*Note: Click any month to view reports.
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
Report for May 15, 2022
We are half way through May and full throttle on Coho salmon. Our last report we were still Brown trout fishing in the harbor but Alewives started showing up in the harbor the first week of May and by May 7th we were catching limits of Coho salmon. Over the last nine days we have been fishing the North Gap to the South Gap of the Milwaukee harbor. We have also been down by Grant Park and out in 70 to 100 feet of water south of the green can to Grant Park. Boat pressure has made areas tough to fish and the salmon have been moving around. Several things to note. There are a lot of year classes of Alewives and a lot of Alewives around. The average size of the Coho salmon is up for this time of year. We are seeing Coho salmon at four to five pounds right now when three pounds or less is more common over the last several years. This means there was a good hatch of bait last year because when these Coho were stocked last year they would need a lot of small stuff to eat to get this big right now. The water is warming up fast. We did not have that cold of a winter on average and the last week has been very warm. We are seeing surface temperatures at 56 degrees during the day out in 100 feet of water. There are a lot of Coho around and the survival rate from stocking appears to be good. The 2021 Lake Michigan total stocking numbers have yet to be released but whatever the Coho number was last year it is what we are catching now. This is usually around 2.5 million. This adds up to be some great fishing for the next several weeks.
We are running a 12 rod spread with all Coho salmon stuff. We have 3 boards a side. One side we are using double O orange dodgers and the other we are using B&B dodgers from Silver Horde. We have a 17" fly lead on the OO and 27" fly lead on the B&B. We are using a 5/8 ounce keel weight on the OO and nothing on the B&B. We are 15 feet, 30 feet and 45 feet back from the boards. We are using a mono dipsy dialed in at 30 degrees and a braided dipsy set at 15 degrees on both sides of the boat. These are 35 feet on the mono and 15 feet on the braid. We are only running two outside downriggers with stubby orange dodgers down 10 feet. We are using the Willy Fly, Gen X or the Two Tone peanut flies. With the size of the Coho right now we may go to half flies soon.
Milwaukee charter fishing is very good right now and Coho salmon fishing in May and June gives you the best catch rate for salmon. They are also the tenderloin of Lake Michigan. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 tp get in on some of the best salmon fishing of the season. Below are some pictures of limit catches this past week and a picture of our boat fishing.
Report for May 4, 2022
April was not a weather friendly month. Below average temperatures and high winds kept us limited at times on the lake. The last couple of weeks in April where solid fishing, with Brown trout making up 90% of the catch. We started to catch some Coho salmon the last week of the month. We fished the Milwaukee harbor, mostly in front of the river. We also had good action outside the Main gap. We fished the Green can and had some good Lake trout action. South of Milwaukee along the shore the Pump house and Grant Park were both good. The key was to find water that was not super clear and not too muddy. We last fished May 1st and the water temperatures seemed to be around 43 degrees average. The alwives started to show up in the harbor late last week and so did a few Coho salmon.
Our spread still remains the same as last report but we have started running 4 and 5 color leads when fishing in 30 plus feet of water. We have also started just recently adding orange dodgers and peanut flies to the mix. We put these on inside dipsies and boards with keel weights. The blue/green/gold peanut caught a few Coho salmon. The last few seasons we have seen huge schools of large Alewives and this year looks to be the same. Their arrival does slow the Brown trout bite but the Coho action picks up.
The Coho salmon bite is next. Kenosha and further south have had great Coho action over the last couple of weeks. We expect the same next week. The Coho we caught last year were big enough to fillet and this spring we have caught two that were just under 5 pounds, which is big for this early in the year. From Early May through mid July Coho salmon are in the mix. But from now through late June they are the top target and lead to a high catch rate and limit catches. There is no better time to book a trip then during this period. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get in on the best time to catch good numbers of salmon. Below are some pictures from the last part of April. Some nice catches of Brown trout, with a few Coho salmon in the mix.
Report for April 18, 2022
This April has been cooler than normal and as I write this it is snowing out. Warmer weather is come this week. This April has been very good for Brown trout. This is still the primary fish we are catching but we are now boating a few Lake trout and Coho salmon. Surface temperatures are slowly starting to climb. We are seeing 42 degrees in the Milwaukee harbor and also south of town by Grant Park We are catching 5 to 20 fish a trip. The Milwaukee harbor around the Main gap and river channel has been best of catching fish. We have also fished Grant park and the bowels. This area has been productive too. We have not seen a lot of bait yet but this will probably change this week.
We are still running all spoons on 1, 2, and 3 color leads, mono dipsies and riggers set 10 feet down ot the bottom. We are in 12 to 30 feet of water, fishing close to shore when we are not in the harbor. The gold hud and UV blue dolphin are the hot spoons. The stingray size has been best. We had a couple of slow trips when the water became gin clear but otherwise the bite has been steady. We expect the Brown trout action to stay solid through April, with a few more Lake trout in the mix. We are set to fish Coho salmon at a moments notice and they are catching them south of us, so hopefully by the end of the month we will see a steady catch of salmon.
Right now is the best time to catch Brown trout, so give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to get in the action. This is one of the few times in the season we will target Brown trout. The pictures below are from the last few trips.
Report for April 17, 2022
Report for April 6, 2022
We put our boat in on March 25th and for the next 5 days it was below freezing but we finally got out to fish on April 1st. The water temperature on the surface is 38.5 degrees at the warmest in the Milwaukee harbor and just outside the gaps it is 36 degrees. We have fished from the south gap to the north gap and everywhere in between. The most productive area is in front of the Summerfest grounds to just south of the water treatment plant. Just in front of the river has been good too. This is where we are finding he most bait and slightly warmer water. The smelt have not shown up yet so it is mostly shiners and gobies in the fishes bellies. This should change in the next few days. We have caught all Brown trout so far. Several have been in the 10 to 15 pound class. The bite has been steady, with the exception of when it snowed hard. The trout did not want to bite then.
