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So let’s move on to the real reason why you are probably reading this, fishing! Let’s recap the 2025 season. ..
 
It was another abundant season for all five species that we pursue. It began in usual fashion with cold, 41 degree shallow, shoreline water catching brown trout in early April. We were successful and like several of the recent seasons before this, there were coho salmon inhabiting those same waters as well. But without the presence of baitfish (alewife) schools. This is becoming more common. And along with other evidence and indications we see, points to potential resident schools of coho overwintering near shore. And not massing up with other coho schools, as biologists suggest, in the middle portions of the lake. Why? Like a lot of things, the why, while useful to know at times, is not that important at all times, is probably due to adaptations of a segment of the coho population to feed more on resident, shallow water gobies that don’t move around much. Without digging much deeper into this, we are seeing more gobies in coho stomachs in recent years and we are adapting to these observations.

Just about every season, an overarching theme, or several of them, emerge and captains and anglers reference them in the current as they are occurring as well is in the, remember that season when … .I believe the 2025 season’s primary theme at this corner of the lake was the best chinook (king) salmon season in 10 or so years. Why? (there’s always that, why); In this example, the answer is pretty clear and we’ve been expecting this; stocking increases continue to be felt. However, mature kings, 20lbs and over, were not common this season but many in the mid and high teens were caught. 20lbs+ are great to have but the high teeners provide plenty of challenges too. But lastly and importantly, a meaningful presence of younger, two and three year old kings were caught, especially in the fall; hopefully pointing to an ongoing continuation of this king rebound we are witnessing. 

Several other themes emerged with the first one folding into what I wrote previously;
that we had coho again very early. My first times out in 2025 were April 5 and 6. First fish of the season was a coho and many coho were mixed in with browns we caught in early April. Like I wrote, we’re seeing a pattern of this in recent seasons; early coho present in absence of alewife schools. Then the bait schools arrive, again on the earlier side of average, and the mass schools of coho then begin to assemble and reside in our shallow waters. Historically this, early schools of coho, sometimes points to holes in the catches of coho in later May and early June. And we did see that in 2025. But were able to fill the holes with other species until more waves of coho arrived.

Another theme, while not exactly lasting very long, were catches of big brown trout, much further offshore than we normally see them in early August which lasted about a week. Why? I don’t really know except that maybe since they have not been targeted much over the past four years, there is a healthier, larger population. And/or maybe also just a school of them got pushed out of the warm, shallower water and they went on a feed before their spawning stage. However we have seen warm water wall up in the traditional brown trout habitats like this before and we didn’t catch the browns like we did offshore in 2025. Like a lot of things, we’ll never know, ‘the why’. But what is most important is realizing something is happening, pivoting, and including these new observations and incorporating them into the strategies.

We also had an unusual shallow water setup in mid-ish summer, catching coho and kings in 25-50ft of water. It was like the pre-mussell period of my youth; growing up and fishing on the boats, where specific winds brought in a cold water layer near shore and brought bait and predator fish into the shallows. However in the post-mussels environment we are now operating in, those same winds now typically send the food in the upper layers of the water column for the baitfish, offshore these days. And I cannot overstate how much the mussel colonizations changed the lake. So how did this setup occur this past season? This is a bit more technical, but the best I can say is at the time these winds arrived we hadn’t had a definitive thermocline (separation of warmer and colder water) setup. And what thermocline we had, didn’t seem to contain an abundance of detritus/matter, food for baitfish, in or above it as is more common in the summer; the portion that would get sent offshore now days with that wind. And most importantly, baitfish (alewife) schools (and gobies) were still or already inhabiting the shallows, for whatever reason, so when the cold water slid in nearer to shore with the wind, the right combination of all things were reached and we fished that water very successfully for 10-20 days or so.

