Salmon aficionados anticipating summer surges of kings in the Manitou Passage have for years been let down.
They’re smiling now. “This is not as good as I’ve seen it, but it’s very good,” said Rod Price, a college professor and Hastings resident who graduated from Leland. “But it’s the best in at least 10 years, and maybe since 2012. That’s the last year I remember it being this good.”
Price brings history to his conclusion. He’s been fishing out of Leland for 33 years, spent nine years as a first mate to charter captains whose boats were stationed along the Leland River, and is the grandson of a commercial fisherman who worked out of the harbor. One of those charter mentors is Jack Duffy, who’s been chasing salmon since the days when anglers were amazed that a grand experiment envisioned by former DNR Director Howard Tanner actually worked.
