I can’t believe we’re already knocking on December’s door. The past five and a half weeks have felt like I’ve been living in a time warp, living two hours at a time between feedings of my newborn. Late on October 22nd, Megan and I welcomed our sweet Daphne Jane into the world and it’s been a struggle to keep up with regular day to day tasks.
Deer camp has come and gone as well, with varying degrees of success for myself and family members. Luckily for my family our freezer has a very nice supply of venison for the time being.
With such a busy schedule, I realize I never provided a recap of the 2023 charter fishing season! Here goes:
The boat was launched on Friday, May 5th this year. With slightly rougher than expected conditions, Megan and I elected to keep the boat in Manitowoc until Sunday, May 7th before driving the 25 miles south along the coast to Sheboygan. Once back in town, coho salmon were right in front of our pier heads. One evening after work and school, the Playin’ Hooky crew was able to put nine coho salmon in the cooler in very short order.
The coho bite slowed rather quickly and soon we were headed offshore to about 80-120 feet of water for a mix of chinook salmon and lake trout, with a few rainbow trout thrown into the mix.
In the beginning of June, the chinook bite really started to take off, and we were able to put large numbers of them in the boat on several trips. Cohos flowed in and out with the regular mix of chinooks throughout the month.
In the latter part of June and the beginning of July we were able to target large chinook salmon in 60-100 feet of water early in the morning until just after sunrise, and then either trolled to deeper water or picked up equipment and powered out to 160 feet of water to target lake trout. At this point of the season, a pattern showed up and,, for the most part, remained through the rest of the season: Mornings were fantastic, mid day trips were good, and evening trips were generally pretty tough. That seemed to be the cry of many other anglers in the port of Sheboygan as well.
In later July, we hit a couple weeks where we’d set equipment in very shallow water (20-30 feet of water) have EXTREMELY fast chinook salmon action, and then pull lines and head deeper for rainbow trout and lake trout. On two different trips in late July we had 5 chinooks on at once all going different directions. What an absolute rush early in the morning close to the pier heads!
In August, high winds blew warm water close to our shoreline. We had to cancel, reschedule, or adjust trips around the high and changing winds. When we were able to make it out, the fishing was very good and we targeted and boated mainly chinook salmon. We even went a couple weeks without setting any gear for lake trout. Rainbow trout remained relatively elusive throughout the entire 2023 season.
Near the end of August and into the first two weeks of September, South winds blew our warm water out and again we experienced exceptional fishing close to shore for mature chinook salmon as they prepared to head upriver to spawn. Mid to late September were probably the toughest bite of the year for us but we were still able to catch some mature coho salmon mixed with some lake trout and immature chinooks in 100-220 feet of water.
With the 2023 season winding down, the Playin’ Hooky crew focused their attention close to the harbor and ended the season with a couple very large chinook salmon, a TROPHY brown trout, and two trips with double digit catches of salmon, made up mostly of cohos.
Megan and I drove up the coast back to Manitowoc on October 8 where she sat for a few days, and the Playin’ Hooky was hauled out of the water on an extremely windy and rainy October 13.
I love that Lake Michigan is so unpredictable. It’s impossible to know what a single trip is going to be like let alone a day, week, month, or season. As I’m writing this, it’s a very cold day for November standards and we won’t even get above freezing. Already I’m thinking about what next season is going to be like. I often say the only thing predictable about Lake Michigan is that it is going to be unpredictable. Ya can’t get ‘em sittin’ on yer sofa!!!