Grimsby and East, July 22, 2009

With the Salmon Dance Tournament on Saturday, it was search time for quality fish. The pattern of shallow water kings was the target and we needed to find bigger fish amoungst a countless number of smaller salmon and numerous Rainbows. At 4:30 pm I met up with Ron Arnold to fish in his boat while John Poirier and Jay Whitwell fished together in John’s boat. East winds for the afternoon put a 3 foot roll on the lake that made trolling and driving a little sloppy. When we got out to 70 FOW we set up and continued to troll east into the waves looking for pods of fish. It didn’t take long to find the fish and John calls on the radio and hooks up with his first. Slide Diver out 100 ft behind the diver and 60 feet out to the diver using the Halo Miami Dolphin Warrior spoon. Jay finally landed it after a long fight and it weighed a little over 25 lbs on a scale that didn’t stay steady in the waves.

Then shortly after John calls again and had hooked up with another good fish on the other slide diver set the same distances but using the Michigan Stinger Stingray Coyote. That one weighed 23 lbs! Not a bad start for John with 48 lbs in the first two fish. John also managed another mature salmon at 18 lbs coming on the rigger down 50 feet with a 60 ft lead using Blue Killer Protroll and Atommik Tournament Hammer Fly. Temps down 40 ft were 48’F and down speed was 2.1 mph on Johns Depth Raider.

Ron and I managed 6 fish for 8 with the biggest being around18 lbs taking a Green dot/glow Protroll behind a Walker 107 Green Dolphin diver on a 3 setting and back only 45 feet off the corner of the boat. Ron doesn’t have downriggers on the boat so all of our rodshad walker 107 diver, Slide Diver and two 45m size divers on walleye rods trailing behind the boat.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

Grimsby Skinny Water, July 15, 2009

Four years in a row the skinny water pattern for mid July kings on the south shore prevails. The evening of July 15th, John, Aidan, Linda, and I went out of Foran's Marine. Action was a steady pick, with one double header. It wasn't long when we set our lines and hit our first fish.

Wire 107 Walker Deeper Diver in Wonderbread on 3 setting and only out 60 feet. It was rigged with a ProTroll glow Wonderbread and Strong Fly No-See-Um. This rod caught two and lost one early in the evening and then didn't do anything else. Both fish were small chinooks.

The fullcore Leadcore also caught two fish, one small Lake Trout and the other a small Salmon and lost one bigger lake trout.

The two downriggers were set in the 35 and 40 feet and 40 feet it was 41'F. The riggers managed three fish. One Rainbow at 6 lbs, one small salmon and one salmon at 20 lbs even on the scale. We had one good fish break the line as well.Spoons on the riggers were Yeck 88 in Green Hornet (black/green/glow) two on it, and the other was Yeck 88 in Blue Dolphin (broke off).

The best producing rod was the Slide Diver Lite bite set 60/60 (60 foot lead behind the diver and 60 feet out to the diver from the rod). It was set on 3. On the Slide Diver set, Michigan Stinger Stingray Coyote spoon caught the biggest of the night at 23 lbs as well as another small rainbow. One shaker chinook and another around 8 lbs. It also had a number of missed fish.

Also caught a 5 lbs chinook on 7 colour using Yeck 88 Micheal Jackson.

Good action for fishing between 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

Lift Bridge-Shell Pier, May 24, 2009

John and I knew fishing was tough, but the weather was perfect and it's about fishing and not catching- right? We ran down to in front of about Appleby Line and set up in 135 FOW. It wasn't long before the sonar was showing big marks on or near the bottom. We were worked marks and approached them at angles and turns and changing up colours and speeds. Use Flasher flies, spoons, whole bait anchovies, dodge fly with nothing. Then with the 107 Walker Deeper diver on a 1 setting and out 360 feet on braid it hits a fish. I drop the wire diver to 350 feet out and it goes off. Double header. Both Lake Trout. When the second fish hit the floor it was the fattest Lake Trout I had ever seen. It was a 12 lbs brute in a 8 lbers frame! Not only that it made a mess all over the floor of the boat and John's leg. Nasty!

The lake Trout took the wind out of our sails so we decided to go for a search. We went out to 220 FOW and set up a shallow program and scanned the area. One rodwas bumped, but that was it. We pulled lines again and started towards Stoney Creek. We trolled from Chipmans west of Fruitland Road and trolled all the way to the Radar tower in Grimsby looking for salmon. There were plenty of Lake Trout to be had throughout the stretch- but we avoided them as best as possible, but still managed to hook two .

Off the water by 1:30 pm.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

Feed The Fry Salmon Tournament, May 18, 2009

Congrads to Steve Fudge, Deryk Hastie, and Chris Vanrooy for a great win. Bronte was the spot to be early and fishing deep.

John Poirier, Brad May, and myself ran down to Grimsby where we slowed and scanned the water column for hope of a picture that would suggest us to slow the boat and start trolling. The picture was empty until finding marks closer to infront of ED Smiths Bubble roughly at McNielly Road Stoney Creek. We set up and it wasn't long before the Wire diver takes a strike, but after a short fight the fish is dropped. Then the rigger rod takes a strike and John cranks in a good sized Lake Trout. Not the species we were after. We took another Lake trout about and hour after on the other downrigger using Michigan Stinger Coyote Stingray 110 on the rigger over 130 FOW.

At 10:30 it was evident that the salmon were not hungry in front of Stoney Creek. We picked up and ran to infront of Bronte and set up in 180 FOW. Wetting up we worked a deep program again with hopes of coming in contact with some salmon. But 45 minutes and a sonar screen that would suggest fish were spread out. Talking to a boat he reassures us that fishing deep is working but bring up the speed to 2.5 mph instead of the slow 2.1- 2.3 mph we have been going at. Without down speed it was tough to make down speed consistent and we finally hooked up on our fist salmon on Walker 124 Deeper Diver Wonderbread on 2 setting out 190 on wire with Wonderbread ProTroll and No-see'um StrongFly. The fish was too small for the 25 inch minimum lenght that was the rule for the tournament.

We were trolling west at the time and noted that we were doing 2.5 mph on the GPS. Working East we tried changing the speed up and down from there to figure out which way the current was going, but the next one came when we turning back towards the west and the free floating slider with Stop'n Glow Michigan Stinger Stingray and the rigger ball down 100 over 145 FOW took the next fish. But it too was just under the 25 inch minimum at 23 1/2 inches! Time was ticking away and we still were without a fish in the box for weighin. Finally we hook up on a fish that was over 25 inches. It took a Dreamweaver Dave's Salmon Slapper down 124 on the rigger over 140 FOW. Not long after that the Magnum Walker Deeper Diver Rod starts ripping out 30 lbs braided line using the 107 black Walker Deeper Diver on 3 setting back 360 feet! White Protroll and Hoover Atommik. not long after John struggled to slide the diver rod out of the holder, the hook pulled free.

Time was spent and we needed 45 minutes to run back to Port Dalhousie. We pulled early and made it back in plenty of time with only one to wiegh in.

It was tough fishing in the tournament with only ten boats bringing in fish out of 35 boats in the field.

The tournament itself was a success as a fundraiser for the Port Dalhousie Pen Imprinting Project with $1,425 going towards the cause. John, Jay, and I plan to make the tournament a annual thing.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

Port Weller to 4 Mile Point, May 15, 2009

With the Friday off and the marine forecast in favour of a nice morning ahead, John, Aidan and I headed out from Port Dalhousie out to in front of Port Weller. We set up in 100 FOW after reading the reports of salmon caught in the King of The Lake Tournament the weekend before were coming from deeps sets. Found a nice temp change that went straight out of Port Weller and we stopped and set up on the warm side (east of the line). We marked fish on bottom so we started to set lines on riggers and run divers on 1 setting and out 220 first and then more as we went.

First rod to go was the wire and it pulled drag and thrashed like a laze king, John helped my four year old soon crank in the fish and he worked the rod and reel like a champ. When the fish hit the net it was clear it was a good size Lake Trout. 16.7 lbs.

Walker Deeper Diver 107 in Blue Dolphin with Blue Killer Protroll and Atommik Tournament Hammer Fly.

After much switching lures and trolling east towards the bar it was evident that the King bite was nearly non-existent. Boats were running the bar taking Lake trout very steadily. We ran up on the bar and it was clear that the Lake trout were hungery when two rods go off on a double and we chank in two more. Michigan Stinger Coyote Stingray, and Yeck 88 in PK Special on the riggers running close to bottom in 80 FOW.

