Dick and Rick on Lake Michigan

FISH ON!

As most of you know I like to fish. Missing the traditional 2nd week in August salmon trip to Ludington Michigan this year, I decided to book a morning charter. Something I’ve wanted to do for the last few years. I’ve been following a boat named CATCHIN for many years and the Captain, Myron Gilbert is the best. You don’t want to follow directly behind him because there won’t be any fish left. I stay off to one side when I’m up there fishing with my boat, wondering what bait did he catch that last fish on when he nets another fish and I’m not catching any. He charters for walleye out of our local marina where I have my boat til mid July then takes his boat to Ludington for salmon. Son Rick, Walt my neighbor and a friend of Rick’s Robbie and I headed up to Ludington on Wed. afternoon. After a restless night’s sleep (lots of anticipation) we were awakened at 4 am by the alarm. (I have no use for alarms anymore except for fishing). After getting our coffee mugs filled we headed down to the dock where Myron was setting his poles out. There was a little lighting in the southern sky but all looked well in the north. We headed out about 5:15, cleared the Ludington pier heads and north we went for a half hour run up to Point Sable. With the wind from the north, a very light drizzle, waves about 2 to 3 feet, we went about a mile beyond the point then tuned south to set lines with the wind. The CATCHIN is a 36 foot Sea Ray with a 10 foot wide beam capable of running 14 fishing poles (8 is my max). Myron set the auto pilot then it was to the back of the boat to set lines and give us a few instructions. He has no first mate and does everything himself. He is all over the back of the boat and you don’t want to get in his way. He had the first line set and told Rick to set the second one out. Rick asked him if he ever had caught a fish before the line was all the way out and he said yes all the time. About that time, WHAM Rick had the first fish on and it was total mayhem after that. I started setting lines and another fish hit, Robbie (a rookie at salmon fishing) was up next and it was a non-stop Chinese Fire Drill for 2 ½ hours. We had our first fish before 6:00 and it was still dark. It’s very difficult to net a fish in the dark. Walt was up next and he lost 2 fish before landing one (living up to his reputation, we call him stone hands). A lot of the times we had 2 fish on at once. We had 5 or 6 fish before day break. This was one of those trips you always dream of. Everything was fast and furious, non-stop action. Myron was from one side of the boat to the other trying to keep everything in an orderly fashion but it was a lost cause. There were a few lulls in the action, enough time to repair some tackle and repair a downrigger line. I don’t want to brag but I caught the biggest one at 20 pounds (it looks like a 23 pounder though). At times I had to just hold the pole with both hands and hold on. The fish came out of the water 2 or 3 times doing cartwheels. At the back of the boat it saw the net and came totally out of the water again before being netted. At this time the cooler was so full we had to sit on it to keep the lid down. We ended up with a limit in about 2 ½ hours on a 6 hour charter. So it was a nice boat ride back to the dock with a lot to talk about and an experience not to be forgotten. My crew has a lot of new information on how to catch more fish next year. Cabela’s, here I come! Anyway, we headed home to put some fresh salmon fillets on the grill. I may just have to book another charter next year.
Hope you enjoyed this adventure, take care and God Bless, Dick………

Sorry about the peewee but that one belongs to the Captain