Wow. Where do I begin with this one? Let me first say that this was a very memorable season for me of chasing kings. 2009 – I met a bunch of great people, learned a ton of great information, probably put somewhere between 7000 – 10000 miles on my car driving the shorelines of Lake Michigan, and in the end, probably had one of the most memorable summer / fall Lake front fishing in my life.

With that being said, I wanted some closure to my fall king fishing experience before I turn the cheek and start going after the browns and steelies. I spoke with my friend Tom (many of you know him as Cam) earlier in the week and the two of us decided to dedicate our Sunday for a full day of fishing.

Sunday morning arrived, and my alarm went off at 5am. I managed to sleep smack the snooze button a few times before realizing what time it was. Glad I didn’t over sleep… I was at Tom’s place somewhere around 6:30am and soon after we were on the road.

Just like Lewis and Clark, Tom and myself were going to dedicate a good amount of our Sunday doing some major exploring. Some say you can never fish the same spot or the same river more than once, and this is true in many ways. Sooo what do we do? We decided to check out an entirely new tributary system. One so small, many maps do not have it listed. We figured that after a big blowout from the previous couple days’ rains, we would certainly find some migratory or lost fish.

Tom and I found a place to park, geared up, grabbed the flies and fly rods, and went off for a hike. We covered close to 3 miles of hiking through sand dunes, hills, a prairie, and plenty of gravel before we arrived to our spot. Not a single other fisherman in sight.

Initially, it looked promising. Near the mouth of the system Tom located a deep hole, and made a few drifts. No signs of fish. I decided to distance myself away from Tom and work a bend, then a deeper pool with a gravel bed hoping to find any sort of fish activity.

No such luck here. We ended up hiking another mile upstream covering various bends and holes, but didn’t see any sort of life. We kept our flies busy keeping clean in the cold trib water though and kept swinging for another hour or so.

After the hour passed, Tom and I decided to move on to other waters and try our luck elsewhere. We took the trail-less hike back, following the river edge then the familiar beach we had passed on our way in.

We gave it a shot, explored some new stretches, got some great shots, and had a fun time. The weather was next to perfect for a late October morning. Well worth the effort.

Tom and I were back on the road soonafter for an opportunity to explore another smaller Lake Michigan tributary. We decided to make a gas station stop and filled up on gummy worms, sunflower seeds, and beef jerky. Definitely a hearty meal for any salmonoid angler.

Trib #2 had been blown out two days prior to our visit, but water levels dropped drastically in the matter of 36 hours. The conditions were half way decent. Visibility was on the cloudier side, but fishing was doable. We decided to work pretty much the entire system (which is close to a mile in length) looking for any activity and hopefully a few hookups.

The start of the run…

Tom decided to work a stretch further upstream, and I decided to work a stretch further downstream. This way we would cover more water and get a better feel of what we could potentially stir up out of the creek.

As I began distancing myself from Tom, I heard him yell “Fish on!” As I made my way towards him, I heard the gasp, and watched his fly rod go from a huge U shape to a straight line. Bummer. Fish was off…

We both agreed that this would be a good sign of things to come.

I made my way downriver, and managed to eye a few fish. However, I couldn’t get any takers, and the clearer conditions helped the fish feel my presence and the few that I did spot shot downstream. About a quarter mile later I spotted a nice pool that held a couple of fish. It took me a few drifts before I got one to take an egg sucking leech (thanks Tom for the tie! – How To Tie an ESL )

The first fly salmon of the day was landed.

I gave Tom a phone call and told him that I had found some fish, and suggested he make his way down stream.

It didn’t take him very long to get a grizzly old male chinook with some ugly canines to take the bait.

The fight…

And the fish…

We were nearing the mouth of the system, and decided that the river lacked our true prize, the mighty steelhead, and only held a few very moldy kings. Tom and I decided to put the fly rods back in the car, and try some new possibilities.

On our way to the pier, we found an area that held the attention of a group of spawn-floating anglers. We decided to hop out of the car and see what was going on. In about 5 minutes of observing, we saw two hookups. Knowing that I had cured skein in my back pocket (well, more like my car trunk), we decided to conclude our day with some floating. The fly rods were collapsed and stored in their bags, and the float n’ fly noodle rods equipped with spinning reels came out for some activity.

I don’t normally fish with spawn for kings, but I will say this – It can be extremely frustrating. Some days it takes a certain and specific cure to entice bites. Some days its the line, or the visibility of the line. Other days you can’t hook up to save your life.

Today, the spawn quality wasn’t an issue. I honestly stopped keeping track of the take downs we had around 20. It didn’t take long though before our first fish was hooked up, reeled in, scooped out with a borrowed net, and tossed onto the pavement.

