Salmon Dance Tournament, July 25, 2009

The weather man would suggest staying away from the lake, but with offshore winds and the heavy clouds holding off until the end of the day. The south east wind made for a 1 foot chop and comfortable enough to fish in close where we have found fish. John Poirier, his niece Stephanie and I were teamed up and were eager to make the best of a day on the water.

John was out on Friday night, the evening before the tournament, and found the fish to be in front of Beamsville/Vineland and that was where we started. We set up in 75 FOW and it was a slow start with about one hour of fishing gone by and trolling further west towards our marks from fishing on Wednesday the 21st.finally the five colour off the boards with Holo Miami Dolphin Warrior. This was a quality fish but the hooks pulled out at the end of a long run. The same rod went off again but with a small shaker.

Then the rigger down fifty feet with a green dolphin Spin-doctor and hammer fly takes a release. At first the fish just stayed there with a few small head shakes. I call out Lake Trou... Then before I got the word out the reel interrupts me with a drag burner. A few more runs and get gets into another line and the fish bam un-pinned. Two matures lost and it's now 8:30. Not good.

It was another hour before hitting a bunch of smaller salmon and a few rainbows, one of which went9 lbs and was a long clean looking steelhead.

At 11 am we finally started to move rods at a regular pace including one double. At this time we were in front of Beamsville found a pod of kings and steelhead. Rigger down 71 feet over 77FOW with Green Dolphin Spin-doctor and Fish-on Tournament Atommik Fly takes a hit and the drag sounds good. Moments later the wire diver rod with a Metallic Purple 107 Walker Deeper Diver set at 1 and out 105feet with a Black and Glow Spin-doctor and No-See-Um Strong Fly goes hay-wire. With John fighting his fish thought to be a bigger one, I proceeded to do the one-handed net job on what I suspected to be a 15 lbs king. The fish came free while the fish was half in and half out of the net. Still no fish in the livewell. Net Johns fish and it is smaller then it's attitude at 15lbs. But finally gota fish in the box.

Moments later the Slide diver set -up finally wakes up. The best set-up all week long and it takes 5 hours before it produces a king. But it was our best of the day at 20 and change. The slide diver had a 100 ft lead behind the diver and was out 60 feet on a 3 setting. It had a Warrior Miami Dolphin without the green glow tape. That rod started to catch a few more salmon but smaller then what we had in the box. Here's Stephanie's fish that fell to the same.

We managed another 15 lbs salmon that required the balance beam to measure it's size to the smallest in the box, but it was only slightly smaller and swam away to grow to be a 30 lber in the tournament next year.

Our weight was a dismal 35 lbs and we were disappointed thatwe dropped so many quality fish. But we caught alot of fish not sure how many).

The following are links to the tournament results and standings.
http://www.straitlineanglers.com/Salmon_Dance/2009salmon_dance_tournament_pictures.htm
http://www.straitlineanglers.com/Salmon_Dance/2009salmon_dance_tournament_results.htm

Shane Thombs
www.FINtasticSportfishing.com

Grimsby and East, July 22, 2009

With the Salmon Dance Tournament on Saturday, it was search time for quality fish. The pattern of shallow water kings was the target and we needed to find bigger fish amoungst a countless number of smaller salmon and numerous Rainbows. At 4:30 pm I met up with Ron Arnold to fish in his boat while John Poirier and Jay Whitwell fished together in John’s boat. East winds for the afternoon put a 3 foot roll on the lake that made trolling and driving a little sloppy. When we got out to 70 FOW we set up and continued to troll east into the waves looking for pods of fish. It didn’t take long to find the fish and John calls on the radio and hooks up with his first. Slide Diver out 100 ft behind the diver and 60 feet out to the diver using the Halo Miami Dolphin Warrior spoon. Jay finally landed it after a long fight and it weighed a little over 25 lbs on a scale that didn’t stay steady in the waves.

Then shortly after John calls again and had hooked up with another good fish on the other slide diver set the same distances but using the Michigan Stinger Stingray Coyote. That one weighed 23 lbs! Not a bad start for John with 48 lbs in the first two fish. John also managed another mature salmon at 18 lbs coming on the rigger down 50 feet with a 60 ft lead using Blue Killer Protroll and Atommik Tournament Hammer Fly. Temps down 40 ft were 48’F and down speed was 2.1 mph on Johns Depth Raider.

Ron and I managed 6 fish for 8 with the biggest being around18 lbs taking a Green dot/glow Protroll behind a Walker 107 Green Dolphin diver on a 3 setting and back only 45 feet off the corner of the boat. Ron doesn’t have downriggers on the boat so all of our rodshad walker 107 diver, Slide Diver and two 45m size divers on walleye rods trailing behind the boat.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

Grimsby Skinny Water, July 15, 2009

Four years in a row the skinny water pattern for mid July kings on the south shore prevails. The evening of July 15th, John, Aidan, Linda, and I went out of Foran's Marine. Action was a steady pick, with one double header. It wasn't long when we set our lines and hit our first fish.

Wire 107 Walker Deeper Diver in Wonderbread on 3 setting and only out 60 feet. It was rigged with a ProTroll glow Wonderbread and Strong Fly No-See-Um. This rod caught two and lost one early in the evening and then didn't do anything else. Both fish were small chinooks.

The fullcore Leadcore also caught two fish, one small Lake Trout and the other a small Salmon and lost one bigger lake trout.

The two downriggers were set in the 35 and 40 feet and 40 feet it was 41'F. The riggers managed three fish. One Rainbow at 6 lbs, one small salmon and one salmon at 20 lbs even on the scale. We had one good fish break the line as well.Spoons on the riggers were Yeck 88 in Green Hornet (black/green/glow) two on it, and the other was Yeck 88 in Blue Dolphin (broke off).

The best producing rod was the Slide Diver Lite bite set 60/60 (60 foot lead behind the diver and 60 feet out to the diver from the rod). It was set on 3. On the Slide Diver set, Michigan Stinger Stingray Coyote spoon caught the biggest of the night at 23 lbs as well as another small rainbow. One shaker chinook and another around 8 lbs. It also had a number of missed fish.

Also caught a 5 lbs chinook on 7 colour using Yeck 88 Micheal Jackson.

Good action for fishing between 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com