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 2022. The great news for 2022 is that by October we were catching Coho stocked in 2022 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 2022. 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 2022 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 2022. 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 2022. We just need them to be swimming in our part of the Lake Michigan. 

We are taking reservations for 2022 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 2022. 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. 

 

 

We are at the end of October and the fishing did not live up to the last two years. In 2019 we had some of the best Chinook salmon fishing in years during the last three weeks of October. It started in 170 feet and finished in 80 to 100 feet just north of Milwaukee. It was incredible good and this year looked as if it could be somewhat like that. Warm water and rough seas ended any hope for a repeat. Although the first part of the month was good King fishing. Just 3 days ago the water was still 60 degrees at the surface and 59 degrees down 100 feet. In 2020 the water off Milwaukee froze out at the end of September and stayed in the in the mid 40 degree mark from top to bottom right through October. This set up a great Lake trout bite in 15 to 30 feet of water. We were taking limits until we pulled in November. Waves were not causing poor water clarity either. But this year the water was way to warm for this bite. The harbor is always an option but we fished that October 24th and the water was 60 degrees from top to bottom. Just a bad set up for this time of year. We love Ocotber fishing because some great fishing usually sets up. Too much warm water and northeast winds in 2021. Hope 2022 we get back to crushing October salmon and trout. 

The first two weeks of October we did have decent fishing in 150 to 200 feet of water north of Milwaukee. There was a lot of bait and most of it was near the bottom. We eventually ran just four lines on our trips, which is unusually. But after several trips we could see that these were the only rods catching fish. We ran two downriggers set at 180 and 160 feet down. These both had 11 inch white flashers, with little boy blue flies on them. We ran two wire dipsies, using the big size dipsy dialed in at 15 degrees. We used white 8 inch flashers with little boy blue flies on them. We trolled slower than normal to keep the baits deep. The bite was mostly Chinook between 2 and 15 pounds. We averaged 10 to 25 bites a trip. There were also some Lake trout and a few Lake trout. If we could of had the water cool down some this could have been a great bite. 

The good thing for next season was there were a lot of 2 year old Kings that were already good size. Next years Coho salmon were already fish you could fillet and some of the fish we cleaned were full of very small young of the year alewives. Hopefully all of Lake Michigan saw this kind of hatch and survival of alewives from this years spawn. Next year could be even better salmon fishing than we experienced this season. 

Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your 2022 trip. We hope to be in the water by the last week of March and keep catching fish through the end of October. Attached are a few pictures from the first two weeks of October. The Rainbows where caught out in 300 feet of water, the Chinooks in 180 feet and the beautiful Rainbow was possible the last fish we land this season and was caught in the Milwaukee harbor. 

The first day of September and big Chinooks are showing up in the Milwaukee harbor area with a couple of fishermen have caught Chinooks over 30 pounds already. The action offshore has also been good for Steelhead. We have been fishing between 150 to 250 feet of water just north of the Milwaukee harbor and catching 5 to 15 Rainbow trout a trip along with Lake trout, Chinook and Coho salmon. But the best bite is Steelhead. We will be running harbor trips for big Chinooks but the offshore fishing has been too good as of late. The harbor bite is tough due to warm water from top to bottom, making the fish less active. But first light and just before sunset we can catch a few and the size is worth it. There have been a good amount of immature or none spawning Chinook around and we are hoping that this leads to some good fall salmon fishing like we had in 2019. 

The break has been around 50 to 65 feet and this may change with the current northeast blow. We have been running 150 - 350 coppers on our boards. The gold hud Stingray and NBK green UV stingrays have been best. We are using magnum dipsies set at 175 on the line counter. The little boy blue Howie fly and the little boy blue Hot Spot flasher is best on these and our deepest rigger down 120 feet. We run a 75 rigger with the original Willy fly. There is absolutely no comparison to the knockoffs. We have a green Hot Spot paired with this fly. On the up high riggers we are using the green NBK UV Stingray on a one and two color leadcores set at 35 and 45 feet. This set up over the last week has been very good. The problem is Steelhead have a tendency to jump off the hook 

There will be some great action over the next two months and we are even hoping to run a couple trips in November. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on some fall salmon and trout action. Below are some pictures of our last few trips. The Rainbow trout have been very fun to fight. 

July and August have been solid fishing and this is also the best time to catch Chinook salmon. We have already boated more Chinook this year then we have for a season since 2016. We have also boated are largest King salmon on a charter at 34 pounds and 46 inches. There was a new Michigan state record for Chinook salmon caught several weeks ago that was over 46 pounds. There have been two Chinooks caught out of Milwaukee that were both 38 pounds. Now the scale of 30 plus pound Kings is down from last year but there are some even larger being caught then previous years. Good supply of bait, reduced numbers competing for the food and some fish living a fifth season has lead to some monsters. But what is more promising is the number of Chinooks showing up in the catch. We are seeing a lot of 1.5 to 5 pound Chinooks. The small ones are healthy and should be as big as a spring Coho this fall. The reason is increased stocking of Chinooks lake wide last year. The stocking went from 1.55 to 2.41 million last year and it is very evident. 

Spoons have flat out been the hot ticket over flasher flies for the last several weeks. We have been using gold and silver HUDS both stinger and stingray size along with the UV green dolphin. Leadcores from 3 to 8 colors and coppers from 125 to 250 feet. We are also using 1 and 2 colors on the up high riggers. Little boy blue flasher and fly combos on wire dipsies have been solid. We have been anywhere from 30 to 180 feet of water over the last 2 weeks and there has been a lot of bait around. With a good Chinook bite in 110 feet or less and a good Rainbow bite in 150 to 200 feet the fishing is good and if the bait sticks around this could be a very good fall. 

The next three weeks is the last time this year for us to target the big Chinook salmon and we hope to boat another 30 plus pound fish and it would not be a stretch to see one over 40 pounds caught out of Milwaukee. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get a shot at some great September and October fishing. Below are some pictures of some big Kings caught recently, including several of the 34 pounder and a Pink salmon we boated. We have caught several of these this year. 

Summer Solstice and the first day of summer. May & June have delivered some great Coho fishing. Lake Michigan was stocked with 2.6 million Coho for this year and that is above the average. The fish are a little larger and seems to have been a good survival rate from the stocking. Through May and June so far Coho have made up 72% of the catch and the Coho action is not done yet although the water has been warming up. We are seeing surface temperatures now in the 60's but down 40 feet it is still in the high 40's. Still plenty cold to catch Coho on the surface. We hope for southwest winds periodically to keep cold water near the surface and the Coho bite going. We have fished anywhere from 40 to 60 feet all the way out to 150 to 200 feet. There has been solid action from Fox Point to the Oak Creek power plant but we have liked it best from 07-10 or 59-55 hundred. There have been some nice Chinooks in the catch, with many in the 20 plus pound range. The Chinook bite looks to be better this year. 

We are still running a high number of orange dodgers with green peanut and half cut flies. One or two mono set ups a side on the boards are still delivering along with inside dipsies. We are running some 2 to 5 color leadcores with orange and one up high downrigger. The back two riggers are white flashers with bullfrog, super frog, green krink or little boy blue Howie flies. Best between 40 to 80 feet. Spoons on 6 to 8 color leadcores and side riggers have been good, with the bloody nose or blue nose stinger size Stinger spoons. We have run some wire dipsy rods, with the same flasher sets we are using on the downriggers. The orange dodgers are accounting for 70% of the bites over this period. 

The action has been solid so far this year and we look to keep it going over the next several weeks. We have openings in the first two weeks of July and Coho salmon will still be in the mix. This is one of the best times of the year to catch salmon, so give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467. The summer just started today!! The pictures below are from trips in late May and June.

We moved the boat to Reefpointe marina in Racine Wisconsin on April 20th. The reason was Coho salmon. A week early the Coho bite started as the alewives engulfed the shores. We usually make a move south near the end of May but things were several weeks earlier this year. It was the right move because we have had quick limit catches for the last couple of weeks. The fishing right now is crazy good. We hope this continues into late June but if you want to catch salmon there is absolutely no better time than right now. The catch is almost exclusively Coho salmon. The size is decent for this time of year. We are working just outside the harbor, so there is no run time. We expect the bite to remain amazing through the week. The water temperature is 50 degrees on the surface and this is helping the bite. It does not get any better than it is right now.

We are fishing in 15 to 30 feet of water from wind point to the bubbler. There are pods of Coho along this entire stretch. There has been action like this as far south as Waukegan, Illinois. As I right this the Coho bite has begun to turn on just outside the gaps of the Milwaukee harbor. We intend to move back to Milwaukee within a week or two. The bite is on the shoreline and this makes it ideal for fast action. Our spread is simple. Orange small double 00 Gold Star dodgers and green or two tone peanut flies on everything, with the exception of one side of boards using B&B orange dodgers. We are running four boards a side and they are all mono set ups. The side with the Gold Stars we use 5/8 ounce keel weights. Both sides are set at 15 feet, 20 feet, 25 feet and 35 feet back from the board. The boards are by far the top producers. We run and outside mono 25 feet on the line counter and inside braid dipsy 12 feet on the line counter with the orange dodger set ups. We are only running the two outside riggers with down 7 and 10 feet about 7 feet back. All orange!

This is it folks. Call now for some of the best salmon action of the year and Coho salmon are my favorite to eat. We expect to be have Coho salmon in the mix through early July but right now the bite is on fire. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 and get out fishing with us. The pictures below were from last week. 

April has continued to be very good. We have had some excellent Brown trout fishing but last weekend the Milwaukee harbor was invaded by 5 to 8 inch Alewives. Great to see but that did hurt the bite. We tried fishing the boils by Grant Park and there were some Coho salmon but the Alewife problem was there too. We decided to move the boat and try Racine charter fishing. There were some good reports from last weekend. On Wednesday we caught 25 Coho salmon and Friday we did the same in half the time. The move paid off. We were planning to head to Racine the last two weeks on May to fish Coho salmon but plans changed quick when the bite started early. The Alewives that have shown up all along the shores have been impressive both in size and amounts. You cannot run a spoon through the water without snagging one. We have had some of the bigger ones pull our board back. One trip we had some children having fun reeling them in. These fish are 4 to 7 years old and we were lead to believe that there were very few Alewife left in Lake Michigan this size. An Alewife this size can spawn well over double what the two and three year old fish can do. If there is good survival from this hatch Lake Michigan will be in a great spot for bait fish for several years. The Coho salmon are good size for this time of year and we have boated a coupe of five pound Coho already.

This time of year we are usually still harbor fishing Brown trout. I do think there will still be some good Brown trout trips before spring is done but it is all Coho salmon for now. When we were Brown trout fishing we were running leadcore from one to three color on the boards. The top spoon was Mass Confusion from Stinger in the stinger size. The riggers and mono dipsies had Gold Huds and Blue Dolphins from Stinger in the stingray size. All of our action was in the Milwaukee harbor from the main gap and river to the south gap. Once the catch was too many Alewives we ran a mix of spoons and orange dodger and peanut flies at the boils. The spoons once again snagged too many Alewives. When we got to Racine we went all orange dodgers and peanut flies. These set ups did not snag as many bait fish but we still got a few. We fishing right outside the harbor but there was good action all along the shoreline. Our best action was on a green fly or a two tone fly. All mono boards, mono and braid dipsies and we ran only two riggers. 

We tell our customers that Mid May through late June is the best time for Coho action. It has started early and we hope that it continues on and off right through June. This is just the start of what could be a great year of Coho action. Indiana and Illinois are usually catching Coho action like this as we are catching Brown and Lake trout. We still think Mid May and June will see some great Coho fishing but this is a great bonus. We still have not boated a Chinook or Rainbow trout but the thought is there is a lot of bait everywhere and those fish do not have a reason to leave the middle of the lake. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on some early season salmon and trout fishing. I have attached some pictures of some recent Lake Michigan charter fishing trips. The trip on Wednesday we were in a snow storm. I hope that is the last time we see snow until the boat is put away in early November. 

Silver King Charters got off to a fast start in late March and early April. Some incredible fishing, with some quick limits. We have been fishing the Milwaukee harbor from a half mile south of the river channel to the south gap. It has been good everywhere. There has been a good mix of Gizzard shad and Smelt in the harbor. Water clarity was that perfect murky and surface temperatures where 42 degrees. This lead to and outstanding bite. We caught mostly Brown trout but we also boated some Coho salmon and Lake trout all inside the harbor. Over the years we have only boated 2 Lake trout in the harbor but early this season we have caught a half dozen. On Sunday the water clarity became a little too clear and the current coming out of the river became very light. The bite slowed down. With the rain expected this week the action should turn back on. This is just the begin of the good Brow trout bite and with other species in the mix this April is going to be some good fishing. 

We are running all spoons, with the hottest being the Mass Confusion copper stinger size Stinger. The one and two colors along with the up high riggers set 10 and 12 feet down all have these spoons on and they are delivering. The Gold Hud & UV blue Dolphin in the stingray size are on the deep riggers and mono dipsies. We are running 3 and sometimes 4 color leads with Gold NBK Green stingers. Gold and copper spoons seemed to be the ticket. We have seen several Lake trout and Brown trout in the 15 pound class. The shoreline both south and north of town along with the boils off Bender Park are delivering fish. 

The weather this spring has been very good. Air temperatures have regularly reached the 50's and the next week looks great. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to start catching fish in April. Below are some pictures from the last several days. 

We launched the boat on Friday and fished that day and then again on Saturday March 27th. You never know how the weather will be this early in the year but we took a chance because the ice was gone and it paid off. Friday we did a shake down cruise after launching and within 50 minutes went 9 for 16 on Brown trout. This was in the middle of the day. On Saturday we fished 3 hours and caught 15 Brown trout. The biggest was 15 pounds. This is no doubt the best time to catch Brown trout all year. We fished the Milwaukee harbor from the art museum to the discharge. There were lots of marks and bait on the screen The bait was Gizzard Shad and the Brow trout were full of them. Water temps were 40 - 42 degrees in the marina and harbor. The set up was perfect and the fish were biting. We saw all year class sizes and some post spawn fish. As long as the bait keeps showing up and we don't have a huge rainfall this is going to be a good Brown trout spring. 

We ran 3 boards with a one, two and three color leadcore on each side. The Stinger Mass Confusion in stinger size was by far the best bait followed by the Stinger UV Watermellon spoon. Riggers down 17 feet also contributed with gold hud or gold NBK spoons. The mono dipsies did not fair so well but Blue Dolphins where on these and will be changed for something gold or copper. Speed and direction did not really matter. 

Late March and early April are the best time to target Brown trout and we have boated many 10 to 15 pound fish, with an occasional 20 pound Brown. Several years back we caught a Brown trout that weighed a little over 33 pounds. Weather is always a concern during this time but we are mostly in the Milwaukee harbor, which allows us to run a lot more trips that could be lost to big winds. We also have the cabin enclosed this time of year to block wind and rain. Looks to be a good bite this spring for Brown trout so call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 and get in on some April Lake Michigan Charter Fishing. We are in and catching. Below are a couple of pictures from Friday and Saturday. Great picture of Colin holding his limit. Amazing first mate. 

March has arrived and brought with it mild temperatures. The winter as a hole was not bad except for three weeks in February. Lake Michigan remained mostly ice free. The current ice coverage on Lake Michigan is 15% and the greatest coverage was 35%. Boats are already out fishing and we expect the remaining ice at the marina to be gone in ten days. We hope to have the boat in the water on March 26th and we are already to fish for March 27th. We have added a new Garmin sonar that is superior to anything we have used before. We did full tune ups on the engines, installed new props and added 8 new Tekota reels to the arsenal. All the reels are reloaded with new line. Last year at this time we did not even know if we would be allowed to charter and we were not able to start until very late May. This season already will be better not having to deal with the the uncertainty of last spring. Brown trout fishing has already been solid for those able to get out. The Oak Creek power plant has been delivering good catches. We expect a solid start to the Brown trout bite. We will be in Milwaukee starting March 27th and will move to Racine for three weeks starting May 17th and we will be back in Milwaukee June 6th for the rest of the season in early November when we pull the boat. That is a long ways off though.

We are expecting a solid Brown trout bite this season. The first three weeks we are fishing Brown trout are the top target. By mid to late April we start to see Lake trout added to the catch as we troll the shoreline and move out of the Milwaukee harbor. Once we hit May we will see a blend of Brown trout, Lake trout and Coho salmon. It is not uncommon the catch Rainbow trout coming out of the rivers after spawning and some Chinook salmon. By this time Alewives have shown up in the harbors and shoreline. This sets up the Coho salmon bite and by mid to late May the bite is heavy on Coho salmon. Every year has a different story as to where and when fish show up but the conversion from Brown trout to a mix of Brown, Lake and Coho to almost all Coho salmon from April through May happens every year to some degree. 

We have seen the Coho bite take off right away in the season. In 2012 we started catching Chinooks and it kept going into August. In 2019 the Coho bite was very week but Lake trout fishing was on fire. Tough to say how any season will play out. The Coho salmon use to come up from the southern end of Lake Michigan and this still happens at varying degrees and this is why we go down to charter fish in Racine. Racine is a 45 minute drive south of Milwaukee by car. This distance can make a huge difference for the Coho salmon bite and is why we slip in Racine for several weeks. Over the last 20 years Lake Michigan has become a very clear lake and this may have helped to change the behavior of Coho salmon movements early in the season. Currents in the lake are constantly changing throughout the season and clearer water can affect current and fish movement. 

If all goes well we will have an actual fishing report at the end of this month, with pictures of some Brown trout. After all the turmoil of 2020 this is going to be a very fun season of fishing. Being outside soaking in vitamin D and catching fish is a great way to spend the day. I don't believe we have ever been more prepared for a season, so call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 and lets start catching some fish. Below are pictures from April and May of past seasons. I have some pics of early season Chinook salmon and Lake trout, along with the usual Brown trout of April and Coho salmon of May. 

 

 

Winter so far has been mild in Milwaukee but now that it is February winter finally shows up. The low in Milwaukee going all the way back to February of 2020 was 10 degrees. We will be around or under that for the next week. Lake Michigan was less than 10 percent covered with ice going into the month but that is about to change. Because Lake Michigan and especially the southern half has remand ice free until now we hope there is not to much build up and we are able to start running trips in late March. Customers call and ask for the best time to catch salmon. We always reply mid May through late June. This is our highest salmon catch rate. The reason is Coho salmon. This period of time is the best time to target Coho salmon. Since 2007 there has been several reductions on Chinook salmon stockings and we use to load up on them all summer long. There still is some good action for Chinook salmon in the summer but Coho salmon are now the dominate catch for salmon in a season. The Coho stocking has not been reduced. 2.5 million Coho are stocked on average each year lake wide and has been the case for over 25 years. A Coho's life begins in a hatchery sometime in November, where they are raised for a year and a half until they are stocked in spring. Holding them in a hatchery for 18 months gives them a much better chance or survival when they are stocked. They spend their first year in Lake Michigan eating and growing. By the following spring they are ready to be caught. By November of that year they spawn and die, so they spend 18 months in hatcheries and 18 months in Lake Michigan. 

Coho salmon average two to three pounds in the early part of the season but near the end of June it is common to see 5 plus pound fish. Coho salmon are a fun fight and our favorite to eat. The bright orange fillets are delicious anyway you prepare them. When we find schools of Coho salmon the action is steady and sometimes very fast to a limit. We will run a spread of 12 to 16 lines and most of the action is in the top 20 feet of water. Our favorite bait is an orange dodger followed by a peanut fly. When the Coho action is in full swing this may be the only bait we use on every set up. We will run 4 riggers and the outside ones will be less than 10 feet down and set less than 10 feet back. We will have a braid and a mono dipsy set up on each side of the boat. Many times your will be able to see the baits because they are set just below the surface. We also run 3 to 4 boards a side. We use keel weights on mono line. Only the back two riggers are not near the surface. 

Most of our limit catches will happen during this time of the season. When the Coho salmon show up it can be an unreal bite. During the time of the season there are some tough bites but throughout this period we boat the most salmon of the year and some of the fasted action. Call Silver King Charters to get in on some Coho salmon fishing from mid May through June. Below is some catches from the 2020 season. 

Finally we are through with 2020 and we are hope 2021 is not a repeat. Last season when we started out we had hoped to have the boat in and fishing in late March. The ice was gone and the fish were biting. But by mid March it was painfully obvious this was going to be a different kind of year. We start our season Milwaukee charter fishing in and around the Milwaukee harbor. The harbor gives us more controlled seas during early spring and warmer water where the rivers empty out. This creates an ideal area to catch Brown trout. April is our best month to target Brown trout all year. We also fishing along the shoreline in 10 to 30 feet of water. Last season we missed out on this fishing due to the virus and restrictions place on us. We hope to have the boat in the water April 1st this year and be able to run trips. As of right now there is almost no ice cover the lake. Things can change fast but there is a good chance ice will not prevent us from fishing early spring. 

