Sport Fishing

Reel in a big one! Lake Michigan boasts fantastic sport fishing, including large trophy fish like Chinook and coho salmon and lake, rainbow and brown trout and many others that will put up a fight and bend your rod!

Port Cities Charter, Manitowoc

Seaduction Charter Service, Manitowoc

Crawlerman Charters, Two Rivers

RN Fishing Charters, Two Rivers

Two Rivers Charter Fishing Association, Two Rivers

Willie Bee Charters, Two Rivers

Bums and Big Shots, Kewaunee

Fishstick Charters, Kewaunee

Jaws II Charters, Kewaunee

Tiger II Charters, Kewaunee

RV Charters, Algoma

Thunder Buck, Algoma

Kinn's Sport Fishing, Algoma

Fishin' Magician Charters, Algoma

Big Water Charters, Algoma

Haasch Guide Service, Algoma

JennyAnn Fishing Charters, Sturgeon Bay

Reel Action Sport Fishing Charters, Sturgeon Bay

OutDOOR Charters, Sturgeon Bay

Nooo Problem Charters, Sturgeon Bay

Fox 1 Charters, Sturgeon Bay

Bousley's Sport Fishing Charters, Sturgeon Bay

Hour Time Fishing Charterers, Sturgeon Bay

Salmon Depot, Sturgeon Bay

Added in 2026

Chinook salmon, illustration. Photo: A. Hoen and Co., public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The charter list above is a 2015 snapshot. When this archive checked every link in November 2026, about half of the charter websites still answered and the rest no longer resolved; dead links have been removed from the names, and live ones kept. A boat listed here may have changed captain, port or name.

The fish themselves are a stocking story. Coho were planted in Lake Michigan in large numbers from 1966 and chinook from 1967, originally to eat down the invasive alewife. They do not reproduce well in Wisconsin's Lake Michigan tributaries, which is why the DNR still stocks the rivers each year and collects eggs at facilities like the one on the Kewaunee River.

Sources: Wikipedia articles on chinook salmon, coho salmon and the Kewaunee River; link check of the original charter list (November 2026).

Questions visitors ask

What is the best month for salmon off the Schooner Coast?

Late July through August is peak trolling season for chinook in open water, and September brings fish toward the harbors and rivers before the fall run. The guide to Kewaunee and Algoma fishing goes into more detail.

Do I need a license on a charter boat?

Yes. Each angler needs a Wisconsin fishing license and a Great Lakes salmon and trout stamp; charters can tell you how to buy them before the trip.

Original text restored from the Wayback Machine capture of June 26, 2015. Typos and dead links were tidied; nothing else in the original section was rewritten. How this archive works.