January 27 Fishing Club Outing - Fowler Lake

It was -8 degrees outside when we woke up. I had texted the kids the night before hoping they would cancel. No one took me up on it so we went out ice fishing on Fowler Lake in Oconomowoc. We set up tipups mostly in about 8' of water and had pretty constant action all day. I am guessing we had somewhere between 12-15 flags pop and caught somewhere around 9 fish. I had a great time with these guys and look forward to our trip out in warmer temps next week.

Here are some of the highlights:

Not a huge fish, but it was Nick's first ever fish ice fishing. 

Aiden started the pike action off with this nice little fish. 

Big fish of the day goes to this pike. We wanted to return it to the lake so we didn't measure it due to the cold...I am guessing it at 28" and very fat. 

Bass in this photo looks smaller than it actually was. It measured at 18"

Lake Michigan Giants (and some smaller ones)

Tim may have waited all day for a good bite, but when it came, there was no messing around. He caught this 37" giant on a green and glow 3/4oz Kastmaster vertical jigging over the side of the boat. This is the biggest brown trout I have seen in person. 

Rachel made her first ever trip out on Lake Michigan with us, and while fishing was slow, she caught her first ever rainbow trout on a spawn sac. She caught another later in the day and lost on boat side. It was an unusually warm day and we had fun. 

John came up after Christmas for some winter weather and we ended up out on the lake in some pretty heavy winds. We had intentions of fishing in Oak Creek, but the wind required we stay in the harbor. We did catch more than a dozen nice trout though. Almost all of them were caught on a jig and Zoom fluke. 

Since we had caught so many lakers my last trip out, I thought we were a shoe in to catch a bunch more with John and Tim, but instead this was the only one. I hooked it on a 5/8oz bullet jig and a white tube. John had never caught a laker before, so I let him real it in and enjoy the intense fight they provide. 

Determination and Perseverance

Yesterday was the most interesting fishing trip I have had in some time. Joe and I pulled out of the driveway at 6:30 to head out to Lake Michigan. When we got there, the boat launch was frozen over with about 1/4" of ice and stayed that way for a couple hundred yards down the river. Fortunately, there was a boat with a couple of guys just ahead of us, trying to break up the ice with a large tree branch.

We went to launch and found out that not only would my motor not start, my emergency jump starter pack would not work either. With the ice and malfunctioning motor, we almost just went home, but instead we disconnected the boat and jump started it with the car. By the time we got back to launching the boat, the path that was cleared by the last boat had partially closed up and we got to plow through ice.

After plowing through ice, we finally made the turn to go fish the discharge by Jones Island for brown trout. After about 45 minutes of casting, I had a hit and Joe caught a small brown. We were not going to give up so easily after having gone through so much work to get out there. Our second usual option (the Summerfest Lagoon) was surely iced over, so we went out to the main gap to fish for some lake trout. On my first cast, I caught my first ever lake trout without being on a charter boat.

I caught my fish on a bullet jig and a 5" Kalins Jerk Minnow. About 15 minutes after my fish, Joe jigged up a beautiful lake trout as well. It turns out they have just finished spawning and were pretty hungry.

We each lost another trout to either broken line (Joe) or poor hookset (me). We already felt pretty good about ourselves, but we noticed another boat hooking up much more regularly. They weren't landing them all, but they were getting more bites. One of the things I like about fishing Milwaukee, is everyone is super nice out on the water. These guys literally drove their boat over to us, threw us a jig and a tube they were using and suggested we downsize baits and jig less aggressively. We did that and it wasn't long before I landed this beast.

There was definitely some small technique difference between Joe and I as for some reason I was hooking up much more regularly. Once we downsized to 4" baits, it didn't seem to matter what we dropped down there to get hits. I caught fish on a white tube, white jerk minnow, and a white lunker grub. Notice the common theme of "white". It is pretty much the only color I have confidence with out on Lake Michigan.

In all, we landed 13 fish in just a couple hours...we had other plans, so we left with the fish still biting...All of which must have been over 12 lbs and the smallest fish measured at 32". This was without question the best morning of fishing I have had on Lake Michigan and one of the best fishing experiences of my life. Like Joe said, "You know it is a great day of fishing when you are catching fish this size and you stop taking pictures.

This beast will be earning me my THIRD In-Fisherman Master Angler Award.

October 2018 Fishing Club Outing Nagawicka Lake

Took 10 members of our fishing club out on Nagawicka Lake today (October 14).  This trip was made up of 3 returning members and 7 new members.  Sports and other commitments took a lot of our returning members away today, but it was great hanging out and having fun with everyone.

It was an extremely slow day...not sure where the fish were as we tried all depths and a ton of techniques, but that is okay...we had a blast on a beautiful day.  The largest fish of the day are pictured here. 

We had some great volunteers offer their time, equipment, and boats to take these kids out, and fish or no fish, I could have stayed out all day.

This year we will be going on another soft water outing, down to the Lake Michigan lakefront where we had some good success last year and we hope to try our hand at a couple ice fishing tournaments.

My Lake Michigan Monsters

This is my person best Brown Trout.  it was caught in the summer fest lagoon on a cool March day.  I caught it on a firetiger scatter rap shad.  It measured 33" in earned me a Master Angler Award from In-Fisherman Magazine

This is my personal best King Salmon.  It was caught in September on a 3/4oz Glow Kastmaster Spoon.  Great fighting fish.  It measured 36" long. 

Summer fishing with the fam

I did a lot of fishing this summer, but much of it was in short bursts.  I did not really explore any new waters and I did not really master any new techniques, but I had a great time helping my kids catch fish and catching a few of my own.

Things I learned this summer:

1. The Vision 110 Megabass Jerkbait is absolutely deadly when tied to anyone's rod but my own.
2. A new spot on my favorite lake.
3. The pond in Downtown Delafield has some surprisingly large bass in it.
4. You need to transfer the warranty on a Lund boat right after purchase otherwise the stupid company won't honor it.
5. Carter can name almost all Wisconsin fish and tell you which ones have teeth prohibiting him from lipping them.
6. Rewarding Norah with a gummy worm every time she catches a fish keeps her laser focused.
7. John is notably better at bass fishing than me now.

Pewaukee Lake Fishing Club Outing

In late May 2018 fishing club had its first "bass tournament" where we competed both for the biggest bass and the longest 5 bass. 

The team of Max, Tate, and Nick ended up edging out the team of Riley, Sam and Mark and handily defeated the team of Jackson, Aiden, and Steve.

Despite their last place finish, Aiden did take home big fish honors with an 18" largemouth caught on a red scatterrap shad that...incidentally...I had lent him.

The weather was terrible, but we had a great time.