Captain Geoff's Blog
Fishing Report - September 4th
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for September 4th.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. Stop in and talk to Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. For many, it is time to shift the budget over to hunting supply. I have never seen such a great selection of firearms and supplies. If you have never been out there, you really should make the trip and have a look around. Highway 41 and Hwy 67 in Lomira.
Strong west winds continue and the water keeps getting colder. Charters reported 40 degree water in the shallows this morning and crystal clear water. These conditions have provided for two options for finding fish. Fish were caught running very shallow where dirty water could be found. The other option is to run out to the deep and work 8 to 14 miles out which puts you in 250 to 400 feet of water. For Sunday morning it is anybody’s guess. If there is no more dirty water in shallow, it could be a slow day. The deeper water is warmer, but that warm water continues to get pushed further to the east and if it continues to get pushed, it could be a long boat ride out and back. Bring your lucky quarter and give it a flip if you will be out tomorrow.
Plugs and spoons rule the shallows. Green ladderback and silver j-plugs were decent yesterday. As for spoons, magnum green dolphin, NBK, and purple ladderback were credited with bites. Riggers with long leads and 5/8 ounce yellow birds back 50 – 70 were the best. Working the deeper water brings the flasher fly program back out. LBB, Bullfrog and Mystery are top picks.
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing and have a great Labor Day weekend.
Fishing Report - Spetember 3rd
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for September 3rd.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. Stop in and talk to Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. For many, it is time to shift the budget over to hunting supply. I have never seen such a great selection of firearms and supplies. If you have never been out there, you really should make the trip and have a look around. Highway 41 and Hwy 67 in Lomira.
What a difference a couple days can make. Sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday the water temp dropped about 15 degrees. We went from mid sixties to low fifties in less than 24 hours. For the past couple days that has killed the bite in most areas. However with water that cold, it has brought fish to the beach. Yesterday, you had to be in 18 to 22 feet. Two boats worked inside of us in the 10 – 15 foot range and one boat worked around 30 foot and did not get bites. By 7:30 they had disappeared. It will take a couple days for them to adjust to the rapid change. These are good water temps, but such a rapid change has them in shock. This will also trigger the staging fish to make a move into the harbor. Between the rains and the temperature drop, you should expect the harbor fishing to improve dramatically. Considering the gale warning for today and continued strong winds for tomorrow, that may be your best bet anyway.
Plugs and spoons rule the shallows. Green ladderback and silver j-plugs were decent yesterday. As for spoons, the hottest one was a magnum green dolphin. Riggers with long leads and 5/8 ounce yellow birds back 50 – 70 were the best. Not too many others out to report the past couple days.
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing.
Fishing Report - Aug 28th
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for August 28th.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. The season is past the half way point and Midwest wants to be your supplier. Stop in and talk to Jim or Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. They are preparing for their Fall Fest event on Friday and Saturday August 20th and 21st. Meet manufacturer reps, and enjoy auctions, food and entertainment.
Fortunately for the sake of all our gas bills, some of the rainbows moved in late this week to save us the trip to 300 feet of water. We marked tons of bait accompanied by fish in the 100 to 160 range Friday. Today it spread out a bit and began in 90 feet and was present out to 200. It seemed that if you trolled through the bait schools and ran baits below, you could count on a bite or two. The only catch was running through enough schools to find enough fish to fill the cooler. You also had to pick through some shakers. Lots of small fish are being caught, and hopefully released if possible, which gives cause for optimism for the seasons ahead. The cohos are also showing up as they prepare for their fall spawn. A few good sized cohos seem to accompany every catch.
Bull frog, aqua, and LBB flies are still the best bets. If you want to try something else, Rainbow Richard’s Mystery fly can now be promoted to the ranks of the top baits. Spoons really turned on today and have been responsible for most of the rainbows in the box. The only down side is they are also responsible for most of the shakers. Hot lips, purple ladderback and green ladderback were all credited with bites in the spoon department. Downrigger bites have been decent down 40 to 90 feet. Dipseys early and late with LBB behind white glow, halograph, or blue bubble flashers are still strong.
