15 pounds of fresh fish and a trophy

I've gone fishing all around northeast Indiana and in several places around the country. I've fished the Atlantic Ocean, and gone diving in the Pacific. I've fished Lake Eerie, but until last weekend I had never fished Lake Michigan. I guarantee it won't be my last time. I participated in the Shriner's Charity Salmon Fishing Derby out of Michigan City, Indiana, over the weekend, and I had a great time. Best of all, I put 15 pounds of fresh-caught wild king and coho salmon and steelhead trout in the freezer. The first-place trophy for biggest coho, well that was just bonus.

The fishing wasn't what I am typically interested in due to my incessant need to do everything on my own. No, this was trolling the lake for salmon. The boat captain and his mate set out all the lines, make the choice of baits and set depths. Then it's a waiting game to see when you get a fish on. So as I mentioned, I like to do everything myself, but this turned out to not be a bad way to go even for me. I realized quickly why it is a must for the captain to set everything up. If not for that, you'd have a supreme mess of tangled lines on every pass, which means there'd be no fishing at all.

Now, that's not to say there is no work on the fisherman's part. The fish still has to make it to the boat, and once there into the net. That's not a guarantee. Depending on how far out the line is and the size of the fish, you might just have a 15-30 minute fight on your hands as I did with one king salmon. Squeeze the snot out of anything for 30 minutes then tell me how your hands feel. It is work, but boy was it fun. In fact, I liked it so much I will be heading back up to go fishing with Captain Jerry Ross of Ross Fishing Charters again in a little over a week to go at 'em again.

Here's a short clip from the netting of one of my fish shot on a GoPro Hero camera. Can't wait to shoot the next video.