northeast wind should line up the fish somewhere. 

We are still running the same spread since mid April. Nothing has changed. Most baits are set near the surface in the first five feet. We still have small peanut flies on everything. The double 00 dodgers on one side and the B&B's on the other side of the boards. All mono set ups. We saw several times where one side was getting hit more than the other but eventually it switches and usually on the same trip. We were tempted to switch to just 00 or B&B on both sides but it never pays. We still have the braid dipsy on the inside and mono dipsy on the outside set at 9 and 16 feet on the line counter. In shallow water we have two side riggers set at 8 to 15 feet down and 15 to 25 feet back from the downrigger. If we are out in deeper water we have a spoon on one downrigger and a flasher set on the other downrigger and these set ups have been taking Chinook salmon regularly. 

The Coho salmon action have been outstanding this year and should continue for several weeks. We have openings and if you are interested in catching salmon, charter fishing Milwaukee is the ticket. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the action. Below are some pictures from the last week. I have a picture of the planner board we use on trips. 

We are now at the time of year that the Coho salmon bite starts to get good. But it has already been good since April 9th. The action continues to very good, with limit catches for the last week. The catch has almost all been Coho salmon but the last several days we have caught several Chinook salmon and our first Lake trout of the season. This has been our longest start before catching a Lake trout. We boated a couple Chinook salmon around 17 pounds and one Coho salmon was 7 pounds. Very nice size for this time of year. We have been working the Main Gap, North Gap and the beach all the way up to the water treatment plant. There has been good action all the way up to Fox Point. The action ahs been in 15 to 25 feet of water. We did fish out in 60 to 120 feet a couple days and it was real good. The Coho salmon were right on the surface and the Chinooks where 40 to 75 feet down. There is all sorts of bait in the fish when we fillet them. We found all age groups of alewives, gobies and smelt in the stomachs of fish. There is a lot of bait around. The surface temperatures are still in the high forties. 

Our spread is still the same as we have run for the last four weeks. The boards are all mono with keel weights and orange dodgers or B&B dodgers. All set 15 to 40 feet back from the boards and small peanut flies on them. These baits are only a foot to four feet below the surface. The Dipsy sets are still one mono at 30 degrees and one braid at 15 degrees and set 25 and 12 feet on the line counters. Right on the surface. The two side downriggers are set with orange dodgers and peanut flies. We have these 7 and 9 feet down and 10 to 15 feet back from the downrigger ball. When we were in deeper water we used a flasher fly down 60 feet and a one color lead core down 40 feet on the back downriggers. These set ups caught the Chinooks. This will be the same set up for another week. 

Coho salmon action in May and early June give you the best opportunity to catch a limit of salmon. The Coho schools thin out and go deeper as the season goes on. The high concentration in the spring gives us a better chance a volume catches. We still have openings over the next several weeks and this is the best time to hook up. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your Lake Michigan salmon fishing trip. Below are pictures of catches over the last several days. There is a picture of the white Pearl Scale flasher and Willy fly we are using to catch Chinook salmon. We use a 27 inch lead, with 40 pound test pink Ande fluorocarbon leader. I also have a picture of our boat fishing last week that a friend took of us. 

Over the last week the Coho salmon fishing remains outstanding as we continue to catch limits in 2 to 3 hours. The water has warmed some relatively speaking to 48 degrees inside the harbor and 45 degrees just outside the harbor. The alewife schools keep growing. All year classes have been found in fish we fillet. If we run a spoon on a downrigger the downrigger pulls back and we snag an alewife in seconds. Some or our peanut flies hook up on alewives as well. This is great to see and a lot better than last spring. We have been targeting Coho salmon but those venturing out in 80 to 120 feet our catching some Chinook salmon. Needless to say there are a lot of fish around. We have boated the most Coho salmon by this time of year since before 2011. We are still working the Main gap to the beach house on Bradford beach in 12 to 35 feet of water. We have also caught Coho salmon inside the harbor. Been good everywhere we have fished. 

Our spread is 12 rods at this point. Two downriggers set 6 and 8 feet down and 8 to 15 feet back from the ball. Both have an orange 00 dodgers and small peanut fly. We have the small peanut fly on everything. We are using the Willy, Two Tone, Nex Gen and Green Krinkle flies. I have pictures of these flies on our last report. We are running two dipsy rods on each side. The mono's dialed in at 30 degrees and the braids dialed in at 15 degrees. The mono's are 20 feet on the line counter and the braids are 8 feet on the line counter. These fish are hitting right near the surface. We have three boards a side. All mono boards with one side set with 5/8 ounce keep weights and orange 00 dodgers. The other side using Silver Horde B&B orange dodgers. Each side is set 15, 25 and 35 feet back from the boards. This spread has been deadly for many years. 

The Coho salmon run is on and we have openings this May and early June to capitalize on the bite. Milwaukee charter fishing is simple outstanding right now. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your Lake Michigan salmon charter. Below are some pictures from recent catches over the last several days. 

April ended up being our best April for Coho salmon fishing in over a decade. It may have been our best ever fishing out of Milwaukee. We have had some good April's Racine charter fishing over the years that were better but not in a while. The reason is there is a lot of alewives around, a mild winter and the Coho salmon stocking is more spread out, especially on the Wisconsin side. Just yesterday I saw hundreds of Terns diving in the marina, catching alewives of all sizes. We started catching some good sized Coho salmon and we still are but now we are seeing some smaller ones. The smaller Coho salmon probably wintered out in the middle of the lake. This is good to see because that means we have the fish who wintered hear, some coming up from the south and another group coming in from the deep. This keeps new schools showing up and the action good. The Wisconsin DNR just announced that last year was the best salmon fishing for Wisconsin since 2012. This is something we have been saying since August of last year. The stocking numbers are good for this year and we hope to see a repeat performance in 2025. A far cry from several years back when Lake trout were the top catch. We still have not caught a Lake trout this season. 

We have still been fishing outside the Milwaukee harbor, through the gaps and along the shoreline, depending on the day. The surface temperature has warmed up to around 44 degrees in spots. Over the last week a lot more alewives have shown up and this is great to see. All age groups have been found in the salmon. We have been catching 15 to 25 fish a trip. All of the fish are Coho salmon but just about every trip now we catch a Chinook salmon. Some of these have been in the 14 to 16 pound class. The action has been good up and down the shoreline from Port Washington to Chicago. 

Our spread remains the same. 8 board rods, depending on how many customers we have. All the board rods have either a B&B or Dodger and they are all orange. We are using Derks small orange flasher on outside mono dipsies set at 20 feet on the line counter. There are times we are in 10 feet of water with these set ups. The inside braid dipsies have orange dodgers set at 12 feet on the line counter and are dialed in a 15 degrees. Our two side riggers are set 7 and 9 feet down and about the same distance back from the downrigger ball. Very effective set ups. All of these set ups are using small peanut flies. I have pictures of the flies, dodgers, flashers and dipsies we use in this spread. We do use orange dipsies as well. At times we use two spoons on the deep downriggers. They will pull a Chinook salmon, although we have taken several Chinook on the orange set ups. We have been trolling a little bit faster but I am not sure that matters so much. You find the bites you work the area. 

We have opening the next two weeks and the action should be good barring bad weather. The run time to fish is a few minutes. This is a perfect time of year to get out and catch salmon. Call Silver King Charters to get out and experience Lake Michigan chart fishing. We fish through early November. Below is picture from the last several days of fishing. I have also included the flashers, dodgers and flies we are using. The Willy fly, Next Gen, Green Howie and Two Tone are our favorites. We are using 30 pound Pink Ande flourcarbon for our fly set ups. 

The Coho salmon bite continues. Early last week we had one more group who wanted Brown trout and we fished for them but since it has all been Coho salmon. There was some good Brown trout action around the South Gap of the Milwaukee harbor when we tried for them. The Coho action has been South Gap to North Gap and in between the Gaps. The bite moves from day to day but there are plenty of fish around. We are catching a Chinook salmon almost every trip in the 10 to 14 pound range. Plenty of Alewives have shown up in the harbor and this is keeping the salmon around. We haven't tried the shoreline yet but we are sure there is action to be found there. The Coho salmon bite is happening from Chicago to Port Washington, so there are a lot of fish in the system. We have had limit catches over the last several days. 

Our spread continues to be mono rods on the boards. The orange B&B's on one side and the 00's on the other. The 00's we use a 5/8's ounce keel weight. We are setting these lines 12 to 40 feet from the boards. The water on the surface is around 40 degrees and the fish are biting right near the surface. Love this time of year. We have a double dipsy set, with a mono and braid dipsy on each side. The braid is set 10 to 15 feet on the line counter and is set at 15 degrees on the disk. The mono is set at 30 degrees on the disk and set 15 to 25 feet back. We have both side riggers set 7 to 8 feet down with orange 00 dodgers about 7 to 10 feet back from the rigger. On all of these set ups we are using small peanut flies. The Two t\Tone, Nex Gen or Willy fly are all getting bit. The tow deep riggers have had spoons on them. The hot one being the Moonshine Green UV Flounder Pounder. The Stinger Gold Hud is also solid. We are starting to put a organ Stubby on a back rigger, since the Coho salmon bite is so good. 

We expect to have good Coho salmon fishing Milwaukee charter fishing for a couple of months but right now is very good. We have openings over the next 3 weeks and some spots on the weekends as well. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip to catch salmon. Below are some picture from the last several days. I threw a few sunrises in because that is my favorite thing to catch. The first picture shows the orange dodgers we are using. I wrote on them B&B Silver Horde, 00 Luhr Jensen and 00. Gold Star. All three are excellent at attracting Coho salmon. 

The last several days turned into Coho salmon fishing. On Friday we started getting into them and it went quick. Saturday and Sunday saw the same. We were catching 20 to 30 Coho salmon in a couple of hours. The last couple of days we had customers who came to fish Brown trout. This is a great time of year to catch them! We went to an all spoon spread and were able to boat over 10 brown trout each trip but the Coho salmon kept coming as well. We also now have boated a Chinook salmon the last several trips. The water temperature is still 38 degrees outside the harbor and 40 degrees inside the harbor. The alewives have also started to show up. This is normal for this time of year but the Coho action is not. At least not at this volume. The action is crazy good. We are fishing from the North Gap to the South Gap both inside the harbor and outside. The Coho salmon are good size for early April. 

On Friday once we started catching several Coho salmon we switched a side of boards to orange dodgers and peanut flies. We us a 5/8 ounce keel weight and let out between 12 to 45 feet of line back of the board. The baits are right on the surface. It did not matter the color of the fly. We also put to inside dipsy set ups set at 15 degrees and 10 feet on the line counter. These dipsies where braided line. We used Derks small potato chip flasher, which is orange and has black stripes on them. These were very consistent. We eventually switch the out side dipsies and side downriggers to orange dodgers and peanut flies. The down riggers are 7 feet down and 9 feet of line back from the downrigger ball. By Sunday we went all orange on the other side of boards, with the B$B orange dodgers and peanut flies. It all worked. Only the last two days did we switch to all spoons to target Brown trout. This worked but it also caught Coho salmon as well. We will be back to all orange though and the action is as good as it gets. We are pulling a Chinook on the deep riggers as well on each trip. The hot spoon so far is the Moonshine UV Green Flounder Pounder.  

Folks, there will be a lot of good Coho fishing over the next few months but right now it is outstanding. We have both this Saturday and Sunday open. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip this weekend or throughout the season. Milwaukee charter fishing has started out very good! Below are some recent catches and there are a lot of Coho salon in them. 

The last several days of Milwaukee charter fishing were still good but a little tougher due to a strong storm that occurred last Wednesday. That was the same storm that brought devastating damage to the middle part of the country. We had an inch and a half or rain and strong northeast winds. This muddy up the water both inside and outside the harbor. We did get out this weekend and actually had better salmon action then Brown trout action. There is still good Brown trout action to come but this weekend the catch was mostly Coho salmon and one Chinook salmon that ran 13 pounds. The Coho salmon bite is no means going strong but they are some around and their size is decent for this time of year. We di try running some orange dodgers and peanut flies but they only wanted spoons. Are best action was from the North Gap to the Main Gap, outside the harbor being best. The good Brown trout action inside the harbor slowed due to water conditions. The water temperature has not warmed up. It was 38 degrees outside the harbor and 40 degrees inside the harbor on the surface. One of the Coho salmon we filleted had lady bugs in its stomach. 

Our spread remains the same as last week. The hot rods were one color lead cores with Stinger Orange Crush spoons. The Stinger Gold Huds and Gin and Tonics were good on the two and three color lead cores. The lone Chinook salmon came on a Gold Hud mono dipsy set 25 feet on the line counter. Our two deep riggers down 25 to 30 feet did well using the Moonshine Flounder Pounder Green and the White Ice Stinger. These were the most productive set ups. We tried orange dodgers on the Coho salmon but a little too early for that. But that could change any day. 

We expect some solid Milwaukee harbor action to continue over the next two weeks but we do have some good shoreline action setting up. It would be nice to have the winds and weather behave a little more. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 tp get in on the god April fishing and also to book trips for the rest of the season. Below are a few pictures form last week, including our first Chinook salmon of the year. I included some pictures of our boat working the North Gap this weekend.

Our first week is in the books and March was good fishing for us. It was a short week but we averaged over 16 fish a trip. This includes April first. The catch was 95% Brown trout, with a couple Coho salmon and Rainbow trout. We sell our first three weeks of Milwaukee charter fishing as Brown trout time and it delivered. Our biggest so far is 18 pounds but we hope to improve on this. We have had many Brown trout in the 12 to 16 pound class and this is a trophy fish for most people. Several people intend to have a replica made for their catch. The Coho salmon we have boated are good size for this time of year and we have heard reports further south of the same. We have exclusively fished the Milwaukee harbor with our best action coming just south of the North gap and by the Main gap. The better action has come in the middle section of the harbor. The river mouth area has not been as good and usually is. The surface water is still only 40 degrees. There is a lot of bait around and these are not alewives right now. We are currently get a lot of rain and a strong east wind, the rain may muddy the water up but should also attract fish. 

We are still running the same spread as i posted earlier. One, two and three color lead cores on the boards, two mono dipsies and four downriggers. All using spoons and all have produced. We have had over 20 bites each time we were out. Our best spoons have been the Stinger Gold Hud, Orange Crush, Gin & Tonic, UV Blue Dolphin. The Moonshine Green Flounder Pounder and Agent Orange have been good. We have been trolling 2.5 to 2.9 GPS speed. 

We expect the Brown trout action to be strong over the next two weeks. We expect Coho salmon and Rainbow trout to also be in the catch more and more as time goes on. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your Lake Michigan charter fishing trip. We have openings this Sunday as well. The pictures below are from the last several days, including our first Coho salmon. I gave a seminar last Saturday to over 200 people for the Milwaukee Great Lakes Sport Fishing club and have included a picture from that. 

The boat is in and we have caught are first fish of 2025 and yes it was a Brown trout. An 18lb beauty. We were out yesterday and we pulled 15 fish. We had 13 Brown trout, 1 Rainbow trout and 1 Coho salmon. The next three weeks will be your best chance to catch a Brow trout this year. Most of these trips will be primarily Brown trout. There is a good chance we will boat a few in the 20 pound class and we have caught a few over 30lbs during this time period. We fished the Milwaukee harbor and found bites through out the area. From the north gap, south gap and river mouth. We probably had 30 hits during the trip. The Stinger Gold Hud took the first fish and many fell to this spoon. 

Our spread will be the same for a while now. Three boards a side with a one, tow and three color lead core. Two mono dipsies and four down riggers. They will all have spoons on them and almost all will be Stinger spoons. The Gin& Tonic, Orange Crush, UV Blue Dolphin, The Gold Hud, Mass Confusion, Gold Green NBK will all be in the mix. This spread is tried and true for many springs now. We have abandoned stick baits because the spoons are easier and more forgiving to run. Speed adjustments are needed at times to make the spread fire up by we usually run at 2.7-3.0 mph on the GPS. 

There are a lot of Brown trout in the system and we are also seeing some good Rainbow trout action as well. The Coho salmon action is solid down in Illinois and we have already seen some in Milwaukee. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get an early spring in. This is a short window and the bite looks good. May and June dates for the Coho salmon bite are starting to fill up so call now. Below is a picture of the boat going in, first fish and our first trip. 

Silver King Charters is about to start our 2025 Lake Michigan Charter Fishing season. We try each season to be in the water the last week of March and we will be this season. This first week of the season has for the most part been some very good fishing. We have had a couple years where the weather has made things not so good but the good fishing has out weighed the bad by a wide margin, so we keep fishing in March. Our client base has also grown for March trips. Clients who are interested in catching Brown trout have over the years experienced some great trips. The ice is completely gone and things are setting up for a decent first three weeks of Brown trout fishing. This is a unique and short period of Milwaukee charter fishing and it is about to begin. We hope to be fishing this next Wednesday and we still have openings for the last five days of March. We also have some good spots still available during the first three weeks of April to target Brown trout. 

Once we get deep into April we start to catch a mixed bag of Brown trout, Rainbow trout, Lake trout and Coho salmon. This will continue until the Coho salmon bite takes over completely. Typically this we start the first or second week of May but we will see some good Coho salmon catches leading up to this. The Coho salmon catch will will continue in good numbers into mid June and will be in the mix until they spawn in the fall. Chinook salmon start to get going around Memorial day but the best time for the King salmon is mid June through mid August. We will also wee some good Lake trout and Rainbow trout fishing throughout the summer. As late August arrives mature fish will begin to start getting ready to spawn. We will either be targeting pre spawning fish in or around the harbor or non spawning fish out in the lake. We close the season in October and the first week of November targeting two and three year Chinook salmon, Lake trout and Brown trout. That brings us right back to the beginning, which starts next week. I don't want to think at all of November. There is just too much outstanding Lake Michigan charter fishing to be had. 

Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip for the 2025 season. The Brown trout bite goes quick, so call now to get in on the action over the next three weeks. Our next report will have our first catch of the season with a breakdown of where, what and when. Below is a picture of our from this Saturday in storage. We just put the finishing touches on her and she is ready to float. I also included the Salmon-A-Rama poster for this year. We are going to have a ticket as always, so our customers are eligible for cash prizes if they land a nice fish. The grand prize is $50,000 and we have openings still for the nine day event. I also had to through a few spring Brown trout pics in. 

As far as we are concerned spring has started. We are into March and three weeks from now we hope to be in the water and catching fish. Lake Michigan did freeze a little more than the previous few years. At one point there was 40% coverage but it was short lived. The harbors still have ice and our first mate is still running trips on the ice but this will not last much longer. Low ice totals and little snow fall over the last few years is causing the lake level to decline but these conditions are also good for survival of fished stocked last year and bait fish that were spawned last spring and summer. Last year was are best year for catching salmon since 2012. Increased stockings over the last several years has helped. Out of the fish we caught last year 84% were salmon and 50% were Coho salmon. 2024 was and outstanding year. Things look to be lining up for another good year for catching salmon. We have put in and starting catching Coho salmon as early as our first trip in March but we usually don't see a consistent bite on Coho salmon until early to mid May. 

We will be starting our season the last week of March. This has become a popular time for people to book, since this is really the only time or year we are strictly targeting Brow trout. This spring looks like there will be a good Brown trout bite. The ice fishing has been good for them and there are a lot of smaller Brown trout in the system, which will lead to good catches. We are shooting for the week of March 24th. The first couple of weeks are usually all Brown trout but as we get into mid May we will see Rainbow trout, Lake trout and Coho salmon in the catch. 

Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a March Lake Michigan fishing charter. It will be a unique experience and we only have a short period in March that we are in the water. We are book trips for the entire season now. Below is a graph of the ice coverage for Lake Michigan this year so far. I also have a picture from our slip in Milwaukee currently. I put a few early spring pictures from seasons past as well. The adventure begins soon. 

Folks, it is Valentines Day and we are hopefully 38 days from running our first trip. The target will be Brown trout and March and early April are the best time of the entire season to target Brown trout during the Milwaukee charter fishing  season. Currently our first mate is running ice fishing trips in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha harbors. This has been one of the best seasons in years for ice fishing Brown and Rainbow trout. First off there is ice but the fishing has been very good as well. There will be very cold temperatures for the next week, which will keep safe ice at least into the first week of March if not longer. We hope it will be gone when the boar gets in. Give us a call and we will hook you up on some fen trips on he ice. All the equipment and Ice shanty are included. 

Every year we get the boat in the water to capitalize on the great Brown trout fishing found in the Milwaukee harbor and the shorelines. The weather can be chilly but we have an enclosed cabin during this time of year. This is by far the best time of year to catch Brown trout on Lake Michigan. Sometime from mid April to the first week of May we start to transition into Coho salmon fishing. Coho salmon have been our top catch 10 out of the last 11 seasons. The bet Coho fishing is from early May through mid June but we start catching them as early as late March and a good bite can run into mid July. This can lead into a mixed bag in April of Brown trout and Coho salmon. 

We are booking trips now and Late March and early April are starting to fill up. If you want to have your best chance at catching a Brow trout call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 now to get in on later March and early April Brow trout fishing. If you want to get in on ice fishing before that let us know. Below are some pictures from the last week of ice fishing and the first day last year Milwaukee charter fishing. Lots of fun!

The new year is hear and the Silver King Charters crew wishes everyone a happy, safe and good fishing year. Over the last several weeks ice fishing in the harbors has been on and off due to poor ice conditions but when the ice is safe that action has been very good. The ice is about to get very safe this week with cold temperatures over the next ten days. Give us a call because we have a guy who can get you out catching Brow and Rainbow trout through the ice. Maybe even a Perch. The harbor and shoreline have been ice free so far and the fishing has been incredible. People are catching Brown trout, Rainbow trout, Lake trout and yes Perch. In fact the best bite has been Perch over the last several weeks. The size and numbers caught has been very good. Hopefully this is the beginning of a comeback for the Perch fishery. Perch fishing in the Milwaukee harbor and shoreline use to be very good. It has fallen way off over the last 25 years. The current Perch bite might lead to some good action through the ice as well.

Over the next 3 months we will break down the 2024 season, talk about the 2025 season and go over some hot baits from last year. We will first talk about Brown trout action last year, since Brown trout will be our target when we put the boat in late March. Last year 6.1% of our catch was Brown trout. This is also our average for the last 7 years. Only once did we go over 10$% of catch and this was in 2023 when we hit 11.2%. Most of our Brown trout come in the last week of March and April, Last year 75% of the Brown trout boated came during this period. Brown trout our a shoreline fish that for the most part during the season we are not targeting. The also are not as many in the lake as other species. They are a fun fish to catch and have beautiful marking on them. But for most the the Lake Michigan charter fishing year they are a random fish caught during a trip. But during the first 3 or 4 weeks we are in the water Brown trout are the top target and for a lot of those trips the only type of fish we will catch. This makes our early trips of the season very popular. 

Brown trout tend to spread out once May occurs and our efforts turn to Coho salmon. But during Late March and April Brown trout are in good numbers along the shoreline and in the vast Milwaukee harbor. This allows us to target Brown trout much easier. Very seldom any other time of the year will we boat more than a couple to five or six brown trout. But late March and early April it is common to hit double digit catches or more. The size ranges from two to 15 pound fish but we have boated many in the 15 to 20 pound range. We have boated two over thirty pounds, which both currently hang on someone's walls. We have come to troll exclusively spoons during this time of year. All of the action comes in 12 to 35 feet of water. The bite can be anywhere in this depth of water and we cover it all with a twelve line spread. The air temperature tends to be cold this time of year but you will be fully in closed when you are not fighting a fish.

If you want to target Brown trout you should book a trip the last week of March or the first three weeks of April for the best chance. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip. We are not booking for the 2025 season and weekends will go fast. Below are some pictures of the Perch action, along with some pictures of Brown trout we caught the last coupe of springs. The last picture shows how close we are to shore during this time of year. 

Silver King Charters wishes everyone a safe and happy holidays on this Christmas Eve. We want to remind everyone we do have gift certificates on line and you owe nothing until the trip is run. Print the certificate out, present it to the person it is for and call to set up a date. We only need a credit card number to secure the date but you pay at the end of the trip. The certificate is a great gift anytime of year and is a great way to give a gift that will create a lasting memories. The ice is starting to form in the harbors and ice fishing has begun. But it will be hit in miss based on ice conditions. Our first mate runs trips on the ice, so give us a call to do an ice fishing trip. The harbor is still ice free and boats on trailers are still out and catching Brown trout, Rainbow trout and Lake trout. They are also catching a lot of Perch. It is great to see a solid Perch bite again. 

We finished 2-24 with our best salmon fishing in over a decade. Probably goin back to the amazing 2012 season. Both Coho salmon and Chinook salmon fishing were outstanding. We believer the Chinook bite will continue to be strong in 2025 and the Coho stocking numbers for the 2025 season are as they were for the 2024 season. The temperatures are starting out mild again, so we don't expect a harsh winter. So the salmon should be out there, we just need to have conditions some what favorable for our area and we should have another good salmon fishing year. We did not catch fish over 30 pounds in 2024 but we caught plenty of 20 plus pound fish. Our biggest fish of 2024 was a 26 pound Chinook salmon caught in August. We would rather have our customers catching more fish, with some decent big ones than a few fish with one big fish. We can thank the WLBA for fighting to keep stocking numbers up on Chinook salmon over the last decade and it has paid off in better fishing and lots of happy customers. 

We are already booking trips for 2025 and if you are looking for an early morning or weekend trip now is the time to call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467. We look forward to another great season and making a lot of great memories with our customers. Until then our first mate will be running ice fishing trips in the harbors on Lake Michigan and it is a lot of fun. Below are some pictures from last Sunday. The action was really good. I also included a picture of the biggest fish from the 2024 season. The fish was caught on a Derk's Little Boy Blue flasher and a Howie Little Boy Blue fly off a downrigger set 75 feet down in 130 feet of water around 9:00AM on August 14th. 

We pulled the boat on November 9th to conclude our 2024 season. This was our best season for salmon since 2012 and we hope to see that continue in 2025. We fished a few times in November and it was very good. After we pulled the boat there were a few people still fishing last week and the bite was as good as anytime in the year. We were still catching Chinook salmon but our last couple of trips we targeted Brown trout. the 2024 season started with some good Brown trout fishing in late March and early April. By May 5th we were catching Coho salmon and that ran until mid June. From there until the end Chinook salmon dominated the catch. The season went just like we like it. The only thing missing was a Lake trout bite. We only boated 64 Lake trout this year and that is an all time low going back to the at least 2006. We will see what happens next year with the Lake trout. 

Our last few trips in November we were fishing from the Green Can to a mile north of Grant Park. We worked 15 to 40 feet of water. Before that we were working 43,06 to 43,09, which is a few miles north of the North Gap of the Milwaukee harbor. We were in 100 to 150 feet of water and the bite was mostly Chinook salmon. When we were in 15 to 40 feet of water we ran one, two and three color lead cores on the boards. Two downrigger set near the bottom 5 feet of water. We ran two mono dipsies set at 20 to 25 feet on the line counter. All set ups had spoons on them. We liked Stinger Gold Hud, UV Blue Dolphin, Gold NBK Green and Orange Crush. The bite was very good and Brown trout were the top catch. We also boated several Chinook salmon, Lake trout and Rainbow trout. That bite is still going today but McKinley marina shuts down on November 15th. Great mix of species and a lot of bait was around. 

Silver King Charters starts back up in lake March for Brown trout. These early trips have become very popular and our the best time of year to target Brown trout. I will breakdown the season by month and species over the next couple of months. I will also talk about baits we used and what we think might happen in 2025. Give us a call at 414-460-1467 to get out charter fishing Lake Michigan on Silver King Charters. Below are some pictures from the last few trips of the season. We did a Halloween trip and our customer and first mate dressed up as bananas. Well we didn't get skunked. 

We are in our final month of the 2024 season, though we are still our the first weekend of November. This year has been the story of the salmon. It has been our best year for catching salmon since 2012 and that was an incredible. year. This is year is ending up slightly better than 2013 and 2014, which were the last two solid salmon years. This is a combination of both Coho and Chinook salmon. We have had some really good Coho salmon years over the last 10 years. The wind and waves have not been our friend since our last report in September but when we have been out the Chinook bite has been good. The water warms up and then cools down almost every fourth day depending on which way the wind blows but the fishing has remand good in 90 to 130 feet of water from the Filtration plant to the weather buoy, which was taken out early this week. The bite is mostly Chinook salmon, with a few Rainbow trout and Brown trout. We still have only caught 57 Lake trout this year. Who ever would have thought Lake trout would be a rarity. 

We have been running copper on the boards. From 250 to 450 feet. Moonshine spoons are on these and the Happy Meal or Wonder Bread have been best. The wire dipsies are set at 150 to 200 feet on the line counter and dialed in at thirty degrees with a magnum dipsy. We are running either a little boy blue flasher along with a little boy blue fly on these. Or a chrome flasher with a bull frog fly. On the back two down riggers we are from 70 to 120 feet down and both are set with a little boy blue flasher and fly combination. We are running one side down rigger at 40 to 55 feet with a two color lead core and a Moonshine Happy Meal. All baits are working. There is not as much bait as last fall but that may change over the next couple of weeks. 

There is still fish to be caught over the next three weeks, when the lake allows it. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the last of the great 2024 salmon year. We will have some weekend spots open. Below are some pictures of recent catches. 

We are a couple of days away from the first day of fall and the weather has been like the middle of summer. Over the last 10 days we have been seeing more of the same from the summer. A good Chinook salmon bite with Coho salmon and Rainbow trout mixed in. We have been saying this is our best Chinook bite since 2014 but we may need to update that and go back to 2012. We are still catching a few mature Chinook and Coho salmon before they head to spawn. But the majority of the fish are now two and three year old Chinooks and next years Coho. Still great fish!. We have boated a few Brown trout and ever a couple elusive Lake trout. The surface temperature has remained about 70 degrees but cooler water has been creeping up and we now have 49 degree water down 35 feet. Ten days ago we were working 100 to 130 feet but we have moved into 60 to 80 feet of water. Another northeast blow could change it back to a deeper bite. 

We are still heavy on spoons and only today did we switch to a leadcore setup on the boards, with 6 to 10 colors. But it has been copper on the boards for the most part from 150 to 275 feet. Moonshines in Green Flounder Pounder, Happy Meal and Wonder Bread have been good. Also Stinger Blue Dolphin UV, Green NBK and Gold Hud. We are also running one color leadcores on the two side down riggers with these spoons. They are set anywhere from 25 to 55 feet down. Our two back downriggers are a white or Chrome flasher, with with a Little Boy Blue fly or a Willy fly. Our wire diver rods are set at 120 to 176 feet on the line counter. A Little Boy Blue flasher and fly are working good here. 

Fishing has been very good this year and a good salmon bite has made it so. We expect to keep catching Chinook salmon as long as some warm water stays around. We will be in the water through October and Halloween is still open. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip this fall. Below are some pictures from recent trips. 

We are through August and onto September and it is kind of sad because 2024 has been the best salmon fishing in over a decade. But we still have a couple months to add to the overall catch. We expect to have some good Chinook fishing this fall due to the number of salmon in Lake Michigan. The mature fish are starting to stage and spawn but we are still catching some of these fish out in the lake. But there are a lot of two and three year old Chinooks around and we expect the bite to remain good throughout the end of October. The last several years we have experienced a good fall salmon bite. We have been fishing between 60 to 130 feet of water straight out of the North Gap up to 43.08 whish is just south of Fox Point. For the last three weeks the water will start to cool off and just before it really chills out we get a strong Northeast wind. Right on schedule we have a strong one today and Saturday. The water was 49 degrees down 40 feet and now it is 70 degrees down 80 feet. We have been catching mostly Chinook salmon, with Coho salmon, Rainbow trout and a few Brown trout. Lake trout have been missing in action. 

Our spread has not changed for three weeks. Two deep down riggers set at 75 and 85 to 90 feet down. White or chrome flashers with little bot blue Howie flies or the Willy fly are best. We are running tow wire dipsy rods set at 150 to 200 feet on the line counter. These are the magnum dipsies. Same flasher and fly combos as on the downriggers. We have two copper rod setups on each side. These are 150 through 500 coppers. We have been running a mix of Moonshine and Stinger spoons. The Happy Meal and Bloody Nose for the Moonshines. Blue Dolphin UV and Gold Hud for the Stingers. When the water cools off we do put a one color leadcore on a side downrigger at about 50 feet down. This set ups has been taking 15 to 25 fish in the mornings. The midday trips have been tougher recently. 

We expect some good fishing this September and October. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to add on to the salmon catch total for 2024. There should be some special days ahead. Below are some recent catches form the last ten days of fishing. 

Not since 2014 have we had a season as good as this year for both Chinook and Coho salmon. We are still catching good numbers of Coho salmon and we have boated more Chinook salmon than any year since 2014. We have also been lucky to be able to fish close to McKinley marina this year. We have been between 43,08 to 43.00 for most of the season. Or between the Whitefish Bay to the Green Can. The deepest water we had to fish is 250 feet and this was early on for Coho salmon in May. This has made our run time shorter and allows us more fishing time. The best action has been straight out the the North Gap almost all year. Over  the last couple of days strong southeast winds has cooled off the water and we now have 49 degree temperatures down 35 feet. The surface temperature is still in the low 70's. The best bite was between 130 to 110 when the water was warmer and the cool water has not changed the bite much. The Chinook salmon will be heading to the harbor in the next two weeks but we should be catching mature Chinooks and Coho for another 4 weeks in the lake. We are at a record low on Lake trout going back I don't even know. There was at time Willy and I didn't even fish for Lake trout but that was more than 20 years ago. Even then we caught more Lake trout. We have only boated 54 Lake trout, so far this year. 

Over the last 10 days we have run a simply but very productive spread. Two downriggers set at 90 and 100 feet down. We run a chrome Derks flasher and the Willy Fly. We are also run one wire dipsy rod on each side of the boat. These were set at a one setting and 150 to 200 feet on the line counter. We are run two copper boards a side at 300, 350, 400 and 450 feet of copper. We have have all Moonshine spoons on these. The Happy Meal, Green Flounder Pounder, Wonder Bread have been good. Just 8 lines and we have been 15 to 25 fish a trip for the most part. Just yesterday as the water cooled we brought the dipsies up to 90 and 100 feet on a 2 setting and added to side downriggers with spoons. We have really liked the one color leadcores on the side riggers. It is tough to do but really less is more when running lines. 

One of the best things about the 2024 season is the Coho bite staying decent. The DNR has done a better job at spreading the Coho salmon stocking out in different ports, so Coho salmon come back to those ports in fall. Another good thing is that the young Chinook and Coho salmon have grown up fast and this should add to what is shaping up to be a good fall bite for salmon. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the good action of 2024. We have have some great morning weekday openings the last two weeks of August. We also have some good weekend dates for September and October. Below are some pictures of recent catches. We had the crew from the famous Wolski's Bar out and they landed the third biggest Chinook of the year. 

