John Kelley

Nice report, man. I will be heading to Sheboygan, WI for the 4th and hope to slam some nice salmon out of Lake Michigan. I hope the silvers turn back on for my New York friends!!

Way to rock those fish, Captain Carl!!

That's a monster steelhead, congrats!!

Thanks Les, and yeah, you guys have it made out there!! I am really missing New York and especially lake Ontario right about now!!

I drove 5 hours to Minnesota to pick up my old friend Terry, and then we drove 6 more hours to get to Sheboygan, WI, on the shore of Lake Michigan. We arrived yesterday, around 1:00 P.M., Got our hotel room, bought our 2 day fishing license, and headed out to the lake.We fought a stiff westerly wind all afternoon, and finished the night with just 2 nice browns and a lake trout. Today a a northeaster blew in a cold front, but we found a warm water discharge to fish, and despite the blustery conditions, we managed 9 browns and 2 decent lakers. We had a much better spoon bite than stickbaits, and our stud spoon was a magnum Moonshine Happee Meal spoon. Riggers and leadcore were the most effective system for us today. Our two big browns went 9 & 10 pounds today, and the lakers were 16 and 12 pounds. The rest of the browns were of the cookie cutter variety. It was my friend Terry's first ever outing on Lake Michigan, and he caught the 3 biggest Browns of his life, and the the largest lake trout he has ever caught as well. His 3 big browns were 8, 9 and 10 pounds, and he also landed the 16 pound laker for the big fish of the trip. We are tired and beat up, but will be heading home with a cooler full of tasty fish. Thanks

Another great outing, Captain Rick. Wish I was still in New York!!!!!!! My first Brown trout outing will be this next weekend on Lake Michigan, and that will be a 10 hour drive for me!!

Thanks fellas, glad I took it out for it's shakedown back here!! Found out the bolts holding on my kicker motor had been snapped off, and my depth finder had blown a fuse!! Then the wind picked up to a small hurricane, and the wife and I decided to just head back this morning, but not before I caught a little skippy king about 1 pound, and the wife caught her first ever pike, @ just over 13 pounds. It was 34" long with a 16.5" girth. Chunky sucker. Went right back in the drink after some pics, too. I am attaching a pic of the dam and one of her pike. Thanks.

Hey fellas, I am taking the wife out to Lake Oahe on the Missouri river this weekend for some South Dakota king salmon trolling. A little different deal than on the Big O, and the fish don't get anywhere near the size. We will be concentrating our efforts trolling the face of the dam, and working the water column from 50' to the surface, over 80'-150'. Chinooks are the only cold water species that are stocked in lake Oahe, so no chance for bonus browns, steelhead, lakers, or cohos!! Might catch some bonus smallmouth and very large pike, though!!LOL This time of year most of the kings are caught between 30-50 fow on lake oahe, and many fish are caught just long lining deep crankbaits like Reef Runners and Rapala deep Taildancers. This will be my shakedown trip to make sure my boat, and all of my gear is operational for my trip to Lake Michigan next weekend. I would rather find problems now, near home, than 10 hours away, in Wisconsin. Oh yeah, I won't burn up anywhere near the gas on Lake Oahe, as I did on Lake Ontario, either, because the boat ramp is only about 200 yards from where I begin my trolling run, along the face of the dam. Maximum depth out here last time I was on the river, was just over 200', if I recall correctly, but that can change by 30' from year to year, according to snowfall, rainfall, etc. I will post results and pics on Easter Sunday for you guys. Tight lines this weekend, and go get those Brown Trout, my New York compadres!!! May all your lines be greasy, mud chicken free!!LMAO

Great job, man!!

Nice job, buddy. Wish I could get my wife into fishing!!LOL

Fantastic, they will be fishermen for life, now!!

Great results!!

I would really love to, but my work schedule is making it seem like Lake Michigan is as close to Lake Ontario as I will get this summer. I think I want to bring some homies out there next summer, though, after I have them all trained up on the smaller, lake Michigan kings this summer!!LOL I am really missing Lake O badly, and it is only April!!!

I originally posted this in the Bass section, but then I realized I would probably not get any replies until your Bass season out there opens up. So I am adding it here as well. Thanks. ***Let me preface this story by letting you New York friends of mine know that there is no closed game fish season in South Dakota, meaning we can fish for whatever we want whenever we want, aside from protected species like paddlefish and sturgeon.*** Okay, So I am working in this little town called Edgemont, which is South and West of Rapid City by about 80 miles. Edgemont has a couple of little 5 acre town ponds that are open to public fishing, and are well stocked with rainbow trout, panfish, and bass. I had been down to this lake the past couple of nights with my coworker, catching a bunch of nice little rainbows for grilling at the hotel this weekend. Yesterday afternoon, as I was reeling my fourth rainbow right up to the dock I was fishing on, when this big old largemouth comes shooting out from under the dock and chases down my trout. I pulled the trout out of the water as quick as I could, unhooked it, and grabbed my big fish ugly stick, spooled with 14 pound test, and hooked a firetiger RAT-L-Trap on it. I started jigging the the lure up and down in the clear 3' of water at the end of the dock. After about 10 pumps of the rod, I thought the bass was just not interested in my lure, but I pumped the lure upwards one more time. This time the bass came cruising out from under the dock, and went straight for the lure, stopping about an inch away from it. I stopped the lure in its tracks and just made it sit there and jiggle, shaking the rattles. The big girl opened her mouth, inhaled the lure, and I struck immediately! The fight was on, but I soon was hoisting up the biggest bass of my life. She taped out at 22.5 inches long, 18 inches around, and weighed in at 7.56 pounds. I spent all day today driving the fish 230 miles to my taxidermist in Pierre, SD, and back to my hotel!! Pretty satisfied, though!! I hope you enjoy the pics. The last pic is of the lure I caught it on. Thanks.

Yeah, Blade Tamer makes great sheaths for the Victorinox Cimeter knives. I am attaching a pic of my 14" Forschner on top of the its Blade Tamer sheath. The Captain's Cove sells them pretty cheap, like for $10, I think.