Tom and I both got regular and constant action of skein crushing kings falling victim to the bait. Another one tossed onto the pavement, this one spilling eggs all over the place…

In between the king action, Tom managed to hook into and scoop out a couple of browns. A couple of kids had pulled up next to us, and asked Tom what we were using for bait. Tom, being the awesome guy he is, set the kids up with a proper float setup and gave them a bag of our skein. It didn’t take the kid long before he hooked into and landed his biggest fish of the year – a 15# king.

The action was constant the entire time we were there, and fished it down to sunset. Before the day was over, I had landed my big king (and probably my ugliest king) of the season. A 21.5 lber. I would tell the story, but Tom told it so well in his blog. So I will quote his excerpt (Tom’s Blog) –

“The best story from the day was when Mike hooked up with what would turn out to be a 21.5 pound King Salmon. He was using 6 pound fluorocarbon line and had to use a very light touch to get the king near the net. Time after time the fish neared the wall only to sprint out to deeper waters, far beyond the reach of the net. A crowd gathered as we got glimpses of how large this fish really was, a huge tail would flip out of the water and the crowd would gasp.

Mike finally got it to the surface and I reached down with a borrowed net with a 12-15 foot long handle. As Mike pulled the fish to the surface I began slipping the net under the fish. Suddenly the line snapped and, in what reminded me of the sounds of a sporting event, the two dozen spectors let out a combined gasp and awwww as the salmon dissapeared below my net. I lept forward and leaned over the railing with all my speed and might, being careful not to lose balance. I extended my arms as far as I could and thrust the net below where the fish had slipped into the water. I quickly snapped the net back toward the surface and out it came, with Mike’s tuna of a salmon sitting like a massive beast in the net. The crowd turned that awww into a booming cheer and everyone croweded around to pat mike on the back and examine his catch. We quickly got a scale on the salmon and let it take the dive back into Lake Michigan. A fish for my memory banks, I won’t forget this one.”

Tom – GREAT net job!!!

Here is a pic of that beast

The conclusion of my 2009 King season was a very memorable one. Thanks Tom for joining me and taking some outstanding shots. It was definitely a blast. I’m going to end the king chapter on this note. Until next time everyone… say hello to 2009 Brown Trout season!!

Oh, and for those of you who haven’t seen Tom’s blog yet, go check it out. It’s one of the better ones out there!

Great Lakes Angler

PEAS!

Does the salmon whisperer speak English as a second language? Or does he swing Egg Sucking Leeches on a 9wt in the cold flows of the Milwaukee River? Or is it both…

I decided to venture out of my comfortable harbor realm and do a little wading this weekend on the Milwaukee River with Keith, known to the internet community as various aliases – “Rootpro” , “Salmon Seeker” , “Chrome Seeker” , “Wonder Kid” , “Kid Snag-X” , “Mama’s Boy” , “The Kid with the hot mom” , etc etc. Neither of us had ever fished the Milwaukee River in the past, and decided to wade a mile stretch and explore some salmon opportunities and potential Trout holes for later runs.

We did see an influx of migrating salmon. Many shot right past us as we waded in anywhere from 6″ to 3′ of water. There was a good amount of fish in the river, but could we hook up?

Keith had been eyeballing a female in the shallows for quite some time, and proceeded to swing an ESL her way. It took him about 10 attempts before she finally took the fly. I looked over at Keith and watched him chase the fish downstream for a good 50 yards. I managed to snap off one picture after he hooked up, and then let him wander into the distance and I continued to fish.

I watched a few fish shoot down stream and settle into a calmer pool. I made a few drifts before i saw my yellow fly line shoot off. A quick set, and I had a fish on. However, this fish wanted nothing to do with being stuck in the mouth, and it got off.

About 20 minutes after hooking up, Keith was finally able to wear down the fish enough to land it. I snapped off a quick pic of his success. I was surprised to see a river fish this silver.

Because Keith is a real gangster, he never smiles. Twas a nice fish though.

As we progressed with our wading trip, we both managed to get bit a couple of times, and Keith was able to stick one more fish right before we were to leave the river. Another female. However, this was an ugly fish. A true Wisconster -

Right before the picture was snapped, I told Keith I had just gotten off the phone with his mom and she would be baking him some of his favorite M&M cookies. He lightened up enough for a slight smile. He loves them cookies…

We got off the river after putting in a mere 2 hours of wading. I would’ve preferred to make a full day of it, but due to other Sunday afternoon commitments, we got a late start.

I feel good about the Milwaukee River. Its a completely different atmosphere versus the Root. The snaggers were far and few between, and we actually had space to fish! There were quarter mile stretches where we had the whole place to ourselves. I know where I’ll be later this fall…