So, I was out fishing cats a couple of weeks ago in St Paul. Avidfly mentioned that he was going salmon fishing up in Door County, lake Michigan, and said they had space in the boat for another. being a glutton for punishment, I happily accepted the offer. I had heard that sleep deprivation and big water are the norm and comfort is a thing best forgotten until the ride home. I first tried Avid's smoked salmon a few years ago at the Root river round up, so this was like getting a chance to go to the farm to see your cow before it becomes a juicy delicious steak... you get my drift. This was also a chance to angle for several lifelisters including Chinook, coho, white perch, goby...... plus fish with folks I don't get to fish with often enough.
We drove up thurs night and were to meet the other Andy friday morning. As promised there was little to no sleep and Avid and I made great time up to Door County. The weather forecast called for nice sunny days, warm and inviting.... as long as you were on shore and no where near the lake. for those who were crazy enough to go in or on the water, for them there were very high seas, 2-7 foot seas and small craft advisorys. I have never been on any of the great lakes in a small craft before, only ferry boats. the first morning we met with water maybe up to 3-4 feet. It was no joke! But, that morning just after sun rise Avidfly put us on fish.... and I was able to reel in my lifelist chinook! For those of you who have been fortunate enough to fish with Avid, he really has his sh*t together. Down riggers set up and deployed, spoons and rigs chosen and then adjusted, tsunami waves navigated. I had never set a down rigger prior to this trip, so I was completely green out there and virtually no help at all. The rods acted funny, Andy said "fish" and I grabbed and reeled. Even though the water was rough, we managed a few fish, each one a wonder of nature. Andy G met up with us later that morning at the camp site and we got down to business. It was decided that we would be best suited to fish more protected waters, even if they had historically not been as productive. Andy and Andy pooled their knowledge and experience and we formulated a plan and over the next few days caught fish. In fact, it seemed we were catching more fish than most of the other groups we spoke with out there. The word on the street was that the fishing was slow for all. We caught a decent but not huge number of chinook. However, we did get a few incidental fish of note while fishing the big lake: three smallmouth bass.... two were at 20" and stuffed like pigs. we also got a lake run brown trout with no pectoral fins, and the icing on the cake.... a 7lb class channel cat caught in 100 fow suspended 40ft off of the bottom, on a spoon.
we also poked around door county and the marinas and launches. I caught my first Goby. We saw several nice carp in the protected waters. I caught my lifelist white perch in a very unexpected spot, had to fashion a harpoon from a stick to retrieve my 2" liferfrom between the cracks in a pier wher it had fallen (imagine a chimp poking a weed into a termite mound, that was me trying to get the perch)
By the end of the weekend I knew the basics, was able to help set up the miriad of lines, down riggers and leadcore lines. I was sleep deprived too, as promised. On the way back towards home we stopped at a spot to get Avid's lifelist white perch... mission accomplished.
So at Sunday's end I had three lifelisters and a cooler full of salmon. I also had a great trip with good company and the beginnings of what I fear might turn into a salmon fishing addiction. Hopefully Andy or Andy will post additional pics if they have them.

Wow wOW WOW. What a cool trip. What range of species.

Cool shots!

Sounds like one hellava trip! Love the White Perch lifelist picture too!

Please tell me you guys kept some Salmon for Sushi/Sashimi/Nigiri purposes...my mouth is watering looking at those Salmon.

Thanks for sharing.

Fish_E_Hunter

NOICE!!!!!!!!!!

Grats on the lifers! That lake always gives up a few surprises.
Crazy catfish.

Right on, dewds!

All hail Cap'n Avid!
Man, Avid's White Perch sure is... white.

Congrats on the lifers. That last photo rocks!

Hard core trip right there.

Not much to add except the pics of the smallies! I think I might start fishing the local tournaments with this new found tactic for catching these pigs!






I have to give Eric some huge credit for hitting big water fast and doing well. It was probably the roughest water I have fished (solid 4ft waves) and I would not go out in anything bigger. We put the bilge pump to good use as many crashed over the bow.

And I'll never forget the sight of watching Eric try to spear his new lifelister through the boards in the pier! He was looking at that stuck fish like a boy watching a balloon float away.

Awesome trip report! Congrats on the lifers! One of these days I'll make that trip...

'Till I'm back to long drives, "interesting" mountain weather, and really stupid trout

Nice report guys, good to see you got a nice variety of species.

Sweet trip guys. I love the great lakes and wish I could get to them more often.

There is something about big lake trolling. The thrill of 20lb fish and the challenge of using the various tactics in the right places to put delicious salmon in the boat. Nice report. Glad you caught fish despite the weather.

Awesome! Wish I could have made it, but its a good thing I didnt. I would have missed the birth of my child and come home to an empty house. Great multi species bite on Michigan.

holy crap those are some of the girthiest smallmouth i have ever seen! i ahve caught smallmouth flyfishing on the mouth of the cascade river, the devil's track river, and the brule river wading out into superrior. i have had them with similar length but not that fat!