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This past week I tried something that I have been dreaming about for a while and found out that a persons’ dreams do not always work out like they want them to.

In my dream, I am canoeing on Lake Michigan, in the dark and catching salmon.

I tried to make that dream become reality at the ports of Two Rivers and Algoma and had a difficult time loading up on salmon and trout.

Thursday, August 7

High 74, Low 52

I was pushing the sunset game as I headed towards Two Rivers where I planned on launching my canoe for a night on the “Big Pond.” To be perfectly honest, it was not the impending darkness that was making me nervous as much as it was a stiff, northeast wind keeping every flag from Necedah to Two Rivers at full strut.

I did not know where to launch and I needed some lures so I stopped at River Front Bait and Beverage Mart in Two Rivers and met a Norris Bussie the owner of River Front and an almost twenty year reader of this column.

Norris told me to launch at Sea Gull Marina and that the fish were biting.

By the time I had my canoe rigged it was pretty much dark when I began my journey down the West Twin River towards Lake Michigan.

I had not paddled 50 yards, when a couple that was coming off an evening of fishing on the Big Pond told me not to take the chance, that it was too windy.

By the light of a Coleman lantern, I paddled to the mouth of the river and it was obvious that at least for now, my dream would not become reality.

For the rest of the night I slept in the front seat of my truck and every two hours checked the flag at the nearby Coast Guard Station to see if the north wind had abated.

Friday, August 8

High 76, Low 49

I am fortunate to have lots of friends and was well aware of that as I drove north this morning towards Algoma and the weekend retreat of my friends Jeff and Patti Rouse. For the last eight-years I have spent this weekend with the Rouses, enjoying Algoma’s annual Shanty Days Festival and fishing salmon out of the Rouses 25-foot StarCraft “Chieftain.”

My goal for the weekend was still to canoe in the dark and catch a salmon. The flag was still talking north wind and tonight when Jeff Rouse, Jeff’s 14-year-old nephew Zack Seipel and myself hit the water in the Chieftain, high seas were the major story.

This summer, Wisconsin’s waters of Lake Michigan have another story and that is very poor salmon and trout fishing, as far as catching goes. It does not matter who I talk to, catching fish is not a big part of very many outings.

Sunday, August 10

High 75, Low 50

This morning, I was finally able to at least try to make a dream become reality.

At 3:15 a.m. I was straddling a 120-quart cooler and paddling down the Ahnapee River, headed towards paradise and an almost guaranteed cooler of salmon.

For lures, I would be using a glow spoon behind a planer board and on my other rod, a crankbait that imitated a rainbow trout, which was also behind a planer board.

I used that same crankbait when I paddled from Port Washington to Point Beach State Park a few years back and had good results with it.

This morning, I was in my glory as I paddled under the light of a half moon, with a light but growing west wind, pushing my rig out to sea, towards Michigan.

I figured I would head north and stay in about 50 feet of water as the majority of boat traffic heads east when coming out of Algoma. By the time I reached 50 feet of water, I was maybe two miles north of town and close to a mile east of shore, the seas were growing and I figured I better do a 180 and get into a safer world.

For just a second, I set my kayak paddle down to admire the world around me. It was at that time that I heard the sound of an engine. A large charter boat was headed in my direction at a fast rate of speed. The captain must not have seen the light from my Coleman Lantern, nor my bow or stern light.

I was just about to become chopped liver, via a quick smack from his bow and then his propeller when I hit him with my spotlight.

We avoided each other by a maximum of 30-yards and I guarantee you that if that captain reads this column, he definitely will remember the situation.

Big waves from his rig tossed me like a feather and I was surprised when his prop did not cut at least one of my lines.

I was able to check out my dream, realized it needs some fine-tuning, and will return some day.

Searching for Moby Dick in the dark!

Sunset

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