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Report for March 28, 2025
The boat is in and we have caught are first fish of 2025 and yes it was a Brown trout. An 18lb beauty. We were out yesterday and we pulled 15 fish. We had 13 Brown trout, 1 Rainbow trout and 1 Coho salmon. The next three weeks will be your best chance to catch a Brow trout this year. Most of these trips will be primarily Brown trout. There is a good chance we will boat a few in the 20 pound class and we have caught a few over 30lbs during this time period. We fished the Milwaukee harbor and found bites through out the area. From the north gap, south gap and river mouth. We probably had 30 hits during the trip. The Stinger Gold Hud took the first fish and many fell to this spoon.
Our spread will be the same for a while now. Three boards a side with a one, tow and three color lead core. Two mono dipsies and four down riggers. They will all have spoons on them and almost all will be Stinger spoons. The Gin& Tonic, Orange Crush, UV Blue Dolphin, The Gold Hud, Mass Confusion, Gold Green NBK will all be in the mix. This spread is tried and true for many springs now. We have abandoned stick baits because the spoons are easier and more forgiving to run. Speed adjustments are needed at times to make the spread fire up by we usually run at 2.7-3.0 mph on the GPS.
There are a lot of Brown trout in the system and we are also seeing some good Rainbow trout action as well. The Coho salmon action is solid down in Illinois and we have already seen some in Milwaukee. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to get an early spring in. This is a short window and the bite looks good. May and June dates for the Coho salmon bite are starting to fill up so call now. Below is a picture of the boat going in, first fish and our first trip.
Report for March 23, 2025
Silver King Charters is about to start our 2025 Lake Michigan Charter Fishing season. We try each season to be in the water the last week of March and we will be this season. This first week of the season has for the most part been some very good fishing. We have had a couple years where the weather has made things not so good but the good fishing has out weighed the bad by a wide margin, so we keep fishing in March. Our client base has also grown for March trips. Clients who are interested in catching Brown trout have over the years experienced some great trips. The ice is completely gone and things are setting up for a decent first three weeks of Brown trout fishing. This is a unique and short period of Milwaukee charter fishing and it is about to begin. We hope to be fishing this next Wednesday and we still have openings for the last five days of March. We also have some good spots still available during the first three weeks of April to target Brown trout.
Once we get deep into April we start to catch a mixed bag of Brown trout, Rainbow trout, Lake trout and Coho salmon. This will continue until the Coho salmon bite takes over completely. Typically this we start the first or second week of May but we will see some good Coho salmon catches leading up to this. The Coho salmon catch will will continue in good numbers into mid June and will be in the mix until they spawn in the fall. Chinook salmon start to get going around Memorial day but the best time for the King salmon is mid June through mid August. We will also wee some good Lake trout and Rainbow trout fishing throughout the summer. As late August arrives mature fish will begin to start getting ready to spawn. We will either be targeting pre spawning fish in or around the harbor or non spawning fish out in the lake. We close the season in October and the first week of November targeting two and three year Chinook salmon, Lake trout and Brown trout. That brings us right back to the beginning, which starts next week. I don't want to think at all of November. There is just too much outstanding Lake Michigan charter fishing to be had.
Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip for the 2025 season. The Brown trout bite goes quick, so call now to get in on the action over the next three weeks. Our next report will have our first catch of the season with a breakdown of where, what and when. Below is a picture of our from this Saturday in storage. We just put the finishing touches on her and she is ready to float. I also included the Salmon-A-Rama poster for this year. We are going to have a ticket as always, so our customers are eligible for cash prizes if they land a nice fish. The grand prize is $50,000 and we have openings still for the nine day event. I also had to through a few spring Brown trout pics in.
Report for March 4, 2025
As far as we are concerned spring has started. We are into March and three weeks from now we hope to be in the water and catching fish. Lake Michigan did freeze a little more than the previous few years. At one point there was 40% coverage but it was short lived. The harbors still have ice and our first mate is still running trips on the ice but this will not last much longer. Low ice totals and little snow fall over the last few years is causing the lake level to decline but these conditions are also good for survival of fished stocked last year and bait fish that were spawned last spring and summer. Last year was are best year for catching salmon since 2012. Increased stockings over the last several years has helped. Out of the fish we caught last year 84% were salmon and 50% were Coho salmon. 2024 was and outstanding year. Things look to be lining up for another good year for catching salmon. We have put in and starting catching Coho salmon as early as our first trip in March but we usually don't see a consistent bite on Coho salmon until early to mid May.
We will be starting our season the last week of March. This has become a popular time for people to book, since this is really the only time or year we are strictly targeting Brow trout. This spring looks like there will be a good Brown trout bite. The ice fishing has been good for them and there are a lot of smaller Brown trout in the system, which will lead to good catches. We are shooting for the week of March 24th. The first couple of weeks are usually all Brown trout but as we get into mid May we will see Rainbow trout, Lake trout and Coho salmon in the catch.
Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a March Lake Michigan fishing charter. It will be a unique experience and we only have a short period in March that we are in the water. We are book trips for the entire season now. Below is a graph of the ice coverage for Lake Michigan this year so far. I also have a picture from our slip in Milwaukee currently. I put a few early spring pictures from seasons past as well. The adventure begins soon.
Report for February 14, 2025
Folks, it is Valentines Day and we are hopefully 38 days from running our first trip. The target will be Brown trout and March and early April are the best time of the entire season to target Brown trout during the Milwaukee charter fishing season. Currently our first mate is running ice fishing trips in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha harbors. This has been one of the best seasons in years for ice fishing Brown and Rainbow trout. First off there is ice but the fishing has been very good as well. There will be very cold temperatures for the next week, which will keep safe ice at least into the first week of March if not longer. We hope it will be gone when the boar gets in. Give us a call and we will hook you up on some fen trips on he ice. All the equipment and Ice shanty are included.
Every year we get the boat in the water to capitalize on the great Brown trout fishing found in the Milwaukee harbor and the shorelines. The weather can be chilly but we have an enclosed cabin during this time of year. This is by far the best time of year to catch Brown trout on Lake Michigan. Sometime from mid April to the first week of May we start to transition into Coho salmon fishing. Coho salmon have been our top catch 10 out of the last 11 seasons. The bet Coho fishing is from early May through mid June but we start catching them as early as late March and a good bite can run into mid July. This can lead into a mixed bag in April of Brown trout and Coho salmon.
We are booking trips now and Late March and early April are starting to fill up. If you want to have your best chance at catching a Brow trout call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 now to get in on later March and early April Brow trout fishing. If you want to get in on ice fishing before that let us know. Below are some pictures from the last week of ice fishing and the first day last year Milwaukee charter fishing. Lots of fun!
Report for January 4, 2025
The new year is hear and the Silver King Charters crew wishes everyone a happy, safe and good fishing year. Over the last several weeks ice fishing in the harbors has been on and off due to poor ice conditions but when the ice is safe that action has been very good. The ice is about to get very safe this week with cold temperatures over the next ten days. Give us a call because we have a guy who can get you out catching Brow and Rainbow trout through the ice. Maybe even a Perch. The harbor and shoreline have been ice free so far and the fishing has been incredible. People are catching Brown trout, Rainbow trout, Lake trout and yes Perch. In fact the best bite has been Perch over the last several weeks. The size and numbers caught has been very good. Hopefully this is the beginning of a comeback for the Perch fishery. Perch fishing in the Milwaukee harbor and shoreline use to be very good. It has fallen way off over the last 25 years. The current Perch bite might lead to some good action through the ice as well.
Over the next 3 months we will break down the 2024 season, talk about the 2025 season and go over some hot baits from last year. We will first talk about Brown trout action last year, since Brown trout will be our target when we put the boat in late March. Last year 6.1% of our catch was Brown trout. This is also our average for the last 7 years. Only once did we go over 10$% of catch and this was in 2023 when we hit 11.2%. Most of our Brown trout come in the last week of March and April, Last year 75% of the Brown trout boated came during this period. Brown trout our a shoreline fish that for the most part during the season we are not targeting. The also are not as many in the lake as other species. They are a fun fish to catch and have beautiful marking on them. But for most the the Lake Michigan charter fishing year they are a random fish caught during a trip. But during the first 3 or 4 weeks we are in the water Brown trout are the top target and for a lot of those trips the only type of fish we will catch. This makes our early trips of the season very popular.
Brown trout tend to spread out once May occurs and our efforts turn to Coho salmon. But during Late March and April Brown trout are in good numbers along the shoreline and in the vast Milwaukee harbor. This allows us to target Brown trout much easier. Very seldom any other time of the year will we boat more than a couple to five or six brown trout. But late March and early April it is common to hit double digit catches or more. The size ranges from two to 15 pound fish but we have boated many in the 15 to 20 pound range. We have boated two over thirty pounds, which both currently hang on someone's walls. We have come to troll exclusively spoons during this time of year. All of the action comes in 12 to 35 feet of water. The bite can be anywhere in this depth of water and we cover it all with a twelve line spread. The air temperature tends to be cold this time of year but you will be fully in closed when you are not fighting a fish.
If you want to target Brown trout you should book a trip the last week of March or the first three weeks of April for the best chance. Call Silver King Charters at 414-460-1467 to book a trip. We are not booking for the 2025 season and weekends will go fast. Below are some pictures of the Perch action, along with some pictures of Brown trout we caught the last coupe of springs. The last picture shows how close we are to shore during this time of year.