Kings on Queen Victoria Day, May 24, 2010

One week after John Poirier has his operation, he is hard to keep at home any longer then one week out of the Hospital. Monday May 24 th Victoria Day was a glorious day on Lake Ontario . Light winds but mostly no wind kept the lake as flat as a pancake and the heat wave of temperature on land was moderated to a comfortable temperature out on the water. We had guests Joe and Mike with us to try spring salmon fishing for the first time.

6:00 am we departed from Port Weller’s St Catharine’s Marina and headed out to the Niagara Bar’s ledge at Four Mile Point. We stayed close to shore to see if the alewife were still in shallow and to much of our surprise they were still think inside 40 FOW. Surface temperatures were consistent around 56’F. We angled out to the drop off on the Niagara bar but continued to scan for bait. Balls of bait were numerous all the way out and we decided to drop down off plan in 60 FOW just as the ledge showed on the screen. Right away the picture on the graph looked promising.

We set two rods stacked on one rigger 60 ft down we ran a reg. sized Dreamweaver’s Dave’s Salmon Slapper 60 ft back and the top rod running 40 feet down and 50 feet back with NK 28 Orange crush. I set the other rigger with a Spin Doctor Mountain Dew with a Atommik Tournament Big Fin (B-Fly) and had it back 10 feet and down 100. I went to set the first diver rod and was stopped when the rigger fired with the Dave’s Salmon Slapper taking a coho at 4 lbs.

Almost got all eight rods in when the slide diver set 60 feet back and 120 feet out on a 5 setting with a Glow Frog Yeck 88 finds a 9 lbs Rainbow all over the surface.

Wire diver using a Black 124 Walker Deeper Diver on 1 ½ setting and out 400 ft pulling a Black/double crushed glow green dot Spin Doctor and MC Rocket #69 with Green dots in a Clear Rhys Davis Cutbait Head, takes a head shaking thrashing that was evident even 400 feet behind the boat. Before the assumed big king had a chance to turn and make it’s run the hooks pulled out. Time to target deep kings as well.

The Orange crush on the stacker clip on the higher set rigger goes off and short into the fight the fish comes off.

On the other side of he boat we set on braid a Kelly Green Tiger 124 Walker Deeper Diver on 1 ½ setting and out 380 ft with a Spin Doctor in White with Crushed glow tape and Mountain Dew Tape on either side and pulling a MC Rocket plain #69. Sliding snell rig with a leader length of 60” of 30 lbs test Seagar and set with the bend in the rocket to roll at just a little faster then 1 revolution per second. The down speed was consistent at 2.0 mph and temp was around 40’F to 42’F. After about a half an hour after it was set, the diver rod gets hit. 12 lb Chinook comes to the boat. One hour later the same set takes a 13 lbs Chinook.

Slide Diver with the glow frog Yeck 88 set 60/120 went off a short time later and the fish comes un-pinned in the middle of it coming to the boat.

Full Core with four ounces of lead snap weight was used at the leader end to maximize depth and then clipped on an inline board and set 100 feet out to the side of the boat. The board gets heavy and very slowly pulls back. A small Chinook of about 3 lbs comes on a NK 28 Green/Black/silver.

Fish were taking minnows close to the surface and it was decided to try a Baby Red Spin Doctor with a small Howie Fly in white. Two ounces of lead snap weight set 50 feet from the flasher and then let out another 50 feet and clipped to the board. The board was set out about 50 feet out to the side of the boat inside the Fullcore board mentioned above. 10 minutes later the board is jerked back and a rainbow at four pounds is all over the surface behind the board. Boated and in the box it goes.

At the end of the trip at 12:30 pm We began pulling rods when the Slide diver takes another shot, but the hooks pulled out again and that fish was left to grow bigger.

Final count was 6 for 9 (one coho, one small shaker Chinook, 2 Rainbows, and 2 three year old low teen Chinooks) All three Chinooks had the adipose fin clipped.

Many of the boats struggled and the deep pattern was a slow bite for those that were looking for a derby winner.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

Feed The Fry Salmon Tournament, May 14-16, 2010

The second annual Feed the Fry Tournament was scheduled to run on May 15th, but with the chance of wind from the Northwest it was decided to go on Sunday May 16th. http://www.straitlineanglers.com/Feed_The_Fry/Feed_The_Fry_tournament.htm

On the Friday May 14th, Perry Poirier went out of Jordon in his boat. we started in 70 FOW in front of the harbour and worked our way out and to the East. For the majority of the morning the sonar showed no fish or baitfish until we reached 130 FOW. Then the odd mark of fish in thedeeper parts of teh water columnand small schools of bait. It wasn't until we reached 200-230 FOW that the picture appeared more promising.

