St. Louisans Go Salmon Fishing in Lake Michigan, Part 2

Lee Barker has been taking friends and family on fishing trips to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, every summer for fifteen years. The drive from St. Louis is less than six hours when traffic cooperates. Barker’s group usually leaves Friday morning and, after an early night’s rest, boards the boat Saturday morning at 3:30 for about five hours of fishing on Lake Michigan. The group fishes again early on Sunday morning and, after a late morning breakfast, heads back to St. Louis in time for very fresh salmon dinner.

The last weekend in July ‘09, Barker was joined on his Sunday morning fishing excursion by Ron Andrews, a singing barber from the St. Louis suburb of Florissant, Jim Armour and myself. Although Andrews and I were new to fishing, each fisherman was able to brag about the fish he caught.

Boat skipper Randy Even (http://u-charters.com) and his first mate do most of the heavy lifting on these trips and, although Barker says Even is “intense,” the reasons are clear. He wants every group to catch fish and have fun. That certainly happened on this trip. There were lots of laughs, and Andrews did some singing–sailor kind of songs, so send the children to bed.

This video is the Sunday version of a 2-part series, with the Saturday version also posted on St Louis View, as well as on www.stlouisan.com. –Dickson Beall