Sheboygan Harbor Kings....Where Are You?

Seeing direct results this year of stocking cuts. Harbor area fishing sucks, and when more lake trout are being caught than kings...you know its bad. Some guys are blaming cold water, but I don't buy it. When its time to run up river these kings go no matter what conditions. What are some other ports expierencing? So much for being a top king port. Boooo Time to prepare for bow season. Next year may be REALLY interesting.

Not in any numbers. See a few still being caught but they are gray brown and nasty looking. Maybe good for eggs, but with the lack of stocking .... best to just let them drop and hope for natural reproduction.

Did they ever come in?

I have a buddy who catches 10# wally slobs down in Milwaukee. Wouldn't eat them though..............nor any other fish out of there.

There has been millions of Walleye stocked in the Milwaukee River over the years, no doubt there are some to be caught.

Swamp I fish both Kewaunee and Sheboygan piers and I caught 1 Laker in Sheboygan so far and nothing in Kewaunee. Had a big king on in Kewaunee about 4 weeks ago but line gave out right when I got him up to the pier. Other than that i've had several bites on both Alewives and Spawn sacks but just couldn't hook em. Hope this helps you out brother. God bless and good fishing.

T...........what an idiotic statement. Walker derangement syndrom ring a bell? The DNR reduced stocking to try and head off the collapse that Lake huron suffered. The collapse was the result of the predator - prey imbalance. Anyone that spends any time on the water will tell you that the alewife population has been steadily declining. In order to allow the alewife population to rebound they have reduced stocking. As a sportsman, I have no problem with this strategy. Plenty of other species to fish for in our Great State.

If you voted for Walker and Cathy Stepp ,You own it!!!!Enjoy!

You're correct on the Lake Trout not fighting, heck they're even worse than a walleye.

Do walleye live in 300' of water? Why would we give up the trout and salmon for walleyes that fight like a wet towel?

Pike, There is a huge population of walleye in the bay of green bay that at times is as productive as Lake Erie. If LM was a good place for them they would swim there. LM is too cold. Similar to not finding walleye in the very northern Canada lakes that hold northerns and LT.

Are the Michigan side ports producing better than here? I actually think that going 60 miles to the other side is not that big of a deal for the salmon. They go hundreds of miles up rivers out West. Additionally a 3 pound walleye can go 95 miles from Winnebago to the Wolf river. I wish they would stock a bunch of Cohos on the Wisconsin side. They are great eating and if the Kings are reproducing on the other side of the lake, great. The Coho would also put less pressure on the alewifes. Going to college in Ashland in the 80s I remember when the coho naturalized on the streams up there. They are a great fish and fun to catch and great to eat.

Not all the "natural" Kings that are around here in summer will go 60 miles back across the lake, there is a decent amount still being caught on this side and they aren't going to swim all the way across anymore. At least 50% or more of the fish at the Kohler dam last year were "naturals", that being said the run was way down from past years as well. I think cold water slows metabolism thus slowing the maturation of eggs. I've caught them in the "zombie" stage in the rivers already at this point years past, when the eggs are mature they will come, regardless of temperature or day light.

It's been happening for years now. More natural reproduction in lower Michigan rivers means that those fish are going back to their home rivers to spawn which means less of them coming to our side of the lake. I don't think the cold water has anything to do with it. They come in regardless of water temp, more based on light in the day than water temp.

I also fish Sheboygan and while I agree we are seeing a drastic change in the lake with reduced King stocking I don't believe myself or any of the other captains or anglers I know that fish the port regularly have caught a King fully matured and ready to head up river. I believe the cold water may have slowed the maturation process delaying their push into the harbor and up river.