Magnum Bows with Bill and Stuart, July 28, 2012

Bill had been fishing with me for three years and we have had some fun trips on the lake and some not to fun. One time we went Walleye fishing on Lake Erie and on a half day of fishing only managed one walleye. A tough bite, but Bill was still interested in getting out fishing. We even tried getting him out for some Bass on Lake Erie and it still was a rough and tough bite only managing a handful of smaller bass.

Last year we turned a corner on our luck. Without high expectations we went out for an exploratory trip on Lake Ontario on the Friday morning before Thanksgiving. I say exploratory, because that late in the season we needed to explore to find fish. Expectations were low, but to our surprise we found them that day and caught a bunch of nice late fall silver chinook salmon.

Here’s the blog entry… http://fintasticsportfishing.blogspot.ca/2011/10/bills-hunt-for-silvers-october-7-2011.html This morning we were met with a different type of bad luck- the weather. I took a look at the lake before coming to the pick-up dock and it was flat, but the dark clouds and the updated marine reports were suggesting a change for the worst. Yesterday’s forecast for today was wrong and Bill and co-worker Stuart met us at the boat dock and we talked about our options. I suggested we cancel and rebook the trip, but Bill and Stuart said let’s give it a try and we will come back in if it becomes too much.

So we set off for our planned 4 hour trip departing at 6:00 am. As we were motoring out on the lake the winds were coming up. By the time we got to 80 FOW we were already in 2 ½ ft chop with whitecaps all around. We continued to about 110 FOW and then settled into our troll. Mark Penner was on the wheel and was busy keeping the boat on a consistent course. I set three riggers and three divers as well as one Full core out the shoot. It was all we can manage as the waves continue to grow. The initial sets were continuously interrupted by Rainbow trout. Bites were fast and furious with many shots on the rigger free sliders.

From Photo_Gallery9

There was a time where the rigger on the starboard side wasn’t in the water for more than a minute before it went off again on another fish.

From Photo_Gallery9

Other shots came regularly on the other rods, but nothing as good as the rigger sets with free sliders. We released a fair number including some of the boat’s largest rainbow trout. Three were over 12 lbs. 13.5 and a 16.2 lbs Monster bows were caught and released to grow even bigger. Stuart broke his personal best three times and although the pictures are in colour, they still leave out the great excitement that filled the boat this morning.

From Photo_Gallery9

By 8:30 we had a limit of rainbow trout and the odd smaller salmon in the box and enough rough water to call it a time to pull lines. Both Stuart and Bill had the fishing trip of their lives all within a 3 hour window.

Shane Thombs
www.FINtasticsportfishing.com