Outdoors Bound Road Trip: Fall Salmon Run

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LUDINGTON, Mich. ( WFXR ) – The fish, a 25-pound king salmon, went on a reel screaming run and then launched itself into the air.

“Reel down!” shouted Ryan Cassar, owner of River Rat Guide Service .

It was already too late. The salmon rocketed toward the shore and into submerged timber. After two more runs, the fish and the trees proved to be too much. It broke off.

King salmon are some of the most powerful fish on the planet. Only a fraction of those hooked during their annual runs ever make it to the net. Even if they are not landed, they still provide an adrenaline rush to make memories.

During the fall, tens of thousands of anglers converge on Great Lakes streams to take advantage of the salmon run action.

Cassar guides on the rivers of western Michigan, in this case, the Pere Marquette River near Ludington, Michigan. Cassar loves salmon season because the window is so small, and that makes it special. The fish enter the streams in late August or early September, and they continue their runs, depending on the stream, into late October.

For Cassar, it is more than the chance to catch a trophy that motivates him: “Just being out in the outdoors and fishing is not only addicting, but you get the peace and quiet. You can just kind of spend time with that close group of friends and go out and share the kind of memories here.”

Indiana angler Doyle Miller is proof of that. He and his son Reese fished with River Rat Guide Service and caught his first salmon.

“This is a great time. my first time here,” said Miller. “I went with the River Rat and my son. I’ll definitely be coming back here.

Miller and his son took home two salmon from their trip.

King salmon are not native to Lake Michigan. They were first stocked in the lake in the 1960s to help control the numbers of another invasive, alewives. Since then, the fishery has exploded in numbers and popularity.

Cassar likes to target spawning fish in two ways. He uses stick baits like Thundersticks, and he uses salmon eggs, still attached in clumps to skein. Spawning fish are not actively feeding, but they will still hit a lure or eggs out of sheer aggression and biology.

“They’re looking to get that thing out of their face, out of their way,” Cassar said of casting Thundersticks. “If you’re ripping a stick through a hole, eventually they’re going to eat it.”

Skein is also used to trigger aggression bites. Biology also comes into play. The eggs are floated through holes and down runs under a bobber.

“Males are eating it to see what females are upstream, and the females are eating it to keep the males around,” Cassar said. “It’s kind of like a buck and doe in hunting.”

Streams on Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Lake Ontario get runs of salmon every year.

If you want to experience the salmon run and take a trip to Ludington from the Roanoke region, the drive is about 11 hours. If you prefer to fly, Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport and Lynchburg Regional Airport offer connecting service to Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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