Sixty miles north and a world away from Chicago, the Diamond Ghost trolled the flat water of Lake Michigan four miles offshore. One after another, under the bemused eye of Capt. Tony Bovenzo, salmon struck our lures and promptly escaped.
“Fish on!” shouted Bovenzo, issuing the age-old alert to fishermen not quite awake at 6:30 on a peaceful, sunny morning. The 20-pound test line zinged.
Fish off.
The fish had spit the hook. Hanging on a wall behind the captain’s chair was Bovenzo’s personal abacus. Black beads were notched for a miss. We rang up three of those in a hurry.
“We be fishin’, we be wishin’,” he said as he steered the 33-foot-long Diamond Ghost above 130 feet of black water.
John Theobold of Winnetka watched sadly as a fourth salmon disappeared. This was not supposed to be a catch-and-release fishery. Bovenzo laughed.
“Oh, you’re supposed to put hooks on?” he joked.
“If I was reeling any faster, the thing would have been water skiing,” Theobold said.
The remarkable thing was just how calm everyone was about the missed opportunities. The quartet of veteran salmon fishermen understood they were fishing a lake of plenty. It takes only minutes from Winthrop Harbor’s North Point Marina–the largest marina in the Midwest and the largest noncoastal marina in the United States–to reach water fishable for coho and king salmon and trout. Often, after five hours, the load toted in represents the limit of five fish per angler.
“Usually we limit out,” said Theobold, who fishes regularly with business customers or friends.
Lake Michigan is the sixth largest lake in the world. So while up to 55 of the big charter boats motoring out of North Point might be busy on a summer weekend day, they have 22,400 square miles to roam. What sets the North Point salmon fleet apart from area boats docked in Chicago, Wisconsin and Indiana, is the port’s proximity to 100-foot water where the salmon are productive for six months.
“We have the quickest access to deep water out of that harbor,” said Capt. Bob Rossa, who operates The Migrator.
Destination fishery
Compared to bass fishing, bluegill harvesting and walleye fishing, salmon fishing is a rare geographical privilege in this country. Anglers unable or unwilling to travel to Alaska or the Pacific Northwest, New England or Canada, choose Lake Michigan.
“I have people come from all over the country,” said Capt. Jeff Griffin, who guides on the Anastacia Marie. “From Texas, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon.”
The mystique of salmon revolves around the fish’s spawning routine, returning to the riverbeds where they were born after years at sea to deposit eggs for the next generation. However, Lake Michigan salmon are hatchery fish, stocked by state agencies. Illinois began stocking coho salmon in 1966, according to Tom Trudeau, Illinois Department of Natural Resources program administrator for Lake Michigan, and Chinook salmon, or kings, in 1967.
Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin also stock Lake Michigan salmon. Brown, rainbow and lake trout, which can be caught on these charter trips, are stocked as well. The main target is coho salmon, however.
“The more fish you stock, the more are caught,” Trudeau said.
During 2004, 4.3 million Chinook, 1.7 million coho, 1.6 million rainbow trout, 1.6 million brown trout and 2.3 million lake trout were stocked, according to a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report. Only a tiny percentage of fingerlings grow to adult fish and fewer still are harvested.
According to the Illinois Natural History Survey report on 2004 sport fishing in the Illinois portion of Lake Michigan, 27,700 coho salmon, with an average weight of 3.62 pounds, were harvested that year and 14,200 Chinook salmon, with an average weight of 8.81 pounds, were taken. That report indicates that charter boat anglers take about 61 percent of the coho salmon caught in Lake Michigan’s Illinois waters.
Trudeau said when Lake Michigan salmon fishing began more than 30 years ago, area residents were enthralled, but he thinks local interest has peaked.
“When it was new,” he said, “it was, `This is a unique fishery, I want to try it.’ Still, a significant number of people are drawn to the fishery.”
Griffin, who charges $300 for up to four people, fishing five hours on a weekday, agrees that some of the luster has worn off locally, so he pursues clients from afar. He hustles at winter outdoors shows for anglers coming to the Chicago area on business or vacation.
