Holland to Grimsby, Fishing makes it a Smaller World; Eve of July 27, 2011

It’s a small world and in my profession of using computer software to view the world on my computer screen, it’s even a smaller world to consider running into someone that uses similar software but located somewhere else on the planet.

Ton and his son Bas had boarded for a evening trip and it wasn’t until a short time after leaving the dock where I asked what Ton was doing in Canada after noting his thick dutch accent. His home was in Holland and he was here on business but also brought the family to experience Ontario and parts of the United States while Ton was traveling to various cities but returning to a house they had rented in Vineland for a number of weeks.

The world became smaller when I asked “What type of business was he in?”, and he told me he was a sales rep for the Software called Bentley MicroStation. When I had told him about my work experience with GIS and MicroStation we started talking about all things Mapping and software related to the trade, people we knew and places that he has seen it used. Small world indeed.

The lake was absolutely beautiful for our trip, it was calm and the skies were clear. I was curious to try new water. I went through my notes from past years and found the same date from last year. After punching in the Latitude and Longitude in the GPS we were on our way. The waypoint put us in 140 FOW and straight out from Bartlett Road in Grimsby. We initial scanned with the Sonar for signs of bait and fish and it took about three minutes before seeing a respectable school of baitfish.

We set up in 160 FOW and angled outward. It was a short time of about 15 minutes before the downrigger with Flasher/fly went off. First up was Bas and he managed a small Chinook to the boat. Then a diver rod was shaking and Ton was there to bring in another small Chinook to the net. By then we were in 180 FOW and then things changed.

At 200 FOW all the way out to 250 FOW we discovered a great number of rainbows. For the next three hours Ton and Bas remained on the rods bringing in one after another. All rods were firing and we also had two triple headers and 1 double header.

From Photo_Gallery5

Some of the rainbows put on a great aerial display behind the boat.

Most of the rainbows were small. Mostly around 4 lbs, but there were the odd 6-8 lbers and two that read just over 10 lbs on the scale. The riggers were hot and full core leadcores on inline boards took more time to set out then it was to get another fish on them. It seemed 8:00 pm came quickly and the sun was going down. Rods were not pulled but rather taken out of the water because of catching a final fish.

From Photo_Gallery5

Bas and Ton were an enjoyable father and son team that joined us all the way from Holland. The world is a smaller place when you we talk to other fellow fisherpersons. No matter where on earth we come from- we all strive to catch our next fish on the other end
of our fishing line.

Shane Thombs
www.FINtasticSportfishing.com