With only a slight ripple on the water and the fog disipated we could see a slick that pointed out a surface temperature break. It was colder water inside (shoreline side)of the slick and warmer outside, as well the water was off coloured where it was a few degrees warmer. The bait was on the colder side and fish were now being marked in the top 50 feet as well as a deep of bait and marks in below 150 feet in 200 FOW. We set for the upper water column, but only managed a single strike on a wire diver flasher Fly on 3 setting out 110 ft.

In preparations for the tournament and the call to reschedule it for the Sunday, I was on the phone for three hours straight talking to the registered captains and notifying the tournament information. In conversation with some, I come to find out the bite had began at the Niagara Bar. No other information on depths or tactics, but it was a good starting point.

Our good friend Ed Barbosa was down from Meaford, Ontario for the weekend to fish with us int he tournament and also one day on the lake. I checked the marine forecast and sure enough the winds would be bad int eh afternoon, but tolerable in the morning. So we made plans to launch from Port Weller and head out to the drop on the outer Niagara Bar.

The moring was overcast and a three foot chop out of the Northwest. I took our time motoring out and set up in 100 feet of water. We set up for our typical above 100 ft sets and concentrated in the top 50 feet. We started trolling and every boat we passed was hooked up and we didn't move a stick with a "TYPICAL" up high rigger, Leadcore and diver sets. It was about 9:00 when we figured out that we needed to go deep- REALLY DEEP to catch those fish.

I put an MC Rocket Blueberry Muffinbehind a Black Double Crushed Glow Green Dot Spin Doctorputting it down 120 feet. It fires not five minutes later.

So I send the other rigger down even deeper at 142 ft using a Mountain Dew SpinDoctor and Hammer Fly and while we just net the first fish that newly set deep rod fires. Now we are saying "we figured this out", If that's not the most wrong thing to say, I don't know what is.

Next move was to set the big 107 and 124 Walker Deeper Divers down a little deeper as well. Sending them out on a 1 1/2 setting out 300 and 325 feet using Flasher/Fly and Flasher/MC Rocket. The MC Rocket # 69 was behing a ProTroll Green Dot behind a 124 black Walker Deeper diver and it took a crushing blow that snapped the rocket clean off. The other diver on braid managed a fish during a doubleheader at 12:00 pm where it was set on a 3 setting and out 200 ft.

We also managed a small rainbow on a Fullcore and a coho on five colour in the early part of the morning. Using spoons. 5 colour had a Northport Nailer Watermelon II but also with a glow Ladderback tape on the face.and the Fullcore had a Dreamweaver Reg. Dave's Salmon Slapper.

The core were set down the chute and had a number of short strikes.

Ended the morning at 12:30 after our last double header. Only managed 5 of 10 hook ups in the boat. The fish we lost were quality fish. This provided us a starting point for tournament morning.

Now, like I said, it was the kiss of death to say "we figured this out" and come tournament day our spot dried up and the three fish we had on, didn't come to the boat. We worked it hard but the picture on the graph didn't look anywhere close to it's picture onSaturday. The water also had gotten colder down in the depths where yesterday we had 42 degrees down 140 we had 40 down that same depth on Sunday.

At 11:00 am we made a last ditch effort andtried our spot we found on Friday but the water had changed and the blue clear water had moved in to that area and we couldn't find that green water patch.

After weighin we later found out the fish had moved down the ledge to the Canada/NY fence. Same patterns would have worked.

In the tournament a number of bigfishwere at the scales including a 27.44 lbs pig. Here are the details of the tournamentboth pictures and results.

http://www.straitlineanglers.com/Feed_The_Fry/2010_Feed_The_Fry_tournament_pictures.htm

results...

http://www.straitlineanglers.com/Feed_The_Fry/2010_Feed_The_Fry_Tournament_Results.htm

The tournament raised $1990 for the Port Dalhousie Pen Imprinting Project. 45 boats and 21 caught fish. The top 11teams caught three fish.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

Bronte and Stoney Creek, May 7, 2010

This spring has been a tough one. Winds are still an issue and the baitfish are thick as thieves in tight to shore and no where else - up until now.

