Fish-Hawk.Net

I met my buddy Phil about 10 years ago through this site. Little did we know that our first trip to the Bay of Quinte one December day (That was a disaster by the way) would turn into what would become a life long friendship.

Phil has become a part of our family over the years, the kids still call him Uncle Phil and our boy Sinker runs to the window every time he sees his truck pull into the laneway. It was a no brainer to have him stand up for me at our wedding in 2011.

When I took the job working for Frito Lay in the spring of 2011 a few things changed. 99% of it was positive. The downside of it was my schedule changed. What was a given every weekend that Phil and I would fish now wasn’t possible due to my schedule. It’s been tough to get used to. We still fish a bunch together but it’s tricky to make it happen at times.

When I got word Phil had taken a weeks holidays (which is unheard of) I cleared a few days of my schedule and refused to book anything. We put plans in the works. Local trips? Go away for a few days to do something different? We decided on Lake Ontario for a couple of days on the Salmon Hunt.

We trailered the Lund down late in the afternoon and immediately skipped out onto the lake to try to put the pieces together for the next day. We did so quite quickly and we excited for what the next day would bring us.

When this is the first bite you get after 20 minutes of trolling it gets the heart pumping…



We whooped em good...including this double header. We did have a triple as well but that didn't have the same results.. What a gong show.



We took the BBQ out in the Lund to save us running to shore for a bite to eat or to have to endure a crappy sandwich. This was mint.



We were interrupted while eating lunch...



Big steelhead around too...



More pics and some details on our day are here: http://www.rjnbirdeesoutdooradventures.ca/?p=1265

With the sun setting we banged off a few more and headed for shore with sore shoulders, big smiles and a great feeling of spending some time with a good buddy. Good stuff!

RJ

BEAUTY fish, RJ!

This post, and the one last week from Wellington, are making me miss my days out downrigging, might have to get back into that.

Doug

Wow, great fishing for you two, way to go boys!

Them be big fish!!!! What did you use for bait? one of the mystery flavors of Doritos

Is that out of the Bay of Quinte RJ? How far offshore do you have to run to get into the Salmon and Trout? Are they within reach in a big 16 footer on reasonable days?

Fishing with old friends always makes it great. and to have success like you had, only makes it sweeter.

Great little story RJ, even better fish!

Wow

Bet there were a couple guys who couldn't lift their arms the next day.

Some serious spoon pullin' RJ! Nice fish.

Man those things get big and plentiful when there are no Ocean predators (Orcas, seals, sea lions, sharks, commercial fisherman) to mess with their growth or numbers. My Dad and I fished for 7 years near Comox, BC and never landed a Chinook over 14lbs or a Coho over 9.5lbs.

Those things are STUPID BIG!

Nice shootin' Tex!

Good to see you teaming up with The Philistine!

Craig

NMG wrote:Is that out of the Bay of Quinte RJ? How far offshore do you have to run to get into the Salmon and Trout? Are they within reach in a big 16 footer on reasonable days?

Absolutely they are! We launched out of Port Hope. We fished as far East as Cobourg. It's about a 7 or 8 mile run to where we fished.

Good Luck, it's as good as I've ever experienced out there!

RJ

I used to see twelve and fourteen foot tinnies miles out on Lake Ontario when I fished there a lot. Including one day off Bluffer's Park, six foot swells at the breakwater, about twelve foot swells out were the fish were, probably six or seven miles offshore. That was the day I discovered that my two best fishing buddies BOTH got seasick in heavy water. And when we were out there, before giving it up as a lost cause, we saw a guy we knew from Owen Sound, out alone in his fourteen foot tinnie. He DID smoke a lot of dope, mind you........

A beamy sixteen footer with enough motor AND A SKILLED SKIPPER can take pretty much any weather that any reasonable person would launch into. Keep an ear on the radio and scoot for shore if things turn nasty. Oh yes, and practice HOW a fish is going to be played, by whom, and so on. Once a twenty pound plus king is tearing line off the reel is NOT the time to be figuring out who brings up the rigger(s) and other line(s), whether the net is within reach and about a dozen other little important details.

Doug

Awesome, thanks for the info guys! I've been dying to get my downriggers out and my trout/salmon fix in so I think I'll have to make a trip down that way. No way I'd venture out there in a 12 footer. I used to see guys out in the middle of the big lakes in BC with their 12 footers and 9.9's and I would just shake my head. When the wind would pick up it could go from glass to 4 footers in about 10 minutes and these guys would be in serious trouble. I definitely respect the water and I'm sure my boat would handle more than I'd be comfortable being out in.

Wow that first one is enormous!!