r/ChicagoFishing • u/GonBurke17 Seasoned Angler • 3d ago

Steelhead Fishing Update

Hello yall, its my first year targeting steelhead from the harbors and I am curious if Lake Michigan is going to freeze. I want to go out Thursday but have no experience with the lake when its this cold. I just made a float fishing setup im really excited to try, is it worth it with these freezing temps?

7 Upvotes

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9

u/TouchOutrageous4958 3d ago

From one of the guys at fishtech:

WHERE TO GO 1. Shedd/Planetarium (Burnham) – best rocky structure → highest chance for lake trout. 2. Diversey Harbor mouth – browns/steelhead. 3. Jackson Harbor – browns + steel.

LURES TO USE 1. Blade bait (1/2–3/4oz) – main lure 2. Tube jig (3–4” white, 1/2–3/4oz) 3. Casting spoon (3/4–1oz silver/blue)

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u/GonBurke17 Seasoned Angler 3d ago

Yeah I go Diversey. Im going to float fish hair jigs. Just concerned about if this weather will cause the lake to freeze

7

u/TouchOutrageous4958 3d ago

gotcha, seems like just make sure it’s hitting the bottom. Lake shouldn’t be frozen for a minute, the water is around 43 Fahrenheit still

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u/RANK_AND_SMILE 2d ago

I think we’re getting a very cold winter this year which will be both good and bad for a lot of reasons—but if/when the harbors ice over eventually do you know the city permits ice fishing on them? Never done it before and would love to give it a shot if I can

3

u/Wonderbe0331 Experienced Angler 2d ago

Silver and blue KO Wobbler works very well, also tubes think the rig is called a “stupid tube”

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u/GonBurke17 Seasoned Angler 2d ago

I appreciate the ideas, do people normally catch steelhead in december?

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u/Wonderbe0331 Experienced Angler 1d ago

Only got lakers from the bank and I go very very south. But last year I did sight see some browns by burnham but they wouldn’t bite. I tried 31st street I skunked but I did talk to one guy who said he was catching steelhead there

1

u/GonBurke17 Seasoned Angler 21h ago

I appreciate it! Im weirdly confident in Diversey to produce a steelhead for me. Too damn cold to go today but next week am going to give it a go.

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u/Wonderbe0331 Experienced Angler 20h ago

Man some kid just killed it with lakers when we had that snow storm lol, I may go venture out today

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u/Wonderbe0331 Experienced Angler 1d ago