Door County Family Vacation: Part 3- Fishing Lake Michigan

The word "Michigan" is believed to come from the Ojibwa word mishigami meaning "great water" (I concur).  Fishing Lake Michigan was one of the "bucket list" activities for the trip (especially for my dad), so we booked a charter with Silver Strike Charters.  This was the first Great Lakes fishing experience for most of us (only Scott has been out on a charter before on Lake Erie). 

We had the morning shift to fish for trout and salmon, so our trusty 32' vessel the Silver Strike departed from the Baileys Harbor Yacht Club marina at 5 AM with Captain Sid and First Mate Spencer as our guides (they also happen to be twin brothers).  It was an early morning for all, and after popping a Dramamine (or two) everyone was pretty sleepy as the calm waves rocked us back to sleep.  We were prepared to be pretty cold out there, but it really was pretty comfortable in just a sweatshirt and jacket.  The 5 mile trip out into the lake was very foggy, but the day cleared a bit as we trolled towards shore...for most of the trip we had 17 lines (with various spinners and lures) out in the water at one time (crazy!).  Fishing was relatively slow though- our collective haul for 5 hours on the water consisted of a nice chinook salmon and a fiesty lake trout (it fought Scott for about 10 minutes!), and an incidental "small" salmon.  This time of year is considered early season up north since the waters have not warmed up enough yet for the fish to become more active (of course, things have already picked up since the day we went out).  We still had a neat experience, and plenty of trout and salmon filets to bring home.  We cooked up some of each that evening for dinner- delicious!

Heading out to fish in the fog

Scott's nice lake trout, about 10 lbs.

The creel for the day (2 salmon, 1 lake trout)

A view of the Old Baileys Harbor Light a rare "birdcage" style lighthouse (now privately owned) on the way back into the marina

All 6 passengers aboard the Silver Strike returned safely to port (photo by Spencer)

Fresh Lake Michigan fish for dinner (photo by Steve)

In addition to the charter trip, we all did plenty of fishing off the dock at North Bay Retreat.  Angela was the only lucky angler who actually caught anything (a little bass), but we did see some nice fish swim by...and watch some nice sunsets.

North Bay fishing (photo by Angela)

"What was big was not the trout, but the chance. What was full was not my creel, but my memory." - Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (June)