Who is Captain Mel?
Captain Mel is an
expert, professional, full-time fishing guide providing his services
in the Midwestern U.S. region. In the early 1970s, Mel offered his
services as a skilled guide for finding and catching Coho Salmon in
Lake Michigan off of the Port of Waukegan, Illinois. Since then,
Captain Mel has guided numerous fishing enthusiasts in their quest for
perch, bass, pike,
walleyes and muskie.
Mel has
spent numerous hours on
the water in the Midwest
catching bass, pike,
walleyes and muskie. By taking advantage of an early
retirement, today Captain Mel fishes full time during an extended
three seasons. From "ice out" to "ice in."
Sport fishing may be Capt. Mel's specialty, but his
mission is to make sure his clients and their guests have a good time.
What others are saying about Captain
Mel
This is the perfect time to fish for salmon
By
Jim Zegar | May 15, 2004
NEWS SUN OUTDOORS WRITER
"Mel, the port-side down rigger is gonna pop first. I
just know it. Look at the vibration of the rod tip. It will be our
first fish of the day."
"Yeah, sure," came his unconvinced reply. I knew he was laughing to
himself.
Capt. Mel Christensen and I had launched his Lund 2025 boat out of
Waukegan Harbor a few minutes earlier. Six trolling rods were rigged
for salmon and we were ready to bang 'em.
Two rods were set up on downriggers and four with Yellow Bird planer
boards.
I stood next to Mel as he sat behind the steering wheel. He was
watching the depth finder and guiding the boat toward a "hotspot"
waypoint marked on his GPS unit. I was watching that port-side
downrigger rod. Sometimes, when you're fishing, you just know.
It wasn't more than 2-3 minutes later when one of the rods suddenly
bent in half. I yelled, "Fish on!" and with the speed of a predator,
I grabbed it to fight the surging salmon. After a good run, I
brought the fish to the side of the boat where Mel scooped it into
the net. Into the cooler it went, five pounds of beautiful
Coho
salmon, the first fish of the day.
And which rod do you think it came on? Yup, the port-side
downrigger. I had called it!
Lake
County offers access to world-class salmon fishing and
May - June is the
time to get them.
