Jonah had flown in from the east coast where he was in Law School. John and subsequently Jonah are originally from Prince Edward Island and were accustomed to rough ocean seas and nasty weather.
Today was not a day I would normally take clients out in, the wind was moderate out of the east and the rain and thick low level cloud filtered out much of the daylight. It was as dark as dusk in the middle of the afternoon. The wind from the east also made a four foot chop and it would prove to be a great opportunity to run the boat in some nasty chop to see how it handles. John and Jonah were adamant about going out and laughed at the conditions after many experiences in much more adverse conditions on the ocean. I was happy to oblige and look forward to see where and how the fish reacted to these type of conditions.
We motored out heading directly into the waves and with the 21 degree dead rise and Carolina style bow on the Key Largo, the vessel sliced through the waves like a hot knife through butter. Running into them at 23 MPH and not taking a single slap or jolt. The boat truly performed up to my expectations.
We stopped in 230 FOW east of Jordon Harbour which put us in front of Port Dalhousie. Instead of turing the boat and rolling with the waves, as we normally would, I decided we better keep the bow pointed into the waves so we can move deeper still. Ron was busy keeping a straight line while I deployed a 7 rod spread. I was looking for the fish to be high in the water column considering the low light and chop. Many of the sets concentrated on the top 50 feet with temperatures pointing out that at 50 feet was the thermocline. It wasn’t long before we started catching fish and while we went Ron marked the location on the GPS as a Waypoint.
When we reached 290 FOW there as a distinct change in the picture on the sonar graph. We were marking pods of bait and many fish. Almost instantly seeing this, we were into fish. Shots were regular. Jonah and John took turns and many times had to grab one rod after another as I was busy netting, removing hooks, and releasing fish after fish. It was fast a furious action and I was happy to have Ron on the wheel to keep us from spinning around in the waves and messing up the 7 lines.
The Downriggers were hot with the centre rigger set the highest in the water column at 28 feet and the Port and starboard riggers beneath it staggered at 35 and 45 feet. I was targeting Rainbows and keeping the riggers above the thermocline was the ticket for the fast catching.
In the middle of catching rainbows John also managed to catch this great looking Coho John (right) is holding up along side Jonah (left)and his biggest Steelhead of the day.
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7 and 10 colour leadcores were also towed by small inline boards and wire divers on either side of the boat were set with 107 divers with spoons and made to run out to the sides on 3 settings with 110- 140 feet of line to focus on the 30-40 foot level.
We were scheduled to fish until 8:00 pm and as that time approached the already dark skies reduced the amount of dusk low light almost dark. We pulled lines and motored back and this time running 28 -30 mph running with the waves. By the time we got to dock it was dark and it wasn’t long after the boat was on the trailer that I was in complete blackness. The rain was only spitting through the entire trip so rain gear was worn but managed to stay dry.
Jonah was impressed by the fishing in Lake Ontario and managed his biggest Steelhead at 10 lbs. We shared some stories and sent Jonah off with good luck with his schooling and a safe flight back. Clients with true sea legs are hard to find, but John and Jonah were not your average guest on board, they were steady and sure in the less steady Lake Ontario conditions.
Shane Thombs
www.FINtasticSportfishing.com
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