So Close, So Far on the Milwaukee Harbor
1-10-2013
So close still meant oh… so far on the Milwaukee Harbor Tuesday afternoon. With just a couple of hours of light to target browns, my brother John Ellis and I served as net man and camera-man for Jim Olsson of Mukwonago and Craig Roffers of Waterford as the two fishing addicts tried to rekindle what is often a tenacious bite.
"Craig Roffers, left and Jim Olsson have seen much better days on the Milwaukee Harbor."
“My best day out here included catching 12 browns between two and six pounds with two browns at 25 inches and 29 inches, a 28-inch rainbow and two perch at 11 and 12 inches,” Olsson said to my direct question regarding what can be caught. “The perch were nice accidental fish taken on jigs and minnows as we tried to catch browns.”
Olsson is also an Antler King Trophy Product Pro Staffer and Roffers, according to Olsson, plays a deadly tune on a duck or goose call. On this day, though, how to put fish in the boat was their only calling.
These guys vertical jig, they troll and they cast using an arsenal from Little Cleos to spawn sacs to three or four- inch white gulp to spoons and raps or a whole lot more. All of it will catch fish, depending on the mood of the finned connoisseur. But, especially when things are slow on the bigger water of the harbor, there is a way to up the odds drastically.
Hot water discharge from industrial factories bordering the harbor draws the baitfish which draws the gamefish which draws the angler in need of a fix. The areas are small and snapped up on a first-come basis, but many anglers crowd against boats already tied to the wall. That’s not Olsson or Roffer’s style. So when our drift and cast on bigger water over the first 30 minutes came up empty, the closest we came to the warm water was a very respectable distance from the two boats already there. That position put us for the most part out of the mother lode of fish, but still in position to reap the benefits of the temperature change.
“Almost every fish I’ve caught in the discharge water has been on a 3/8-ounce jig with a 3-inch white gulp minnow,” Olsson said. “There’s just a lot more going on in the discharge. You can see fish come slashing through the warm water looking for baitfish. We catch browns, steelhead, lake trout, which is closed now so they can spawn, and perch when they’re in here.”
“Jim Olsson breaks the ice…first literally at the landing and then with a brown trout taken while jigging the bottom.”
The anglers on the “hot” spot to our south had been on the discharge all day. They had caught 49 fish to 10 pounds, they reported, including a fish every five minutes under our short watch. With about 30 minutes on nearby water…so close but so far…Roffers and Olsson enticed two hits when they changed to a vigorous “shimmering” presentation of a 4-inch chartreuse gulp on the bottom. One brown was landed. Spawn drifted to the bottom is a good bet for these fish currently holding deep.
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| “So close but yet so far. Warm water discharge draws the baitfish which draws the gamefish. WE were just out of the game.” | |
There’s always tomorrow. But when you go, also know that ice sheets blocked our landing and forced us to use oars to create a path to open water. Especially when we returned to land Olsson’s 19 foot Tracker and 115 Merc, the ice block was even worse with a change in wind direction. Be careful and prepared and watch the weather. We were glad to have his Nissan Titan to pull us out. Make sure you have something big to fish from and something strong to pull you out. Wait for that gentle west wind.
"Caution is needed when determining whether or not to launch in the face of thick ice sheets. Wind changes can change conditions in a hurry."
Halfmoon Resort and Hooksetter Guide Service run by OWO top guide and writer Phil Schweik is hosting their annual ice fishing tournament Saturday, January 19th in the Wausau Area. Link with “Ice Fishing” on this website for all the details. While you’re visiting, check out DNR advice for snowmobilers on unsafe ice.
Also on the weekend of January 19, introduce someone to fishing without need of a license or trout stamp. For details on the free fishing weekend sponsored by the DNR connect with “Inland Fishing”. Also under “Inland Fishing”, read our first report of 2013 on the sturgeon spearing season, numerous fishing reports, and John Luthens’ column with great photos from rugged Lake Superior ice country.
DNR will stock a total of 798,231 chinook in 2013 in its Lake Michigan ports under an agreement reached among the states surrounding Lake Michigan to adjust lakewide stocking totals to continue the strong fishery by better balancing the number of predator fish like Chinook with available prey fish. Get the whole story under “Great Lakes Fishing”.
Under “Firearms”, as usual read Robb Mannings column on Concealed Carry. By tomorrow, Friday, we will have another Manning column posted. Under “Outdoor News”, new postings include a migrating whooping crane update, Wisconsin Natural Resources Board January agenda, DNR Weekly News update, several warden wire spotlighting stories from wardens in the fields, information on the concluding deer hunter wildlife survey, a statement from DNR Secretary Stepp on the judicial ruling on the use of dogs during the Wisconsin Wolf hunt, and a report on a hound killed by wolves in Jackson County.
We also recently posted three “Dick’s Trips” columns with photos from the archives. Two focus on the ruffed grouse; the first was a 2006 journey to Richland County to study grouse mortality with a UW-Richland Center Assistant Professor of Biology. The second is a grouse hunting story with Ruffed Grouse Society Regional Biologist Gary Zimmer taken in Price and Sawyer Counties in 2005 offering unique insight into grouse cycles and survival. The third offers some sound but simple tips from an expert to help you pull more fish through the augured hole.
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. We placed 50,000 papers on 700 racks last week, but they move fast. Almost faster than a government gun grab at a burn the Constitution party.
Draw the line. Stay the American course. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis