FISHING OUTDOOR NEWS

Manitowoc Co. The bite out of Manitowoc and Two Rivers wasn’t exactly hot over the past week. Most days the fishing was slow to the extent that bringing in two fish was a very successful trip. Days of easterly winds ensured that the water miles out from shore stayed near a balmy 70 degrees at the surface. Anglers using temperature probes did report that the water 50-60 feet below the surface cooled slowly over the course of the week, with some finding water in the mid to upper-40’s. Many of the fish that came in were 5-6 pound rainbows, with chinooks coming in second place. Although not many chinooks were caught, a good number of them were in the mid to upper-teens in weight. Successful presentations this week were dominated by spoons. Most anglers reported catching close to all their fish on spoons of varying colors. Chinooks seemed to be hitting any color, when they were active, and rainbows were hitting on bright orange as well as green. Most anglers fished from about 90 to 140 feet of water and got chinooks down 40-100 feet, and rainbows were coming on a mix of deeper presentations or lures run higher in the water (with planer boards or lead core). The anglers that came in with the most fish throughout the week said that their successes were largely attributed to finding slightly cooler water which was much more likely to hold fish. Others just happened to come upon groups of fish that were active, with no apparent reason as to why they were there. Some anglers could troll back through waypoints and get hits, and some wouldn’t get another hit after going through one flurry of activity. Pier anglers are also having a rough go of things, as the water is only warmer closer to shore. Many almost-daily anglers find themselves leaving with a box of freshly-washed lures and nothing more. The occasional sheepshead or carp is caught and just as promptly returned to the water, but no trout or salmon have been reported to me this week, even through word of mouth of others catching fish. A few days of strong westerly winds looks to be about the only thing that may change the success of many anglers, as warm water temps seem to be the primary culprit behind slow fishing. Kewaunee Co. Fishing has been a roller coaster over the past week, with small catches and almost no pattern reported from most anglers early in the week. With the nicer weather during the middle of the week, fishing had improved dramatically by the weekend. There weren’t too many boats out at the start of the weekend, but all the boats came in with decent catches ranging from two to eight fish per boat. Catches early in the weekend consisted primarily of chinooks, and as the weekend went on more rainbows than anything else came in. The most successful anglers managed to find surface water temperatures of about 55 degrees, but most of the other anglers reported between 64-66 degree surface temperatures. The best water depth has been between 120 and 180 feet, with chinooks coming between 50 and 100 feet down and rainbows coming in the top 40 feet. Chinooks have come on a mix of spoons and flasher/fly combos, with green or blue flies being the most productive and blue or green (particularly with black patterning like the “hulk” colored moonshine) spoons, being equally effective. Bright orange, yellow, or blue spoons on lead core or behind planer boards were the best producers for rainbows. Some shore anglers in Kewaunee fishing the breakwall were able to hook into a couple carp over the past week casting crankbaits, but no other reports, including the Kewaunee pier, had fish. In Algoma, pier fishing is equally slow, but some shore anglers have been successful. Anglers fishing with live bait around Olson Park have been able to catch a mix of perch, bullhead, and sheepshead while some fishing with spinners or other artificial baits were able to catch some northern pike. Sturgeon Bay Salmon fishing was good early week but has since tapered off with changing winds and fronts moving through the area. The 150-200FOW range was producing fish but in the last few days anglers have had very limited success. Surface temperatures from Kewaunee up to the Bank are in the mid 60’s. There seems to be cold water 50+ feet down but the salmon don’t seem to be hungry. Many anglers have been out fishing longer hours than normal for the KD tournament with little to no success. Perch action in the canal has been decent with the occasional angler getting a 15 fish limit. They sort through a lot of small fish but 10-11” perch are being caught. Anglers have had success on worms, minnows and bugs. Not much to report for bass or walleye action but a few bass have been caught at Stone Quarry.