Lake Michigan: Lake Trout and Salmon

For a long time I've wanted to go deep sea fishing, I have also wanted to go salmon fishing. Both these are likely to cost me a lot of money. Without being too humble, my job rocks. As part of my job I manage relationships with airport management for various cities in the Great Lakes region. So when the Milwaukee Airport invited me up for the day to go fishing on Lake Michigan I couldn't pass it up. We did business too, but to be honest this was a typical boon-doggle. Typically Milwaukee will take our people to a Brewers game but since this was during the post season the next thing they could come up with was fishing.

This was really hard work. I got up at 4am to catch my 6am flight to Milwaukee. I spent the morning touring the facilities, talking to employees and meeting with the airport management about what additional business opportunities exist. Then they took me for a burger (I've developed a passion for blue cheese burgers) and then we hit the lake.

It was cold and choppy but not too cold and too choppy. Obviously they hired a charter to take us out. This is an easy gig as a customer. They drive the boat, they run the fishing lines, they filet the fish--pretty much the only thing you do is stand up when a fish is on and reel it in. Its pretty impressive with about 12 lines trolling behind the boat and fish finders. It was slow at first, but we finally got a strong bite, problem was the fish turned on the hook and we caught him the back. It took off in the other direction and I spent 20 minutes reeling it in all the while worried that it would pull me in and my iPhone would be fried. The fish was so strong that the captain doubted we caught a fish and we expected to pull up a log or tire or something. I was so tired after 100 feet of reeling and 200 to go that I handed it off to one of the other guys that was fishing with us. He generously handed it back so I could pull in the last 100 feet. This is why two of us are in the picture with this beautiful 4 year old lake trout (a.k.a.- Lakie).  I don't normally smile this big!

We trolled a while longer and pulled in a second Lakie with only about a 5 minute fight. After throwing that one back as well, we finally snagged a Coho Salmon (King). You can tell immediately the difference between the lake trout and the salmon because they're more tactical coming in. The trout come straight to the boat, but the salmon move around the back of the boat. This one we kept and took it back to the dock where they cut it up and put it on ice for me. The airport was prepped with a cooler to send it home with me that night arriving back at home just before midnight.  The fish successfully made it home and cooked it for my family a couple days later. My daughter Mackay loves salmon. Kinda of weird for a 5 year old, but she can't get enough of the stuff...and this was probably the most expensive and fresh salmon she will ever eat.

Overall the experience was exciting and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At the end of the day though, I prefer the stream and the excitement of catching a fish on the rise. I would go deep water fishing again, but the sitting and waiting don't compare to pursuit of a perfect hole and gentle presentation.