Hamilton Reef
08-31-2007, 11:12 PM
Note: Slide show http://www.mlive.com/grpress/slideshows/20070831salmon_slideshow/
A day on the lake with a top charter captain
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/118856252169460.xml&coll=6
GRAND HAVEN -- Four foot rollers threaten to spill over the stern rail of Captain Chip Klein's boat when the call once again comes: "There's one." Another fish is on.
Brian Burns reaches for one of the high rods, sets the hook, and begins reeling, splaying his legs out to steady himself. Klein's 31-foot Tiara, named Hit Man, is rolling on the waves.
Burns is a regular client. He is up to the task. Minutes later, Chris Slater, Hit Man's mate, has Burn's coho salmon in the net.
It is the first coho of the day, but not the last in the nine-fish smorgasbord that we will boat complete with five lake trout and two nice Chinook salmon.
It is 8:35 a.m. There are seven fish in the box already. We have been trolling offshore for about two hours, sampling the offshore Lake Michigan salmon fishery which peaks nearshore once mature salmon begin to stage for their annual run upstream to spawn.
"I don't drink. I don't smoke and don't have any bad habits so I spend my money on fishing," Burns, of Newaygo, said laughing enthusiastically.
Burns fishes on Hit Man a dozen times a year, starting in May, carrying on into September. This is his seventh year fishing with Klein.
Having grown up in Florida, he grew accustomed to deepwater fishing for grouper, snapper, amberjack and other reef fish.
Though he may cast an occasional lure for bass on inland waters, Burns much prefers to fish Lake Michigan and with Klein in particular, who has established himself over 40 years as one of the best charter captains on Lake Michigan.
"Fishing was real good in May. July was a riot. The fish were at the end of the pier and the fishing was fast and furious," said Burns, 52, the used car sales manager for Fox Honda in Grand Rapids.
Today that is not the case. Warm winds and weather have again scattered the fish, prompting Klein, a Grand Rapids native, to search for them.
He alternates his attention between the fish finder and incoming chatter on his two-way radio, periodically calling out to mate Slater: "There's one at 90 feet, 75 feet, 110 feet."
Slater, working the back deck, makes the changes. He may raise or lower a lure or change it completely. Rods fan out around the deck. Each is running a different track.
Klein started the day ordering up glow-in-the-dark lures, hoping to entice a bite in the pre-dawn darkness But they drew nothing this morning, so, he changed tactics and switched to other spoons and baits.
"Sometimes they can be hotter than a firecracker, said Klein. "And other days it seems you are pulling them between the fish."
Other captains in the vicinity are exchanging information with him about the lures that work and the depths where fish are found.
"Fishing has been a lot better than we thought it would be this summer," said Klein, a former substitute teacher for Grand Rapids and Grand Haven Public Schools.
Klein took up fishing as a young man, learning from his father. He later chose to leave education and get his captain's license. He was 29 years old. Klein then bought a Ludington based charter fishing business for $1,000 and started fishing.
Buying a business meant having ready-made customers. But keeping them would fall squarely on his shoulders. For Klein that has meant staying on top of the changing technology. Leadcore and copper lines now take lures down deep where charter captains once relied on heavy cannonballs.
A day on the lake with a top charter captain
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/118856252169460.xml&coll=6
GRAND HAVEN -- Four foot rollers threaten to spill over the stern rail of Captain Chip Klein's boat when the call once again comes: "There's one." Another fish is on.
Brian Burns reaches for one of the high rods, sets the hook, and begins reeling, splaying his legs out to steady himself. Klein's 31-foot Tiara, named Hit Man, is rolling on the waves.
Burns is a regular client. He is up to the task. Minutes later, Chris Slater, Hit Man's mate, has Burn's coho salmon in the net.
It is the first coho of the day, but not the last in the nine-fish smorgasbord that we will boat complete with five lake trout and two nice Chinook salmon.
It is 8:35 a.m. There are seven fish in the box already. We have been trolling offshore for about two hours, sampling the offshore Lake Michigan salmon fishery which peaks nearshore once mature salmon begin to stage for their annual run upstream to spawn.
"I don't drink. I don't smoke and don't have any bad habits so I spend my money on fishing," Burns, of Newaygo, said laughing enthusiastically.
Burns fishes on Hit Man a dozen times a year, starting in May, carrying on into September. This is his seventh year fishing with Klein.
Having grown up in Florida, he grew accustomed to deepwater fishing for grouper, snapper, amberjack and other reef fish.
Though he may cast an occasional lure for bass on inland waters, Burns much prefers to fish Lake Michigan and with Klein in particular, who has established himself over 40 years as one of the best charter captains on Lake Michigan.
"Fishing was real good in May. July was a riot. The fish were at the end of the pier and the fishing was fast and furious," said Burns, 52, the used car sales manager for Fox Honda in Grand Rapids.
Today that is not the case. Warm winds and weather have again scattered the fish, prompting Klein, a Grand Rapids native, to search for them.
He alternates his attention between the fish finder and incoming chatter on his two-way radio, periodically calling out to mate Slater: "There's one at 90 feet, 75 feet, 110 feet."
Slater, working the back deck, makes the changes. He may raise or lower a lure or change it completely. Rods fan out around the deck. Each is running a different track.
Klein started the day ordering up glow-in-the-dark lures, hoping to entice a bite in the pre-dawn darkness But they drew nothing this morning, so, he changed tactics and switched to other spoons and baits.
"Sometimes they can be hotter than a firecracker, said Klein. "And other days it seems you are pulling them between the fish."
Other captains in the vicinity are exchanging information with him about the lures that work and the depths where fish are found.
"Fishing has been a lot better than we thought it would be this summer," said Klein, a former substitute teacher for Grand Rapids and Grand Haven Public Schools.
Klein took up fishing as a young man, learning from his father. He later chose to leave education and get his captain's license. He was 29 years old. Klein then bought a Ludington based charter fishing business for $1,000 and started fishing.
Buying a business meant having ready-made customers. But keeping them would fall squarely on his shoulders. For Klein that has meant staying on top of the changing technology. Leadcore and copper lines now take lures down deep where charter captains once relied on heavy cannonballs.