Waukegan mid-August thru mid-Sept

[Captain Rick Bentley]

Fish have been all over the place and results have been good to real good some days and just ok for the others. I would generally say that it wasn't a very good August for Chinook but that our June and July Chinook fishing was outstanding. Our Coho were early this year and the same went for our Chinook. Somewhat puzzling however was that during most of August, not only was the fishing for the 4-year old fish pretty mediocre, Chinook of all age classes were sparse as well.

We therefore switched gears on many occasions during August and fished the huge schools of Steelhead that were offshore from 160' feet and beyond. As we continued to fish these Rainbow schools, we came up with big numbers; 4-5-6-person limits on many occasions (20-30 fish). However, the fish continued to move further and further offshore eventually making them generally unreachable for half-day charters. Many small Coho that are just getting large enough to hit our spoons were mixed in with these Rainbows as well. I presume these were this year's plants and next years Spring run fish. I hate catching them (less for next year) as they were legal in most cases but releasing them not an option as they were badly ripped up on the reel in to the boat. Perhaps the silver lining there is that these Coho were feeding heavily out there and that could mean they will be larger than usual next Spring. Just a guess but hopefully that will be the case.

Since the Rainbow schools moved farther and farther off shore and we quit fishing them, it's felt a little more like late-June fishing as we have been focusing back on searching for concentrations of fish deep and shallow, north and south and bringing in mixed bags of many species at the same time. Many people have asked how fishing has been and the answer is: not bad but not exactly super. My answer to the 'Chinook season' question is that I think they were just early this year. Right or wrong, that is just the way it felt in a broader sense. My answer to why the past two or three weeks having been 'just ok' likely lies with another variable; weather. We have had 3 pretty strong cold fronts (that I can recall, maybe more) in the past 15 days or so. One of them brought heavy North winds and the two others brought gale force variations of west winds....and then not to mention the strong S & SE stuff that was here Friday and Saturday (10th/11th). I fished Friday but cancelled Saturday. I think if we can get some weather/wind stability, the fishing will be predictably better.

With trips from Wed- Friday yielding high-single digit catches on the reef, in shallow, and back out but inside the reef.....and more high winds on Saturday, Sunday morning was sort of like another fishing re-boot.

Sunday we setup at 45 feet and limped through the first two hours of the trip with a few hits and only two fish. We pushed it modestly out to 75 feet and at that point a decision needed to be made as far where to go because status quo was not an option. Reports north were mediocre. Same went for the deep and shallower side. But one report south of the harbor offered one glimmer of hope even though a more recent update suggested it had gotten slow there too. But with the ticking clock as both my friend and enemy, I trolled it south and I moved it in. As we passed Great Lakes in 40 feet, with a full spread of 11 lines out out, both outside leadcores hooked into fish at the same time and a diver rod began to shake violently. We caught two of those three and then quickly had a downrigger rod go as I moved the rod back to it's original position. As if it were a totally different day, we enjoyed steady action from that point on and pulled into the slip at noon with 16 in the box while missing another 5 or 6. Again we had a mostly mixed bag of some nice Browns, a big Lake Trout, some Coho, a dark 4-year old King, and then many 2 and 3-year old Chinook. The fish still seemed picky however but we quickly loaded up on what they told us they wanted in our spread.

Tomorrow is another day but this past Sunday is now offering some definite potential for the rest of September.

This is the last update I will post before I send out an end of season recap sometime in October. The season is quickly winding down and most weekend mornings in September are booked except for the 25th and 26th. There are some weekdays open though and the 2&3 person specials remain in effect. I will be on a canoe trip in Canada over the first week of October and then take the boat out on the 16th so there are some Oct weekdays available as well (12th-14th) but time is running out if you wanted to take one last trip this year!

Capt Rick