Fresh Chicago Fishing Reports

Book your early morning charters for your best chance at a true gaint the mighty king salmon. They bite best under low light conditions.

There are always a few fish of a lifetime lurking in the area. This brown trout hit the scales at 25 pounds all we can say is wow.

Fishing is getting better.

Another great day on the lake

Hello, my efforts at all of the little things and dialing in the boat are beginning to pay off. On Monday June 16, 2025, THE Top Dog and his crew (Captain Mike Shine & Tony Boshold) beat a field of seasoned Captains and others in the annual Zillion fishing tournament held out of Belmont Harbor. We caught all 5 species of fish Brown Trout, King Salmon, Coho or Silver Salmon, Lake Trout and Skamania steelhead or Rainbow Trout, to take first place. We also won for catching the largest King Salmon. Our plan came together on the right day and we smoked the field. One veteran Captain stated that he had been doing this tournament since 2012 and that a boat had never gotten all five species since he's been doing it. So we are grateful to the Dragon fly (that came and landed on my hand and gave us a little positive luck), and of course to the fish gods we take a bow! We started at the R4 where surface water and down temps appeared perfect, and the fish were there and biting. We fished 50 to 80 FOW made a couple turns around the R4 and then headed east to deeper water to search for big Lake Trout and Rainbows (90 to 120 FOW) where we found both. We had our catch by 10:30 am and only needed to upgrade, which we did on the Lake Trout. We went back to the R4 on Wednesday and in a couple hours 2 of us, boated 8 coho, again today (Friday morning) we were 9 for about 13, 8 coho and 1 Rainbow. NBK, stubby dodgers, and moonshine lures were all good. Fish were biting from surface down to 50 feet. However the surface water temp is getting very warm, I'm sure it will push the majority of fish deeper soon, unless cooler water gets pushed in? Good luck out there and remember safety is number one.

Hello, my efforts at all of the little things and dialing in the boat are beginning to pay off. On Monday June 16, 2025, THE Top Dog and his crew (Captain Mike Shine & Tony Boshold) beat a field of seasoned Captains and others in the annual Zillion fishing tournament held out of Belmont Harbor. We caught all 5 species of fish Brown Trout, King Salmon, Coho or Silver Salmon, Lake Trout and Skamania steelhead or Rainbow Trout, to take first place. We also won for catching the largest King Salmon. Our plan came together on the right day and we smoked the field. One veteran Captain stated that he had been doing this tournament since 2012 and that a boat had never gotten all five species since he's been doing it. So we are grateful to the Dragon fly (that came and landed on my hand and gave us a little positive luck), and of course to the fish gods we take a bow! We started at the R4 where surface water and down temps appeared perfect, and the fish were there and biting. We fished 50 to 80 FOW made a couple turns around the R4 and then headed east to deeper water to search for big Lake Trout and Rainbows (90 to 120 FOW) where we found both. We had our catch by 10:30 am and only needed to upgrade, which we did on the Lake Trout. We went back to the R4 on Wednesday and in a couple hours 2 of us, boated 8 coho, again today (Friday morning) we were 9 for about 13, 8 coho and 1 Rainbow. NBK, stubby dodgers, and moonshine lures were all good. Fish were biting from surface down to 50 feet. However the surface water temp is getting very warm, I'm sure it will push the majority of fish deeper soon, unless cooler water gets pushed in? Good luck out there and remember safety is number one.