Last weekend we camped at Schlatters Lake and fished for pike and perch. This was our annual trip with the dads and boys from our church that we have been doing for 38 years now. As one of the kids 38 years ago, I enjoyed the first outing with 8 adults and about 25 kids.
Back then, nobody had a tent and we either slept under the stars or under a tarp. There were only 2 boats and a few trucks and all of us kids rode in the box. Now, it has grown to 113 adults, 270 boys, 71 boats, 93 vehicles and numerous tents and home made shelters, all camping out on a remote island on an inland lake in the Keweenaw Peninsula. What a great time!
The pike fishing was almost non-existent, but the perch were numerous and jumbo. Most of us had plenty of fire grilled perch with various seasonings to supplement out meals of puurua(oat meal), hot dogs, steaks and pasty.
On Monday night, I fished in Bete Grise near shore because the wind was whistling along at 25 knots. I tried various spoons with no luck, but many other boats in the area had the same results. We all were seeing fish on our electronics, but no bites.
When I finally headed in at dark I kept my lures in the water all the way into the irons. I had pulled my dipsy divers in and pu them away and my down-rigger was the only lure left in the water. As some of you know, the water is only about 6 feet deep in the channel, so I had a 50 foot lead behind the DR ball. Just as I was about to pull it in (in the 11th hour)I got a release from the ball. It was 31 inch, 8 lb Pike that came in with a pretty good fight. I brought it back to the camp and released it at our dock after pictures and showing the family. By the way, it was caught on a pink and silver prism with a green glow back number 5 spoon trolled at 2 mph.
Brian Helminen
