Kings
One of my favorite times of the year has come and gone. It’s totally distracted me from doing much else but I can live with that. This year was unique in that we had so much of the right conditions with the wind and the water. Too much in fact for my liking but it was also one of the most extended salmon seasons I’ve ever had. We started jigging Muskegon Lake the first week of August and I’m sure there are a few left out there right now.
One thing that was different about this year is that the boats were back. I had my best season ever last year with hardly any boats around. This year having a lot of boats was the norm, even during the week and even pre/post Labor Day. Being boxed in by all the boats makes productivity go down but it also adds to the entertainment value of the day. I think this was the first time I netted a salmon that someone else had on in another boat from my boat. We also did the drop someone off on another boat with an adequate net a few times too. It is always fun when that happens!
One observation from this year was that the salmon were a little more average sized instead of giants like we had in the years with fewer fish. Mid to upper teens fish were common with 20 plus pounders being the exception (even though a lot of salmon just get called a 20 pounder because it’s an adult salmon). The biggest one we had on the scale was a 23 pounder. The trip of the season had my dad just crushing them while sitting in the passenger seat of the boat. I have to run all the way around the boat a lot of times to get them in but he made it look easy just sitting there. He’s made a lot of trips that are the you should have been here yesterday ones but this one lived up to the hype.
All the usual spoons worked this year, P-Line Laser Minnows in the glow tiger patterns or flashy with blue or green. One thing I noticed this year is some of the fish were biting while the spoon was sitting still. I never had the hot hand jigging this year either which usually isn’t the case. It was pretty frustrating at times but I’m always happy to see everyone getting in on the action.
The real success story is the fishery has bounced back and is pretty dang good again. It went well for big lake guys, all the guys in the drowned river mouths, and I’m guessing the rivers too. After being dangerously close to totally collapsing the salmon forage in Lake Michigan not that long ago it is great to see healthy populations of kings and bait. I know there was a lot of complaining and whining and whatever else when all the stocking cuts were made. But look at where we are now, in a lot better place than trying to rebound from a total collapse isn’t it? One of the biggest responsibilities I have at work is monitoring the health of the lower food web in Lake Michigan (nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and some aspects of prey fish) and that is why it’s important!