Northern Lake Michigan Fishing Report: July 26, 2010
Manitowoc Co.
Heavy rains throughout the week combined with southerly winds slowed fishing for both shore fishermen and boaters. High temperatures varied from the upper 80s during the week to the lower 70s by the weekend. Southeast winds for much of the week pushed the cold water out deep, with surface water temperatures reaching as high as 70 degrees near shore. At the Manitowoc and Two Rivers ramps, boats averaged 1-3 fish with little success off the piers. Fishing action has moved out to deeper waters with very warm water being reported as deep as 80 feet of water. Out of Two Rivers, a few fish have been caught in 80-125 feet of water off the lighthouse north of Two Rivers. Straight out of Two Rivers, most success has been reported in the 200-250 foot range with success a little shallower off of Manitowoc in 170-200 feet of water. Catches consisted mostly of small kings in the first year class with a few 10-13 pound kings being reported. An occasional rainbow trout has been caught off the dipsy using green and orange spoons. Glow spoons on the down riggers had success catching kings early in the morning, then green/green and blue/aqua flasher/fly combos on the down riggers took over once the sun came up. The depths on the down riggers ranged from 55 to 100 feet down. This was the slowest fishing week of the summer, so fishermen should try the baits and colors that have worked all year for them. Once the slow spell arrives, don?t be afraid to put any color down since no one color has been hot. After the warm water moved in, fishing off the piers has slowed down. A few kings have been caught using green champs and cleos, but no fish have been taken off bottom. We will need a few days of west wind for the action off the piers to heat back up.
Kewaunee Co.
Another week of storms ravaged the county with some reports of heavy rain dropping in just a few hours kept a lot of fishermen off the waters this week. The fishermen that managed to make it out on the waters reported really murky waters close to shore and water temperatures in the upper 60?s for the majority of the week. Algoma: There were no fish that were reportedly caught off the Algoma pier this week. Anglers tried everything in their arsenal from spoons to stick baits to live bait and could not land a fish this week. The fishing this week has been really rough out of Algoma with the best fishing occurring during the early parts of the week. As the week grew on the water temperatures began to rise and fish began to become hard to locate. Kewaunee: The Kewaunee pier continues to see very little success this week. Only a few fish were reportedly caught and all of the fish were rainbows that were in the 3-4 pound range. The fishermen this week had to move out deeper in order to find the fish that were biting. The last few weeks the fish were in the 70-110 depths of water but this week anglers began to report more success out in depths of 150-170 feet of water. The water temperatures were in the upper 60?s at most depths until the fishermen got out to the 150-170 depths. The fish were biting on a combination of spoons and J-plugs this week with no consistent color doing better than the other colors. A few fishermen have been reporting that purple has been starting heat up.
Door Co. (Lake and Bay sides)
The fourth week of July followed suit with the rest as rain and inclement weather was had around the county. Another record month of rain has made fishing sporadic, however anglers were still able to find some fish. The outlook should be promising for the next week in which the Door and Kewaunee Salmon Tournament is taking place. Salmon fishing has slowed somewhat throughout the county. Average catches have been around the half dozen mark with fish size being in the 5-10 pound range. Fishing out of Baileys Harbor, Gills Rock, and Ellison Bay had been productive with fisherman looking for the cold water. Working a variety of spoons and j-plugs has been the popular choice, as well as working out into deeper water. Fishing on the Bank Reef out of Sturgeon Bay has been busy and it should be very popular for the tournament this next week. The big fish for the weekend was a twenty pounder registered in Algoma, a nineteen pound in Sturgeon Bay, and a seventeen pounder near Washington Island. Smallmouth bass fishing has continued to be steady around Sturgeon Bay and on the West side of the county. Working in 7-15 feet of water with plastics and stick baits have produced some nice fish. A Smallmouth tournament out of Sturgeon Bay last weekend drew around 100 boats with the winner bringing in a two day, six fish limit around 25 pounds. Perch fishing has started to pick up, however fisherman still report catching about twenty fish for every eight keepers. Working the weed edges and the edge of the shipping channel in Sturgeon Bay has been decent, the most success has been by anglers using minnows. Walleye fishing has also been decent, most boats pulling crawler harnesses and stick baits on Green Bay towards Dyckesville have had the most success.
