Milwaukee Bay

Question
Hey Marc,
I hear you are "The Man" in regards to fishing the harbor in DT Milwaukee. I recently moved here from Minneapolis and am wondering how the fishing is in the Harbor. If I抦 just looking for some good old tug on the line what do you suggest this weekend? I have a 24ft boat right on the Milwaukee River downtown but have never tried out down rigging and would rather stick to trolling or casting.

Thanks in advance!

Answer
Hi Mark,

The water temps are good right now with all the west winds we have had ushering in the heat.  

There are Browns in the harbor.  We got three this morning and had several others on.  Nice fish in the 8-10 pound range.

If you are taking your boat out and want to try around the harbor I would be geared for two things.  Trolling till you find some fish or bait, and then stop and do some jigging.  The harbor is all about 20 to 35 feet deep so you can do this without downriggers.  Deep diving crankbaits like Deep Thundersticks, #6 Fat Free Shads, Rapala DT 16's, Deep Tail dancers, or the new Rapala Trolls To series will all get you deep enough in and around the harbor.  Just run them off flat lines from 75 to 100 yards off the back of the boat.  

When I find some fish I prefer to jig for them at that point.  Jigging spoons about 3/8 to 1/2 ounce are good.  A 3/8 to 1/2 ounce bullet head jig tipped with a white Gulp Minnow is hard to beat.  Blade baits like Zip lures or Sonars are also good.  Another great lure is a 3.5" pearl tube jig on a 3/8 ounce head.  Most of the fish will be near the bottom.  

Right now, start trolling as soon as you leave the red lighthouse (the pier head).  The best areas will be trolling parallel to the inside or outside of the breakwall and definitely through any of the three gaps.  The gaps always have some current moving through them and attract bait and in turn the bigger fish.  

Milwaukee has some very unique opportunities to fish and about 3000 acres of sheltered water.  The Milwaukee river where your boat is docked will have walleyes and bass as well.  The Salmon will start to run by about Labor day.

To keep up on the action, I write a weekly fishing report in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel that is in the sports section or on-line.  

You may want to check out the Fishing Hole in Cudahy (3115 E. Layton Ave, just east of the Airport) for up to date info as well.  Roger is the owner and has been fishing the area his whole life as well.  He is the biggest independent tackle dealer in the area and has whatever you need for our fishery.  Gander Mountain.... not so much!  

Welcome to Milwaukee.  I hope you love it here as much as I do.  For fishermen, it is heaven.

Good luck and if you have further questions, please feel free to write back.

Marc