The salmon were planted in Lake Michigan in the 1960's to help control the alewife population.  Captain Al Laaksonen was one of the first to begin developing systems in order to present fishing baits to the Great Lakes species.  Pioneers such as Captain Al developed ways to reach fish regardless of how deep the fish are located.  It was not uncommon for one of the boys tricycles to "accidently" fall prey to the Laaksonen family station wagon, only to find shortly there after that the tricycle wheel had been attached to a sash cord and sash cord weight to create what we would now call a down rigger.

 

When Captain Al first started fishing the steelheader tournaments in the early 70's he had an 18' fiber glass boat appropriately named the "Fish Box".

 

In 1975, Captain Al decided to turn his love for fishing into a small family business.    The Finlander fleets first charter boat was a 24' Sea Ray.  The Finlander ran less than 10 charters for hire in its first season, yet managed to fish almost everyday of its first summer with Captain Al  and three very young first mates. (Wally age 11, Richard age 8, and Kevin age 6)   These three boys took the knowledge they learned while first mating with their father and eventually became captains of their own boats.

 

Check back with us in the near future to learn more about the past 30 years of TEAM FINN history.