“Everybody [here] has done it,” Griffin said, “so you need to get new faces. In one day you get to fill your freezer for a whole year. There’s not many places you can do that.”
In his 16 years fishing Lake Michigan, Griffin said his biggest Chinook is 28 pounds and largest coho is 15 pounds-plus.
Rossa, who has guided for five years, disagrees with Trudeau and Griffin. He thinks the market of anglers from the Chicago suburbs is growing.
“I have new customers who have lived around here their whole lives and have never been on Lake Michigan,” Rossa said.
The idea is to turn them from curious first-timers into long-term customers.
“The weather is the largest factor,” Rossa said.
If there are 5-foot waves and the wind is 30 m.p.h., conditions that replicate a mini-version of “The Perfect Storm,” there “is no sense taking anybody out.”
Weather aside, Rossa and other salmon fleet captains out of North Point must be among the most confident fishing guides in the world. It is often said the sport is called fishing, not catching, for a reason. Guides do not guarantee fish. But on his brochure, where Rossa advertises five hours of weekday fishing for $350 for up to six people, it also reads, “No Fish-No Pay!”
Likewise, Dale Florek, who operates the Noble II, makes the promise in black and white. In 30 years of guiding–longer than North Point has existed–Florek has paid off once.
“It happened six or seven years ago,” he said. “Five hours, no bites. When it happened, I didn’t know what to tell them. They chose to come back for a free trip and caught 15 fish.”
It did not happen to Florek this morning. Five Russian friends limited out on salmon and watched as they were carved into filets.
“We drank some yesterday and figured we should go fishing,” said Mark Tsurkis of Wheeling. “Every time we took a drink it seemed like a better idea. North Point Harbor is the best. You get more fish. It’s as simple as that.”
Costly endeavor
The right boat is mandatory. There’s just one problem for the fledgling captain–unless his wife is an heiress, 30- to 39-foot boats fresh from the showroom cost a bundle.
“Some new ones are $450,000,” said Bovenzo, who has been a charter captain for 11 years.
“It’s $35,000 to $160,000 just on a used boat.”
And up. A review of used boats for sale on YachtWorld.com listed dozens of boats similar to those used by the salmon fleet that cost well above $200,000.
“It’s a tough business to get going in,” Griffin said. “You cannot afford a new boat and make money. About $130,000 is doable.”
Rossa said his 33-footer was $133,000 “without anything on it.”
Boats need to be equipped with sonar fish finders, GPS units, rugged fishing rods, lures, fish box and also appear as if your mother just swabbed them.
“You can tell a good charter boat because of the cleanliness of it,” Bovenzo said.
A harbor, too, apparently. These charter boat captains rave about North Point Marina. The marina has 1,500 slips with floating docks so fishermen don’t have to descend ladders to boats–and a waiting list.
“It has to be the nicest harbor in the Great Lakes,” Rossa said. “The facilities are like the Holiday Inn. It’s spotless.”
Virginia Wood, general manager of North Point, said being contiguous to Illinois State Beach Park provides a nature preserve atmosphere.
“We feel as if we’re running a luxury resort,” she said. “For a marina this large we have unbelievable occupancy. The charter boats have bragged about having the largest catches on Lake Michigan. That is not a fish story.”
Finally, a bite
While marking time instead of fish, we heard a bear story. Theobold told of wrestling a 700-pound bear while in the Army in Virginia 20 years ago. The one-time college wrestler tripped it, but eventually was pinned.
Theobold struck first. The hook was set and the day’s No. 1 salmon was reeled in.
“John the Hammer puts one in the box,” Bovenzo said.
A cell phone rang. Everyone looked around. The number 000-0000 showed up on a screen.
“It’s God calling,” fellow fisherman Tom Bolbot of Libertyville said.
“Tell him we need more fish,” Bovenzo said.
No telling where that speed-dial number connected, but after our slow start, salmon were suckered by our lures and we danced a two-step lunging for rods in the rear of the boat. Ultimately, we hauled in nine fish. Not a limit-out day, but a more than satisfactory one. Who could complain about catching nine salmon in a morning?
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lfreedman@tribune.com
