Jack’s Charter Service comes through…Big!
The ‘Leader’ and Captain Ken Poludnianyk of Jack’s Charter Service have more tournament wins and top 5 finishes than any other Milwaukee charter boat.Molly Hall and David Jackson were more than happy with their charter last week off Reef Point Marina in Racine.
Sometimes a Wisconsin outdoorsman needs a little help from his friends. The state is big enough and diverse enough in its hunting and fishing opportunities that a southern Wisconsin hunter drawing a bear tag probably needs advice in choosing a northern guide. A Superior-based angler wanting to try jumbo perch out of Milwaukee or Lake Geneva’s plate-size gills might need to make a few calls before actually landing on the water with a real chance at the fights and fish fries he’s looking for.
Lacrosse-based David Jackson is a Kwik Trip Outdoors’ marketing man always on the look-out for another reputable guide to participate in future KT Outdoors’ contests for their customers. For example, the current contest offers a day on the water with Hooksetters Fishing Services’ guide Phil Schweik as of last week had drawn well over 1000 contestant registrations. Have you signed up?
Jackson also wanted to find a knowledgeable captain to host his groomsmen for a day on the water prior to his September wedding to Molly Hall. He called and asked if I knew of such a captain. Now, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior offer many excellent charter services and crews, but my longtime Sheboygan-area Skipper passed away several years ago and more recently my time on the big water has always been with friends and their smaller boats.
But, I called brother-in-law Dan Quigley, who annually hosts international clients including coordinating Lake Michigan charters for his Oconomowoc-based employer. Dan is without exception more than pleased with the services offered each summer, I learned, from Jack’s Charter Service. Captain Ken Poludnianyk and his 36-foot Tiara, ‘Leader’ have more tournament wins and top 5 finishes than any other Milwaukee charter boat. The good captain targets chinook (King) salmon, Coho, brown trout, steelhead trout (rainbow) and Lakers. The Leader begins in Racine in early spring to chase salmon in warmer water before migrating north with the fish as summer moves along to work out of Milwaukee’s McKinley Marina.
Jack’s Charter Service has been fishing these waters with great success since the early 70s. In 2014, if you book a charter trip with Jack’s (414-482-2336 or jackscharterservice.com) during Salmon-A-Rama July 12 through 20, anglers are automatically entered to win $15,000 and many other cash prizes. It’s the largest Lake Michigan salmon fishing tournament of the year.
David Jackson and Molly Hall drove from Lacrosse and met Captain Ken with his boat rigged and ready at Racine’s Reefpoint Marina and me with the first light of a new day Friday, May 30. It was a fabulous charter. With about 50 limits and just a handful of sub-limit charters already logged in 2014, Captain Ken expected the charter to be fabulous; despite surface water temperatures in less than a day dropping a whopping six degrees from 47.5 degrees to 41.5 degrees when we started fishing more than 9 miles off the harbor in 150 feet of water.
The day prior, a charter of two anglers had their 5-fish per man limit on this same territory with 10 fish in about an hour. A Leader record is 14 fish on simultaneously, boating 11 of those fish and somehow avoiding a major catastrophe of tangled lines.
Molly Hall takes on the first King of many that would visit on this Friday morning.
Molly did the honors on the first strike of the day; a big king that ended up on the wrong end of the score card after a true heavy-weight bout. “I should have kept my membership to the gym,” an out-of-breath Molly said as the fish surrendered to the net.
Molly is ready for another fight soon after bringing the first fish to net.
After action slacked, it took about an hour for Captain Ken to put us on fish again… a lot of fish. Over shallow, warmer water, as the captain predicted, fishing turned red-hot. David was next to grab a rod in response to a wicked strike and in relative short order many Kings to 18 pounds, several Coho and a lone rainbow were brought to net. A lake trout was lost, and four or five other unseen fish were lost as well during the fights.
David Jackson gets into a battle with another Chinook salmon under
the watchful eye of Captain Ken, a fight he ultimately wins.
The only species of fish that didn’t show up, again as expected due to our location, was the brown trout. But Captain Ken knows how to specifically and successfully target each of the big five Lake Michigan gamefish. If your charter party includes many people, Poludnianyk will coordinate whatever number of boats is necessary to take care of you professionally, with boats and crews that meet his own standards of excellence and service.
Five species of Great Lakes fish are targeted through spring, summer and fall from the harbors of Racine and Milwaukee by Jack’s Charter Service.
Just let him know what you’re looking for. Then hold on tight. Expect victory…and one good time.
“We had a blast with Captain Ken,” said David. “He was clearly very knowledgeable of Lake Michigan and the salmon we were targeting. There wasn’t a single question we asked that he couldn’t answer. While catching fish was obviously the highlight of the day, Captain Ken also made the few times in-between catching fish very enjoyable with some good humor. Immediately after we finished for the day we were already making plans for our next trip with Captain Ken.”
Connect with the Jack’s Charter Service website at jackscharterservice.com. Talk to Captain Ken directly at 414-482-2336.
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. Shoot Straight.
Dick Ellis