The 2014 Winter that Never Ends - Newsletter

I wanted to drop a quick update to everyone here and hope everybody has had a good winter despite its firm grip it has on us here. Some of you hate it I know. But some of you enjoy it too. I am one of those people that have enjoyed the snow and have taken a few short trips to Lake Geneva, Starved Rock, and the Michigan U.P. to snowshoe, cross country and downhill ski, and even a little zip-lining.

I just returned from the U.P. and at this point I'm about done with winter too. It's hard to believe that in most pre-seasons, I'm already working outside on the boat by the second week of March or even before. But spring really is around the corner, I promise. And it could turn fast. In the meantime for me, the next few weeks will be for tying lots of coho flies and fulfilling orders of them as well as getting rods and reels ready with a quick clean and polish and all new line. The annual permit and licensing process is also in full swing too.

When the weather does turn, my phone and email will get very active but the truth is actually that it already has been extremely busy. Reservations are being made for the 2014 season much faster than in the past. And to see this occur before the weather turns is a little surprising but of course very good.


I'm really excited to get started on the water and last season ended on such a good note with the largest fish being caught in my six years as a captain on the last trip on the water, a 32lb lake trout. Which is also the the biggest fish I have ever seen in my combined 13 years fishing as a captain and mate. This story really doesn't get old and 30lb+ fish are special indeed and only a few, if any at all, are caught each season in any port. That was my first 30lb fish and most captains can count on one hand (or no hands!) how many 30's they have caught in their life.

Besides that, we caught a lot of really big chinook (king) salmon last year too. Lots over 20lbs with the heaviest being 25lbs; another personal best since being captain. The past few years have seen our kings growing larger and I think and hope that continues into 2014 and beyond. In regards to these big fish we hope to continue to catch in the future, I have invested in a new, top of the line scale this off-season in which to weigh all them.

But let's turn our attention to coho salmon, which make up the bulk of our catch in the spring months. Some people are asking if this unusually cold winter will have an adverse effect on fishing. My take is that unless we end up having a warm spring, which seems far-fetched at the moment but could still happen (see how unusually warm some parts of the globe are this winter), we will likely have plenty of coho to catch still. It's the timing in which our coho will arrive which remains in question and my bet is that we see them in Waukegan waters by late-April/1st of May. Reference that with sometimes having coho in early April and two years ago; we had 25 fish on our first outing on April 1. That will almost surely not happen that early this year but I still hope to have the boat in the water by the first week of April and fishing soon after that. And remember last year's efforts in April when we waited for coho but hauled in very nice catches of brown trout and that's where my focus will be turned when we start the season in 5-6 weeks. If you have ever wanted to go fishing exclusively for brown trout, think about this April because it's about the best time that we can outfit ourselves almost solely in that direction. And smoked brown trout is outstanding.

Looking a little further out, the abundance of cold water that we should have could also extend our spring coho season too. Whereas May fishing is almost always excellent for coho, I think we have a good shot at good coho fishing well into June - maybe all of June - if we reference this winter with previously harsh winters in the recent past.

I'll wind up this letter here and remind everyone that if you have not made a reservation yet for this season, please begin to settle on some dates soon because they are going fast. Spring dates especially and weekends for the rest of the season are already becoming limited.

I will circle back with another update in a few weeks. In the meantime, if you don't already follow Windycitysalmon on Facebook, I post much more frequent updates and photos there in order to be more courteous to your email inbox.

The photo here was of me after I was skiing in blizzard conditions in the U.P. last week as well as one of my favorite sunrise shots taken last season.


As always, thanks for reading.
-Capt Rick