From the News-Dispatch, but doesn't look good for this weekend;
What if they're bigger?
Imagine chinook salmon larger than last spring when all sorts of size records were shattered in local tournaments.
I like the chances
Lake Michigan fishing fans will soon find out as a month of Michigan City contests start this weekend.
The 8th annual Coho Capital Derby, sponsored by the LaPorte County Convention & Visitors Bureau starts today (Friday) and continues until May 3. The three largest fish in five species win cash with a total of $2,500 up for grabs.
The Buffalo Bill Memorial fishes Saturday and features one division and "silver fish" only. The Bellman Oil/Morgan Tackle Pro-Am is set for April 27-28. The Hartman Memorial is May 3. And the big one, the 45th annual Horizon Bank Classic, with guaranteed first place pay-out of $12,000 in the professional division and $2,500 for the amateurs, is May 4-5.
The Classic is also the kick-off event in the new Lake Michigan Pro Fishing Series which pays $30,000 or more for the best finishes in three of five tournaments
Rules and registration forms for all of the events listed above are at
www.hoosiercohoclub.org.
Additionally, the 45th annual Great Lakes Shrine Association Benefit Salmon Derby is May 16-18 in Michigan City. And the big-money Schu's Summer Challenge in nearby St. Joseph, Mich. is May 10-11 (see
www.swmisteelheaders.com/summer-challenge.html for details).
Last spring, a plethora of well-fed kings blitzed the southeast shore of Lake Michigan. Catches of surprisingly large salmon trickled in during April before chinook fever gripped the area in May. By the time the chinook drifted away in June, and inexplicably never really regrouped for the rest of the season, every salmon record in every category had been smashed.
.The Coho Capital Derby saw a 25-pound April chinook turned in by Jim Bellman. Six additional chinook topped the previous best CCD king, a 21-pound, five-ounce beauty caught by Scott Reid in 2016.
The 2018 Classic set all-time marks for total weights, average weights and individual salmon in all divisions. This was a 44-year index turned upside down.
Chief among the record breakers was pro winning team Fin Scout (captain Joel DeVries) with a total of 325.9 pounds in just 20 fish. The previous best was 275 pounds (24 fish) by Fuzzy Bear (Carl Stopczynski) in 2009. Best daily bag was a whopping 174.6 pounds (10 fish) turned in by Flat Out (Dave Baker). The amateur side wasn't overshadowed as team Kick 'R (Joe Kranc) brought in the greatest-ever single-day catch of five fish totaling 98.75 pounds.
Larger salmon crossed the scales the following weekend in St. Joe. Team Fin Fire (Brad Kreighbaum) posted a preposterous 423.3 pounds (24 fish) for a 17.6 per salmon average. Big fish for the early-May contest was a 29.3-pound bruiser landed aboard Hammbone (Tony Hamm).
Prospects for extra-large salmon again in 2019 are good, as the maturing class of kings had a healthy head-start. Those two-year old chinook which normally weigh six or seven pounds in May were consistently 10 and 11-pounders last spring. And the first king photo to pop on Facebook this spring was a muscular 25-pounder caught at St. Joe.
Of course, weather trumps everything on Lake Michigan. Untimely north blows can shut down or eliminate the near-shore fishing for weeks at a time on this end of the lake..
Whatever happens its certain to be fun and interesting. It always is on the local tournament trail.
And one other important thing, a tip of the rod to the fishery managers. Your Lake Michigan biologists are the ones who forged ahead with unpopular salmon cuts to get the predator/prey ratio back to better balance, which pretty much resulted in last spring's exceptional chinook fishing.
Classic Observers Wanted
Looking for a free boat ride with some extremely good tournament trollers?
The Horizon Bank/Hoosier Coho Club Classic committee is looking for a few good men or women to be observers (rule watchers) during its 45th annual fishing contest in Michigan City on May 4-5. Prospects must be available for a brief rules meeting on the evening of May 3 (Friday) then be able to ride on contest boats Saturday and/or Sunday,
It can be a great, knowledge-gaining experience aboard some of the best equipped craft on the Great Lakes.
For more information, call Bill at (815) 546-2671.
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Joel DeVries, Jr. hoists an 18-pound chinook caught out of Michigan City on Saturday (April 13) aboard Fin Scout. The big spring king bit a Stinger spoon in the Watermelon pattern.