Every April sets up a little different due to the unpredictable weather in Wisconsin But every April does deliver our best Brown trout action. We are usually running all spoons. Stick baits are very effective this time of year but spoons are just easier to run and just as effective. We like Stinger spoons the stinger size. Year after year it is gold, copper and orange spoons that are the top producers. Leadcore on boards are the best presentations. We always run 1, 2 and 3 color leadcore and sometimes a 4 color. The next best setup is our mono dipsy rods. These are set at 30 degrees and 30 feet out on the line counter. We will also run 2 downriggers near the bottom but these are the least effective. There was a time we would try to run as slow as we could in early spring but the last several years we really crank the speed. It gives the spoons better action and we cover more water to find active fish. Not uncommon to be running at 3 miles an hour. 

The Brown trout stocking was cut back 3 years ago but last year there was an increase by the Wisconsin DNR and we hope this continues. The average sizes for Brown trout caught this time of year is 2 to 8 pounds but we land a lot or 8 to 12 pound fish. The trophies are 15 plus pounds and we boated one last season that was 26 pounds. Our biggest was 33 pounds 4 years ago in the first week of April. After all the restrictions placed on everyone everywhere fishing in April sounds like a great time. Dress warm and be ready to catch fish. We will do the rest. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467. I have attached pictures of Brown trout caught in April along with a picture of McKinley marina yesterday. Not much ice down there. 

The Silver King Charter crew would like to wish everyone a Happy Holidays. What a crazy year! We hope 2021 will not be worse than this year. Fishing on the other hand was solid in 2020. We averaged 12.25 fish a trip and minus a couple one and two fish performances we had a lot of happy customers. Coho salmon was our number caught species followed by Lake trout. Chinook salmon came in third and at one time several years back the Chinook was King every year. I don't think Chinook salmon will be the top fish in 2021 but we do think the catch numbers will increase. Starting in 2007 Chinook salmon stocking started to get reduced and by 2016 there were only 1.2 million stocked in Lake Michigan. This was down by 75% from the early 2000's The crash of the alewife and natural reproduction lead to the stocking reductions. Catching a Chinook salmon on Lake Michigan became real special for the few that were caught. But there is good news. In 2020 the Chinook stocking in Lake Michigan went from 1.2 million to 2.3 million. Almost double. By October we started to see these fish in our catch. 

What does this mean for 2021? The fish stocked in 2020 will be two year old fish and be much like catching a spring Coho salmon. There will be more salmon to catch in 2021 and this is very exciting. The plan by the Lake Michigan Fishery managers is to keep this stocking number for two more years and evaluate the state of the fishery. Since Chinook live three to four years we will continue to see the salmon numbers increase lake wide for the next three years. Coho salmon stocking has been steady for several decades at 2.4 million fish. Salmon are a schooling fish and can travel great distances fast. There are times they just are not in the area we are fishing. Does not matter if they stock four million Chinook. If they don't like the area they move. What is exciting going forward is when a school does swim in our area of the lake there will be more to catch. With more Chinook in the lake we hope there will be more days during the season when there are good numbers of salmon off the shores of Milwaukee. 

Thanks to many groups around Lake Michigan, with the big one being the WLBA, it was possible to stop the ending of Chinook salmon stocking and reverse course. The number at 2.3 million seems to be a logical step to improve the salmon fishing on Lake Michigan, without risking a lake wide crash due to too many predators in the lake. The reduction on Lake trout stocking also made this less of a risk. So your looking to book a Lake Michigan salmon charter in 2021. What do these numbers mean to you. You will have more opportunity to catch fish. We don't expect our Chinook totals for the season to double but we do expect them to increase. The three and four year old Chinook or the big ones are still at the same low stocking numbers. There are fewer or them but their size over the last couple of years has been 20 plus pound for the mature fish and many over 25 pounds. We expect our Chinook catch to continue to go up over the next three season. Water temperature, bait fish, current and weather will determine a lot as to how many we boat but the opportunity is going to go up. 

I have at6tached pictures of Chinook salmon our customers caught in 2020. We boated them from April through October but the best stretch is late June through mid August and when they stage to spawn early September. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-147 to book a trip Lake Michigan salmon fishing. Our firstmate Colin knows how to hold a King. The last picture is of me in April on our first trip of the year. Just me an Colin. We couldn't start running trips until late May. I really don't care for that mask. 

We usually don't fish in November but the weather was good and after being shutdown in April and May we decided to stay in through November 9th. We could probably stayed in through Thanksgiving but rarely do you get weather this late in the month. To risky. But the first part of the month we were able to get out and on November 8th it was 70 degrees for our last outing. The fishing was incredible. Much like the end of last year but this time instead of Chinook salmon it was Lake trout with a few Brown trout. We fished in 15 to 30 feet south of the Milwaukee reef from 58 to 56 hundred. We turned just before Grant Park. Same location we worked almost all of October. The Lake trout fishing was incredible, with 12 to 15 pound fish very common. We noticed a lot of smaller alewives in the fish that we had not seen for much of the year. For most of the season it was big size alewives. These little ones looked to be a year old and there were a lot of them in the stomachs of the Lake trout. Of course that is nothing new to see a Lake trout's belly full. They are the vacuum cleaners of Lake Michigan. We went out three times and the limits were quick. 

The spread was identical to my October report. We ran a few more Stinger Mass Confusions but that was it. All small size spoons on everything. One, two and three color leads on the boards, to mono dipsies out 30 feet on the line counter and dialed in at three setting and 2 riggers down 12 feet and set way back. The Lake trout like to dig down when they hit, so tangles happened in the shallow water. When we left the lake was 45 degrees top to bottom but we were shallow. The King bite did not materialize in our part of the lake this late fall but we did not try hard for them after mid October. The few that did had little luck, so we stuck with the hot bite and it was a lot of fun. 

I did not post in July, August and September but I will go back and recap those months this offseason. The fishing was steady throughout the year and with all the stuff going on this year it was needed. We are booking trips for the 2021 season. Please call us at 414-460-1467 tp get a date you want. I have attached some pictures of our last trips. My favorite is Colin cleaning fish. A seagull decided to poop on him and after that there were no more handouts. 

Happy Halloween to all as we close out October. We will be pulling the boat on November 6th and we hope that 2021 season is a little better for all. October looked to have a potential for a great Chinook bite at the start of the month much like last year. We were getting a good King bite leading into October but after almost 10 straight days of west winds the water froze out and the Chinooks took off. Because of so many west wind days we were forced to fish the shoreline but this is typical of October. But it pushed into a great bite. We spent almost the entire month south of town by the Milwaukee reef just inside the green can and fished from there to about 2,5 miles south just before Grant park. We stayed in 15 to 30 feet of water and caught all five species but the bulk of the catch was Lake trout. The trout were spawning on the reef and made for some decent fishing. We boated several 15 pound Lake trout and one Brown trout over 24 pounds. Near the end of the month and today we fished the Milwaukee harbor and the south end was the best. 

The spread we used never changed for the entire month. Two riggers down 14 feet with gold Natural Born Killer green tape Stingers. This has become our favorite spoon in October for shoreline Lake trout. We ran all spoons in October and the stinger size. They did not want large spoons. We ran two mono dipsies with one NBK like the riggers had and one yellow tux. Both of these were set at a 3 setting and 30 feet out on the line counter. We ran on, two and three color leadcores on he boards. The one colors had mass confusion copper spoons from Stinger. This is another spring and fall shallow water favorite. The yellow tux Stingers on the two colors and the gold NBK green Stingers on the three colors. In the harbor we added two more riggers down 25 and 28 feet. The best spoons where a Moonshine flounder pounder and the glow watermelon Stinger. Never changed a thing all month and the set just kept catching fish. 

We are going to fish a few more times in first week of November and then that is it. The weather looks to be nice the first week of the month. Start calling Silver King Charters now at 414-460-1467 to book your 2021 trip. We expect a lot more people to want to fish next year as we all get use to living with the damn virus!!! The picture are from some October trips this year. We are not done yet but just 6 more days.

The season always seems to speed by once it starts and with all the things going on right now we really only have just started. We missed out on some real good early season action but it is not even summer yet and the Coho salmon bite is on. We have already boated more Coho salmon than all of last year but 2019 was very bad for Coho. The action has been steady. Not lights out limit fast but very solid. We have had catches of 6 to 39 Coho in a trip over the last 3 weeks. We expect the action to continue through June. The Coho salmon have not lined up to make it easy. They are spread out from 100 to 230 feet of water. We have been fishing a 5 mile stretch straight out of the Harbor of Milwaukee. We had some good action down by Bender Park for the last part of May but we have been out deep all of June. We have caught some Chinook, Rainbow and Lake trout during this time but it is mostly Coho salmon. The surface water was warming up to above 60 degrees but our best bite was still in the top 15 feet of water. 

Our spread is simple right now with orange dodgers and green peanut flies on everything. We run 5/8 ounce keel weights on the mono boards set 20, 30 and 45 feet back. We also run a 3 and 4 color leadcore on boards too, We are using 2 dipsies a side set at 20 and 40 feet on the line counter. These rods are taking over 50% of the fish we catch. The outside downriggers are set 12 and 20 feet down. The two back riggers are the only rods we don't use orange on. We have a flasher fly combo we switch out constantly and a Stinger UV Blue dolphin on these set 35 and 45 feet down. We have caught a Chinook every third trip on these and we hope to start seeing some more Kings around soon. 

There will be a lot more good Coho catches to come and if the fish bunch up it could get ridiculous. If you want to catch salmon the next several weeks are the time to do it. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get out on Lake Michigan, catch some fish and have a great time. The action has been good this season and we couldl all use a break from the real world right now. I have attached some pictures of recent catches and our favorite Coho salmon set up. 

We are nearing nearing the end of one of my favorite months of Lake Michigan charter fishing but with COVID-19 going on we did not fish as much as we would have hoped. The second part of May was full of rain and strong northeast and east winds that left water very muddy next to the shore and for the most part out to 70 feet of water. This mud has since spread out to cloudy the water as far as 275 feet of water in places. This has reduced areas to fish. Our best fishing for the past week has been in 60 to 80 feet of water a mile north or south of the green can off the Milwaukee reef. We have pulled Coho, Chinook and Lake trout in our catches. The Coho bite fell apart by Sunday and the Chinook bite by Monday. We moved to the Main and South gaps of the Milwaukee harbor Wednesday and Thursday as the water cleared just enough and started to catch limits of Coho salmon. There is a lot of bait tight to the walls and the surface temps are 54 degrees. There are not a lot of fish close to shore but it is a decent bite and they are salmon. We did fish a trip off Bender park and the boils in 15 to 20 feet of water too and the water was clearer and it was a steady bite of Coho. We feel there is a consistent bite all along the shore line now as the water is starting to clear up. That is were the bait is most consistent too. The Coho bite is just starting to get good off Milwaukee and there has been good Chinook action on most of your trips. We have pulled 6 Kings over 20 pounds. Lake trout are everywhere but we have not really put a lot of fire power toward them. 

Our spread is fading to orange as i right this but we have had good success on 4 - 10 color leadcores. Most of our Chinook and Lake trout are coming off these rods. The Stinger UV Blue Dolphin and the UV Green NBK in the sitngray size is best by far. These same spoons on riggers set 20 to 55 feet down are producing to. We have run wire divers with regular clear dipsies dialed in at the 3 setting and out 60 to 90 feet. We use a green blade with glow tape and a Howie Bull Frog fly. This is tking Kings and Lake trout. But as we move to shore it is orange on the boards. The Jensen dodgers on one side with keel weights and B&B dodgers on the other side. They are set back 15. 40 and 60 feet. We are using inside and outside dipsies at 15 and 30 feet. We have two outside riggers with set 6 and 8 feet down. All orange, all green or Willy peanut flies and they all producing. 

If the Coho are going to really set up the next three weeks are going to be very good and it looks like it is starting to. The water in 200 plus is still a little too cold but it could be soon when a line of fish sets up there too. The catches have been good and double digits, with some limits. This is the best tome for good salmon catches and the weather is stating to become really nice. Lake Michigan charter fishing is a fun experience any time but after being stuck at home and social distancing for the last 3 months this is a great way to have fun. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get out on the water, catch some fish and drink your favorite beverage. The fish are biting now! Below is some pictures for recent catches and a 25 pound Lake trout we caught Monday. There is also a picture of our top Coho fly.

 

 

 

The best time of the year to catch big numbers of salmon has arrived. Mid-May through Mid-July is Coho salmon time and along with some Chinook salmon is the best time to catch salmon in numbers. We hope all of our customers are staying healthy amidst the COVID-19 outbreak but I don't want to talk too much about this, since that is all anyone is talking about. We know what it is and what to do to prevent it. The state of Wisconsin is finally easing restrictions and for the most part charter fishing is open on Lake Michigan for the Wisconsin side. Silver King Charters will be doing its part to keep you safe. We will be disinfecting the boat after each trip, provided plenty of hand sanitizer and the crew will be wearing face masks when needed. We will encourage all our customers to bring masks and use when needed. We believe charter fishing on Lake Michigan can be done safely and with many other events cancelled this summer it is a great way to have some fun. You can drink adult beverages too! 

We have been out several times in the last ten days and we have been able to put Coho in the boat each time. We have not been able to get into a groove yet but we are about to hit the water hard now. What we can say is there is a lot of bait around. Nearshore at times the graph cannot read bottom. We were in 50 feet of water and our graph read 20 feet for a long time. I though the thing was broken but we also snagged 12 alewives during this period. We ran several Coho set ups and had consistent action on them. The water around the Milwaukee harbor has been too muddy to fish, along with the shoreline, so we found the best action to be in 40 to 60 feet of water. This is were the water clarity began to turn green. We caught Coho, Chinook and Lake trout in this depth. The action was from the filtration plant up to Fox Point. The surface water temperature was around 44 degrees but Friday it was up to 49 degrees and 44 degrees down 30 feet. We did go out to 200 feet one day straight out the north gap and found surface temperatures at 39 degrees. This was a week ago and I am sure it has warmed up some. 

We took the Coho salmon on orange dodgers and Gen X or green peanut flies. We had this on a rigger two dipsies set at 30 feet on the outside and 20 feet on the inside. We had 3 mono boards, with 5/8 ounce keel weights, set 20, 40 and 50 feet back from the boards. All of these set ups took Coho. We have not had our normal time on the water and our catch rate on Coho salmon is down but the potential is there to boat double digit catches of Coho salmon right now out of Milwaukee. If the water clears up a little close to shore there could be a great bite but with the strong east and northeast winds plus the rain I think offshore will be the answer this Memorial Day weekend. We have been catching some nice Chinook salmon each time out and Friday we boated 4 Kings all over 15 pounds. These fish are very healthy and put up and very tough fight. We have been running some flasher and fly sets but the Chinook want spoons. The UV Blue Dolphin and Gold Hud Stinger spoons in the Stingray size are the ticket. Riggers set from 40 to 55 feet down and 5 or 7 color leadcores are the best set ups right now. Of course the Lake trout are being caught and I believe if we targeted them specifically we could take 20 trout easily in a trip. A good back up for sure. But we want to catch salmon right now. 

After this blow that is happening right now we will try out deep. Over the years out of Milwaukee somewhere between 150 to 250 feet or water can be an amazing bite for Coho salmon and Memorial Day weekend usually starts it off. The water is warming up, the bait is everywhere and we are already catching good numbers of salmon. Now it is time to dial in on them and the end of this upcoming week is shaping up to be a good one for fishing starting Thursday. We understand there is a lot gong on and it is affecting all business. This is the first Memorial Day that we have any spots open in a long time. We think the weather and the fishing are going to be good. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 and lets start having some fun catching fish and drinking the beverage of your choice. We will fillet your fish and you can grill them out that night. 

I have attached a few pictures of fish we have caught recently, a picture of our favorite peanut fly and the stocking numbers for Lake Michigan in 2019. The overall number is the lowest since in many years, maybe going back into the 1970's, but some of this decline is due to reduction in Lake trout stocking and this is a good thing. All the species are at low numbers to previous years, with the exception of Rainbow trout. There is a lot to be said about these numbers but the most important thing to be noted is the health of the salmon and trout in the lake currently. You don't catch a Chinook salmon that is 20 to 30 pounds that are eating water, so the reductions in stocking over the last 13 years have helped. It is now time to start putting more fish in the lake and reducing Lake trout stocking. With 2.4 million Lake trout stocked in 2019, which was lowest Lake trout stoking since 2004, and the increase stocking of Chinook salmon of 2.3 million lake wide in 2020 we are heading in the right direction. Not sure but 2.5 million Chinook, 2.5 million Coho, 1.5 million Brown trout, 2 million Rainbow trout and 2 million Lake trout stocked each year seems to be good numbers for a healthy and productive fishery in the lakes current state, 

 

We should be at the beginning of the best Lake Michigan charter fishing for salmon of the entire year. The fishing is there but the go ahead by the states is not. There is some hope though as Ohio opened up chatter fishing on Lake Erie. We believe sometime this month we will get the go ahead for our Wisconsin Governor. We were out fishing Saturday and had some Coho action off Wind Point in 89 to 90 feet. There has been good or even great Coho action south of Wind Point in 50 feet or less. Been a good start for sure down south and we expect a very good season on Coho salmon, unlike last year. The water was 42 degrees at the surface and 39 degrees down 30 feet. We fished in deeper water due to water clarity in shallow. The bait is loaded in close as the alewives have moved in. The smelt run keeps improving each year and the alewives that have showed certainly have not dropped off from last year. We are slipped at South Milwaukee Yacht Club. I have a huge thanks out to these guys for letting us slip at the marina. We still cannot slip at McKinley marina as it is the only marina not open on the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan. We hope they open soon. So there is a lot of stuff going on with COVID-19 right now but the fish, lake and the rest of nature just keeps rolling. 

We have been out several times since early April. We have run Coho set ups each time but yesterday was the first day they were hit. Orange dodgers and green or Gen-X peanut flies were hit. Boards with 5/8 ounce keep weights about 30 feet back from the board or on mono dipsies 30 feet out on the line counter were all hit. We had about 10 bites and boated only 5 Coho but they were decent size compared to early April. We ran a smoked dodger and Milwaukee Special spin & glow on the bottom for 20 minutes and took 2 Lake trout. That was it but we will start fishing on a more regular basis now. 

Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467. We will be running trips soon and that great Coho action we are use to seen at this time of year is shaping up to be very good. I know there is still a lot of uncertainty in the air with the virus issues but we are going to have to get on with our lives soon and due to all the cancellations of concerts, sports and festivals you have to do something fun. Lake Michigan Charter fishing will be back and if is a fun adventure. You can also enjoy some adult beverages with family and friends, while catching fish. I don't have much in pictures from yesterday but I kept a few Coho salmon from the trip and ate them last night. Simple nothing better than Coho caught that day. 

Well April is almost finished and I should be writing about the best April in years but instead we are still waiting on our go papers from the Governor. The weather and the fishing was so right this April and the few times we went out we caught fish with ease. The Coho bite is on fire sown south and it is torture not to be able to take people out. Of course their a lot of people suffering right now both health wise and economic wise with the COVID-19 pandemic. But we cannot wait to take people fishing and forget about it for just a little while and catch some fish. Things are stating to loosen up as state parks and boat launches open up. We expect they will let us charter soon and I am sure there will be restriction put on us. We want to make sure our customers are safe when they fish with us so the boat will be wiped with down disinfectants after each trip, we will have hand soap, we will be wearing masks until things are under control. We want you to feel safe and we want to feel safe too so make sure everyone in your crew does not have flu like conditions when you come. So we just have to wait until the state lets us start chartering. 

We have been out and things are looking up. The Coho bite looks to be a good one this year. The Chinooks that are around look healthy and big. There is still a good Brown trout bite and of course plenty of Lake trout, if you can believe it. The bite down in Illinois has been real good for Coho and we have already been catching them in Milwaukee but the big schools are not here just yet. Water temperatures are warm and we have seen 45 degrees on the surface near shore. It is set up good and waiting for our customers to catch a lot of fish. I don not know when we will be able to start but the earliest is May 1st. We hope it is not much longer than this. We believe we can run trips safely with minimal risk of spreading the virus. Let us just say that going to the grocery store is probably 10.000 times worse. 

Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip and we will get you catching fish. We will play whatever music you want on SirusXM and bring something to drink, kick back and enjoy life. We will fish hard for you and make your time away from all of the virus stuff special. The pictures are from our last fun trip. I have my mask on and it really was not that bad. I am holding a 15 pound Chinook salmon. I think we will catch a few more salmon Milwaukee charter fishing this year.

