Late for Coho and OK With It

[Dave Mull]

It's Thursday, Passover Thursday, the start of Easter Weekend as I write this, and I feel like I'm already behind in getting out on Lake Michigan and chasing salmon. For several years back in the 1990s and a few times since, I got out trolling for cohos in whatever boat I had at my disposal, usually in Indiana, by the second day of the NCAA's Big Dance.

So, considering that I haven't been out seeking cohos yet, once again I'm behind. It's already the weekend of the Sweet 16 and I have no hope of climbing aboard anything with my visions of landing some tasty silver salmon.

Not that all of those early trips were productive. In fact, most of them served more to blow off the winter stink than to harvest anything for the frying pan.

For me, the worst part of salmon fishing is preparing what to take. I tend to overdo it, putting together way too much stuff, thinking I"ll be ready for all sorts of situations that just don't arise when you're trolling for early-season cohos. You'd think I'd know better. One year a much younger version of me was getting ready to take my old 16-foot Skeeter backtroller, a walleye-type boat, over to Burns Ditch at Portage, Indiana. I was up almost all night the night before, sitting at the kitchen table and packing a single tackle box with all the cool lures that had a chance of catching a coho or brown trout. I had the basics: Jointed orange Rapalas and deadly Storm Rattling ThinFins, along with a bunch of Storm ThunderStick Juniors, small spoons, regular ThinFins, Hot'N Tots, some Wiggle Warts, Rat-L-Traps and more. I had a two-sided Plano tackle box the size of a large brief case jammed with lures.

And then at 6 a.m. the following morning, running on about three hours of sleep, I headed out of the driveway, boat in tow and loaded with about 10 rods. I picked up a neighbor and pointed my truck towards Portage, Indiana.

With my two-sided Plano tackle box the size of a large brief case still sitting on the kitchen table.

Which I didn't realize until the boat was at the ramp, 90-some miles from home.

Boy was I mad at myself.

By some minor miracle, a rainbow-trout-pattern ThunderStick Junior was stuck in the boat carpet and hadn't rusted away sitting in the garage. I also had grabbed a pink Mann Dancer, a weird lure no longer made, that had a flat, willow-leaf shape with a chunk of lead at one end and a dressy treble hook at the other, a wire for tying on your line stuck out of the centerline the willow leaf, towards the lead head. Put in the water, it was a sort of reverse crankbait--wiggling like crazy and diving at a steep angle. This lure, still in its package, I had put in a pocket thinking I'd probably never run it.

And that was it for lures.

I was a poor freelance writer back then (much like the present day) and my neighbor was unemployed, which is probably why we didn't go to some store and buy some lures. We decided to use the two we had and see what happened.

We launched and headed down the the Ditch to the lake, a distance of less than a mile. When we got there under a bright sun and blue skies, we headed through a slurry of large ice chunks. It was the kind of day that if the wind started blowing out of the north, the ice probably would have piled up and kept us from getting back to the Ditch. Reflecting on how the day started, I'm kind of surprised that didn't happen.

It turned out to be a blessing that we could only use two rods. Dipsy Divers and planer boards were out of the question with all the ice. We were able to get through the ice field to where the mini bergs were much more spaced apart, and set both lines out of the back of the boat. To make a long story short, the ThunderStick got hit almost immediately and we landed a dime-bright 'ho. The Mann Dancer was untouched (although it pulled so hard on its own that we thought it had a little coho a couple of different times). An hour passed before the ThunderStick got hit again and we landed a second little coho. After another hour of fruitlessness, we called it a day, a decision reinforced by the feeling that the ice flow was moving towards the Ditch's mouth.

The lessons learned are several and include:

• You don't need a lot of different lures to catch cohos.

• Cohos aren't worth losing sleep.

• A Mann Dancer isn't a top choice if ever limited to two lures.

So, I'm starting to hear reports of guys getting out and catching cohos in Indiana and even as far north as St. Joe, Michigan, where a buddy caught one last Sunday. I'm a little disappointed that I'm not going to get out after them for another week, at least. But the fish will be there, and I'll be sure and pack a smaller box with a few old ThinFins, some Reef Runner Little Rippers, a couple of J-9s in orange, and maybe a couple of little red dodgers with green peanut flies. And I'll check that the tacklebox is in the truck before pulling out of my driveway.

[Just Hook'n]

Thanks for the story and the picture Dave....always entertaining.

We are going to try to get out of St. Joe on Saturday, with I'm sure about 100 other guys drooling over a long weekend (with Friday off) and the prospects of a 50 degree day.

[Dave Mull]

Thanks for the story and the picture Dave....always entertaining.

We are going to try to get out of St. Joe on Saturday' date=' with I'm sure about 100 other guys drooling over a long weekend (with Friday off) and the prospects of a 50 degree day.[/quote']

I'm itching to get out there myself, but resigned to (not really disappointed kind of resigned, just happily accepting) celebrating my wife's birthday on Friday, helping older stepson move back home on Saturday, helping prepare Easter dinner on Sunday. Such is life and it's really OK. I guess I'm not as mad at those fish as I used to be.

[SUPERTRAMP]

Last spring we launched on 3/31 and boated more kings than ho's. We are hoping to get in the water by the end of the first week of April, and Dave if u want to go along the MC2 is always open for another fisherman.

[Gnarf]

this time last year i caught 17 coho out of port sheldon! what a difference a year makes...

[Dave Mull]

Last spring we launched on 3/31 and boated more kings than ho's. We are hoping to get in the water by the end of the first week of April, and Dave if u want to go along the MC2 is always open for another fisherman.

Mike:

Just drop me a line when you're going. This coming weekend is probably out, but if you're looking for three rods more during the week, I usually don't need a lot of notice. Thanks for the offer.

Dave