When my family and I find ourselves trolling the waters of Lake Michigan on warm summer evenings, we get a lot of time to chat.

A semi-frequent topic of conversation is an estimation of the actual odds of getting a fish on the end of our line.

We generally always land a couple of fish on our trips on the big pond. But, think about it: what are the chances that, in the vast expanse of 1 quadrillion (that’s 15 zeros) gallons of water, you manage to put a 5-inch-long lure in front of a hungry fish?

Let’s do some rough math. Each year, roughly 2 million king salmon are planted between Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan’s stocking efforts. Even if every one of those fish survives to maturity, that is only one king salmon per every 500 million gallons of water planted annually.

It’s kind of amazing that anyone ever catches anything.

Continue reading “Catching a miracle” →