Well COVID-19 has put the skids on just about everything. Lake Michigan charter fishing has been shutdown. For Wisconsin this will not be revisited until late April and then we will see. The most important thing I could say in this report is Social Distancing!! Do it and we will be back in business sooner for all business. We know that it will be sometime before stadiums are full, festivals are a go and live concerts start to happen but for charter fishing I think we will be back sooner. The great thing is it is a small group of your choosing. I know people will be itching to get out and do stuff. Lake Michigan charter fishing is the ticket. You get outside, catch fish and have a few beverages with friends and family. The best fishing of the year is in front of us and we have the boat in the water. My brother and I have fished a couple of times and it has been good. A mixed bag of Brown trout and Coho salmon. The water temperature has been in the low forties where we have fished. We have worked the shoreline from the Oak Creek power plant to the Main gap of the Milwaukee harbor and have caught fish everywhere. We finally have a good spring and the fish are biting and we cannot run a trip. Well there are a lot of people suffering worse and we just keep it in perspective. 

The little fishing we have done has been in 20 feet or less along the shore, with the exception of the harbor gaps. The closer to shore the better. We have heard Flicker Shads are the way to go but we don't like to mess around with that. We ran all spoons, with a couple of orange dodgers and peanut flies out. We are only running 6 rods, so it is a little tougher to dial in to a hot bite. The one color leadcores were the best by far. We had small copper Mass Confusion Stingers on these and these rods where hot. We caught both Coho salmon and Brown trout on them. The gold NBK green was good on a two color. We ran the orange dodgers on a dipsy and mono board and had just one hit on them over the last two trips. It was board heavy bite and very close to shore. We have seen a lot of Coho salmon caught and hopefully this translates into a great May and June for them. Water is warm for this time of year and we have seen some good amounts of bait. The smelt run seems to be decent for where it fell to. But the police shut this down when the groups of people grew to big.

So it is hard to say when we will be able to start Lake Michigan charter fishing up. I think sooner than later. We are hoping early May. When the state says go we are in the water already ans set to fish. Bring the beverage of your choice, some good friends and be ready to catch fish. We will filet them and you can have fresh fish on the grill that night. I have a feeling there will not be a lot of the bigger events happening this summer but you will be able to get on the water and catch salmon and trout. Lets get through this nasty virus asap and give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467. We will be rolling right through October. Going to make this a fun season! Picture of a rain storm that hit as the sun was popping out and a picture of a 33 pound Brown trout we caught in April 2017 around this time. Stay healthy and safe. 

We hope to have the boat in early this year. The goal is March 27th and fishing on March 28th. The reason we think this will happen is there has not been much ice around. Lake Michigan has been less than 20 percent covered with ice at any time this winter and right now in the southern end of the lake it is just harbors that have ice. There have only been 5 years since 1975 with the same or less ice coverage during a winter. So unless we get an unexpected long freeze we will be fishing early. The benefits to these less cold winters are survival of little stuff in the lake. Young stocked fish and fish that just hatched last spring. The lake level is also at an all time high for this time of year and was at record highs all last year. This means that more nutrients is getting in the lake. This is a good combination for survival. We saw bigger fish last season and it looks like this trend should continue. A mild winter should only improve this trend. Milwaukee charter fishing in April is our best month for Brown trout fishing. We have had Aprils where we had some great Coho and even Chinook catches but normally we are strong on Brown trout and Lake trout. 

We are typically fishing close to shore or in and around the Milwaukee harbor in 15 to 40 feet of water. The harbor and river hold warmer water and have better action. We will also fish the Oak Creek power plant when weather permits. This also has warm water discharges. Lake Michigan is already warmer than usually right now. We are typically running boards with 1, 2, and 3 color leadcores. We also run mono dipsy's and shallow downriggers. We like to use spoons this time or year but stick baits are also effective. Our favorite spoons Stinger Gold Hud, UV Blue Dolphin, NBK Green and the Copper Mass Confusion. We catch a lot of Brown trout on these spoons. The Brown trout run between 2 to 12 pounds and we have caught many in that went 15 pounds or more. Our biggest in April was 33 pounds. When the water sets up right this can be as productive as any time during the entire season. 

It is setting up for an early bite this year although it still may be cold out while we are fishing the action should warm you up. Dress warm and give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get in on the best Brown trout action of the year during April. This is one of my favorite times of the year to fish. We will be in Milwaukee the entire month. I attached a couple of pictures of fish caught the first week of April in past years. 

Silver King Charters is getting ready for the 2020 season, which is only 50 days away. Last April we had some great catches of Brown trout and look forward to that early spring action this year that may start the last week of March. To all that fish with us I am sure we have brought up the shortage of Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan. In 2013 it was decided that the lake could no longer sustain the current stocking levels of Chinook, which was 3.24 million stocked in 2012. The alewife population was down and the thought was natural reproduction of Chinook salmon account for more than half the population of Chinook in Lake Michigan. By 2018 there was talk of eliminating Chinook stocking in Lake Michigan completely. A goal of some groups for many years. But many fought back on this idea and even asked for increases. During the 2018 and 2019 seasons the Chinook that were caught were big. A 20 pound Chinook became average and 30 pound Chinooks were the new big fish. It was obvious that some of the facts we were told were off about bait population and natural reproduction. Yes the fish were bigger but the catch rate was way down. Lake Huron, which is connected to Lake Michigan and fish can swim back and forth from did crash and the Chinook population did fall to almost nothing due to very little food. It was a good idea to take steps to prevent the same from happening in Lake Michigan. But for now it looks as if Lake Michigan has reached a balance with the mussel invasion and more fish can be put back into the lake. So what does this mean for the 2020 stockings. Well do to a lot of pressure from groups in Wisconsin, primarily the WLBA the stocking reductions were halted and now will be increased. We were dangerously close to having no Chinooks stocked but the tide has turned. The combined stocking of all four states surrounding Lake Michigan for Chinook salmon will now be at least 2.2 million, which is up from the all time low in 2017 of 1.37 million. This is a big increase and we have not seen this many Chinooks stocked since 2012. There were many who were involved in this increase but I believe if the WLBA did not exist then neither would Chinook stocking in Lake Michigan. Silver King Charters is a huge supported of them.

The stocked fish in 2020 will not help our catch rate this season but for seasons to come it will only get better. Lake trout stocking, which has been incredibly reckless over the last 15 years is still a problem. The Lake trout stocking for the first time in years has been reduced a small amount but one can only imagine how many are in the lake currently. I can say this with certainty that if you added up all the Brown trout, Coho, Chinook and Rainbow trout in the lake currently it would not come close to equaling the Lake trout heard and that is way under stating it. Lake trout live for a long time, eat constantly and have several restricted areas you cannot fish for them. There should be no more than 2 million total a year stocked in the lake! 

Lake Michigan charter fishing has some how weathered several major crisis over the years but still remains a world class fishery and for the immediate future things are looking up. With the way last year ended, with and incredible Chinook bite we are looking for some what of an improved King bite in 2020. Lake Michigan has not come close to freezing over and an early spring is almost certain. At least one where we can get in the water. The early bite of April is one of my favorite times to fish, with short run times and the best Brown trout fishing of the year. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get on the books for some Milwaukee charter fishing in 2020. The pictures are a sunrise and sunset from a couple of days ago. There is barely any ice left in the harbor now. 

The boat is out of the water and in storage but before we pulled it we had the best 3 weeks of salmon fishing of 2019. The Chinook fishing was at its best from early October right up to October 31st when the door shut with very cold temperatures and a snow storm. This was the best stretch of Chinook fishing we had for Milwaukee charter fishing all season. Leading into this stretch are best trip for Kings was 7 fish in one trip and this only happened once. During this period our worst catch in a trip on Kings was 8 fish. We limited out on all trips after October 5th except for two trips and the last trip of the year we boated 30 fish, with 25 of them being Chinook salmon. The action was constant and quick. Every day kept getting better as more bait and more salmon kept coming into the area. It was common to boat 6 to 8 Chinooks over 13 pounds and many weighed 15 to 18 pounds. The bait was diverse too. We found Alewives, Shad, Shiners, Bloaters, Sculpin, small Whitefish and even a Smelt. These fish were loaded with bait and there was a lot of it around. It seemed more salmon came into the area through the month and it just kept getting better. It reminded me of what happened in the southern end of the Michigan side two years ago during May but that seemed better with bigger fish. But it was something close to that action as fish lined up right off Milwaukee. Because it was October not as many boats were out but on one Saturday I counted 40 boats and I hadn't seen that many since August. Many people asked me what this means for next year. This is a big lake and most of it is never fished. With fewer fish stocked the area you fish has to get lucky to have the right conditions and then schools of fish show up like this off your port. I remember a few years back when there was a huge school of Coho salmon off Port Washington in May that lasted several weeks. If the bait and conditions are right fish will fill into an area and make it a very hot bite. This was common years ago. So next spring there is always hope this could happen again but what I took out of this is the Chinook salmon are going to be healthy and big when they are around to catch. Lets hope that bait sticks around at the level it was in October. When the snow and cold hit on Halloween the water temperature dropped from 46 degrees to 42 degrees from the top down 100 feet. The bait and fish disappeared and we were back to Lake trout. Just like that it blew away but it lasted 3 weeks. Best King fishing I have seen in several years. 

Our spread and location did not change through this period. Many said we forgot how to catch Chinooks because of all the Lake trout we have boated. I began to wonder myself but you can't fish for what is not there. But once I knew there was a fair amount of Chinook around the spread was dialed by the second trip. We like to go hard with a set up once we see something the Kings like. Around Brew City there was a good Chinook bite and we used all green flashers with my brothers fly. In October we ran the white Hot Spot little boy blue flasher with the Howie little boy blue fly on all riggers and wire divers. The more chewed up the fly the better they worked as usual. The set on riggers was 40, 50, 80 and 100 feet down in 100 to 130 feet of water. The wire divers were at 150 feet on the line counter with magnum divers set at a number 2 setting. On the boards we used spoons. Easier to reel and very productive. We only go to flashers on the boards if we really need to. We ran Stinger stingray gold huds on all the board rods. We ran copper at 150, 250, 300 and 350 feet. Our bigger Kings came off these boards but are faster bite came on the flies. Three straight weeks that is what we ran and it was very productive. We took a few Lake trout and Brown trout during this period. There were actually a fair number of Seafer's around and we boated one to 3 every trip. 

What a way to end a challenging season. I will break the season down over the next several months. Silver King Charters will be back in the water on April 1st 2020 and we are already booking trips. Remember that Saturdays go quick. Salmon-A-Rama has only 6 spots left and this runs form July 11 through July 19. We hope mother nature is a little more fair in 2020 but as I right this the Milwaukee river has ice on it. Call us at 414-460-1467 to book a trip for 2020. There were some 30 pound fish caught in 2019 and from what we saw in October the trend will continue. I have attached pictures from the amazing Chinook bite in October, the snow storm that ended it and the last fish of the season. 

Well after boating a 31 pound Chinook salmon on August 30th the Chinook return to the Milwaukee harbor has been less than special for sure. We have boated no more than three mature Chinook salmon on any one trip in the harbor. The best effort was three Chinooks in a trip. The size has been very good, with fish going 16 to 25 pounds. We hope for another wave of fish before it is all done. The next several days will be the best hope for better results. The water temperature and water clarity have been perfect for fish to bite. The surface temperature is no more that 60 degrees and at times we have seen 48 degrees at the bottom near the gaps. The numbers are just not there. This year and next are low stocking numbers for Chinook and this is showing up now in a big way. We have also been out fishing Lake trout in 100 foot depth and when the wind is not hollowing form one direction or another this bite has been very good for the first couple of hours each morning. We have also fished the Green Can or Milwaukee reef. This has been hit and miss but when this fish are around it delivers a good mixed bag. A lot of shaker or small 12" to 14" range fish are around too.

For the  Chinook bite we have liked J-Plugs that have silver and lime green on them. We also like green flashers with green or bull frog flies. The Gold Hud has also produced on 2 and 3 color boards. We had early success in the North Gap and Main Gap but for the last several days you needed to be in the river channel or turning basin to get Chinook. I think a few more waves of fish are still to come. The Lake trout are from 43.04 to 42.59 from 90 to 120 feet of water. The riggers on the bottom with smoke or silver dodgers and the Milwaukee Special spin and glows have been best. The gold Hud Stinger on 3 to 10 color leadcores are catching a mixed bag of all species. The water is cold and 50 feet down is usually 48 degrees. The Green Can is where we have found the warmest water and at times it is 59 degrees down 60 feet. The morning bite has been far better then midday fishing. We have been catching a lot of magnum shakers of Coho and Chinook salmon. These fish have for the most part hit a size to keep on trips and this is good to see the young fish growing in size their first year in the lake. Some of the Coho are almost to very early spring time weight. The Chinooks are very decent size. 

We looked at the rest of September and October to be heavy on Lake trout, Brown trout and magnum Coho and Chinook ranging in 1.5 to 2.5 pounds. The lake has already begun to cool down considerable and it really never did warm up much anyway. This will help the nearshore bite that can be good fishing in the fall for many species. We still have some attempts at the Harbor fish before they spawn too. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a fall trip or a trip in 2020. We will be fishing until November 4th when the boat will be pulled out. I have some September pictures attached, with several Lake trout over 20 pounds and a nice Brown trout weighing 19 pounds. We were also lucky to have Santana Dotson and Gilbert Brown aboard from the 1996 Green Bay Packer Super Bowl team. They were incredible players and just as good at fishing. They caught their limit and Santana landed at 23 pound Lake trout. Gilbert finished the limit with a 11 pound Coho salmon. Amazing experience and great guys. The fish look small next to those guys. Have a picture of a Sheephead too. We have caught quit a few of these over the last several years. 

I just wrote a report on 30 pound fish and that we thought this September we could add to the collection because of all the big Kings around this year. It only took until this morning to do it. We boated a 31 pound Chinook salmon. This is our biggest Chinook ever boated and our second biggest a 30.6 pound Chinook happen this June. This is a year for Big Kings and they are just starting to come back to the ports they were stocked to spawn. We will boat a many Chinook in the next several weeks in the 20 pound range and now that we have  the 30 pound Chinook we hoped for we don't want to stop now. This fish was already very dark for August but the meat on these fish is still very good right now. The water temperature is perfect for harbor and just outside the Milwaukee harbor. It has been several years since we have had this good of conditions and the fall run is just starting up. We don't expect to boat big numbers during this period but we do expect some big fish. 

This fish hit a rigger down 18 feet with a number 3 Mongoose J-Plug. We had another one hit a wire dipsy with a green flasher and Willy fly on it set at 35 on the line counter. Another hit the same plug down 30 feet. We have two Kings hit a Gold Hud Stinger down 15 on a rigger. Not a lot of bites but it just set up today and should get better over the next week. These fish are fighting like crazy and it is truly combat fishing in shallow water. The west winds are cooling the water down and the fish are very active because of this. The water clarity was not the best the past two days due to big waves and rain but it is clearing up fast.

Give Silver King Charters a call over at 414-460-1467 to get in on some great early September action for Big Chinooks or great Lake trout fishing. Milwaukee charter fishing will see some big fish over the next two weeks. I have attached some pictures of the big King caught by Troy and his son Charlie. My brother Willy was the captain and is a big fish catcher.

We should be fishing but instead I am posting a report. We have not fished since Wednesday when we took back to back limits. We probably could have gone a couple of times over the last 4 days but with big wind from the north, then northeast, then east and now southeast the conditions were never all that inviting. The best seas were 2 to 3 feet and coming from two directions. As of now it may be a couple of more days before we go due to big south and then west winds. It usually drops some with wind switches but this is a bad stretch. The good thing is that there is still enough cold water around and with the west wind about to hit this could set up the harbor area for some very good fishing. All the big Chinooks around are getting ready to stage and spawn. Then next three weeks are a great time to catch big Kings if the water temperature is not too warm. It has been a cold water year and this could help us out. Right now it is 48 degrees down 62 feet at the Atwater buoy. This is the warmest time of the year for Lake Michigan and a lot goes into warming the lake up. The cold water hurt us at times this year, mainly with the Coho salmon bite. But it could really help out early September. We hope for not too cold and long of a winter, along with a warmer spring to help out next year. The Lake trout bite straight out of Milwaukee has been very good over the last this bite lasted until early October. Big trout and decent numbers. There are a lot of small Chinooks around to help out the catch. 

We have been fishing from 43.05 to 42,57 in 100 to 110 feet of water. We keep moving further north to get away from boats and it doesn't matter the bite is still good. Spin and glows with smoke dodgers near the bottom have been the ticket. We have boated a few Chinook too and a green flasher with a Howie Bull Frog fly down 50 to 70 feet has been best for us. The board rods have not been to productive but we are trolling slow for the trout. The couple of trips ran this last 4 days did the same and so the trout have not been affected by the blows. We are hoping by next weekend there will be enough cold water around the Milwaukee harbor gaps to produce a good Chinook bite. They will be coming in regardless but cooler water makes a better bite. The Kings fight real hard around the gaps and this year could be ridiculous. Now there have been over 10.000 30 pound Chinooks boated this year but all kidding aside there is a good chance this fall to boat a 30 plus pound Chinook. Probably the best chance in many years and we hope to boat one. 

Why are there some many big Chinook around. Lots of stocking and biology to this question. The main reason is the Alewive population is up and the Chinook stocking is at an all time low. This sets up pretty good for big fish lake wide. For the last 14 years the mumber one stocked fish in Lake Michigan was Lake trout. It still is this year but for the first time in a long time the Lake trout stocking was reduced to 2.7 million instead of 3.5 million. The Chinook stocking was down to 1.2 million as of last year and the goal as of 3 year ago was to reduce this to 400,000 and then maybe none. Thanks to a lot of people and the WLBA Wisconsin said the was too much and fought against the reduction. The hope is after fall fish management meetings the Chinook stocking goes back up. We believe that a stocking of 2 million Lake trout and Chinook salmon would give a good balance for sport fishing and the lakes ecosystem. Then keeping the Coho, Rainbow and maybe increase the Brown trout some. The key is the Lake trout that is managed by the Federal Government and treaties with the Indian tribes. We also believe for the next several years the limit for Lake trout should be 5 fish lake wide to help reduce the over population. Lake trout and Chinook salmon are the hardest on the bait fish and must be managed together to keep our fishery strong for everyone who fished Lake Michigan. Bottom line some of what the fishery managers did was very solid and led to a great year for big fish. Before I leave the subject there is no reason the refuge or mid lake reef should not be open to fish Lake trout. Only a couple of ports can reach it and few would burn the gas to do so unless fishing was very tough. It would take a fleet of boats to put a dent in the Lake trout on this reef. That said what is next.

The next several weeks are going to be good fishing. Chances to catch big salmon before they start to spawn. Good Lake trout action and one of the better times to catch Brown trout. So many years we know the water is going to be too warm to make this happen around the harbor. Our concern now is boat traffic. Weekdays are the best days to fish this time of year for reduced boat traffic. This September will as always have its wind issues but when we get out we expect good things. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip for September and October. We hope to run charters into the first weekend of November. We tried last year and did not work out with the weather. I have a picture of our last trip on Wednesday. We expect this action to continue. I have also attached pictures of the four 30 plus pound fish we have caught charter fishing. I think we have over 20 fish boated between 28 and just under 30 pounds. It is very special to crack the 30 pound mark. There are two Brown trout. I have a two pictures of one of those Brown trout. I had to hole that one and a 12 year old caught it. There is a Chinook and the whole family fought this fish at one time or another. Finally the epic Lake trout that when it hit Colin could not get the wire dipsy out of the rod holder for almost a minute. We want to catch our 5th 30 pound fish this fall.

The month started out with a bang on the Silver King. We boated a 33.6 pound Lake trout on August 1st. This was our first Lake trout over 30 pounds and considering how many my brother and I have boated over the years it is hard to believe it took this long. We have now boated three species over 30 pounds: 2 Brown trout and one Chinook, along with this Lake trout. The trilogy is complete. The Lake trout and Chinook bite started out very good this month. I would say it was the second best stretch this year out of Milwaukee for Chinook fishing. Mid June was probably the best Chinook action with a lot of big Kings caught for around ten days and then the beginning of Salmon-A-Rama was solid too on Kings. The stretch in early August saw Chinook from the two year old, three year old and four year old class. This made for better numbers caught. Good Lake trout fishing was found just below these fish. We worked 60 to 90 feet of water and the best bite was 10 miles north of Milwaukee. We did have a great Lake trout bite straight out of the Milwaukee Harbor in 100 to 110 feet of water. As the water became colder the bite in close became tough and the Lake trout spread out. We moved offshore in 170 to 250 feet where there was a good bite for Steelhead, Coho salmon and of course Lake trout. The first half of August led to an average of 11 fish per trip and this just seems to be the norm for 2019 Milwaukee charter fishing. The bite is solid but not outstanding. The bigger fish have made this a special season. We won Brew City finally and I have a chapter on this followed by the rest of what happen so far in August. 

