Make it your own Salmon Day, the do-it-yourself way

Even though I've invested thousands of hours and many dollars pursuing my favorite pastime (fishing), there are few species of fish I enjoy eating.

While growing up in Chicago it was quite common for my Dad and I to visit his friends on a Friday evening for a traditional fish fry.

Of course, I did my part and had at least a half-dozen pieces of heavily breaded Lake Michigan perch filets. The usual side dishes were spread on the table, such as coleslaw, potato salad or potato chips, dill pickles and a variety of homemade tasty goodies. It's too bad no one in those days embraced the concept of a light sauté on the filets so we could actually taste the fish and not just the breading.

We sipped either Old Colony black cherry pop (that's soda, for you out-of-towners), or Canada Dry ginger ale as well as some exotic flavors from Progressive Beverages.

These were meals that drew family from all around the city. The perch were either caught from the usual Lake Michigan hot spots, or an area fish shop that offered just about everything from perch to buffalo filets, as well as shrimp and lake trout with a few telltale lamprey markings.

And then came the late 1960s, when coho salmon exploded on the scene and Michigan anglers in the Manistee area went nuts showing off their pictures of jumbo salmon to anyone who wanted to see them. That created a rush to outfit a Chicago Lake Michigan salmon boat.

I will sometimes eat fish during a northern Canadian fish trip. The guide would prepare walleye, lake trout or northern pike filets, which used to be fried in lard (ugh). After too many customer complaints, they now use oil.

And because I was fortunate to have eaten several meals of fresh-caught Alaskan halibut, I look forward to having that treat when friends share filets.

So now we approach Oct. 8, which, if you didn't know, is National Salmon Day.

There is an advertising agency and public relations company called the "Amusement Park." Within that organization is Bob Ochsner, who touts this date because his client, Chicken of the Sea, distributor of a widely known tuna product, proposed the salmon celebration.

Personally, I prefer to eat Lake Michigan freshly caught salmon and cook it on the grill. My wife and I enjoy Atlantic salmon (not farm raised) cooked the same way. I enjoy promoting the Great Lakes salmon fishery because it's a world-class resource and also provides paychecks to those involved in it.

But I think the National Salmon Day hoopla in honor of the swimmingly pink flesh is slightly overboard.

Personally, I wonder if Bob Ochsner has ever come here to sample the great coho and Chinook fishing and grilled taste treats washed down with some our great golden, micro-brewed beers.

I'd be glad to fish with him, and then cook him a meal - my way.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content at mikejacksonoutdoors.com.