Great stories!
John, you mentioned hand-fishing as a topic, so here is a good article on the history of hand-lining for walleye in the Detroit river:
http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/fishing_...ng_walleyes.htm
Also, when chinook salmon stage off the port of Manistee in Lake Michigan in late summer, they enter Manistee lake before heading upstream to spawn. It's a small drowned-river mouth without much room, so the fish tend to go in circles. Fishermen in boats will toss out a spoon, leave the bail open, and wait. Eventually a fish will get the line in its open mouth, pull the s