Waukegan 7-8 thru 7-18

[Captain Rick Bentley]

A prevailing regime of various degrees of west winds over most of July has held cold water near shore. As captains we like this setup as it diminishes vast stretches of water both horizontally and vertically in search of fish so we can focus our efforts not so much in finding fish but zeroing in on what they want to eat.

Our catches - as is to be expected this time of year - have been made up primarily of Chinook (King) Salmon. The Kings we have been catching have been coming in all size ranges and well up into the 18lb range. We continue to catch some Coho Salmon as well and because of how shallow we are fishing, we are seeing some big Brown Trout too. Some Rainbows have been around but they have been deeper for the most part (as have the Lake Trout).

Our numbers have been really strong with our average haul being about 14-17 fish every time out. Out of this whole stretch, we only had one tough day in there and have also had days where we returned to port with numbers into the 20's. We hope this trend continues and it is actually normal for us to have even better catches (than July) as we get into and through August. Mornings continue to offer better fishing for the most part.

Weekend slots for August are getting booked heavily but there is availability on weekdays (and at a discount!) and don't forget about the 2-3 person ($125 each) special on weekdays.

Attached are some photos from recent trips on the water.


Thanks for reading,
Capt Rick