An Outdoorsman’s Journal:

Hello friends, I am currently in what could be termed an overscheduled time in my life. Fortunately, what is on my schedule is all good, such as hobby farming, pond building, volunteering, a litter of pups and in just a few days, my daughter Selina is coming home from Missoula, Mont., for a wedding. The crazy stuff will end or slow down after the Fourth of July.

This week’s column is about paddle trolling out of my canoe on Lake Michigan at Port Washington for coho salmon. This spring the coho fishing has been incredible on Lake Michigan and I thought it would be fun to see if I could catch one out of my canoe and live to tell about it. Friday, May 17 – High 67, low 47 One of the main challenges in paddle trolling for salmon and actually catching a salmon is to be able to paddle your canoe fast enough to make your lures work to attract a salmon. Speaking of canoe fishing for salmon, how come I have never seen another person fishing for salmon out of a canoe?

Anyways, here is the scoop: I put my canoe in at a beach in Port Washington and after rigging three poles, one with a spoon and two with a flasher/fly setup, I was headed out to sea. In reality, you have to be in at least 30 feet of water before you start to set lines and it was interesting as I worked my way east and was passed by dozens of both charter boats and private boats that were headed out to at least 100 feet of water.

The wind was minimal and I made a goal of paddling to 100 feet and that is what I did, which took me about 90 minutes. I did not have a strike, did not see anyone else catch a fish and kept fishing until an hour after dark. Because I did not have a lodging plan, I slept in a Walmart parking lot in the GMC Hotel.

Saturday, May 18 – High 89, low 50 I was moving at 4:30 this morning and as soon I got out of the truck after a pretty pathetic night’s sleep, I decided that I needed some calories so I chugged a nutrition drink, which I do often as it is quick, reliable calories. Very bad luck came my way when I realized my breakfast was curdled and that was a very unpleasant experience.

Today was going to be a big mile day as I was going to go as deep as I could and hopefully catch a coho. I headed southeast, as that is the direction the wind was from and I figured it would push me back to Port Washington. Nothing was happening for me and I paddled to where I could easily see the buildings in Milwaukee. At 184-feet of water, I figured I had better start working my way back.

I had been in the canoe for six hours and generally was on my knees. Seven hours into my journey I was back to 50 feet of water and something hit a clown-colored crankbait that I was pulling. The coho jumped several times and I was one happy camper when it made it to the net. I figured I had better work this area a bit longer and within minutes had another coho hit a flasher/fly. I was about to net it when the manufactured knot came out and I watched my quarry swim away with the fly in its mouth.

After nine hours, I hit a very crowded beach and was one happy camper; my goal of catching a salmon out my canoe had been met and physically the experience did not kick my butt. Set goals and do your best to achieve them!

Sunset

Mark Walters