Charter trip for salmon

[MikeDebner]

I was thinking of maybe trying the charter thing for salmon on the Great Lakes. Maybe going somewhere out of northern Wisconsin. Anyone have any idea or went some where that they would recommend? I was just thinking my wife and I for a weekend trip.

Mike Debner

[Dan Wood]

yea I do have some ideas for you... I'll need to dig up the contact info... We went out of Sheboygan last time and we did quite well... Guys at work fish Algoma quite a bit and do well too... Late summer for the big kings - earlier in the year for the eater size is what I've been told...

[MikeDebner]

I am not looking for the monster fish since it will be the first time but we do eat a lot of salmon on the grill so that would be a bonus to bring a bunch back. What is the limit on Salmon on the Great Lakes?
I am looking about middle of the road on price. I have no probelm staying in a cheaper hotel for some good fishing. It doesn't have to be a nice resort.
How much should I be expecting to pay for a day of fishing for two people?

Mike Debner

[Rosco]

I've gone out on charters on Superior in the past and they will run from $400 up to $800.00 for a full day depending on the boat. That is usually for up to 3 of 4 people. Some of the capt's will give you a discount for only 2 people if they have an opening that day just to keep the boat on the water. I've looked at charters on Huron and Michegan and they seem to run about the same, cost wise. Do a google/lycos/yahoo search for "great lakes salmon fishing" and some of the charters should come up.

[Lance Bainville]

We've been going out of Algoma the last 5 years.The first couple we went through RV Charters which was decent. It's usuallyarond $300 each for 4 guys. That's 2-8hr charters and lodging.The last 3 years we've been using the smaller charters and staying in a hotel.

[tex22]

Mike
It's worth doing, we always have just a blast. But your captain and first mate have alot to do with that. We've been pretty lucky on that end so far. We've only had one captain that was kind of a stick in the mud. He was more worried about his ego and being able to tell everyone we limited out. So we caught a bunch of fish that looked like stream trout. While other boats didn't catch as many fish but had five times the weight we did in meat. If you can get into a mess of 4 year olds you will be hooked.

[MikeDebner]

Thanks for all the replys. Lance I think that I would probably take your route. I don't need to stay at a fancy resort. Super8 is fine with me. I am more worried about having an outfitter that knows what they are doing. If anyone did have a captain that they would recommend let me know. I can request one for when I head out there. I am looking forward to a trip like this. Someting new is always fun to try.

[Ted Knutson]

Hey Debner, I used to go out of Two Harbors with my Grandparents and the picture on the bragging board is just outside the breaker island fromthe harbor. Maybe we need to get some dipsy divers and hook the Warrior up and see what we can find.

[Mike Maul]

Ted,

Sign me up for that trip in the Warrior!!!! We could hook up Tom's downriggers!!

Mike

[Ruttin' Buck]

Hey Debner, be careful...you might end up spending $1000's when you get hooked!

My folks and a few couples chartered probably 20 years ago. After that, my father and his buddy bought some rods and 2 downriggers and ran the lake with an old Hummingbird flasher. Next thing we knew we had 2 boats rigged with the better fish finders (paper graph back then) and we spent our summer family week vacation out there.

We caught so many fish back then over the 4-5 summers we did it...and then the fishing dwindled a little and we all grew up. Dad and I talk about buying a boat and leaving it in a slip out there...just haven't done it yet. You'll about want to say to heck with MN after you catch a few chinook!

My recommendation would be our old standby....Sturgeon Bay. I've fished a few other areas but we had by far the best fishing out of Sturgeon Bay. We caught chinook, lakers, rainbows, and browns. With 5 people in the boat and 2 lines per we ran 3 downriggers stacked 2 high, 2 dipsies, and 2 flatlines for trout. Driver would call out depth and fish and 1-2 of us would run the riggers up and down as needed. We'd run the bottom for lakers, the top for rainbows and anywhere and everywhere in between for chinook.

Many charters run out of that channel between Stugeon and Green Bay. Nice part is if you get into it and decide to trick out a boat to go on your own chances are it won't be a 30 footer capable of handling 10 foot swells. We ran a 17.5' there and if the rollers were over 5' when we got up at 3 AM we took the channel to the GB side for walleye. That way, at least you can fish if you get out there and hit bad weather.

Our biggest chinook was 32lbs. Many in the 20's. The rest of my recollection is +/- a lb probably...I think our biggest rainbow was 15 lbs and the largest brown was 13 lbs. I'm sure all of the fishing has changed since then...so my experience may be outdated!

Ask me more about it on friday