We are using an all spoon spread. They are liking larger spoons over the smaller ones. The best are gold and copper spoons. The gold NBK green Stinger in the stingray size has been very good on our deep riggers just off the bottom and on our three color leadcores. The gold hud in the same size on mono dipsies and two color leadcores have been just as good. We are also using mass confusion Stinger stingray size on one color and our up high riggers that are taking fish. The other good spoon is the UV blue dolphin silver blade. Been very good on a mono dipsy. We are seeing 15 to 20 bites a trip but a lot of quick hits right now. The action should become even better as the water warms and the bait starts to move in. There should also be some Lake and Rainbow trout in he mix. The Coho salmon bite is firing up in the at the southern end of Lake Michigan and you never know when it could happen here. Last year at this time Coho fishing was outstanding in Kenosha and Racine. We moved the boat to Racine on April 15th and the action was great.
Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467. We have openings this weekend and the Brown trout action is just getting started. It has been fun so far. The pictures are from the first few trips of the year. The bite is only going to get better.
Report for March 15, 2022
We are 12 days away from starting our 2022 Lake Michigan charter fishing season. Late March and early April is our best time of the season to catch Brown trout. This is the time of year where are top target is Brown trout. We like to run all spoons at this time of the year. Many people like to run stick baits or body baits and troll slow in early spring. Sometimes this is the best method. We like to run scorpion and stinger size Stinger spoons and we like to troll fast. Our ground speed or GPS speed could be up to 3 mph. This allows us to cover more water on a trip and find more active fish. We have found that active fish are not so picking if you get the bait in front of them. Trolling in the Milwaukee harbor it is key to find active fish and they could be anywhere from the North gap, south gap, river mouth and many places in between. To us the probe is useless at this time of the year and if we are not running at least 2.5 mph on the GPS we are too slow.
Spoon size and color are more important. Copper and gold spoons, with orange, yellow and green colors on them work best. The Gold Hud, Gold NBK green, UV Blue Dolphin and Mass confusion Stinger spoons are all in the spread. We also like the UV watermelon spoon in scorpion and stinger size. Leadcore is key in the one, two, three and four colors. Mono dipsies set at 30 degrees and two riggers near the bottom. This spread has produced solid catches over the last decade. Water clarity is the only thing that really slows the bite, if we have too much rain or big northeast winds. This bite really stays good until the alwives come to shore around mid April.
We start fishing the last weekend of March and our first trips of the season have been epic. Give Silver King Charters a call at 414-460-1467 to start catching Brown trout in early spring. The pictures below show some catches during the first two weeks of the season over the last several years. The one with me in hte back show the break wall covered in ice. That will not be the case this year.
Report for March 7, 2022
Report for March 6, 2022
Report for March 6, 2022
Report for March 4, 2022
Report for February 15, 2022
We are hoping to have the boat in the water around the end of March and the Brown trout fishing during the first few weeks of the season is the best Brown trout fishing for the entire season. We will be Milwaukee charter fishing during the first part of spring before heading to Racine for several weeks to get in on some early Coho salmon fishing. In 2021 we had a good year catching salmon and we expect the same in 2022. This winter never had enough long cold stretches to freeze up much of Lake Michigan, especially the southern end of the lake. This should help the solid hatch of bait fish we had last year to survive.
For those interested in early spring Brown trout fishing we will be trolling in and around the expansive Milwaukee harbor. This gives us some shelter on windy days. We are fishing in 35 feet of water or less and most of the bites come in the top 15 feet of water. The size ranges from 2 to 15 pounds but we have boated some Brown trout in the 20 pound size and a few years back a customer caught a 33 pound Brow trout. Attached is the current ice conditions on Lake Michigan and we believe that the harbor and marina will be clear of ice by April 1st. I also have some pictures of what my firstmates do in the winter. They run ice fishing trips for trout in the harbors of Lake Michigan. I also have an early April trip picture. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to have Milwaukee charter fishing trip as soon as the ice is out.
Report for January 4, 2022
January charter fishing is about getting ready. We are hoping ot be in the water on March 25th this year. Last season we were in on March 26th and a limit on March 27th. We were able to pull this off due to a mild winter. So far December ended up being even on average warmer then last year. The water on December 31, 2021 was 38 degrees on the surface in the Milwaukee harbor. The police boat was slipped and plugged in until January 1, 2022. Only then did things start to cool off enough to start to form ice. In 55 days it will be March 1st and usually the ice is in full decline by then. But 55 days of very cold weather can make a lot of ice that can last into April. Hope that is not the case.
The last two winters were very mild and peak Lake Michigan ice coverage was below 25 percent. As of right now it is below 5%. These mild winters have helped the bait population grow by giving the young of the year a better survival rate. Stocked fish too have benefited. As of right now we will not have a huge freeze on Lake Michigan but to what degree is still up in the air. That said it has been a slow lead in into winter, giving all the young fish a better chance to survive.
The last 6 years we have taking a limit on our first trip of the year. We are fishing the Milwaukee harbor, usually wear the rivers come into the harbor. This is typically our best Brown trout fishing of the year, with no run time to the fish. We are usually fishing right as we leave the dock. The harbor will allow us to fish in most wind conditions. We run spoons on all lines with everything near the surface to 15 feet deep. If you are interested in catching Brown trout and don't mind the cold an April charter fishing trip is for you. I have attached the current Lake Michigan current ice coverage map. The police boat picture is the last day a boated floated a McKinley marina on December 31, 2021. I also have some April Brown trout pictures.