John, Brian and I launched from Grimsby and boated over to Bronte. Water temps started at 49'f and at Bronte was 45'F. We started fishing in 150 FOW and started marking bait on the bottom in clumps and the odd fish ranging from less than 40 feet down to the bottom. The majority were on the bottom. But we harked great big bait fish schools directly in front of Bronte out over 160 FOW. Reports from other boats that the water temps dropped west of Shell Pier to 42'f, we stayed East of that and found the better picture in front of Bronte instead of East of Bronte.

Talked to a number of boats and they were all struggling with us. We finally hit a fish on wire diver Walker Deeper diver out 300 ft set on 1 1/2 Glow Frog with a green dotted Glow ProTroll with a Dalmation MC Rocket in a clear head. Down speed was 2.0 mph. Wire had a loop - broke off the works.

Just as we were pulling lines the wire diver went off again but the fish was off before getting to the rod. Black 107 diver on 1 1/2 setting and out 180 feet pulling a Sea Sick Waddler SpinDoctor with a No-See-Um fly.

We pulled lines and headed to Stoney Creek and set up infront of Chipmans in 150 FOW and trolled into about 100 FOW. 130 FOW had more fish on the gragh, but no bait to be found. Water temp was 46'F on surface. Again,most fish marked on the bottom but some in the top 40 feet and at mid depths (60-80 feet down).

We managed a short and fat Rainbow on braid diver Walker Deeper Diver 107 out 270 on 1 1/2 setting pulling a Blue Killer Protroll and a UV Blue Atommik Tournament Fly.

We fished Stoney Creek for about one hour and then had to get off the water for 1:00 pm.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

SLA Bay of Quinte Trip, November 13-15, 2009

Friday 13th

The weekend started with preparations Thursday Morning. John and I rigged up 9 trolling rods, two jigging rods and put together a reduced version of a complete tackle box that included all the tools needed for both trolling and jigging.

Friday morning was 4:00 am we departure and was on route to pick up our third guy in the boat, Bruno. Bruno lives in Toronto and required a short jog off the 401. Bruno just got home from a business trip from Vancouver , and was short on sleep and a little jet legged. We stopped for breakfast at 6:30 am at the Stop 50 in Bowmanville where we welcomed the group of 18 Strait Line Anglers, squared up with tournament details and moneys and then the convoy of trucks and boats were on their way to Picton.

Our destination, Merlin Park , where we put our stuff in our respective cottages and then pushed off for the start of our morning jigging tournament. 7 boats participated, $10 each, Return time 1:00 pm and it included a total weight per boat of four walleye needing to measure under 24.8”.

8:30 am we were traveling Picton Bay on the water and boated over to Thompson’s Point and parked our selves in the middle of roughly 20 other boats. Boats all around reported slow, and after nearly 2 hours we were without a fish. Jigging spoons working slowly wasn’t working, Gulp Minnow on Jigheads were getting taps but not managing walleye bites. The sonar graph was showing a ton of fish. Everywhere from 10 feet down to the bottom in 40 FOW.

Then I reached into my jigging spoon box and pulled out what I thought might be better for tight lipped walleye on a slow drift. I have seen it work at Quinte through the ice, why not try it while the drift is slow. A light spoon silver/gold half and half. A small (2”) Williams Ice Jig. Looks like a Williams Whitefish rigged backwards and with additional hooks on the side of the spoon.
.

I would pitch it out leaving slack line to drop straight down. Patience- it’s a light spoon. First cast the spoon didn’t get to the bottom. But it was a white Perch. Second pitch and three snap jigs and it loaded up with the first walleye. 2 lbs or so. After that the spoon started getting consistent fish and before you knew it a look at the GPS time and it was 12:45pm we had 7 fish in the box – all small. The other 6 boats in the jigging tournament were without four fish or too small to weigh, so it was between us and Jimmy Rodney and his crew to weighin. Jimmy weighed in at 6.55 lbs with his four. We weighed in and it was 6.45 lbs. It was that close!