Back on the trout end of things and kinda like the brown trout catching we witnessed offshore, it was also the best steelhead (rainbow trout) numbers in 11 years in late July, but for only a few days, when we began fishing the further offshore dimension. Why? Simply put, we were a long ways offshore where we typically find many more steelhead. This is not unusual and is actually to be expected. And to put it another way too, we simply don’t need to go to the way-offshore dimension for steelhead when we can be successful on other species nearer to shore, relatively speaking. The steelhead like it way out there. Well, why, Capt Rick? The why here isn’t really that important; it just really is that way. The most important thing is to know that when we are way offshore, is to prepare for and target steelhead.

One final theme we saw was with weather/conditions in September. Most seasons have us targeting lake trout on offshore reefs, every day until we call it a season. It can be a long run to and from but the catching is almost always, world class. Accompanying those catches at that time, often are bigger wave conditions. Maybe the lake is making us earn it when referenced against the superb lake trout catches. But in 2025, it was unusually flat or far less wind and wave conditions for most of September and into October. That was nice for us but the real cherry on top was closing out the season, targeting those non-mature king salmon and doing well on them for the final three charters of the season in early October .. and only having to travel half as far as we have to for the lake trout. But that was the end of it and for the rest of October and the conditions abruptly turned traditional. And the typical later-fall pattern setup with lots and lots of heavy wind arrived, and it was time to wrap up the season.

 

For those of you who reside in the midwest, you’ve seen the cold winter temps and snow arrive earlier this year than in quite a few years. Let’s be honest though, I mean more that we actually have or had a real winter going. It doesn’t mean it will last and the snow is nearly all gone already. But some might ask, well what does that mean for fishing in 2026 if it does remain a colder and snowier winter? Some of the old-timers used to say that the harder the winter, the earlier the bait and the salmon arrive. Well last winter was about the mildest winter we could imagine and the bait and fish still arrived early. So I don’t really know if the old patterns even exist anymore. Or if they do, maybe not so highly correlated as before. Our seasons seem different now. What winters we have, and they haven’t been much, seem to linger into March, April, and even May before seemingly turning to summer in a matter of days. At least in the Chicago area. While summer seems to linger into September and even October. And those winters of the 70’s and 80’s were what winters were really made of. And I’ve already touched on the lake being a very different body of water, post-mussels, than it used to be. I will plan to do what I always do; begin fishing for brown trout in early April in shallow and whatever coho we can get and then keep a keen eye for evidence that the baitfish are arriving and switch over bait offering for coho .. and then some for kings too.

 

 

To wrap things up, the reservation season has kicked off, as it usually does right after Thanksgiving. If you plan to fish with me in 2026, it’s a good idea to begin thinking of dates and getting in touch with me. Like in recent seasons, I will be fishing just a little less each year going forward, minding my health, age, and ability to run Windycitysalmon solo, the way I prefer to. And for 2026, I am running the promo for April; 6-hour charter for the rate of the 5-hour, if we need the extra hour to try and get our limit of fish.

 

Thanks as always, for reading! And Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and …. Go Bears!

 

Capt Rick

Hello everyone, 

 

I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving! I’ll try to make this letter a little shorter than usual, hopefully.

 

I was able to finish up the 2024 season as best as I could considering the knee injury I sustained in early June which laid me up on crutches for seven weeks. My comeback to the lake went as well as expected; it was a steady ramp up and not surprisingly, I was usually tired and sore at the end of each day. By the time I began fishing again in mid-August, the salmon had just about vacated our waters, committing to seasonal migration patterns, and we switched up and focused on the offshore reefs for lake trout. The lake trout catching was about as phenomenal as we’ve ever seen with limit after limit of 7-20+lb lake trout every single trip out. There wasn’t one time we fished from mid-August to the end of the season, where a limit was not reached. There were some trips where we were also able to locate and catch some or a lot of immature, but not small, king salmon. Which could portend well for upcoming seasons as catches of king salmon continue on an upward trajectory, which I have written about at length in recent years. There were other times where we targeted shallower water brown trout after we caught our lake trout limit. And while we didn’t have the setup I specifically like, to do well on the browns, we still caught some. And I continue to add strategies and experiences, and success, to my brown trout game. For a species that we have the least amount of knowledge and experience with as we target them far less than the other species. Simply because of the abundance of other species over the course of the season. Still, targeting and catching browns is one of my favorite early season (in April) pursuits. As well is in summer when specific winds set up. And I look forward to targeting them more in September and October in the upcoming seasons.

