I hit the Gov't pier over in Waukegan but got there a little too late (7 am) because I kept hitting snooze on the alarm clock thinking it was a work day. I got a hit on the harbor side on a holographic spoon but didn't set the hook in time. I got a big hit on a Model "A" deep diver crankbait. I horsed in a big male King, but he made a real good run going to the edge of the rocks and I thought I was gonna run out of line. When I finally got him to shore, I tried to tail him because I forgot the net in the car and gave him enough slack to get loose. :evil: I did catch a couple of nice brown trout (I think - don't know my trout too well other than rainbow) on floating salmon eggs using a Carolina rig type of setup an casting as far as i could from the end of the pier. I used two large sinkers and let the eggs float out a bit. I got a nice perch too using a minnow and jig when the salmon stopped hitting. I'm still pissed on missing out on like 15 lbs of salmon steaks, but was a nice day overall. If anyone's interested, I will be heading out there on Friday night and fishing 'til morning because it is 24 hour fishing like it should be everywhere in the area.
I might be heading to the south rocks. The guys at the bait shop were saying almost everyone over there was walking out with full stringers of Kings. I wouldn't mind catching a female or two for the eggs with the trout opener in a couple of weeks.
I didn't go to the Salmon Stop because I was in such a rush to get down there. There were plenty of guys walking off the pier with nice sized kings. There was one guy that was about my size (I'm only 5'11", but stocky) walking off with the creel limit and had to stop evey 10 feet to rest his arms, so the action seems good anywhere you went. I will give them a call before I head out on Friday.
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