I'm getting married next month, so I got my groomsmen together thsi weekend and we rented a salmon Charter on Lake ontario. Some of the guys and I had previously rented charters and were a little weary of doing so again. Our last attempt was very frustraiting as it ended with only 2 fish being caught between the 5 guys, and a host who was less then supportive to a group who was not experienced with trolling. So this time we decided to try a different Charter Company.
I found a brochure for a company called "Fish Finder Charters" and decided to give them a try.....It was the best decision I could have made. The Guide/Owner (Dave) was extremely friendly and easy going, and he took time to show us amatuers the proper way to land these beasts and was quick to make a joke (at our expense) when mistakes were made. All involved had a blast and were so happy with our outcome that we booked next years trip at the launch at the end of the day. The charter had a "fish guarentee" but as you will soon see...we didn't need it
The Day Started at 6am and since we were fishing out of Bowmanville and live in Kingston we decided to make it an all night and not get any sleep..we were on the road at 3am and no the water at 5:30..to wtach the sunrise
aaaah the sun on your face at 6am
Dave asked if we were looking for size or quantitee on fish....when we said "Both" we headed out to a spot known to produce giants.....Not 10 minutes in and we have a monster on the line
This is Brad aka ChowderHead asking our guide Dave how much line he has out after 20 minutes of reeling ...Dave laughed then said 80 yards...the funny part was that the rod was only trolling 50 yards back when the fish hit
The Days First fish was a 30.7lb Salmon...and nearly a 40 minute fight.
Next on the Rods was me...after a 20 minute wait I hooked into a nice Coho and Dave talked me threw it
Fish #2, a nice Coho
I guess I should have excerised more because my arm was trembling after the fish fight, thank god I didnt hook into another 30lber
Here is the Cooler Check..after two fish
Now it was my buddy Matt's turn on the rods. He had never been salmon fishing and was in awe of the days first two fish. He hooked into number 3
Fish #3, the days first rainbow
Next up my buddy Stu, as you can see our guide is by his side as well, he talked us all thru our first fish and made sure we knew what we were doing
Fish #4 is the days 2nd Coho
After we all landed our first fish and it was only 8:30am, it was time to start back at the Top....we started a new rule which was a 2 strike rule, if you lost 2 fish you lost your turn and when to the bottom of the order. It only happened once all day and it was to Chowderhead on his second turn. Next up was me again
As happend most of the day for me, the rod that poped was over a 100 yards out, all I could see wash a splash in the distance as I cursed.
Fish #5, a smaller but nice rainbow (king 1, coho 2, bows 2)
after a turn at the wheel Matty was back on the rod andready to go again
while he's on the rod another one pops but results in a tiny rainbow that we shake off
Dave played net man all afternoon and waits on Matt to pull her in
Fish #6 is another rainbow (king 1, coho 2, bows 3)
ChowderHead is all smiles as he knows it's almost his turn again
The Coho's stage a come back and stuey hooks into a nice eater
Dave preps the net and I can still hear him yell "lift, Lift" as we brought the fish in close to the boat
Fish #7 (king 1, Coho 3, bows 3)
After 7 fish it was time for a cooler check...she is getting full
This post is getting long so I'll try to keep the fight shots down and stick with fish pics
Fish #8 is Chowder with a slim rainbow (king 1, Coho 3, Bows 4)
Fish #9 is me again with yet another long rainbow (king 1, coho 3, bows 5)
Fish #10 was Matty's fish Coho (King 1, Coho 4, bows 5)
I will stop here to tell our days goal....from our past experiences our original goal was 4 fish or one each I should say. After that was hit early on we up'd the goal to 10. That was not accomplished and it was only noon, we still had 4 hours left to fish! Our next goal was obviously our limit which was 17 fish
Back to the action...Matty was back on Captains wheel and Stu back on the rod, one of the dipsy's of to the side
Fish #11, tastey tastey rainbow...(King 1, Coho 4, Bows 6)
ChowderHead takes another turn on the rods and lands what I think was the biggest rianbow...I didnt tell him that thou.
Fish #12, a big Rainbow (King 1, Coho 4, bows 7)
Fish #13 or Lucky 13 was another nice sized rainbow another candidate for largest rainbow
(King 1, Coho 4, Bows
Things then got hectic as double headers started to pop off...ChowderHead got the first rod but Matty was on the wheel and couldnt get number 2, so stu had to step in
Brad landed his first and it was a fat little Coho
Fish #14 Fat Coho (king 1, Coho 5, Bows
Next came stu's fish, here is a pic of Dave swinging it to the boat
Fish #15 ends the Coho double header (King 1, Coho 6, Bows
No rest for the wicked, another double header puts me and matt back on the deck for our chance to end the trip and limit out......
Matt lands his and I lost mine at the boat
Fish #16 back to the rainbows at 25 feet (king 1, Coho 6, Bows 9)
I did get a chance to redeem myseldf and to end the day a few minutes later I got the days last fish.
Fish #17 is rainbow number 10 (King 1, Coho 6, Bows 10)
One last cooler check, and the old boy held up, I though there was not way it would hold that many fish.
So the time is now 3pm and we were able to get our limit in keepers, threw back 3 small fish and lost way more then I would like to admit..but will....close to 20!. We got stronger as the day wore on, but in the ealry portion we lost enough fish that we could have limited out long befor noon..but thats fishing. It was now time to sit back and enjoy the ride to shore as Dave cleaned our catch
At the end of the day it was the rainbows that were the best fishing, and the most fun, they flipped and walked on water and did more then i could imagine. I walked away with the most fish with 5, this was just a numbers game and had little to do with skill, another thing I wouldnt admit to the guys. ChowderHead walked away with the biggest fish, and I beleive a personal best fish at 30.7lbs
He got one last pic with our guide dave before the fish was cleaned
Well if your still with me, i hope you enjoyed the pics and the commentary. I hope you will see more like this since we rebooked with Dave for next year and we are planning a Walleye trip with him this November. Dont worry I will like always share the pics. If your ever in the area Fish Finder charters is the way to go. They have my business thats for sure
