Monday’s trip to Waukegan for trout and salmon was a perfect example of running a trailerable boat.  The salmon fishing on the south end of Lake Michigan had gotten tough due to a couple of days of strong north winds which moved a lot of warm water into the area.  While a bunch of mature king salmon had made a move to shallow water, the warm water caused them to move up into Burns Ditch and Trail Creek.  Warm water had stacked up by Saturday with the thermocline at 50 feet where the temperature changed from 71 to 64 degrees.  Trout and salmon prefer water that is 55 degrees or colder.  It was 56 degrees all the way down at 90 FOW.  We struggled to find action, getting only six bites.  Fortunately my guests Jack and Matt were good at keeping them  hooked and we boated all six.  Five were smaller than I would have liked but they did get one decent steelhead.  With this information I made the decision to fish out of Waukegan on Monday due to the near-shore availability of deep, cold water.

The decision to move north on Monday eventually proved to be a good one but it took a while.  We eventually found the fish and had some decent action including a couple of doubles, one of which came on the same rod.

My veteran crew not only didn’t get seasick, they greatly contributed to the success of the trip.  We only lost 3 fish and boated 12.

The whole point of this article is to praise the value of a trailer-able boat when fishing for salmon.  The ability to go where the fish are is crucial to success.  My fiberglass Lund 208 Pro V GL is an extremely versatile fishing platform.

It can float in 18 inches of water and go get the ultra shallow bass or musky and it can handle 4 foot waves while searching open water for walleyes or salmon.  Put this thing on a trailer and taking it to where the fish are or switching target species entirely are major advantages to consistently putting fish in the boat.  Having the most versatile of watercraft available to accomplish this is the other half of the equation.  Sure, there will be times when the Big Lake is too rough for my rig while a bigger boat could tough it out, but if it is that rough, I’ll save my guests from the increased likelihood of gastric disturbance.

Capt. Guy Lopez, 9-7-16