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing.
Fishing Report - August 25th
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for August 25th.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. The season is past the half way point and Midwest wants to be your supplier. Stop in and talk to Jim or Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. They are preparing for their Fall Fest event on Friday and Saturday August 20th and 21st. Meet manufacturer reps, and enjoy auctions, food and entertainment.
Did someone say rainbows? The slow down on the king bite in shallow had boats on the move and a few wandering out to the 300 foot range stumbled on the rainbows. Since then many charters have been working the 250 to 400 ft range for decent king action with lots of rainbows mixed in. Most of the bite out deep has been on spoons run in the top 70 feet of water. If you are not up for the trip, the 4 year olds have lots of company in the 100 to 150 range with bait galore. You can also find baitfish from 50 feet all the way in. You’ll have consistent action so long as you continue to mark fish. In that range, if the fish are not on your screen, you may not be on them. keep looking.
Bull frog, aqua, and LBB flies are still the best bets. If you want to try something else, Rainbow Richard’s Mystery fly can now be promoted to the ranks of the top baits. Spoons seem to be coming on with all the baitfish in tight. Hot lips, purple ladderback and green ladderback were all credited with bites in the spoon department. Downrigger bites have been improving down 40 to 70 feet. Dipseys early and late with LBB behind white glow, halograph, or blue bubble flashers are still strong.
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing.
Fishing Report - Aug 19th
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for August 19th.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. The season is past the half way point and Midwest wants to be your supplier. Stop in and talk to Jim or Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. They are preparing for their Fall Fest event on Friday and Saturday August 20th and 21st. Meet manufacturer reps, and enjoy auctions, food and entertainment.
Fat and happy. The baitfish are covering the water from 40 feet out to 400 feet and may be making the salmon more selective. Hey, I can’t read a fish’s mind, but the fish we are catching have full bellies and are not quick to strike. What else is a fisherman to think. If you are inclined to make the trip, the fish seem to be less selective the deeper you go. Working 100 to 200 will put you on fish that are more likely to bite. Just be careful as strong southeast winds take over the forecast for the next several days.
Bull frog, aqua, and LBB flies are still the best bets. If you want to try something else, Rainbow Richard’s Mystery fly can now be promoted to the ranks of the top baits. Spoons seem to be coming on with all the baitfish in tight. Hot Lips, Blue Flounder, and glow Wonderbread were all credited with bites. Downrigger bites have been improving down 40 to 70 feet. Dipseys early and late with LBB behind white glow, halograph, or blue bubble flashers are still strong.
This week’s captain’s tip is about big seas. As we were watching a 16 foot boater get tossed about yesterday several miles from the gap, an emergency call came over the radio from an 18 footer in Sheboygan that took a breaker over the bow and was sinking. I can just about hear him talking about how he has been out there in rough seas lots of times and knows how to handle it, as he was launching his boat. I hope they got to him in time. On derby weekend, we saw a 15 to 16 foot boat with 5 people in it and not one of them had ever passed on a double cheeseburger. You might recall that Saturday morning was 4 – 6 foot seas and they were powering out in the dark that morning. I recall that my radar would only pick them up when they were on top of the waves and they completely disappeared in the troughs, both from radar and sight. I am not about to tell you guys in the 18 footers whether you should be out there or not when the breakers start to hit 4 plus feet. But, use some sense and be safe out there. Have your cell phone in a waterproof bag so it will work if you happen to take one in the boat. You really should have a marine radio, either installed or a handheld, but these too can fail if they get soaked. It is best to have both. Life vests are an absolute must. Within 15 – 20 minutes, your muscles will not function well enough to keep you afloat in 60 degree water. In 50 degree water you will be severely hypothermic if not dead in 20 – 30 minutes. The average swimmer can swim about 1 mile per hour in perfect conditions. At best you can plan to cover about 200 yards before exhaustion and hypothermia kick in. How far from shore are you? Lastly, NEVER overload your boat. There is no reason that 5 300 pound guys should be in a 16 foot boat on a calm day, let alone 4 – 5 footers.
