October Salmon Fishing Trip

Waking up at 3:45 a.m. isn't something I do often but last Saturday morning (Oct. 9th) I gladly packed up my fishing tackle along with my older brother and a close friend for our 9th annual salmon fishing trip on the Pere Marquette River.

As the air cools, the leaves turn and begin to tumble from the trees marking the fall season, the King Salmon migrate out of the great lakes and into the rivers to spawn. During this approximately two week migration up stream small rivers like the Pere Marquette have forty pound fish filling waters as shallow as 3-4 feet.

Arriving at the river around 8 a.m. excitement builds while we don our waders, thread and bait hooks, and trek from the vehicle down the path to the river to find an ideal fishing spot. The next nearly four hours and cast after cast are spent unsuccessfully. After a brief lunch break and another half an hour of casting success at last! A thirty-three inch beautiful King Salmon was finally landed.

Although much of the day was spent watching countless salmon swim on past, headed up stream, with no avail, the beauty of the outdoors and the power and grace of these fish was not lost on our three man fishing expedition. I have fished the Pere Marquette River for nine years now, witnessing these magnificent fish travel hundreds of miles upstream to complete their spawning cycle and am still awed by the instincts and cunning these salmon exhibit.

After nearly nine hours of fishing, we exhaustively called it quits, packed up our tackle, and drove home. This year we were fortunate enough to have landed six large salmon, the largest of which measured in at forty inches.

Although we were fortunate enough to be successful this weekend (Oct. 9th) the run this season has been sporadic at times and later than normal. While fishing last weekend (Oct. 2nd) the fish we saw were few and far between. My advice would be to fish early mornings and later afternoon as the Salmon are still slow to move up stream during midday.

About This Blog

From the age of 8 (possibly younger), seemingly every sunny summer day of my childhood was spent fishing on the Elkhart River with my two older brothers and often my grandfather. As I got older and my brothers got their drivers licenses, our fishing spots grew in number and we started hunting as well. Mentored in fishing and hunting by our grandfather and a family friend (who previously held the Indiana State Record Buck for bow-hunting), our love for both sports grew as well as our talents. At the age of 23, I still enjoy hunting and fishing as much as I did when I started and spend much of my diminishing free time on the river and in the woods.

As many outdoors-men know, there are few more exciting times to spend on the water or in the woods than October. With the cooling air (and water) the salmon have starting spawning, which brings them into the rivers. This brings to pass on of my favorite times of year, my yearly trip to Northern Michigan to cast-a-line for these beautiful fish. Additionally, Oct 1st marks the start of Bow season for deer.

Although fishing and hunting with my grandfather has neared the impossible (health complications), my two older brothers and I continue to practice the techniques he so patiently taught us and maintain the love of outdoors he instilled in the three of us. During this exhilarating month I spend outdoors, I find myself reminiscing on the times spent with my grandfather, the conversations and laughs we shared, and how he would always find a way to use the triumphs and failures of fishing and hunting to teach me valuable life lessons. These are the aspects of outdoor sports that I continue to love and hope to share in this blog.