 

On August 3rd we fished the Brew City Salmon Tournament out of Milwaukee. This is the 19th year of the tournament and is the biggest one day salmon and trout tournament on Lake Michigan. We average 100 boats each year, pay out the top 20 boats, have 25 big fish prizes and all prizes are cash. Go to the www.glsfclub.com to see results and information. We need to get this club to join the WLBA! We have finished four times in 2nd place, three times in 3rd place, twice in 5th place, once in 7th place, twice in 9th place and once in 10th place. We finally won it this year. We were the first boat in by an hour and thought for sure we were somewhere in between 2nd and 7th place based on what we were hearing from others fishing that day. We went 19 for 20 and our top 10 fish weighed 123 pounds and this was good enough to get it done.

We started Lake trout fishing and after destroying the Lake trout for a week leading into the tournament it was a tough bite for us the day of the tournament. We caught 6 Lake trout but we got the right 4 we needed. We had a 15.5 pound average on our top 4 Lake trout. You can only weigh in 4 Lake trout out of the 10 fish you can weigh in. We finished Lake trout fishing in one hour and 15 minutes. These fish were caught between 43.01 and 42.58 in 105 feet of water. Smoked dodgers and spin and glows on two riggers and two wire dipsies. We fished for salmon on the dipsies for 10 minutes to start in hopes of catching a silver fish but switched quickly to spin & glows on these. Our first fish was a Coho on the rigger in the first 5 minutes. We hoped to catch at least one silver fish while Lake trout fishing. We pulled a Rainbow on a 7 color leadore, using a Mongolian Green Moonshine. So we left trout fishing with 2 silver fish and a 15.5lb Lake trout average after an hour and 15 minutes. Great start and plent of time to catch 4 more silver fish, so we had 10 to weigh in.

We motored to 43.10 in 80 feet of water or 12 miles north. The best salmon fishing in the area was there. We decided to Lake trout fish first because most of the boats headed north to fish. We felt the bite would be tough to start with the heavy boat traffic and that boats would clear out when we got up there. They did. We trolled for an hour and 5 minutes before we had our first hit on a wire dipsy, which we lost. At this point we were running all green flashers and the famous Willy fly, which my brother ties, on downriggers 35, 45 and 60 feet down, dipsies and two copper rods at 150 and 200 feet. We had a 5 and 7 color with spoons. Shortly after we lost the first and only fish lost of the day we caught 4 silver fish in less than 15 minutes. Two on the up riggers, one on a wire dipsy set at 70 feet on the line counter and one on a 7 color. One fish was a 12" Chinook, another was a 10lb Coho and the other two were 8 and 4 pound Chinooks. This was at 9:00AM. We had our 10 fish and had 4 spots left to upgrade because we kept an extra Lake trout from earlier. We worked 85 - 90 feet from 43.12.5 to 43.14 for all the fish we boated up north. We caught another Lake trout on a 10 color with a Gold Star Green Spatter and another 12" Chinook. Both were released. We then caught a 12 pound Rainbow on a 7 color, with the Moonshine again. We took a 10 and 8 pound Chinook on the 35 and 45 riggers. Our last fish was a 12 pound Chinook on a wire dipsy set at 70 feet. We had 15 fish in the box at 11:00AM and were at the dock by 11:30AM. Never thought the total weight of 123 pounds would hold but by 2:00PM after all boats weighed in we won. Cannot believe it! Very special moment for my brother and I. I attribute the win to catching medium size fish in the 8 to 12 pound range for our silver fish instead of breaking off 20 plus pound Kings, which many did that day. It also helped to have at 15 plus pound average on Lake trout. I thought after catching a 33 pound Lake trout 2 days earlier our luck was spent. We took second place in the Rainbow and Coho divisions too. Last year we took 3rd place and moved 3 time to do it. Both years we were under power almost as much as we fished. You have to move from spot to spot to get what you need on this lake these days.

Next year the Brew City would like to do a Pro/AM tournament on the weekend of August 8th, 2020. The Pro division would pay out $12000 for 1st, $5000 for 2nd and $3000 for 3rd place. The only way this happens as if we get 20 boats to commit to the Pro division by January 1, 2020. It would be a 2 day Friday/Saturday tournament for the Pros. The entry would be $1000 for each Pro boat. We will see if we can make it happen. 

Since Brew City we spent a week fishing up north for a mixed bag of Chinook, Lake trout, Rainbow and Coho salmon. Same spread and location as Brew City. We fished deeper water for several days in the 150 to 250 range for Rainbows and Lake trout, using mostly spoons on leadcores from 3 to 10 color. Gold Hud and Orange Crush Gold Singer spoons were best as they have been offshore all year. We are currently back in our Lake trout spot crushing the Lake trout in 100 feet of water, catching limit or near limit catches. Big trout too.

Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on early September Milwaukee charter fishing. We are hoping for some cool water and big Chinook salmon. This is the year of the big Chinook and they will be coming into to spawn soon. There was a 40 pound Chinook caught a week ago down in the southern end of Lake Michigan. We want another 30 pound Chinook and this is the time to do it. We also made it on the news with a 3 hour spot last Monday on Fox 6 Morning Wake Up. They did 5 spots of live footage of us fishing. I would like to thank Brain of Fox 6 and all those who produced it. You guys did a very professional job. Check it out on the web by looking up Fox 6 Morning Wake Up Live. Look for Silver King Charters. I made sure to pug all the ports and the fishery as a whole. I have attached multiple pictures of the 33 pound Lake trout, multiple pictures of the Brew City victory, the Fox 6 crew on the boat and other August pictures. We also caught our 2nd Pink salmon of the year. 

July was a solid month for Lake Michigan charter fishing. Again we were a little light on catch per trip at 11 fish a trip but it was for the most part consistent action. We started out the month with some good Chinook action and when the Kings slowed down we had consistent Lake trout and offshore for Coho, Rainbow, Lake trout and occasional Chinook. The theme remains big fish. We rolled into Salmon-A-Rama week with the intent of landing a big King. Although a couple 30 plus pound Chinook where caught off Milwaukee the King bite slowed by mid month. The eventual winning fish for Salmon-A-Rama was caught out of our port. We switched to Lake trout by the middle of Salmon-A-Rama and landed 5th and 6th place in the lake wide tournament, with two 21 pound Lake trout. This is the 8th consecutive year we have placed multiple charter customers on the salmon-a-rama board that stuck until the end and won them money. We fished offshore in 200 plus feet of water for much of the middle of July but the last week things set up in the 50 to 90 foot range and we started catch big Chinook and Lake trout again as the water cooled. Most of the last 10 years a 20 pound Chinook would be a really nice Chinook and it still is. In 2019 the 30 pound Kings are the ones to brag about. Many have been boated in all ports around Lake Michigan and it is only a matter of time before a 40 pound fish is caught. We boated a 31 pound King in June. Last year there were two 30 pound Chinook caught during Salmon-a-rama and this year there were nine. Hope it is a trend because these fish are an incredible fight. 

So for our Chinook bite when fishing from 60 to 120 feet of water has been about the green flashers and either Bull Frog Howie flies or the Willy fly. We run a 27" lead with 40 lb pink Ande flourcarbon leader. We like either Hot Spot, Pro Troll or Spin Doctors. Green with crushed ice tape on one side and silver on the other. This has been our top producer. The meat rigs worked realy good last year but not so much this year. Could be the meat we are using but not much success. The flasher flies are best on dipsies, up riggers and copper set ups. Our 150 to 250 coopers. For offshore it is spoons on 2 to 10 color leadcores. We like the Gold Hud, UV Green Dolphin and the Orange Crush Gold stingers the best. Green flasher flies on the dipsies and up riggers. Our deep riggers are white flashers, with bull frog flies. For the Lake trout fishing it is all smoke dodgers and spin and glows. We like the Milwaukee Special or the Lucky Charm. We have not had monster numbers this year but 8 to 12 fish catches have been very consistent out of Milwaukee this year. We have not had to deal with warm water very deep in the water column this year yet either. 

We are getting ready for Brew City this week and the Chinook bite has picked up. Hoping for the best. Give Silver King Charters a cal at 414-460-1467 to book an August trip and get in on some King action before the big ones start to spawn. I have attach some pictures from July. One shows a big Lamprey on a Chinook. Have not seen to many of these this year but this is one of the biggest I have seen. Another is a picture of our boat fishing at sunrise. 

 

Well this is a report I did not want to post. Why? The lack of Coho salmon caught during our most productive time to fish. The reason was cold water and lack of fish movement. This was our lowest catch total for Coho salmon in 20 years over this time period and it was by a large margin. Fish wouldn't cross over from the Michigan side or come in from out deep or come up from the southern end of Lake Michigan due to cold water temperatures and a very late spring. It was only by late June we were able to take off our winter jackets out on the lake. The best Coho action was in the very southern end of the Lake Michigan and if I had an Illinois charter license I think I would have gone. I hope next year at this time we will be back to normal but I don't know what normal is right now. I am confident though we should be good in 2020. The good news is there are still lots of Coho salmon left because the pressure from many ports on them was not so great. This means more will be in the catch as the season progresses and some big ones too. That is the theme of the 2019 season. Big Fish! We have fished the lake a long time and we are starting to see the alewive population slowly coming back in good numbers where we fish. That means bigger fish. We have boated 20 fish over 20 pounds through June and this includes a 31 pound Chinook salmon. Fish don't grow that big without a lot of bait around. They aren't drinking water to get that big. We also have a 18 pound Rainbow this season and many Steelhead over 10 pounds along with 4 Lake trout over 20 pounds. 

So the total catch rate is at 10 fish a trip through June and at this time of the year we like to be 15 to 20 fish per trip. That is what Coho salmon do for the fishing in May and June. It should be noted that the Coho stocking was not down from previous years but it is a big lake and if things don't line up in your area of the lake it can really affected the bite. But when you through a 20 pound Chinook in the box, who cares about missing 8 Coho in a trip. The fights have been amazing. The fish are well fed and full of energy. We have runs after the hit of 100 to 600 feet of line. The opportunity is there to catch a big King on every trip. We have been fishing all over but finished June fishing in 100 feet of water for Chinook or offshore for a mix of Rainbow, Coho and Lake trout. The offshore bite in June was real good from 180 to 300 feet of water straight out of Milwaukee. The Chinook bite was solid for about 10 days in 100 feet just north of Milwaukee. Flasher flies on the riggers and wire dipsies were best for the Kings. White flashers and Howie Bull Frog flies worked best set from 40 to 75 feet below the surface. When offshore it was 2 through 8 color leadcores that worked best. Stinger orange crush gold spoons or UV green dolphin and the gold hud were the best spoons. We did boat several 12 pound Steelhead and one went 18lbs. I am way past due for July reports and I will go over the month and jump into August next week. 

Every year has its trade marks and 2019 is about big fish and Big King salmon is the highlight for sure. It has been a long time since a 20 pound Chinook was considered average. Throughout the lake there will be many Chinook caught over 25 pounds and into the 30 pound mark. The only question is can someone land a 40 pound King this year. Call Silver King charters for some fun summer Lake Michigan charter fishing at 414-460-1467. The first 3 pictures are of the 31 pound Chinook and the next one is of a 18 pound Rainbow. 

 

 

 

We are through May and a week into June. Unfortunately the Coho bite has been less than stellar. We have caught Coho salmon but the catch rate on them is down 70%. The problem is a very cold start to the season. We are still wearing winter jackets on the lake. The water has been slow to warm and has caused the movement of Coho salmon to be slow. The big schools are still way south. We still believe there will be some good Coho fishing to be had in June but the window will be shorter. We went to Racine for a weekend to better our catch rate and although it improved it was not much. Maybe 5 to 10 bites more a trip. The good news is the Rainbow trout bite has been very good. There is a good amount of them from 90 to 250 feet of water from Port Washington back to the state line. The Chinook bite has not been great but when you hook into one the fight is incredible. There have been multiple 25 pound Chinook caught. The size will be great on the Chinook this year. The other good thing is there is a lot of Alewive around and today at the dock we saw thousands in the harbor getting ready to spawn. The fish that are out there are healthy. 

So we are running a spread to target both Coho and Rainbow. Many of our fish are coming off high boards, using orange Luhr Jensen or Gold Star B&B dodgers followed by green peanut flies. This is accounting for 50% of our fish. The inside boards are 3 to 8 color Leadcores. Are favorite spoon is the Stinger Stingray Gold Hud. We also like the Gold Yellow Tux by Stinger. The riggers are spoons on the outside riggers at 20 to 25 feet down and the inside riggers are white flashers with Howie Green Krinke being the top producer followed by the Bull Frog. We run three dipsies with orange Coho set ups and one wire diver with the same thing on the riggers. All the dipsies seemed to collect 2 to 4 fish a trip. We are fishing in 150 to 250 feet of water for best catches. We are trolling a little fast too. The water is cold and we are in 49 to 42 degrees for the most part. It seems right now the colder the better. The Rainbow trout account for at least half the fish, then Coho, with some Lake trout and Chinook. We have had some in close action but it rarely last. 

There are still plenty of Coho salmon to be caught and we still should have a couple of knock out weeks on them but not like a normal season. The fishing has still been good and the best Coho bite is still to come along with monster King salmon. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467. The fish are big this year and fighting real good. We are back in Milwaukee and probably will not go back to Racine unless the bite really picks up. We caught a Pink salmon last Monday. We have been catching more of these each year. This fish was accidentally stocking in Lake Superior many years ago and has naturally survived over the last 40 years. I have attached a picture.

 

Well it is the middle of May and this is Coho salmon time. The highest catch rate of the year. The problem is the water is still very cold. As of Tuesday we saw 41.5 degrees on the surface in 100 feet or 4 miles off shore. The middle of the lake it is the high 30's still. Late spring to say the least but warm air and sunny days warms up the surface fast and will move fish. Today we saw 46 degree surface water in the same spot we were Wednesday. The bait is all around so the fish just have to find the our bait and they will stick around. There have been some descent catches of Coho down south but just random catches for us in Milwaukee and Racine was not much better for Coho. We expect the Coho action to pick up real soon. Our Brown trout action has fallen off and we are fishing Lake trout while waiting on the Coho bite. The Lake trout bite has been very good. We caught a 20 pound fish today. We have also caught a few Chinook and Coho while fishing Lake trout. Several limits and we are glad that Wisconsin raised the bag limit to 5 Lake trout per person. I have attached a picture of a Lake trout we caught this morning, with what was in its belly. many alewives. This is true for all the Lake trout we catch. They are vacuum cleaners when it come to alewives. They never stop eating. 

We have fished outside the Milwaukee harbor, with the main and south gaps being best. We have taken a mix of Coho and Brown trout here but the bite is average with 5 to 10 fish catches. This area will soon be a hot spot. We have moved offshore for a better bite on Lake trout. The action is best straight out from the harbor in 100 feet of water near the bottom. Spin and glows have been king and spin and glows with yellow in them are best. We like silver prism or smoke dodgers with them. We have caught a few Coho salmon on orange dodger and Next Generation peanut flies off boards on the surface but very few. We may try deeper this weekend for a Coho bite. The action on Lake trout has been steady. We took a few Chinook salmon on a white flasher with a Howie Bull Frog fly. 

Memorial Day weekend's have been known for some great fishing and hopefully on one of our trips we take a limit of Coho salmon. The next several weeks though should begin to see some great salmon catches, so call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip for the best time of the year for catch rate and salmon. Until then we will be catching something and probably Lake trout. Attached are some resent catches.

May Lake Michigan charter fishing and we are on the edge of our favorite time of the year. COHO SALMON TIME! The catch is still consists mostly of Brown trout but we are now starting to take some Coho salmon. We have been in, around and down the shore of the Milwaukee harbor. Some have ventured off shore of Milwaukee but with no success. The water as of Wednesday has reached 50 degrees on the surface by the river mouth and 46 degrees outside the gaps. Down 10 feet it is in the mid to low forties. Offshore the surface is at or just above 40 degrees and down 50 feet it is the high thirties. All is about to change soon as the water is warming fast now. The alewives started to show up mid last week in the harbor and on Wednesday we snagged about 25 alewives while trolling. Each day the schools have been getting thicker. The first Coho salmon we have taken outside the harbor occurred last weekend. Probably had 12 bites and landed 5 Coho over the last 4 days. The trips have been between 5 to 10 fish and this is a little lower than we like but mother nature has been tough this spring. Better times are almost here. 

The spread has remained unchanged, with the exception of a few Coho set ups on inside dipsies and outside boards. Orange small dodgers and green peanut flies. We like the Opti Dodgers because of the orange color they use. All of the Coho stuff is right at the surface and is now taking some bites ever trip. Not to the point to go with more orange yet because the Brown trout bite is still better. We are still running 1 - 4 color leadcores, mono dipsies and riggers from 10 to 30 feet down. All spoons and we are heavy on Gold Hud or UV Blue Dolphin Stinger spoons in the stingray size. There are a lot of big alewives around but we have snagged all year classes, which is great to see. We are not sure if we will go to do some Racine charter fishing yet this year. That will be decided by May 18th. Depends on how the Coho action sets up off Milwaukee. The last several seasons there was no reason to go south but every year is different. Right now most of the Coho action is from fish that wintered around the area. The big schools have not set up yet off Milwaukee or Racine. This should start any day now that the bait is showing up. I hope to have a report next time with lots or orange dodgers and Coho salmon. 

We have trips open for Mother's Day. Don't understand why mothers wouldn't want to fish that day. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip during the most productive time of the season. Mid May through June is our highest catch rate and the best time for salmon. A couple of pictures from the last seven days. A few Coho in the mix. 

We are at the tail end of April and Milwaukee charter fishing has been all about Brown trout. We boat the most Brown trout of the season in April and this action slowly gives way to the Coho salmon bite until it goes completely away by mid May. But we are still catching the Brown trout now. Most of our action has been the eastern part of the Milwaukee harbor. We have taken some fish in the river up to the turning basin. We had a big northeast blow Friday and Saturday that chalked up the water, making the bite challenging but we produced on all trips. The Milwaukee harbor makes trips possible on big winds and action can still be very good. The water is has warmed to 45 degrees in spots. The fish still have gobbies in them but the alewives schools will his the shores very soon. There has been some smelt action at Jones Island this year. Some have pulled pulled as much as 500 smelt in a night. Very good to what it has been over the last 20 years. 

The spread is all spoons still and we have been trolling fast for a good bite. We are now getting fish on our one color leadcores. Spoons with orange were the hot ones over the last week. Water clarity was poor and orange seemed to help. We used the orange taped Gold Hud Stinger in the Stingray size. We also liked the orange NBK in both sizes. The hot spoon for the one color leadcores was the Dreamweaver Magic Man. That was on fire. Again all our stuff was set in the top 25 feet of water, with 1, 2 and 3 color leadcores, mono dipsies and 3 riggers. All Brown trout from 2 to 14 pounds. We expect another week of this fishing but with reports of Coho salmon starting to appear we are ready to bolt at a seconds notice. 

Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the last of the Brown trout action and the first part of the Coho salmon bite. It looks to be another great year for the number one stocked salmon on Lake Michigan. The highest catch rate of the season starts very very soon. This is the time of the season we produce the most limits of salmon from early May through late June! Below are some pictures from the last several days.

The weather has been all over the place but what do you expect for April in Wisconsin. The harbor bite has been good for what conditions we have fished. Our worst outing was 2 fish with several double digit catches. The bite has been all Brown trout. We have ventured outside the harbor along the shore but our best action has been from the north gap to the river mouth. Water temperature on the surface is between 40 to 43 degrees. When you get into the river it reaches 47 degrees. Our best action has been just north or south of the river mouth. All the fish have been full of Gobies. What has prevented the bite from being better is water clarity. Several big storms but mostly strong winds has caused the water to be just a little too murky for a stronger bite. We need just a little clear water and the water temperature a little warmer and the action will really take off. The fish are from 3 to 14 pounds and all have had bait in them, which is different from the last couple of Aprils. 

Our mono dipsy diver rods set at 25 on the line counter has been the most steady producer, with Stinger Gold Hud the Stingray size spoon. This set up has boated fish every time. The next best has been our 2 deep riggers. These are set a couple feet from the bottom and have the same lure as the dispy, with the exception of an orange tape on the Hud. The boards have been ok and usually are the top producers this time of year. The one color leads have been almost useless but as the water warms a little they will probably be top producers. The two and three color leadcores have been alright. The green Natural Born Killer Stinger or the UV Blue Dolphin have been best on the boards. 

We should have a couple more weeks of good Brown trout action before transitioning into Coho salmon and the best catch rate of the season. We should start seeing more Lake trout in the mix too during the next several weeks. The Coho being caught down south look healthy and it should be another great spring on Coho salmon. We have openings next weekend, so call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on early spring action. Attached is a few pictures from the last couple trips. 

