Jordan Kettlewell shows off a salmon he hooked in a tributary of Lake Huron in Michigan.
“Hmmpf, and they call the musky the fish of a 1,000 casts,” I muttered as I drifted the wooly bugger fly once again past the nose of about a king salmon effortlessly holding its position in the swift waters of the Carp River.
The water in this Lake Huron tributary of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was stained a deep tea color, and higher than usual for this time of year, resulting in a current that constantly pushed against my waders in this knee-deep section of the river. Yet, with polarized sunglasses, the big fish clearly stood out about 10 yards from me.
After what seemed to be an unending series of casts and attempted casts, I handed the 9-weight rod to Jordan Kettlewell.
“Are you sure?” he said.
“Yup. I need a break. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong,” I said, again reminding him that fly fishing wasn’t one of my regular gigs.
Kettlewell, a sheriff’s deputy by profession and a host of a television show called “Michigan Gone Wild,” took the rod and immediately began executing quick over-the-top presentations. By his fourth or fifth cast, the line tightened and things got nuts fast.
“This fish is going to take me down the river,” he yelled as it ran through the water as line sped off his reel.
I clambered up the riverbank along with our other fishing partner, Mark Copeland of Jay’s Sporting Goods in Gaylord, Mich., silently giving thanks it wasn’t me on the other end of that fish. I’m not as agile as I used to be and I’m sure the hookup would’ve resulted in a major league slip and dunk and, probably, a busted expensive fly rod.
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