 

Before my injury, we again saw some of the best spring coho salmon fishing we have ever experienced. And while I was laid up, the other captains continued to see spectacular coho salmon fishing into late June and throughout July. With limits being caught even during afternoon sessions in the summer. It was nothing short of a legendary season for coho salmon while catches of king salmon were pretty good too and should only trend similar or even better for the 2025 season and beyond. Peering back before the coho arrived en masse to our waters towards third week of April, we saw excellent catches of brown trout in the shallows as well.

 

That’s the 2024 Season in a nutshell and I am happy to tell everyone that I am largely, mostly recovered from the knee injury. But I still feel some discomfort in both my knee (and elbow) from time to time. The good folks in PT at IBJ helped me get back to fishing as well as ready to hike in Mt Rainier Natl Park for about a week in October. I toured in the car for the first two days as my body recovered from a spider bite on my leg that quickly turned into an infection, which also probably triggered an autoimmune flare in my foot. Some bad luck there, huh? But as usual, that’s my body and prednisone thankfully, got me over, up and going, and I logged nearly 40 miles on trails in five straight days. Rollerblading, which caused the accident, is no longer in my future unfortunately however, but I used the hiking to springboard me into a more comprehensive, offseason fitness regimen that includes me running a little, for the first time in probably 15 years. And the knee is taking it pretty well. And it should all hold for another ski trip on tap to Jackson, WY again this winter.

 

The last six seasons have been interesting to say the least with five of them getting interrupted for one reason or another; busted up props/shaft after running over a huge submerged log, covid, new engines, neck surgery, and then the knee injury this season. Which was by far the longest interruption. But like the others, lessons were learned, pivots were made, and good things came out of the lay up this past season; I developed a big interest in puzzles which helped me get through the lay up. As well as being home in the summer, albeit highly limited, but not having to wake up at 2.45 nearly every morning to fish, for the first time in 17 years. It made me resolve to take another day off or two each week, adjusting my season schedules and expectations going forward. As my seven year old daughter will only be these ages once. As will my wife and I. It translates into slightly more time off the water each season, while still being plenty busy. Just not as busy. But I also plan to fish into the end of October in 2025, something I have not attempted since 2018. The reason why I haven’t comes from convenience as well as some of the higher winds and waves we experience in October. But that’s also where some of my aim is to potentially target brown trout in mid-to-later October, if possible. I’ll try it next season and see how it goes.

 

No significant investments or improvements are in the works for this offseason or upcoming season, at the moment. But I have my mind on a couple items potentially for 2026 or 2027. But as most of you know, I have kept the Independence up to date, well invested in, and well maintained over the past 17 years.

 

Wrapping up, I am again running the promo for all April charters for 2025 where you get a 6-hour charter for the price of a 5-hour (a $100 value). And if you already have an April charter booked, you will get the promo as well. Again, what’s going on in April? It’s the excitement of beginning to unpack another fresh season, shallow water fishing with the sights on the shoreline, some of the best brown trout fishing you can experience, as well as the hardest fighting lake trout you will ever tangle with, and typically some coho salmon to go with them, before it eventually turns to all coho usually in later April. It’s one of my favorite fisheries as a new season begins.

 

Reservations are being made for 2025 along seasonal trends; right after Thanksgiving and through Christmas and the new year. If you’re thinking about it and have a date in mind, it’s time to begin that process. Reply here or better yet, text or call me at 773-791-7990.

 

I’ll drop another line to everyone later this winter or so. But in the meantime, I hope you all have a great, happy, and healthy holiday season and winter. 

 

Thanks for reading!

Yours truly and your cap,

Capt Rick