I met my buddy Phil about 10 years ago through our local message board Fish-Hawk.net. 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 picked away at them that night and found an area holding some bait and in turn, FISH.
We setup camp and fried up some hot dogs while chatting with a few other fisherman. Early to bed as we are early to rise.
Alarm went off at 4 AM, pulling out of port by 4:20. Our morning started a little slower than we hoped but we spent the day plugging away at them.
Water temps are a little warmer than I’m used to being out there in, so the Salmon are a bit deeper than I’m accustomed to, a few adjustments and rods were firing.
Some of the highlights….
The result of a fun double header…
The Rainbows are active too, even a bonus Coho.
We were very careful with the Rainbows, very delicate fish in the warmer water. We had no real plans to keep a pile of fish so getting them unhooked and back in quick was always a priority.
Lunch time came and we had a plan, rather than running back into port for lunch or eating some dry sandwich we brought out the portable BBQ. It worked great and I swear food taste better on the water!
With bellies full, the fish showed back up for us….
In our time on the water we took 30 shots, landing 19 of them. Most action came off Spin Doctors and flies off the riggers as well as the wire divers were rockin’. Color didn’t seem to matter as every color we put down fired. Get it at the depth the fish are at and get ready!
Exhausted, satisfied and grinning ear to ear we headed for shore, ending just another great trip. Missing out on these routine trips with my buddy has been tough but when we put em together and whack the fish it is just that much sweeter!
