I, along with friend Ron, had the privilege of attending a Chinook salmon class put on by a well known tackle shop in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. It was a wealth of information on the Coeur d' Alene lake salmon fishery. We then fished on Sunday with their guide Mike. We also had Ron's friend Dennis and his step son Davy along.

We started out from the marina where the guides boat was moored and the weather was very bad with rain and white caps on the lake. It was going to be a long ride to the lower lake where he intended to fish. His trailer was close by so we opted to trailer the boat to mid lake and go from there. GOOD DECISION!! We didn't get all beat up and we were fishing much sooner.

Wow what an amazing spread of tackle those guys run. Planer boards out both sides with multiple poles each and four downriggers. Helmeted hering turned out to be the bait of the day. I caught the first Chinook on hering off the planer board with the bait running in the top 15'. The fish was between 6 and 7# and fought like a bull dog! What fun it was. A huge rain/hail squall hit us while landing the fish, no shortage of excitement for sure. The second keeper was landed by 15 year old Davy. It was 21" and around 4#, put a grin on his face to say the least. We also caught some sub legals and Ron had a nice one on that got off.

We stayed till almost dark and even had some sun breaks along the way. What a great day on the water catching salmon in March on Coeur d'Alene lake. Thanks Mike and all who made it possible.

Tight lines all - Alan

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