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing.
Fishing Report - Aug 15th
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for August 15th.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. The season is past the half way point and Midwest wants to be your supplier. Stop in and talk to Jim or Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. They are preparing for their Fall Fest event on Friday and Saturday August 20th and 21st. Meet manufacturer reps, and enjoy auctions, food and entertainment.
***Sorry to visitors to the blog. My last report (Friday) was done from the boat as I had a busy weekend. No face time with the PC. Not often I don’t make it home between trips to catch up on emails and reports, but no chance on Friday.***
As went the humidity, so went the fish this morning. A mediocre Saturday morning slid down hill last night, and this morning, as fish were hard to come by. Those that did get some bites could not get them to stick. I heard one boat may have hit double digits, but most struggled for a few fish. Strong west winds following the cold front are already moving warm water out as surface temps dropped into the low 60’s by the end of the morning’s charters.
The good news is there is bait carpeting the shallows. Huge schools were laid out flat a few feet off the bottom out to 75 feet of water. Check marks were all over the screen last night hanging over the bait, but they may have put on an all night feed. The blank screens after sunrise had to make you wonder if the fish left, but with all the bait, you know they will be back. With a little luck, as early as tonight.
Bull frog, aqua, and LBB flies are still the best bets. If you want to try something else, Mystery can now be promoted to the ranks of the top baits. Despite warm water the bites have been higher with weapons producing on 8 to 12 oz weights run back 70’s to 120 feet back. The dipsey bite is hot some days and not others, but generally best early and late with halographic or blue bubble flashers chased by LBB flies.
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing.
Fishing Report - August 9th
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for August 9th.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. The season is past the half way point and Midwest wants to be your supplier. Stop in and talk to Jim or Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. They are preparing for their Fall Fest event on Friday and Saturday August 20th and 21st. Meet manufacturer reps, and enjoy auctions, food and entertainment.
Some weather has shook up the system a little, but it seems to have favored better fishing. A few storms have rolled through and brought warmer water but the fish seem to have responded with a bit more aggression. The past couple days have seen some very good fishing. The main challenge has been the strong currents. The past couple days the current has been very strong out of the north and today it appears to be an east to west current.
100 to 150 still seems to be the best for daylight hours and moving in to 50 to 80 early or late is your best option. Fish are still a bit scattered so if you get into a pod, try to stick with them.
Bull frog, aqua, and LBB flies are still the best bets. If you want to try something else, Mystery has been coming on somewhat and may enter the ranks of the top baits. Weapons are still producing with 8 to 12 oz weights run back 70’s to 150 feet back. The dipsey bite is good with some big mid-day surprises, but generally best early and late with halographic or blue bubble flashers chased by LBB flies.
This week’s Captain’s tip is on the subject of reading currents. Strong currents like we have seen this year can be very favorable to fishing, but you must be very aware of your direction and speed. Many have speed and temp probes, but many don’t. While they seem like a necessity to those who have them, it was not that long ago when we had to rely on other tools because these were not around yet. Personally, I have always liked dipsey’s to be my telltale. If you have spent countless hours watching your dipsey rods waiting for that pounding strike, you know what they look like when they are running. Watch the rod bend to judge your speed. You will notice in strong currents, that you may run the same GPS speed in two different directions, but your dipsey will tell a different story. Another good source is the blowback on your downriggers. This can be useful when currents are stronger as you get deeper. This has been more common this year than in recent memory so make a comparison to your dipseys to look for subsurface current breaks. These make for great dynamic structure and will hold fish. The key to the game is duplicate success. If you find that you are getting bites going one direction, pay special attention to your speed indicators, whatever you prefer to use.
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing.
Fishing Report - August 7th
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for August 7th.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. The season is past the half way point and Midwest wants to be your supplier. Stop in and talk to Jim or Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. They are preparing for their Fall Fest event on Friday and Saturday August 20th and 21st. Meet manufacturer reps, and enjoy auctions, food and entertainment.
