I Am Back!

My computer fell and needed a new hard drive.

The perch are everywhere, but you should have fished yesterday before the NORTH WINDS.
It begins again, the recovery from the front, slow bite...
The shad rap has been my best bait for the JUMBOS.


The salmon have moved out and scattered because of the inconsistent winds and weird weather! Most of the action is outside of 124 feet of water, straight out. The shallowest lines are my 10 color lead cores.

Everything is HOT! So Strike While the Iron is Hot

The salmon have moved out. Start in 60 feet of water. Down riggers down 50 feet to the bottom. Go out to 100 ft and look for fish. Early morning and evenings they are shallower, during the day they move out deeper. Yellow birds are still taking a few fish with an ounce of weight. Small tied to the hook flies are catching fish on the dipsy divers and /birds . This morning we caught two Lake Trout and two Kings and two steelhead along with 10 Cohos, mostly on dodger on fly.

Perch frenzy inside and outside or the harbor. It is lock and load!

As Per Earlier Report, North Winds Bad!

I hope you took advantage of the awesome shore perching while it was close to shore.
The Jumbos have moved offshore again with the North winds. They are still accessable from boats.
Small perch are still here, maybe this afternoon they will be back.





The salmon are still in 70-80 feet of water down 40-45 feet is best, spoons and flies working, but you need to keep changing stuff until the magic appears.

It Doesn't Get Better Than This!!!

The salmon are on the bite, 20-30 fish average per charter has been the norm. 70-80 feet of water down 45 has been the best lately. Spoons and flies are taking fish.



The perch are going nuts!
I went outside of the harbor just now and caught my limit on a paddle bug in 15 minutes...JUMBOS.
Everyone got their limit!


6 people $650, you bring your lunch and beverages, I take care of everything else.
I have some available slots open during the week, the weather is unbelievable, flat lake.

Holy Cow!

We left at 6AM and had 5 kids on board and one adult. We caught 150 perch and kept the biggest 90 to take home( average fish was 12 inches).


The salmon are going nuts wherever there is bait... the reefs are holding the bait and perch.
I had 14 boats trolling and catching all around us the whole time.

You Have To Strike When The Iron Is Hot!

The perch are biting all outside of the harbors and Navy Pier extremely well, so this would be the time to go while the weather is consistent (before the next cold front or July).


The salmon are hitting from 50 130 feet if water, but all you need is to find a school of bait fish and work the area. Today trolling out(east) was the best direction to catch fish even though there was a tremendous slide down below, towards the south which made all the lines run to the south( not directly behind the boat) causing some tangle issues. It was still really good action, mostly coho salmon.

Consistent West/South Winds....Great Fishing!!

The salmon are still on the bite, but have moved deeper (70 feet of water)
They are eating bugs on the surface and alewives down 20 to 60, 40 being the best yesterday.
Spoons and dodgers and flies are working.



The perch are biting like mad all over the lakefront. Soft shells working best for the JUMBOS, but I still am catching them on a shad rap with 3/8 oz. of weight about 3-4 feet above.

A Little North Wind goes a Long Way

I would have sworn that the perch would be in the harbor, but a little North by North West has been the problem. There are perch being taken on the outside of the harbor.

The coho salmon are still hitting real well just beyond the crib-line about a mile or so, just look for the bait schools.

The Perch Are Back

Four days later a few perch are beginning to show up outside of the harbor. This West wind should clear the water and suck in the cooler water that is just a few miles offshore, that is where the majority of the huge bait balls are. That is also where the salmon and huge schools of Jumbo's are hanging out.
The bait is beginning to show up in the harbor and it looks like there should be visible perch this afternoon also (if you use polarized glasses you can see them)



I have a cancellation for this Sunday morning for a perch or salmon charter or both.
The weather will be perfect and the fishing is still great!

All the ducks were in a row, but the perch did not show

Three days after a cold front, S.W. winds, low pressure...still no bait and not a perch to be seen.
Tomorrow should be what we have been patiently waiting for, I hope!



The salmon are still in 40 to 50 feet of water, the flies I am using are starting to get larger. I still run a few tiny flies up on the surface for the bug-eaters.

Great action again for thusday, take the morning or day off!

Yesterday and today were flops for perch and most fishing, but tomorrow will be amazing for perch. Open water will be called on account of wind from hell.
In case anyone was wondering how someone can have such an intimate knowledge of the water without actually living on the water.

Well that is the case. I live. work. play, and fish on the water...all summer!
Captain Gintas

Cold Front Still in place

This morning at 5:30 I caught one nice perch, that was it for the rest of the day. Shore fisherman outside the harbor caught a few, but that was it.

Off shore salmon fishing was good in the morning(17 fish) within 50 feet of water.
The afternoon trip was much less. the wind was a big factor which limited the amount of lines run and the capability to turn around and work a school of fish.

North Winds Bad!

I have caught no Jumbo Perch without live bait , and then slim pickings only.
Open water fishing has been called on a weather today.

North Winds

Usually winds from the North means bad fishing, but today the perch were slamming my bait. The paddle bug with a split shot 20 inches above was working like a charm. Fast twitching action after letting it sink for a ten count was best. Slow retrieve on the real, but fast action on the rod! Minnows and crabs will produce well as always, but I am a purist and love to fool them into eating my fake stuff with my action added! The shad rap has been disappointing me since yesterday. In the harbor is the way to go, but keep mobile.

The cohos are still on the bit , but the winds are stopping the open lake fishing for a day. The up side is that it will bring down more fish to my back yard... limit catches again!

Find The Bait...Find The Fish

The bait is thick in the harbors, so that is where the predators are, specifically the perch. Using your polarized glasses allows you to find the bait schools, which is also where the perch are, but just below. My technique is two fold, first I use a shad rap with some lead to locate and collect some fish. Second step is to use a paddle bug with a split shot to catch some of the deeper and more skittish ones. We went out yesterday with four boats morning and afternoon, resulting in an average of 10 fish per trip. The guys in Michigan City and North Point only got a few, more fishing than catching for some. Today was much better, we got a late start and went out to 40 feet of water, set lines and stayed inside of 60 feet. Surface down to 30 feet, using summer patterns, resulted in 20 fish with 9 that escaped. We focused our attention to where the huge bait balls were that were seen on the fish finder, every school that I trolled over resulted in hook-ups.

The Magical Hour

In all types of fishing there will be moments of pure pandemonium, in terms of the amount of action you get and actual fish that you see swarming all over. You just fish, catch , and hope that this incredible action will just hold on for another hour! You don't even waste the time to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately it ends just about when you get into the swing of things. The great shutdown!
I want to share with everyone about my favorite time of the day which corresponds with the fishing action now! Take a morning off and go down to your favorite Chicago Harbors. get there before 5:30. Make sure that you bring polarized glasses so you can watch the schools of different fish swimming by, not to mention the JUMBO PERCH that will be under the bait schools. Between 5:30 and 6:30 there will be fish everywhere. Bring a kid or kids! It will be worth the trip, but it ends at the end of this month! The coho fishing is still "off the hook". Limit catches the norm!!