Northern Lake Michigan Fishing Report: June 28, 2010
Manitowoc Co.
Strong south and west winds throughout the week brought in cooler water near shore creating great fishing conditions for pier fishermen. Water temperatures near the lakeshore ranged from 58-61 degrees, with temperatures reaching nearly 65 degrees in 80 feet of water. Air temperatures through the week ranged in the upper 70s to low 80s. Scattered thunderstorms and heavy rain during the week slowed fishing at times, but with local fishing derbies approaching, many went out undeterred. Success of boaters at the ramps rose slightly to average 3-5 fish per boat. Out of Two Rivers, most fish appear to be coming into shallower waters, anywhere from 40 to 100 feet range. Some success has been out as deep as 120 feet. Most the boating pressure remains north of the trap nets off the lighthouse, with some boats fishing inside the trap nets off Two Rivers. Very few boats have tried fishing the pier heads, but that should pick up any day now. The fishing straight out of Manitowoc from 65-80 feet has been the hotspot for boaters during the week. South of Manitowoc, fishing has slowed down with only a few fish being caught. Out of both ports, coolers consisted of mostly chinook salmon with a few small rainbows and lake trout. The salmon have been relatively small compared to the last few weeks, with only a few fish in the 14-16 pound range being reported. The rainbows and lake trout caught were in the 3-5 pound range. Blue flasher/aqua fly and green dodger/green fly combinations remains the common theme for success out of both ports on the down riggers and pump handles. Green glow, blue/silver, and orange spoons have been successful both on the dipsies, down riggers, and high lines for salmon and rainbows. By the weekend, the Two Rivers piers heated up with anglers landing several 8-10 pound rainbows with a few browns and chinook salmon also reported. On the Manitowoc piers, first signs have been seen of successful pier fishing for chinook salmon. Several chinook have been caught during the morning hours, with a few rainbow and brown trout mixed in. Cleos, dare devils, and crocodile spoons took the majority of rainbows using an assortment of colors. Fishing off bottom also worked using shiners, alewife, or any other kind of bait fish that could be netted. No specific species or size worked better than another. For salmon, ? oz. champs have taken several of the fish. A few perch remain a common sight off both Manitowoc piers, with many anglers keeping 3-4 perch averaging 7-10 inches. Using minnows or crab-tails has brought the best angling success. A few ventured out for the opening of the perch season, with only a handful being caught of which all were very small. Chartreuse jig heads with a small plastic tail of several colors has been working with no live bait. The perch fishing in the area will only get better.
Kewaunee Co.
The weather this week was not very cooperative with the fishermen. Scattered thunderstorms with high winds hammered Kewaunee County throughout the week and limited the boats that launched from the boat launches. One benefit of the storms was that they brought a southwestern wind that helped cool the water temperatures down to about 62 degrees at the surface. Algoma: The pier fishing in Algoma has slowed down this week with a few rainbow trout being caught but have been few and far between. There have been reports of schools of alewives being spotted of the pier but the high water temperatures (64 degrees) seem to be slowing the catch. The fishing continued to be slow this week but the fish being caught seem to be in depths ranging from 70-130 feet of water with many of the fish being caught deep. The fish being netted seem to be smaller than average with most King Salmon averaging about 8-10 pounds and the rainbows are averaging about 4-6 pounds. The action appears to be split between spoons and flies with the best color green glow for spoons and blue flasher/aqua fly combinations. Kewaunee: The fishermen on the Kewaunee pier braved many of the storms but didn?t yield much success. The fishing seems to be better in the late evening around 9 PM. The majority of hits have been on spoons that are green/silver or blue/silver. The fishing in Kewaunee has been very sporadic this week with a few boats reporting catching limits in the morning but other boats returning empty handed. The boats having the most success seem to be catching the majority of their fish around 4:30-5 AM and have been on both dodger/fly combinations and spoons. The most successful spoon color seems to be glow green and orange. The most successful dodger/fly colors seem to be green dodger/green fly and blue dodger/ aqua fly.
Door Co. (Lake and Bay sides)
Some wet and gnarly weather continued into the fourth week of June, but many anglers were still seen hitting the water. An intense storm cell hit the Egg Harbor area in the middle of the week causing some fallen trees near the Bay. Spotty storms and some patches of fog over the weekend caused some difficulty for fishermen, however good catches were still being reported. Salmon fishing remains steady countywide with many nice coolers coming in out of Sturgeon Bay on the Bank Reef and north out of Bailey?s Harbor. With some of the inclement weather water temperatures have been somewhat erratic, but most success has been had fishing 70-100 feet down in 120-130 feet of water. Flasher and fly combos have been a popular choice with some rainbow trout and lake trout still showing up sporadically. Perch fishing has remained hit or miss in the bay however anglers are still working hard for their catches. Some anglers have been bottom bouncing minnows while drifting very slowly along weed edges and the edge of the shipping canal, hoping to land on a school to stay on top of. Although numbers have been lower, some very nice size fish have been seen with some regularity. Walleye fishing and smallmouth bass fishing pressure has reduced in the most recent weeks with the salmon fishing going well, but fish can still be found trolling crank baits and crawler harnesses along the flats and along the shorelines around the county.