It seems like yesterday we were catching Brown trout in March and now we are a quarter of the way through August. Fishing has remained good and we now have boated more Chinook salmon this year then we have going back to 2015. Best King fishing in 10 years. This bite is still rolling and could hold together right into October. This has also been one of the better years for Coho salmon both in size and total fish caught. Combined it had been outstanding salmon fishing in 2024. We have only boated 55 Lake trout this season. This is part due to not fishing for them and part they have not really set up this season. It may also have to do with population of them in the southern part of Lake Michigan, where they do not stock very many. We fished the Brew City tournament Saturday and after a dominant win in 2023 we managed only 68 pounds for 10 fish. We caught 24 fish and the biggest was 9.1 pounds. We could not repeat that if we tried. The spot we fished two straight days before generated 30 and 28 fish in two hours. We averaged 125 pounds on the 10 biggest fish on those bites. But when it came to Saturday it was not the right spot for us. Next year will be will be the 25th year of Brew City Tournament in Milwaukee and I am sure we will be back in the top 5 boats then. 

We have been working 90 to 130 feet of water over the last ten days but as of Tuesday and the strong northeast blow the water is 73 degrees at 80 feet down and in 1120 feet down it is 60 degrees. Needless to say we have moved deeper. The bite starts in 150 feet and bites are coming down 100 feet or better. The good thing is the fish are all pushed at lest 70 feet deep. This helps us target fish better and today we took a limit of 25 fish for a charter group. 

We had been running spoons on copper lines at 150 to 300 feet but we are now running 275 to 450 feet. Stinger spoons like UV Blue Dolphin, Pickle and Kervokian were good in shallow water but we are back to Moonshines now. Blue or Green Flounder Pounder, Orange Hulk and Bloody Nose have been good. We are still running one color leadcores on our side downriggers, with the same types of spoons. Our back down riggers are white pearl or boy blue flashers, with Howie Bull Frog or Boy Blue flies. We are running 20 pound downrigger balls and currently they are 120 to 150 feet down. Our Wire dipsies are are the magnum size and we now have them dialed in at a one and a half setting. They were out 120 to 175 feet but we now have them set at 250 feet. We are using the same flasher flies on these as the back downriggers. We have a steady blow of west winds coming and this may be enough to cool the water back down. 

Folks, for the last ten years you said we like Lake Michigan charter fishing but we wish we could catch more salmon. This is the year to book and we are going to roll right through October. We believe that there will be good salmon fishing throughout the rest of the 2024 season. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get in on the good salmon fishing. Below are some pictures from the last ten days. Unbelievable we only weighed in 68 pounds on Brew City days but we took it out on the fish leading in and after the tournament. The first three pictures are the sunrise, small ten fish and us setting lines for Brew City. Still a great day!!

This year is turning out to be our best year for Chinook salmon fishing going back over yen years. We are on pace to boat the most Chinook salmon we have caught in a season since 2014. The reason is increased stocking of Chinook salmon. We are catching good amounts of all year classes and it is great to see last years stocking in good numbers and very good size. July use to be all about the Chinook salmon but over the past ten years it has been more of a mixed bag. But in 2024 Chinook are making up 75 percent of the catch for Silver King Charters. The mature Chinooks are running 15 to 25 pounds. Salmon-A-Rama is going on right now and the top ten fish are all Chinook salmon weighing between 29 to 30 pounds. We are still working to get a fish on the board. We have been fishing a lot of the last two weeks in 40 to 60 feet of water from the filtration plant to Fox Point. This is just north of McKinley Marina. The water has warmed up as of yesterday and we are now fishing in 80 to 120 feet. We have boated two Chinooks just under 25 pounds and many have been in the 15 to 20 pound range. They have been fighting great. The thermocline was only 15 to 20 feet down a couple of days ago but now it is below 50 feet. 

We have been running a spoon heavy spread. Moonshines, the old paint style, has been good. The bloody nose, flounder pounder green, orange hulk and happy meal are all working. We are also using Stinger spoons, The blue green dolphin, silver hud and gold hud have been good. We are running these on 4 to 10 color leadcore. When the water warms we have been running 150 to 300 foot copper setups. The side riggers and second deep rigger are all spoons. We are running one and two color leadcores on these downriggers. Until yesterday we had these set at 25 to 55 feet down. The deep rigger has a white pearl Luhr Jensen flasher with a Howie Bull Frog fly. We have this down 50 feet to the bottom depending on the bite. The wire dipsies have been working anywhere from 60 to 150 feet on the line counter. We have a standard size dispy diver set at 30 degrees on these and we are running flasher and flies. Chrome flashers with the Willy fly have been working good on these set ups and have taken some big Chinook salmon. 

The Chinook bite should continue into August and we are still catching some big Coho salmon, Rainbow trout and Lake trout. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your summer Lake Michigan charter fishing trip. This has been a special season for King salmon. Below are recent catches, shoeing some big Chinook salmon our customers have landed. 

July is here and the Chinook salmon are biting. After an incredible Coho salmon bite in May and June we are now catching Chinook salmon. The last 10 days we have boated over double the amount of Chinooks that we had previously caught during the first three months. July is one of the best months to catch Chinook "King" salmon. For the last 10 days we have been fishing in 40 to 90 feet of water. The bite has been good from the North Gap all the way to Fox Point. With the exception of a couple of days we have had 45 to 50 degree water temperatures starting at 35 feet down. The surface temperatures have been between 59 and 65 degrees. Over the last couple of days there has been a southern current that has cooled the water down. There are a lot of bait fish in the shallow water and this has set up a good bite. We are catching all year class Chinook from 2 to 4 years old. The mature Chinook salmon are ranging 15 to 20 pounds right now and we have had a couple in the mid 20 pound range. Fishing in shallower water that is cool we have boated Brown trout, Lake trout, Rainbow trout and we are still seeing 3 to 6 Coho salmon a trip. 

Our spread is two wire dipsy divers, with the regular size diver set at 30 degrees. We are running these from 40 to 110 feet on the line counter. There are flasher flies on these set ups. Chrome flashers have been working good with Bull frog or Willy flies. We are running a deep rigger near the bottom with the same set up. The two side riggers are using one color leadcores and the spoon of choice is the Bloody Nose Moonshine. The riggers are set between 20 and 35 feet down. These two rods have been very productive. In fact spoons have been better than flies fishing in 40 to 60 feet of water. The boards have one side with leadcores from 3 to 10 colors. The other side is copper set ups from 75 to 225 feet of copper. All of these board rods are using spoons. We are running a couple Stinger spoons like the Gold Hud but the rest have been Moonshines. The Bloody Nose, Agent Orange and Orange Hulk have all been solid. The water looks to stay cool with more west winds, so we may even be fishing shallower water soon. 

July and August are the best months for Chinook salmon. Bigger fish and great fighting. But this is also a good time for Steelhead and Lake trout. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your summer trip charter fishing Lake Michigan. Salmon-A-Rama is now up to $50000 for the grand prize and we have a ticket for our boat making you entered in the contest when you fish aboard the Silver King. Below are a few pictures from the last week of fishing. The Coho salmon Collin is holding bit on a new Derks Lady Bug flasher. There is also a picture of our boat out fishing. 

The first day of summer is a couple of days behind us and we are now transitioning into a Chinook salmon bite. Up until now our catch has been mostly Coho salmon. It was a very good year for the Coho bite, which started the first week of May and ran through June 15th before slowing down. We are now catching Steelhead and Chinook salmon, along with the Coho. Until last week we had only boated 20 Chinook salmon. We have done the same in five days. This is a great time of year to get a mixed bag of fish. We are seeing at least three species and sometimes more on a trip. The size of fish has gone up. Mature Chinooks have been 15 to 20 pounds. We boated a 23 pound Brown trout two days ago and this is the big fish so far in 2024. We have been fishing from 40 to 200 feet of water over the last two weeks but the majority of the action over the last week has been in 60 to 90 feet of water. The surface temperature did cool off for a few days and got as low as 49 degrees in some spots but it is now back up to the low sixty's. There is still cool water down 40 feet. The Coho bite started to slow as the bait fish started to thin out. We have been as far a Fox Point, straight out the North Gap and down by the Green Can. We gone as far as Grant Park. The most consistent action has been south of the Milwaukee Harbor. 

Our spread has begun a conversion from the orange dodgers to flashers and spoons. We are still running orange stuby's on our inside dipsies set at 15 degrees and 30 feet back. We also have this set up on a side downrigger set 30 feet down and on two outside boards. One side is copper from 50 to 150 feet of copper. The other side has 3, 5 or 7 color leadcore. We are either using the Willy fly or the Nex Gen fly. these are the two inch size fly's. The inside boards are a 200 copper and 9 color leadcore. We are also running a one color leadcore on a downrigger set from 30 to 40 feet down. The spoons run on these setups are the Double Orange Crush and Gold Hud Stingers. We also like the Orange Hulk and Agent Orange Moonshines. The back Downriggers have flashers on them and they are set from 50 to 90 feet down, depending where we are fishing. Tow combinations that are working are the Luhr Jensen white and pearl fish scale tape, with a Howie Bull Frog fly. We also like the Derks Green Squiggles, with the Willy fly. We are also running these on our wire dipsy's out 60 to 100 feet. When we bring the wires out it is King time. 

We have been fishing since late March and it seems like a long time that we have been in the water but Summer is the most popular time for people to book a Milwaukee charter fishing trip. The lure of warm weather and big fish makes this a favorable time. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip this summer. Below are that last trips of limit Coho salmon and we are taking reservations for 2025 already to get in on next years spring Brown trout and Coho salmon action. There is a few pictures for some big Chinook salmon. I also have a picture of the 23 pound Brown trout. Our hot Derks flasher is also included. 

The Coho salmon bite has been outstanding this spring. In Milwaukee it started early May and now a week into June it is still as good as the best days in May. This is one of the better Coho salmon bites over the last 25 years. We have been getting limit or near limit catches each trip for the last several weeks. Water temperatures have been warming up, with surface temperatures reaching 60 degrees near shore but the last 3 days we have had strong west winds and this should keep water temperatures from warming up too fast and keep the Coho bite strong. We have boated several Coho salmon in the 6 to 7 pound class. These fish are a few pounds bigger than average for this time of year. The amount or alewives around along with the volume of Coho salmon we expect to have a good Coho bite through June. It may not be limit catches but they will be in the mix. We have been all over chasing these fish. From 150 to 250 feet of water, along the shoreline in 15 to 20 feet, by the gaps of the Milwaukee harbor and south of town around the Green Can in 50 to 80 ft. Everywhere we go the best bite is in the top ten feet of water.

Our best set up remain 3 to 4 boards each side. We are still using the B&B orange dodgers with peanut or 2 inch sliders flies. On the other side we have double zero orange dodger, with the same fly sizes. We have been using 5/8 ounce keep weights but for a brief time we used copper setups at 50, 75 and 100 feet because the water warmed up. We also used Derks small orange plastic flashers. I would recommend trying these out. Our dipsy sets are still a mono and braid on each side. The braid is dialed in at 15 degrees and set back 12 to 25 feet on the line counter. The mono dipsy's are set at 30 degrees and 20 to 50 feet back on the line counter. We are using larger peanut flies or 2 inch sliders on these. The side riggers and on back downriggers have the orange Stubby dodgers on them and are set from 8 to 25 feet down and 6 to 15 feet back. Our fly leads on the dodgers are 17 inches and the B&B's are 27 inches. We are running a Derk's bloody nose with an Aqua 5000 Howie fly on the deep rigger. This is anywhere from 70 to 120 feet down when permitted. This spread is dominating the Coho. The only issue is they are constantly on the move. 

We have some spots still open for this great June fishing and we are looking forward to July when we catch a mixed bag of Coho and Chinook salmon. Coho salmon are the best tasting and fun to catch. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the action. Now is the time!! Below are some pictures from the last serval weeks. I think this puts it into perspective on how good the fishing is. 

Well this is it! Coho salmon fishing as good as it gets. Since the first couple days of May the Coho action has been very good to as good as it gets. Either way Milwaukee charter fishing is on fire. The action has been good up and down the western shoreline of Lake Michigan and on the Michigan side the Chinook bite has been great, setting up a good summer bite for us. We talk about May and June as time of year to catch good numbers of Coho salmon and we are right in the middle of it and the bite is as good as advertised. We have been fishing the gaps of the Milwaukee harbor and also from 60 to 120 feet of water anywhere from 43,00 to 43.09 or from the south gap to just before Fox Point. The Coho salmon are ranging 3 to 5 pounds  and we have had several over 6 pounds. For this time of year size is above average and these fish are putting up a fight. We have had many limit catches this month and the amount of fish around it does not look to be slowing down anytime soon. 

We are running four boards a side. One side with double O orange dodgers and 5/8 ounce keel weights. The other side with B&B orange dodgers. We are using either peanut flies or one inch sliders on these set ups. The Green Howie fly, Nex Gen, Two Tome or Willy fly are best for us. We use the same flies on all four dipsy rods. Two on each side, with one Mono and one power pro. These are set 25 and 12 feet on the line counter. Our two outside downrigger are also using the same flies with a orange Stubby and a six inch Ladybug Derks flasher. These are set 6 to 10 feet back of the downrigger ball and 10 to twenty feet down. If we are in deeper water we add one deep rigger down 70 feet with a Howie Aqua 5000 and a 8 inch Derks bloody Nose "Ladybug" and this has been a very steady producer. All set ups are producing and this creates some fun action. The water temperature out in 90 to 120 feet is currently 46 degrees.

Folks, this is it and we still have some opening left in June May and June. There will be Coho salmon action throughout the next two month. The action will heat up and slow down but this period is going to be good this year. We have openings next week and we don't see the action slowing down. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get in on the hot Coho salmon bite. Below are some pictures from the last week. We have one picture of a nice Rainbow trout. We are seeing a coupe of Lake trout and we just caught our first Chinook of the season today. 

Alewives showed up along the shore and killed off the good Brown trout fishing we had around April 21st. Then we had a northeast blow around April 26th. By April 29th we had Coho salmon action. This was a week earlier than last year. Right now Milwaukee charter fishing is as good as it gets. The action is from Port Washington all the way down to the Illinois border. There is the right size bait and lots of it. The Coho salmon have shown up in great numbers and when we find them it is incredible action. We always tell our customers if you want good salmon fishing it will get no better than early May through mid June. Right now it is as good as it gets! 

The action has been good up and down the shoreline and the Coho salmon are already a pound and a half bigger than typically years at this time. The health of these fish and the numbers being caught means there was a very good survival from the 2023 stocking. We have been fishing the North gap to Bradford beach, The Main gap to the South gap and the Milwaukee harbor by the river mouth. All of the action is in the top 10 feet of water and we are fishing in 35 feet of water or less. There is some good action from 50 to 150 feet as well but you have to find schools of fish first. Once you do it is just as good action as by the shore, with less boat pressure. On Saturday there was easily a 100 boats working all three gaps. We decided to try inside the harbor, where there was only one boat and this helped out the bite. The water was 52 degrees in the Milwaukee harbor and 48 degrees just outside the harbor. Out in 100 plus feet it was 42 degrees on the surface. 

We are running a Coho spread. All orange dodgers, with peanut flies. We are running the two tone, Gen X and our famous Willy fly that cannot be duplicated. Each one of these three peanut flies have been good. We are running the small size peanut fly, though I am sure the larger peanuts will work because of the size o the Coho salmon already. We have been running our two outside riggers down 6 to 8 feet and about 6 to 8 feet back from the release. We have a braid dipsy set at 15 degrees and 10 feet on the line counter on each side of the boat. We run a mono dipsy at 30 degrees and 20 feet on the line counter on each side as well. We are running 3 to 4 boards a side. One side has either Luhr Jensen double O or Goldstar dodgers and the other side has B&B dodgers on the other side. Both styles have different action. We run our outside 15 feet back, the middle boards 25 and 35 feet back. The inside board is 45 feet back. The double 0 dodger side we are using a 5/8 ounce keel weight about 6 feet from the dodger. The B&B side we do not use a weight. This spread has been outstanding for us over the years and has led to quick limits of Coho salmon this year. We find if the fish are not biting as we would like we speed up or slow down but we start at about 2.8 mph on the GPS. 

This is it and if you have not already booked a trip with us we have spots available in May. This is the best time to target Coho salmon and also one of the best times of the year to catch your limit. Call Silver King Charters to get in on the great Lake Michigan salmon fishing happening right now. This is our favorite fishing of the entire year and Coho salmon are great eating fish. We have taking a limit on each trip since May 1st and we are just getting started. Below are pictures of recent catches. Also icluded are pictures of the baits we are using and a few sunrises. 

We are now in our regular slip at McKinley marina. This last week has been a solid bite, with almost all of the catch comprised or Brown trout. We boated a few more Coho salmon and our first Lake trout. We are still working the Milwaukee harbor and south of town around the pump house and just south of that. We are still in 15 to 30 feet of water and the surface temperature has bee 41 to 44 degrees. The bait has become more plentiful and this is helping the bite. The alewives have started to show up in big numbers south of Racine and we expect the same within a week. This will start to increase the Coho salmon bite. But for now we expect another week of heavy Brown trout action. We have been catching Brown trout in the 10 to 15 pound class each trip and hope to boat one over 20 pounds soon. 

