‘Skyline’ finally touched the water this last Friday!  With all the talk of the great coho fishing lately, we’ve been itching to get the boat in the water.  The weather was pretty chilly and windy, but that didn’t keep us from launching the boat, setting up the rods and downriggers, and going for a short fishing trip just outside of Portage, Indiana.

Several other eager fisherman joined us for the roughly 2 hour trip.  We ran a mix of body baits, dodger flies, and a couple of spoons. For as cold as the water was, 37-38 degrees, the coho salmon were biting and kept us moving the whole trip.  We ended up catching 8 decent coho out of 12 bites in a short period of time once we got set up.  By the time we got back to the slip, the wind was blowing strong and temperatures had dropped to just above freezing, but everyone felt it was totally worth it!

The plan is to make the lake crossing to Belmont Harbor sometime next week. The forecast already looks good with temps in the 50s. Also, just a reminder to follow us on Instagram (@skylinefishingcharters) for photo updates throughout the season!

Charter fishing season is still a few weeks a way, but that hasn’t stopped plenty of hard-core fisherman from getting an early start fishing the salmon the hug the shoreline in the later winter and early spring months. We took a trip out to the wall at Belmont Harbor this last weekend to see the powerline fishing in action. Some of these guys had been fishing as early as February!  Powerline fishing from the shore can be long and tedious (at times), but it does get people excited for the upcoming season. Many of the fisherman will either be captaining a vessel in a few weeks or working as a first mate.

Powerlining for fish is very different from setting rods and trolling on boat.  The first photo below is someone shooting out the line with a weight tied to a long, 100ft rubber strand. The strand is then attached to a string of lines with hooks and set out almost 300 ft.  The lines are then left until it triggers the rod or retrieved a couple hours later.

Seeing all the fishing going on along the harbor wall definitely got us excited for the upcoming season! The plan is to launch the boat this weekend and do some test fishing along the shore in northwest Indiana off Portage.

The salmon look to have stuck around for the summer. After a cold and slower spring than usual we have seen plenty of salmon sticking around the Chicago fishing area. Many times the coho and king salmon move on during the mid-summer months but we’ve been able to consistently catch them in 50-80 ft of water over the last month. The lake trout fishing has been consistent as always with us pulling trout in the 12-16 pound range pretty consistently.  On our latest trip, we caught two 16lb plus king salmon and a hefty brown trout. Check them both out in our photos section.

As part of the 2017 season, we’re participating in the inaugural Chicago Sportfishing Association tournament. It’s a season long tournament. Entries are weighed and posted online where participants can check their ranking throughout the year. Rankings are by species so a 7lb coho salmon could win that category, but you’d need a 15+ lb king salmon to win the other.

We still have openings for the weekends in August and September. Also, follow us on Instagram (@skylinefishingcharters) for updates on all our charters!!

Spring fishing in Chicago is almost here and we are itching to get the boat in the water in the next couple weeks.  We’re currently getting the boat fixed up with a fresh coat of bottom paint, new LED underwater lights, and some new sonar tech!  With no major upgrades or repairs pending, we’ll be in the harbor before April 1st. We’re anxious to get some test fishing in before our first few charters.

Due to the mild winter, we are getting reports that the Coho are showing up already, so we’re expecting a great start to the fishing season. It’s not uncommon for charters in April to quickly limit out!  We’ll go through a school of Coho in shallow water and have 3-4 rods go off at once, which makes for an exciting trip where everyone is on their toes. If you’ve only fished Chicago during the summer, we highly recommend trying the spring salmon fishing experience!

Booking is open for the 2017 season. Call or book online.

We are now finally on Instagram (@skylinefishingcharters)!  We’ll be sharing plenty of photos and video throughout the upcoming season. For now, we’ve added quite of few photos of last season and before. Check it out and give us a follow!