Archive for year 2010

The recent reports of big silver salmon being caught North of the border gave me the itch to get an early season king of my own.
My fishing friend, Todd, and I began to watch the surface temperatures and the wind predictions. We also took note of the boat reports and the depths that they were fishing. After a week or so of waiting and waiting and waiting, finally some westerly winds began to blow. The west winds blow the warm surface waters of the lake away from the Chicago side. Soon after, the cooler waters of the deep begin to replace the blow away surface. The bait move closer to shore and the salmon follow them in. There are a variety of websites out there that allow you to track these movements. You can also read a blog, on my blog roll, by Mike Planthaber, who catches huge amounts of shore salmon North of the border based on these conditions. Based on this, Todd and I planned a Saturday evening trip to Burnham Harbor.
When we arrived, we saw that the beach had recorded a temperature of 66 degrees, anxiousness soon set in, as we knew the temperatures where favorable and we would have a chance for a fish. We set up on the lakeside of the harbor. Todd put on his KO Wobbler, while I was armed with a 1/2 ounce silver and green Little Cleo.
On my first cast, while the lure was falling, I got a quick tap. I looked at Todd and said “bump”. He gave me a look of disbelief. About three casts later, only about 25 yards from shore, my little spoon was slammed by a good fish.
I immediately felt the head shakes of king salmon. While my instincts told me it was a king, the date on the calendar had me thinking smallmouth or drum or snagged carp. After a few violent shakes the fish went on a long run. My doubts were answered. As the fish ran, peeling drag, it quickly eliminated other potential species. No fish, from fresh water, runs like a king salmon.

Fighting a silver salmon in early August is much more fun than a fall run king.

The fish ran multiple times, giving me a battle that I have waited since the last fall run for. It even ran once, directly towards shore, so fast that my line was completely slack and I remarked to Todd that I had lost the fish. Finally, after a 10 or so minute battle, Todd got the fish into the net. You can see the pics and youtube video below.

A king that is still silver makes pre-fall run fish worth while.

The famous Haataja pose.

This was the only action we had.  We stayed until 10:00 pm, hoping to hook into one of these elusive late summer fish.  We will continue to watch the winds, and hopefully get a another silvery salmon before they loose some of their color and strength.