Thumb Sport Fishing Article

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Trisha Tyler

Huron Daily Tribune

(989) 269-6461 ext. 111

The 2008 Lake Huron sportfishing tournaments are a sure sign that spring fishing action is starting in the Thumb.

The opening tourney, again this season, will be the Harbor Beach MDA Can-Can Tournament, which is set for Saturday, May 3. The "Can-Can" refers to the boundary limits of the fishing venue for the event — the Pointe Aux Barques can on the north and the Forestville water tower can on the south.

Missing from the tournament schedule this year will be the Blue Water Spring Salmon Classic, which, after 23 years, has been cancelled. It was a major attraction that drew top teams from around southeastern Michigan for two days of tough competition and involved four fishing ports from Port Huron to Harbor Beach.

Perhaps it can be revived in the future with the aid of a few new sponsors.

So the next scheduled sportfishing tourney will be the Pro-King Harbor Beach Salmon Tournament which traditionally takes place on the first Saturday in June.

Following this event we look forward to the Thumb Area Offshore Challenge in late June, which runs out of Port Austin and Grindstone City. Now in its third year, the Offshore Challenge is another big two-day event that draws top fishing teams from the Metro area as well as the upper Thumb.

Then in July we'll have the OffShore Lake Trout Tournament, a one-day outing sponsored by OffShore Marina at Harbor Beach.

We'll have tournament specifics on each of these tourneys in advance of their scheduled running.

Back to the Can-Can Tournament on May 3. This is a fund raiser tournament, in which 20 percent of the entry fee is donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and 80 percent goes into prize money for prize money.

The 2007 Can-Can event drew 13 boats that weighed in 93 fish with a total weight of 603 pounds.

Dave Pryor's Prior Commitment team from Forestville nosed out the Rawhide team from Fort Gratiot to take top honors.

The fishing format for 2008 has been changed a little from that of last year's inaugural event.

It will still have the 12-rod limit for each boat, but the weigh-in will be based on the DNR two-man limit – six of any one species and a maximum of 10 fish in the box. Each team can tag its biggest fish, which will vie for a special prize. The weigh-in will be on total weight only… no points will be assigned this year.

The captains meeting for the Can-Can will be 7 p.m. Friday, May 2 at Foster's Bar (previously called Red Balloon North) on M-25, about 10 miles south of Harbor Beach.

Entry fee is $300 per team.

For more information, contact Joe Schumacher at (989) 315-1812.

Bud Donnelly writes for the Huron Daily Tribune