Hello everyone and welcome to the 2015 Season, my eighth season as a captain.

The Independence was launched two weeks ago today and I have been out fishing quite a few times already. Fishing has been very good. We have been fishing close to shore and getting a healthy combination of coho salmon, brown trout, and lake trout. The primary and large schools of coho are still not even in our waters yet. Therefore I consider the numbers of coho salmon that are currently present near Waukegan, quite an added benefit. Our coho numbers should remain decent and only get better as we move though April and into May, when our catch will begin to consist of primarily coho that are increasing in size. But still with a chance to always catch other species. The lake and brown trout we have been catching have been nice fish too; 8-12lbs generally. And we even caught an 11lb coho on Saturday. The lake trout we have been catching in the cold, shallow water behave and fight very differently than when we catch them 100 feet down in deep water. They are a solid adversary.

I'll keep this letter brief as I just wanted everyone to know that the season has begun and fishing has been very good. The weather has cooperated for now as well.

Near-term availability into early June is limited but some spots are open. Already, weekend spots for the summer are getting extremely thin as well but more weekdays remain.

Please call, email or text me if you have a date in mind.

As always, I update the Windycitysalmon Facebook page with photos and conditions much faster from my phone. So if you haven't yet 'liked' the page, please do so.

Thanks for reading,
Capt Rick


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