Giant coho salmon: Sign that Illinois record is about to fall

While trolling five miles off the shore of Lake Michigan on Saturday, Captain Kyle Nied watched one of his clients hook a large salmon on a downrigger. Nied and his group of four anglers had left the dock in Waukegan, Illinois, around noon on his charter, SquandererThey had already had a great day of salmon fishing when the big coho fisherman bit around 7:30 p.m.

“The fish hit a dodger fly at 57 feet,” said Kyle’s brother Nick Nied, who is also a local charter captain. Outdoor living. Kyle was on the water and unavailable for comment when contacted by OL, but Nick fishes often with his brother and knows all about the near-record coho that one of Kyle’s clients, a woman who wishes to remain anonymous, caught on July 13. He says the fish weighed 18.4 pounds.

“It was a big one, and when they got it close to the boat, Kyle thought it was a nice king salmon,” Nick said. “But when he netted it, he saw it was a huge coho, which are usually much smaller than king salmon. It’s the biggest coho we’ve ever seen, and it was just a little bit smaller than the record coho that Illinois caught in 1972.”

The record coho was pulled from Lake Michigan in May of that year and weighed in at 20 pounds, 9 ounces. And while it’s been in the books for over 50 years, Nick says it’s high time for that state record to fall. Judging by how good the action has been so far this summer, he expects it could happen at any time.

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Nick, 38, and Kyle have also caught their share of Great Lakes salmon. The brothers have been fishing on Lake Michigan their entire lives and run the charter service in Waukegan with their father, Jerry, who has been chasing salmon there for 48 years. The Nieds have seen the lake go through many cycles, and Nick says they’ve caught more and bigger fish this summer than in years past.

“This is the best big salmon fishing we’ve ever seen on Lake Michigan,” says Nick. “I think we’ll catch record coho salmon this year, and maybe a new Chinook [king] salmon record too.”

He attributes this to the large population of baitfish currently present in the lake, which, combined with ideal weather conditions, has ensured that the salmon have arrived quickly.

“I think it’s because there are so many shoals of herring. We’ve also had a mild winter, with good clear water and not much wind,” Nick explains. “It’s the big shoals of herring that are the key to this fishery.”

He says they are finding these schools at depths of 15 to 21 metres and are catching fish as long as 10 centimetres Howie streamersthat look just like herring. Whiteflies are the best choice most days, says Nick, but they occasionally use different colors to get a bite. They also contain evaders in their trolling rigs, which attract fish by vibrating. The key is to keep these rigs close to the bottom where the salmon are feeding.

Timing is also crucial when fishing for Great Lakes salmon, because the fish are migratory. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources stocks coho and Chinook salmon in Waukegan Harbor each spring, Nick explains, and when those fish reach three years of age, they return to the area in what he calls a “false spawn.” (Unlike their ocean-dwelling cousins, farmed salmon have a hard time successfully spawning in the wild.)

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That run occurs in late summer and early fall, and it is during this time that the largest salmon of the year are typically caught on Lake Michigan. The record for the Illinois king salmon, also set in the 1970s, was caught in August. It weighed 37 pounds.

“I really think there’s going to be a record break in August or September,” Nick says. “Everything is lining up perfectly for both coho and species records. The herring are there, the water looks good and we’ve got our trolling tactics up to snag them.”