Made a trip with a new fishing partner, Pete from Madison and a friend, Mike, out on Lake Michigan this morning and came away with a couple of fat Chinooks and a very unbelievable story-one I wouldn’t believe had I not lived it!
We launched out of the South Shore Marina-Milwaukee at 430 this morning and headed for 80 feet of water. We manged to get out our 8 rod spread of a mix of spoons and flasher flies straining the water column from 15 feet down to 60 feet as the bait and BIG fish marks had the sonar screen covered between those depths. As the sun crested the eastern horizon, the 7 color pulling a crab face spoon started screaming! 200 feet of line later it slowed and Pete was able to start the long retrieval of a very fat, egg filled Chinook that would tip the scale at 22lbs. A very short time later our fish tale would begin as the 5 color started heading for Michigan. As we started to think we would never turn the fish, the rod went and and the board attached to the line fell over-dead in the water.-The worst feeling ever! After after reling in what was left of the worst braided line I ever used and collecting my board, I,stupidly, retied a new 5 colors to the reel and sent it out. A short time later and a half mile from where things went south, the port side dipsy appeared to be dragging a shaker. Still reeling from the previous line failure, I jumped out of the driver seat and grabbed the dipsy rod and started reeling thinking there was a small fish tagging along on the other end. Upon surfacing, some thing appeared wrong- there was lead core wrapped in the leader and around the dipsy hardware. Getting the dipsy in the boat, the line felt heavy- as it should have because it was wrapped in both down rigger cables too! Lead core sinks and all my other lines were running fine so HOW did I get lead core wrapped through my spread? After clearing the riggers the line was still heavy! We all jumped to the same impossible conclusion- Is that the 5 color we lost a long 30 minutes ago and a half mile from here? Knowing that was like finding a needle in a hay stack we tied the line to the previously stripped reel, I started hand lining the really heavy line as Mike spooled it onto the reel. Wait-is that a fish? YES! GET THE NET! Attached to the previously lost core was a 16 pound king- still swimming and trying hard to escape capture at the back of the boat!
I am no expert at probability but the probability of this happening seems next to impossible on any day.
After another screamer on the 5 color, lost once again thanks to some obviously defective braided line, and a few other missed opportunities, we finished the morning going 2 for 7. But at least we gained one heck of a fish tale of the one that nearly got away! 
, That is what keeps us coming back. – QB