*Insert expletive here.

I have to stop and take a minute to talk about this whole love/hate relationship I have recently found with salmon fishing. I have lived in the greater Chicagoland are my entire life, and have been fishing since age 4 or 5. I have caught many species of fish from northern Illinois’ deceptively good fishing spots; however, I have never, until last year, even begun fishing Lake Michigan; and just this year I have started salmon fishing. Since I have been active in internet fishing forums for the past few years, I have taken notice of the diverse fishery that is available from Chicago’s Lake Michigan shores, namely the Chinook salmon. Images of fishermen holding huge silver(and black) salmon are strewn across the interwebs right now, how could one not take notice. So here again in Aurora, I found that time of year coming around again. As the weather started to cool, a certain member re-appeared on Fishing-Headquarters, a familiar face I have been used to seeing this time of year from Chicagolandfishing. I took a look at my school schedule, and decided that it was go time for salmon season.

I got in touch with Mike Planthaber, the local expert on king salmon, and we hooked up to test out my new gear. (new species + new rod combo = mad girlfriend) Mike took me out to a couple of spots that had producing fish for him, and the game was on. We fished the first spot with no luck, then headed on to another opportunity a little ways away. I was much obliged to arrive at the second spot and meet the one and only BassinLarry, among a few other anglers I recognized from internet posts from years back. I tried to listen to as much as I could take in, and studied their tactics. Having an opportunity to fish with those guys was cool, and I really took a lot from the experience. Except a fish. I couldn’t hook up on a single strike. I ended up having six hits and zero fish landed for the night.



The next few outings have been with my fishin pal Chris Loveless. We have made it out to most of the Chicago spots within the week, and besides a nice female king caught by Chris in the beginning of the week, most of our outings have been uneventful.



Monday we made it out to another Chicago spot recommended by Mike, a little further south than we had been fishing last week. I arrived in the harbor at approximately 5pm, to find the fish jumping everywhere. Within an hour I had my first strike, that nearly ripped the rod from my hands. I set the hook, it straightened, and I lost the fish. Second strike came after a long retrieve, about 4 feet out from the wall, as I paused and picked sunflower seeds from my teeth. I completely wasn’t ready, biffed the hookset, and fought the fish along the wall for a minute. I was definitely hooked up, and the fish was taking a few runs, and wouldn’t you know I lost it. Awesome. I stomped the ground like a child in disappointment, not rich enough to break my gear like Iaconelli. One more swing and a miss, before Dan Sims joined us and we explored other parts of the harbor.

Hopefully in the coming week I will be able to post a pic of myself holding one of these fish instead of just my buddies fish. Tight Lines!

I have been really bummed out as of lately, and even fishing has been suffering because of my general malaise. I only fished a few days last week, but I was pleased with my results. First outing of the week was on Thursday night to a local honey hole with my buddy Chris Loveless. We were able to set the hook on a few good size catfish and largemouth bass, but I ended up calling it a night kinda early because I wasnt feeling so hot. Actually I was feeling quite hot, and that, combined with about ten cheap American pilsners, made the 100% humidity and 90 degree midnight temperatures unbearable. Here’s the highlights, including Chris’s bass caught on bacon.

I also did pretty well over the weekend on some private waters up in the Northwest burbs. Best of the weekend was a massive bass, that upon examination of photos, I have actually caught twice before in previous years. The spot on the gill is a dead giveaway. Unfortunately I failed to notice the leader and bait hook hanging out of her mouth before releasing her.





Enjoy the cooler weather that’s coming, maybe it will bring Mr. Marbleyes to town sometime soon.

Keep your head up.