Schools of chinooks can be found from the skinny water near the pierhead all the way to the waterfront stadium. Photo by Kenny Darwin.

When targeting king salmon in Lake Michigan, few ports draw attention like Grand Haven near metro Muskegon, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. Even trollers from South Haven and Holland concentrate on Grand kings when late summer arrives and thousands of mature chinooks school offshore in preparation for spawning.

When king salmon swarm Grand Haven, catching them can be as basic as Great Lakes trolling gets.

Last August, I made a trip with Debbie Gilmore from East Lansing to troll close to the pierhead, after strong easterly winds blew warm water offshore and brought cold Lake Michigan water in close.

The four-rod spread was simple: Michigan law allows only two rods per angler, so we used two Dipsy Divers set on No. 3 with the O-ring placed 50 feet from the boat. Fish Catcher flashers were placed 10 feet behind the divers, trailed by a seaweed green Horse Fly on a 50-pound, 22-inch fluorocarbon leader. Two No. 4 chrome J-plugs were placed 20 to 25 feet down using line counter reels spooled with 20-pound line and heavy 1 1/2-pound snap weights attached to the line with church clips. Since we were fishing shallow water, the J-plugs were placed 50 to 100 feet behind the boat, away from the boat shadow and engine noise.

There were boats all around us, and the red, white and green lights danced on the calm sea near the mouth of the river. For a short time, we trolled the mud line where discolored river water mixes with emerald-green Lake Michigan water. The instant lures moved into the gin-clear big lake, and all hell broke loose as a huge salmon slammed a J-plug, felt the sting of the hook and went airborne like a runaway Polaris missile. The big king ripped line from the drag and Debbie struggled to get the bent-double rod from the holder. A second impressive leap, highlighted by the fish crashing down on the calm surface, sent white water flying and made a loud resounding ker-splash. When he turned and charged the boat, Debbie cranked like a mad woman and soon we could see the beautiful 20-pound king as it came to net.

NET PEN KINGS
Why is Grand Haven such a hotspot for chinook salmon? The answer is simple -- the local Grand Haven Steelheaders have a co-op program with the DNR to raise fish. The DNR gives them king fry and they raise them, feed them in net pens until they are smolt size and release from 175,000 to 200,000 salmon annually. The project is ideal for sportsmen because it guarantees salmon are planted and they return to the stream where released -- an excellent example of mainstreaming a resource into society because people are involved with caring for the tiny fish. In addition, it guarantees fantastic future fishing in the surrounding region.

The pens are located near the world-famous Coast Guard station, and when salmon return to spawn, they pause in the river they were raised as if they want to join other fish in a large school before charging upstream to unfamiliar waters. This provides anglers a unique opportunity to troll in the lower Grand River channel and catch salmon that are making final preparations for the spawning run.