jvjbadger

With all the west winds and cold water it's been a tough year for the Perch. I did find a place that most people don't normally fish that's been ok. Last year was my first year with a boat out there and I spent most of the year learning how to Salmon fish and didn't Perch fish as much as I should have. This year I'm trying to do a little more Perch fishing.

Thanks for the detailed report Josh. Despite all the rain Kenosha is fishable but I left the Salmon rods at home today and tried a little Perch fishing. J.J.

Nice King Jim, Be safe and live to fish another day is always the best option.

Nailer, Most of the reports I've been reading Kings of all year classes have been dominating most of the coolers with some cohos, rainbow and lakers mixed if. But they're catching them in 100 fow 60-80 feet down which is not good for me without riggers on my boat. Until money is better I'm limited to dipseys, leadcore and weights. And with the therocline setting up I thought it would be in my best interest to work shallower where I can at least get near the temp break. Most guys here are putting the coho stuff away and starting to fish the summer patterns and baits. To be honest I'm happy catching cohos because the big kings are too tough on my bargain equipment and hard to deal with solo most times. Thus the name of my boat "Reel Broke".

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Got out Sun. morning about 5:30am tried to get my Perch limit but after an hour or so jumping around looking for the Perch I put the Perch rods away and went out Salmon fishing. Set lines about 7:00am in 60 fow heading east towards the other boats, Got out to about 80 fow with no action and not much talk on the radio deeper I made a loop back in shallower and first fish came on a 4 color off a board 00 green and glow dodger aqua flash coho fly nice coho. Then worked the same depth for a while with no luck so I decided to head west shallower since there wasn't much happening deeper. Got to about 50 fow and started marking fish about 25' down and at that point the solo fishing got a little crazy. First a dipsey set 2 1/2 / 60loc/ standard coho rig 00 org. dodger green coho fly takes anothe nice coho. Took the spoon off the other side dipsey and put on another coho rig but a little deeper 100 loc. Not more than five minutes later it goes off with the drag singing. After the first big run it was kind of a stale mate for fifteen minutes not taking anymore line not gaining any either. But I didn't want to push the issue too hard by tightening the drag with the 20 lb. flouro line and coho fly. finally started gaining line had the fish pretty close and the hooked popped out, which was a little disappointing since I was really babying it to make sure I got em in the boat. Regrouped checked the gps got back on course and within five minutes the 4 color with the 00 green and glow and fly goes again. By the time I got the rod out of the holder the dipsey on the same side goes off too and is taking line, so now I have double going solo. So I put the 4 color rod back in the holder and took the bigger fish on the dipsey that was inside and closer. The first half of the double, a big coho pushing 10lb.in the cooler went back to the 4 color fish still on and converted my solo double with another healthy coho. Back on course and finished out my limit with another coho a good half mile inside all the other boats, all the fish caught of standard coho stuff in about 50 fow. I was back at the bubbler Perch fishing before 10:00am J.J.

Well done Josh.

I agree get two planner boards, that will get those two lines away from the boat. I haven't tried them yet but the Z-Boards look nice, what ever brand you choose don't buy the smaller boards spend the extra few bucks and get the larger ones that will preform better in the waves. It would be good to keep the back of the boat open for landing fish, thus skipping the lead out the shoot. J.J.

Last year was my first year at it and money was an issue when buying equipment so I opted for Scotty plastic holders knowing that I would regret it. I've had no problems so far but I did mount them pretty well on the back and make sure the drag is set light on my reels. With all that being said I know it's still just a matter of time before the post start snapping. I would definitely stay away from the ones that mount on the rail. I do have a couple homemade pvc hold holders mounted towards the bow for running boards that I know are solid. Once money is better I really need to put a couple down riggers on the back at that time I'll upgrade my rod holders. J.J.

Great pics Jim, Been reading different reports of catching fish from 20' to 200' of water. With the east wind for a week I would guess the fish to be shallow, but the water temps may prove otherwise. I'll be out this weekend and will report. J.J.

Waited for the rain to stop this morning so we got a late start, then had the rope caught in the spring the my happy troller so we had to mess with that for 15 min. Finally started setting lines around 7:45 or so in about 40 fow in the fog a little south of the harbor. Ended up in almost 50 fow before we headed back shallower, wasted another good hour out there. Finally caught the first coho 38 fow almost 9:30 then couple more, turned back through a couple more times with one on each pass. Then the sun came out burned of the fog off and the bite pretty much ended. Ended up 5-8 all average size coho, all on 00 Org. dodgers and peanut flies. Did loose one nice fish on the lone stick bait on the outside board, guessing it to be a Brown. Ran four boards and two dipsies but the two dipsies took five of the eight hits. J.J.

The last time I made my smoked salmon cream cheese dip I used some to make smoked salmon Rangoon it was a tasty treat. Pick up some won ton wraps and place a spoon full of your favorite salmon dip in there seal the won ton up with a little egg wash. fry them in a pan or deep fryer just to brown the won tons, awesome appetizer. Can't make enough of them at my house. J.J.

Well done Larrie

Tied about fifty Krystal Flash Coho flies last month can't wait to use them. Last year the Krystal Flash (Peacock/Pearl) color was tops in my boat. J.J.

Well done Duane

Made the shake down cruise this afternoon, had a battery problem to start but after that everything ran well. Talked to a couple guys at the launch that were coming in when I was heading out and they said they had a couple coho but I can't verify that because I didn't know the guys or see the fish. They said they caught them in 25 fow on a variety of baits. Trolled 15-20 fow south of the harbor down to Carol Beach, switched baits and rods around but no fish. Turn out to start back and had a good rip in 30 fow on a firetiger stick bait but didn't stick. Fished back 25-35 fow but couldn't put the first fish of the year in the boat. Wasn't expecting too much running three lines in the middle of the day, but the boat runs good and I'll be ready for next time. J.J.

Well done Jim, good to see a Wisc. report. I read on another site that a boat went down off Waukegan Ill. today, some quick thinking fellow fisherman rescued the three crew members and everyone is ok. They're doing a lot of Perch fishing down there in 50 - 60 fow in smaller boats. J.J.

Done that with my 10yr. old daughter and her friend in the boat twice last year. J.J.

This is a 62 acre piece of city land next to the sewerage treatment plant, hardly the worth DNR observation. Teenagers go back there to drink beer, get high have a camp out. The best thing they could do with this land is make it a public dirt bike track and charge money to get in and create a little revenue for the city. The only reason they call it the dunes is because it's next to the lake and is sand, but 80% of the shoreline is the same way. My kid went down the a couple years ago for a senior high school graduation party, came home the next day with ticks all over him. J.J.

Smacking the ho's, well done.

Well done Katrina, thanks for sharing the info and pic.

Well done Adam

Nice start indeed, well done Scott.

Here in Wisc. the wolves are making a big come back in some areas of the north woods. And I've heard they are effecting the deer population in those areas. A lot of people think they're a cool animal until there is one standing in their back yard, then they change their tune and say something needs to be done about all the damn wolves. Down here in the southeast portion of the state we have no wolves but the CWD outbreak gave the DNR an open door to ban baiting. But you can get all the doe tags you want because they want the deer herd as thin as possible, even mapping out areas as eradication zones. I've shot way more deer using bait than without, but they say they spread the disease through saliva so I guess it's a good reason to ban baiting. The ironic thing about it is when the DNR would go out to eradicate deer off private land they would bait them. J.J.

Nice steelie, good luck on the surgery hope it goes well. J.J.