Your Captain

    Your Captain, Jon Dahl and brother Peter, began fishing at an early age, taken on fishing expeditions by our father, Don Dahl. Steelhead and brown trout was the quarry, as lake trout were pretty much wiped out by excessive commercial harvest, the introduction of sea lamprey, (a parasitic eel that attaches itself to a fish and feeds on it’s body fluids) and rainbow smelt (witch ate lake trout fry as they hatched from eggs laid on reefs). This was also before the introduction of salmon.   In the early 1960’s we began going to Cornucopia Wisconsin, (on the south shore of Lake Superior) where the Wisconsin D.N.R. had began stocking lake trout several years earlier. This is where we started to pioneer and develop some of the techniques we still use today, such as planer boards and down riggers. My father got the idea for planer boards from my grandfather who had used them in his native Norway, and the idea for down riggers from commercial fishermen’s “gurneys “he had seen on the West Coast during W. W.    In 1966 I caught the first Coho salmon in Minnesota waters (as far as anyone knew), and began fishing more and more out of Duluth. Fishing improved steadily with increased Minnesota and Wisconsin D.N.R stocking efforts, poisoning and trapping lamprey, the buy out of commercial gill-netters, and the depredation of smelt by increased numbers of game fish and smelt fishermen.       In 1976 my father and his brother Captain Raymond Dahl started “North Shore Charter Fishing” when they bought the ”Happy Hooker”. At that time it was mostly a tax write-off, and helped pay some of the expenses. I gained a lot of experience; acting as first mate on charters, fishing in derby’s and tournaments, (in which we often won) and just fishing for fun.     In 1986 my father passed away, my brother and I got our captain’s licenses, after Dad passed away, and started “Happy Hooker Fishing Charters”. We not only fished the waters of western Lake Superior, but also chartered the waters of Isle Royale National Park a month or two each season for 5 years.  In 1996, Peter and I worked out an arrangement that allowed him to purchase the ”Hooker Too”. That year I kept the “Happy Hooker” on the trailer, worked on her all season long, and bought new fishing gear and electronics. In1997 I started “Adventure Sport Fishing”, and have been getting busier every year, with many repeat customers.      I’ve always loved fishing and think fishers are the nicest people. Can you guess what I do when I go on vacation? That’s right, I go fishing! Usually, to Lake Nipigon in Canada for trophy Brook Trout, but I can’t wait to get back to Alaska where I caught a 50 lb. King Salmon. I still enjoy fishing the big lake for fun, and often take friends, or my daughter Angel out when I get a chance.