Guide Eric Haataja (left) of Milwaukee and Ted Kirkpatrick of Hartland caught these steelhead in the Milwaukee River. Photo by WIBigFish.com

Southeastern Wisconsin steelheaders have it made. A dozen Lake Michigan tributaries support solid runs of three different strains of steelhead, the season is open year 'round, and the fish eagerly take bait, lures and flies. The biggest challenge is often deciding which stream to fish on a given day.

Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources fisheries crews stock three strains of steelhead, and each strain makes its spawning run at a different time of year. Skamania steelhead run up the tributaries in late summer and early fall, and they remain in the rivers until they spawn in February. Chambers Creek steelies make a late-fall run and spawn in March. Ganaraska steelhead stay in the lake until March and early April, then make a mad dash up tributary streams to spawn as soon as conditions are favorable.

THE BIG THREE
John Graba, fishing department manager at the Gander Mountain store in Kenosha, fishes steelhead practically every day he is not working, and he talks with hundreds of anglers every year while at work, so he has a good feel for fishing opportunities along our eastern coast.

"Three streams stand out as the best steelhead producers," Graba said. "The Root, the Milwaukee and the Sheboygan. All three have good numbers of fish, and all are big enough to drift a bait or cast a fly with ease. Runs on the Milwaukee and Sheboygan last longer and don't peak as quickly as on the Root and smaller rivers."

The Root is the earliest river to open each spring, and anglers flock to it from all over Wisconsin and beyond. There is good public access at Lincoln and Colonial parks in the city of Racine, and at the Horlick Dam on the city's west side. That dam limits the upstream migration of fish, so steelies often stack up there and in the long gravel run below it. As a broodstock stream, the Root receives abundant fish of all three strains.

The Milwaukee is wide open in many places, so casting is easy. It is also easier to wade than some other streams, and its broad watershed helps stabilize its flow, so it does not rise or fall as quickly as smaller streams. There are long stretches with good spawning gravel, Graba said, thus making it easy to target fish on the redds.

"The ideal size for steelhead spawning gravel is anything from a marble to half the size of a baseball," Graba said. "There are good deep channel cuts close to most gravel areas on the Milwaukee, which allow fish to hold near where they will spawn. If the fish are not spawning, they will most likely be in the nearest deeper water."

There is good public access on the Milwaukee in Estabrook and Kletszch parks, and at bridge crossings in Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties. The removal of the North Avenue dam allows fish to reach Grafton about 20 miles upstream, but concentrations are heaviest from Capitol Drive in Milwaukee north to Thiensville.

The Sheboygan River has good numbers of all three steelie strains. With many bends, good structure and current fluctuations, the Sheboygan offers quality fishing -- especially in the seven-mile stretch that flows through the Black Wolf Run golf course and River Wildlife recreation area, which are both owned by the Kohler Company. Anglers can purchase a seasonal pass to fish this water, and most people who do usually say it is well worth the moderate cost.

Guide John Matenaer likes the Sheboygan because it has good numbers of fish regardless of water levels.

"Because the Sheboygan joins the lake in a harbor and not a beach, it's easy for fish to enter it," Matenaer said. "In low water, you can fish the public water closer to the mouth and still catch steelhead."