Better Late Than Never - a 25 lb King Salmon in a Kayak!

This post is long overdue, but with the fall salmon run right around the corner, this is a little something to get everyone ready!

On Saturday, June 13th, Mark and Kalvin took their kayaks out on Lake Michigan in some foggy conditions to do some fishing for king salmon. It had been a few weeks since they hooked up with a nice king. Mark was the first to hook up, as his flasher fly took a hard hit in 55 feet of water at about 4:45 am. The fish never went on any real big runs, but definitely was pulling hard. At one point, it was pulling Mark close to 2.0 mph, and was consistently pulling him around at 1.0-1.5 mph. Fifteen minutes later, Mark netted the largest king salmon he's ever caught - a 39.5", 25 lb king that would be the new Kayak Wars record*.

(*Tom should have this record, he caught a 40"+ fish last year that was DQ'd because the submitted picture wasn't in his kayak).

After that, it got pretty slow for Mark, who didn't even care... he was just thinking about whether or not he was going to mount this beautiful fish! Kalvin, in the meantime, had got into a good school of smaller fish, that were hitting spoons. In about a 90 minute span, he landed 5 fish - 3 kings, 1 laker, and a rainbow, all up to about 7 lbs. A great day, no doubt.

Kalvin's catch from Saturday, June 13th.

Mark got word Kalvin was heading back in with his limit, and Mark decided it was a good time to head in. He was anxious to see just how big his fish was. Right as he turned around, the same flasher fly took a hit in 92 feet of water. He battled this one for five minutes before landing a nice 12 lb king. Exhausted from paddling while dragging around 25 lbs of salmon on a stringer, he threw both kings in the front hatch on his Tarpon 140. He let Kalvin know he was a little south and still out in 90 feet of water. It'd be a good 35-40 minutes before he got back to shore. Once he got into 50 feet, he reached to crank up his spoon rod, his flasher fly rod took it's third hit of the day. Again, he battled the king for 5 minutes before landing a nice 13 lb king salmon! What a day! Be sure to check out video of Mark's day below.

Caught a new personal best, 39.5" and 25 lb king, along with two other 12-13 lb kings.

He contemplated staying out and fishing to catch a limit of king salmon. He had clearly figured out a pattern: the kings were hammering his flasher fly! This was by far the best success he ever had with a flasher fly... and this pattern proved to be fruitful for the majority of the summer, catching 2-5 kings almost every trip out through the Salmon-a-Rama tournament in July. Ultimately, he was ready to go in. He was physically and emotionally exhausted and wanted to see how Kalvin did.

Mark's 3  kings he caught in his kayak — Mark's 3 kings he caught in his kayak

This was just one day of an amazing summer of kayak fishing for kings on Lake Michigan. Team Trout Mafia had limited out their July quota of 40 salmon for Kayak Wars by July 18th! Now, these big kings are getting ready to make their annual run into the harbors and up the rivers... and Trout Mafia will be out there for yet another battle with the king salmon.