Mike Schoonveld

Trolling used to be simple. Each person in the boat would select a lure, drop it into the lake and let out some line.
Once the right amount of line was uncoiled off the spool, each angler would simply hold onto the rod until something bit the lure. Then salmon were stocked in the Great Lakes, and nearly extinct walleyes came back in Lake Erie. Innovative anglers started festooning their boats with rod holders, downriggers, planer board masts and other paraphernalia to up the number of rods that could be trolled and to keep the lines and lures separated.

I saw a friend’s Facebook post recently in which he was showing off his first ever Chinook salmon.
He said it weighed 16 pounds then explained he’d hooked another but it tangled in a downrigger wire and broke off. He then reported, “The captain said it was easily 20 pounds.”
I posted a comment to his remarks, “Every salmon that breaks the line and swims free weighs at least 20 pounds.”
Obviously, that’s not always the case, but it’s almost impossible to prove. Almost!