Before I summarize our club tournament, I want to give a shout out to the Thumb Chapter Michigan Steelheaders for putting on the Veterans Fishing Outing on June 14th out of Harbor Beach. Fred Chartier invited me to be his First Mate for this event. Three of our Captains volunteered their boats and time to host some of the Vets. Joe Delisi, Allen DeVoll, and Fred. This event has been conducted since 2012 with attendance growing every year. Captains were provided one night’s slip, up to $100 gas, ice, an American flag w/pole, and a t-shirt. The Vets were also given gifts. A hot lunch was provided for all. I was impressed with how smoothly this event was run.
The weather started off really nice with calm winds, but a slight drizzle developed when it was time to head back to port. There were some nice boxes of fish with some really big Steelhead and big Lakers caught. A10s out of Selfridge flew overhead and put on a nice display. I’m considering volunteering as a Captain next year. Besides honoring our Vets, it would be a good way to pre-fish our club tournament. I encourage our members to participate either as a Captain, Vet, or both.
For our club tournament, the forecast called for 5-10 mph winds out of the NE. When we arrived at the Marina around 4:30 am, the wind was howling. 5-10 my ass! Per Bob Fiesel, the winds were even stronger overnight. Ten Captains had registered, but two dropped out due to the conditions. Three boats poked out of the Pierheads to assess the conditions and concluded that it was fishable, especially since it was supposed to improve as the morning progressed. No one was going to run 20 miles but you could motor out and set up. It wasn’t bad trolling with the waves and it eventually improved enough that you could troll in any direction.
We started a few miles north and set up going with the waves. We had three fish in the first hour and a half. Two on a low diver at 150, with an eight inch white glow Spindoctor and Spin n Glo and one on a 200 copper with a Mag Spoon. At first fish call, we had three fish, four boats had one each and three boats had zero. We had two or three more bites but still only had three at the second fish call, while Blue Star had three, Moonshot and Miss Adventure with two each. Everyone else had one.
We started out running a custom painted orange, (Steelie Candy), Thin Fin from Docs Custom Crank Baits. I would normally run it on a high line but decided to go with a two color because it was so rough. After it didn’t go for the first few hours, I took it off. With conditions improving, I put it out on a high line the last hour. It wasn’t down for more than ten minutes when it took a Steelie. Put it back out and again within ten minutes it went again. We saw the Steelie doing cartwheels behind the boat but it spit the hook. This lure on a high line consistently took one or two Steelhead each time out last year. I highly recommend it.
At the weigh-in, our lunch included broasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, and potato salad provided by Ricky J’s. Moonshot took first place with four weighable fish, Miss Adventure took second with three fish, and Sloppy Joe took third with three fish. We had a fourth fish, (Pink), that was just a half inch shy of the 19 inches. I don’t remember a Pink Salmon ever qualifying in our previous tournaments so this was a good size one. Also, I found it odd that Miss Adventure took second place at Harbor Beach without any Lake Trout. All three of their fish were Steelhead. I think next year I’ll run two of those Thin Fins. Moonshot took the big Salmon prize of $90 with a Coho, with big Steelhead going to Miss Adventure and big Laker to Sloppy Joe. Anyway, it was tough fishing but everyone caught fish, and almost everyone seemed to enjoy the outing. I say almost everyone because one of my crew was seasick all day but toughed it out.
Joe von Grabe
“Sloppy Joe”
