After one week of my salmon trip on the Manistee River, I have now decided that Salmon fishing is probably my favorite type of fishing. My step dad and I were using 8 weights, and we were on a drift boat. We went out on the river at about 8 o'clock. Right off of the bat, I could tell that it was going to be a good day of fishing. It was about 50 degrees and getting warmer. There was a blanket of haze over the river, with the sun peeking out over the multi-colored tree line. After about 35 minutes of floating down the river and searching for salmon, we found a rock bed where many salmon were loitering. After a few chuck and ducks, I felt something on the end of my line. I have never caught a salmon up to this point, so I had no idea how much power they had. Well, as it turns out, it wasn't a salmon. It was a 19 inch Rainbow trout, the most beautiful bow I have ever seen. Although it did put up a small fight, it would have been much more fun on my 4 weight Winston VSL.
After about another hour of fishing (not catching), we found a great riffle with a log jam to the right. From what we could see, there were at least 20 salmon and steelhead mixed together. I had casted about 25 times, and then a freight train hit me. A 18 pound king salmon. To make a long fight short... I caught it. Later that day my step dad caught a 20 pound king. That day was probably the most fun fishing that I have ever had... for now.
