Double Digit Landlocks

After an exhausting attempt yesterday, to find someone willing to fish today, I came up empty. Nobody was willing to take the day off from work and fish, Niche. Big mistake! Fortunate for my wife, but unfortunate for everyone else, she had a couple of days off and took advantage of it. The weather was calling for sunshine and highs of above 60 degrees for today. I knew it would be a great day! Winds were light from the S/SW at 5 to 10 knots and the water temps ranged between 41.5 and 44 degrees depending where you were and what time of the day it was. Once the four rods were finally set out, it didn’t take long for the first reel to fire. Christiane was into a beautiful landlocked salmon that was to be just the first of many more to come. All day long we had action with every rod catching fish. One fish even hit while we were letting line out again! Spectacular jumps and line screaming runs from most of these fish were frequently occurring and we loved it! Christiane went 9 for 9 before she actually lost her first Salmon as I told her that the number 10 was always tough to hit. Another lost fish, one or two missed strikes and still no 10th fish! Finally she locked up on what seemed like a huge fish and it fought like a lake trout sounding for the bottom. Several minutes passed and we had still not seen the fish. When I eventually caught a glimpse of this thing, I was sure it was a big trout! Unfortunately as it came up more into my sight, I realized it wasn’t any trout but just a northern pike of 5 to 6 pounds. What a disappointing moment when I netted this thing and unhooked it. I don’t know how it didn’t break off as the bait was completely inside the mouth of this toothy creature. Oh well, still no number 10 yet! This was about to change though, as another fish screamed off reel number 4. This was definitely a salmon as it made an unbelievable aerial show for all to see! Number 10 and number 11 were almost back-to-back as another reel fired within minutes. This one also came to net and was released immediately afterwards. We continued to troll for about 20 minutes longer and contemplated packing it in for the day when one of the rods fired off again. When Christiane grabbed the fly rod from the holder, another reel screamed and I had to take the rod. This was our first actual double for the day and both fish were to soon be landed. Thirteen Landlocked Salmon landed, 4 or 5 lost and several missed strikes were today’s total. A potentially 20 plus fish day was what we were blessed with today! All I can say is wow! What a great day to be on the water! Expect more of the same in the next few weeks with the water warming up and the fish getting more active. Everyone should take advantage of this spectacular Ouananiche fishing, as it really is unbelievable!