Whereas trolling 5 miles from the shore of Lake Michigan on Saturday, Capt. Kyle Nied watched certainly one of his purchasers hook a giant salmon on a downrigger. Nied and his celebration of 4 anglers had left the dock in Waukegan, Illinois, round midday on his constitution, Spendthrift. They’d already had a banner day of salmon fishing when the large coho bit round 7:30 p.m.
“The fish hit a fly off a dodger in 57 toes of water,” Kyle’s brother Nick Nied, who’s additionally a neighborhood constitution captain, tells Outside Life. Kyle was on the water and unavailable for remark when contacted by OL, however Nick fishes along with his brother usually, and he is aware of all in regards to the near-record coho that certainly one of Kyle’s purchasers, a lady who requested to not be named, caught on July 13. He says the fish weighed 18.4 kilos.
“It was a giant one, and when she received it near the boat, Kyle thought it was a pleasant king salmon,” Nick says. “However when he netted it, he noticed it was a large coho, that are often a lot smaller than kings. It’s the largest coho we’ve ever seen, and it was simply shy of the Illinois document coho caught in 1972.”
Pulled from Lake Michigan in Could of that yr, the document coho weighed 20 kilos 9 ounces. And though it’s been on the books for greater than 50 years now, Nick says it’s about time for that state document to fall. Judging from how good the motion has been to this point this summer time, he expects that to occur any month now.
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Nick, 38, and Kyle have caught their share of Nice Lakes salmon, too. The 2 brothers have been fishing Lake Michigan all their lives, and so they run the Waukegan-based constitution service together with their father, Jerry, who’s been chasing salmon there for 48 years now. The Nieds have seen the lake undergo loads of cycles, and Nick says that to this point this summer time, they’ve been catching extra and greater fish than in years previous.
“That is one of the best massive salmon fishing we’ve ever seen on Lake Michigan,” Nick says. “I believe the state-record coho salmon might be caught this yr, and maybe a brand new Chinook [king] salmon document too.”
He attributes this to the considerable baitfish populations at the moment within the lake, which, together with very best climate circumstances, have allowed the salmon to fatten up rapidly.
“I believe it’s as a result of there are such a lot of alewife baitfish colleges. We additionally had a gentle winter, with good clear water and never a lot wind,” Nick explains. “It’s the large colleges of alewives which are the important thing to this fishing.”
He says they’ve been concentrating on these colleges in 50 to 70 toes of water and trolling four-inch-long Howie streamers, which look similar to alewives. White flies have been the ticket on most days, Nick says, however they’ll sometimes use totally different colours to get a chew. Additionally they incorporate dodgers into their trolling rigs, which are a magnet for fish by vibrating. The secret is preserving these rigs close to the underside the place the salmon are feeding.
Timing can also be crucial when concentrating on Nice Lakes salmon as a result of the fish migrate. The Illinois Division of Pure Sources shares coho and Chinook salmon in Waukegan harbor each spring, Nick explains, and when these fish attain three years of age, they return to the realm in what he calls a “false spawn.” (Not like their ocean-dwelling relations, hatchery salmon have a tough time spawning efficiently within the wild.)
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That run takes place within the late summer time and early fall, and it’s throughout this time that the largest salmon of the yr are usually caught on Lake Michigan. The Illinois king salmon document, which was additionally set within the Seventies, was landed in August. It weighed 37 kilos.
“I actually assume a document might be damaged by August or September,” Nick says. “Every part is lining up completely for each coho and type data to fall. The alewives are right here, the water is wanting good, and we’ve honed our trolling ways to catch ‘em.”