We had lunch and then transferred all the trolling gear to the boat for an afternoon of trolling. Setting up 3 miles East of the Lighthouse on Adulphous Reach we set four inline boards and two Slide diver set-ups. Outside boards pulled 200 ft of line with Manns Stretch 20’s and Reef Runner 800’s (deep diver). Inside boards pulling 3 colours and 200 on the reel with Reef Runner and Dr Death Mann's Stretch 30. Port Slide Diver started with a Reef Runner 900 (shallow runner, but large saltwater size) in Eriedecent 100 ft back and 40 ft out on the 4 setting. And the other a shallow stick bait a Renowsky in Purple/silver.

10 minutes after set-up the slide Diver on with the Reef Runner 900 takes a crushing blow that bent the rod over yanked some drag and when the rod came out of the rod holder the fish and bait pulled out of the snap. I must of forgot to close the snap, ooppps.

30 minutes later the outside board pulls back with Black/silver Mann’s Stretch 20 and Bruno was on it. He slowly cranked in the board and as soon as the board was being pulled off the line, the fish thrashes and the line goes limp. MAN! Line broke. 0-2! Good thing I got another one.

It’s 4:00 pm and the sun is low in the sky, when the three colour with Dr Death Mann’s Stretch 20 on the inside board, pulls back. Bruno was on this one again and we managed to boat this one. 9.3 lbs

Not long after, the outside board rod goes heavy and John gets on the rod. Black/Silver Mann’s Stretch 20 200 feet back takes another. This one was the largest of the weekend at 9.5 lbs, which is a modest fish for Bay of Quinte standards.

After 4:30 pm the rods went quiet until we pulled lines at 5:30 pm in the dark. Nice weather all day with blue skies and no wind.

Saturday Trolling Tournament Day Nov 14

9 boats were registered in the tournament where the target was for each boat to manage 2 walleye over the 24.8” and one under. It’s a game of strategy, where trolling usually manages bigger fish and jigging produces much smaller fish. Fishing was between 7:00 am to 5:00 pm and most boats left well after 7:00 am simply because the sun was covered by cloud and it appeared later. Again the winds were light, but a chop out of the northeast.

With our results from Friday eve, we had a starting place for the morning and we set-up up wind and trolled with the chop on our stern. The results from yesterday helped determine a few baits to run and we concentrated on high percentage set-ups to begin. Three high lines with two running 200 ft behind boards, on running 180 ft behind the boat. 10 minutes after setting up Black and Silver Fingerling on the outside boat back 200 pulls back with a fish. Bruno manages to bring in the board and then the rod started to show the signs of a quality fish with headshakes that jolted the rod violently. Then the line caught the line on the inside board, after thinking the fish passed it. 0-1 already.

20 minutes later the same board with the Black/Silver Fingerling pulls back again. This time I get on the rod and manage to bring the first fish on board. It was just under the 24 ½ “, OK we said, we got the one under taken care of and now if we can keep the ball rolling we should manage two over. Well that feeling slowly withered when the hours went by and the constant changes didn’t turn a strike (other than a Sheephead) for over 8 hours.

Then at 3:30 pm we set our troll down wind over our trolling path from Friday eve at the same time. It worked, Black and silver Mann’s Stretch 20 back 180 ft behind the board manages our second fish. It weighs 9.1 lbs on the scale.

Instead of trolling up wind we pull everything and try one last troll through the area with a spread of Black/Silver on 4 of the 6 rods. Also all lines were set to run high and out on the boards hoping for one last big bite. But it wasn’t to be. 5:00pm and the lines had to come in.

The results of the Tournament would show Joe Williamson with two quality Quinte walleyes. One at 13 ½ lbs and another at 11 lbs! They also had a third fish that went 9.9 lbs but couldn’t weigh it in as the third fish since it was over 24.8”.

Our boat managed second place and Darryl Day/Sandman/Steve managed third, but boated seven walleye all of which were under the 24.8” mark!

Sunday Nov 15 Morning fish before going home.

After packing up the cottage we headed out and was faced with a thick fog. Using GPS we motored to Thompson’s Point and began fishing. It was hard to get oriented in the fog, but when we found the right depth when talking to other boats in the fog, we starting finding fish. But all too often the fish were coming up snagged on our jigging spoons and needed to be turned back to the lake. It was silly after fowl hooking 4 of the first 5 walleye and it was about 9:30 when Gary and Kevin Hampson’s boat appeared beside us in the fog. Gary was hitting fish steady and they were catching them all in the mouth. So it was time to change up.

Gary said Swedish Pimple, I went in my jigging spoon box and pulled out my one and only Swedish Pimple in Silver/Green.