We are still 100% spoons. Stinger spoons in the stinger size are best. Any spoon that is gold, with orange tape has been good. The UV blue dolphin has also been a standout. We are still running one, two and three color lead cores on each side. They are all producing. We have two mono dipsies as well. These are set at a number three setting and the line counter is at 20 feet. We are only running two riggers on the lake but in the harbor we will run four downriggers. All of these set ups are taking fish.

We have openings for April still and this is the last time you will be able to have Brown trout as the top target fish. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the action. Soon it will be Coho salmon time and this is our highest catch rate of the season for salmon. Below are pictures from the last few trips. We had a small bird hitch hiker for one of our trips. The picture with the Coho salmon has the hot Inmate spoon in his mouth. 

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We are in the water as of March 26th and we are catching fish. This early part of the year we are targeting Brown trout and this is the most productive time of the year to catch them. Over the next 3 weeks we will boat more Brown trout than the rest of the year. It is also a good time to catch a trophy size Brow trout. We have caught a couple Coho salmon and Rainbow trout as well. We expect to have Lake trout in the mix soon. We have been fishing the entire length of the Milwaukee harbor as well as south of the south gap by the condos. The water temperature is 39 to 40 degrees right now. We have not seen a lot of bait as of yet but that will start to change. The bite has been good with catches from 7 to 25 fish. Our biggest Brown trout so far has been 15 pounds. The action has been good at Bender park off Oak Creek as well. 

We have been running one, two and three color lead cores on our boards. Two mono dipsy set ups and four down riggers. We are in 15 to 35 feet of water and most of the action has been in 5 to 20 feet down. Our top spoons are the stinger size UV Blue Dolphin, Gold Hud, Double Orange Crush and the Inmate. We also added a new spoon to our spring collection from Screaming Drags called the Fireball. This has been a very good spoon and can be purchased at R&R The Fish'N Hole in Milwaukee. The action has been good and has been almost all Brown trout. We expect this to continue over the next several weeks before the Coho salmon bite takes over.

Milwaukee charter Fishing has some of the best Brown trout fishing in the world, with the potential of a record size fish. The Milwaukee harbor allows us to fish trips that could not be done else where when the wind gets bad. If you want to have an early spring trip give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467. We have openings over the next three weeks to get in on the Brown trout bite. Below are some pictures from the first few trips, which includes a 15 pound Brown trout. We also have a picture of the first Coho salmon we caught in 2024. There are also pictures for the best Stinger spoons and the hot Screaming Drag spoon mentioned earlier. We are also offering the solar eclipse trip on April 8th. If interested call us. 

The next report we do our boat will be in the water. The ice will not be returning and never was really here. We have been ice free now since the first week of February. As I post this it is 65 degrees in Milwaukee. We know that the weather will give us a few more cold blasts once the boat is floating. We love fishing late March and early April. This is our best Brown trout fishing of the year and it can be a lot of fun. We are fishing 10 to 30 feet of  water and the Milwaukee harbor gives us great protection, if the wind becomes strong. Over the last decade we have had some amazing catches. We have boated several many Brown trout in the 15 to 20 pound class, with the biggest fish coming in at 33 pounds and over 40 inches long. 

We have spent the offseason improving many things on our boat to make sure your trip in safe and productive. All of our reels have new line on them. All of the equipment has been repaired from last season. We have added many more baits to an already huge collection. The first part of this season will be heavy on spoons and our run time to start fishing will be the shortest of the year. Most trips you will be fishing within ten minutes of leaving the dock. People are sometimes concerned about it being cold but for the most part you will be covered from the elements. Our cockpit is completely covered, so when you are not fighting a fish you will be not freezing or getting wet. 

This has become a very popular time to try Lake Michigan charter fishing. We have a lot of customers who book every year at this time. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on some early spring Brown trout action. Our next report will have 2024 fish in it but below are pictures of past early spring trips during the last week of March and the first few weeks of April. The big fish is a 33 pound Brown trout! Things are lining up for a great early bite. 

March first marks the Meteorological first day of spring. Silver King Charters is almost ready to put in. We like to get in as early as possible and with no ice in the marina since the beginning of February it was possible to have a boat in the water already. But in reality it is way too risky. That said we are set to start March 25th this year and as long as the weather is not too crazy we have done very well the last week of March and early April. The Brown trout fishing is simple the best at this time of year. We catch all sizes but to pull a twenty plus pound Brown trout is not uncommon. Some fisherman are catching Coho salmon along the shore line over the last couple of weeks, so a mixed bag catch will be possible. 

The first few weeks we are in we keep the back drop down, so you are full in closed while fishing in case it is real cold out. You will be protected from precipitation and wind. We are fishing the shore line and Milwaukee harbor during this time of year and we are usually only in 30 feet of water or less. We are almost all spoon for baits at this time of year. The Stinger Gold Hud, Blue Dolphin and Mass Confusion Copper are favorites during early spring. This has been a warm winter, so we may start targeting Coho salmon early this season. BUt for the first few weeks Brown trout will be the main catch.

We have already had many calls for the first few weeks after we put in. So if you ever wanted to catch a Brown trout call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip over the last week of March and the first couple weeks of April. We think the Coho salmon bite may be starting right after that. We will see how the weather acts. The way things are going we may get winter in April. Below are some early spring pictures. 

We are in the last week of February and it is 60 degrees, with virtually no ice anywhere on the southern half of Lake Michigan and very little ice anywhere on the Great Lakes. We could have run trips all week in these conditions and the likely hood that ice will return is very slim  at this point. We usually start running trips the last weekend of March but it is tempting to start earlier. We have a lot of folks who love to book with us as soon as we get in because the fishing can be very good and it is the best time of year to fish Brow trout. We will see how thinks look after a couple of weeks into March and make a decision. Winter can still come roaring back. 

The ice fishing in the harbors lasted for two weeks this year. It started mid January and by February you better of had a boat to get out there. Since that time people with boats on trailers have been out and catching. There were 35 boats that launched by the river two weeks ago. The Brown trout are biting and Coho are starting to show up in the catch. One of our first mates caught a few from shore just south of the Oak Creek power plant in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The Coho salmon were only 13 to 14 inches long but this is still very early. These fish will grow in size and by the time we start fishing them they will be around 20 inches, which is normal for early April. That said it could be a very early start to the Coho salmon season. Lake Michigan never came close to freezing up and this is currently the warmest winter on record for Wisconsin and the surrounding states. The lake could warm up and get things moving faster this year. We will see if mother nature cools things down in the next several weeks. 

Silver King Charters is booking trips, so call 414-460-1467 to get in on the action from April through October. But I think some lucky people who decide to book early will have some fun this March. Below are the first Coho salmon caught in 2024. We also have a picture of a Brown trout caught by one of our customers last weekend when it was very cold out for a day. The current Lake Michigan ice coverage graph shows that we are at an all time low for ice on Lake Michigan since 1973. I have a few other pictures showing very early spring trips. The last picture is a 30 fish limit of Coho salmon caught in March. 

It is already early February and we are going to have the boat in the water and fishing in 51 days. It took until the middle of January for harbor ice fishing to begin and as of right now it is over. Mild temperatures for the last two weeks Going forward we have 40 and 50 degree temperatures for the next week. Even if we get a prolonged stretch of below freezing weather it will not be enough to create a very long lasting ice in the harbor situation, so that will not be a problem when we put the boat in. Lake Michigan at its peak this winter was only 18% covered with ice and currently it is only 7% covered. Another mild winter should mean good survival for stocked and hatched fish from 2023. Mild winters always help out young of the year Alewives, provided there was a good hatch. We know the Coho salmon were stocked at decent numbers last year, so we hope to have another good Coho bite in 2024. The Brown trout stockings were also up slightly the last two years and this has helped our early spring Brown trout bite. We saw a good catch of all year classes last year. 

Silver King Charters targets Brown trout the first three weeks we are in the water and this is also the best time of the year to catch a Brown trout. Some season will start out on Coho salmon though. If they are around in numbers we cannot resist targeting them. That said I am sure no matter what we will go all in on Brown trout to start. The great advantage we have Milwaukee charter fishing is the expansive Milwaukee harbor. The harbor holds a good population of Brown trout plus it gives us protection from the wind and allows us to get in almost every trip we have during this time of year. We keep the cabin completely covered to keep our customers comfortable while they are fishing. If you want to catch Brown trout on Lake Michigan Late March and early April is the time to book. We have been running trips for many years during the early spring and it is so much fun. 

We have already started booking trips and if you have some dates in mind or  a specific time of the season you would like to fish now is the best time to book. Salmon-A-Rama, which is from July 13th through July 21st, still has a few openings. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your 2024 Lake Michigan charter fishing trip. Below is the current ice coverage and historical ice coverage on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. There is very little ice on Superior as well. I have a picture of McKinley marina and that is the slip we use during the season. I have also included a few early spring Brown trout and Coho salmon pictures from the first tree weeks of the season over the last several years. 

We are getting ready for the 2024 Lake Michigan charter fishing season. There are a lot of things to do before we put in but things are coming along It is had to predict how a season will play out but there are plenty of salmon stocked for 2024 and both the Rainbow and Brown trout numbers are also up for this year. This showed in our catch last year. We saw an increase in both Brown trout and Rainbow trout from 2022 season. The Coho salmon totals were down but the 2022 season was unreal. Here is the break down percentage wise year over year from 2022 to 2023. This shows the percentage of each species to the total for the year. 

Species                      2022                2023

Chinook  Salmon       22%                 23%

Coho Salmon             51%                 40%

Rainbow Trout          6%                   10%

Brown Trout             4%                   11%

Lake Trout                17%                 16%

We are catching a lot more salmon then we did several years back thanks to increased stocking of Chinook salmon. Are total catch for 2022 was 73% salmon and in 2023 it was 63%. The good thing to note in 2023 was the increase in Rainbow trout and Brown trout. This diversity helps us to catch more fish at different times of the season. We rely heavily on Brown trout in the early spring and Rainbow trout when we are offshore fishing. A strong Lake Michigan fishery needs all five species in the mix. We expect to see the same catch rates in 2024 for each species. We do rely on big Coho salmon numbers each year and this helps are catch per trip to stay strong for a season. We averaged 12.5 fish per trip for the season. As you can see by the percentages the Coho salmon plays a big part in this. 

We hope to be running trips on March 29th this year to get in on some good Brown trout fishing. The best Milwaukee charter fishing for Brown trout is the first couple weeks of April. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip for 2024. Our first mate and Captain in his own right, Collin, has started to ice fish last week. The Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha harbors provide excellent Brown and Rainbow trout fishing through the ice in January, February and sometimes March if the ice is still around. Below are some recent pictures of the last week of ice fishing. 

We are approaching the holidays and quite honestly we could still be fishing. The start of December has been better than the first couple of weeks we were in the water. But McKinley marina has been close for over a month. We are already starting to prepare for next season. Repairs, tune ups, new line on reals, stocking up on more lures, total boat cleaning and organizing We spend a lot of time improving each off season. We will be putting the boat in on March 29th to get in on the very popular Brown trout fishing the first three weeks we are in. This is becoming more popular every year. That said we are out there fishing through October and there are great times to fish throughout the season. 

Silver King Charters offers gift certificates on our website. Just go to www.silverkingfishon.com, go to our Info page and you will see a gift certificates tab. All you need to do is print this certificate out and present it to the person you would like to give a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip to. Usually people pick the five hour trip. This trip will be $600, including sales tax until at least the end of December. Once the person has the certificate they can pick a date and call us at 414-460-1467 to book the date. After the date is booked we will need the person giving the certificate to call us back to give us a credit card number. This will hold the date. We run this card once the trip is complete. This makes a great gift to give to someone who likes to fish and you do  not have to pay until next year. 

We make this very easy for our customers and have had many people give out these gift certificates. Below I have a picture from each month we fish. From March through October, with a November thrown in. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get a gift certificate for the holidays. The pictures go in order from March through November, with a picture frim every month. The July picture is from our $10000 Pro Division first place win in Brew City tournament last year. 

We ended our season November 9, 2023. Unlike the last several years the great end of October fishing did not develop for us. From mid August right to the last week we had strong winds each week and some of those weeks we only could get out a few times to fish. But it was really bad the last three weeks of October. A good Chinook salmon bite was starting to take hold and then we had several consecutive periods of strong winds. From northeast to southeast and then a rea big straight east wind. We are talking 20 to 30 mph sustained blows. At the end we only fished the Milwaukee harbor with catches from 1 to 8 fish but most of the time it was 2 to 4 fish. Most of the catch was Brown trout. Now once we decided to concede on the last weekend of October things became a little more steady and a bit e did materialize in 80 to 100 feet of water for Chinook salmon and Lake trout were biting along in 30 to 50 feet of water south of town. We just cannot stay in that late because the marina closes. We expect to have better luck weather wise next year. We usually have some strong winds in September and October but this year was ridiculous. 

We had a very good year that saw an 11.76 fish catch rate per trip. Compared to last year we were up in Rainbow and Brow trout catches. We were about the same in Chinook and Lake trout catches. We were down on Coho salmon but last year was a record Coho salmon year. That said we did very well on average for Coho salmon. The bait population seemed a little down from the past several years so we will see what happens in 2024. The salmon were down in size and the Coho salmon are were you could see it the most. That said the fish population was healthy and the fish we caught were in very good condition. I biggest fish we boated was a Chinook salmon that weighed 29.40 lbs. This fish was a beast. Our other big fish per species were a Lake trout at 27 lbs., Brown trout at 22 lbs, a Rainbow trout at 15 lbs and a Coho salmon at 11 lbs. 

We will breakdown the months throughout winter and go over what happened and why it is good to book a trip during those months. The big Chinook came in June and the big Brown trout in April and the big Lake trout in September. We fish from April first through October and the fishing can be very good during any of those months. As of now we keeping our popular five hour trip at $600, including sales tax and any trip booked in 2023 will be at that rate. Below are pictures of the last two fish caught this season and the boat being pulled. We also have a picture of the big Chinook salmon and Brown trout for 2023. We also won the Brew City Pro tournament for in 2023 for $10000 and of course we had to put another picture up from that. 

Lake Michigan charter fishing is always subjected to weather and wind is the biggest variable. Since the middle of August we have had multiple days of strong winds that has caused many cancellations and difficult fishing in big waves at times. This stretch has rivaled anything we have had to deal with in twenty years. We are paying for the calm seas of May and June for sure. We have not had one week that did not include multiple cancellations during a week since mid August. The fishing was setting up for a good Chinook bite but back to back big blows out of the northeast and then east blew everything around. The last weekend saw 10 to 14 foot waves, with occasional 18 foot waves. This has made the water murky and warm. The water is 60 degrees from the surface down 70 feet. Might be warm deeper but we have not been out that far as of late. Before all of the super winds we are catching two and three year old Chinooks in 100 to 130 feet. The  bite was good and we were catching 8 to 12 fish a trip. There was plenty of bait around. We hope this sets up one more time before we pull the boat. The last several trips we have fished the Milwaukee harbor and we are3 catching Brown trout there. The bite was going good until the mega blows last week. The water is starting to clean up and cool down. If the bite does not materialize out deep there should be good harbor and shoreline fishing for the last few weeks of the season. 

We were running everything down 55 feet or deeper our in 100 plus feet. The boards were all still 250 to 450 foot coppers. But we are now in the harbor and we are back to 1, 2, 3 and 4 color leadcores. We are also using mono dipsies. We have spoons on everything. The top spoons are UV Blue Dolphin, Gold Hud, Silver Hud, NGK Green Bold and Orange NBK Gold. The best areas are just noth or south of the Main Gap and river. There is plenty of bait and fish around the harbor, so if conditions set up we should have a good bite. 

Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get one of the last trips of the year. We go until November 6th. We are also booing for the 2024 season. I have a few pictures from recent trips. The best is a 21 pound Chinook. At least we think it was a Chinook. It could have been a Conook, which is a cross between a Chinook and Coho salmon. This fish had no sex or not a spawner and was 43 inches long. A trophy for this time of year. 

We are coming to the end of the Lake Michigan charter for 2023 but we still have a month and a half left. The last four years we have had some outstanding fishing for Chinook salmon and Lake trout. For the first part of September we have been fishing in 120 to 200 feet of water. We have been fishing from the Main gap of the Milwaukee harbor to Atwater beach or 43.00 to 43.06. The water is 67 degrees on the surface and 65 degrees 100 feet down and it has been this way for most of the month. The Milwaukee harbor is 67 degrees from top to bottom and has hurt the bite for the entire month. We tried a couple times with very limited success. We have been caching a mixed bag of Chinook salmon, Lake trout, Rainbow trout and a Coho salmon on occasion. We have not caught a four year old salmon over ten days now. The mature Kings are mostly in the harbor or rivers now. 

We are running a eight rod spread because the bites are coming 80 feet down or deeper. We have tow of the  following running on our boards. A copper 300, 350, 400, or 450 foot set up. We have either a wonder bread RV Moonshine or a NBK green Stinger Stingray. The wire dipsies are the magnum size dialed in at a two setting. We have these set from 200 to 300 feet on the line counter. We are using either a chrome or white flasher with a Howie Super Frog or a Willy fly. The two side riggers have a two color leadcore or SWR set up on them, with Moonshine RV spoons. The best are the Agent Orange, Wonder Bread or Holdout spoons. Both are set in the 70 to 90 feet range with a 15 pound downrigger balls. Our back two riggers are set from 110 to 200 feet down using a 20 pound downrigger ball. We are using an 11 inch flasher that is either white, chrome or the chrome frog. We have a Howin super frog on this rigger This is the deepest rigger and is usually 135 to 175 feet down. The next rigger up is using the 8 inch flasher, with the some colors as the 11 inch flasher. We are using a Willy fly or Howie Super Frog set up. All are catching fish but the deep 11 inch flasher has done most or the damage. 