Milwaukee charter fishing season for 2019 has begun. We put in on April 1st and have started to catch fish. We have fished the Milwaukee harbor and have been all over the area. The surface temperature is 41 degrees in the warmest areas and there is still large chunks of ice on the break wall. Our best location so far has been along the break wall from the Main gap to the north gap. All the fish we boated have been Brown trout, with the exception of one Lake trout. This is the first Lake trout we have ever caught in the harbor area. The fish have been full of Goby, which is a small invasive fish found at the bottom of the water column. The fish have ranged from 2 to 14 pounds so far. The action has been good but with bait starting to show up and the water temperatures warming it should only get better. 

We have run all spoons on all set ups. Our favorite ones have been the Stinger Gold Hud in both large and small sizes and the Stinger Glow Watermelon in the Stinger size. The best rods are the to deep riggers near the bottom, mono dipsies set at 30 feet on the line counter and the 4 color leadcores. The fish are down near the bottom and because that is where the Goby is located. We did not have a hit on the one color leadcores, which can be very good this time of year. We look to continue fishing the harbor for the next couple weeks. 

April is the best time for Brown trout and this April looks to be a lot better than last years weather, when it snowed 4 times and we had multiple days below freezing. Should be a lot of fish caught this month. We still have weekends open. I attached some pictures from this weekend and if you go to Silver King Charters Facebook you will see some video from the weekend. Still have not figured out how to put video on the website. I also included the stocking numbers from 2018. The over all number is down to 9.44 million fish. This is the lowest total in 25 years. Some of the reduction comes from no longer stocking fingerling Lake trout, which is a good thing. Coho salmon are still stocked around their 25 year average, which makes May and June such a great time to fish. Chinook salmon stocking went up 19% which is great. My personal opinion is that Chinook should be stocked at 2 million a year. This would give a decent catch rate, without damaging the precious bait population. Chinook are the only fish that is not stocked as yearlings. Lake trout have been reduced and are still the top stocked fish in Lake Michigan. We will not miss the reduction. Rainbow trout are at their 25 year average. Brown trout have taken a hit over the last 2 years and are down 41% from their 25 year average. The verdict is still out on the Brown trout but Milwaukee still have great Brown trout fishing. The total number is down but the matrix of fish stocked is good and the fished stocked are raised healthier than ever before to give them a better survival rate. 

Call Silver King Charter at 414-460-1467 to get fishing on Lake Michigan. The fish are biting! We actually did catch a baby Coho this weekend. I have a pic of that too. 

 

We are hopefully in the water on Friday Milwaukee charter fishing. The ice is still in the marina but it is melting very fast. My fisrtmates have already been out in aluminum boats and the Brown trout bite has been real good. The first several weeks of April can be very good fishing for Brown trout. Our typical spread is 3 boards a side, using 1, 2 and 3 color leadcores. Spoons on all rods. These usually do the bulk of the catching. We run two mono dipsies and spoons are also on these. Always good for several hits. We run 3 downriggers and they are hit and miss. Spoons are everything. We are usually fishing in 10 to 35 feet of water and fish can be skittish to downriggers in that shallow of water. They usually are good for a few fish. The Milwaukee harbor, river mouth and shoreline can all have good action in April. We hope to be catching next weekend. 

We talked about Chinook salmon last report. July through the 3rd week of August in the best time for them. By the middle of August the mature Chinook salmon are heading to the ports they were stocked, so they can spawn. The last week of August through the first 3 weeks of September is what we call combat fishing. The Chinooks stocked out of Milwaukee return home after 3 or 4 years in the lake. The salmon are staging at this point of the year and getting ready to run up rivers to spawn. These are all big fish and when you hook up that go complete crazy. We are in and around the harbor mouths where they return. The water is shallow and there is not a lot of room for them to go, so when they run it can get out of control fast. Great fights! Several years back this was my favorite time of the year because the return was great. Now with reduced stocking of Chinook this can be hit or miss during this period but when the window is right the action is solid. A good trip during this period is 10 to 12 Chinook but we usually average 4 to 5 Kings. Still worth the fight and pulling a 15 to 25 pound Chinook on a trip is very fun. If the harbor action is not set up we will head out deep for Lake trout and Steelhead. 

I really don't want to think about September right now because the next couple of months are going to be some great action on Lake Michigan. We are looking forward to netting our first fish of the season. I think I can remember every first fish caught since I have been chartering and it is always a special moment. It will be interesting to see what the lake has in store for us. Hopefully lees big winds. I have attached my last pictures of ice in the marina and a picture of our first trip last year. I have also included a couple of September Kings. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to start catching Lake Michigan salmon and trout. 

We are a couple weeks away from Milwaukee charter fishing season 2019. The hard winter has us eager to fish. We look forward to some good early Brown trout action this April. Probably some Lake trout and Coho salmon too but April is the best time of the season for Brown trout. We have talked about the great action in April for Brown trout and the best catch rate for the year for Coho salmon during mid May through late June. I will go over Early July through the 3rd week of August. Traditionally this was Chinook salmon time and the best time to catch them. It is still the best time to target Chinook but unlike the Coho salmon Chinook stocking has taken a hit. At one time Lake Michigan was stocked with 6.5 million Chinook annually. Incredible amount of salmon were in the lake because they live for four years. But due to declines in bait fish caused by mussels in the lake stocking had to be reduced. It is now down to 1.2 million annually but there is some percentage of natural reproduction that helps this number. All is not lost. The fish are healthy, better size and a great fight. It is worth a Lake Michigan charter fishing trip to experience this kind of action. 

So what to expect on a summer fishing trip these days. We target all species not just Chinook salmon. This time of year can be outstanding for Lake trout and Rainbow trout. We still get some Coho salmon and an occasional Brown trout. But we all want to land a King salmon and we always have stuff set for them. When there are good numbers around we switch out everything to catch them. But other times we are lucky to boat a couple on a trip. This is when the other species come in to play. During July through the 3 week of August we average 4 Chinook a trip but these fish add a lot of excitement to the trip. When there are good schools of Chinook in the area double digit catches are common. The size of a mature Chinook will vary from year to year but over the last 3 seasons a 15 pound Chinook salmon is common. We have boated many in the 20 pound class and some are pushing 30 pounds. These are very special fish. Mature Chinook are know for their long runs, peeling off 300 feet is nothing for a King salmon. They don't give up easy. Throw several Chinook in the cooler, with Lake trout, some Rainbows and Coho you have had a great time. Chinook salmon are a special fish that years back we were quite spoiled with but now it is really something to have one strike and blow away from the boat at fast speeds. If Chinook is your desire than July and early August is the time to book your trip. We do catch them throughout the season but no other time beats the middle of summer for the King bite. 

Like I mentioned earlier we should be in the water by April 1st and looking to capitalize on some good Brown trout fishing. Somewhere in the month we will boat some Coho salmon but it is hit and miss on these during April. Lake trout will also come into play as bait starts showing up along the shoreline. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your fishing trip in 2019. Soon we will be posting actual reports of fishing trips. I have attached what I hope to be the last ice fishing pictures of the year. Our firstmate Colin caught these Brown trout just last week. I also put a picture of the current state of the Milwaukee marina. The ice will go fast now. There are a few Chinook pictures too from last summer. 

 

We are less than 6 weeks away from catching fish and we still have a lot to do but we will be ready. I predict the first fish boated will be a Brown trout. Love that early action in April on Brown trout. Silver King Charters will be Milwaukee charter fishing the entire month of April to take advantage of the large harbor, river and structure along the shoreline. Call us to book an April trip. The Great Lakes is 66% covered with some form of ice right now as opposed to 2018 at this time it was 42% and 2017 it was 8%. What does this mean well lets hope for a warm March. Our first mate Colin had been ice fishing the big lake and catching some nice trout. I have attached a picture to this report of a big Brown trout caught a week ago. Hope to boat one of those this April. Lake Michigan is 50% iced over and this is the highest total in the last 3 years. 

Well we talked about April and for some limit action the first 3 weeks can be one of the best time periods of the season and the best time to target Brown trout. But the best catch rate is Mid May to the third week of June. Hands down we catch the most fish then. Why? Coho salmon. This is the number one stocked salmon in the lake and only Lake trout are stocked at a higher amount. Coho salmon is this the fish we catch the most of over the last 3 season and it is because their stocking numbers have not been reduced. This also leads to our highest amounts of limits during the season. It is still fishing and there are tough days during this time but we have averaged 18 fish a trip over the last several years and 80% of the catch is Coho salmon. Coho salmon are stocked at approximately 2.5 million fish a year lake wide. The are raised in a hatchery for almost 16 months before being release in ports throughout Lake Michigan. They summer out in the lake and by the following spring they are at a size to be caught. Early in the spring they are 2 pounds but Coho put weight on fast. By the end of June we are catching Coho up to 6 pounds. Come the fall these fish spawn and die after 3 years of life. What makes this a fun fish to target is when you get on a school it can be fast action and many shots of fighting fish. Coho salmon school up and will eat until bait is coming out of their mouths. We will run orange dodgers and green peanut flies for most of this part of the season and we run this set up on just about every rod we set. The trick is finding them and once you do it is fish on. 

Mid May through late June is Coho time and the best catch rate of the year. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get hooked up on a fun salmon charter fishing trip. Attached is a few sunrise pictures by the lake during this chilly winter, with a full moon rise during the super moon that just happened. 

This is my first report of 2019 and we are less than 3 months from catching our first fish Lake Michigan charter fishing. We hope to put in and fish the last week of March. In 2018 it snowed 4 times in April and that was probably as much as we got all last winter. This winter has been virtually no snow and mild temperatures. Our slip was actually open just a couple of days ago. In fact the entire marina was ice free. Winter will put the bite on us before it is all said but hopefully this will lead to an early spring. Last year we had our first trip schedule on the last day of March and it was cancelled due to high winds. My hope this year is to run a trip in March and November. 

We averaged 15.46 fish a trip last season and we were very pleased with that. Stocking numbers are down but we have adapted by targeting all five species to put more fish in the boat. Long gone are the days we would go after Chinook for 3 months of the year. The good news is when you do tie into a Chinook the size is up and they give a great fight. The breakdown percentage wise on numbers is: 15% of the trips caught 1 - 5 fish. We did not get skunked in 2018 but did have two 1 fish trips. 24% of the trips caught 6 -10 fish, 26% of the trips caught 11-15 fish, 15% of the trips caught 16 -20 fish and 20% of the trips caught 21 - 30 fish. It is fishing and from day to day anything can happen but when are the best chances at good catches. May 15th - June 20th is the highest catch rate. The first 3 weeks of April, if mother nature cooperates, can be very good action and July 4th through the 3rd week of August is your best chance at Chinook. Again any day can be the hot bite but those 3 periods delivered some great action over the years. 

I will go over April in this report. The primary fish of April is Brown trout. This is the best time to target Brown trout for the entire season. The fish average 2 to 12 pounds but we have boated some monsters, including a 33 pound Brown trout. We are usually fishing the harbor or the shoreline in depths of 10 to 40 feet of water. We use a spread or spoons for the most part. Cooper and gold spoons are usually are hot baits. We run 3 boards a side and these are 1, 2 and 3 color leadcores. We put out 2 mono dipsy rods and usually just 3 downriggers to target the bottom. The harbor will have the warmest water by the river mouth early in the month and can hold a lot of fish. Water clarity is our biggest problem during April With a lot of rain it can make the water too muddy but for the most part there is always a place to catch fish. We sometimes will head to the Oak Creek power plant, where fish and bait hold around the warm water discharges. The run time is about a half hour to get there but it usually pays off when it sets up. Again fishing is fishing and it can be tough on any given day but April is a month that we do catch limits when it sets up and it is the only time of year we can do that on Brown trout. As the month progresses we start to catch good size Lake trout along the shoreline. We see 10 to 15 pound Lake trout during this period. We have had Aprils in Milwaukee and Racine where the Coho salmon bite starts early and when this happens it can get crazy good. But for the most part it isn't until mid May when the Coho bite gets consistent. 

April can be very productive but when you book a trip you must remember that this month is closer to the end of winter that the start of summer. Dress warm! But when it sets up this period is as good as any throughout the season. We do give an extra hour of fishing for free on any trip Monday through Thursday during the month and with less fishing pressure I love to fish on those days. We fish out of Milwaukee during April as we do for most of the season. Milwaukee gives us a vast harbor to fish in if the weather is not the greatest but it also gives us warmer water for better action during the period. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to experience early season Brown trout action charter fishing Milwaukee. I decided to put some sunrise and sunset pictures from last season on this post. 

Winter Solstice. Shortest day of the year and we are almost 3 months to Lake Michigan chartering again. A lot has happened since the last report. We fished several times in October but wicked winds prevented a lot of trips. The action started out solid as we kept rolling on Lake trout in 100 feet of water but a week of bad winds final wiped this option out. We then started fishing the shoreline for Brown trout and Lake trout. The problem was the Brown trout where not around and this hurt the catch rate. Usually the Brown action is solid in October but this year it was tough. Good for the spring of 2019 though. We also boated our 2nd Northern Pike on Lake Michigan in October. The highlight of the month. We stayed in until November 5th, which was one day too long. On November 4th on a Sunday we had a blow out of the East that was 35 to 40 mph for 20 hours straight. I thought the boat was finished. We had to put 4 bumpers and 6 lines on to hold it in place in a slip. Absolutely crazy! The boat came out the next day. 

Our season was solid with a 13.5 fish average per trip. The fishing was tougher than in 2017 but we really worked to catch all 5 species throughout the year. The days are gone when you can rely on one specie during a time period. Well with the exception of Coho in May and June. We look forward to next season and we are preparing each week to make sure fish keep coming in the boat. I will be breaking down the season in my next report. Over the last 3 seasons Coho is the number one fish caught by far and four seasons ago it was Lake trout. You have to go back to 2014 when Chinook were still king. But the good thing about our fishery is those Chinook are healthy and big. Have a great holiday's and catch you next year. Below is the end of our season. The wicked blow on November 4th I tailed a couple Kings running up the boat ramp. There was over 100 Chinook trying to spawn their that night. 

 

September 2108 in in the books and it ended up being pretty good. We did lose half our trips to high winds and because the harbor water was 69 degrees from top to bottom we had to cancel many trips we would have normally run in the harbor. September is usually tied wiht April as the two months we fish the Milwaukee harbor but things half to set up for this to be effective. East winds and lots of rain pretty much eliminated this and we only ran 4 trips in the harbor this September. The Chinook return was not that strong and a lot of the fish either shot up the river or went into the marina section early. This did set up other areas though. We either fished out in 250 to 300 feet of water or north of town in 100 feet of water. Both were productive when we could get out on the lake. We ended the month wihit a 12 fish average per trip. There was a good bite on 2 year old Chinook salmon and this was good to see for next year. We also he a good bite on Lake trout and this really was strong at the end of the month. September is usually a good Brown trout month and we did not boat a single one during the month. Our last trip in September we still had 65 degree surface water but down 40 feet it was 45 degrees in 100 feet.

Milwaukee charter fishing in the harbor was almost all #3 J-Plugs. Chrome and pearl plugs were the best. Riggers set near the bottom took almost all the fish and they were all 4 year old or mature Chinooks. We also had success on Fire Tiger J-13 jointed stick baits on 3 color leadcores. The Chinooks where good size, between 15 to 25 pounds but the bites were few and far between. We spent most of September in 90 to 110 feet north of Milwaukee, with 4 trips in the 250 to 300 foot range. But the best bite was in 100 feet. We ran one rigger at the bottom for Lake trout, using a spin and glow, with a smoke dodger. The last 3 trips of September we increased the spin and glow set up to two riggers and one wire dipsy because the Lake trout bite really took off. But for the most part the second deep rigger had a white flasher and Howie Bull Frog fly. The two up riggers had spoons down anywhere from 35 to 70 feet, depending on the water temperature. The break changed a lot during the month, going up and down with the wind changes. Was as deep as 75 feet and near the end of the month the break was 30 feet down. We had our wire dipsies set at 120 to 250 on the line counters and used whit flashers and either Bull Frog or Little Boy Blue for flies. The boards were all copper from 150 to 350 coppers and everything in between. We had all spoons on these rods. Our best baits were Stinger stingray size NBK, UV Blue Dolphin, Fickle Pickle and Orange Crush. We also liked the Moonshine UV wonderbread. That worked well for the last couple months. Again, it was better than expected September but over the last several seasons we are working to expand a wider bite than just harbor fish that are pre-spawning. The return is less in recent years due to stocking cuts and if things don't set up just right it becomes very hard to get bites. 

We are not done Lake Michigan charter fishing yet out of Milwaukee. We will be fishing into early November. The weather can be a problem at times during the end of the season but when we can get out there should still be some real good days of fishing left. We expect to still see young Chinook salmon in the catch. Lake trout and Brown trout will also make up a good part of the catch. The close to shore and harbor fishing should be more reliable as time goes on and the 100 foot contour has delivered over the last couple of weeks. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the last trips of the 2018 season. 

We are just about through August and Milwaukee charter fishing has been steady. We are averaging 11 fish a trip during the month and it has been a mixed bag. We caught the grand slam or all 5 species in 2 of the last 7 trips. Lake trout are the top species through the month but we are catching some Rainbow trout and Chinook salmon too. We have been in 340 feet to 30 feet of water and there has not been a hot spot anywhere for long. Two things that standout for the season have been lots of high winds and we have fished deep water for almost 70% of the season. The bite has just been more consistent out deep. We have had seasons we never got deeper that 150 feet of water but this season that is the starting point for most trips. It is just how things have set up. For the strong winds we have had enough of it. Many days this month we have had to deal with wave conditions over 4 feet or better and cancelling trips due to this. But when conditions have been fishable we are catching. Lake trout are everywhere we fish but for the first half of the month it was outstanding trout fishing in 95 to 120 feet of water straight out of Milwaukee. When this fell apart we moved into 30 to 50 feet and caught Brown trout, Chinook and some Lake trout. This held for several days until a big northeaster warmed the water up and sent us back out deep. We took a mixed bag of Steelhead, Coho, Chinook and of course Lake trout, Lake trout are the number one stocked fish in Lake Michigan and they are everywhere. The best depths were between 250 and 320 feet of water. Now the water has begun to cool down and this morning the surface temperature was 65 degrees and down 35 feet it was 48 degrees. We found this to be true from 100 feet to 65 feet of water. This will help a Chinook harbor bite once the water clears up from the big rains.

We have run a lot of different sets during this period but our stud flasher fly combo is the Howie Bull Frog with a white pearl flasher. This has been good on deep riggers and on wire dipsies. This combo is been on since Brew City. The only other bait on these 4 rods would be spin and glows for Lake trout. All the board rods and the side riggers have had spoons on them. We like the Moonshine UV pearl wonder bread the best. We also have run the mixed veggie and NBK green Stingers. For just about all the month the stud board rods are 300 and 350 coppers. A lot of reeling. Today we switched to leadcores for the first time since fishing in 30 feet of water. We liked 3,4,5,6,7 & 8 colors. The wire dipsies were set at 250 feet for a couple weeks today it was 125 on the line counter. We are seeing some good Chinook action now, with some magnum shakers and 4 year old Kings getting ready to stage. If the cold water creeps in just a little more and we can avoid a big northeaster there will be some good Chinook fishing in and around the harbor. We should see some 20 plus pound Chinook this September.

Silver King Charters will be fishing into the first week of November and there is still some good fishing to be had. Give us a call at 414-460-1467 and catch some fish before and after the football games.

 

We are now through July and I cannot believe how fast the season has gone. I always try to make the most out of each day but I wish I could slow it down some. The first part of July was solid through right up to July 20th when a big northeaster and then the full moon cycle shut things down for several days. We had good mixed bag catches, with Coho salmon at the start of the month and now Lake trout as of the last week being the top catch. This is still a good time to catch Chinook salmon and will remain so through early September. We were fishing in 200 to 300 feet of water over the last two weeks but in the last several days the hot bite is in 90 to 120 feet of water, either straight out of Milwaukee or several miles north. Wee have pulled several Chinook and Lake trout over 20 pounds too. On Saturday we fished Brew City salmon tournament and came in 3rd out of 98 boats. It was a tough field but my brother and I decided to go back to our old formula that we abandoned the last two Brew City tournaments and we went 27 for 28, catching 130 pounds of fish in only 4 hours of fishing time. It was an execution. We have three 3rd place and three 2nd place finishes in this tournament. We also took 5th twice, 7th once, 9th twice and several finishes 13th through 18th. I doubt we will ever capture first place but I will take top 5 all day in that kind of competition. We have won in all other ports from Port Washington to Winthrop but our home port has been a challenge. Great job to Payde Fore 2. 

