Last weekend my wife surprised me with an early birthday present! She chartered a fishing boat in Duluth and invited our amazing friends to go fishing on Lake Superior! After fishing we got to go to the Duluth Oktoberfest for a couple liters as well!
When we pulled up to the parking lot there were about 6 captains and their mates getting the vessels ready for the noon launch. We found ours called the Happy Hooker and introduced ourselves to Captain Jon Dahl. He is a nice guy who knows his stuff when it comes to fishing Superior. We were the first to leave the marina and radio the lift bridge to head up so we can pass under!
The boat was outfitted well with tuned dual 350’s. It was very comfy on rougher water which I’ll get more into later.
We were making our way down the coast right from Canal park when Jon starts to delegate things like getting the rods out and lines in the water while he set up the boards that go out 45 degrees behind the boat to hold all 10 lines separate from each other! We trolled for a while and then BAM we got the first hit! FISH ON!!
I guess Katie, Chris and Bridgette secretly planned that since I was the birthday boy that I got the first fish! 18 minutes later I land this 18 pound Lake Trout!
Needless to say I was a pretty happy guy! We reset the lines and started to troll again! This time it took a couple hours as lines of storms rolled thru!
We turned back to troll back toward the Marina but then BAM FISH ON AGAIN! Katie gets this one! 14 minutes later she lands it! As Captain Jon nets this thing a freak storm approaches with the worst wind and waves we had seen all day. Jon drops the fish in the net on the deck and jumps back to the helm. The boat flanks and is parallel to the waves and they come crashing around making everyone a little uneasy. Meanwhile the outrigger boards are getting all turned around and tangled in the fish lines and then we all got this ‘oh shit’ look on all of our faces as we look at all these lines tangled. As the Captain tried to correct the boat the mess of shit gets caught in the starboard side prop!
Chris and I started reeling the other lines trying to clear the mess and we get 7 of the 10 lures back but was directed to cut the remaining lines to be able to free the prop. Whoa.. We’re all standing around looking at each other after everything is cut and Jon says we’re heading back to the dock but not before he tells Katie to pick up her fish and takes a picture. Then proceeds to take a picture of the mess of line. THEN proceeds to throttle up these 350’s that sounded like they’ve been waiting to be unleashed all day!
It was an amazing time on the ol Happy Hooker! We thanked Jon once again and went on our way! It’s not over yet though! Now we get to put our fillets on ice, lock up the truck, take off some layers and head on over to Oktoberfest after we get a little food in our stomachs! PROST!
Oktoberfest was pretty fun and wasn’t as crowed as you’d think! But it was only the first night! We headed back to our friends property where we winded down the day and evening with a fire and tunes!
It was a great weekend! Thanks to my lovely wife for an amazing early Birthday!
Until next time!
Journey to the Good Life 