Had similar experience with the rare, fightin' laker; 300' copper, board slashes backward, 150 feet melt off reel. Surely a prized king. Three anglers took turns, including myself 20 minutes in to see "what's wrong." Started to wonder if a foul-hooked salmon. But, after 35 minutes, turned out to be a healthy laker of 15 or so pounds.
Back to the topic, sort-of, here's the end of Salmon-A-Rama story in 2-5 News-Dispatch;
Of course, you can’t
have a big fish contest
without big stories. The
2015 winner was a doozy.
“Well, last day of the
contest, a six-year old,
Jace Hack of Bristol,
Wis., fishing with his dad,
reels in a 25.58 laker,”
LaFortune recalled. “It
edges out a 23-pounder,
again, right at the end of
the nine-day run.
Then, when I examine the fish,
I find a four-pound lake
trout in the fish’s stomach.
“It was all good (legal),
the (eaten) fish was a bit
decomposed and our DNR
guys were right there to
identify it. But, imagine if
that fish hadn’t eaten the
four-pounder the night
before - and still had the
stomach to bite a lure -
there wouldn’t have been
a six-year-old kid winning
the contest.”
The South End provides useful resources and discussion forums for those that fish The South End of Lake Michigan for Salmon, Steelhead, Perch, and Bass as well as elsewhere in the Region and Chicago area.