Determination and Perseverance

Yesterday was the most interesting fishing trip I have had in some time. Joe and I pulled out of the driveway at 6:30 to head out to Lake Michigan. When we got there, the boat launch was frozen over with about 1/4" of ice and stayed that way for a couple hundred yards down the river. Fortunately, there was a boat with a couple of guys just ahead of us, trying to break up the ice with a large tree branch.

We went to launch and found out that not only would my motor not start, my emergency jump starter pack would not work either. With the ice and malfunctioning motor, we almost just went home, but instead we disconnected the boat and jump started it with the car. By the time we got back to launching the boat, the path that was cleared by the last boat had partially closed up and we got to plow through ice.

After plowing through ice, we finally made the turn to go fish the discharge by Jones Island for brown trout. After about 45 minutes of casting, I had a hit and Joe caught a small brown. We were not going to give up so easily after having gone through so much work to get out there. Our second usual option (the Summerfest Lagoon) was surely iced over, so we went out to the main gap to fish for some lake trout. On my first cast, I caught my first ever lake trout without being on a charter boat.

I caught my fish on a bullet jig and a 5" Kalins Jerk Minnow. About 15 minutes after my fish, Joe jigged up a beautiful lake trout as well. It turns out they have just finished spawning and were pretty hungry.

We each lost another trout to either broken line (Joe) or poor hookset (me). We already felt pretty good about ourselves, but we noticed another boat hooking up much more regularly. They weren't landing them all, but they were getting more bites. One of the things I like about fishing Milwaukee, is everyone is super nice out on the water. These guys literally drove their boat over to us, threw us a jig and a tube they were using and suggested we downsize baits and jig less aggressively. We did that and it wasn't long before I landed this beast.

There was definitely some small technique difference between Joe and I as for some reason I was hooking up much more regularly. Once we downsized to 4" baits, it didn't seem to matter what we dropped down there to get hits. I caught fish on a white tube, white jerk minnow, and a white lunker grub. Notice the common theme of "white". It is pretty much the only color I have confidence with out on Lake Michigan.

In all, we landed 13 fish in just a couple hours...we had other plans, so we left with the fish still biting...All of which must have been over 12 lbs and the smallest fish measured at 32". This was without question the best morning of fishing I have had on Lake Michigan and one of the best fishing experiences of my life. Like Joe said, "You know it is a great day of fishing when you are catching fish this size and you stop taking pictures.

This beast will be earning me my THIRD In-Fisherman Master Angler Award.