2017 - Start of Season 10

Hi Everybody,

After lots of pre-season prep-work over the last two weeks in March, the Independence was the first boat to go in the water at the end of March and I took the first crew out to fish on April 1.

Much of the work had to due with major investments in the boat that I decided to make for the 2017 Season, my tenth season as a captain. New for the Independence this year are two, 9" inch flat-panel, Garmin touch-screens which will display new radar, sonar, chartplotter and GPS. A new Garmin Fantom radar dome has replaced the old Raytheon unit atop the hardtop and a 4" hole was drilled through the hull of the boat to accommodate Airmar's giant, new CHIRP transducer. These are the most significant investments I have made in the boat since buying her in the fall of 2007. In addition to the comprehensive, new electronics upgrades, I also decided it was time for new downriggers. I replaced the previous Big Jons which were five and a half years old, with the best riggers available on the market now, which happen to be made just west of Fox Lake, IL in Richmond. Magnum Metalz has combined beautifully machined, solid aluminum riggers with powerful, high-speed motors to get our baits down deep (and back up), fast. Allowing us to explore new depth frontiers in Lake Michigan sportfishing. Just yesterday, in fact, I finished a complete rewiring of the riggers to take advantage of their speed and power. Lastly on the upgrade investment list are another new bundle of Shimano Talora rods and Shimano Tekota and Daiwa Saltist reels. Part of this bundle is geared in the direction towards how we will effectively fish these ultra-deep possibilities with braid lines and high speed reels. The other two parts are a large expansion of our leadcore setups as well as switch to Talora rods from Ugly Stiks for downrigger rods to take advantage of their increased durability and firmness. Each off-season I think of new ways to keep the Independence modern and technologically advanced in every way so that I can offer the best charter 'product' possible.

I was the first charter to fish out of the harbor on April 1 and got out again on April 8. With shoreline water all muddied up from hard winds out of the northeast, I set course for offshore, lake trout waters and we took limits of fish in the 8-14lb range for both trips. The new electronics were fun to experiment with but it will take some time to get better acquainted with them and learn about their full capabilities. I am really excited about all of the new investments and it's why I wanted to lead off this Newsletter with that topic.

Our early spring has been chilly and rainy so far. Accompanied with lots of wind, especially from the northeast. As I mentioned, the heavy, northeast winds pound the shoreline of the southwestern area of the lake and stir up sand, mud and sediment. More stable winds and weather is needed for the sediments to eventually fall back to the bottom in the chilly, dense water. At that time we will attempt to fish nearer to shore to add some brown trout into the catch before it will turn to mostly coho salmon, as they usually begin to arrive in late April or early May. Some scattered coho have been caught out of Waukegan however and my new sonar detected some baitfish schools last Saturday, so perhaps we could have coho sooner rather than latter.

Attached are a few pics of the first two charters; the first fish-on of the 2017 season as well as the new fish board that I refinished, holding the limits of lake trout.

Some availability to fish on weekdays in April and May remains. If you wanted to fish over the next two months and haven't touched base with me, this is last call! April and May (and into June 15) charters are five or six hour charters both morning and afternoon. If you are looking for a June, July, or August date, this is the time to start making those plans. Already, weekend dates in the summer are thin. From June 15 onward, these are six or eight hour charters, primarily in the morning, departing at 5am.

You can reply back here or text/call 773-791-7990.


As always, thanks for reading,
Capt Rick
http://www.windycitysalmon.com


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