They’re Back!!!!  And So Am I. 

Every summer we wait, wondering when or even if they will show up. Some summers they don’t show up in big numbers until the 4^th of July. Sometimes later.  When they do come, you never know how long they will stay. They may be with us all summer, or they could be gone next week. There have been summers when it does not seem that they were here at all. How my summer goes is pretty much driven by the vagaries of their arrival. So, I wait. 

No, I am not talking about the tourists that come to Door County. They always show up, in increasingly larger numbers. And they seem to stay forever. No, I am talking about something much more important. The arrival of the salmonids, specifically Chinook Salmon and Rainbow Trout, to the waters of Lake Michigan off the shore of Baileys Harbor. This is an event awaited with eager anticipation by local piscators as well as anglers who travel great distances for the chance to hook into a powerful King or tussle a leaping Steelhead. Many plan their vacations and make travel plans to dovetail with the arrival of the salmonids. Unfortunately, I did not plan my travels all that well this year. 

My wife and I went on a long-planned trip to Spain and Portugal during much of May and into June. I had been informed by travel experts that this was the best time to travel to the Iberian Peninsula. It is ahead of the masses of summer travelers and before the hottest temperatures. The trip was great! Good wine, great food, beautiful scenery, friendly people. What’s not to love? However, from an angling perspective, May is not the best time to be LEAVING Door County. The walleye bite is in full swing. The smallmouth bass are moving into the shallows and becoming more active. Panfish and pike are biting as well. It is a magic time for anglers. All the while on my trip, my fishing buddies, Paul and Terry, were supplying me with the latest fishing reports. For much of the trip, the reports were fantastic. At least from my perspective. The fishing sucked, the weather was cold and windy. By all the reports, I was not missing much good fishing.  Then, just a few days before my return to the good old U.S. of A., I got a surprise. There, staring at me from my inbox, was a picture of a cooler of salmon and steelhead.  Paul was getting fish. The next day he sent an image of some nice steelhead and salmon spread out on the table at the marina cleaning station. The salmon bite had started early, and I was missing it! My return was imminent, but the last few days and the flight back to the states seemed interminably long exacerbated by my eagerness to get back out on the water. I needed to fish.

The salmonids come to Door County for some of the same reasons the tourists do. Mainly the comfortable summer temperatures and the food.  However, a comfortable temperature for a Chinook Salmon is close to 40°F and their desired food is raw fish. I’m not talking sushi, but slimy alewife and other silvery bait fish. Even flat-landers won’t eat that stuff. Anyway, the water temperature and abundant food had drawn the salmon and trout earlier than typical this year.  To give you perspective of how early, last year we caught our first Chinook on June 30^th and our first Rainbow on July 5^th. It was not for lack of trying. We had many empty trips out on the lake before we finally started getting fish. This year was different. They were out there now, and it was critical to take advantage of the situation. If conditions change, the fish may not stick around long.

Within a few days of me recovering from the jet lag, I connected with Paul for my reacquaintance to the big lake for the summer. We met at the marina on a Tuesday afternoon and headed out to the area where Paul had been having success, in about 200FOW. We set downriggers for about sixty feet of water, where the temperatures were a balmy 43°F. We set lines off planer boards at various depths including near the surface. Rainbow Trout will feed at the surface looking to gobble up some of the many insects found there this time of year. Paul had barely gotten the lines set when the outer planer board shot backwards and a silver mass of fish flesh exploded a hundred feet behind it. I have engaged many steelhead over the years but I am never ceased to be amazed by the frantic aerial acrobatics displayed by a hooked rainbow. This one completely left its water world behind, leaping multiple times several feet above the surface. Often this tactic succeeds in dislodging the hook and fish swims away victorious. Not this time. Paul slipped the net under my first steelhead of the year.  There would be more this night. The action remained steady and by the time we headed back to the marina, we had put hooks into a total of eleven fish, landing nine. This included six rainbows and three Chinook. 

The next night, we repeated the pattern. We started in 200FOW and worked our way towards shallower water.  By the time the sun started to touch the western horizon against a hazy red sky, we had broken even with the fish, putting three steelhead in the boat and losing three others. We also released a tiny “shaker” salmon that we found impaled on a purple spoon. I was hoping to connect with a bigger king, but it was looking doubtful. We decided to call it a night and Paul began retrieving the planer boards, leaving the downriggers deployed until the last. This was fortunate because straightaway the downrigger rod began to bounce and throb then doubled over, line screaming off the reel. Paul and I looked at each other, this was no shaker. I wrenched the rod out of the holder and was immediately reminded of the power and ferocity of a big King Salmon. I nervously watched line stream off the reel, powerless to stop it, hoping there was sufficient line on the spool. Eventually the first run came to an end, and I began retrieving line. Several shorter but still powerful runs followed before we lifted a gorgeous 38-inch, 21-pound Chinook Salmon into the boat. My arms were tired and a bit sore. We barely had time to recover from landing this fish when the other downrigger “popped” and we had another one on. Unfortunately, before Paul could engage in the battle, the fish got off. The final score was Paul and I five, the fish four.  A win is a win.

Paul had a commitment the next evening, but I had to get out there again. I was joined by Steve,  a good friend and former teaching colleague from Appleton. This time, we would be fishing from the 17-foot Maggie Leigh, rather than Paul’s black 21-foot Lund. It turned out the conditions were perfect on this third night out on the lake. Light winds and virtually no waves. I saw no reason to do anything different, so I quickly motored about seven miles out on the lake and set the lines just like we had done the last two nights. A nice hour-long boat ride allowed Steve and I catch up and tell stories. Then one of the downriggers rods flexed downward and started to pulsate.  Fish on! After a dogged fight in which the fish did everything it could to return to the bottom of the lake, the steel blue mottled body of a Lake Trout appeared at the surface. It was a 12 pounder, one of the larger ones I personally have ever seen caught. What a thrill to see one of the few native predators still thriving in Lake Michigan. The rest of the afternoon progressed much like the previous two. We ended up 6 for 7 including a 12-pound, 32-inch steelhead and ending the evening boating a 12-pound, 33-inch Chinook. I sent Steve back to Appleton with enough fish to last him and his wife the summer. 

It was three great nights of fishing, to be sure. What was remarkable about the outings was the almost total absence of any other boats on the water. The first night we saw no other boats on the horizon. The last night, maybe ten or so. We had the fish cleaning station all to ourselves. That will soon change. As word spreads that the fish are hitting off Baileys Harbor, the marina will become busy and lines will form at the cleaning station. This is what Lake Michigan anglers dream about all winter. The fish are back.  

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, Bruce

Questions or comments to bsmith733@gmail.com