Milwaukee charter fishing is setting up for some very good fishing for the rest of September and October. There is a lot of warm water and bait around and the salmon and trout are starting to set up on the bait. The last couple of years the water started to cool off and the bite just kept getting better. This is a great time to catch two and three year old Chinook salmon. We have openings throughout September and October, so give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467. The pictures below are from the last couple of weeks. The first three pictures are what we think is a Conook, which is a cross between a Coho and Chinook salmon. The fish is between a Chinook and Coho in the second two pictures for reference. The Chinook is circled yellow, the Coho is circled blue and the Conook is circled red. 

We are heading into the last days of August and the bite this month has been solid. We have caught a mixed bag of Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, Lake trout and Rainbow trout almost every trip. We are still catching the mature four year old Chinook salmon each trip and this should continue through mid September. For the last two weeks we have been working between 90 to 200 feet of water but for the most part we are in 120 to 150 feet. Milwaukee charter fishing has been good from 43.02 to 43.07 just north of the north gap of the Milwaukee harbor. The water has warmed up and cooled down with constant strong winds from every direction. But the temperature break has been between 50 to 75 feet down in the water column. The mature Chinook have been 15 to 25 pounds this year and there is still potential to boat a 30 plus pound King over the next three weeks. Our biggest Chinook this year was 29.4 pounds and we have had several in the 24 to 26 pound range. There have been a few Chinooks in the harbor but the big push has not happened yet. This should occur in the next two weeks and we hope the water cools down some before it does to make for a good bite. 

We have been running almost the same spread since the Brew City tournament. Cooper set ups on the boards ranging from 225 to 450 feet of cooper. Moonshine spoons standard size RV Wonder Bread, Orange Hulk, Green Flounder Pounder and Agent Orange have been good. The Stinger stingray size Gold Hud, UV Blue Dolphin, Gold NBK Green have also been solid. The wire dipsies are the large size and we have them set at 175 to 250 on the line counter. We are using white pearl flashers with Howie Super Frogs on these. Chrome flashers have been outstanding this year but white is starting to work good. The side riggers have been a one and two color set up with a Moonshine or Stinger spoon mentioned earlier. Currently they are set at 50 and 60 feet down. The second deep rigger has a whit flasher and Howie Little Boy Blue fly set at 80 feet down. Our deepest rigger has the eleven inch chrome flasher and a Howie Super Frog on it set five feet back off a twenty pound downrigger ball. This is down from 120 to 150 feet depending on how deep we are fishing. We are trolling somewhat fast. 

This has been a solid year. Our Rainbow trout and Brown trout catches are up 35% from last year and we are catching a good amount of Steelhead each week. The Chinook totals from year past is up and since 2015 we have only one year that was better and that was last.  year. We expect by the end of this season we will past last years totals. The Coho salmon catch is down from last year but last year was ridiculous. The Coho numbers are very good. There are a lot of two and three year old Chinook salmon in the catch and this sets up for a good fall bite as long as a little warm water hangs around. Some of our best Chinook catching happens in the fall. We have openings in September and October.. We expect some real good fishing the next two months. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on some fall Wisconsin charter fishing on Lake Michigan. Below are some pictures from the last couple of weeks, including some 25 and 26 pound Chinook salmon. There is also a picture of our biggest Coho salmon at 9.5 pounds and a Hawk that landed on our boat during a trip. 

The second half of July was solid, with a good Chinook bite throughout the month. The increased stocking of Chinook salmon had a big impacted. We were able to land a fish on the Salmon-A-Rama board, with a 13.44 pound Rainbow trout. Over the last twelve years we have had 22 fish on the board and 6 fish of the day, winning cash for our customers. It is great to have more weigh in scales around the Lake Michigan, which has increased people who fish the nine day event, but it has made it more difficult to get fish on the board. We plan on purchasing another charter ticket for 2024 and the dates for Salmon-A-Rama should be announced soon. We also took 1st place in the Brew City Pro tournament last Saturday. We won the tournament by 51 pounds for $10.000. The Silver King team delivered our second 1st place finish if five years. To finish the month we boated a 27 pound Lake trout, which is our biggest Lake trout this year. 

Milwaukee charter fishing has been solid over the last two weeks and we have been fishing as shallow as 20 feet and as deep as 200 feet of water. We started the middle part of the month straight out of the north gap and down to the green can. For the most part we worked 90 to 130 feet of water, We started fishing north of Milwaukee in 43.04 to 43.07 in 50 to 90 feet of water by the third week of July. The last 7 day we have been from 43.07 to 43.11 or about 5 to 10 miles north of Milwaukee. From the ship wreck in 120 feet to a mile north of Fox Point. As the water cooled we worked 30 to 40 feet of water. Just before Brew City we were in 90 to 120 feet of water and for the tournament we worked 140 to 170 feet of water. But the last couple of days we are in 90 to 110 feet of water. We are catching a mixed bag of Chinook salmon, Lake trout and Rainbow trout. There is a Coho and sometimes a Brow trout in the catch. 

The Brew City spread is what I will go over and this is what we are currently running. The boards started out with 7, 8, 9 and 10 color leadcors but the water warmed up and the break was down at least 55 feet we switched over to copper set ups. Are best coppers were 175, 200, 250, 300, 350 and 400 coppers. These rods delivered some nice fish. We were using the orange Hulk RV Moonshine and the Wonder Bread RV Moonshine. Both standard sizes. We also used the gold NBK Green Stinger. This has been a good Chinook spoon. On the side downriggers we are using a one and two color leadcore with the tow Moonshines we are using on the coppers. Those two Moon shines along with the Agent Orange have been very good. The deep down rigger has a large chrome flasher, with chrome tape. This is a Lurh Jensen and we have a super frog Howie fly on this. We are just 4 feet back from the downrigger and we try to have this just a couple  feet from the bottom. This set up is great for Lake trout and will also take salmon. It delivered big during Brew City We are using a twenty pound downrigger ball on this set up from Magnum Metals. The wire dipsies have been set at 150 to 200 feet with a magnum dipsy. We are using the chrome Dragon Slayer from Derks, along with a Howie Bull Frog fly. All of these set ups delivered during Brew City and are still working now. 

The Chinook salmon fishing has been good and should continue. We should have some great September and October like the last several years . The Chinook fishing in October three of the last four years has been amazing and the one year it was not the Lake trout fishing was great. Call Silver King Charter at 414-460-1467 to book trips in August, September and October. Below are pictures of the last couple of weeks. The first several are from the Brew City Pro tournament win. The next coupe are a 27 pound Lake trout and a 25 pound Chinook salmon. Big thanks to the GLSF Milwaukee and Brain who is the president of the GLSF for putting the tournament on. Brain, you guys did a great job. 

We are in the heat of the summer and July is the most popular month for Lake Michigan charter fishing. Weather is a big reason because people like to be out in the warm temperatures but the big reason in Chinook "King" salmon. This is the best month to target Chinook salmon. The mature Kings have not yet begun to find their spawning grounds and they are at peak weight. Lake Michigan's Chinook population has not been this large since 2012 when a decision was made to reduce stocking numbers and eventually bring the annual lake wide stocking total to less than one million. This number has now grown to over 2 million Chinook salmon stocked per year and this is the first year we have four year classes at this stocking rate. We are catching Chinook salmon on every morning trip and most midday trips. They are putting up some great fights. We have been catching a mix of Coho salmon, Rainbow trout and Lake trout as well. The water has warmed up with consistent northeast winds but we are now seeing a good thermocline set up and this will help us target fish better. For the first 10 days of July we have been fishing 80 to 120 feet of water and the bites are coming 40 feet to 100 feet down in the water column. Only the last few days has the water started to cool down near the bottom and with west and  southwest winds projected over the next week this may set up a bite closer to shore. The good news though is there are plenty of Chinook salmon up and down the shore. The average mature Chinook seems to be around 15 pounds but we have boated many over 20 pounds and the big so far is 29.40 pounds. 

We are now using all copper set ups on our boards. The best are 200 to 350 feet set ups. We are using Moonshine spoons on these rods. Our favorite is the RV green flounder pounder and the happy meal. We are running wire dovers set at 140 to 200 feet on the line counter. We are using the large size dipsies set at 30 degrees. We are using either white or green flashers and either the Willy fly, Howie green krinkle frog, or Howie bull frog. These have been solid for Chinooks. The deep riggers have had the pearl coyote flashers with Howie green krinle frog. These are set between 60 and 105 feet down. The side downriggers have a two color and one color SWR on them. We are using either the Moonshine agent orange or the green flounder pounder for these rods.

The best bite has been the first hour and a half of the morning. We have been starting at 4:30AM to capitalize on this action. Just before dark is the second best bite. Chinook salmon can get moody. But we ahve been catching a few during the midday and Lake trout, Rainbow trout and Coho salmon also kick in throughout the day. July will continue to deliver a good Chinook bite and starting this Saturday is the lake wide Salmon-A-Rama big fish tournament. We have purchased a ticket that makes everyone on our boat eligible to win cash prizes during the nine day tournament. We hope to report a couple of winners this year. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a July or August Milwaukee charter fishing trip. Below are a few pictures from the first part of July. 

June 21st is summer solstice and my favorite day of the year. This is also the time that are Coho salmon bite turns into a mixed bag of fish as Lake Michigan starts to set up a thermocline. Right now we are starting to see 60 plus degree water temperatures on the surface and 51 degrees all the way down to 100 feet deep. Soon this will start to form a more distinct temperature break and set up a good summer bite. But for now fish can be anywhere in the water column but the best bite for us is in the top 60 feet of water. We have been fishing from 100 to 280 feet of water over the last 10 days. We are still seeing Coho salmon in he catch on each trip. Some times it is the bulk of the catch and other times we only catch 2 or 3 of them. We are also seeing a Chinook salmon almost every trip and it is common to have 2 or 3 of them in a trip. Rainbow trout and Lake trout are now caught on almost every trip. This is typical for this time of year as the lake starts to warm up. We are catching some nice size Chinook salmon, with several over 20 pounds and are biggest so far is 29.4 pounds. These fish are putting up a great fight. 

Our spread has changed from our last report. The back two downriggers are flasher flies. We are using white pearl flashers with the Willy fly or a Howie bull frog. These have been consistent at 50 and 65 feet down. The side riggers are spoons now, but we do use a red stubby dodger and 2" fly on one rigger at times down 15 feet. When we do use spoons we are a two color leadcore on a rigger down 25 feet. We like the Moonshine agent orange standard size. This has been a great spoon this year. We also like the Stinger green blue dolphin. The other rigger is staring mono down 30 feet. This set up has been the same for over 10 days. We still have orange dodgers on the inside dipsies set at 30 feet on the line counter. These pick up a fish or two per trip. We now use wire dipsies that are standard size on the outsied instead of the mono dipsies. The white pearl flasher is on one side with a Howe aqua 5000. On the other side we are using a green flasher from Derks that our firstmate came up with. The Willy fly is on this set up. We have these set at 140 to 165 on the line counters. We are still running mono and keel weights on the outside boards. These have stubby orange dodgers and two inch flies on them. They still pick up a few fish on a trip. We have 3 to 7 color leadcores on the inside boards. We have orange stubby dodgers on the 3 and 4 color and spoons on the 5 to 7 color we are running spoons. The Moonshine agent orange is best and catches them all. This spread is perfect for targeting the top 65 feet of water. 

We expect to keep catching Coho salmon for the next couple of weeks but the catch will be a mix that includes Lake trout, Rainbow trout and Chinook salmon. This is a great time of year to catch multiple species. We have been fishing since late March but this is the first day of summer and some very good fishing will happen over the next few months. Milwaukee charter fishing is looking to have some good Chinook fishing this year. We have some good dates open in the first two weeks of July. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip this summer. Below are a few pictures from the last 10 days, including the 29.4 pound Chinook that for most would be 30 pounds:) 

Charter Fishing Milwaukee on Memorial Day Weekend is usually one of our best weekends of the year for catch rates. The Coho salmon our in full swing. We had a strong northeaster the Wednesday before Memorial Day and things looked to be set up but we had mixed results. Friday and Monday were good but no wind on Saturday and Sunday hampered the bite. Monday through Thursday we saw some good catches and we had 2 to 5 big Chinook salmon caught on every trip. Several were between 15 to 22 pounds. By Friday we had lost the King bite but Rainbow trout and Coho salmon filled in. We have fished all over. We started in 15 to 25 feet off the shores of Fox Point. Spent time by the North, Main and South gaps. We have spent the last seven days working 43.07 to 43.09 anywhere from 100 to 250 feet of water. Over this period Coho salmon have accounted for 85% of the catch. A few Chinook salmon and Rainbow trout have also been in each catch, along with a Lake trout. We have only boated 14 Lake trout so fat this season. The mature Chinook salmon have been fighting really hard this season. The Coho salmon have been a little smaller this year. The water has been very cold but with calm seas and warm air the last week the surface temperatures have warmed to 62 degrees in places. We don't want it to warm up too fast but it has helped the bite this week. 

Flasher and flies on the wire dipsies set at 140 and 170 on the line counter, with regular size divers have been excellent when the Chinooks were around. We also ran downriggers set at 60 and 75 feet down. We ran white pearl coyotes with bull frog Howie flies. We also ran a flasher that Collin developed for Derek's that Colling calls the Cash Cow. This is a chrome blade with green cracked ice tape on it. We cannot wait for Derek's to finish making them. To fish with a bait our firstmate came up wiht and named is cool. The rest of the spread has been mall orange dodgers on the outside boards with 5/8 ounce keel weights and on the dipsies. We have gone back to mono dipsies over wire dipsies over the last four days because the Chinook action slowed down. We are running the inside dipsy at 31 feet and the outside dipsy at 51 feet on the line counter. We have orange stubby dodgers on the side riggers set at 12 and 18 feet. We also use this set up on a 3 color leadcore and 75 foot copper. These have been very good for us. We have run some 175 to 300 coppers with gold hud and blue dolphin spoons on them but the orange set ups have been better. We have the Willy fly peanut size on everything. 

The Coho salmon bite should stay good and stay in the mix though June. We could use a little west wind though. There are more Chinook salmon in the lake then there has been for several years. This should make for a good summer. We have not had much in Lake trout action this year but they will start to be more in the mix at the back end of June. It is good to see some early Steelhead action too and this cold really help out this summer. Silver King Charters has spots open in June and July, so call 414-460-1467 to get in on some good salmon and trout action charter fishing Lake Michigan. Below are some pictures of catches over the last ten days, including a 22 pound Chinook. There is a 9 year old who caught a 19 pound Chinook and a 10 year old who caught a 15 pound Rainbow. 

Milwaukee charter fishing is at the beginning of the best time of year for Coho salmon. The action has been very good in the southern end of Lake Michigan and we have had some very good days out of Milwaukee starting early this May and the best is yet to come. There has been good Coho action in Port Washington and Sheboygan as well. So there are a lot of Coho salmon out there. Over the past two weeks we have been all over the place to find a good bite. We started at the boils in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. This has been a good spot due to the cold water that is around. We have been fishing the north gap of the Milwaukee harbor and the beach north of that. We have been out in 180 to 230 feet of water straight out of town. We have also fished the shore north of Big Bay park. With the exception of  when we fished deep the action has been in 10 to 25 feet of wat4er. The water has been between 44 to 50 degrees and this has made things a little tough but we have had a lot of limit catches and for the most part double digit catches. The Coho salmon have been a little smaller than last season but last season they were exceptionally large. 

We are running all mono lines on the boards with 5/8 ounce keel weights and orange double )) dodgers on one side and Orange B&B dodgers on the other side. All these lines are 2 to 8 feet under the surface. We have small size peanut flies on all of these set ups. We like the blue/green/gold, 7 up, green and the Willy fly the best. We have a braid dipsy dialed in at 15 degrees and a mono dipsy dialed in at 30 degrees. Each has a double )) orange dodger and peanut fly. When we are fishing shallow we only use two downriggers, with an orange dodge on one side and a orange stubby on the other side. When we find Coho salmon the spread is very effective. 

We expect the Coho bite to get better, with some fantastic fishing at times. The water needs to warm up a touch and a big northeast wind would not hurt to help bunch fish up. There is one coming Wednesday and this could really help Memorial Day weekend. We still have some spots open in June to get in on some great Coho salmon fishing. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to try Lake Michigan charter fishing for salmon and trout. Below are some pictures from the last couple of weeks. 

This April ended up being a very good Brown trout month. We boated a lot of fish and many over 14 pounds, with the big Brown trout weighing 22 pounds. We target Brown trout throughout April and with a few years of reduced stocking on these fish we have seen the catch drop but this year it was strong and stocking numbers on Brown trout are rising. The weather helped make the bite solid. We are still in Milwaukee but the Coho salmon bite has been good from Kenosha and further south. In the last week Racine has been solid. Last year it was May 6th that the Coho bite took off in Milwaukee. We started catching Coho salmon in numbers just after Easter but not enough to specifically target them. But in the last week we have started to catch 5 to 15 Coho salmon a trip and over the last couple of days more bait has shown up and we are now running Coho setups on most of our rods. It looks like we are days away from limit catches in Milwaukee but if for some reason it does not materialize we will head to Racine for a couple weeks. Although Alewives have been in the harbor for two weeks now we are still waiting for the large schools to show up. Once this happens the Coho should be right behind this. 

