Road Trip for Kings

Norm & Jean accompanied me on a road trip to the big O for a couple of days of phenomenal salmon fishing this morning. We departed at midnight and hit the water by 5 o’clock with high expectations for some silver beasts, but never expected what was about to come. I had planned this trip around the weather and hoped that Mother Nature wouldn’t change the forecast. We were greeted with almost no wind and mid 70 degree temps upon arrival but it would soon climb into the 90 by days end. Water temps were 67.5 degrees when we set the lines and barely a ripple was seen. I believe the wire line was the first to go off and Jean was into his first salmon ever. It was a good starter fish and a beautiful king of nearly 20 pounds. A few quick picks and a release back to the lake it went. Norm was up next and he was soon into a really nice steelhead that topped the scales at over 12 pounds. We had the makings of a multi species day even here on Lake Ontario and I couldn’t wait to see what was next to come. Well it didn’t take too long before we were landing another salmon but this time it was a great Coho in the mid teens and a third species to boot. One more king and even a nice brown trout had us completing the grand slam and we were thrilled to have accomplished this on the big pond. The area we were in didn’t seem to be producing the numbers that I was use to seeing and the spiny sea fleas were a real problem. Most of the lines were gathering big amounts of fleas, so I decided to take out and relocate to another section of the lake. Let’s just say that this was one of my best moves in a long time! Although it took a little while to zone in on the fish, I finally found the right depth and it was “Game On”! We were having constant action now and the reels were going off like crazy. Down riggers were popping, wire lines were screaming and both Jean and Norm were complaining. It seemed that the fish were just tearing them up and they didn’t have much time to rest in between. My heart bled for them too! I know at least a dozen people that would have traded places with either one of them to be in as much pain. It was like watching a comedy routine when each of them were fighting fish as lines were pulled in order to free up at least one of the sides allowing the fight to be free of tangles. Kings, cohos and steelhead were coming aboard regularly and the numbers were climbing. At one point, Norm spent at least 10 minutes battling a high 20’s king on the wire only to be laughed at by Jean when it was in the net. Apparently he was spent and his arms were burning too! Before we could release the fish the other wire rod fired and it was Jean’s turn to be laughed at. Same thing, different person! Lots of laughs and plenty of fish provided us with excitement for the remainder of the day and when it was all said and done, there must have been 35 fish landed. Just insane fishing for the first of two days on the big “O” !!! Day two started out after only about 5 hours of sleep but who could blame us after the first day. We started in the same areas and were soon fighting fish once again. Kings, cohos and steelhead again were coming in and the battles were once more a laughing experience. It seemed that neither of them wanted to take the wire rods and hoped the riggers would pop when it was their turn. Too bad because the largest fish once again came from the dipsy rods and wire lines and the pain continued. Although it wasn’t as fast & furious as yesterday, it was still satisfying to pound on these silver bullets once again. I think we lost more fish today in a half day than we had lost in an entire day yesterday. For some reason they were biting off or just getting off the lines entirely. By the time we pulled the lines around 12:30 there were over 15 fish landed but at least that many lost too. In just a day and a half 50 silver beasts managed to find their way into the boat and all were released to fight another day. We hadn’t taken too many pics as we wanted to get the fish back as soon as possible without harm. The shots we did take however were definitely worth a thousand words! Both Norm & Jean can’t wait to get back and I think it’ll bee happening real soon. You gotta love the big water silvers!!!