Captain Rick Bentley
04-20-2013, 04:26 PM
As a lot of you know, the weather in the Chicago metro area has been tough recently. Winter was packed into about five or six weeks and some would even say it never ended since, as I write this, we saw a decent amount of snow fall last night (on April 19). Besides that, we have seen a high amount of rain the past two weeks but rest assured, time is on our side and with that some milder weather is on the way.
So how is fishing? Well, only a few of use have been out and only a few times. I have been one of them but only for an abbreviated afternoon. Wind is mostly the factor as it's been volatile as the seasons go through their changes. The coho which we normally catch in the spring are just starting to show up. This trend should accelerate and it could do so very quickly too. I've seen it happen in a 24-hour period of time where one day we had a handful of coho and the next day we had a limit of 25+ fish.
Beyond the coho though, we have a brown trout fishery that has yielded pretty decent catches and has some very good potential. These browns are running 4-10lbs on average but the possibility to catch them in the teens and even into the 20's is definitely there. As we continue to wait for larger numbers of coho to arrive, we will be focused almost exclusively in the direction of brown trout in shallow water, not far from shore. So, if you like catching browns or have always wanted to go after them specifically, now is the time for it and we'll run a spread of lines that focuses on them but will still have a chance at other species as well.
So how is fishing? Well, only a few of use have been out and only a few times. I have been one of them but only for an abbreviated afternoon. Wind is mostly the factor as it's been volatile as the seasons go through their changes. The coho which we normally catch in the spring are just starting to show up. This trend should accelerate and it could do so very quickly too. I've seen it happen in a 24-hour period of time where one day we had a handful of coho and the next day we had a limit of 25+ fish.
Beyond the coho though, we have a brown trout fishery that has yielded pretty decent catches and has some very good potential. These browns are running 4-10lbs on average but the possibility to catch them in the teens and even into the 20's is definitely there. As we continue to wait for larger numbers of coho to arrive, we will be focused almost exclusively in the direction of brown trout in shallow water, not far from shore. So, if you like catching browns or have always wanted to go after them specifically, now is the time for it and we'll run a spread of lines that focuses on them but will still have a chance at other species as well.