Our plan for Brew City was to fish Lake trout to start and we landed 15 in 45 minutes and kept 7 of them. Our top 5 averaged 14.5lbs. We tried to pull a Chinook on boards during this but failed. The riggers and wire divers on the bottom in 105 feet did the work. We had a different color spin and glow on each rod, along with a smoke dodger. It was good and quick in 105 feet of water straight out. We pulled lines and went straight out to 200 feet of water to catch five silver fish. We ran 4 boards with moonshine wonder bread spoons on 350, 300, 200 and 175 coopers. These had worked during the week but failed on Saturday. We ran two spoons on riggers and flasher flies on the wire dipsies and deep rigger. The wires were set at 200 feet on the line counters and the riggers were 60, 70 and 90 feet down. We had one hit and one Lake trout in the first half hour. We pushed out to 265 feet and this is where we started to get bites. Our rigger with a pearl white flasher and bull frog Howie fly down 90 feet picked off a King. We quickly sent another one down to 100 feet and pulled a Coho salmon. Eventually all riggers and divers had this set up with this combo and we ended up taking 2 Chinook, 1 Rainbow, 1 Coho and 1 Pink salmon in an hour. Right depth and right bait! We now had 10 fish to weigh in and it was 9:30AM. We decided to pull lines again and run 30 minutes up to Fox Point. The home of so many great catches. We set in 130 feet and trolled from the wreck to the Point. Of course during this troll we pulled 3 more Lake trout because they are everywhere but we came for upgrades on silver fish. We got three of them and they were all Chinook. We only could keep three more fish at this point. We took two on wire divers set at 200 feet on the line counter and one on a rigger at 90 feet down. All three were caught on the pearl flasher and Howie Bull Frog fly. The problem was the first two were 9 and 12 pounds. We have been pulling 15 pounders as small ones all month. The last one was 18 pounds. The difference from 1st to 3rd place was our Kings were too small. In tournaments you got to move some to be successful. You also have to guess right. We did and it paid off. Wouldn't change a thing. Willy and I along with our first mates were surgical. What was the formula? Simple only one guy calls the shots and drives. Cannot leave it up to debate. We have done a lot of winning this way. 

Milwaukee charter fishing on Lake Michigan still has a long way to go in 2018 and this is the time for big Chinook salmon. There are not a lot of them but there are some monsters. Lake trout fishing is at its best right now and there will be some good offshore days for Steelhead. Near the end of August we will start to land some Brown trout too. This is a great time to book a trip on Lake Michigan, so call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to catch some August fish. The first pic is the Brew City catch and then Colin cutting the Patrick Cudahy sausage. The best prize to get!

 

We are now through Salmon-A-Rama and tough winds made it very challenging. We were unable to fish 4 of the 9 days and the last 3 days has warmed up the west shores off Milwaukee and south. We fished today and found 60 degree water down 100 feet and 58 degree water down 125 feet. Not ideal but looks like a good batch of west winds coming and this will improve things. We boated 142 fish during Salmon-A-Rama and this was a low for the last 7 years we have fished this with customers. We boated 7 fish 20 pounds or better, with are big being 26.29 lbs. This was good for 26th biggest overall. We felt that all top ten Chinook would be over 30 pounds due to all the reports leading into Salmon-A-Rama but as usual the scale shrinks fish. Only 3 fish were weighed in at 30 pounds and the tenth biggest was 27.5 lbs. We were fortunate enough to win big Lake trout at 23lbs and we took 5th place Lake trout too. This helped us to finish 2nd place in the Pro Top Ten. Craig from Kinn's Catch bested us with a few more big Kings. Great job guys! We only fished Lake trout at the end for 4 trips but in hind site we should have started earlier. 

Our breakdown for the catch was much like our season so far: 64 Coho, 44 Lake trout, 24 Chinook, 8 Rainbow and 3 Brown trout. Most of our fishing was done in 70 to 90 feet of water and flasher flies dominated. Only spin and glo's for Lake trout were as good. White flashers with little boy blue on all set ups seemed to be best with the challenging bite. Things have changed greatly with the big northeast blow but flashers are still better over spoons as of today. 

We are booked for Salmon-A-Rama starting today for 2019 and it will be from July 13th through July 21st. In seven seasons since the charter ticket has been introduced we have won money for 21 people for an average of 3 a year. Our customers get to keep all the money won, with the exception of the grand prize if $25,000, which we will take $5000. This year we had 4 winners and Gary Seeman netted a $3700 outboard Yamaha motor that he will easily sell for $3200, along with $100 big fish of the day. The breakdown by year is as follows:

2012: Lake trout 4th & 5th place and big fish of the day

2013: Rainbow trout 3rd place, Lake trout 8th place, Coho salmon 9th place, Chinook salmon 9th place and the Lake trout was 9th biggest in tournament overall

2014: Rainbow 1st place, Coho salmon 3rd place

2015: Lake trout 2nd, 5th and 8th places, Super Slam 1st place and 2nd biggest fish overall in tournament

2016: Chinook salmon 3nd place and 3rd biggest in tournament. Big fish of the day and 2nd place in Pro Top Ten

2017: Chinook salmon 4th place and 4th biggest of tournament. BIg fish of the day and 2nd place in Pro Top Ten

2018: Lake trout 1st place and 5th place. Big fish of the day twice and 2nd place in Pro top Ten

We had a great week with a lot of fun folks and we look forward to next year and hopefully we will be lucky enough to keep are winning streak alive. These trips book fast so call today.

Below is a few pictures from Salmon-A-Rama and Colin shows how to hold a fish to look crazy big. Gary and all our customers over the years, thanks so much for fishing with us. The season is not over with by a long shot and Brew City is next. Call Silver King Charters to get in on August and September fishing for big Chinook salmon, Lake trout and Rainbow trout. 

 

 

 

We are a 3rd of the way through July and Milwaukee charter fishing has been solid. We have had a few tough trips but for the most part are in double digits for the month and we are averaging 17.3 fish a trip. The story of the season is Coho salmon so far. Are catch has been 65% Coho and only 5% Chinook. The other 30% have been trout. The Coho bite is still making up a good part of our catch but the water is starting to warm and if we don't get a little cool down the Coho bite will slow way down. Today you could see a definite thermocline down 35 feet. It was 69 degrees on the surface and 65 down 35 feet but started to drop there. There is lots of bait around and things are set for some good Chinook and Lake trout action. We are looking for what happened earlier this year in the southern half of the Michigan side. We have been fishing in 165 feet to 250 feet of water in the top 70 feet and north of Milwaukee for all of July. We are catching everything but Brown trout and heavy on the Coho salmon. 

The spread still has orange dodger and green half flies on the inside dipsies, 3 color leadcores on boards and a side rigger down 15 feet. These are the most effective rods. The back riggers have white flashers and Howie Bull Frog flies set at 55 and 70 feet. The other side rigger has a chrome flasher and Green Krink Howie fly set at 35 feet. The inside leads are 5 through 9 color, using blue dolphin UV Stinger spoons. The wire dipsies are set at 150 to 175 on the line counter and we have green flashers with Howie Bull Frog flies. This has not changed for the last 10 days and has delivered but I think we are going to start loosing some of the orange stuff if the Coho bite slows.

This is the time of year we have our best opportunity for big Chinook salmon Milwaukee charter fishing. We are hoping it sets up soon. We are taking some big Kings but we want a few more in the catch. There have been many Chinook report at or near 30 pounds and we have had several in the 24 to 26 pound class. Could be some special fish caught next week. Salmon-A-Rama starts this Saturday and we hope to put some of our customers on the board as we have the last 6 years. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book at July or August trip and land a big one! The pictures are from some of our early July trips. 

 

June is now in the books and Milwaukee charter fishing has begun to transition out of Coho to a mix of Coho, Chinook, Lake trout and Rainbow trout. A week ago we were targeting Lake trout but have since moved off shore in 150 to 250 feet of water. Constant northeast and southeast winds has taking its toll on bites closer to shore. The water has not gotten super warm but 60 on the surface with 50 degree water right to the bottom in 90 feet. We are in desperate need of some west or southwest winds to turn the 100 foot and shallower bite back on. I have a picture of one of our last Lake trout trips before it fell apart. We are now out in the 200 plus zone and fishing the top 60 feet of water. Surface temperatures have been 51 to 56 degrees out there and we get into 49 degrees down 50 feet. All of our bites are coming in the top 60 feet of water, with a lot of them in the top ten feet. We are catching everything but Brown trout. We pulled a very quick 2 man limit today. 

The spread is a blend of orange dodgers on the high boards and inside dipsies, with green peanut flies. We are using 5/8 ounce keel weights on the board rods, with the line 25 feet back from the board. The dipsies are set at 20 feet on the line counter and set at 1.5 on the dipsy. The outside dipsies are wire and 125 on the line counter. We have white flashers and Howie Bull Frog flies. All the riggers have the same flasher fly on them and our set at 25 feet down to 65 feet. The riggers are not as good as boards and dipsies. We are also running a 6, 7, 8, and 9 color leadcore on boards. Spoons on these rods, with NBK or Blue Dolphin Stingers. These are both UV spoons. We have has a couple of tough trips were we fell under 10 fish but for the most part 15 fish plus catches. 

I was asked about the Chinook bite and we are catching them. They are very good size this year and we will have some good days on them but they only stock 1.2 million a year now and the rest is natural reproduction of some amount, so there are less around. We will get them but not at 15 to 20 a trip. A really good Chinook day is 10. The first week of July looks to continue with some good catches, so call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 today. 

We have received some great reviews from actual customers this season and they are much appreciated. We also received a couple poor ones from guys on our dock. To make clear we do not guarantee limits or near limits but we do guarantee a fish during a 5 hour trip or the trip is free. No strings attached. Our goal is certainly more than one but if we fail its free. We are not the cheapest charter on Lake Michigan or even on our dock but we are very reasonable priced. My brother and I both have full time jobs and do not rely solely on charter fishing for are incomes.  We charge $530 a trip, including sales tax and will not surprise you with extra charges. We do have a surcharge of $25 for the Salmon-A-Rama week and this is very well noted. We take 5 people of less not 6 and have not advertised 6 for 2.5 years. Some of our repeats bring 6 people but we prefer to run 5 or less. We have seats for 5 people. Final we have 2 new engines with no issues. We spent a lot of money to upgrade our engines and we put 100% of our profits back into our operation. We did have 13 trips affected last year with engines issues but 7 of those we gave to other charters and the 6 we ran we did as well or better than all charters out of Milwaukee on those trips. We know that 90% of our trips come from repeat business and we appreciate this but I felt it necessary to correct some of the guys reviews from our dock. Our goal is safety, a fun trip and catching fish. I have heard to many say people really don't care how many fish they catch but I know for certain they don't mind catching more. Those who fish with us know we never give up. We never got into chartering for the money and I really believe that is what makes us successful. Thanks again for all who fished with us this season and we will keep putting fish in the boat for you. 

I have attached pictures from some of our latest catches, including the Whitefish we caught on a spin and glow. The double rainbow was priceless. 

 

 

Milwaukee charter fishing has changed some in the past several days. As of Saturday morning we were fishing in 170 to 230 feet of water straight out of town. We had been there for several days catching Coho on the surface but this started to fall apart some by mid Saturday, so we decided to start trout fishing mid day and have been there since. We are now working 100 feet of water, with spin and glows on the bottom and orange dodgers on the surface. This mixed spread has been taking some Coho salmon and quite a few Lake trout. We don't think the Coho bite is finished yet but it is slowed down for now. We have taken some really nice fish of late, including a 14 pound Coho, 18 pound Brown trout and 26 pound Lake trout. 

The spread right now has inside dipsies, side riggers and board rods all running orange dodgers and green peanut flies. The outside dipsies and back riggers are running spin and glows and smoked dodgers. All are taking some fish the back riggers near the bottom in 90 to 100 feet of water are best. We are pulling up some big Lake trout in the 15 to 20 plus pound class. 

Over the next two weeks we will be catching a little of everything but there will still be some good Coho fishing and we should start seeing more Chinook salmon in the mix. The Lake trout fishing should remain decent to very good throughout summer. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on early summer action and big fish. There is a picture of the 14 pound Coho below. 

Milwaukee charter fishing has been very good this June so far. We had only a couple of tough days and the back end of yesterday was one of them. We had to cancel today due to weather. We have been in double digits or limits for all but one trip this June and 90 percent of the catch has been Coho salmon. They are starting to hit 4 to 5 pounds more consistent and we still have plenty more to catch. In addition to the Coho we are taking 1 to 3 Chinook a trip and some or these Kings are pushing 20 pounds. We boated on yesterday that was 25 pounds. Around Lake Michigan 20 pound Chinooks have been common and there have been some 30 pound Kings pulled. It is going to be a great season for big Chinook. We started the week working 40 to 60 feet of water but ended the week out in 95 to 115 feet just north of the Milwaukee harbor. When we started the week the concern was the surface temps were warming up to fast and would kill the Coho bite at the surface. The exact opposite is the issue now with 47 degree surface temperatures out in 100 feet. Northeast winds have been the story for the last week and every day East winds have influenced the weather. We expect to find a new depth of water locations early next week and continue catching Coho. 

Our spread has changed little over the last 3 weeks. Orange dodgers on everything with green peanut flies. We have increased our use of white flashers, with Howie little boy blue or bull frog flies. We have 3 riggers using this at 75, 55 and 30 feet. We are trying to capitalize on the Chinook bite. Everything else in the top 10 feet of water. We find the key is to troll faster to get bites. Simple fishing for now but it will start to change in a couple of weeks. 

So each season I stress that mid May through the 3rd week of June is the best catch rate of the season of salmon and it is not over. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the last of the real good Coho salmon fishing of the season. Kings are next but right now we are talking double digit or limit catches. Love those Coho salmon. Below are pictures from last week, including the 25 pound Chinook. 

 

 

Milwaukee charter fishing is as good as it gets right now. We started out June with limit catches and some were very fast. June started with a big northeast blow and this set up the Coho fishing. It was good before it is great now. Last week we were fishing in 150 to 200 feet of water in the top 20 feet. By Saturday we were in 100 feet and by Sunday we started in 70 feet and finished the day in 35 feet of water. The water temps got cold and were as cold as 42 degrees out deep. This pushed fish in close. There is lots of bait and lots of fish setting up a good run of fishing. The catch is almost all Coho salmon but we are pulling some Chinooks on every trip. With all the bait around the fish are putting on weight fast. We are starting to see 5 pound Coho's regularly. I mean this is real good fishing.

Our set up is simple. Orange dodger and green peanut flies on everything. All baits are set in the top 10 feet of water, with the exception of the two back riggers. These are down deeper depending were we fish. White flashers and little boy blue Howie flies are taking the Kings. This is the best time of the season to catches limits of salmon. I cannot stress this enough. It is still fishing and we did have a 4 fish day early last week but for the most part we are catching a lot of fish. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the action now! Our price is $530, including sales tax for a recommended five hour trip. We take up to 5 people max but the price is the same for less and it is just your group. Oh and our engines will not stall. Need to clarify these things sometimes. The pictures are from thi last weekend. 

We are through May and how time flies. I always say that the best time to catch salmon in numbers is mid May through the third week in June and it held true once again. We started taking limits around May 15th and rolled through the rest of the month ending with a limit or 20 last night. It was heavy on Coho salmon, with a few Rainbow trout, Chinook salmon and Lake trout. We started with some good fishing in the South Gap of the Milwaukee harbor. Quick limits for about a week but then it was 150 to 215 feet of water due east. We fished there for the last 8 days. The run time was 25 minutes but well worth it once we got there. It has been a long time since I have seen bait on the graph like I have this spring. The harbor continues to fill up with alewives to a crazy level. Out deep every fish is coughing up alewives. It shows in the size and health of the fish too. It is very common to here of 20 plus pound Chinook salmon and there are sum pushing 30 pounds already. This will be a year for big Kings!

The bite is in he top 10 feet of water no matter where we fish and the bait of choice is orange dodgers and green peanut flies. We are still running mono on the boards with 5/8 ounce keel weights. We are also running a 3 color leadcore on the inside boards. The dipsies are mon and braid, with two a side. The outside set at 30 feet and the inside at 15 feet. On the up riggers we are 8 and 12 feet down. The two back riggers are set 40 and 75 down with white flashers and bull frog Howie flies. We are taking Kings on these. Speed is key and I don't think you can troll too fast at this time. We are going slow if we are at 2.6 mph. We had to cancel trips today due to a strong northeast wind and this will mix things up but over the next 3 weeks we expect more of the same fishing. 

Milwaukee charter fishing is real good right now and this is the time to book. We did not make it to Racine this season although Coho fishing has been very good there too. We are excited about all the big Chinook salmon being caught in Michigan right now because some of this action is headed are way. Big Lake trout are also in the mix now too. Great time to fish so call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467. This is shaping up to be a real good June. The pictures are from the last two weeks. 

Wisconsin charter fishing has been hampered by some tough weather. Since we started on March 30th we have had to cancel more trips then I can remember this early in the season and most of the bad weather falls on the weekends. Lots of strong winds. Even when we go some of those trips have been tough due to weather. But throughout a season things go in cycles and we are due for a great run of good weather. The good news is when we have gone over the last 10 days the fishing has been good and we are catching Coho salmon. We are still Milwaukee charter fishing but if we do Racine at all it will be for Memorial Day weekend and that is it. We are going to make a final decision on Thursday. The Coho fishing has been getting better each day. The bait in and around the Milwaukee harbor has just gotten to be ridiculous now. We have not put much effort to fish anywhere else because of the amount of bait found in this area. The Coho salmon are not in massive schools but there are enough around to catch a bunch. The other early item from this season, other than weather, Coho and bait is the Chinook salmon. We saw how the crazy good fishing was in the early tournaments in St Joseph and Michigan City Michigan. Quick catches of Big Kings with weights averaging in he upper teens and some fish over 25 pounds. We took a 23 pound Chinook Saturday and there are now reports of Kings being caught in multiple ports on the Wisconsin side on a more consistent basis. These fish are big and health, making July and August look fun. We will still be heavy on Coho salmon for the next several weeks and should only get better throughout this period. 

We ran all orange dodgers and small peanut flies on every rod this weekend before cancelling on Sunday due to weather. Every bite came in the top 10 feet of water and they were all Coho salmon. We eventually put a UV Blue Dolphin stinger on a deep rigger and it took two Chinook salmon set at 25 feet down. All the action was in 30 to 40 feet of water. We have been trolling fast on these fish at about 2.6 to 2.8 mph. Each trip over the last week has been double digits, with several limits. We expect it to get better. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the best catch rate for salmon of the season. We are just getting into the best time of this part of the season now! Pictures are from the weekend and the one Chinook with the scale attached to it was 23 pounds!

Milwaukee charter fishing is heating up. about 10 days ago a massive amount of alewives showed up in the harbor and now the Coho salmon are starting to show up in numbers. This is the most bait I have seen in years and a lot of big mature alewives are around. The graph is sometimes balked out with bait. The Coho bite has steadily improved each day as more fish come in to take part on the bounty of bait. This is not yet the crazy good bite but it is very close to happening. We are starting to get limits and some very quick. The hot set up is a peanut fly on a orange double zero dodger. It is on everything. The Coho have ranged from 2 to 4 pounds but will only be growing with all the bait around. This is shaping up to be a good bite. We have not 100% ruled out Racine charter fishing yet but right now it looks good in Milwaukee. 

The orange is on dipsies set just under the surface. On riggers set 5 to 10 feet down. On boards from the surface down 8 feet and these are all mono. We are fishing in 30 to 50 feet of water. The hot bait is pictured below with several nice recent catches. We expect to catch a lot of Coho salmon coming up in the next 6 weeks. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to catch salmon now. This is the best fishing for numbers the entire season!

Milwaukee charter fishing in May has been up and down so far. The fishing has not set up yet or should I say the Coho salmon are not here in numbers. The bait just showed up in the harbor this Sunday and we are starting to take a few Coho but the next several days will tell how good the bite will be. If we don't see improvement we are moving to do some Racine charter fishing. The Coho salmon have started down south but it has only been over the last several days it has been good. One way or the other we will start taking good amounts or Coho salmon. The bite of late has had a little of everything but still May has been more Brown trout than anything. We have taken 20 Coho so far this month but we are seeing the big schools yet. We have boated several nice 15 to 18 pound Chinook salmon, along with a few Rainbow trout. Most of our fishing has been around the harbor but we have gone down to the Oak Creek power plant and as far north as Atwater beach. We have yet to fish beyond 50 feet of water but all this is about to change. 

We are still mostly spoons, with Mass Confusion Stinger standing out the best. Some Coho were caught on orange dodgers with a generation X peanut fly or a green peanut fly. Soon this will be the set up on all the rods. Other than that we did not have a red hot set up this last week. The water temperature in the harbor is up to 55 degrees on the surface and just outside and along the shore it is between 45 to 48 degrees. The Milwaukee harbor is so loaded with big alewives we snagged 18 in less than 45 minutes this morning anywhere we went, so we had to get out of the harbor. The fish will be right behind this bait.

