Thursday, May 13, 2010

Going Fishing On Friday - Lake Michigan

I have yet to catch a fish out on Lake Michigan other than a small perch and several gobies, Gobies are a species nobody likes and is against the law to throw back into the water after catching them. What we typically do with gobies after catching them is to toss them onto the concrete and watch the seagulls find them and eat them.

It is actually quite interesting to see that seagulls have such a keen eye. Of all the things on the ground, they can spot the gobies on the ground and they swoop down and pick them up to eat! While the small little fish may be a menace to the eco system on Lake Michigan, the seagulls seem to like them.

I am going out on a boat on Lake Michigan on Friday. We are after salmon and trout. My understanding is that Lake Michigan is about 25 feet deep per mile and I have heard that fish are being caught about 125 to 150 feet deep right now. So based on that, I'm going to guess we will go out about 5 or 6 miles to go fish.

If we are lucky, we'll catch some nice fish and I'll have something to post about it. Our limit is 5 per person. Not having caught any so far, I'm hopeful tomorrow will change my luck.

Salmon is not native to Lake Michigan. It is actually stocked into the lake yearly. Originally, the salmon were put in there to help stop the alewive population. They did such a good job at that because now, we don't have much of that problem anymore. I recall as a child going to the beach and seeing (and smelling) all the dead alewives floating in the water! Yuck! But today, it is much better, thanks to the salmon who eat them!

Wish me luck! I hope to catch my first salmon or brown trout tomorrow!

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