The Big Pond With Captain Bob

          When I took over this column from Ken Poor last year, we tried to make a smooth transition. Ken was very free in handing over all of the information, contacts and sources he used in compiling his weekly column. One of his contacts was Captain Bob Rossa who commands his boat, The Migrator, on the tricky waters of Lake Michigan. Without a hitch, Rossa religiously kept sending in his Lake Michigan report every week.

          From his information I immediately knew that Rossa was qualified to contribute his expertise to the column. Captain Bob has called me on a fairly constant basis for the past year, inviting me to take a ride on the Migrator and challenge the big lake’s healthy population of salmon and trout. I have always had an excuse for not being able to go.

          The phone rang. It was captain Bob. “The kings are in and I’m taking a friend of yours out for some action. You have no excuse. Meet us at North Point on Tuesday.” He was right. I had no excuse.

          Did I mention that Rossa told me that the kings were on an early bite. He wanted me at the marina in time to shove off at 4:00 a.m. and would leave without me if I was tardy. I hoped that the king action would be worth being roused from the depths of sleep at two in the morning!

          I won’t keep you in suspense and make you wait until the end of the story to get the results. Let’s “cut to the chase,” as they say. (Who is “they” and what the heck does “cut to the chase” mean anyway?)

          Captain Bob Rossa provided me with the best day of fishing on lake Michigan that I ever experienced. I owe Mr. Ken poor a nice thank-you card for introducing the Captain to me. We really smacked the kings. We were only two fish short of a limit and only fell short because we all felt that we had plenty in the cooler as it was and wanted to head in. I cannot be more emphatic in my praise of Captain Bob Rossa and his ability to put fish in the cooler.

          Four in the morning! What an ungodly time of the day it is! You cannot even enjoy the beauty of Winthrop Harbor’s North Point Marina in the dark. North Point, by the way, is commonly referred to as the best marina on the entire Great Lakes system. I arrived at slip 10 and found Captain Bob all revved up and raring to go. My fishing companions would be Mauro Tomasetti, who runs the annual Liv’s Calling for a Cure cystic fibrosis charity goose hunting event and two of his regular outdoor partners. It’s always nice to meet new fishing partners and Louie Cairo and Bob Lis proved to be good fishermen and excellent companions.

          Lis was full of good stories and the 75-year-old Cairo had all of the vigor and enthusiasm of a teenager. Louie would grab the net whenever a king hit our lines and masterfully brought the beast to the boat’s deck. I think that Louie liked playing the role of first mate as much as he did catching fish.

          We never had to travel more than three miles from port to find fish, and find fish we certainly did. In the early morning darkness, glow-in-the-dark spoons are the only choice. Rossa charged the spoons with a flash from a camera and quickly began setting lines. We started in 65-feet of water. As soon as Captain Bob had the third line in the water, the first rod went off. Lis grabbed the rod and almost immediately, rod number two started bouncing. In a matter of moments, Bob and Louie had two nice kings in the boat.

          The action stayed steady. Incredibly, it seemed like every time a king struck a bait, another king would hit another of the rods. We were getting doubles and, of course, like all greedy fishermen, were now anticipating triples.

We had no tripleheaders but did have nine hefty kings in the box in less that 45-minutes time.

          As daylight broke and the sun began to make its way up the eastern skies, the glow spoons came off and the colored flies and spoons found their way onto the end of Captain Bob’s lines.

          One of the lines went off and Bob Lis went for the rod. Zzzzzzzzzzz! The drag on the reel was losing the battle to a king that seemed quite a bit more aggressive than the fish in our cooler. Lis battled back-and-forth. Every few cranks of the reel was followed by the sound of the king stripping more line. The battle was on and we weren’t certain about the winner. The king proved to be a worthy competitor, it no match for Lis’ tenacity. When the bruiser was finally landed, after stressing the net to the point of pain, it was weighed in the high teens. A beautiful fish it was!

          In addition to being an excellent fisherman, Captain Bob Rossa proved to be an excellent host. He has a warm and friendly demeanor. His stories are interesting and his jokes aren’t stale. He fishes Lake Michigan from April to October. He has spent 35 years of his life on the big lake and certainly knows it well.

          Rossa’s previous careers include owning a chain of pizzerias in Buffalo Grove, McHenry and Wonder Lake. He also worked as a touring golf pro for eight years, but gave it up when he met his wife. Bob’s wife is known as “Admiral Laurie,” and she was considerate enough to send Bob off for the day with a snack for the hungry party. Laurie made a smoked salmon spread featuring all fresh spices and ingredients that was incredible. Hands flew into the bags containing crackers and pumpernickel bread as the container of spread quickly emptied.

          In addition to fishing, Rossa also guides for goose and duck hunting trips in the fall. He’s been doing it since “back in the days when shooting a goose in McHenry County was big news,” he says. He enjoys when the seasons overlap and he can take a party out for geese in the morning and salmon in the afternoon, a little “blast & cast” expedition, as it is called.

          Fishing though, was what were doing today. No! It wasn’t fishing, it was catching! Rossa worked hard, stringing lines, setting downriggers and changing lures. He says, “Fishing is only 40% of the job of being a Captain. You spend an awful lot of time cleaning the boat, maintaining your gear and other chores. You spend an awful lot of time being a mechanic when you are a charter captain.” Bob must be a good mechanic because the 33-foot Migrator and its twin 351 Ford engines ran flawlessly.

          By 7:30, we had eighteen fish in the box, including a chunky, football-shaped brown trout. We all agreed that it had been enough and we headed in. Thank goodness that Rossa is quick with his electric fillet knife. He efficiently carved up our bounty into fillets and steaks in short order.

          It had been an excellent day on the water. Leaving North Point, Mauro, Louie, Bob and I agreed that it was one of the best days we had ever spent on the big lake. I guarantee that when the call comes in from Captain Bob Rossa for the upcoming steelhead and giant lake trout runs, I will be hard pressed to come up with an excuse for not being able to go.