A little on whats been going on out of chicago.

The coho off Chicago and really all the way north has been awesome. Yesterday with the weather I started further south then I have been in 80fow and found the fish in 85fow. N41.53. The still were very schooled up and I had to keep circling down on them. I am marking a ton of fish and the fish keep turning on and off but I think they are turning off due to pressure from circling down on them. and after a few passes of no fish slide north of south a bit until I find active fish again and start to circle but typically at that point the trip is coming to a end.

The depths continue to be in the top 40fow and everything is hitting but when we get doubles it seems to be on the same rods. Dipseys or lead, or riggers… Speeds have been faster at 2.8 to 3.2 but a few times they did want 2.2-2.4mph. The faster the speeds we miss a lot of fish but that’s what it takes to get them on so take it as it is. Steel have not showed up yet but when they do hopefully in the next few weeks and the coho are still around its going to be insane.

8″ Flasher flys have performed poorly for me. I use a lot of protrolls and want to try some hot spot flashers as they work a little better at faster speeds. 00 Orange dodgers with peanut flys 15″ leader have been very good and color hasn’t seem to make much of a difference. 0 size dodgers haven’t done much since the laker bite has turned off but to be fair I don’t use them often.

Magnum spoons have been off. Stinger spoons have been best. Whites have not been producing. Silver with blues or greens have worked well. Orange not so much but maybe when the steel show up they will turn on. Mixed veggies was a great spoon yesterday. standard size also has been producing with some colors but the stinger size color seems to matter less.

The boards have all been good. Mono with 5/8oz weight and coho rig, 2 color, 5 color, and 7 color all micro lead. I haven’t even splashed 10 or 12 color.

Standard dipseys out 75 and 110 have been very good but the 75 has been best. Magnum out 120 has been ok but magnum just not producing as well. I have been running 1 or no magnums once I find the fish so I can make tighter turns.

Riggers with coho rig and green/chrome spoons have been producing down 35 to 40.

The currents seem to be north south but not much of a current

Speed seems to be key more then any other factor. a few .1’s difference seems to make a huge difference but different pods of fish seem to prefer different speeds so from one boat to anther speed will be different so don’t stick with just one speed because another boat or two seem to be catching at that speed. 20 degree S turns have helped when fishing slows triggering some bites.

All in all its a great time to get out there especially for the guys with limited options in gear.

I have some recent picture on my facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Storm-Warning-Fishing-Charters-914035321942508/