It took three jigs off the bottom and it took a walleye to open up. After that the fish came in regularly, but mostly too small to keep. At 11:00 am we called it quits.

The ride back home was a smooth drive. Big thanks to John for bringing the boat and to Bruno for the funny digs all weekend.

Shane Thombs
www.FINtasticSportfishing.com

Fort Erie Bass, August 30, 2009

The wind blows! The weekend was all about wind. Lake Ontario and Lake Erie is out of the picture to fish Salmon or Walleye respectively. So “If you’re given lemons, Make Lemonade!” So John, Brad and I took the riggers off the boat and loaded up our bass rods and headed for Fort Erie . On the water by 7:00 and discover that yesterdays blow loaded up the Niagara river with water visibility of about 2 feet. We launched from Nickels ramp and made our way out towards Lake Erie and out along side of Rosey’s Reef. The water was dirty throughout the ride out. And the winds from yesterday put a roll on the big lake that made for a rock-n-roll ride.

Setting up in 17 ft and drifted from it to 30 ft and into the mouth of the river. It didn’t take long and we started to pick away at them. Mostly smaller Smallmouth Bass in the 1 to 3 lbs range all day. The rollers on the lake were coming in from the Southwest and the winds for the day were coming out of the Northwest. The drift was quick so we started with heavy weights. 5/8 oz, and ¾ oz tube jig heads and 1 oz drop shot weights to maintain contact and a steep angle presentation.

Baits for bites included a few on green tubes, and a few on Poor Boy Erie Darters in Green. John managed the biggest bas at 4 lbs even on the scale. But the majority of the bites came on dark colours (black). And get this- “twister tails!” On drop shot black Yum twister tails were getting bits. Also black tubes tipped with black Yum twister tails managed a good number of fish. A green twister tail jig also managed a few near the end of the trip.

Kim Poirier, Roy Young and Darrel Day were also out and managed three walleye fishing the same area while fishing for bass. Also the water did get clearer as the day went on and it was about three ft visibility by the end of our day at 1:00 pm.

The wind blew and we couldn’t get out for walleye on Erie like we had planned, but we did manage to get out on the water and make the best of it

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

Grimsby and Blue Zone Salmon/Rainbow, August 23, 2009

It has been almost two weeks since our last time out on Lake Ontario , and reports were dismal to say the least. None-the-less we needed to discover it for ourselves. We had a late start leaving the dock at 10:30 am and setting up in 80 FOW directly in front of Grimsby at 11:00 am . We would mark a good number of fish on bottom and we ran a number of baits near bottom to try to turn a strike with no avail. It was 39- 41’F water on the bottom and the thermolcline was between 50 and 60 ft. We trolled out to about 140 FOW and the sonar screen went blank for most of the way. At noon we decided to run out to the Blue Zone and not long after going under power we marked a school of bait in 240 FOW. So we set up again and marked the odd fish, but again- no takers. So we made one last ditch effort at around 1:30 to find fish out in the Blue Zone and salvage the day

Out to 305 and inline with Oakville , we set up and immediately marked good bait and some fish. Get four rods in the waterat 2:00 pm and the first rigger rod goes off. 40 feet down and 50 ft lead with Lemon Drop Warrior Mag. Rainbow. My 4 year old son reels the fish in. Set it up and minutes later I see it bump, but no release or shakes, then a minute later it gets a strike and releases and another rainbow shoots out of the water behind the boat on the slider. Aidan reels the fish in closer to the boat only to find that a tiny salmon took the spoon on the main line and pulled in this rainbow on the slider. Two fish on one rod!

The Lemon Drop Warrior Mag was getting regular shots of rainbows and then one nice Coho guessing around 15 lbs comes airborne behind the boat then charges the boat and goes under the rigger cable and then out of the water again. The speed!!! We run the rigger rod around the cable and thought we would have broken this guy off, but we wrestle with the line around the rigger and the other line meanwhile the coho is in the air over and over again. Finally get the line cleared from the other rigger and the fish finally came off. But we didn’t break off! So we strip the line off the reel that got chewed and retied on the Lemon Drop Warrior to get back to business.

We pull the other rigger rod that was running meat down out of temperature for a king and changed it up to a Yeck 88 King Thing and down 45 ft. It managed a fish not long after.

