The burning question with a million bad answers (or maybe one great one).
Summer in Sheboygan is a busy time! Our town expands along the lakeshore for miles in either direction of our crown jewel, Sheboygan’s riverfront. Because of the orientation of our small city, attractions are quite spread out which gives our town of approximately 50,000 people and thousands more tourists a much smaller feel. While Door County or Wisconsin Dells can feel claustrophobic and tight with much smaller populations, Sheboygan provides more than enough room to spread out and enjoy everything our town has to offer. Without a doubt, the busiest time for travelers to visit our town is within the months of June, July, and August. The tip of the peak tourist season from mid-July to mid-August.
Certainly my phone is ringing most during that short span answering questions and booking trips with guests who want the full Sheboygan experience while they’re here vacationing with their families. While this is definitely peak season, it may or may not be when the fish are most active.
During the months of January through May, groups who are planning ahead call or text with the most frequently asked question of all: When is the best time to fish Lake Michigan for trout and salmon out of Sheboygan?
My go-to answer can be one a lot of people may not like: The best time to fish is whenever you can.
I have caught limits of brown trout as early as March. I have caught limits of coho salmon as late as October. I have caught mixed bag limits in the months in between. I have also struggled to get a bite on random days throughout the season as well.
The unpredictability of Lake Michigan is what keeps me coming back even after a tough outing. When getting back on a trip at 8:30 at night, I cannot tell you how fishing will be at 5:00 the next morning. However, because I am out on the water every day during the summer, we have much greater odds at finding hungry fish.
Generally, our charter fishing season starts early May while the water is still cold, sometimes still in the 40s. Lake trout and brown trout can be most common early in the season, before the salmon start showing up. Some years, Sheboygan will get a wave of coho salmon that may last a few days or up to a few weeks if we’re lucky. We can generally hear reports from towns further south of Sheboygan working their way up the shoreline. As the water warms up even more, the chinook (king) salmon start showing up in greater numbers. Typically by the end of May we’re getting mixed bag catches of lake trout, coho salmon, and rainbow trout, with a few chinooks mixed in. While this is the general pattern, the timeline could be affected up to three weeks sooner or later depending on current weather patterns.
As the water warms even more, fish generally move deeper in the water column. If there is little wind, the sun beating on calm water can warm the surface up to a few degrees each day. Wind from Easterly or Northerly directions generally brings warmer water to Sheboygan. South or West winds push the warm water away from our shoreline. Cold water from underneath pushes to the surface, and the salmon and trout follow moving baitfish into the cold water. When that happens, fishermen out of Sheboygan can experience phenomenal fishing within a half mile of our shoreline.
If the water continues to warm up, however, we can still have excellent fishing. We just have to find fish actively feeding further from shore, and deeper in the water column. Any time throughout the fishing season we have great odds at landing some salmonids.
One other overlooked factor by novice fishermen is the moon phase. During a new moon, salmon typically have larger feeding windows close to sunrise and sunset, while the feeding windows throughout the day will be shorter-lived. During the full moon, salmon will prefer to feed at night and ambush baitfish by light of the moon. Feeding periods will be longer during the midday hours.
Luckily, each of the five species of salmonids we target on Lake Michigan also has their own temperament. Chinook salmon like lower light conditions, while rainbow trout love bright sunshine! Lake trout, coho salmon, and brown trout can be mostly indifferent.
Salmon and trout have the ability to move several miles in one day if they want to. As a captain, I am constantly monitoring fishing reports from other friends who are fishing recreationally or working as first mates or captains. On any given day someone might be looking for a tip from me or I may be looking for help from one of the others.
As our season continues, we may be affected by water temperatures and baitfish moving. Staying on active fish is the fun, challenging part for me as a captain.
By the end of August or early September, the mature chinook salmon are going to be around our piers no matter what.
We know where the biggest fish in the lake are going to be. Some days the fish are feeding machines, and others it’s very difficult to get these large fish to bite. Often I will not even target these fish close to shore because they’re not there with the purpose of feeding, but rather to find their groups to head up into the river to spawn with. Sometimes I may dedicate an hour to a fishing trip to see if the monsters are active, and then pull up our lines and head for deeper water coho salmon, rainbow trout, lake trout, or immature chinooks for the remainder of the trip if they are not.
By late September and into the beginning of October, good fishing can still be found offshore after the mature fish have swam upriver to spawn. I will use the last two weeks of the season to target the immature salmon and some really nice steelhead. These fish are often very hungry and trying to pack on the feed bag before winter.
Other factors that affect the amount of fishing action on any given day are wind, rain, cloud cover, air pressure, current, and location of baitfish. Because of the variety of factors, you might find fishing to be better or worse than you originally had anticipated. It’s pretty rare that every single condition is absolutely perfect or that every one of these factors is not right. But as a general rule, fishing out of Sheboygan is good throughout the season.
As Forrest’s mama used to say, “Fishing is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” I do know one thing though: You won’t catch ‘em sittin’ on your sofa!