Bailey’s Harbor, WI was a busy place early Saturday morning, as we loaded rods, gear, and coolers into the boat pre-sunup to do some fishing on the big lake. Mixed salmon reports were cast-aside as we had great weather ahead of us, and a good combined knowledge of the lake and its inhabitants between our two boats. Most importantly, the fish cooperated, as we assembled several limits throughout the day of quality Lake Michigan salmon. Our big fish of the trip was a 24lber, but many other respectable 3 and 4 year olds made up the majority of our catch. These fish averaged 15-18lbs, with a handful in the 20+ category, making the fight all the more exciting.
Before heading east, knowing I had a couple of good trips still ahead of me, I paid Dean at Everts Resort a visit regarding some good sunglasses. I’ve owned quite a few varieties, including some higher end glasses, but the Costa 580’s in an amber lens are the best glasses I’ve ever owned…..period! Not surprisingly, Dean had only in-stock what worked best, as I’ve been a fan of those style/color lenses for years. They came in handy during this trip, as conditions were bluebird for 3 days straight, and we were on the water for 12-15 hours a day. Thanks as always Dean!
Before I could put on the sunglasses however, I got to reel in fish in the dark, with our first downrigger rod tripping before we had our 3rd one set….all pre-5AM! What followed was a volley of early morning fish that kept us busy filling what would turn out to be our boats limit by day’s end. While I’m only mildly experienced with Great Lakes fishing, I know a few guys that are! The captain of our boat, Tom Linderholm, and his partners in crime on the "Off ‘Da Hook" are some seriously experienced salmon anglers that knew where to find and catch fish while others were struggling. There were a few key factors to our success, and the amount of knowledge they brought to the table was paramount to it. Good equipment in good condition meant the difference between a handful of fish and a limit, and these guys really sweat the details. Throughout the trip, they were switching baits, sets, leader lengths/types; all to fine-tune our approach and maximize the amount of fish we brought to the boat. However, just as experience dramatically increased our catch rate, it should come as no surprise that as experience-level decreased, the vast number of screw-ups increased! At least we didn’t knock off the captain’s fish with the net right?
While the fishing wasn’t "lights-out" all weekend like it was Saturday, we caught more than enough fish to keep us happy and bring home for the smoker/grill. The one constant regarding the bite was that there were few constants regarding the presentation. Dipsy’s, leadcore (with/without planers), downriggers, etc. all took fish. Most salmon were taken on flasher/fly combinations, with glow and blue glow flashers paired with hand-tied flies doing particularly well.
Saturday had us in 70FOW with a bug-slick to port-side, amidst a sea of baitfish along a temp-break that went from 58 to 63 degrees. No doubt this contributed to our great success on Saturday. Sunday saw fish rising from bottom on the graph, and a good deal of baitfish, but they were definitely in a different mood. This was further seen at the cleaning station and from hearing reports up and down the shore. The steelhead bite did pickup on Sunday with our buddies taking several nice ones on spoons. Regardless, I felt lucky to be with such a great group of guys that really knew their stuff. Did I mention Tom’s a well-known and respected chef? With his permission, I’ll post the best salmon I’ve ever tried, which is his cedar-plank salmon recipe. Thanks again for the great trip!
Joel
sounds like a great weekend congrats joel
someday ill drag you over there to fish with us
Great report Joel and congrats on a successful trip!
What time is dinner? 
Nice report Joel.
Looks like you guys had a great trip and one heck of a lot of fun reeling in those hard fighting Lake Michigan salmonids.
Great Job Joel, Nice Report
Nice report Joel. I was on the other coast line fishing smallies around Sister Bay.
With the amount of 3 to 4 year old kings you were catching, too bad you were entered into Salmon-a-Rama or what ever they call it now. Last I heard, they only had a couple of Chinooks entered over 20lbs
Salmon – a Rama
Great report Joel. One of these summers real soon I want to make it out there for a trip like this one.
Great Recap Joel, I’m glad you guys got to join us out there!
When it comes to Lake Michigan and Lake Superior the thing I can’t stress enough for anglers is to get out of the box with your styles and presentations, don’t rely on your riggers to do all the work. Sweat the small stuff, change your fly leaders, rigger leads and anything else to keep the variety out there until you find what’s going.
After you guys left Joel, I got to fish with “Off da Hook” on Monday night and we were running six Leadcore mixed with four Dipsey’s and three riggers to pull off a 20 fish day, with no tangles.
As for the Salmon recipe? Don’t worry about my permissions.
Bourbon Planked Coho Salmon
With House Made Pickles
Cedar Planks
2 cups inexpensive bourbon
6 cups water
4 cedar planks
Combine liquid ingredients and pour over cedar planks, allow soaking for minimum of 6 hours. Pull from liquid.
Coho Salmon
4 8 ounce portions of salmon
4 soaked cedar planks
1 cup of honey
4 Tbl. brown sugar
4 Tbl. butter
Place 8 ounce portions of Coho salmon on each plank, skin side down and place on grill. Lightly season salmon with salt and pepper and allow cooking covered till inside juices begin to ooze from filet. At this point brush with honey, add a tablespoon of brown sugar and a tablespoon of butter. Return cover and allow glaze to meld together. Once the glaze hits the grill it will ignite the cedar continuing the smoking process. This only takes a couple of minutes. Extinguish fire and serve on plank with a side of pickled cucumbers.
House Made Pickles
1 cup rice wine vinegar
ΒΌ cup sugar
1 Tbl. Pickling spice
1 thinly sliced English cucumber (seeded)
Cut cucumber in half using spoon to pull seeds from inside, slice thinly and combine pickling mixture and pour over pickles. Allow to set for 2 hours refrigerated.
You guys had to shed the rookies to get into the really good fishing!
Running the sets you describe sounds tricky-to-impossible for this inland angler. Thanks again for the salmon education…..when are you going to start your own charter? 
Salmon recipe is going straight to that forum…..too good not to share.
Joel
Yeah, class ended whey you guys pulled out.
In terms of starting a Charter? When I drop a few restaurants and find some time. So basically, never.
What’s the little red handled thing in the corner of the last pic?
Good work and boy does that sound good.
Thanks for sharing.
It’s a machined solid aluminum thumping stick.
That baby is nice!
Nice!
I use a small $1.99 table leg at Menards… Not quite as fancy, but it works great!