Former State Record King Salmon

[reinhard1]

the year was 1988. my brother Ed caught this King Salmon [over 32 pounds, cant remember the ounces right now]. that was the year the record was broken 3 times. my brother draged the salmon around after he caught it for awhile before being convinced to take it in to be weighed. i think it would of still been a record had the fish not lost weight from the loss of eggs.

he gave the fish to a friend who was also a cop but did taxidermy on the side. two years later his wife went and got the salmon from the taxidermist and gave it to him for a Christmas present. still has it hanging on the wall. that's the only fish he has mounted. never was interested in having fish mounted. finaly figured out how to post pictures. had to scan this one on our printer and it worked.

those were the good old days when we had salmon of size and numbers. i think the currant record will stand for some time to come. we used to hit the streams in the fall and usualy had luck. my brother still lives in Duluth and has fished the North Shore streams for decades. still fishes for loopers and steelhead in the spring but goes to fish the streams around Racine Wisconsin for the fall run on Kings. good luck.

[Big Country]

Great story Reinhard1. Beautiful fish. Ya, I miss those days too. What got me hooked on Lake Superior was those monster Kings. First experience was fishing near the Lester late at night with a buddy. We were using our walleye rods with 10 pound test on and had no clue what we were doing. Floated crawlers off the bottom. Stood in our waders feeling the constant bump of the "line runners" as the fish were so thick they would run into our mono. Finally put the hook to a king and stood in awe as it ran all of my 180 yards of line out without hesitation. Totally spooled me and broke the line, took it all. I very dejectivley began to walk back to the truck hearing my buddy beg for me to come back and re-spool. Nope, I said. The fish won today. I had no business being there with that set up and learned the hard way. I was hooked for life. Too bad we will probably never see days like that ever again. BC

[reinhard1]

ya, i think your right. there is still a limited run in the fall. but it's with very few fish. what's the name of that old blue's song "the thrill is gone"? ya, those were exciting times. good luck.

[kuk999]

Nice fish there! It seems a king around 10 lbs is a very nice fish on Lake Superior. 15+ lbs and you're talking huge! Can't wait to get out on Lake Michigan in a couple weeks...

[mabr]

Nice fish Reinhard!!

Hey being a newbie to this whole salmon thing, how come there arent salmon in superior like Lake Michigan? The state doesnt stock them like WI or is another reason?

[reinhard1]

my understanding is that they do not stock salmon anymore in Superior as far as Minnesota is concerned. two reasons as far as i can remember. the north shore is not a great habitat for Kings and Coho's to spawn in as the Brule in Wisconsin and the streams in Michigan which are better yet. i think most of the salmon [King and Coho] you catch in Superior come from Wisconsin and Michigan. there is still some salmon [mostly Coho} that come into some streams on the North Shore but it's very limited. the DNR does see some young of the year in some of their test nettings in some of the streams. the other reason was the cost factor. what they planted to what they get in return. we had our boom years and i think they are gone. thanks to Wisconsin and Michigan for having good results and continuing the stocking programs. good luck.

[Sutty]

My guess is with the colder water the lake doesn't support the forage base that Lake Michigan does.

[reinhard1]

before the lamprey's were controlled we had ton's of smelt. plenty of forage. but then we had the lamprey's which nearly destroyed our native fish including salmon. however when the lamprey's were controlled the lake trout came back in great form and with the rest of the fish controlled the smelt so much we dont have the runs we used to do. i do think the colder waters play a role in it somewhat, but the DNR guy at French River told me it was poor spawning habitat and the return we got vs what we spent on the salmon. the pink's sure come back every year, but not many fish for them. good luck.

[traveler]

Ah, the good 'ol days:) Yup, thats one record I think is safe forever. A good friend of mine at the time shares the record, caught out of his canoe (coleman, identical to the one I used).

We had a heck of a time with the kings, fishing mostly at night in the shallows at the french.

If we'd have caught 1/2 the fish we hooked...! We were pretty undertackled:) Heck, even after we got the hang of it and bumped up the tackle somewhat, they still gave us all we could handle. I have a 26 1/2 on the wall, best fish that we caught, but we only trolled at the french, I know there were a lot of upper 20's fish taken in the rivers up north, Baptism, Cross, etc...

[JBMasterAngler]

Unfortunately I've never caught a king, and unless I head over to michigan I probably never will. The last one I seen my dad catch was close to 20 years ago. I had seen some in the cascade river (including a 15 pounder a guy had caught) back in 2006. I believe that was also the last year the DNR stocked them in MN waters. I'm not 100% sure, but doesn't WI (and/or MI) and Canada still stock coho's? I'm guessing they don't stock kings?

[reinhard1]

i dont know about Canada but Wisconsin and Michigan still have a stocking program along with some natural reproduction from the fall spawning runs. as i noted before, after talking with a person at the French River Hatchery, poor spawning habitat on the north shore along with not getting results from what you paid for the proccess of stocking vs a good return ended the salmon program here in Minnesota. good luck.

[reinhard1]

here are some older pics of the good old days 1985 and 1988. lot of good size Kings, some Coho, and a bonus walleye we got in the harbor on the in from the lake. good luck.

[kuk999]

Very cool pics! Thanks for sharing. My dad still has one of those old red coleman coolers...those things are pretty tough and stay cold!

[traveler]

Cool pics...I'll have to scan a few of mine and post 'em.

[john.wells]

I just love those classic pics you post! Were you guys fishing from shore?

[reinhard1]

my brother caught the former state record King in the river. he used a 8 foot spinning rod with a fly reel and spawn sack with a little yarn. the other pics are from trolling out of the superior entry on the Minnesota side. ya, those were good time to be sure. good luck.

[john.wells]

Nice! I love the pipe, the cigar, the foam hats-classic stuff. Men were men, and they did what they did. Someday I need to get out there and write my own story...

[john.wells]

I forgot the Stroh's can!

[Mnfisher]

Great pics and story Reinhard! I missed out but trying to make up for some of it!!

[Fish Addictt]

I got a 43 in. and 27and half in girth out of the cascade river in 91. At the time I dint now what the record was. I was guessing the fish was around 30 pounds.I gut and gilled it that night,And stopped at french river hatchery the next morning.The dnr guy that looked at the fish just shook his head! He told me that I cut up a new state record fish.He also sead that it was 5 year old fish witch is rear.I do thing the fish after doing the math the fish was 35 pounds.Yea the good old days are gone,They still stock sume fish at the french.Ill se if I can get some pics. on here next week.

[reinhard1]

Wow, that was a huge salmon. my brother dragged that fish around the whole day and lost lost some weight also with the loss of eggs ect. you should do a graphite reproduction on yours. it would be spendy but realy something to be proud of. good luck.