adrenalin

I got a feeling with this many coho around come july their will be alot of tackle laying on the bottom of the lake. Once cohos hit 10 pounds they start destroying tackle. They don't grow out of that "coho roll" thing they do and a 10- 15 pound fish rolling in your gear will snap off alot of gear.

Nope, no break in the near future.

Ok guys, so it seems like everyone is killing the cohos this year. Is this a better year for cohos so far than normal? We got cohos up in Wisconsin already and that's got us wondering why cause either their a month early or their are so many fish this year they don't all fit on the south end of the lake. So be honest, do you normally do this well on cohos or is it an unbelievable year? Seems like every report is a limit.

Browns are a blast in the shallows. Nice work

Nice brown Russ! What did you get the browns on?

Orange Killer

Nice work, looks like you are picking up on the important things already. Speed is everything.

What the hell's a looper????

Ya, I thought their were alot of reports already too. Should be a good year.

nice fish russ. I saw randy's catch yesterday, what are you doing up in milwaukee still?!

One of the Racine charter boats supposedly caught a 34lb brown last week off Racine. I saw it on GLAngler but have not had a chance to talk to him yet about it to confirm.

I pretty much new we were going to suck it up in milwaukee, but Randy and I found a spot a few years ago that we thought would be awesome for browns so we talked friday and I said I would check it out. Well needless to say it didn't pan out. Now we know I guess. Somebody had to take one for the team! Racine from now on though.

Jim, atleast you didn't get skunked. The water is way to cold in milwaukee right now. The fish are piled up in the warm water.

Russ, if it's not too late, I'd have that 16# weighed and measured for a Master Angler patch, and then have it mounted, she's a real beauty, best I've seen in many a moon. Thanks again.

It's a nice fish but we get them that big every year. They caught the new world record off Racine last year 42.7 pounds so their are alot of big ones out their.

Well the first trip of the year was sloooow! 2 fish for the morning so narrowly avoided a skunk to start the season. Water is still ice cold 37- 38 degrees and no fish around. Didn't look like anyone was onto anything yet, but everything on the boat worked so wasn't too bad of a day. Cohos are showing up south, a buddy limited out this morning.

16#s on the digital scale

I think it is 29 a month. for all the features. For basic weather it is like 13 a month. Here is a lnik to sirius marine weathers site. I have the 29 dollar service. I get what is called marine zone forcasts and they are a ton more accurate then NOAA. You can set up alarms on the weather. Like Jay D was saying about lightening strikes. I have mune set for 15 miles. IF there is a lightening strike in that zone that the GPS makes all kind of noise to let me know.

http://www.siriusxm.com/marineweather

Edit

also with the 29 dollar one you have instant access to the weather bouys and sites along the coast to see what the lake is doing out furter.

Can you subscribe for just the summer months?

Hey guys

My first post and I hope to not get bashed like on lake link. Ive been on Lake michigan outa milwaukee for a few years now and am no expert. I didnt want to post a question on the fishing reports because it isnt one. Im headed out of south shore in a few days and was planning on zigzaggin with depths starting out shallow. Running some thin fins, hot n tots, and spoons and lookin for any advice. Guess Ill see what happens but really hopin to get into some silver fish out there??

Why would you ask a question like that! Just kidding, nice to see another Milwaukee guy. It might work for you but the water might be a tad cold around there. A buddy and I were just talking about browns today and the magic temp for fishing outside the warm harbor water is 40 degrees. If it's colder than that outside the harbor our expierence has been it's a waste of time. Good luck.

How much are you guys paying for this?

Hopefully next Saturday I have a pile to show ya!

Nice job Josh, that thing should fly through the water now. How long will that last till you have to do it again?

I dont know if this sounds snotty or not, but I think lakelink is more of a bragging board than anything else. This is my first season on this board, and so far I have been impressed with the amount of people who help out. This is going to be my third year tackling the pond.

The only hang up fishing in Racine is that my boat is kept in Dry Stack at skipper buds and with gas prices running two testicles a gallon I dont know how many times I can make that trek, but if I am willing to power east 14 miles for deep water, going 14 miles south isnt unrealistic.

makes sense, thought your boat was on a trailer. Good luck

One area where I know I need to develop in is picking my spots. The draw back in Milwaukee is the people here wouldnt help you if you were drowning so getting some intel on fishing is a pipe dream.

The end of last season I was fishing deep water 275 FOW+ and had good results. I started deep water and getting good catches starting in Mid August, before then however it was a crap shoot. Do I pick up where I left off, start deep and work from there?

The thing I am lacking is experience on the water, so I am curious when you guys go to spots what are you basing your decisions on. For example, I always come out the north gap and head north to the "towers" and kick off from there. So there would be my general start point. I never had any real luck south or by the "green can". What should I be focusing on from there. Should I be exclusively hunting changing water temps, should I focus on the lake structure (humps, dishcarges, intakes, wrecks,etc). Just drive around and try to find bait.

I havent seen a good scum line since 2009 when we had such a strong west blow that never seemed to end (not complaining).

What should I be looking for as far as conditions, where I stopped dead in my tracks and say "whoa, this is where I need to set up and begin"

I am kicking myself for not keeping a log last year. This year I plan on getting a SD card for the Lowarance, and downloading my fishing patterns on a regular basic to my computer in addition to keeping a journal on the boat.

Again, your feedback is very much appreciated.

