Jared and Dean fish where the salmon are mean, July 18, 2012

Usually this time in July would be considered the peak run of good numbers of big salmon passing by the waters of Grimsby/Beamsville, but things are showing signs of slowing down and the fish have continued to progress in migrating further east to the waters in front of Jordon Harbour and beyond. The mature salmon were already turning grey on the belly where only a month ago they were as white as the clouds on a cold winter’s day. The summer was progressing rapidly on the Lake, likely due to the warm winter and spring.

This was one of Dean and Jared’s first time on Lake Ontario fishing for salmon and trout. This was a great opportunity to cover the details about our techniques and tackle we use. Dean had great questions that Mark and I tried to answer. Fishing is a game of unknowns that we try to make sense of. Sometimes it comes together sometimes we wait until our next outing figure out what catches fish.

Here’s the video…

I had a feeling that a run towards the east was in order to intercept a few kings on route for the waters east of Grimsby. We boated to the waters in front of Vineland and stopped the boat in about 150 FOW. There had been a significant blow from the east the past day and the lake still showed a significant 1 ½ foot roll on the lake. Otherwise we had little wind, but it was easier to troll West South West in search of salmon with the nose of the boat pointing towards our home port in Grimsby. Minutes into our troll the 300 foot Copper line rod on an inline planerboard starts pulling out the backing line in a rapid speed. Jared was handed the rod with further instruction on how to fight the fish. The fish came off, but Jared kept his spirits up in hopes of hooking and reeling in the next one.

Then a sizable Lake Trout came to the boat and spit up one of the largest alewives I have seen. It had to be 8” long dwarfing any of the baits we had on the boat.

There was a lull in the action for about 2 hours as we continued our troll past Beamsville and now straight out from Bartlett Rd in Grimsby in 120 FOW. The water had changed and signs of bait fish and the odd mark on the SONAR suggested more fish. Sure enough we were onto our next fish and Jared was ready for his next try. He battles another great fish to the boat and successfully lands an 18 lbs Chinook salmon.

From Photo_Gallery9

In the last hour of the trip as the sun was dropping down towards the tip of Rattlesnake point on the Escarpment in Halton, the activity of the fish rose. The next fish was also Jared’s to try again and he puts his new found fish fighting skills to the test and boats a 14 lbs salmon.

The night of fishing is coming to an end and I am slowly taking in the rods and putting away gear with only two more rods left in the water. The conversations turned to a summary of how the evening went and how it’s coming to a close, but Mark Penner on the boat said, “Guys we are still fishing here, and the SONAR is revealing a really good picture”. On quo the downrigger fires and it was time for Dean to battle a fish. I handed the well bent rod to Dean, and the fish screams off line. Everyone on the boat was excited and laughing. I pull in the other rod and start the big motor preparing for our run back to dock as soon as we catch this powerful fish. Dean manages the fish to the boat as we chased the fish down and maintained a tight line with Marks driving skills to help.

The fish is scooped in the net and brought on boat. Biggest of the night. 21 ½ lbs. A great fish to end the evening. It was a great evening on the big Lake and with great company to make it a complete summer evening that we will not soon forget.

Shane Thombs
www.FINtasticSportfishing.com