Lake Michigan Salmon/Lake Trout Fishing

Questions about Freshwater Fishing

Lake Michigan Salmon/Lake Trout Fishing

Postby Joe C » Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:41 am

Hi Larry,
I have been attempting to fish Lake Michigan (which I don't normally do) for salmon / lake trout. I have a Crestliner 192 tournament, but do not have downriggers. I've been out twice with no luck using a dipsey diver / dogger / fly combination. All the fish I am marking seem to be
below 60ft. As I said I really don't do this sort of fishing and would hate to
have to invest in downriggers, I just happen to have my boat in the chicago area for the next few months and would lake to get some fishing in. Any suggestions would be appreciated. If there a way to catch these fish with out trolling that would be great also. as allways thanks for the help.
Joe
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Postby dahlberg » Wed Jun 20, 2007 7:44 pm

Tough question. About the only way I'd suggest short of downrigggers is wire line and a three way swivel rig with up to a couple pounds of lead fished on a short rod and large arbor reel.
It's especially effective on the lakers when they get belly to the bottom, and with some experimenting you can deliver lures to what ever level you need.
best,
L
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No Riggers

Postby blu1fin » Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:40 pm

Joe C:

Larry is correct that at this time of year (nearly July) most of the your good consistent salmon action is going to occur in deep water and require downriggers or wire riggers and a lot of lead (which isn't a ton of fun).

If you are in Chicago, you may want to be mindful of key seasons and locations when fish are up shallow and downriggers are not necessary; i.e. Cohos in Feb-Apr in IN or Apr-May at Waukegan and then points north all on shallow cranks behind inline boards or small dodgers and flies; Skamania in June/July at Michigan City longlining stickbaits; Kings in the harbors, at the gaps and river mouths from Racine and Kenosha to Chicago with dipsys and spoons or Jplugs, and Lakers in November at Port of IN trolling deep diving cranks, and Browns at the warm water discharges and power plants from Dec-Mar from IN to WI on stick baits behind boards.

Good luck out there.

Steve
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