We are currently running orange dodgers and peanut flies on all planner boards. These are mono set ups with a 5/8  ounce keel weight on them. Our lead is 17 inches from the fly to the double "O" orange dodger. We run these 15 to 45 feet back from the boards, with the shorter length  on the outside. board. The best fly we are using is a Willy fly but just the green tinsel. We have a mono and braid dipsy on each side of the boat. These are set at 20 and 10 feet on the line counters. We are using the same set ups as on the boards but we do like the two tone fly here as well. We have one downrigger set with the orange dodger and peanut fly and this is down 7 feet and set seve feet back from the release. We like to have this set up on the side the motor is running. The other three riggers have spoons on them. We  are catching a Chinook a trip over the last two weeks on the downriggers and the Gold Hud or UV Blue dolphin have been very good in the stingray size. We are close to staying with this set up for several weeks and may take the spoons out for orange dodgers soon. 

May and early June are know for great Coho salmon action. Coho account for a third to half our catch in a year. This is a great time to catch salmon in good numbers on Lake Michigan. Early April is about Brown trout but for the next several weeks it is all about Coho salmon. Last year we went 30 straight trips with limit catches in May. This is not always the case but May and June are the top two months to catch limits for salmon. The action has been along the shoreline and in front of the gaps of the Milwaukee harbor. Today we fished in 10 to 15 feet of water along the shoreline, where we found some murky water. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a May or June Lake Michigan charter fishing trip and start catching Coho salmon. Below are picture from the last two weeks. I have several Chinook pictures and these fish have been 8 to 17 pounds. There is also a picture of the 22 pound Brown trout that got a lot of attention of Facebook. The picture of the snow cover the the front window was from a trip on April 22nd and lets hope that is it for the snow. The boat was covered to the point we had to shovel. The spoon is a Gin and Tonic Stinger spoon that has been very good on lleadcores and dipsies this spring. Also a big thanks to Lake Michigan Angler and R&R The Fishing Hole for having the right stuff for Lake Michigan fishing!! 

Milwaukee charter fishing in the summer is a few months off but the last four days we had high temperatures in the 80's and high 70's. On April 12th we hit an all time high of 83 degrees. As of today we now have surface temperatures of 55 degrees around the river mouth by the Hoan bridge. Alewives are starting to show up along the shoreline but as of today the big schools have not appeared but it is only days away. We have been fishing the harbor and south of town by the FBI building and pump house It has been a real good bite in 15 to 30 feet of water south of town but after all the west winds the water became too clear to fish the shoreline so we headed back to the Milwaukee harbor. We caught a mix of Coho salmon and Brown trout south of town. In the harbor we are still catching almost all Brown trout, with a Coho once in a while. 

We had heard of a Coho bite by the Cudahy towers and went all orange dodgers and peanut flies on the boards and two downriggers but it was mostly Brown trout, with a few Coho salmon. The next two times we fished this area we went back to mostly spoons. When we were in the harbor it was all spoons. The one, two and three color leadcores have been best. A new hot spoon has been the Gin and Tonic Stinger spoon. We are also using a lot of orange colored spoons in the mix. Right in front of the river mouth and around where the Lake Express docks have been the best spots for bites in the Milwaukee harbor. The Saint Francis condos and just past the pump house on the beach have been best south of Milwaukee. 

We expect more normal temperatures for April coming up. The alewives should be near shore and in the harbor this up coming week and we hope the Coho salmon will follow. The southern half of Lake Michigan is already catching good amount of Coho salmon and it looks to be a solid year for them Call Silver King Charters to book a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip for the second half of April and May. The best Coho salmon fishing of the year is coming up. Below are some pictures from the last week. Our first Coho of the season and a lot of Brown trout. Next week will probably be our last week targeting Brow trout. 

We have spent the first two weeks in the water fishing for Brown trout. We have had very good action with most of our trips in the double digits. We have fished in the Milwaukee harbor for almost all of our time, except a few shots through the Main and North gaps. The best spots have switched from day to day. The river mouth and just past the discharge has been good of late. But before that it was best by the south gap and the Lake Express dock. Most of the fish caught had large shad or gobiies in them. There has not been good smelt action yet by Jones Island. Our biggest Brown trout was 17 pounds so far and we have seen man in the 9 to 13 pound class. The water temperature has risen to 42 degrees in areas, with all of the rain of late. We expect the alewife schools to show up in the next week and this will change the bite. 

The first few trips we ran in March are best bite was come deep on on downriggers but over the last several days the one and two color leadcores have been the best. Orange Stinger size spoons have been the best, with the orange and gold NBK standing out. The Inmate Stinger has been very good to.  We lie to troll fast but the best bite has been around 2.3 mph on the GPS. Orange tape on a Gold Hud has been god on the downriggers and dipsies. The Moonshine Mongolian Beef has also been good on the deep downrigger set at 26 feet down. 

We  have a lot of customers who want to target Brown trout and we expect to have a good bite for them during the next week. But warm air, with highs in the 60's and rain could change the bite. Alewife schools will also be showing up soon and all this could change the bite to Coho salmon and once this happens the Brow trout bite will fade. Coho salmon are being caught south of Milwaukee and people are catching them from shore off the Cudahy towers. We expect an early and good spring for Coho salmon. But this weekend we will still target Brown trout and if you are interested in catching Brow trout next week may be your last best shot. We have openings next week and the weather looks superb. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your Milwaukee charter fishing trip. You might get lucky and be out when the Coho bite starts up. Below are pictures from the last several trips. 

We put the boat in March 24th and started fishing that day, catching 7 Brown trout in a couple of hours. Unfortunately the next day it snowed six inches and we needed to shovel out the boat. We did get out Sunday, Monday and Tuesday though. The fishing has been solid for Brown trout in the Milwaukee harbor. The best spots have been from the Discover World, past the river and to the discharge. There have also been bites in front of the Lake Express dock and South Gap. The river mouth to the Main Gap has been good too. On Sunday there was incredible pressure, with over 25 boats fishing around the river and discharge. There was little wind and almost all our bites came off downriggers near the bottom. Monday and Tuesday, with less boat traffic and a breeze there were more bites and the one and two color leadcores took off. The water temperature was between 36 to 38 degrees, unless we went up the river by the turning basin where it reached 40 degrees. The fish had either Gobies or large Shad in them. 

We are running one, two and three color leadcores, two mono dipsies and two downriggers. Gold spoons seemed to work best, with the Stinger Stingray size Gold Hud dominating. The Gold Hud with orange tape was second best. Rob at Lake Michigan Angler still has a bunch of the Gold Huds left but they are going fast. Tough spoon to find these days. The action is mostly Brown trout but we did boat a couple of Lake trout near the gaps and we lost one Coho salmon. 

This is the best Brow trout fishing of the year and should last a few more weeks. The run time is a few minutes and fishing in and around the Milwaukee harbor helps with wave action. This is a fun experience and one of the only times we put are efforts in targeting Brown trout. Milwaukee charter fishing in April is the best time to target Brown trout. All though it is March right now. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to give April fishing a try. I havea picture of a Gold Uud in a Brown trout month. A couple of the trout are 15 pounds and there is a picture of the boat covered in snow from Saturday. 

I was going to go over August in this report but the marina and southern half of Lake Michigan has been ice free since February 28th and people are in boats catching fish. Our first mate Collin was out in a small boat yesterday catching Brown trout in the Milwaukee harbor and today catching Coho salmon from the shore. With the mild winter and little ice this year the southern half of Lake Michigan never went into a deep freeze and this will lead to some early action. Coho salmon are being caught all along the shoes of southern Lake Michigan. IT by no means is the action we will see in May but fish are being caught. We are looking to get the boat in next weekend or the Monday after that. We have fished in late March before and it has been good. We look to do it again this year. Brown trout will be are primary target but it is safe to say Coho salmon and Lake trout could be in the mix on any trip this March and April. We have the boat rigged and ready to go. 

We will be running a straight spoon spread. We really like gold and copper spoons in early spring. Stinger spoons now made by Gibb's are our favorites. We usually run the stinger or scorpion size spoons the first couple of weeks. Our favorites are Mass Confusion, Gold Hud, Gold NBK Green, Gold NBK Orange. These spoons along with a UV Silver Blue Dolphin are already tied up and ready to go. The one, two and three color leadcores do a lot of damage early in the season. We like to troll fast to cover a lot of water and pass as many active fish as we can. The bites are usually found in a few areas and once we get hit we will work the area hard.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          We have ha a lot of good action the first few weeks we are in and there is no better time of year to target Brown trout but we think a mixed bag of species is likely. Resident Coho salmon could be great this year with the very mild winter and certainly higher survival rate. We will see how early the bait fish show up and this will only improve a promising start. I will go over August and September Milwaukee charter fishing for those of you planning trips for that time of year. soon but hopefully very soon I have a report of our first trips. If you are interested in booking a trip for this March or April or anytime of the season call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467. The first couple of pictures are Brown trout caught a couple of days ago and the rest are from March and April over the last several years. 

We are inching closer to the start of the 2023 Lake Michigan charter fishing season. We are almost ready to drop the boat in and with a little help from mother nature we might be in March 24th. As of right now the entire McKinley marina and Milwaukee harbor is ice free and has been since February 28th. I cannot remember a time the marina had no ice in it this early. We talked about April Brown trout fishing a few reports back and we hope to be catching them in March. April fishing looks to be good this year. July is our top booked month for a lot of reasons, The weather is usually good, Children are out of school and people are taking vacations. But July is also when we have our best Chinook action of the year. A thermocline has usually set up and this makes it easier to target Chinook. The mature Chinook are also loading up on bait fish to get ready to spawn. There was a big stocking reduction lake wide back in 2008 and additional reductions in 2012 until there was actual debate to end Chinook salmon stocking all together and let natural reproduction take over. Wisconsin fought this with the help of the Wisconsin Lakeshore Business Association or the WLBA, who helped lead the charge to end the reductions and eventually get the Chinook salmon stocking up to 2.3 million lake wide. This has helped bring back the Chinook salmon catch. The last three years have each improved from the last season in catch rate. When we left the lake last October we were catching a lot of two year old Chinooks that were two to four pounds and this should lead to a good Chinook bite this season.                                                                 

Several years back we were fishing Lake trout in July on a regular basis because the Chinook bite was almost non existent at times. We still catch Lake trout, Rainbow trout and Coho salmon in July but Chinook are now back in the mix and common in the catch. We are also catching bigger Chinooks. During the down turn in stocking along with low levels of bait fish it became tough to catch a 20 pound Chinook but in the last five years we have caught many in the 20 to 25 pound class and several that where 30 to 34 pounds. July starts out with a blend of Coho salmon and Chinook salmon but by the middle of July it is more Chinook. Depending our current and water temperature we could be fishing in 15 to 25 feet of water or out in 300 feet of water. But in July we spend a lot of our time between 80 to 100 feet and the run time to this depth out of Milwaukee can be as short a 10 minutes. 

Chinook salmon our the King of Lake Michigan and put up a great fight no matter the size. But when you hook up a 15 plus pound Chinook salmon it can take 200 feet of line out without stopping very fast and this is why they are so fun to fight. Our favorite rod to catch big Chinooks on is the wire dipsy rod. These rods have rollers on them because we are using 30 pound test wire line. Very productive big fish rod. We are almost always using flasher and flies on these rods. When a big Chinook hits a wire rod there is no doubt what fish hit it. During July when we fish deep water there can be a good Rainbow trout or Steelhead bite. Rainbows jump almost immediately and this leads to an exciting fight. No matter where we are fishing Lake trout are present and everywhere provided the water is cool enough. 

So at the beginning of July we are seeing Coho salmon in the mix with Lake trout, Rainbow trout and Chinook salmon but near the end of July the Coho bite slows up. Salmon-A-Rama is July 15th through July 23rd and is a lake wide big fish fish fishing contest. We enter our boat every year so all of our customers are entered and can win prizes. Over the last 11 years we have had 23 cash prize winners during this week. We still have a few spots open for 2023. Last season half our catch was Coho salmon but Chinook salmon came in second as most caught species. We are expecting to see the same results this year and July is one of the best months to catch Chinooks. Call Silver King Charters to book a July Milwaukee charter fishing trip this year at 414-460-1467.Below are some pictures from July fishing trips. I also have a picture of a graph showing the ice coverage on Lake Michigan. It was below average for almost the entire year and this will help the survival rate of bait fish that hatched last year. 

We are charter fishing from April through October and all the months we fish can be good and each month has its strong points. Last month we did reports on April Brown trout and May Coho salmon. This report covers June and we are finally getting warmer weather in Wisconsin. June is a month that will begin to transition into a mix of Coho salmon, Chinook salmon, Lake trout and Rainbow trout but it starts out strong on Coho salmon. The Coho are starting to average four to six pounds based on the bait population and what the size was of Coho when we left the lake in October. We are still fishing in the top 20 feet of water for these fish, with some of our baits right at the surface. This bite at the surface can stay strong all month if the water does not warm up too quick. But usually by the third week of June the lake starts to transition as warm water starts to form and that warm water goes deeper into the water column. Eventually a temperature break will occur and there will be a distinct temperature break of several degrees at a certain depth. When this happens the Coho bite will start to break up and we will start to see more Chinook salmon and Lake trout in the catch. But for most of June Coho salmon is the number one caught fish and can be as good or better than May. 

We are still running anywhere from twelve to sixteen lines in June and most of these rods will still have the orange dodger and peanut flies on them. The big difference is that the flies are now bigger and usually two inch long sliders. Are favorite and is on every orange dodger set up is the Willy fly. This is when it dominates. We at times like to use red treble hooks with this fly. It can mean the difference in catch rate. Gamakatsu double strength or two "X" round bend hooks are our favorite. We use the size two for the small flies and size one for the lager flies. We are still using mono line with 5/8 ounce keel weights on the outside boards. At the start of the season we set these back ten to 40 feet from the board. As the water warms we drop them further back. Eventually we switch to leadcores from one to eight colors depending on how warm the water gets and where the break is. We will also use copper line from 25 to 150 feet. We will use the orange dodger set up until the Coho salmon break up and go deep. 

Our dipsy setups are the same orange and even our dipsies are orange. We use one mono and one power pro setup on each side. These are set at 15 and 30- degrees. We start these only 15 feet out on the line counter and keep dropping them until the water warms and the break gets to 20 plus feet down. At this point we switch to wire dipsy setups. By June we are usually running flashers and flies on the riggers and this is where we start to catch some big Chinook salmon. Somewhere in June we will have some good Chinook fishing. But Coho salmon are still the main target. The great thing about June, besides the weather, is the chance to catch it all. Load up on Coho with a few Chinook salmon, Lake trout and Rainbow trout. 

May and June are usually tied for the most limit catches in a month for a year but June usually wins out. Last season was very good for Coho salmon in June, with many days that we fished right in front of the Milwaukee harbor. During June we could be fishing 15 to 40 feet or out in 200 to 300 feet but when we find schools of Coho salmon it is great action. Chinook salmon also travelling in schools and when they set up of Milwaukee it really makes for a fun trip. People who call looking to catch salmon there is no better time than May and June. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to hook up on June Coho salmon. Below are some pictures from the last few years of June Milwaukee charter fishing and Racine charter fishing trips. 

Our last report talked about April Milwaukee charter fishing. Our best month for Brown trout. May is a month that transitions into Coho salmon. Over the last ten years Coho salmon has been our number one caught species eight of or ten seasons. When Chinook salmon stockings were reduced the Coho salmon continued to be stocked at around 2.5 million lake wide, making Coho more plentiful than every fish then Lake trout. Chinook salmon have been increased over the past couple of years but Coho will still be heavily relied on. We can start seeing Coho salmon in our catch as early as late March and April but the consistent action starts to happen in May. This is also the time of year we are Racine charter fishing at times. It depends on where the Coho salmon schools show up. When we left the lake last year in early November we were already catching Coho salmon that were almost a pound and a half. Each season can be a little different on the size of spring Coho salmon but two to three pounds is typical. But these fish start putting on weight quickly as the season progresses. 

Coho salmon are raised in hatcheries for a year and a half. The eggs are harvested in October and held for a year and a half and stocked in May. These fish then grow that summer and fall until the following spring they are ready to catch. This means there is only one stocking years Coho to catch each season. These fish will winter in the middle of the lake, the southern end of Lake Michigan or around power plants were the water is warm and bait is plentiful. In the spring the Coho will come u along either the west or eastern shoreline or swim in from the middle of the lake. Every year we will here a report or experience a Coho bite ourselves and the catch goes from Brown trout and Lake trout into salmon. Coho salmon travel in schools, so when you catch one there is a good chance there are more around. 

When we are fishing Coho in May we will run a spread of orange dodgers and peanut flies on just about every set up. The peanut flies vary in color and manufacture but our favorite is the Willy fly, which Captain Willy ties himself. By far our top producer. The orange dodger is an attractor that simulates creel or shrimp from the ocean. These fish came from the Pacific ocean and their brains are still wired that way. This si a great set up to catch Coho and when they are schooled up it makes for a fun day of fishing. Every season is different on when the bite will start. In 2021 we were charter fishing Racine in early April catching limits. Last year it started up in early May and we had 33 straight trips with limit catches of Coho salmon Milwaukee charter fishing. 