Not much has changed since the last report. A good night bite last night provided some optimism for this morning, but it was very hit or miss for most charters. A few managed numbers around the double-digit mark while others came in with only a few fish. It is very much a right place, right time game and there is no specific right place. However, 60 to 90 feet during low light and 100 to 150 during the daytime seems to be the area to cover. If you can find some bites, try to duplicate your heading, speed and get back on the same spot quickly to get more fish. Charters running 14 to 18 lines have a tough time turning on a spot quickly, but small boats can stay on a pod of fish and may want to try. The fish are moving constantly it seems and if it takes more than a few minutes to cover good water, they may have moved on. Cold water and bait can be found inside of 50 feet of water, but there may be too much bait to compete by fishing in there. Smaller, more stealthy boats may have success, but the bigger stinkpots make too much of a disturbance in the shallows to keep from spooking fish.
Bull frog, aqua, and LBB flies are still the best bets. If you want to try something else, Mystery has been coming on somewhat and may enter the ranks of the top baits. Weapons are still producing with 8 to 12 oz weights run back 70’s to 150 feet back. The dipsey bite is good with some big mid-day surprises, but generally best early and late with halographic or blue bubble flashers chased by LBB flies.
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing.
Fishing Report - Aug 5th
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for August 5th.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. The season is past the half way point and Midwest wants to be your supplier. Stop in and talk to Jim or Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. They are preparing for their Fall Fest event on Friday and Saturday August 20th and 21st. Meet manufacturer reps, and enjoy auctions, food and entertainment.
I think we can officially refer to the past few weeks as the dog days now. While fishing has still been decent, it is nothing like the fishing we had early this summer. But, I am not going to start singing the blues because we are now approaching the time of the summer when the kings will begin to stage off shore. The ones that got away are coming back for round two. At this point the fish are still scattered from 90 out to 170 feet of water. They are scattered further than that, but that range seems to hold the best concentration. Cold water remains below the warm surface water with readings in the upper 40’s down 30 feet.
Bull frog, aqua, and LBB flies are still the best bets. If you want to try something else, Mystery has been coming on somewhat and may enter the ranks of the top baits. Weapons are still producing with 8 to 12 oz weights run back 70’s to 150 feet back. The dipsey bite is good with some big mid-day surprises, but generally best early and late with halographic or blue bubble flashers chased by LBB flies.
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing
Fishing Report - Aug 1st
On behalf of the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff with your fishing report for August 1st.
So have you made the run out to Midwest Shooters supply yet to see their great tackle selection. If not, you should make the trip soon. The season is past the half way point and Midwest wants to be your supplier. Stop in and talk to Jim or Darren about the great deals they have this week on Lake Michigan tackle. They are preparing for their Fall Fest event on Friday and Saturday August 20th and 21st. Meet manufacturer reps, and enjoy auctions, food and entertainment.
Stable weather this week and weekend has helped the bite pick up a little, but fish still seem to be scattered a bit. Warm water on the surface has driven most fish deeper, but the thermo cline set up from 15 to 50 feet down provides a narrower target. Reports came yesterday of fish out to 200 feet of water. The thing that remains constant in 75 all the way out to 200 plus is most bites came in the 40 to 60 foot range. Tangles were the big story over the weekend as a very strong current contradicting strong winds yesterday morning making for tough trolling. Blink and you could be rolling your boards over and racing to recover them before they take out a whole side.
Bull frog, aqua, and LBB flies are still the best bets. Plugs are coming on and more fisherman seem to be working them with some success running them deep on riggers or SWR rigs. Weapons are still producing with 8 to 12 oz weights run back 70’s to 150 feet back. The dipsey bite is good with some big mid-day surprises, but generall best early and late with halographic or blue bubble flashers chased by LBB flies.
The Lion’s derby wraps up today so get out and catch that prize winning fish
On behalf of our new sponsor, Midwest Shooter Supply and the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Club, this is Captain Geoff wishing you all great fishing.