Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone out there! I hope you’re enjoying the winter wherever you are.
I’m super excited about the coming 2023 season of trolling for lake trout and salmon. I am going to change it up a bit for my fishing and sightseeing charters in that I may not be running the Helm-n-Buoys (my 19-foot Harbercraft) or the Fishin’-Mission (the 30 foot Cruisers). They have both been great boats and served me well for the past 13 years of charters (plus many years before that), but I am working on an up-grade that will be well equipped for Stannard Rock trophy fishing and cruising/fishing around the Keweenaw, Lac la Belle, and Copper Harbor (plus Isle Royale).
I’m also hoping to take some trips to Isle Royale because it’s a tremendous lake trout (and some salmon and steelhead) fishery as well.
As a quick summary of last season: I did a few less charters – very few double charter days – and a little more pleasure fishing/experimenting etc. The fishing was pretty good with a many fish caught, although alot of them were small lake trout and very few Coho, King Salmon, Brown Trout or Steelhead. The fishing at Stannard Rock was decent for number of trout, but not many big ones caught. I think we all would do the fishery (out at the rock) a favor if we all practice more catch, “photo” and release. In fact, there’s been some talk about reducing the limits for that area, which I think would be a good idea.
On the experimenting side of things, one of my long-time vendors (of a certain make lure that I won’t mention here so my competitors don’t find out) hired me to make some underwater “action” videos of their best fish-slamming lures. What fun that was to not only see firsthand how they perform at various speeds, but to be able to observe over and over and learn what speeds work best for various lures. I also ran these spoons along side of many other known brands of spoons to compare and determine what works best.
All this testing stemmed from a lure test tank that I used to run in my basement during the off season. By the way, if anyone wants to learn more about trolling techniques, I’m always more than happy to teach what I know, either on the water during a charter, or otherwise.
On a different subject (notice I indented) for most of the month of December, part of my family and I cruised down the East coast, from Maryland to North Carolina aboard the Yooper Too (a 32-foot Nordic Tug). I’m home for Christmas and New Year’s but planning to continue down the coast by mid-January, perhaps to Florida somewhere. Hopefully, we’ll get into some fishing and/or scuba diving once we get further south.
As for next summer, call or text (906-370-2257) or email me (brian@sandpointcharters.com) to get on the schedule, since my summer will fill up fast!
A fishing or lighthouse sightseeing charter makes a great Christmas Gift too!
The Battleship Wisconsin in Norfolk VA
This was in Norfolk, VA
First Order Fresnal Lens in Portsmouth, VA with son Bruce.
Inside the Yooper Too Helm with Grands.
Brian Helminen
