It's official, just need to sort out weigh-in location, times in the coming months.
Also, Coho Club added another event (Caution: for laker lovers), here are the basics from the 1-29-16 News-Dispatch... ...
The Hoosier Coho Club is offering a unique "30-for-30" lake trout contest — $3,030.30 for a 30-pound lake trout.
"Its time to embrace these trout," club president Craig Koepke said. "They're big, they're native and they are what we fish for."
Lake trout thrived here long before the invasive species/industrial upheaval of the last century and appear better suited than relative newcomers like salmon and steelhead in an increasingly sterile Lake Michigan ecosystem.
They are the renaissance fish.
"I know just about everybody prefers silver fish (steelhead and salmon)," Koepke said. "But after last year, a new reality might be setting in."
In 2015, "silver" fish became scarce around Michigan City. Lakers, on the other hand, were down-right dependable. And, while lacking the fighting zip and zing of silvers, lake trout are the biggest and, perhaps, most beautiful fish out there.
Do not get the idea the club, or anyone else, is throwing in the towel on salmon and steelhead. The catching should remain great at times, just not as reliable as in the past.
A Hoosier Coho Club resolution sums this event well: "whereas the biggest salmonid in Lake Michigan in 2016, and the foreseeable future, likely will be lake trout; whereas these impressive trout often do not receive due respect; whereas a club purpose is to encourage anglers to fish more and fish more often; whereas there should be a new and enticing event for our membership; whereas the conquering angler shall be honored as a first and be duly rewarded: the Hoosier Coho Club Board of Directors present '30-for-30' Lake trout — $3,030.30 for the first Hoosier Coho Club member registering a 30-pound lake trout."
The contest runs April 30 through October 30, or until the first 30-pound, or larger, lake trout is recorded. To be eligible, anglers must be a 2016 Hoosier Coho Club member ($20 annual dues) or passenger aboard a boat which has a Hoosier Coho Club member as a captain and this captain has paid a $100 fee to include all non-club passengers as eligible for duration of contest.
Complete rules and forms will be at
www.hoosiercohoclub.org, although the club's website is under reconstruction this week.
How about the chances of catching a 30-pound laker?
The typical lake trout goes six to 10 pounds. Brutes in the mid-teens are caught every week. Beasts of 20 or more show up every month.
Beyond 25, catches dwindle. As far as I can find, barely a handful of 25-plus lakers were caught in southern Lake Michigan in 2015, which was way up from previous years, partly because trollers targeted lake trout more often and partly because they're simply growing older.
Last year's top trout included a 26.2 caught aboard Originator (St. Joseph, Mich.), 27-9 Holly Lynn (Michigan City), 28.6 Saluki's Pride (Chicago), 28.6 Boatre Dame (Michigan City) and 31.6 Kingfisher (Chicago).
Bottom line is a 30-pounder is a elusive, albeit glorious goal.. And it will be worth $3,030.30 in 2016.