Port of Waukegan - June 12 thru June 19

[Captain Rick Bentley]

Into mid-June, variety is becoming the norm with catches of Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon as well as Rainbow Trout and Lake Trout being taken. The Coho-centric hauls characteristic of Spring are changing, much like the way Spring is changing to Summer. And while the monster numbers of 20+ fish have dropped, quality in terms of size and variety are taking their place. We have caught many more Chinook and big Kings this time of year already than we normally we do and all indications remain that it should continue to shape up to be a really good season for Chinook. With everything running 5-6 weeks ahead of what normally occurs each season, Chinook and big Kings should make up the bulk of our catch very soon and for the remainder of the 2010 season. Until then we have and will continue to tie into many more Coho Salmon which are getting much larger now, and increasing quantity of Chinook Salmon as well as all three of our Trout species.

Morning voyages have yielded the better catches for the most part and I recommend this time of day for the best chance to catch more and larger fish.

On a more personal note for Windycitysalmon, on July 15th I was informed that the City of Waukegan wished to shoot a promotional commercial of one of my crews returning to port with a big haul of fish. With a little more pressure on my mind as we set out on the morning of the 16th, we were really able to capitalize on the opportunity as we returned back that morning with a rack of 13 nice fish and five of those were big Kings in the 12-19lb range. An impressive haul for a mid-June trip while a little under the gun and another example of how many large Chinook are already in our waters.

Lastly, with a little bit of (humble) pride, it gives me satisfaction to say that every one of our four multi-boat trips that we booked and run this season, ended with us taking home the most fish on each occasion, making us '4-0' in that regard. That's pretty cool and I look forward to keeping the winning streak going!

We have a busy week on the water starting Monday the 23rd and will update in another 7-10 days. In the meantime, more steady communication and photo updates can be found under out Windycitysalmon.com Facebook FanPage.

Thanks for reading,
Capt Rick