Lake Michigan Bender Park, Milwaukee County (all postings)

aracko...turn on your pm

Would anyone here ever consider taking myself and my 12 year old son on a fishing trip on Lake Michigan? We would gladly pay someone for bait, gas, whatever. I really would like for him to get to experience this, and quite honestly I would love to experience it. I really do not want to go all "full blown charter". I dont want the trip to be all about us, just want to head out fishing and have some fun.

In summer, my wife and I often go fishing with the kids on the piers around Lake Michigan, but Id be lying if I said we have ever had success.

Otherwise, if anyone has any suggestions on pier fishing these locations (OC area) I would love to hear them. Power plant, water treatment plant, Bender piers, etc.

the road will streamline future dredging operations, and make it cheaper to dredge, hopefully meaning that you guys with huge boats wont have to wait so long for it to get fixed next time. an excavator and a dump truck on dry land is way faster than an excavator and a barge or an excavator on a barge. it's basically just a drivable widening of the south wall of the harbor anyways, so i guess you could fish from it

At least compared to their last fix this one looks more extensive. Yes, barges used for dredging do work, but this road should make it more readily accessable if silting occurs again which it probably will. I hope the road opens up more shore / pier type casting use when not being used as dredging access operations. Don't know myself, but is there a bluprint or plan for us to see what the final thing will look like?

WTF? They build a road out to the gap? Don't they know about barges???

I spoke with a parks department employee down there yesterday. I was told their permit only allows them to remove so much material and they can only go to a certain depth due to PCBs in the sand. The permit is only good until June 5 so they expect to be done by then.

Thanks Musky ,, Ill be keeping a eye on it also .. Im about 3 mins away .. with a 28ft .. so I need some DEPTH! LOL And also I do not want to see some half a** s*** like the last dredge. I hope to drop in the water this weekend .. to go over fluids and such . since engine and transom were completely redone this season!

Bender update: construction of a "road for diggers / dredgers" out to the gap has been started. I will occasionally take a photo if anyone is interested. I live very close and will observe the process and let everyone know when you might be able to use the launch again. If the occasional weekly updates become a problem for viewers, just message me and I will stop the posts and email whomever is interested. I find the process of moving the huge stones fascinating. Any chance we could drop, oh say 10 of them in 70' for some King structure? JK

The wait is over at Bender! They started the process of dredging the harbor this morning (hopefully more than a temporary fix again). I watched the last boat leave. It is formally closed... unfortunately it comes during one of the best bites of the year. See ya on the 10 mile run, bring your gas card!

Fished Saturday and Sunday. Went 10 of 16 on Saturday and 15 of 18 on Sunday. Other than losing two Opti Planer Boards it was a great weekend. All fish came from 20-30 FOW on Orange Dodgers and Peanut Flies. Planer Boards and Dipseys were equally productive.

Don't understand how Milwaukee County could send a Park Ranger down to Bender and give people a warning tickets. For not Paying the Launch Fees.

When A: There wasn't any envelopes in the envelope box to use. Per the Park Ranger. B: When the Launch isn't being taken care of in the way of sort of dredging.

Great morning on the water 10 for 18 in 3.5 hours. All orange dodger & flies. Started 16 to 20 ft of water, with Dipseys being the hotest, 18 ft LOC. Finished in.28 to 32 feet of water after 8:30 a.m.

Just me and my younger son, alot of laughs, and a lot of lost fish!!

Special THANK YOU to Musky IL for all the great reports and detailed info, without your posts I never would of ran a Dipsey at 18 feet!!!

Hello.

Lost a yellow planar board. Telephone number is on the board. If found please call.

Thanks in advance.

We got blown off early as well. Managed to land one, and lost another. Too bad we started late(or probably would have had plenty to load up before the weather got bad. Musky, I was heading south in front of the PP when you were heading in. Both fish came on Coho riggs on three colors in 24' of water.

musky, I think its my fault for bringing the weather change with us today. I will talk to mother nature, for the next outing to get the numbers back up...lol

Fish did scatter a bit today. No consistency to the bite, but i think its all about the front moving in and wind switch. Still good numbers for such a short trip, but not what we are used to.

Fish are starting to show up, and wont be long till the masses move farther north.