I'll try to answer your questions the best I can having fished milwaukee all my life. First no don't start out deep, I'm assuming you'll start in April. Next keep track this year of the days you fished good or bad results. Just write down coordinates of spots you did good in, the date and water temp. You can right down some notes about conditions and other things you think might help. Here's where I would fish if I were you and you will be the most productive this way.

April fish in and around the harbor, your just catching browns and Lakers.

May, don't fish Miwaukee again until the 2nd weekend in June, go to Racine as soon as you hear people getting coho in Kenosha, they are already in Racine. Fish Racine until AFTER the lake sets up, then go back to Milwaukee and you should pound the kings. Usually between the second and third week in June. Then stay in Miwaukee the rest of the season. If you do the log thing and fish Milwaukee and Racine at the right times of the year I would bet you can catch atleast twice as many fish as you would have if you stayed in Milwaukee all year. Other than that you will start to put some patterns together about what time of year certain spot are hot or dead. Main thing that is hard to do when you first start out is fish away from the pack. When you find a good spot and nobody else is there you do have to keep that to yourself. Lakelink is great for the guys that don't get out much but it has ruined alot of good spots for the guys that hads the guts to fish miles from the rest of the boat pack. I've had it happen to many times where I went to a spot on Saturday and a few other boats showed up that normally don't catch alot of fish, but the fish were stacked on a spot so they had their best day of fishing. Then on Sunday instead of 3 or 4 of us on that little spot their were 30 of us and nobody did well.

Ouch that hurts! Atleast you got a few.

Thanks Russ. What action would you recommend for these? MH?

For the leadcores Shimano Talora TLA70Mc

For the divers Shimano Talora TLA80MH2

The leadcore rods are $80 and the diver rod is about $70 I think. But well worth the money if you fish alot. I know people have different budgets, but I have been burned to many times by trying to save a little here and there. If I can only afford 1 or 2 rods a year that's what I get, and wait till next year instead of buying 4 or 5 and then a couple years later replacing them with what I really wanted anyways.

Looks like I hit an area of differing opinions on this. Good discussion so far and thanks to all for the input.

I have not yet bought the dipsy or planer (leadcore) rods yet (though I have the pair for the downriggers that I spooled up tonight ) AND I bought 2 convector 30's and 2 45's this afternoon for the dipsies and leadcore rods.

I'm apt to lean towards the simpler (and a bit shorter) is better approach. I'm not a rich guy, but I have learned the hard way in the past that it costs less to buy the right thing once than go and buy it twice. I was wanting something shorter than 10' before I read all your replies and explanations and now I think that solidified it for me, although there are compelling arguments and explanations for longer rods... Final decision and purchase to be made in the next week or so.

Thanks again to all. I am very glad I found this site. I feel like I'm making much better decisions because of all the help I've gotten here.

Just a little more advice if you are going to get lead core rods, I would strongley suggest 7 footers. Unhooking a planer boards is way easier when you have a shorter rod. you won't have to walk all the way to the bow so the guy at the back can unhook it for you. Hooking the board on is easier too, you can hold the rod in one hand and grab the line with the other without setting the rod down to get to the tip.

There's always bit of a debate on plywood flooring. Definitely don't use treated for reasons mentioned.

Any plywood used in a high moisture environment if not sealed properly is going to absorb water, swell, de-laminate, rot and fail in a few years. No debate there.

So, to me anyway, why spend the money on marine grade plywood just to put it in unprotected and cover it up with carpet. Looks just like what you get from the factory, no doubt, because it is. And it'll fail, just like from the factory. If thats what you want, nothing wrong with that. Just have to re-do it every few years.

In my opinion, you can buy a lesser grade of exterior grade of 7 ply exterior grade wood or MDO as suggested (not cdx) for about half the cost. Buy some epoxy or fiberglass resin with the money you save and take a little extra time to seal it properly (edges, openings and screw holes). It'll last probably the rest of your life. JMHO. Good luck

Treated lumber is no longer treated with arcinic and new treating schedule they use to treat lumber do not make the wood corrsive against aluminum like it use to be. just an fyi to everyone.

You beat me to it.

So I'm all set on getting 2 Convector 30's for my braid dipsies. I've been reading and reading and reading some more on these setups. What I can't find is why are the rods all labled "dipsy diver" rods by manufacturers so damn long? I have a 19 foot boat and a 10' rod just seems excessive and like it may be too much to deal with.

What gives? Does length really matter? Will it not be that big of a challenge? Do I just need something with mh or h action?

Thanks,

Confused.

I agree with you here. Their is absolutley no need for a 10 foot rod on your boat. I wouldn't go over 8'6, I've used 7's, 8'6", & 10's and the 10's are a real pain in the butt to deal with and have no advantage over a 7 or 8' 6". A good rod like a shimano talora or Ugly stick has all the back bone and fast tip you need. The cheaper the rod you buy the less back bone you will have on a longer rod. I have 28 7ft rods and 2 8'6" rods on my boat and never have to break them down for storage. If I had all 8-10 ft rods I wouldn't be able to fit them all on the boat. The other advantage to short rods is manuverablity, Try passing a 10ft rod between a rigger cable if a king charges the boat, ain't happening, or better yet when you got 3 or 4 fish on and you have to switch positions it's alot harder. I guess it's just a personal preference thing. To me, simple is always the way for me.