The wire diver had a good crack, but no one was home when I got the rod up and out of the rod holder. It did catch another rainbow near the end of the trip at 4:00 pm when we managed a triple header. The Wire had a 107 Walker Deeper Diver Green Dolphin on 3 setting and out 110 ft using a Glow/Mountain Dew SpinDoctor and an Adrenalin Atommik Tournament fly.

7 colour leadcore and slide diver didn’t get a single strike.

A slow start in tight and then Good action out in the Blue Zone turned things around for us.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com

SLA Lake Erie Walleye Tournament August 16, 2009

John and I ran the first ever SLA Lake Erie Walleye Tournament on Sunday August 16 th . The weather the previous Sunday was not in our favour but the 16 th was much improved with clear skies and light winds

John or I haven’t been fishing Erie Walleye since last summer, so we were fishing this tournament blind!

We registered 14 boats in total. Of the 14, 7 caught fish. http://www.straitlineanglers.com/SLA_LakeErie_Walleye/2009_SLA_LakeErie_Walleye_Tournament_Results.htm And only three boats came in with a full box of four fish for the tournament. Dave Viles, a fellow Strait Line Angler, won the tournament with 28.55 lbs. He managed 10 for 12 walleyes and was clued into the Full core and large Divers close to bottom in 72-80 FOW.

For us, I will call the day of fishing on our boat good in the middle with a set of ugly bookends on either side. The morning registration, boats were arriving at the last minute. So where we posted that registration was to end at 5:45am we got caught up finalizing at 5:55 am instead. We got in the boat and motored down the river and John says, “I forgot my Sun glasses”. So we call on the VHF for someone else to blast off the tournament, but there was no answer.

We turn back to the marina and I run out to the truck to get Johns glasses. Two other boats were looking to get in the tournament- but they were turned away.

We start on our way back down the river and the fog got so thick we couldn’t see 50 ft in front of us. John try’s to navigate by his GPS and ends up running up in the mud and we make our way slowly out to the lake. We get out to the lake and there was no more fog. There also wasn’t a tournament boat in sight and the wakes from the tournament boats had already dispersed. We are really behind the 8 ball here!

We decide to head to our old waypoints from last summer and we were pleasantly surprised to find the Sonar screen looked good. We set up and worked the rods up and down , tried different baits and we were without a fish for an hour ½. Then the Metallic Purple 107 Walker Deeper Diver on 3 setting and out 200 ft with a Blue Berry Muffin Yeck and metallic Purple blades on a warm harness happens to start pulling drag (drags set loose). Slow steady retrieve and the fish comes to the net. It’s a 7 ½ lbs walleye. Nice.

We take a few Yellow Perch, a few sheepshead and a white perch throughout the day as well. All of which were treated as if they could have been a walleye playing possum.

Another hour goes by and we hit a Walleye on a Monkey Puke and Purple Puke bladed harness on a Full core straight out the back of the boat. This one was less then 3 lbs.

The second pass through the same area of the first fish was caught we discovered that it was adjacent to a marker buoy set at a ship wreck. We mark that in the GPS for future reference.

Knowing our pattern was fishing bottom now, we figure the wreck must have a few walleye close by. So we make another pass and as I was letting out another 107 Metallic Purple Walker Deeper Diver with Gold and a Purple/White/Black worm harness. The dial read 215 where I engaged the reel and noticed the rod started jerking. I pick up the rod and immediately locked up on a heavy fish. Regular headshakes were enough to stop your heart with hopes that it wouldn’t rip out the hooks. The fish comes to the net and it’s another quality walleye. We put it on the scales and it comes up just shy of 8 lbs. Now we got three.

Another 15 minutes goes by and the other full core straight out the back of the boat gets bit. John brings it in and it was the smallest fish of the day, but at least it was four for the scales. Four bites and four fish to the boat.

Now here’s the other ugly bookend to the day. We bring in all the rods and go to tilt the kicker motor and discover that the pins that slide inside the trim and tilt track, have broken off. So John and I decided to pull the motor right inside the boat. The 9.9 hp Hondo long shaft is a heavy bugger and we lay it down on the floor of the boat. The Time is getting close and the chop on the lake has made sure we couldn’t go full throttle. We managed to get in with 6 minutes to spar.

We came in with 22.95 lbs with our biggest coming in at 7.90 lbs.

Shane Thombs
www.fintasticsportfishing.com