Call Silver King Charters now because it is about to go off. The best catch rates of the season start now and go right through mid to late June. We cannot emphasis this enough: The best catch rate for salmon on Lake Michigan is mid May through the 3rd week of June. Call us at 414-460-1467 to get in on the action. 

 

Silver King Charters first month of Milwaukee charter fishing this season has come to an end and it went by fast. We fished a lot of Aprils and tough weather is a part of the month but this April will be remembered for strong winds, very cold temperatures and snow. Hopefully at least the snow is done for.  As I right this report it is 70 degrees outside but Saturday and Sunday morning it was only 30 degrees when we started to fish. We had some up and down trips, including on 1 fish effort but at the end we did have several limit catches and managed 10 fish a trip. We will take that considering the weather. we landed 2 Rainbow trout, 2 Chinook salmon, 1 Coho salmon, no Lake trout and the rest were all Brown trout. May will start with a blend of species but Brown trout, Lake trout and Coho salmon. But somewhere in May it will be 90% Coho salmon. This weekend Coho salmon started to show up in catches and we are starting to gear up for what we hope is going to be a lot of salmon caught over the next 7 weeks. 

We fished Saturday and Sunday in the harbor and caught a lot of Brown trout. We did boat are second Chinook of the year on Sunday near the south gap. Most of the action came on one and two color leadcores with singer size Mass Confusion copper spoons. The Chinook came on a gold Singer Hud off a mono dipsy. The water temperatures at the surface in the harbor where between 40 and 52 degrees. Right outside the harbor we saw 42 degree surface temps. Bait fish are starting to show up in the harbors now and water temps going up we are going to be in for some good fishing. Saturday was too rough to fish out on the Lake so the harbor was our only option but the fishing was good. On Sunday we went back to the harbor and it was tougher. Could have been due to the full moon and wind switch. Most of the action was around the river mouth or south of it and dirty water did make the bite a little more challenging. 

May is the start of our highest catch rates of the season. I cannot emphasis this enough: from mid May through the late June is the highest catch rate of salmon on Lake Michigan. Coho salmon are the number one stocked salmon in Lake Michigan and this is the best time to catch them. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip during this time to get in on your best opportunity to catch good numbers of salmon. The pictures are from this last weekend. The one picture shows how aggressive Chinooks can be, with a Gold Hud Stinger spoon buried in his mouth. 

 

We got back to fishing last weekend after the horrific blow and snow of last weekend. There was no way we could have fished two weekends ago with gust of 50 mph out of the northeast, snow of over 6 inches and temperatures below freezing. The snow is all gone after the worst storm of the entire winter and Lake Michigan fishing is starting to take off again. We fished Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The water was no warmer than 40 degrees on the surface and we didn't see that until Sunday. Both Saturday and Sunday we experienced a very thin layer of ice that covered most of the area of Milwaukee we tried to fish. The harbor was ice free but too murky. The water and air temps were above freezing but there was a very thin ice layer everywhere. I heard that because there was no wind or clouds at night that this ice forms because of evaporation or radiant freezing that is common on ski hills at this time of the year. Freaked me out but I think we are done with ice on southern Lake Michigan now. 

The bite got better each day we fished and the best spot was south of Milwaukee in 10 to 30 feet of water. We mostly caught Brown trout but we did land our first Chinook salmon of 2018. It was 17 pounds and gave an excellent fight. It hit a UV Blue Dolphin Stinger spoon on a rigger. The best spoon was a green natural born killer Singer on the mono dipsies set at 20 feet on the line counter. Boards took a few with one and two color leadcores and stinger confusion spoons. The bite was tough but we were able to get some good size fish on all trips. 

The rest of this week looks more favorable, with water clearing and warming up. We expect the Milwaukee harbor area to pick up this weekend and the Lake trout bite to become a little stronger. I have attached pictures of the Chinook, along with some nice Brow trout and the ice sheet. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the last of April Brown trout action and the beginning of the May Coho salmon bite. Lets hope we have seen the last of the snow. 

Milwaukee charter fishing and in general Wisconsin charter fishing on Lake Michigan has gotten off to a slow start. Last year at this time fishing was on fire but due to vey tough weather conditions it has not been to consistent this season. We had our second weekend in the last 3 get blown away by gale force winds. The first time was out of the south but this time it is out of the northeast, with some gusts reaching 50 mph. Things were just stating to really take off as the bite was getting good but it will be several days before this will start up again. We were out mid week and took a fast limit of Brown trout around the Main gap of the Milwaukee harbor. We also caught our first Coho salmon too. The bite was near the bottom and our back riggers did most of the work down 28 feet in 30 feet of water. The water temperature was up a couple of degrees on the surface to 40 degrees. The gold hud stingray from Stinger was the best by far. We did not get any hits on the surface. We had heard the bite was good along the shore and Oak Creek power plant too. The bite was really starting to go but this last gasp of a winter has slowed things down. The one picture attached is a wave going over my car by the break wall today in the parking lot by my slip. Yeah, no fishing this weekend.

The good news is the best of April is still to come. Some great action is going to happen baring any hurricane winds. The water is just starting to warm a little and a little is all we need. Timing is everything on Lake Michigan. We look to finish strong this month and though we have averaged 10 fish a trip and a couple limits so far it should get better these next couple weeks. We look to add Lake trout and Coho salmon to the catch but Brown trout will still be number one. Call us at 414-460-1467 to book a trip with Silver King Charters this April and fish the best time of the year for Brown trout. 

We have officially started the Milwaukee charter fishing 2018 season and for the third straight season we took a limit. The weekend saw a double digit average on Brown trout. We did pick up one Rainbow. We fished mostly the Milwaukee harbor but did take a few passes through the Main and North gaps. Saw marks but the water was too murky to get bites there. The surface temperatures were from 37 to 39 degrees everywhere we fished. Even by the river mouth. Very could water still. I think the warmest air temperature was 35 degrees on Saturday. Our best action came near the bottom and we fished in 17 to 35 feet of water. Not too many marks but there are fish around and we had over 45 hook ups. 

Our top producer was the gold Hud Stingray from Stinger. The Hud  was the stud. It worked best on the two deep riggers and the two 3 color leadcores. The action was not fast but we kept poking away. The water and air temperature is about to start warming up and this will produce a better bite for sure. We are expecting 50 and 60 degree weather with some rain and this will do the trick. 

This is the best time of the year to catch Brown trout and we have already caught some big ones. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on April Lake Michigan charter fishing. I have attached some pictures from this weekend and I hope the last snow I fish in.

We just put the boat in the water yesterday and were going to fish today. Had the crew down but just couldn't pull the trigger. Gale force south winds and we decided wisely to reschedule. The Brown trout bite is good though right now but mother nature is still liking winter at times. Boat is running great and thanks to a great mechanic Mike we have our second new engine in and she runs sweet. We are going to start catching fish here real soon so I need to finish breaking down last year. I will tackle August in this report. When Chinook salmon our scarce we turn to Lake trout and that was what happened in August. We had a big northeast blow at the end of July and our King fishing never quite recovered after that. Our breakdown was 64% Lake trout, 24% Chinook salmon, 8% Brown trout, 4 % Rainbow trout and only 3 Coho salmon. We have had years where Lake trout were top dog for the season but only August did we really rely on them. 

The good news was there where a lot of 20 pound fish around in both Chinook and Lake trout. We came close to 30 pounds in both species. We almost exclusively fished 100 to 115 feet of water straight out off Milwaukee. The hot set up was downriggers right on the bottom with spin and glows, with smoked dodgers. Took all the Lake trout. It was a bunch of everything for the rest of the species. We did hit the harbor at the last week of August as cold water returned for several days but it did not last. When we had the chance though we used plugs on the riggers and white flasher and bull frog flies on the wire dipsies. Brown trout and Chinook salmon came in the Harbor. We average 10 fish a trip in August but some of those coolers of Lake trout were incredible. Thirteen pound averages were common. In 2016 we had a great Rainbow trout bite out deep and boated 400 in 17 days but this did not materialize in 2017. 

I have some pictures of August last year and a picture of our boat motoring in the harbor yesterday. We cannot wait to get into the April Brown trout action. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on April Milwaukee charter fishing for Brown trout. Wish we could have gone today Ross but we made the right decision. 

Book your April Brown trout trip today. Call 414-460-1467

We are just 10 days away from the start of the 2018 season. We are looking forward to another good April fishing for Brown trout. I am going to breakdown our July from last season in this report. July is the best month to catch Chinook salmon. The way Lake Michigan is stocked now there are fewer Chinook roaming the lake. Typically Lake Michigan sets up with a thermocline by July and there is a temperature break from warm to cold water. It makes it easier to then target fish, especially Chinook. By mid August the salmon start to head back to the ports they were stocked in and this greatly reduces the amount of Chinook in our area. The good thing about charter fishing Milwaukee is that there is a lot of bait and structure to attracted Chinook while they are still roaming Lake Michigan in search of food. 

Last July broke down like this: 37% Chinook salmon, 30% Coho salmon, 18% Rainbow trout, 15% Lake trout and just 2 Brown trout. May and June are the best times to catch salmon in numbers but July is King month and combined with Coho salmon the catch was 67% salmon. This is not always the case in July but it always is the strongest month for Kings. We hit double digit catches on 70% of the July trips but limit catches start to drop back in July. The size on the other hand goes up. We boated 33 fish over 20 pounds and had one Chinook miss 30 pounds by 2 ounces. That Chinook took 4th place overall in Salmon-A-Rama and we boated 9 Chinook over 20 pounds that week. This can be a strong month on Rainbow and Lake trout but last season the Coho bite stayed strong until mid July and was a good Chinook bite. Salmon comes first on the Silver King. 

Our number one set up during this time was the Howie little boy blue fly and a white flasher. This was on our wire dipsies and riggers much of the month. We liked Modified Blue Dolphin Stinger spoons on the cooper boards. Most of our fishing was done in 80 to 100 feet of water, with the best bite from 30 feet down to near the bottom. The stocking has hurt total catches some but has brought back the size in Chinook and there is nothing better than catching a four year old Chinook in the middle of July on Lake Michigan. Wire dipsies were the top producer on big Kings. 

July is the month for King salmon, so call Silver King charters at 414-460-1467.

The 2017 total stocking numbers for Lake Michigan were released. This is the total stocking numbers for all four states boarding Lake Michigan. The total salmon and trout stocked was 9.82 million. This is the lowest it has been going back to 1995 on the chart below and probably since the beginning of the 1070's. I have circled this in red, along with the total number of Brown trout stocked. The Brown trout have dropped due to Wisconsin stopping the stocking of the Wild Rose strain of Brown trout. Hopefully this will be brought back. I have circled the Chinook salmon total in yellow. This was reduced again but it could have been far worse. The original plan was to stock less than 800,000 lake wide but thanks to the WLBA Wisconsin didn't reduce its stocking of Chinook. It sounds like Michigan will increase their stocking of Chinook for 2018. The Coho salmon are circled in green. Number is steady as it has been for the most part since Coho were first stocked in Lake Michigan. For Lake trout circled in purple the numbers are down but most of the ones cut were fingerlings that have less chance of survival. The Rainbow trout are not circled and have remained the same. 

So what does this mean to you for your Lake Michigan charter fishing trip with Silver King Charters. Well not much for 2018. Most of these fish will not be caught for another year, so the 2016 and 2015 numbers matter more. The 2017 Coho will be a target though this spring and the number is good. We always say to come in May and June to have your best chance to catch salmon. Coho have not been reduced and this is the time to catch them. The Chinook salmon are healthy and up in size from what we saw in last years catches and we expect the same in 2018. How many we catch and how frequent depends on how the lake sets up but July through mid August is your best chance. In 2016 there were a lot of Brown trout stocked in Milwaukee. We expect April to be good for Brown trout fishing this year. Lake trout will be solid, since they are the top stocked fish in Lake Michigan. We can now catch 5 Lake trout per person per trip:) Again thanks to the WLBA. Rainbow fishing will depend on how the offshore fishing sets up but should be good from late June through August. 

All and all the numbers are a little lower but we expect to be catching a lot of fish over the course of 2018. Call us at 414-460-1467 to get in on early Brown trout action in April. We boated many last April, including a 33.5 lb Brown trout. Milwaukee charter fishing starts March 31st for Silver King Charters!

I was going to do a breakdown of our July in 2017 but I have some good news to report. Last season was the first time since I have fished Lake Michigan that we could keep 5 Lake trout. Over the years the limit had been 3, 2 or even 1 Lake trout a trip. Last year an emergency ruling was put in place that allowed us to keep 5 Lake trout a day and the season was open year around. Great news because it is the number one stocked fish in Lake Michigan and it is also by far the most populated in the lake. The reason for the increase was primarily forage or bait fish. Since 2007 Chinook stocking have been reduce to help save the fragile bait population. At the same time the Federal government increased the Lake trout stocking. Made no sense but the idea was to stock more to help natural reproduction to take hold for the Lake trout. In the end it created a bigger burden on the bait fish. I can tell you personally I have never cleaned a Lake trout that was not stuffed full of alewives and to a sick level. I have counted 40 plus alewives in bigger Lake trout and I have seen some with over 100 bait fish in them. A Lake trout does not stop and the huge population feed hard. The one exception I have found is during the fall when Lake trout spawn. Only then do they slow down on their massive drive to feed. 

So the emergency ruling came to an end in 2017 and the DNR was going to go back to the 2 fish limit. But thanks to the Wisconsin Lakeshore Business Association the emergency ruling will become law. Meaning we can keep 5 Lake trout and fish year around for them. It has not been signed yet but we should be good to go by the beginning of the season. I am a member of the WLBA and it is comprised of all the people who rely and fish Lake Michigan in Wisconsin and even other states. If you care about maintaining a world class fishery for Lake Michigan this is the organization to join. I was skeptical at first but the proof is in the results. If the WLBA was not around Chinook stocking levels in Lake Michigan would be below 600,000 and probably be discontinued. But last year the WLBA fought to stop the continued reduction for Wisconsin and was able to keep our stocking totals at 800,000 for Chinook, while other states cut. The WLBA has also begun the fight to increase hatchery space and bring in private hatcheries to assure fish our raised to stock. This has been a tough fight for those in the front line but all of us who join can help then out big time. 

I have been an active member of one of the Lake Michigan fishing clubs. My hope was when I became a board member that I could get all the clubs in Wisconsin and eventually all four states to join as one. This way we could have a unified voice to keeping our fishery strong. Didn't work out the way I thought. Way too much division for people who love to catch salmon and trout. But a ninth our miracle happened when a bunch of concerned people involved in the fishery said enough was enough and formed the WLBA. They went to the decision makers at the state level and began to take action to save the fishery from some poor choices. There is no doubt that the fishery must be managed properly but should be managed to provide a diverse fishery. Now most of the clubs that could not unify with one another are joining the WLBA and hopefully by year end all will join.

Several years back the Wisconsin fishery manager was at a meeting talking about stocking options for Lake Michigan. The one thing I remember him saying was he strongly believed we could have it all. The stocking of Brown trout, Rainbow trout, Lake trout, Coho salmon and Chinook salmon. But done right. The over stocking of Lake trout at the expense to the other diverse species was a poor decision and allowing us to catch 5 a day at least brings a little balance to it. There are a lot of moving pieces to the fishery and they are constantly changing but to have the great fishery of Lake Michigan disappear should be unexceptable to all. The more that join the WLBA the more good ideas to keep this great fishery of ours going for years to come. Below is some pictures of 20 plus pound Lake trout we caught. My favorite picture here is the 10 fish limit of Lake trout a couple caught on a day that Lake trout was all that was biting last year. Having the 5 fish limit gives you more opportunities to catch more fish. We put in March 30th so call us at 414-460-1467 to catch the first fish of our season on March 31st, 2018.

We are more than half way through February and very close to fishing. We will have a second new engine installed, along with 2 more digitroll Cannon downriggers and a whole bunch of new goodies. When we start it will be about the Brown trout in April but today I will recap June of last season. We did go down to Racine as we usually do in May and then we return sometime in mid to late June. There was a season we stayed until the first week of July. The reason is Coho salmon. They typically migrate from the southern end of Lake Michigan and that is why we go to Racine. This puts us closer to fish and if we need to we will go all the way to the state line to catch fish. But the last two seasons it has been as good in Milwaukee and Port Washington as it has been south, if not even better. Why? Well there are lots of factors that determine fish movement. Water temperature, current, bait and how fish our stocked. More Coho salmon are now being stocked north of Milwaukee and this may explain some or the reason why Coho salmon fishing has been stronger north of Wind Point. The winters have been very mild the last two years and there has been a lot of bait found off the shores of Milwaukee and Port Washington the last two years. Three seasons ago during one of the DNR's trawls to find out the status of bait in Lake Michigan they had their biggest haul of alewives off Port Washington. It was huge. The DNR said it was an anomaly and it may have been for the over lake but that many alewives in one area is going to attract fish.

In 2106 we stayed in Racine the whole 7 weeks and did good but we could have done better up north. In 2017 we spent just 9 days before coming back to Milwaukee and we were there for all of June and the rest of the season. Milwaukee charter fishing was on fire from mid May through late June. Fishing is typically strong during this time due to the Coho salmon bite. June ended up being our best month for total fish. The breakdown was 77% Coho salmon, 13% Lake trout, 5% Chinook salmon, 5% Rainbow trout and only 1 Brown trout. Come in April for the Brown's:) As you can see by this breakdown how important the Coho salmon are this time of year and how important it is to be where they are. That is why we will move this time of year to Racine if we need to. Too much of the bite relies on the Coho. A must stock fish for the DNR and currently the second only to Lake trout in stocking numbers. More than half our trips ended in a limit catch. Great eating fish and fun to catch. If you are looking to catch big numbers of fish numbers Mid May through late June is the time to fish. I cannot stress this enough. The size come in July and August. 

So to put in more concise it was outstanding Milwaukee charter fishing in June. Our top bait was the half cut fly, which is a size up from the peanut fly. Our favorite color was green and we used it with an orange dodger. At this time of the season we had 6 boards with this set up and they were from the surface down 20 feet. As the water warmed we went way from keel weights and started using leadcore and copper on the boards. Anywhere from 2 to 8 color leadcores and 30 to 150 feet on the coppers. The lead used double zero dodgers and the copper used B&B dodgers. All orange in color. The dipsies where still orange on both sides set at 25 to 60 feet on the line counter. Both side riggers where orange but one now had the larger orange dodger on it down 20 feet. The two back riggers were now tipped with white flashers and the Howie Bull frog fly. We did use some spoons on inside boards and times and some wire dipsy set ups, using Spin Doctors and bull frog flies. But for the most part it was orange and green. The Coho candy!

We fished all over with this set up. In front of the harbor gaps, between 80 to 120 feet of water and in 10 to 20 feet of water along the shore. The Coho schools constantly moved throughout the month and a hot spot didn't last long but before long it was hot again. When you take a couple of passes through an area without a Coho bite they probably are not there and it is time to move and we did a lot of that throughout the month. But when you got on a school it was great action. There was certainly off days but it was not until the last week of June that we failed to hit double digits in our catch. 

The 2018 season is just about to start and April looks to be setting up for some great Brown trout action. But Mid May through most of June is the best time to catch a Coho salmon on Lake Michigan. Give us a call at 414-460-1467 to hook up on some early season action charter fishing Lake Michigan. Below is some picture for hot baits and fish caught last June.

This winter has not been to bad for Southeastern Wisconsin. Drought situation with several warm ups have kept the snow totals low. The great news is that Lake Michigan is only 11% covered with ice currently and 20% was its worst in early January. There are several good factors about this. One is there is a very good chance we can start fishing on April 1st. Some years there is too much ice for us to get in the marina. But more importantly a less harsh winter bodes well for the newly hatched or stocked fish in the lake. Much better survival. A wet spring is also important. This winter is by no means over but by mid February the worst of the ice building will be past us and things are looking good for not too much greater ice build up. We are well into our build up for 2018. The only thing really left is to install the new engine. Probably will be in March sometime but we are very excited to have two brand new engines going into the season. Every year I put all our profits back into the business to make sure each year runs as smoothly as possible. For my brother and I it is more of a passion to fish then a job.

