My buddy Tim said it best, “The season of energy drinks and sleep deprivation is officially here.”

That’s the truth when it comes to this type of fishing. King Salmon fishing from shore is probably the greatest thing ever.

I spend way too much time analyzing water temps, winds, waves, air temp,etc etc when this time of year arrives.

This past week I decided it was time… time for me to pack my gear, load up on caffeine, and put some mileage on my car.

I believe it was Wednesday evening I went out after work for the first time of the year, and the water temp was there. The bait fish were present. I casted and casted. Got drilled while using a KO wobbler around 10pm, and it was a swing and a miss. My heart was thumping and and I was back to a place I left off at during summer of 2009.

20 minutes later I connected. The fish hit like a ton of bricks. My drag was really dialed down because I have a lot of faith in my fireline. I knew something was up rather quickly when the fish didn’t give too much of a fight back.

2lb king.

It was a fish, and a start.

Saturday AM (12am departure) I was back on it again. The withdrawal is bad for this disease, and I had to get out again. Joined by Tim and Keith, we were ventured north. Upon arrival, we were greeted by severe weather – lightning, thunderstorms, and 30+ MPH wind gusts.

We took a breather halfway through the morning. I took a nap in my car. Around 4 am, there was a window.. a small one, but a window. The kings had slid into the shallows and I’d say that 5 or 6 fish were hooked up. Tim was rewarded with his first King of the year during the fury.

I had my chances.. two hookups within 5 minutes of each other, and two failed conversions. I had chipped my last guide and with a vicious hookset and the sharp and exposed guide sliced my line. Not once, but twice.

I was in need of some sleep.

Saturday night and into Sunday I rested up. Slept til noon or so. I got on the laptop, and went through my favorite summertime bookmarks (some are listed on my blog) checking the temps and winds.

The stars were lining up, and I had a craving. I had to get out again. The addiction is bad. Its real bad.. it consumes my normal life. Friends? What are those when it comes to salmon season? That’s how bad it is sometimes…

I arrived at my destination with Keith around 6pm. Winds were gusting straight west and the water was cold. Bait was present, and I was confident either Keith or myself would get some play.

730 pm. Green/Chrome KO wobbler. It hit like a freight train about 60 yards out from the pier. King? No. The fish bit in the upper water column. Must be a steelhead..

Wrong.

The Special Ed pose - Lake Michigan Style

12 lbs of brown. The thing gave a great fight, but was easily overcome with fatigue – most likely from being as porky as it was.

The sun fell, and the program switched to kings. Glow spoons – you name em, we throw em. Moonshines, KOs, Krocs, Cleos.. gotta see what gets bit.

11pm, 1 oz anchovy blue glow moonshine produces.

1130pm, 1/2 oz glow green KO gets bit. Fish snaps off on Keith.

1135pm, 1/2 oz glow green KO gets bit. Keith muscles in a steelie.

1145, replacement 1/2 oz glow green KO gets bit again. Keith wins, 10lb king on the deck. Unfortunately no pic of this one for the camera battery gave out on us.

1215 pm – back on the ride home to Chicago.

I didn’t blog last weekend, but here’s a quick recap on how things went -

Last weekend I got out for a fishing tournament – a great time was had. Quality fish landed. Team Brush & Roll finished in a very respectable 8th place amongst a great group of fishermen. That weekend the fish were deeper.

Amazing how west winds brings em in.

Do your homework boys, its Salmon Season.

Look who it is!!

I got Mike to briefly fish with me last Friday for some bass. We didn’t catch any, but I was pretty happy to see the guy holding a rod.

And now, for a long winded week of fishing -

Last Saturday I hit the fox with friends Tim and Clark for some wading. The game fish were not present, but sheephead kept our attention for a couple of hours before we decided to call it quits. Tim managed big fish of the day with a really ugly Buffalo.

Tuesday night I hit the lake front with Keith looking for smallies, but only one was to be had by Keith.

Keith and I were targeting feeding smallies off of some deeper rock piles. However, many of the recently caught smallies are bed protectors, so use your best judgement if you chose to go after them. I’ve always wondered if a bass will be reluctant to attack an invading goby after being hooked…

On another lakefront note, the perch have officially arrived. I spent Monday – Wednesday just waiting for Thursday – the day Lake Michigan hit 58 degrees. I got out Thursday morning and got some perching in before work. The action was steady, but not quite on fire. Keith and I took 16 jumbos home. Those perch just love eating plastic!

Saturday was the kickoff of the Illinois Chapter of Salmon Unlimited’s season of fishing. Team Brush & Roll finished 2nd in the 24′ and under division with a limit of Coho and a couple of Lake Trout mixed in.

We worked a program in deeper water for kings, but couldn’t keep them hos of the line!

It was definitely a great time off shore on Lake Michigan. We also had a few visitors stop by for some well needed rest -

This guy was pretty friendly!

The week concluded today with some perch fishing. Wow, was it a scorcher! Well, the weather was warm. Fishing, not so much.

Keith and I fished spot 1 for about 45 mins this morning and plucked off a few fish at first light, but the crowd of anglers grew and the fish disappeared. We decided to relocate to a much quitter and lesser none spot, and we managed to string up 17 nice fish. We then decided that we wanted to hit the daily limit, so we checked out spot #3 and picked up the remainder of our fish and called it a day.

At this point in the week, my camera had stopped working, so Keith snapped a cell phone pic of our stringer from spot 2.

Definitely a fun week, with plenty of fixing in the mix. Perching should really kick off this upcoming week so I expect to spend most of my time on the lakefront