Interesting to see how they do it in the Great Lakes. Curious to read everyone's comments/critiques.

Their chinook don't eat very good (my opinion, having lived their and fished on those stocks for some years), and there's a lot of concern for heavy metals and PCB's in their belly meat, so maybe that's why he's cutting away all the meat that would be the gravy in our PacNW fish. If that's not his rationale, then dang he sure wastes a lot of meat!

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I used to live in the Great Lakes. Upstate NY and several places in Michigan. I’ve done this fishery numerous times. Lots of fun, particularly for those folks who aren’t used to fishing big water (not so much fun if you’re susceptible to seasickness, and the water is rough). The salmon are considerably leaner than those found in saltwater. The fish’s diet is mostly alewife and smelt. The meat is quite pale, sort of a dull pink, as you can see in the video.

The method of choice is trolling long, thin spoons, off a down-rigger. As I recall, they can use two lines per angler, so a party of three can have 6 lines out, which really increases the likelihood of a strike.

The max size is usually around 20lbs. They occasionally hit 30lbs, but that would be unusual. Almost all fish are hatchery raised, particularly in the Lower Great Lakes. The Upper Lakes have reasonably good spawning and rearing habitat, so if you’re fishing Lake Superior or Upper Lake Michigan, the chances of getting a wild fish are quite good.

There is a concern about toxics in the meat. But it's not a huge deal. Trim away the excess fat usually eliminates any toxics. That ensures than a lean fish is even leaner. But it doesn't stop them from enjoying salmon on the grill, like the rest of us.

True, seeing a great lakes charter boat in action is really something, not uncommon to have 10 or more lines out in the trolling spread, absolute wall of death. The limit is either 3 rods or no limit per person (I forget), but when I set up, I'd troll six terminals for two of us in my boat. A decent fish would be a fire drill clearing the deck. Back then we almost never saw 20 lbers, but I have heard there are a couple these days. The fish were kind of trouty in the way they'd go on the bite right at gray light in the morning for a flurry, and then shut down til later in the day. No tide change bites to work. Just different fishing, different strokes, different folks, or some of the same,

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I grew up fishing in Michigan City (oddly enough located in Indiana) and I can tell you that I have never been as smacked around as I was fishing out of there. No swell but 3 footers coming every 5-6 seconds is no damn fun at all. Lk. MI shallows up near shore and the wave period is too short for the boat to reset.

A fishery that is more fun than the kings is trolling for big brown trout off of the many warm-water discharges at the power plants. Hot action and fewer guys at least back in the 80s...
http://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/fishing_icefishing-fishing_in_0210_02/243168#

I too fished Lake Michigan a lot back in my college days. The bigger fish are up north near Traverse and Charlevoix. We commonly caught fish up to 30 pounds, with some HUGE Lakers and Browns in the mix. They are dawn and dusk biters for certain. Spoons are the go to, but we also had good success on plugs. The action can be red hot when you find em'.

The fresh water discharge fisheries for big browns is a hoot and best fished in the dead of winter. It is soooooo cold. Milwaukee has a world class discharge fishery. On the Michigan side, all of the major river systems will hold world class browns in the fall. Until pretty recently, the Manistee held the world record at around 41 pounds. I'm convinced there's a 50 pounder in there somewhere.

On the weather front, all of the Great Lakes are generally pretty chill until the summer afternoon thunderstorms come rolling in. Then it can be super violent and deadly. Lighting, hail, tornados and big waves for smaller boats can make it real sporty in a hurry.

On a side note, I miss the debauchery that is late night smelt dipping. Lots of big smelt and lots of Canadian Club.

Nick - Your post reminded me of my college days. Smelt dipping was the first fishery of the year (early April), and a real blast. Northshore of Lake Michigan. The smelt would run at night, so we would build huge campfires along the rivers, drink enough beer to drown a horse, and wait with steel dip nets for the huge schools of smelt to charge upstream. You could catch a gallon in one scoop. Tradition says you had to bite the head off the first one you caught. I remember my GF at the time did that with considerable enthusiasm! How many women have you ever seen bite the head off a live fish....

Great times, great memories.

That's exactly how I remember it. It was a party to be certain and jumbo smelt by the bucket loads. My GF bit the head off too. I shoulda kept her around.

Horrible waste!