We expect another good season of Coho fishing. We don't know when they will start biting but we know for sure that May will have a lot of Coho salmon caught. Weekends go fast in May, especially Memorial Day weekend. We look forward to May fishing because when the Coho bite is on there is no easier or quicker fishing that can be had. Silver King Charters fishes seven days a week and if you want to catch salmon sometime in May is when it starts up. Below are some pictures of Coho salmon catches over the past few years. We show a bunch of limit catches. We do not limit on every trip but May is a month that has on of the most limit catches. The last picture shows an orange dodger and Willy fly. That fly was been copied by many but never duplicated. 

Happy New Year to everyone and Silver King Charters is looking forward to the 2023 Lake Michigan charter fishing season. We have already done a lot of prep work and we still have 3 more months of work before we put in on March 31st. We will be going over each month from last year over the next several weeks and explain what to expect if you are booking a trip during that month. We start early. Right after the ice is out of the marina in Milwaukee. Sometimes we are already running trips in late March. This is our best time of year for Brown trout. No other month comes close. Brown trout stocking has been down for a few years now but last year there was an increase, though modest it will help. We troll in and around the Milwaukee harbor during the first few weeks of April. This mean less run time to get to where we start fishing. These is also three rivers that converge in the Milwaukee harbor that make this area very good for fishing in the spring. We are also fishing along the shore line in 10 to 30 feet of water both north and and south of Milwaukee. We do make runs to the Oak Creek power plant and the Oak Creek creek. Both areas have warmer water and hold fish in early spring. The run time to these areas is a half hour but can be very productive. We keep the cabin closed during this time of year to keep you protected from the elements, so you stay comfortable while fishing. When the winds are strong we can still run most of the trips because the harbor protects us from waves we could not fish in out in the lake. 

Usually 70 percent of the Brown trout we catch during a season is in April and for the most part it is the only time we make a point to target Brown trout. We also catch Lake trout, Rainbow trout and some Coho salmon during April, with an occasional Chinook. But Brown trout is the main target, especially through the first 3 weeks of April. We are not fishing in deep water and most the the baits we run are in the top 15 feet of water. We will run one or two baits near the bottom and the deepest water we will find ourselves in is 40 feet. We are usually running all spoons this time of year. Our favorite spoons over the last few years are copper or gold spoons The Stinger Mass Confusion and Gold Hud in the stinger size are always in the mix. It is getting tougher, at least last year to get these spoons, so order ahead. We also like the the UV Blue Dolphin and are going to try and get a gold version of these for this spring. Deadly spoon. The other spoon that has been solid is the UV Green NBK gold spoon. All of these plus a few others will always be in the spread during spring. 

We run one, two and three color lead cores on boards and occasionally a four color. If you have been out with us in the summer and had to fight a 300 copper fish you know that sometimes fish on boards is not fun but in the spring there is far less line out and catching a fish on a board rod is a lot of fun. These rods account for over 65 percent of the fish we catch in April. We run downriggers and two mono dipsy rods also and these are set shallow and close to the boat. The weather is why people sometimes do not want to book in April but with the covered cockpit it really is not bad. But the fishing can be really good during the period. 

If you want to catch Brown trout on Lake Michigan then April Milwaukee charter fishing is the time to go. Milwaukee is known for a great Brown trout fishery also. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip in April for Brown trout. Monday through Wednesday we offer six hours for the price of five hours during April. Our next report will cover May fishing. Below are some pictures of April Milwaukee charter trips. We are booking trips for the 2023 season now so make sure to call early to get the date you want. 

Silver King Charters would like to wish everyone a very happy holidays. We have already put a lot of hours on the boat getting ready for the 2023 season. Every year there is maintenance to be completed before we put in. We hope to be floating on March 31st next year. People ask us all the time when do we start booking for the next year and you can book right after you finish your trip. But a lot of times people are not sure when they can go and have to coordinate with others. But the sooner you know the earlier you should book. Saturday's are the most popular day for people and if you want a Saturday now is the time to call. Fridays and Sundays are next to go. The least popular day is Wednesday. We like fishing on Monday and Tuesday because there are less boats out. We still have a few Salmon-A-Rama dates too. To inquire you can email or call us but when you want to book we take all reservations over the phone. 

Last year our number one caught fish was the Coho salmon as it has been for the since 2016, with the exception of 2019 when the Coho stayed in the southern part of Lake Michigan.  People ask when is the best time to book a Milwaukee charter fishing trip. There are real good days from Late March through October but the best Coho fishing is early May through late June. We have had Coho action early April going through late July but mid May through mid June is the sweet spot usually. Coho salmon are great eating and lead us to our most limit catches during the season. This has become our most popular time to fish. Coho salmon have mot been reduced in stocking like the other species and has helped us to keep our catch rate up throughout the season. Chinook salmon stocking has been raised over the past several years but Coho is still number one. 

If you are looking to get out and target Coho salmon May and June our the months and these dated get booked faster, especially Friday through Sunday. Please call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to secure a date for the 2023 season. Below our some pictures for Coho salmon catches last year. I have a picture of a sunset on Christmas Eve. Also don't forget our firstmate Colin is running ice fishing trips right now for Rainbow and Brown trout. He is really good and it is a lot of run. 

The season ended for us on Monday November 7th. We were able to get some fishing in the last two weeks of October and the first week of November and it was a good bite. Every year during this time we having some god fishing action and every year is different on what bites. We have had a couple of seasons when the Steelhead bite was great. Brown trout are always an option along the shore. Lake trout fishing can be outstanding this time of year. But our favorite late season fishing is Chinook salmon and this late October and early November the King bite was real good. Over the last 4 seasons we have had three really good season ending Chinook bites. The increased stocking has help the bite this time of year. The reduced stocking of Steelhead has certainly hurt the bite. We started out in 300 plus feet of water in early October but by the end of the month the bite was in 100- to 140 feet. When we left the lake it was still 51 degrees on the surface and stayed that temperature down to about 60 feet. There was still lots of bait around. We where also catching next seasons Coho that were running one and a half pounds. Our bigger Kings ranged 13 to 15 pounds. This was some real run fishing and we had some great weather, with high temperatures in the 60's and 70's. 

We ran two wire mag dipsies set at 150 on the line counter and dialed in at 30 degrees. They both had little boy blue flies and flashers on them. I really wish they still made the Little boy blue tape for flashers. The set ups were on our deep riggers set at 100 and 75 feet down. We had Stinger UV blue dolphins and gold huds on the up riggers set at 50 and 55 feet down. We also used these spoons on our boards. One side had an 8 and 10 color leadcore. The other side had a 200 and 300 lcooper set up. The flasher fly set ups were the best. We were just north of town in front of the water treatment plant. 

We had a lot of next years Coho hit the last two months we fished and we hope this translates into another good season of Coho fishing. This year was one of our best ever and the last several seasons have been good. The late season Chinook action we had is a good sign for next season too. Silver King Charters is taking bookings now and if you want a weekend for the 2023 season call us at 414-460-1467. Below are some pictures from the last couple of weeks of our season. I have a picture of a Coho that almost weighed two pounds. Also a picture of the boat being pulled out to end a great season. Thanks to everyone who fished with us and helped make it a great year! 

We are half way through our last month of Lake Michigan charter fishing, although we will stay in the first week of November. The water remains warm with a surface temperature of 61 degrees and down 150 feet it is 60 degrees. We started the month fishing in 250 to 300 feet of water with the action down 75 feet and deeper. Most of the bites were Lake trout, with a few Chinook and Coho. Over the last week we are fishing in 150 to 200 feet of water and over the last couple of days 140 to 160 feet of water. The bites are coming 90 to 150 feet down. There are stacks of bait on the bottom and the fishing seems to be improving as the water slowly starts to cool down. The bite over the last week has been mostly Chinook salmon. We are boating a lot of 8 to 14 pound Kings. Three of the last four years October has set up like this, with lots of warm water and lots of bait fish on the bottom. This has made for some very good Chinook fishing. We think the rest of October will have some good Chinook fishing. Weather does cause more cancellations this time of year but when we can go the bite has been good. 

Our spread has been limited, since we need to fish deeper down to catch fish. We are running just six to eight rods during the trip. Usually the two back downriggers, with 20 pound downrigger balls, are set 120 and 140 feet down. We are running a Hot Spot little boy blue flasher and Howie little boy blue fly on one rigger. On the other we are running Derks bloody nose flasher and Howie Aqua 5000 fly on the other. If we run a third rigger it is 90 feet down with a one color leadcore and a Stinger gold NBK green. We will probably run these until the end and just continue to move them up as the water gets colder, unless we fish shallow water. Our wire dipsies both have the Derks and aqua on them. We are using magnum dipsies set at a three setting and 250 or 300 feet out on the line counter. We run a 350 and a 400 cooper with the same spoon on the rigger of a Gold yellow tuxs spoon. The riggers and dipsies do most of the work and have been very productive. 

The Chinook bite has been good and should become easier as the water bools. We also expect some goo Lake trout and Brow trout action later on. Next years Coho are already 14 to 16 inches and we catch a few of those too. Silver King Charters will be in the water until November 7th and when the weather permits we will be out fishing. Give us a call at 414-460-1467 to book a end of the season trip. The pictures below show recent catches. We have pulled two Coho over 10 pounds that have not yet gone to a river to spawn during October. 

The fishing off the shores of Milwaukee have remained good, although the spots have changed. The last couple of weeks of August the water was cooling down. We found 49 degree water down 45 feet in 100 feet of water before the big Labor Day weekend northeaster. The fishing was very good both north and south of town in the 100 foot mark. We were catching all species but it is great to see more Chinook salmon in the mix. The mature Coho salmon are 8 to 12 pounds, with some pushing 15lbs. There has also been a decent bite of of Chinook salmon in the Milwaukee harbor, with the best action from the Main gap and up the river going past Centerointe. We have started fishing out in 200 to 280 feet of water this week and the temperature break is anywhere from 50 to 65 feet down. The best action has been 50 to 120 feet down. We have caught Lake trout, Rainbows, Coho, Chinook and Pink salmon in this depth. We have fished from 02 to 07 with great action everywhere. We have now caught 18 Pink salmon this season and have heard it is even better for them down south off Kenosha. We have pulled 5 species 4 times in he last week and each time one of the 5 was a Pink salmon. The bait we see on the bottom over the last couple of days out deep is unreal. Reminds me of a couple of years ago when we had amazing Chinook salmon fishing in October. 

We are currently running all coppers on our boards frim 150, 175, 200, 250, 300 and 350 feet. We are running the green Moonshine flonder pounder small size. The Stinger UV blue dolphin, gold and silver huds on the coppers and they are working great. Not our customer's favorite rods though. We are running magnum dipsies on our wires set at 175 on the line counter and dailed in at 30 degrees. White glow Hot Spot with a Willy fly or the Derks bloody nose with a Hwwie aqua 5000 fly. These are very steady. The two back riggers are set 100 and 85 feet dwon and have the same set ups as the wires, although chrome flashers have also been good. We have spoons on the side riggers down 55 and 65 feeet. Stinger gold hud and blue dolphin are strong on these set ups. We are getting over 35 bites a trip currently. With all the bait out there we beleive the bite will stay strong even with big wind switches. 

Silver King Charters will be fishing through October and things are setting up for a good bite over the next 8 weeks. There are a lot of 2 and 3 year old Chinooks around, so this could lead to some real good King action this October. Give us a call at 414-460-1467 to get out Lake Michigan charter fishing before the season ends. The pictures below are from the last several weeks. I have a couple Pink salmon photos in there. 

July finished strong with a good offshore bite and a good shoreline action. Through the last ten days of July and the first week of August we have had very good action in 200 to 280 feet of water between 00 and 04 straight out of the North gap of McKinley marina. The action has been below 40 feet out there. We have also been fishing the green can and Fox Point in 40 to 60 feet of water. There has been some cold water close to shore and a good Chinook salmon bite. We have boated several 20 pound fish including a 26 lb Chinook salmon, a 23 pound Brown trout and a 23 pound Lake trout, which are all the biggest of the season for each species. This month and early September is when some of our biggest fish are caught. We also just finished fishing the Brew City tournament last week. We finished in 6th place in the two day Pro tournament. We were in 4th place after the first day with a good chance to win but we could not catch our Lake trout the second day and that hurt our chances. We were three miles south of the good Lake trout bite. There were 116 boats in the tournament overall and the pro division paid out $10000 to 1st place. The Am division paid out #4000 to first place. Best tournament on Lake Michigan. The biggest fish or the tournament won a one ounce piece of gold too!! I cannot wait until next to fish it again. 

When we are out deep we are running coppers on all our boards. They are 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 275, 300 and 350 coppers. We are running a mix or spoons on these. Moonshine UV bloody nose and Singer kevorkian are the best two. The Stinger UV green dolphin has also been very good. We are also running a two color leadcore on a side rigger down 30 to 45 feet with a spoon. Usually one of the three mentioned above. We have spoon on the other side rigger back about 75 feet with a spoon and down 45 feet. We are funning flashers on the two deep riggers down 50 and 65 feet. We have Derks blood nose and chrome flashers with a Howie aqua 5000 fly on them. We really like that fly this year. The same is on the wire dipsies and they are set at 100 to 150 feet on the line counter with the magnum dipsies. The bite has been a mixed bag of Coho salmon, Lake trout and Rainbow trout out there with a few Chinook salmon. 

When we are fishing 40 to 60 feet of water the boards are leadcores from 2 to 8 colors. All spoons on the leadcores. We like the Stinger carmel modified dolphin and UV. The Stinger UV green and blue dolphin has been good. But teh best is the Stinger silver hud. The Moonshine UV bloody nose has been good too. We have spoons on the mono dipsies set at 40 to 60 feet on the line counter. These are standard size dipsies. The downriggers all have spoons on them and we are running a two color leadcore or long leads on the downriggers. We are catching a lot of 2 to 5 pound Chinook salmon but there are some 15 to 20 pound Kings taking on every trip. We are also catching some nice Brown trout too. Every trip we catch 8 to 10 nine inch Coho salmon. They are all over the place. But there are two strong year classes of Chinook salmon coming up and this should be good for October fishing. 

We contiue to catch a few Pink salmon and we boated our first Atlantic salmon a couple of weeks ago. August should continue to have some solid fishing. Early September is big King time in and around the Milwaukee harbor and we are hoping some lands a 30 plus pounder. We will also have a good offshore bite in September. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip in late August and September to get in on some good trout and salmon fishing. Below are some pictures from the last couple of weeks, including the Atlantic salmon and the 26lb Chinook. 

So far this season 86% of the fish we have landed have been Coho salmon. It has been a very good year for Coho salmon fishing and they are still in the mix. As of early last week we started to catch Chinook salmon on almost every trip. Before that we had only caught 20 of them all season. We are also starting to catch four year old or 20 plus pound Chinooks and just yesterday we boated a 25 pound King, which is the biggest for us this season. We are also starting to catch more Lake trout. We have not specifically fished for them but they are staring to set up in 100 feet of water both north and south of Milwaukee. The water on the surface has warmed up but there is still a lot of cold water below and before the big northeaster yesterday and today there was 49 degree water down 35 feet below the surface. Salmon-A-Rama starts today and is a 9 day big fish fishing contest that is lake wide and based our of Racine, Wisconsin.  The link to their website is www.salmon-a-rama.com The people at Salmon Unlimited Wisconsin have been running this contest for years and it just keeps getting better. There are now weigh in stations around the lake and we have one in Milwaukee. We have purchased the $500 ticket for our boat as we have done for the last 10 years and this enters all of your clients into the contest when they fish with us. We have had multiple people win cash prizes every year we have entered and we hope to keep the streak alive but is will be tough.

We have been fishing between 06 to 59 hundred out of Milwaukee in 80 to 160 feet of water for the last several days. Our spread has finally changed. We have for the first time eliminated all or the orange dodgers. Sad day for me. Because the water has warmed we have switched to all copper set ups on the boards. The coppers are 150, 200, 225, 250, 275, 300 and 350 feet. We like the Moonshine green flounder pounder UV and several other green Moonshines too. We are also using these on our side riggers down 40 and 50 feet. The wire divers are set at 150 to 200 feet and we just started using the magnum dipsies today. We are using green Derk's flashers with a green willy fly. Derk's flashers and Derk's beads are fast becoming our favorite. On our back deep riggers we are running the same set up on our deepest rigger and Derks bloody nose flasher with a Howie supper frog fly. These were down 50 and 60 feet but with the northeast blow we are now down 80 and 90 feet. 

This is the best time of the year to target big Chinook salmon, so give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get in on the action. The four year old Chinook bite just started up they will be in the mix through early September. Below our some pictures form the last couple of weeks, including a picture of the green flasher. 

This season has been very heavy on the Coho salmon as 86% of all the fish we have caught this year have been Coho. There has been a lot of them around and has led to some great catches. Over the last ten days the water temperature has become very much the same from the surface down as far as 70 feet at times and this has been around 54 degrees. This has caused fish to spread out, making it more difficult to score big numbers. When we find bites now it is very important to stay in that area to keep catching. We are hoping to have a change in the current or have a more sharply defined thermocline to help set up another hot mite on Coho salmon. Like stated earlier there are a lot of Coho in the area and they should be a part of the catch throughout the summer. But we need a more regular Chinook bite to start happening. The good news is that more Chinooks were stocked in Lake Michigan last two years ago then any single years going back to 2013. We don't know the exact numbers stocked last year but it was supposed to be the same. This should lead to some good catches this summer. The Lake trout are just starting to set up and this along with Steelhead should keep the bite going as the Coho bite slows. 

