Although the Sheboygan River isn't the prettiest of these streams (it runs right through the city of Sheboygan) I know the river well (and how to get to it) and it's the first place my buddy Ted ever went to catch anadromous fish, so it has some sentimental value. It's funny just how excited we were to catch a few mangy, crusty black salmon back then and now almost can't lower ourselves to fish for them.
I left home at just after midnight early Friday morning and made a couple of hours (until I made the small town of Oxford) before I stopped for a bit of a sleep. I didn't sleep well and I was developing a bad sore throat and had a terrible headache and really bad muscle cramps. It wasn't fun! After an hour or so I was back on the road and made it to a small gas station just west of Sheboygan Falls where I did fall asleep properly. There was plenty of time till legal fishing time so I enjoyed my hour and a half or so of slumber. I made it streamside by twenty to six and once I was rigged up and ready it was perfect timing to begin fishing.
As I waded out to my favorite hole I saw a few fish moving through the shallows so I knew the fish were in. The water was low, making my hole a little less appealing than it normally is. I fished it long and hard though but didn't hook a fish, but every now and then a fish would move up through the shallows above me. There was one angler working a good hole above me and another guy that was shamelessly patrolling the shallows looking to snag the easy pickings.
After some time I decided to move downstream and started to notice fish moving about on redds and in the broken water. There were two distinct populations of fish in the river, the black fish and some clean, almost ghostlike, shiny fresh fish. Of course there was plenty of dead and decaying fish in the shallows and the gulls were working overtime picking out their eyes. If I had to guess I would say the recent rains and cooler temperatures pushed some fresh fish into the river from the big lake.
One stretch of the Sheboygan RiverWithout so much as a bump I decided to fish to a salmon that was sitting up on a red but wasn't spawning. I ran a number of flies past him and eventually I noticed a slight head movement. I set the hook and the fish began to thrash his head and run. It was a typical king salmon fight with bulldog like runs and stubbornness. When it came to hand it was relatively fresh but had some scraping around the tail and peduncle from digging redds. I'll never know if the fish was lined or it ate the fly (it certainly didn't move to grab the fly) but the egg pattern was wedged in the front corner of the mouth.
First fish of the dayThere were a number of redds in the shallows of this particular stretch of river and all had fish moving on and around them but I didn't notice any actually spawning or making redds. I also noticed that the only fish I could hook were the fresher ones. It didn't matter how many times I ran a fly by a darker fish there I just couldn't get them to eat. Of course you'd foul the odd one but it wasn't easy because there wasn't too many fish around and they were moving about contentedly. Although I'm not a firm believer that king salmon eat in rivers (although I do think they'll swipe at a ESL when the males are fighting with one another) but because I could not hook the darker fish in the mouth with anywhere near the frequency of the fresher ones I am reluctant to say I was just lining them. I managed nine decent salmon during the morning and I was quite bored with them after just a couple of them. Behind the redds was a nice deep run and I spent quite a long time (nearly two hours) probing it in the hopes of hooking a brown or steelhead. I didn't hook one, but as I fought one of my kings I did see what I swear was a decent brownie. Unfortunately, that was the only brownie I saw all day.
There's only so many ways to photograph fish when you're by yourselfAround lunchtime I headed back to the car to eat some lunch and relax for a while. The overcast sky and drizzle persisted (although it was very noticible how the redds would empty and the signs of salmon would completely dissappear the moment the sky cleared even a little bit) so I headed back down. In the morning I had forgotten my cell phone and I'd intended sending a photo message to my buddy Vincent so I brought my phone down for the afternoon session. But wouldn't you know it, when I got back to my spot there was another angler there (I'd had the river pretty much to myself for the later part of the morning) and a light breeze started. I couldn't put my finger on it but the atmosphere just felt different.
Just then I got a call from my friend Claire and as I sat to talk I started to see fish move up onto the redd I was sitting by. The the female began spawning and soon males flocked in by the dozen. Soon there were fish everyhwere, mainly black river-pigs, but it was hard to imagine so many fish had been in the river that very morning. I guess they were all just hanging around in the deep, still pools. As I sat and chatted the whole area became alive with fish moving and spawning, chasing one another around and fighting and spooking one another through the shallows. I also noticed another element, anglers were showing up with large spoons and trebles eager to snag the salmon in the shallows. It was hard to watch the slow wind-stop-quick wrist snap-slow wind-stop-quick wrist set routine. The thing is these guys were so full of high fives and things when they got a fish I couldn't believe it. It was hardly a challenge and not sporting at all with there 30lbs monofilament line.
With the fish now actively spawning and so many crusty fish in a small area it became almost impossible to get a drift without fouling a fish. They weren't eating and I spent at least half my time fighting foul-hooked fish and retying flies. This was the kind of "fun" I'd forgotten that goes along with king salmon "fishing". I did manage at least one (one for sure) fair hookup on an olive woolly bugger but ended up loosing that fish after ten to fifteen minutes or so.
One thing I must say is that the general size of the salmon this year seems to be down a little on what it has been in past years. I know the prey base is down out in the big lake and that is definately translating on the size of the fish returning to the tributaries. Of course, the fish in Sheboygan do seem to run smaller than those running the Mantiwok but still, I didn't see even one of those bruisers over 20 lbs, even from the dead fish lying around.
With a long drive ahead of me I quit fishing around four and called home before hitting the road. On the way home I stopped by River Wildlife on the Kohler property and took some pics. The fall colours were in full swing and the place is nice, even if it is full of rich, pretentious dorks. As I drove home I wondered if it had been worth it to come chase kings and decided a day (or half day) of king fishing is OK. The problem is that the drive is so long and I've come over to find the river empty or too hot, or too high, or too low, or so choked up with crusty, black fish that you couldn't get a fair hookup to save yourself, or so full of anglers you couldn't get a five foot section of river to yourself. Of course, next year is twelve months away but I think the chances of getting a decent day fishing with kings just isn't worth the risk. If they fought like steelhead it would be different, but they're just a totally different fish.
A familiar site of the Sheboygan River
A look inside a trout bums carThe drive home was along one and I stopped for a bit of a sleep in Ripon and then a meal and toilet break in Mauston. Still, for the cost of two tanks of gas it was a good trip for me, probably the best fishing for kings I've experienced in terms of hooking fair fish that were relatively fresh. One things for sure, it was FAR better than the king salmon trip Ted and I took in 2007.
A few pics from River Wildlife in Kohler
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