Unsalted Round 2
We had so much fun last year with Unsalted Outfitters out of Holland that we headed out with them again this spring. The winds this spring have been absolutely relentless. I feel like I’ve spent more time than ever watching the forecasts for a weather window to work on Lake Michigan than ever before in May. We’ve had a steady diet of strong winds and big waves. Leading up to our trip they’ve had to cancel 7 in a row due to weather. Things would be no different this week and the forecast bounced all around from great weather to trip canceling weather. Luckily we ended up somewhere in between as it was a bumpy but fishable morning.
We were in historically prime time for big spring kings however king reports from all over the lake right now are not really hot. I’m not sure if it is related to cold water temps and weather, extremely spread out fish, or a declining king population. We were going to mix it up between kings and lake trout. Their last trip was phenomenal for lakers so we were hoping to at least get some of that action. We also were going to have to deal with a switching wind that was forecast to be cranking out of the SW right off the bat and cranking out of the NW around noon. Let me tell you SW is much more pleasant than NW in the spring.
To our surprise the wind was much less right away than forecasted and we had a very smooth run to our targeted waters. We started our troll south and first mate Brian hustled to set lines. It always amazes me how they can put that many rods off of one boat without getting tangled up. We had salmon lines and some trout gear going. Our first bite was a beautiful king that tried some fancy evasive maneuvers at the boat but Drew was able to keep him out of the all the other lines and guide him to the net.
Despite our best efforts fishing remained slow throughout the day. We boated a nice laker and had a surprise steelhead bite as a downrigger was being reset. Unfortunately that fish came off but it was an exciting sequence of events none the less.
As the wind kept switching and things kept getting bumpier we switched to a north troll to stabilize the boat. It was actually amazing how much the direction of the troll and wave direction would affect the stability of the boat. The real test would be heading back north into the waves towards Holland. I was amazed at how pleasant the ride was on that boat and how they knew exactly when to pull lines and head in.
While we didn’t have a cooler full like last year this trip was still big on fun! I’d highly recommend getting out with Scott and Brian if you want to have a good time on the big lake. You can find them at unsaltedoutfitters.com.