As September comes to a close, we asked Kaylee Bremer to tell us the story of the salmon she caught on Bear Creek River in Michigan. We featured the photo above on our Facebook page as our profile picture for this month. 

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Kaylee is an outdoorswoman who grew up in (and still lives in) the tiny town of Sanford, Michigan. Sanford lies in the middle of the state, not far from the shores of Saginaw Bay.

It was early afternoon when she caught her king salmon. She was with a couple good friends that also love to fish and she was fishing from shore in her waders. She was in knee-high water, fishing a hole that was about eight to ten feet deep.

She had traveled up to Bear Creek River to fish only once before and there were big things in store for her that day. What surprised her the most was how high the salmon jumped into the air when she initially set the hook.

“I have never seen a salmon that big jump out of the water so high; so that was pretty awesome,” said Kaylee. “I have seen many steelhead make those jumps, but when catching salmon, I had not seen anything like that!”

Kaylee says that really, she just enjoys being outdoors and that catching a monster fish was just a big bonus.

She started fishing as a young girl with her dad and much of the time they spent together, they were either fishing or hunting. Now that she’s a little older, she fishes and hunts by herself. However, she still makes time to go be outdoors with her dad and make more memories.

Kaylee says she is inspired by Tiffany Lakosky, who is a great role model for outdoorswomen, and her Instagram feed (click here to see her Instagram) is full of wonderful outdoors adventures. Kaylee says that she’s also inspired by her mom, who is a strong woman and her best friend.

Kaylee’s advice for women who want to go salmon fishing is to just go for it. There’s no reason to let anything stop you, as long as you put your mind to doing it.

“If you put yourself out there, that just gives every other fisherman or women respect for you giving it a try and hopefully, a chance to make it a lifetime passion,” said Kaylee.  

She says that to prepare for the trip, you have to have plenty of supplies because, essentially, salmon are crazy. You may hook into them as they’re going upstream, downstream, into log jams...and your line breaks off quite a bit. She says to make sure you have plenty of leader line, sinkers, swivels, and bobbers to make through an entire day.

And what does she do for bait?

She puts in hours of time curing salmon eggs (skein).

Kaylee recently got her captain’s license and she feels particularly proud of that accomplishment. She has received a lot of support from family and friends, and best of all, she says, “I am now able to take people out and share the passion I have with others - which is truly amazing!”

Thanks again to Kaylee for letting us feature her photo and her story! Don’t forget to submit your photo for our October “Hen of the Month” selection on Facebook

(click here to go to our Facebook page).