3/15/15 My Kind of March Madness

I got up to Lake Michigan for the second weekend in a row. The week between trips was extremely warm and the difference in the lake itself was remarkable. I was planning on launching from a public beach. When I arrived, there was 6 foot tall shelf ice all along the beach as far as I could see, except for one 10 foot section that was inexplicably open. It made the perfect launching point for the day. The plan for the day was simple: cast two places where I have caught fish before and troll the water between them. It was a beautiful bright sunny day and the water was an amazing turqouise color. Once I was far enough off the beach, I cast out two crankbaits and began to troll to my first spot. As I was headed that way, I passed numerous ice burgs that had come off the beach and were slowly drifting out into the lake. Each burg had several seagulls on it. It was an entertaining and very unusual sight. It was about a mile paddle and I caught no fish on the way to the first spot. I swapped the crank on one of my rods for a spoon and began casting to the rocks. About 10 casts went by with no action. On the next cast there was a very strange feeling in the rod as if I had pulled through a small patch of weeds. I didn't think much of it until the lure was in sight and I could see a bright Coho slashing back and forth right behind the lure the whole way back to the boat. I never did hook that fish but it gave me hope and before long I had hooked up with my first Coho! Now for anyone who has never fought a spring Coho, I feel like I should describe their fight. Instead of pulling like most other fish, as soon as they are hooked, they begin to roll and twist and spin. It is very unusual and quite the sight. I got some decent video of it that I will post when I get it edited. I must admit though, they are a blast to catch while casting! I caught 4 fish in quick order and lost another when he rolled so much he became completely wrapped up in my line and while still struggling somehow managed to break me off. After the action slowed, I decided to head to my second selected spot. I put out my cranks and slowly trolled the mile or so to my next spot. I didn't catch any fish on the way to the second spot. I spent several hours casting in the second area. I tried a variety of lures including spoons, spinners, cranks, and jigs with limited success. I did catch 2 Cohos on a spoon but the action was pretty slow. The wind began to slowly build as the day went on and it was becoming a real pain since I hadn't brought an anchor due to the forecast of winds being light and variable all day. I was beginning to tire out so I knew it was time to leave and head back for the beach. I put a deep diving crank on one rod and the small red/orange crank that I had used the week prior and with which I had caught a few Cohos. I trolled through the area to which I had just been casting and lo and behold on my first pass I picked up a nice coho on the red/orange crankbait. After that fish, I decided to give the spot a few more passes before leaving. On a subsequent pass, I ended up catching another coho on the red/orange crank. At this point I had decided to head out after one more pass through the area. During the last pass, the rod with the deep diving crank on it absolutely buried and began to take out line. Usually this happens when you have hooked the bottom, but in this case I realized it was a fish when the rod began to dance! I knew this was not going to be a Coho so I quickly cleared my second rod and began the fight. This fish was staying deep and taking line during each run. What was it going to be? Steelhead? Brown? Laker? My adrenaline was in high gear and my heart was racing the entire time. After a few minutes my quarry came into view: Brown Trout. BIG Brown Trout! After a few more runs I had the fish to the surface and my net in the other hand. I pulled with the rod and reached with the net and my line went slack. What?!?!?!? I did not just lose this fish right at the boat! I am still not sure what happened but luckily the fish was still there somehow. I got it back to the surface and my second net attempt succeeded. I had my copper prize in the bag. I must admit that the fish was not as big as I had thought when I had first seen it. But nonetheless, it was still a nice, girthy, magnificent fish. I snapped some quick pictures and gently revived it and returned it to the lake. Even as I write this, I admit I can't stop thinking about this awesome fish and the fight that I was lucky enough to enjoy. After that high, I figured it was time to leave and began to troll back to the beach. I ended up catching one more Coho on the deep diver randomly while trolling. This brought my total fish count to 9 Cohos and 1 Brown. By this time, the wind had really picked up and I fought my way more than a mile back to the beach through 2+ foot waves. Overall, it was an amazing day and I'm sure I will think about it for a long time to come. I got some very nice video of several cohos, but unfortunately my camera was dead long before I got the Brown. At least I got some stellar pictures. Enjoy the media and start to think about getting on the water if you haven't already.