We called it a day at 10:30 am as there were numourous things to take care of for running the Feed the Fry Tournament that was scheduled to run on Saturday may 16th.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

Beamsville Spring Kings, May 3, 2009

Our friend Ed Barbosa was on a weekend trip to Niagara to do some fishing on Erie and then with us on Lake Ontario. Saturday he went out Perch fishing off of Abino and managed 30 good sized perch in 60 FOW just west of Abino. Minnows worked very slow were the ticket.

On Sunday he had a drive from Fort Erie to Grimsby where he joined up with John Poirier and I for a trip out on Lake Ontario. We managed to get on the water at day break as we watched the sun come up over the flat lake. Marine forecast would suggest moderate southwesterlies were to come.

We boated from Foran's Marina down to in front of Bartlett Rd. We set up in 25 FOW and not long after had a good tug on the board line that never released. 3 colour leadcore with a Bomber Long A Michael Jackson. Later we check the line and it was busted off on a clean break through the leader material. First miss.

Then a few minutes later the Spotted Frog Reef Runner on the board on the other side of the boat went off. 75 feet back and the fish was not happy. No big runs, just surface headshakes and rolling in the line, short runs and about a minute in the fight -pop- the line breaks again.

We replace both baits that broke off and went for about 20 minutes before we hit another fish. Blue Killer Protroll with Attomik Hammer Fly behind a 107 Walker Deeper Diver in Blue Dolphin on 3 1/2 setting out 55 feet (that was running at 30 feet as it touched a few times going 2.2 mph) on braid. This was the biggest king we boated for the day estimated at about 16 lbs.

About 30 minutes went by and we hit a double. One on the rigger, Michigan Stinger Coyote Stingray set 100 feet back and 25 ft down over 35 FOW. The other was on a Reef Runner off the boat set 100 feet back in Purple Tiger.

Then there was about two hours without a rod move. we trolled out to 90 FOW and found the screen blank after 50 FOW. There was a hook on bottom in 70 FOW on the way back to the shallows and I dropped the Coyote spoon down there and sure enough a 10 lbs Laker took it.

We got back in tight to see if the late morning bite would turn for the better and it did. We hit another on the Coyote down 20 ft on the rigger back 100 ft. And managed to have Ed hold on to a big screamer on the three colour that found the hook pull free after the reel read almost 500 ft. That was on a Michael Jackson Bomber Long A.

We boxed one more on the Frog Reef Runner and we were off the water at 1:00 pm. It was a nice morning with a little bit of action. Water temp was 48 'F in the Green inside waters and 42'F in the 90 FOW. Our troll seemed to be best around 2.3 mph in the morning and then 2 on the money in the afternoon.

Shane Thombs

Jordon Harbour Spring Salmon, April 26, 2009

Finally my first trip out on the lake for 2009. After a light show of lightening and cracks of thunder, I was concerned that the fish might not be on the bite. Reports were good out of Jordon Harbour, and the King of the Lake tournament was on this weekend and it is tough to say if the fish would cooperate with fishing preasure as well as the weather change.

At 7:30 am John Poirier, my son Aidan and I motored out a short way and then started setting up in 25 fow. It took about 45 minutes for the first rod to fire. Braid Walker Deeper Diver 107 set at three and a half in the new colour Green Dolphin

with ProTroll 8 Yellow Killer with an Atommik TG Hammered Tournament Fly http://www.atommiktrollingflies.com/T142%20Hammer%20TG.jpg . Ten minute fight on a good one and the braid gave up and the whole rig went with the fish.

20 minutes later we were in 35 FOW and managed a triple header. Aidan reeled in the biggest of the day at 16 lbs and the other two were also kings around 10-12 lbs. Reef Runner Deep diver in Spotted Frog on the boards back110 feet.

. That same set up took one more fish and lost the last one of the day when the back split ring retired.Habenaro Dreamweaver on Slide Diver took one set on three and a half with 100 feet back and 80 feet out to the diver.

Also one other fish on a Bomber Long A on a three colour off the boards.

All fish were chinooks from 10-16 lbs and were caught from 35 - 50 fow from in front of Jordon to in front of Vineland. Trolling speed was 2.3 mph. Off the water at 10:30 when the winds pîcked up out of the east.

Get out there and have some fun,

Shane Thombs