Certifed scale 30.73-pounder, and K/D results

Scott, you called it weeks ago ... a 30-pounder on a certified scale this summer. It happened Tuesday morning a couple miles off shore and just south of Algoma aboard a charter boat, 38 inches and 30.73 pounds on a recently-certified tournament scale. I weighed it with a dozen witnesses looking on. Already getting some color, too. Huge girth, small head comparatively.

And, four times as many 20-pound-plus chinooks in this year's Kewaunee/Door County Salmon Tournament is another great sign of improved health of the fish! Sturgeon Bay was a great place to fish the tourney, with the most Top 25 chinooks (8). Algoma and Kewaunee combined for 7 of the Top 10, and Baileys and Washington Island had some real hogs too. In other words, it was good all over ... pick a port! More info at www.kdsalmon.com.

What do you think it'll take to win the "big 3" and overall weight at Sturgeon Bay in the mid-August tourney? Could be some real giants! Good luck if you are entered. I'll be running the small-scale Shanty Days tourney at Algoma that weekend.

Great Report! Your right lots of big fish and a sign of a healthy balance between Kings and Alewives!!!! Exactly what we need to see.... Yes we are not seeing as many limit catches, but we are seeing BIG fish again, like we had in the late 90's..... It doesn't take long to fill a cooler when the average size is 12 pounds!!! This August and early september has the potential to see some super big Kings... The once-in-a-lifetime sorta fish! It is great to know that the potential is there.... After the past few years I thought we might not have a chance to see a 30 plus pound fish again.... and years ago a 30 pound fish was not that uncommon.... Mac's Sport Shop in Sturgeon Bay had Poloriods of numerous giants brought to the scale every August.....

If you want me to try and predict the winning weight for 3 fish over 2 days in the Sturgeon Bay tournament I would guess you'll need 3 fish over 20 for sure... More likely 3 that average near 23 pounds....

Several more certified 30+ kings were brought in on charters in August. September has been a bit slow due to all the warm, clear and calm water, but the pier guys and trollers are sharing a few salmon and brown trout success stories from time to time.

Some fish are already in the Sturgeon Bay canal and a few even staging off Strawberry Creek, awaiting the pump to be turned on or a big rain event. Same with Ahnapee River, low water and flow, but fish already well upstream (and some still in the lake, of course; they come in waves and it always peaks -- for kings -- the last week of Sept. to first week of Oct.). Some browns and salmon are also cruising Northern Door harbors. Night anglers casting glow-in-dark baits or soaking spawn sometimes connect. Dawn or dusk would be next best time to try. There's no night fishing allowed in the tributaries now through spring steelhead/walleye spawn, but it is legal to fish at night off the piers, docks and shores of Lake Michigan and Green Bay.

Browns can run now through end of October as the Seeforellen strain spawns late. Cohos in the Ahnapee and Kewaunee run mid-October to early November.

Lots of work at the Strawberry Creek facility this summer to shore it up, thanks to donations in memory of Mark Opgenorth earlier this year (Mark was a former DNR fisheries employee who died tragically while working on the fish run a couple years back). If in the area or have the chance to make a road trip, be sure to stop there the first week of October and check out the improvements and see a pile of BIG Sturgeon Bay kings. The run will be winding down by then but there's a dedication planned later, Oct. 16, with some of Mark's kids to attend in the morning.