Jim is a long time Firefighter and had recently watched his son Mich, follow his dad’s footsteps to wear the uniform and bear the crest as a Hamilton Firefighter.
The evening fish meant leaving the dock at 5:00 pm and making our way out onto the flat lake with fog that surrounded the boat making it difficult to see past a mile. I followed my GPS plotter intently and kept a close watch over the bow to avoid any debris or headheads in the water (commonly found on the surface in recent trips).
We set down west of the Grimsby Weather Marker in roughly 75 FOW. From there we trolled outward towards deeper water and discovered that the picture on the SONAR continued to mark good schools of bait as we ventured deeper. When we hit 140 FOW all ten rods were in the water fishing, but I wanted to make one change. “Let’s set up the meat” I said to Mark as he steered the boat heading North. I matched a roller head with a piece of meat behind a King Fisher Oki 11” flasher and put that back 15 feet and down on the rigger going deep. After setting the rod we waited. Now we were nearly 45 minutes into our trip and the rods stayed still, but the SONAR showed much activity below the surface.
The flies came upon us on the boat, biting our ankles and causing curses to fly with them everytime we went to swat. Then the buzzing from fly wings was replaced by the buzzing of the Okuma Clarion as the drag sang pulling the knot the held the braid backing to the 400 feet of copper line below the surface and the rod bounced.
Wes jockeyed into position to sit at the “Box Seat”, handed him the rod and then we coached him to reel down-pull up. I suggested we share the fight between the three, and one by one the fish inched it’s way closer to the boat. Marking the copper at every 100 ft, the excitement built up to see this fish as we made it to the home stretch. The lengthy fight allowed plenty of time to turn the boat and clear the rods from one side making a path to the back of the boat clear from obstruction. This also meant that the boat would be angled back to the waters we hooked up in since we now ventured out to 180 FOW and the SONAR began to draw clear of underwater activity.
The fish comes to the net and the guys are ecstatic with its size. Collectively this fish was much bigger than any other fish they have caught. The measuring tape showed a total length of 40” but the fish was thin, on the scales it read 24 ½ lbs. A team effort, Nicely done!
The next two hours the fishing on high lines began picking away at rainbow trout and we also managed one small Chinook that came off at the back of the boat and one Lake Trout on the 400 copper. At 8:00pm I brought in one of the Planerboards since it was an opportune time to bring it in for the last hour of fishing. I was midship when Mark yelled “rigger, rigger”. I wasn’t there to grab it, but Mich was on it pulling the rod out of the Walker Downrigger rod holder and began reeling. The fish was swimming up towards the surface and we told Mich to “reel, reel, reel!” That he did and he pulled up all the slack to the point where the rod tighted up in a nice arch and then I said “say good by – that fish will be going for a run”. Sure enough the drag clicked out slowly and then began to speed up, faster and faster. The 17 lbs Trilene XT clear monofilament line was dashing off the reel. Surely the reel drag disks were burning hot, but we had the right guys on the job. Where the reel read 160 feet to begin it’s set, it now read 450 ft in less than two minutes. We turned the boat and quartered the fish off the Port side to reduce the momentum.
Again the three took turns reeling in this fish and when it came into view the Oki Flasher popped out of the water, but the fish was not to be seen. It’s dark back blended into the dark water background and it wasn’t until the fish was 15 feet from the boat when it was known to be another quality Chinook salmon. Wes was the last guy on the rod as he cracked up the fish when it took a turn toward the rigger cable and I had to handle the line to steer the fish towards the mouth of the net. It worked! The fish was netted and I hoisted it over the motor and onto the floor. Again the guys were euphoric and Wes said “ I think it might be bigger than the other one.
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| From Photo_Gallery12 |
The measuring tape showed the fish being shorter by 2 inches, but on the scales it was only 1 pound less than the first at 23 ½ lbs.
A night to remember and I’m sure a few fish stories will be shared at the Firehall.
Shane Thombs
www.FINtasticSportfishing.com
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