King Salmon Tail

Mine is on the left. We'll eat it tonight.

I've never been fishing like this before. Salmon fishing out on "the big lake" (that is what we call Lake Michigan so as not to be confused with Lake Mac). Their is a Salmon festival in Grand Haven every year. We had intentions to participate in the festival, but opted for a boat outing instead with friends of Benjamin's (pronounced ben-ha-meen). We headed out to the big lake wearing sweatshirts and sunglasses for protection from both the cool wind and the sun, and had some beverages and laughs while we casually rolled over the three footers. All the while we were heading out, "B" (still not sure if they were calling him that, or "D") was setting the lines at the appropriate depths for salmon and rigging them with contraptions so that they wouldn't cross and get tangled. We had six or seven lines in the water and I think we were moving along at a nice speed of 3mph.

It really was a beautiful day... it was my first time being out on the lake all summer and it reminded me how much I love Lake Michigan. I love it for its' depth and color, for its' calm and expanse, and I love how it can take me to a more peaceful place. It just has a way to relax me. And it is just beautiful.

So, we were out there, on the big lake, chatting it up and having some beverages when, all of a sudden, "B" runs over to one of the lines, grabs it from the canister and yanks really hard! We all sort of scrambled and got excited when he did that, and he was sure there was a fish on the line... so he looks to me quickly and is telling me to take the line and reel it in! I hesitated for a few seconds, but then put my red "Solo" cup of wine down and grabbed it from him while he rattled off to me the simple "how to's" of reeling in a fighter. And he was definitely a fighter! Benjamin said it took me maybe even ten minutes to get him in! I had to let him pull the line out and then pull up on the reel and then reel some in while lowering it, and the butt of the reel was in my lower abdomen for leverage the entire time... it was fabulous! The best part was that while I did that, another fish bit on another line and Benjamin took that one, so we were both reeling in at the same time! I couldn't believe how big the fish looked when I got him close enough to the boat to see him through the blue water... and the sun reflecting off him made him look silvery and shiny! And I was so excited to be "catching" such a HUGE fish! So, once they were netted and in the boat I was looking down at them and I started to feel a little sad and worried for them... it was really bloody cause Benjamin's fish was naughty or something and so their was blood all around it and they were just laying there gasping for water... so I spoke up and said that maybe we should finish them off and kill them so that they are dead, and the rest of 'em just said, "oh, they'll die, don't worry about that", as if that was what I was worried about. No, I was just concerned about their slow death, drowning in our oxygen. But I let it go cause apparently it wasn't a big deal that they were suffering. Plus, I really wasn't sure how exactly I would finish them off... so we just put them in the cooler and that was that. We headed in after that cause Benjamin and I had to get back for an outing later that night.

So, the friends fileted the fish for us and it is in our freezer now and we'll put it in a cooler this morning and head to my hometown to visit the 'rents and share it with them for dinner tonight.

And I really loved the experience and hope we have a chance to do it all over again in the future=) And, btw, salmon have teeth!