The Door Peninsula, which juts out of Northeastern Wisconsin into Lake Michigan, has a very storied past.  It got it's name from early explorers who dubbed the treacherous Northern tip of the peninsula Porte des Mortes (Door of the Dead).  It has been known as Death's Door ever since.  The carcasses of countless shipwrecks still lie on the bottom here, where brave traders and fishermen lost their lives.  This area was settled by Icelandic and Norwegian folks, and their culture is still strongly represented today.  Century-old orchards of cherries and apples exist on the peninsula, as well as some of the Midwest's most unique vineyards.  It is a fantastically unique area, and the incredible fishing makes it a great spot to vacation in.  No better open-water chinook salmon fishing can be found in the Great Lakes region.

After a 6 hour drive from St. Paul, we find ourselves at a small boat launch tucked under the northern tip of the Door Peninsula.  The area is known as Gill’s Rock.  Energized by coffee, we quickly rig up the boat with downriggers, rod holders and other trolling essentials.  All of the rods are checked, and gear moved around.  We launch at 2:30 am, our fishing party consisting of Capt. Avidfly, Corey, Tyler W. and myself.

Our lines are down for a long time with no action.  The flurry of action that usually comes at dawn never materializes, and with the sun climbing in the sky we decide to try a different area.  I jerked to unclip a line on a planer board far off to the side of the boat, and let the spoon flutter behind us.  As I reeled it in, a fish smacked it hard and peeled off line, then jumped high out of the water several times.  What a shock!  As it leaped, I had it pegged for a steelhead and it proved to be a beautiful chrome 28 incher.  This was a great bonus fish, and we all felt a lot better with one fish in the box.

Next, we trolled along a great cliff which drops sheer to the depths of the lake.  Half an hour went by before one of the rods was jerking and Tyler hooked up with a fish.  After a strong battle, he boated a fat 14.5 pound Chinook salmon.  This was Tyler’s first Chinook, so he was very happy as another addition to his lifelist was made.  We trolled a while longer, but had no strikes so we decided to head back in and set up our camp.

  We got about an hour of much-needed sleep, then were back at Gill’s Rock by 3pm.  The weather had taken a turn for the worse, as a series of small yet powerful thunderstorms rolled across Lake Michigan and over the Peninsula.  We eyeballed the eerie skies and decided there was too much lightning around to feel safe out there.  I cracked a beer and we all chatted with other anglers waiting out the storm.  There were many little fish around the dock, so I dug my spinning rod out of the truck and tied on a tiny flu-flu jig.  First I caught a huge common shiner, then a goby. Everybody else quickly scrambled for their rods to pass the time before the storm passed.  Lots of gobies, shiners and perch came to hand. 

Thinking we could skirt the trailing edge of the storm, we headed out in the boat.  However, halfway out we ran into torrential rain.  We endured the downpour and actually set out lines in it, and it quit raining about the time we began trolling.  Under threatening skies the whole time, we fished hard but got no results.  One big fish was battled halfway in by Corey, before the fish broke the line somehow.  This deflated our soggy spirits a little more, and we headed in around dark as it began to rain steadily again.

We had a fire back at camp, and brats and beer were consumed to raise our spirits.  The local wind forecasts for the lake called for calming waves, and this definitely improved our moods.  A plan was made to fish on the main lake when we woke up in a couple hours, and considering our success out there last year, I couldn’t wait to be out there with lines down.

In the blink of an eye, we were out there flying across the water under a starry sky.  Orion was especially bright, and we drove toward it.  Once we set down lines and were trolling, conditions were near perfect.  It didn’t take long before the first salmon found the boat, and action remained fast for two hours.  I can’t pretend to remember any individual battles, but we ended up with 15 salmon and one 28.5” steelhead in the cooler!  Tyler caught the steelhead, which was a personal best for him.  I reeled in two especially big Chinooks, 18 or so pounds, and we had three or four others just as big.  Collectively, we fished well this morning and minimized our mistakes and tangles.

Back at the launch, we brought our cooler to the fish-cleaning station and everybody there was very impressed with our catch.  A small crowd gathered around us as we filleted and packaged our catch, and many questions about how and where and on what lures were thrown at us.  We caught more fish than any of the pricey charter boats too, which once again is a testament to Captain Avidfly’s knowledge. 

After a great nap, we hit the same spot again for the evening.  With only 4 fish left to catch for our daily limit of 20, we released many small “shakers” and kept four nice fish.  The large rollers out on the lake made the boat rock pretty good, and all of us wanted our feet to hit solid ground.  I know Avid and I felt a little woozy(considering our sleep deprivation it’s understandable), but Tyler was the only one to release a chum slick over the side of the boat.

  The next morning, our last morning, dawned clear and beautiful.  We fished the same area once again, but landed only a few modest fish over the first hour of sunlight.  Today we had many issues, from tangling lines to breaking off fish to just plain losing fish, and were just in a funk.  Finally, we found a giant ball of baitfish and two fish were soon on the line.  Both were landed, both good ones of 12-15 pounds.  The flurry continued, and Corey endured a grueling battle with a 20-pounder that Avidfly almost fell in trying to net.  I got it on video.

Tyler was fighting another nice salmon, when simultaneously a rod was jerking in the holder and a huge fish was jumping and crashing down a short distance from the boat.  I had just re-set this line, after the spoon had broken off it.  We had it set 35 feet down on the downrigger, only 60 feet behind the boat.  I grabbed the rod and held on while the fish jumped, then he sped directly toward me and got up just below the churning motor before streaking below the corner of the boat in a green and silver flash.  The fish charged out and through two lines, then leapt high again and kept on speeding.  Most often fish are hooked way behind the boat, and are somewhat tired when they get close to the boat.  Not this one!  It was green, pissed off and extremely strong.  And big.  Somehow we managed to untangle the lines and net Tyler’s fish, then it was just me and my fish with no other lines in the water to worry about.   The big Chinook tried to run up the side of the boat twice, but the net soon found him and he was heaved aboard.  That was possibly the hardest-battling fish I have ever caught, and I will not forget it!  The biggest fish of the trip, he weighed in the low 20’s and was dime-bright.

We brought home 30 chinook salmon and two steelhead.  It becomes delicious and nutritious year-long food, some of the best food there is in my opinion.  I learned a great deal on this trip, and got pretty comfortable setting out all of the different lines and rigs.  It is very difficult at first and a little frustrating, but with each fish comes new confidence.  A trip like this is not for the faint of heart; We slept something like 5 hours in three days, endured some bad weather, and were rocking in the boat 18 hours out of the day.  But, that’s the way it has to be if you want to catch a lot of fish and you won’t hear me complaining.  Many thanks again to Avidfly, whose fantastic boat and knowledge of the area made it all possible.   Here’s to you, Cap’n Avidfly, may your balls ne’er be draggin on the rocks of Gill!

Here we are trolling into the evening......photo taken by Scott.

~andy