Are spread has changed some as we go deeper in the water column. The boards are 1 to 7 color leadcore and 25 to 150 foot coopers. All with orange dodgers and 2 inch flies. The Willy fly is the best. We are using a wire diver on one side and mono and braid on the other side all with orange dodgers. We still use a large size peanut fly on a couple of these dipsy divers. The downriggers are orange stubbies on the outsides and the back riggers we are using white flashers with Howie supper frogs or JoJo flies. Speed has been key and going fast when you are not getting bit helps. If the water cools soon we will go back to mono set ups on the boards. Coho love the orange so we are still rolling with it. 

July and August is the time to catch big Chinook salmon. Last season the first two weeks of August were the best King salmon fishing of the year. Give Silver King charters a call to get hooked up on some salmon and trout this summer. Below are pictures from the last couple of weeks.

We tell our clients that May and June are some of the best months to catch good numbers of Coho salmon and this May did not disappoint. Staring on May 6th right through the end of the month the Coho fishing could not have been any better. We had 30 straight limit catches and the longest trip took 3 hours. Incredible fishing and all were Coho salmon. We fished all over the place. From Grant park in 15 to 20 feet of water to .57-55 hundred in 70 to 90 feet, 02-03 in 150 to 200 feet of water and our favorite right outside the North, South and Main gaps. All three have been good. The Coho are 4 to 6 pounds and the alewives are everywhere. Not sure who the biologist that was hire to study Lake Michigan was and said that salmon should not be stocked anymore. But I think he should be fired. 

Our spread is simple and I detailed it on my last report. It has not changed and it is orange dodgers, with peanut flies on everything. We have the entire spread set in the top 12 feet of water. The water temperatures did heat up to 55 degrees on the surface about 12 days back but south and west winds have cooled it down again. This will keep the Coho bite going and there is no signs of it letting up. Limit catches may not be as quick but we expect to catch a lot more Coho. We have boated a 15 and 13 pound Coho already this year. 

June on average is our best month to catch Coho salmon and we start to see a few Chinook salmon in the mix as well. The best of both worlds for those who like to catch salmon. Please give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get in on June salmon fishing. This is one of the better Coho bites we have had in several years. Below are some catches from the last coupe of weeks. 

We are half way through May and full throttle on Coho salmon. Our last report we were still Brown trout fishing in the harbor but Alewives started showing up in the harbor the first week of May and by May 7th we were catching limits of Coho salmon. Over the last nine days we have been fishing the North Gap to the South Gap of the Milwaukee harbor. We have also been down by Grant Park and out in 70 to 100 feet of water south of the green can to Grant Park. Boat pressure has made areas tough to fish and the salmon have been moving around. Several things to note. There are a lot of year classes of Alewives and a lot of Alewives around. The average size of the Coho salmon is up for this time of year. We are seeing Coho salmon at four to five pounds right now when three pounds or less is more common over the last several years. This means there was a good hatch of bait last year because when these Coho were stocked last year they would need a lot of small stuff to eat to get this big right now. The water is warming up fast. We did not have that cold of a winter on average and the last week has been very warm. We are seeing surface temperatures at 56 degrees during the day out in 100 feet of water. There are a lot of Coho around and the survival rate from stocking appears to be good. The 2021 Lake Michigan total stocking numbers have yet to be released but whatever the Coho number was last year it is what we are catching now. This is usually around 2.5 million. This adds up to be some great fishing for the next several weeks. 

We are running a 12 rod spread with all Coho salmon stuff. We have 3 boards a side. One side we are using double O orange dodgers and the other we are using B&B dodgers from Silver  Horde. We have a 17" fly lead on the OO and 27" fly lead on the B&B. We are using a 5/8 ounce keel weight on the OO and nothing on the B&B. We are 15 feet, 30 feet and 45 feet back from the boards. We are using a mono dipsy dialed in at 30 degrees and a braided dipsy set at 15 degrees on both sides of the boat. These are 35 feet on the mono and 15 feet on the braid. We are only running two outside downriggers with stubby orange dodgers down 10 feet. We are using the Willy Fly, Gen X or the Two Tone peanut flies. With the size of the Coho right now we may go to half flies soon. 

Milwaukee charter fishing is very good right now and Coho salmon fishing in May and June gives you the best catch rate for salmon. They are also the tenderloin of Lake Michigan. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 tp get in on some of the best salmon fishing of the season. Below are some pictures of limit catches this past week and a picture of our boat fishing. 

April was not a weather friendly month. Below average temperatures and high winds kept us limited at times on the lake. The last couple of weeks in April where solid fishing, with Brown trout making up 90% of the catch. We started to catch some Coho salmon the last week of the month. We fished the Milwaukee harbor, mostly in front of the river. We also had good action outside the Main gap. We fished the Green can and had some good Lake trout action. South of Milwaukee along the shore the Pump house and Grant Park were both good. The key was to find water that was not super clear and not too muddy. We last fished May 1st and the water temperatures seemed to be around 43 degrees average. The alwives started to show up in the harbor late last week and so did a few Coho salmon. 

Our spread still remains the same as last report but we have started running 4 and 5 color leads when fishing in 30 plus feet of water. We have also started just recently adding orange dodgers and peanut flies to the mix. We put these on inside dipsies and boards with keel weights. The blue/green/gold peanut caught a few Coho salmon. The last few seasons we have seen huge schools of large Alewives and this year looks to be the same. Their arrival does slow the Brown trout bite but the Coho action picks up.

The Coho salmon bite is next. Kenosha and further south have had great Coho action over the last couple of weeks. We expect the same next week. The Coho we caught last year were big enough to fillet and this spring we have caught two that were just under 5 pounds, which is big for this early in the year. From Early May through mid July Coho salmon are in the mix. But from now through late June they are the top target and lead to a high catch rate and limit catches. There is no better time to book a trip then during this period. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the best time to catch good numbers of salmon. Below are some pictures from the last part of April. Some nice catches of Brown trout, with a few Coho salmon in the mix. 

This April has been cooler than normal and as I write this it is snowing out. Warmer weather is come this week. This April has been very good for Brown trout. This is still the primary fish we are catching but we are now boating a few Lake trout and Coho salmon. Surface temperatures are slowly starting to climb. We are seeing 42 degrees in the Milwaukee harbor and also south of town by Grant Park We are catching 5 to 20 fish a trip. The Milwaukee harbor around the Main gap and river channel has been best of catching fish. We have also fished Grant park and the bowels. This area has been productive too. We have not seen a lot of bait yet but this will probably change this week. 

We are still running all spoons on 1, 2, and 3 color leads, mono dipsies and riggers set 10 feet down ot the bottom. We are in 12 to 30 feet of water, fishing close to shore when we are not in the harbor. The gold hud and UV blue dolphin are the hot spoons. The stingray size has been best. We had a couple of slow trips when the water became gin clear but otherwise the bite has been steady. We expect the Brown trout action to stay solid through April, with a few more Lake trout in the mix. We are set to fish Coho salmon at a moments notice and they are catching them south of us, so hopefully by the end of the month we will see a steady catch of salmon. 

Right now is the best time to catch Brown trout, so give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get in the action. This is one of the few times in the season we will target Brown trout. The pictures below are from the last few trips. 

We put our boat in on March 25th and for the next 5 days it was below freezing but we finally got out to fish on April 1st. The water temperature on the surface is 38.5 degrees at the warmest in the Milwaukee harbor and just outside the gaps it is 36 degrees. We have fished from the south gap to the north gap and everywhere in between. The most productive area is in front of the Summerfest grounds to just south of the water treatment plant. Just in front of the river has been good too. This is where we are finding he most bait and slightly warmer water. The smelt have not shown up yet so it is mostly shiners and gobies in the fishes bellies. This should change in the next few days. We have caught all Brown trout so far. Several have been in the 10 to 15 pound class. The bite has been steady, with the exception of when it snowed hard. The trout did not want to bite then. 

We are using an all spoon spread. They are liking larger spoons over the smaller ones. The best are gold and copper spoons. The gold NBK green Stinger in the stingray size has been very good on our deep riggers just off the bottom and on our three color leadcores. The gold hud in the same size on mono dipsies and two color leadcores have been just as good. We are also using mass confusion Stinger stingray size on one color and our up high riggers that are taking fish. The other good spoon is the UV blue dolphin silver blade. Been very good on a mono dipsy. We are seeing 15 to 20 bites a trip but a lot of quick hits right now. The action should become even better as the water warms and the bait starts to move in. There should also be some Lake and Rainbow trout in he mix. The Coho salmon bite is firing up in the at the southern end of Lake Michigan and you never know when it could happen here. Last year at this time Coho fishing was outstanding in Kenosha and Racine. We moved the boat to Racine on April 15th and the action was great. 

Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467. We have openings this weekend and the Brown trout action is just getting started. It has been fun so far. The pictures are from the first few trips of the year. The bite is only going to get better. 

We are 12 days away from starting our Lake Michigan charter fishing season. Late March and early April is our best time of the season to catch Brown trout. This is the time of year where are top target is Brown trout. We like to run all spoons at this time of the year. Many people like to run stick baits or body baits and troll slow in early spring. Sometimes this is the best method. We like to run scorpion and stinger size Stinger spoons and we like to troll fast. Our ground speed or GPS speed could be up to 3 mph. This allows us to cover more water on a trip and find more active fish. We have found that active fish are not so picking if you get the bait in front of them. Trolling in the Milwaukee harbor it is key to find active fish and they could be anywhere from the North gap, south gap, river mouth and many places in between. To us the probe is useless at this time of the year and if we are not running at least 2.5 mph on the GPS we are too slow. 

Spoon size and color are more important. Copper and gold spoons, with orange, yellow and green colors on them work best. The Gold Hud, Gold NBK green, UV Blue Dolphin and Mass confusion Stinger spoons are all in the spread. We also like the UV watermelon spoon in scorpion and stinger size. Leadcore is key in the one, two, three and four colors. Mono dipsies set at 30 degrees and two riggers near the bottom. This spread has produced solid catches over the last decade. Water clarity is the only thing that really slows the bite, if we have too much rain or big northeast winds. This bite really stays good until the alwives come to shore around mid April.

We start fishing the last weekend of March and our first trips of the season have been epic. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to start catching Brown trout in early spring. The pictures below show some catches during the first two weeks of the season over the last several years. The one with me in hte back show the break wall covered in ice. That will not be the case this year. 

We are hoping to have the boat in the water around the end of March and the Brown trout fishing during the first few weeks of the season is the best Brown trout fishing for the entire season. We will be Milwaukee charter fishing during the first part of spring before heading to Racine for several weeks to get in on some early Coho salmon fishing. In 2021 we had a good year catching salmon and we expect the same in . This winter never had enough long cold stretches to freeze up much of Lake Michigan, especially the southern end of the lake. This should help the solid hatch of bait fish we had last year to survive. 

For those interested in early spring Brown trout fishing we will be trolling in and around the expansive Milwaukee harbor. This gives us some shelter on windy days. We are fishing in 35 feet of water or less and most of the bites come in the top 15 feet of water. The size ranges from 2 to 15 pounds but we have boated some Brown trout in the 20 pound size and a few years back a customer caught a 33 pound Brow trout. Attached is the current ice conditions on Lake Michigan and we believe that the harbor and marina will be clear of ice by April 1st. I also have some pictures of what my firstmates do in the winter. They run ice fishing trips for trout in the harbors of Lake Michigan. I also have an early April trip picture. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to have Milwaukee charter fishing trip as soon as the ice is out. 

January charter fishing is about getting ready. We are hoping ot be in the water on March 25th this year. Last season we were in on March 26th and a limit on March 27th. We were able to pull this off due to a mild winter. So far December ended up being even on average warmer then last year. The water on December 31, 2021 was 38 degrees on the surface in the Milwaukee harbor. The police boat was slipped and plugged in until January 1, . Only then did things start to cool off enough to start to form ice. In 55 days it will be March 1st and usually the ice is in full decline by then. But 55 days of very cold weather can make a lot of ice that can last into April. Hope that is not the case.

The last two winters were very mild and peak Lake Michigan ice coverage was below 25 percent. As of right now it is below 5%. These mild winters have helped the bait population grow by giving the young of the year a better survival rate. Stocked fish too have benefited. As of right now we will not have a huge freeze on Lake Michigan but to what degree is still up in the air. That said it has been a slow lead in into winter, giving all the young fish a better chance to survive. 

The last 6 years we have taking a limit on our first trip of the year. We are fishing the Milwaukee harbor, usually wear the rivers come into the harbor. This is typically our best Brown trout fishing of the year, with no run time to the fish. We are usually fishing right as we leave the dock. The harbor will allow us to fish in most wind conditions. We run spoons on all lines with everything near the surface to 15 feet deep. If you are interested in catching Brown trout and don't mind the cold an April charter fishing trip is for you. I have attached the current Lake Michigan current ice coverage map. The police boat picture is the last day a boated floated a McKinley marina on December 31, 2021. I also have some April Brown trout pictures. 

Lake Michigan charter fishing 2021 is a couple months in the past now. This past season was a good one overall and our best for salmo0n in over 5 seasons. Our number one fish boated was Coho salmon and we landed more Chinook salmon this year going all the way back to 2014. Next year looks to be as good or better for salmon. We still boat our fair share of the number on fish in Lake Michigan the Lake trout but we are not relying on them as much. Why the salmon catch rate is up is there are more salmon being stocked. I have attached the DNR stocking numbers through 2020. The 2021 official numbers will be released in March of next year. 

Coho salmon stocking number for 2020 was 2.6 million. This was up some from the last several years but the Coho stocking numbers have been steady over the last 25 years at 2.5 million fish per year. Many factors come in to play for a good season on Coho salmon. One of the most important is to have small bait fish around for them to grow up on. Coho are raised in the hatcheries for 1.5 years and only live for 3 years before spawning. When they are stocking in Lake Michigan they are already 5 to 6 inches long. So the Coho stocked in the spring of 2020 are the ones we are catching in the spring of 2021. These fish need to have small bait around to have a chance to survive and grow to be just under 2 pounds the following spring. During the summer of 2021 these fish then can grow from 5 to 15 pounds befroe they spawn and die in late November of 2021. What was stocked in 2021 will be the Coho caught in . The great news for is that by October we were catching Coho stocked in that were filletable fish. We caught one that weighed in at 1.5 pounds. Many were stuffed full of young of the year alewives. At least off the shores of Milwaukee there was a very good hatch of alewives. We expect this to translate in a lot of Coho salmon for . Weather, current nad water temperature will play a part but you need the fish to have a chance. 

Chinook salmon stocking was at 2.41 million and this was the highest Chinook stocking number since 2012. We hope that number will be the same or better in 2021 and it is supposed to be. Now Chinook stocked in 2021 will not help the catch rate of salmon until the end of he season at best but in 2021 the fingering Kings were also filletable fish by October. Salmon grow fast when there is bait around. We also boated a lot of 2019 stocked Chinooks that were very healthy and this lead us to our best Chinook catch in many years. Lake Michigan has been warm last winter and as of today there is still a police boat in the water on the same dock we slip on. This will help small fish to survive. Again current, weather and water temperatures will influence were fish are caught in the lake but we believe there will be a good number of 2 and 3 year old Chinook salmon for the season in Lake Michigan.

Many of you who fish with us want to catch salmon on your trip. That has been challenging over the past decade at times due to the low stocking numbers. But with the alewife population at least becoming more stable and finally the DNR and Federal government reducing Lake trout stocking, finally more Chinook salmon can be stocked and survive. Lake trout were the number one stocked fish in Lake Michigan for the previous 14 years when you combined the fingerling and yearling stocked numbers. Now Coho salmon is number one and Chinook salmon is just behind Lake trout. This is a much more balanced fishery. 

Customers will ask when is the best time for salmon and it can be anytime of the season from April through October. Last year we were catching limits of Coho in mid April and in 2019 our best Chinook bite was the last 3 weeks of October. But mid May through mid June is typically our best Coho bite and July through mid August is our best Chinook bite. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your Milwaukee charter fishing and spring Racine charter fishing trip for . Below is the stocking totals lake wide for Lake Michigan going back to 1997. Brown trout and Rainbow trout are circled in red for 2020. These numbers are down and we certainly would like to see both go up. The Coho are circled yellow and the Chinook are circled green. The total of all five species is circled blue. I have also attached a picture of the police boat on our dock. The Milwaukee river is still ice free as of now and I hope this boat can stay in until Christmas. 

As of November 4th the boat was out of the water and in storage. The last couple weeks did not go as hoped and we only ran one more trip. The harbor water was still at 56 degrees and when we motored from our slip up the river there was little to no marks on the graph. In the end there was just too much warm water for this time of year. There was some great signs for next season. We were catching a lot of one and two year old Chinooks ranging 1.5 to 5 pounds. These fish were above average size and there were a lot of them around. We also saw a lot of very small alewives in the stomachs of fish we caught out deep. The Rainbows and next year Coho salmon were stuffed with them The Coho were fish you could fillet. The Lake wide stocking numbers for Coho have not been released yet but the survival should be good. We hope that the alewife hatch looks good lake wide and the salmon numbers will be up in . We just need them to be swimming in our part of the Lake Michigan. 

We are taking reservations for and weekends fill up quick, so call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467. We will be back in the water as soon as the ice leaves the marina and we hope that is by the last week of March. We will breakdown the 2021 season over the next several months as we get all the gear ready to catch fish in . The pictures are of the biggest fish we boated in 2021, which was a 34lb Chinook salmon. Also attached is a picture of the first fish and last fish of 2021, which were a Brown trout and lastly a Rainbow trout. We boated a 13 fish per trip average and there were some clunkers during that period but way more smiles. Thanks to everyone who fished wiht us and made the 2021 season very special.