Fish on!

St.Joseph River

I recalled the fishing scenario at the St. Joseph river in Michigan. The river known locally as St. Jo ends up at a dam. During the salmon migration up river many of the fish would be stuck at the dam. The fish cannot swim acrossed the dam and you'll see many people lined up along the bank throwing their lines (fishing lines) into the dam.

The fish came in hundreds flying all over the water to cross over the dam. I joined the crowed but was cautioned by the anglers "we cut line crossin when hookin" However I manage to howl a salmon, a silver without getting my line cut.

It became mandatory to roll in your line as fast as possible whenever you hear the cry "fish on" or "lines up" from the crowd indicating a strike by the anglers. That showed the crowded situation where every anglers compete for the common spot of fishing.

Well the catch was good, almost everyone got a silver or a brown ( salmon species), myself included.

We used special bait for catching this salmons. I have never used sponge bits for bait before but at St. Jo these were common. It was easy though, you need just to hook a bit of sponge- I used yellow sponge bit, and you're on for the throw.

Around September till December many salmon swims up river from the Great Lakes and some ended in small creeks and tributaries. Some did ended in my frying pans too!