          Last update I recapped April. Today I will go through May. In May we had our highest catch rate for the year at 18.1 fish a trip. May and June are typically going the be the best catch rate due to the way Lake Michigan has been stocked in recent years. Coho salmon is the number one stocked salmon in Lake Michigan for the last decade and this is the time to catch them. Only Lake trout have a greater stocking number each year. We limited out more than 50% of our trips during this month. The breakdown was 82% Coho salmon, 8% Chinook salmon, 4% Rainbow trout, 3% Lake trout and 3% Brown trout. The Coho salmon are a great fish to target in May and when you get on a school it can be fast action. Over the years we have been down in Racine to get the best bite on Coho but the last two seasons Milwaukee and Port Washington were the hot ports. Tough to say which ports will be hot this season but we will be where ever they set up. The last two season had mild winters and more Coho are being stocked north, so this may contribute to better fishing further north than Racine down to Chicago.

         The first 10 days of May where tough. Wind was bad and things didn't set up. We had only 3 trips we didn't make it to double digits in May and two came in this first week. But like always by mid May the Coho where all over the place. We started in Racine and the action was ok. We only spent a week here though. We were running out to 200 plus feet of water and out of Racine that is a distance. My last trip I got smoked on a two boat trip and had enough. Went back to Milwaukee and went 13 straight trips with limits and everyone finished early. Great action. I cannot stress this enough: If you want to catch a lot of great eating fish the best time to go is mid May to Mid June. It is still fishing and there are tough days but the catch rate is this period is on average the best. The stocking numbers on Coho salmon has been an average of 2.5 million a year for over 25 years. These fish are raised in hatcheries for more than a year and stocked in the spring. The following spring is when we start to catch them and they spawn that fall. Coho average 2 to 3 pounds in the early spring and by mid summer range 4 to 10 pounds depending on the bait. They are fun to catch and the best eating fish out of Lake Michigan. Some years we get summer Coho at 15 pounds plus and boated several last year over 10 pounds. Our big was 13 pounds and can be found in one of the pictures below.

          Early in the season we ran a lot of spoons. Stinger UV Blue Dolphin and Modified Blue Dolphin were best. We also had success on the Gold Hud orange and chartrusse. Once we were into the Coho it was orange dodgers and peanut flies. We ran a side of boards with  orange B&B dodgers with 26" 30lb fluorocarbon leader and green peanut flies. The other side of boards was orange double 00 dodgers at a 17" lead and peanut flies, using 30 pound test fluorocarbon leaders. We had leads from the boards on the B&B's from 12 to 50 feet. We used 5/8 ounce bead chain keel weights about 6 feet back from the dodger and ran these 12 to 60 feet back from the boards. We had one mono and one braid dipsy on each side of the boat. Orange dodger and green peanut fly on all four set ups. We had the mono at a 30 degree set and the braid at a 15 degree set. The outside was 30 to 40 feet on the line counter and the inside was 10 to 15 feet out on the line counter. The two outside riggers where set with an orange dodgers and green peanut flies set 5 and 8 feet down and 5 and 10 feet back. The two inside riggers usual had spoons and one was a gold hud and one a UV Blue Dolphin. Didn't change a thing for the last 3 weeks of May. Rolled around the gaps to 100 feet to 10 feet along the shore and just kept catching Coho salmon. Wiped them out!

        Love this time of year because it is simple. Don't have to over think it. Just have to find them. I have some pictures of the baits and fish. I also put on picture from NOAA on the current ice cover for the Great Lakes. Call us to book a mid to late May trip and as long as mother nature isn't too nasty you will not be disappointed. Call us at 414-460-1467 to book a trip for the highest catch rate of salmon for the season.
 

This season of Milwaukee charter fishing saw a lot of big fish come to the boat but none bigger than a 33.90lb Brown trout. It was caught on the second weekend in April by a 12 year old boy. An epic fish that my first mate was not going to let go under the knife. When our customers decided to not have it mounted our first mate Colin did and down to the Lake Michigan Angler it went. While I was watching the Wisconsin Badger finish off a perfect season Colin texted me a picture of the mount and as always they did a great job. This fish came on a Michigan Stinger Glow Wonderbread, which can be seen in the picture of the me holding the fish. We boated this fish in the Milwaukee harbor right in the channel between the Main gap and the river mouth. The fish took about 15 minutes before we netted it and the fight can be seen in video on our facebook page. I would for sure say it was a top ten fish caught this season on Lake Michigan and probably top five. I know there was a big King caught in Michigan that went over 40lbs. Considering the big fish in Salmon-A-Rama was a half pound smaller this was a big fish!  

           Our big fish on the other four species where 13.52lb Coho salmon coming in May, 29.56lb Chinook salmon during salmon-a-rama, 25.32lb Lake trout coming in mid August and a 13.82lb Rainbow trout coming in late July. We hope to see some more big fish in 2018. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book your trip for 2108.

Silver King Charters is officially done for the season. We pulled the boat today and she is going into heated storage. We plan on installing a brand new 350 Crusade fuel injected engine and a new transmission, along with a dripless seal on the starboard side. We did the port engine at the beginning of 2016. We are also installing 2 brand new Cannon downriggers to compliment the two we put on in 2016. Last season we put on all new covering and seats. Silver King Charters does apologize for 13 missed trips this season due to engine issues but that will not be the case in 2018.

             I will be breaking down the season by month over the next several weeks but as a whole it was a solid season. There were a several weeks that were tough but as a whole it was solid fishing. This season like last the number one fish caught was the Coho salmon. This is the number one stocked salmon in Lake Michigan and the second highest fish stocked overall. The Lake trout is number one and it has been for 13 years now. Lake trout, Brown trout and Chinook all came in very close to second plus or minus 20 to 30 fish. The low was Rainbow trout. We were done by 300 Steelhead this year from last but the offshore but did not set up as well and there was better fishing closer to shore. We had 55 fish over 50 pounds and this has not happened since 2013. Great size and great fights. Are big was caught in April on our 4 trip of the year. It was a 33.5 pound Brown trout, caught by a 12 year boy. I would have to say this was one of the top ten fish for weight caught in Lake Michigan this season. 

           We will be busy getting the boat ready for April 1st 2018 and I will give a breakdown of the season with pictures and hot lures for each month coming up. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip in 2018. We will be ready to catch fish Lake Michigan charter fishing.

October was the tale for two halves. The first two weeks were much like the last week of September. We had a lot of high winds, which cancelled trips and poor water conditions. The water temperature was the same from top to bottom out to 100 feet an caused a sluggish bite and tough to find fish. We averaged less than five fish a trip in the first two weeks of October and it was the worst period of the year along with the end of September. Every season has its dog times. We have had some early Octobers Milwaukee charter fishing that were great but not this year. The last two weeks the weather cooperated and water temps set up. We fished exclusively the shore line in 20 to 30 feet of water and averaged 6 to 12 fish a trip. We where catching Lake trout and Brown trout, with some good size. Are big Laker was 20 pounds and the big Brown was 18 pounds. Another positive was the small Browns were 2 to 3 pounds. Usually we see these fish at a pound and a half. This made for some solid catches.

       The spread we used was all spoons and mostly Singer stinger and stingray size.  The hot spoons where gold hud, UV blue dolphin and the standard blue dolphin. There where others that caught fish like the orange uv dolphin was good for Brown trout. We ran 3 boards a side and these were 1, 2 and 3 color leadcore. For the dipsies we used mono line and the line counter was between 20 and 30 feet dialed in at 3. We used 3 riggers set at 12, 15 and one right on the bottom. This was the set for all trips in the last two weeks in October and was very effective in the shallow water. The fishing was best when the surface water was above 50 degrees but by the last week it had dropped to 46 degrees. Didn't see much bait in tight like last year but the fish were healthy. The last fish of the year came on October 31st and was a 20 pound Lake trout shown in the picture below. We pulled 55 fish of 20 pounds or great this year. We haven't had this kind of success on size since 2013. 

        Call us at 414-460-1467 to book for 2018. We are putting a new engine in the starboard side, 2 new Cannon downriggers and some other goodies. I have a picture of one of the Cannon downriggers we installed late in 2015. I cannot say enough good stuff about these downriggers. I have not had any issues and they are built solid. We are able to read bottom and jig with these riggers when fishing Lake trout. The rod holders are second to none. We cannot wait to install two more this offseason. We will be ready to catch fish on April 1st. The last two April 1st trips we have limited out! Thanks to all who fished with us in 2017 and making it another great season fishing salmon and trout on Lake Michigan. 

 We are deep into September, with big winds and warm water making things challenging. We have been fishing on again off again in the Harbor. When we out in the lake it has been 100 to 120 feet of water and right on the bottom. The catch is a mix off mature King salmon and Coho salmon, along with Lake trout and Brown trout. The water in recent days has cooled some where we are now seeing low 50 degree water as shallow as 40 feet of water right at the bottom. This will make in and around the harbor better because there are a lot of fish stacked in there now.

          Silver King Charters has boated over 50 fish of 20lbs or more this season and the last 10 have come this month. The Chinooks are good size this year. We have had season over the last several years where we only boated one Chinook over 20lbs. We should have a few more cracks at some big ones this month before they start spawning.  The Coho salmon have not staged yet but they are close. There are some 15 to 18 pound Coho being caught. It was a solid year on size for salmon. Should be another good spring on Coho next year too.

         In the harbor it is our two deep riggers with a UV stingray Blue Dolphin Singer spoon and a UV blue flounder pounder magnum size Moonshine getting it done. The plugs have started to work in the last several days on riggers and our favorite is the size 4 Mother of Pearl Luhr Jensen J-Plug. We run one wire dipsy with a white flasher and little boy blue Howie fly and one mono dipsy with a spoon like those on the riggers. The boards have not been productive in the harbor.

        In the lake it has been heavy on spin and glows right on the bottom producing Lake trout. We take a few Chinook and Coho off the up high riggers, with white flashers and either bull frog flies or little boy blue made by Howie. Boards are all copper between 200 to 400 feet. All spoons and the same as in the harbor. The good thing is that the water has cooled and we have started to fish in 50 to 60 feet of water on the lake.

        It will be Harbor and lake fishing depending on the action and the seas through the rest of this month but there are some big fish to be had. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on some fun Milwaukee charter fishing. We go until November 6th this year. 

           August has been up and down for Silver King Charters. Twice we were down with engine issues that cost us a week total but all is resolved now. Then high winds that seem to occur every weekend now has cancelled trips but we have been Milwaukee charter fishing in between all of that. The two things that are the highlight of August are big Chinooks and big Lake trout. We have boated 30 fish in August that were 20 pounds are bigger. Half and half trout to salmon. The Lake trout fishing in August has been real good and the small ones are around 10 pounds. The mature Chinooks may not be in great numbers but the ones that are around are big. A twenty pound King is very common and it take a 30 pound King to be special this year. There was on caught this season that was 41 pounds.

           Most of our action has been in 100 to 115 feet of water. We are fishing Lake trout on the bottom with smoked dodgers followed by spin and glows. The water is 70 degrees on the surface, with the break anywhere from 60 to 80 feet down through the last 4 weeks. We have been targeting Kings with white flashers and either Boy Blue or Bull Frog Howie flies. We have these on riggers down 55 to 100 feet. We are also running copper on our boards. Anywhere from 175 to 400 coppers. The spoons are cracked ice magnum Pro King, flounder pounder blue magnum Moonshine and the blue dolphin stingray Stinger. These worked in the lake and also in the harbor, where Kings are starting to stage. Right now water is too warm but for a couple of days it there were some high 50 degree water temps in the harbor that got the fish to bite. We need some west winds to set the harbor up for a reel good September.

           We expect to have some more good weeks of Lake trout fishing and the next 3 weeks we hope to have one of our clients land a 30 pound King. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a September trip and land a big fish before the season ends.  

           Well a lot has happened since my last report. Salmon-A-Rama was a huge success. Many fish were caught but the highlight was big Kings. We boated 9 over 20 pounds and one that was 29.5 pounds. This ended up being the fourth biggest fish of the contest. We had four people win money this year and we came in 2nd place with 225 pounds of fish in the Pro division. 

            The week after Salmon-A-Rama we were hit with strong northeast winds and this changed Milwaukee charter fishing up. The water warmed up to 69 degrees on the surface with 59 degrees down 60 to 70 feet. Big change and fish took time to adjust. We had the Brew City on Sunday because of the wind on Friday and Saturday. Silver King took 13th place and we were happy with that. Only two boats weighed in 10 fish and only 6 caught 9 fish and that is what we ended up with. Brutal day and the worst catch rate in Brew City history. Congratulations to Anger Management and Captain Tom Zapp for catching 89lbs in 9 fish. We were close but couldn't get our last silver fish quick enough to fish trout.

           Since then we have taken it out on the trout. There is some great Lake trout fishing off Milwaukee right now and we are averaging 13 pounds a trout right now. The warm water has pushed the trout out and down. We are fishing right on the bottom in 100 to 115 feet of water. We are using spin and glows, with smoked dodgers to do the damage on multiple set ups. We pulled 4 over 20 pounds this weekend and had a trip with 230 pounds for 17 trout. We are targeting other fish and taking Chinook, Coho, and Rainbows in the 50 to 70 feet of the water column. As this water sets up better more silver fish will be caught and we can use this warm water to our advantage.

          We will be fishing through October 31st this year and we are sure to have some great trips throughout this time. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get in on the last 2.5 months of the season. Big Kings and Big Lakers will be caught. 

           Milwaukee charter fishing remains solid. We are averaging 16 fish for the season although the start of July has been up and down we are at 12 fish for trip this month. Chinook are in the mix and we see about 2 t o3 a trip but it is definitely a mixed bag. The catch almost always includes Lake trout, Rainbow trout, Coho salmon and Chinook salmon. The water is cold and this has made the bite tough at times. In areas we see 43 degrees on the surface and other areas it is 65 degrees but go down 20 feet and it is in the forties. There is a lot of warm water built up due to a warm start in May but west winds have prevented much build up on the western shores off Milwaukee. It will not take much to get some warm water near shore and a good northeaster would do the trick to really make the fishing turn on. All that said the fishing is still good.  

           The spread is still targeting the top 40 feet of water. We are using 1 through 3 colors, with orange Coho rigs along with the inside dipsies set at 35 feet and the one side rigger down 15 feet. All has the orange on. The catch is still 50% Coho. We are running 5 through 8 color leadcores, with Stinger stingray sizes spoons. Gold hud and carmel dolphins are best. These have been taking all four species. The wire dipsies along with the other riggers are white flashers and double aqua flies. Wire set at 85 to 120 on the line counter and riggers from 20 to 50 down. We are fishing between 75 to 120 feet of water. All rods contribute but the orange is still the strongest.

           We are on the eve of Salmon-A-Rama and this is the 5th year we have purchased the charter ticket. We have been on the board for the last 4 years and will attempt to do it again this year. We are booked for the event and all we need is some luck and a no quit attitude when fighting fish. Brew City Salmon Tournament is on July 29th and I have already received a lot of entries, so sign up soon. Call Silver King Charters to book a trip for August, September or October at 414-460-1467. There is plenty of great action to still be had.  

           Tonight is the night of a very special full moon that I had planned to fish but instead I will be heartbroken. It has been a long time since my last report and a lot has changed. The Coho world started to slow down considerably on June 22nd. The water became real cold and shut the bite down. Up to then we were still catching limits. Too much west winds. We had been fishing north exclusively but eventually we moved south and found some warmer water that helped the bite. This is where we have been fishing now for the last week and we are back into double digit catches.

          The best depths are in 70 to 120, with fish found from 15 feet down right to the bottom. The catch is a mix of Coho, Rainbow, Lakers and Chinooks. We still have orange in the spread. One rigger down 15 feet, the inside dipsies set at 40 feet on the line counter and the outside boards with 2 to 4 colors. The water temps have been warming over the past several days with some northeast and southeast winds. The surface is now at 65 degrees which we hope stays around.

          Wire dipsies are now being run on a consistent bases. We have been using white flashers, with green or aqua flies set from 100 to 200 feet on the line counter. We are running a side of copper and a side of leadcore. The leads are between 5 to 8 color and the copper are between 100 to 250 feet. We are running spoons on the leadcores, with the Stinger stingray sizes carmel or blue dolphin. For the copper it is white flashers, with green or aqua flies. The two back riggers are flashers with aqua flies and on the up high rigger it is a carmel dolphin.

          The bulk of the catch is Coho and Rainbow but not by much. We average 2 Kings and 3 Lake trout too. We have pulled some nice sized Chinooks with one over 20 pounds and several pushing that. The catch of late has been between 5 to 25 fish depending on the time of day. We are hoping that a thermocline sets up to shrink the target zone and make fishing even better.

          Salmon-A-Rama is coming up and we have one spot open for Tuesday July 18th, starting at 10:00AM. We hope to have another great run this season and have several of our customers win some money. Brew City is also coming up on July 29th. I just did the mailing yesterday for those who were in last years event. All 50 cash prizes are back for this year! Call Silver King Charters today at 414-460-1467 to book a trip this season.

         The Milwaukee charter fishing report is the same since we got back from Racine. Lots of limits and lots of Coho salmon. Keep the cold water around we keep catching the Coho. The water is starting to warm up on the surface at times and we have seen 58 degrees at times but the southwest blows come at the perfect time and knock it back down to 49 degrees. Keep the water temperature below 60 degrees down 10 to 15 feet and we keep catching. We have averaged 20 fish a trip over the last 4 weeks and the spread is almost all orange dodgers. Why mess with success.

         We have fished 15 feet of water out to 130 feet over the last week but 80% of the bite is in the top 10 feet of water. Most of the catch is Coho, about 80% with some Kings, Rainbows and Lake trout thrown in. Green peanut flies and orange dodgers on all set ups except the back 3 riggers and these have little boy blue Howie flies, with white flashers. Simple set up. We drive until we start getting hit and then focus on that depth. It does change day to day.

         This is the highest catch rate for salmon during the season and it is starting to come to an end. When the Coho go the salmon catch drops and turns more to trout. We expect it to continue at least another 10 days but if it is like last year it could go deep into July. The bait is here so southwest winds are key to keeping them from blowing out deep. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 now to get in on this outstanding Coho salmon action before it is all gone. 

          It is a carbon copy of last weeks report for charter fishing Milwaukee. Outstanding Coho salmon fishing with limits or close to limits. We have moved into a little shallower water and the surface temps are now at 51 degrees but the Coho are still on the surface for now. We are still catching a couple of Lake trout, Rainbow trout and Chinook salmon on each trip.

         The only change to our spread is that we are now using 1 and 2 color leadcores on our inside boards. As the water warms we will start going deeper on these boards with leadcores. We are still all orange on the boards and dipsies. Still white flashers and little boy blue Howie on the riggers, with the up high rigger using orange. Our favorite fly is a green peanut for the Coho.

          Very good fishing and now is the time to book because when the Coho bite slows the salmon catch will drop and we will start fishing more trout. It is still rolling so call us at 414-460-1467 to get in on the action.

         Ok, Milwaukee charter fishing is as good as it gets right now and should continue for at least a couple more weeks. We fished in 15 feet of water out to 150 feet of water and caught fish everywhere. The bite is 85% Coho salmon, with some Chinook, Rainbow and Lakers. The best bite is in the top 10 feet of water, where the water temperature is between 44 to 48 degrees on the surface. We have had almost all limits, with the exception of Sunday afternoon due to very strong winds but we almost got it done then too.

        Very simple set. Orange dodger and peanut fly, either green or black and purple. All mono boards, dipsies set high and one rigger tipped with orange down 6 feet. The other three riggers are set at 100, 80 and 40 when we are in deep water. They have been taking Lakers and Kings. Whit flasher and Little Boy Blue fly by Howie.

        This is incredible fishing right now and the best time to catch the best eating fish. Coho's are everywhere and getting bigger by the day. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 now to get in on this great bite. 

          Well a lot has changed since our last update. We fished out of Racine when we could due to strong winds. When we got out it was offshore starting in 180 feet of water. Fish were on the surface down to 140 feet. Mostly Coho salmon. We average 15 fish during this period but is was a struggle. We moved back to our Milwaukee slip on Monday. There is more bait and therefore more fish. We have ran three trips so far out of Milwaukee and limited out quick on all three. Mostly Coho salmon, with some Chinook. The best depth was 80 to 150 feet or water. Most of the Coho were on the surface and the Kings were coming 40 to 80 feet down. We also boated a 13 pound Coho salmon. We made the right move coming home. All the fish in Milwaukee are stuffed with alewives where in Racine it was not the case. There is no doubt Racine is in for a real god Coho season but for now and going forward Milwaukee will be just as good if not better at times.

            The spread is simple orange dodgers and either black/purple/gold peanut flies or green peanut flies on all boards and dipsies. All are set in the top 10 feet of water. The two side riggers the same set at 5 and 13 feet down. The two deep riggers are using white coyote flashers, with little boy blue or green Howie flies. The action is very good and the Coho are between 2 to 5 pounds.

            This is it. The best time of the year to catch good numbers of salmon. I think it will continue to be very good throughout mid to late June for Coho salmon. I cannot emphasis this enough, this is the best time to catch salmon! Call Silver King Charters right now at 414-460-1467 to start catching.