It’s been a weird year for returning salmon on southern Lake Michigan.
The return started in late August, despite very warm water in the 70s.
By Sept 17, Stacey Greene-Fenlon at Park Bait texted, “I have to say that even with this warm weather and warm water temps fishing for salmon in my opinion has been the best it’s been in many years up and down the lakefront. Of course there are guys that have not gotten any but I know quite a few that have caught at least one and a few guys have caught up to four in one night. There have been a lot of hits and misses also.”
Chinook and coho return to shore, mimicking their spawning returns to rivers off the Pacific.
Even the idea of salmon in Lake Michigan is weird. In the 1960s, Michigan’s Dr. Howard Tanner concocted the audacious plan to use Pacific salmon to control invasive alewives that were turning Lake Michigan beaches into stinking messes. The plan worked, to the point where now lake managers balance alewives to the amount of salmon in the lake. That would’ve been absurd 57 years ago.
Sept. 17, night of the Super Moon partial lunar eclipse, seemed important.
Quinn Wunar, an accomplished salmon and trout angler on the Chicago lakefront, messaged Monday on X about his best Chinook, “Must have come right in with that moon last week.” He had a broader report from the lakefront, “Finally have a fishing report with some pattern rather than just a scattering. In the last seven days, made it out four times: Burnham, Jackson Park, Diversey and Jackson again. Let the wind dictate the place and caught at least one jack king in each spot. The best day was the partial eclipse. Caught a big chrome hen and a decent jack in back-to-back casts. One more jack before I left. Slow rolling glow [K.O. Wobbler] off the bottom. Changing only the cadence. Biggest king of the year picked the spoon up off the bottom on a flutter.”
He observed, “Some fish are being caught but I think the turnout is more driving that. East winds, mid 80’s stunk. And now northeast winds for days. More floating less casting now. This has been a really rough season with the weather pattern.”
He nailed turnout being an important factor this fall. The extended September warmth made less than ideal conditions for salmon, but made it more palatable for casual anglers to try for salmon.
For those, he advised, “I’ve met a lot of folks along the way who think they’re doing something wrong. From what I’ve observed it’s a not so much doing anything wrong, it’s just trying to do too much. Have to stick with a confidence lure for a good sample size and just stack reps. I think changing cadence on a spoon is 10x more important than changing a color. It’s very similar to musky fishing. For what it’s worth.”
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The Illinois Department of Natural Resources had “to juggle stocking this year because there was poor survival” of coho and Chinook eggs and fry at Jake Wolf Hatchery.
“To maintain the total allocated salmonid stocking quota for Illinois, we asked the hatchery to produce and stock more Skamania steelhead and Arlee rainbow trout, as well as some additional brown trout,” emailed Vic Santucci, Lake Michigan program manager. “Steelhead stocking, which usually occurs by mid-September, has been delayed due to warm harbor water temperatures.”
The target for coho was 300,00, instead it was 87,890; for Chinook, target 210,00, instead 100,877. So Skamania were doubled (75,000 to 150,000) and upping Arlee rainbow trout (60,000 to 295,721) and browns (110,00 to 126,578). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service held lake trout stocking at 120,000. Complete stocking record will be at ifishillinois.org/lmich/index.php this winter.
“[The] Illinois DNR is trying a new strain of brown trout in 2024,” Santucci emailed. “Over the past 20+ years, Plymouth Rock strain eggs were reared at Jake Wolf Hatchery and stocked as large (5- to 6-inch) fingerlings during July. This year, Crawford strain eggs were obtained from the FWS federal hatchery system, reared at Jake Wolf and stocked at 11 locations along the Illinois shoreline during May. Earlier stocking is possible because the Crawford strain trout spawn earlier and grow faster than the Plymouth Rock strain. We are anticipating that earlier stocking and faster growth will lead to better brown trout survival and higher returns to Illinois anglers.”
NOTE: Snagging for Chinook and coho opens Tuesday in Illinois (only remaining Lake Michigan state that allows snagging). No snagging is allowed within 200 feet of a moored watercraft or as posted. Only legal spots are Lincoln Park Lagoon south of the Fullerton Avenue Bridge, Waukegan Harbor (North Harbor basin only), Winnetka Power Plant discharge area, and Jackson Harbor (Inner and Outer Harbors).