DULUTH, Minn. _ Parker Bambenek's 27-foot Tiara angled across Superior Bay just before 6 a.m. on a recent June morning. His was one of six fishing boats headed for the Duluth ship canal to catch the 6 a.m. lift of Duluth's iconic Aerial Lift Bridge.
"Morning rush hour," deadpanned Bambenek, who operates Superior Pursuits charter fishing service.
It's a nice commute. This was another work day for Bambenek, who at 27 is the youngest charter captain working out of Duluth. His clients on this cool and overcast morning were the well-bundled Bruce and Patsy Stengel, up from the Willmar, Minn., farm country. Neither had been on Lake Superior before. Patsy's son had booked the charter for them.
Bambenek's 12-week-old Lab pup, Remi, also was along, sleeping peacefully in a forward berth.
A west wind put a light chop on the big lake. Bambenek ran his boat, "Elixir," three or four miles onto the open lake and began putting out lines over 86 feet of water.
It's transition time for the lake trout, king salmon and coho salmon that charter captains try to find for their clients in late June.
"The fish are spread out anywhere from the surface down to 60 feet," said Bambenek, who grew up in Duluth.
Each angler is permitted two lines, so Bambenek, working alone, began playing out eight lines trailing spoons or minnow-imitation plugs for the four of us on board. Some lines ran just below the surface, some on downriggers as deep as 40 feet.
Patsy Stengel gazed at the verdant Duluth hillside and the Aerial Lift Bridge off our stern.
"So pretty," she said.
