Atlantics leap in popularity

[GLF]

DRUMMOND ISLAND -- While anglers at the southern end of Lake Michigan sing the blues about the collapse of good salmon fishing, they're whistling a happy tune 250 miles to the north. Here, fishermen are returning to shore with good mixed bags of chinook and Atlantic salmon, along with the occasional steelhead.

Ivan Gable runs his charterboat off Drummond Island, where he lives, but good salmon fishing has been reported from Cedarville on the Michigan shoreline 30 miles west to Manitoulin Island in Canadian waters 70 miles east.

"It's been a really good spring, especially for Atlantics," Gable said. "We're not just getting a lot of them, they're nice mature fish, 8-10 pounds. They stocked some bigger fish three years ago, and we can tell from the fin clips that they're the ones we're getting. They seem to be surviving a lot better than the smaller fish they stock."

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060622/SPORTS10/606220403/1058

[Mike]

The more fish the better