There are a number of really good salmon locations around Thunder Bay, and I thought I really had a chance to get one. So, the first trip I went with two of my roommates, as one had arrived a few weeks earlier. This roommate has been lucky enough not to be dragged into any of my fishing adventures so far, and that is just unacceptable. So, we got our fancy spoons and plugs and tried our luck. Both my roommates had utterly miserable first casts, one ended up in a fence, the other bird-nested the line. So, naturally I make fun of them for being so bad at casting, and I take my first cast and hear a sickening cracking sound.... my rod snapped. Karma. All the tossing my rod in my backpack and smacking it into the low hanging tree branches on the bike trails did its work, and I finished the job with a spoon. I ended up watching my friends donate tackle to the rocky bottom for the rest of the night.
Funny this was 2 pieces when I bought it
I bought a new rod the following morning, even cheaper than the last, (I didn't bring up much tackle since I didn't want the airplane that brought me to school to "handle it with care to death", so I pick up cheap rods from garage sales, or in this case I bought the cheapest rod at the local tackle shop). I also grabbed a few new spoons.
We went for another trip a few days later at a new location. On the way to the water we say a massive Golden Eagle perched atop a pole. The photo doesn't do it justice, this bird was huge. The bird was a high place was stunning. We arrived at the perfect time of year for Pink Salmon, something I did not expect to catch as they are extremely rare back home, and since they were accidently introduced into superior, and since they typically spawn every other year, the odds were not great of there being a lot of them on an odd numbered year. But there were hundreds all lining the bottom of the river, and they were nearly impossible to catch. It was like the suckers all over again, you could see them, but they don't feed once they enter the rivers, so coaxing them to bite was no small task.
This eagle was bigger than the 2' it appears on your screen
Water
More water
After about three hours of hopelessly watching the salmon completely ignore our lures, my roommate did the impossible, and hooked up with one on a Rapala J-11. Better yet, the fish absolutely crushed the lure. My roommate was on the board and this was reassuring! I lost all my fancy spoons, so I switched to an cheap but obnoxious fire tiger spoon and my lure stopped dead mid retrieve. I thought it was yet another rock pretending to be a fish but it was moving slightly. I reeled in enough to see the fish, and the fish saw me and bolted, but it was no match for modern technology. I'd gotten my first salmon, and busted the curse.
Species #34: Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) Weird seeing them outside of a can
