Fishing for Salmon w/Not for Hire!

V

Valkyrie

New member
Hi Brats,

About a month ago, Mark on Not for Hire invited us to join him on his CD 22 for a day of salmon fishing on Lake Michigan. Wow, what an experience!

We decided to take our Coleman pop-up and spent the night in a campground in Manistee, MI, a few miles from the marina where Mark was staying. We met him for the first time last Thursday night and went for a cruise on the Manistee River and poked our noses about a half mile out onto the big lake to find three to fives with an occasional MUCH larger one to keep things exciting.

Anyway, Marcia and I were at his dock the next morning at six and out on a surprisingly calm lake (two footers) to watch the sun come up on a crystal clear sky.

About an hour later I landed my first salmon, a 15 pound King taken in about 40 feet of water. Marcia's turn soon followed and a number of hours later, we were headed in with a limit of six Kings, ranging from a little under fifteen pounds to Marcia's best that topped twenty pounds.

It was a new experience for us and it now looks like Valkyrie will be fitted with an autopilot and downriggers (new to me) for next season.

We came home with a cooler full of filets and steaks and today and tomorrow will be spent smoking about fifteen pounds of salmon, using the recipes posted by other Brats a few weeks ago.

Marcia and I hadn't met Mark before, other than on the Net, but now consider him a friend and can't thank this fine gentleman enough for his hospitality, generosity and willingness to help out other CD owners. Even at our insistance, he wouldn't take a rod, but insisted that we "Just have fun." He even had hot coffee and snacks waiting for us.

Next year it looks like we'll be fishing for salmon from our own boat on Lake Michigan.

Thanks again, Mark!

Nick and Marcia
"Valkyrie"

PS Will post photos in our album, but is there a thread here that explains how to post a photo in an individual post?
 
DoD,

You are welcome anytime, provided you bring your dogs. However, I may reciprocate and it would not be a fair trade having to put up with me.

Here is Nick with his first fish. He and Marcia both caught bigger fish but I didn't get any pictures.

Regards, Mark

Nick_with_Salmon.sized.jpg
 
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes comprising the largest body of fresh water on earth. While it is, indeed, a lake, one should never confuse it with a harmless little body of water. It (and all four of its sisters) can often behave very badly. Given the propensity of rapidly developing and moving weather systems in the midwest, the lakes can go from a dead calm to a raging beast in a matter of minutes.

In the early 70s, Ted Turner, who skippered the America's Cup winner in 1977 was to race in the 333 mile Chicago to Mackinac Island race which is held each July. Before the race, Turner, with his many thousands of miles of ocean sailing experience and his big mouth, declared Lake Michigan to be a "mill pond" and was properly rewarded for insulting the great body of water with a dismasting in a storm in the northen half of the lake.

Having sailed the lakes from early April until late October, I encounterd my share of the nasty stuff. While the experiences make for great "bull ship" stories later, they surely test ones skill and stamina as they are happening.

The huge ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald was taken down in a violent storm on Lake Superior in November, 1975 and is perhaps the most famous of Great Lakes shipwrecks. But it is certainly not lonely resting on the bottom. There are thousands of wrecked ships scattered in all of the lakes, testaments to the inherent danger of these "mill ponds".

One of the most dangerous aspects of fresh water versus salt water boating is the wave period. A ten foot wave on the ocean usually is a long swell because the greater density of sea water tends to push down on the wave tops. On the lakes, a ten footer (which few pleasure boaters ever see despite their insistence to the contrary) comes at you with much greater speed and frequency than the ocean swell.

Think of the 3' to 4' wind driven chop encountered on the ocean which comes more quickly than the larger wave beneath it and then imagine that wave at triple the height. It is damn near impossible to do anything in that kind of sea other than heave to and ride it out.

That is one of my concerns when looking at the C Dorys. I cannot imagine attempting a lake crossing or other longish passage in any power boat that has only one engine and, should all engines fail for some reason, the resulting vulnerability is truly frightening. I doubt I'd ever make such a trip unless it were during a period when forecasts called for light winds for at least two to three days in a row.

So, Flapbreaker, you now know a lot more about Lake Michigan than you wanted to know but, never having fished for Salmon in either the PNW or the lakes, I can't tell you much about the flavor. But I did enjoy writing this. Too much time on my hands today, I guess.

Jim
 
Thanks for the insight. Both the northern Pacific and great leaks can have weather noone want to be on. I'm sure most people are surprised about the lake weather though.
 
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