I have known Adam in recent years at the City of Hamilton. He worked for Real-estate in the Economic Development and every once and a while I would provide some Geographic Information System (GIS) software and data support for his needs in looking up property information using City Planning data. Adam recently found work in Halton Region in a similar roll and it is always interesting to hear the comparison of notes between the two organizations. Although the municipal structure is slightly different since Halton remained a two tier system and Hamilton was an amalgamated city 12 years ago. Adam mentioned that Halton has money and great people to work with, but a ton of work to keep up with development.
Matt is an Electrician living in Hamilton and Joe lives in Toronto and working hard to get on a Police Force. The three went to High school together, and although post-secondary schooling and careers sent them in different directions, they still maintain a friendship.
The morning was the Reelbuddies.net Salmon Slammin’ Tournament and the returning boats were with long faces from a slow bite. Mark Penner who was to assist with this afternoons charter returned to dock with 4 Chinook Salmon and one Rainbow Trout. The five fish managed the win in the tournament and I was eager to hear the details before we pushed off the dock.
We departed St Catharines Marina at 15:20 hrs and with Mark’s first hand morning tournament experience we headed in the direction where he managed the fish to win the tournament. We ran to the Canada/US border line on the ledge of the Niagara Bar. It was the intent to make the run into the wind and then troll back with the east wind on the stern. We sat down and began our troll with 8 lines ranging from 80 feet down to just under the surface looking for anything willing to bite. Throughout the next 1 ½ we made changes and trolled in and out from the drop off on the Niagara Bar Ledge. We marked a few but Mark said the picture changed since the morning tournament bite.
The rods didn’t move with a bite so I thought let’s get in shallow and look for a few greys to bite in the East wind conditions. We turned into 60 FOW and with a few adjustments in the rigger depths and adjust to a slower speed, the first few marks of fish on the SONAR turned into an instant strike on the downrigger set to 42 ft. First fish was reeled in by Joe and it was a 7 lbs Lake Trout that bit a Warrior Blue Dolphin Mag spoon. We broke the ice!
The center rigger traced the bottom with a SpinDoctor 8 inch and an MountDew Green Dot Magnum MC Rocket. After the boat was steered into Lake Trout grounds on the top of the Ledge, the center rigger bumped with another Lake Trout. I grab the rod and pass the rod over to Adam and the fish spits the hook.
The next change to add another presentation to the spread of lures out behind the boat was to add a full core chute rod (pulled behind the boat and not on a planer board). On it we put a Mirage Howie Fly on a ProTroll that I had customized with Gold and green dots on crush glow. The rod bent over minutes later and Adam was up for the challenge.
The fish was an obvious heavy, but we were unsure it was a Lake Trout or a lazy Chinook salmon. The pressure on the rod/line was nothing short of testing breaking strength. The fish was sounding and vicious head shakes would have everyone holding our breath and then laughing at Adam’s struggle trying to reel this fish in. When the fish finally came to within sight, there was no question this was a big Lake Trout. We scooped the fish in the net and Adam was smiling from ear to ear.
The fish on the scale in the boat read 21 lbs and because I have purchased a boat ticket for the St Catharines Game & fish Derby, that makes everyone eligible on the boat to fish the derby and this fish would be one to bring to the scales. The leader after Saturday morning was a 19 lbs Lake Trout and this was looking like we had a leader at least for the short term, but their were two three other Lake Trout brought in that would set the bar very high. 29, 28, and a 25 would push Adam’s fish into a fourth place slot for the current standing.
After boating that big Lake Trout and knowing that the sun was starting into the dusk hour, we emphasised our efforts for a Salmon. We trolled out off the Ledge and then further west to in front of four Mile Point and then turned back in towards Weller Bay. We marked next to not fish until we reached 60 ft of water where we saw a few good hooks following the downrigger weights and staying with us for a little while before tailing off.
It wasn’t meant to be and the salmon were left to bite another day, but long time friends Adam, Matt and Joe will have the story to tell and the memory of a worthy derby Lake Trout entry to keep for a long time
Shane Thombs
www.FINtasticSportfishing.com
