9-20-03 - Daybreak...we are OUTTA HERE 'cause the crowds are showing up!

OK, there are at least 10 boats just in the picture. There were MANY, MANY, MANY more and more were showing up all the time! INSANE, and from what I saw on the sonar all night, all these folks were in the WRONG PLACE LOL!

The Root must be in a limbo contest with Oak Creek...how low can they go?!

9-20-03 - Trollin' the all-nighter with the FATMAN - almost landed a flying-fish.

Waters Fished: Lake Michigan (WI waters around Racine), Racine Harbor, Root River
Fish Caught: big stinkin' 0
Outing Date: 9-20-03
Weather: NIGHT - Calm
Air Temp: all the way into the upper 30's!!!!!!!!!
Water Temp: Didn't take it
Water Level: Normal, Root is a trickle!
Water Color: Once again, hard to tell at night. Root was muddy!
Fish Species: Chinook Salmon
Pattern Fished: We threw EVERYTHING at them!
Pattern Color: You name it, including glows
Fishing Quality: Slower than the 0.5 cfs flow at Oak Creek!

Another quick report, not 'cause I couldn't write all day, but 'cause there's no need to. So technically this report picks up right where yesterday's ended, because after leaving Kenosha Harbor around 10:15 Chromeseeker and I met up with the FATMAN in Racine for a friendly outing on the lake until we got our limit or got chased off the water by the sun. A cooler with Red Bull, Mountain Dew and Coca-Cola was all we needed tonight!

So this was how it was to go down...we'd get the boat in the water around 11:00, get rigged up and troll the night bite on the big pond. Suffice it to say, I steered all night, and Rich and Bart manned the 6 lines (2 riggers, 2 planers, 2 dipseys). Hour after hour of trollin' and nothin' going on. Marking "big fish" on the sonar...well, turned out I was probably "marking perch" LOL! And to top it off, by 2:00 am, I could see my breath, we were all cold.

So we came up into the harbor...whoa...big surprise here..the fish have moved in. Jumpers everywhere. A troll up and down produced no luck, so we headed back, got out our casting gear, and whacked them.

Bottom line, this was a frustrating morning bite. Fish jumping everywhere...several within mear feet of the boat. One so close it almost landed IN OUR BOAT! Flying fish all over the place.

Sunrise came around, and after our all-nighter, we were beat down to put it mildly. Bart lost 3, Rich lost 2, and I was sitting pretty at 0/0 for the night, save the brown landed the night before at KH. Bart had WORK to be at, so he high-tailed it around 6:15. In the meantime, everyone and their mother had shown up on the big pond...by the time we pulled out I counted over 20 boats...apparently all in the wrong spot LOL!!!

Knowing fish were in the harbor, FAT and I headed up to the river to see what was up there. Well, what was up there were mostly CRAP (er, CARP) and 2 chinnies. Already half a dozen people fishing the non-existant run too. Screw that; low flows + 2 chinooks in the sactuary + no other chinooks downstream + 6 anglers = time for bed!

  MP