Two-Fish Trip

[Pete Collin]

Hello All,

Imagine if you could talk to yourself as a kid.  Ask your child-self how you would describe a day where you caught a 10 pound fish.  For most of us, the response would be something like "THE BEST DAY EVER!!!"  I always think of that when things are slow on Lake Ontario.  My motto is, you are always one 10 pound fish away from having a great day.  

After a week of unsettled weather, and a big full moon last night, I wondered how good the laker jigging would be today.  Wanting to try something new, I spent the night at Ron Bierstine's "garage lodge" so I wouldn't have to get up so early to drive an hour and a half to thelaunch.  It was nice hanging out with Ron, getting caught up.  But the best laid plans - I woke up at 3:45 AM anyway because I was so excited to fish.  

There were plenty of marks down there - much deeper than last week, but following a consistent contour.  And the wind and waves were great for a small boat.  The marks weren't moving towards my jig very often.  All I could do was stick it out and hope things changed.  First bite came at 8:30.  Nice heavy head-shaker and netted up a thirty inch laker.  A ten pounder showed up to make my day suddenly awesome.  An hour later, a second heavy fish tapped.  At the hookset, I knew I would be busy for a while.  Sometimes you feel their weight right when you tighten up.  That one became a 32 incher after a long heave and crank.  Plenty of marks on the graph for the rest of the morning, but no more strikes.

But the day had one last highlight.  The lake turned totally flat calm.  I was able to see my Hopkins spoon coming up from down deep.  On one drop, I "saw some color" while reeling up.  "Why am I seeing that?  I'm not playing a fish!"  Well a roly-poly fish that I think was a salmon followed it right up to boatside!  I tried to jiggle the spoon to seal the deal, but he zipped around it and then dove.  Man!  Turns out there was a mussel on the treble hook that, had it not been there, might have made all the difference.  Wonder how many times that has happened when the surface chop kept me from noticing?

Back at the launch, I met a young guy named Brian that had some luck out deep.  He is a member of this message board, and we had a nice chat after pulling our boats out, comparing notes.

It's been so nice being able to make some trips out, feeling like I am getting back into the swing of things!

Pete Collin

www.pcforestry.com

[Sam N. Slayer]

Hello All,
Imagine if you could talk to yourself as a kid.  Ask your child-self how you would describe a day where you caught a 10 pound fish.  For most of us, the response would be something like "THE BEST DAY EVER!!!"  I always think of that when things are slow on Lake Ontario.  My motto is, you are always one 10 pound fish away from having a great day.  
After a week of unsettled weather, and a big full moon last night, I wondered how good the laker jigging would be today.  Wanting to try something new, I spent the night at Ron Bierstine's "garage lodge" so I wouldn't have to get up so early to drive an hour and a half to thelaunch.  It was nice hanging out with Ron, getting caught up.  But the best laid plans - I woke up at 3:45 AM anyway because I was so excited to fish.  
There were plenty of marks down there - much deeper than last week, but following a consistent contour.  And the wind and waves were great for a small boat.  The marks weren't moving towards my jig very often.  All I could do was stick it out and hope things changed.  First bite came at 8:30.  Nice heavy head-shaker and netted up a thirty inch laker.  A ten pounder showed up to make my day suddenly awesome.  An hour later, a second heavy fish tapped.  At the hookset, I knew I would be busy for a while.  Sometimes you feel their weight right when you tighten up.  That one became a 32 incher after a long heave and crank.  Plenty of marks on the graph for the rest of the morning, but no more strikes.
But the day had one last highlight.  The lake turned totally flat calm.  I was able to see my Hopkins spoon coming up from down deep.  On one drop, I "saw some color" while reeling up.  "Why am I seeing that?  I'm not playing a fish!"  Well a roly-poly fish that I think was a salmon followed it right up to boatside!  I tried to jiggle the spoon to seal the deal, but he zipped around it and then dove.  Man!  Turns out there was a mussel on the treble hook that, had it not been there, might have made all the difference.  Wonder how many times that has happened when the surface chop kept me from noticing?
Back at the launch, I met a young guy named Brian that had some luck out deep.  He is a member of this message board, and we had a nice chat after pulling our boats out, comparing notes.
It's been so nice being able to make some trips out, feeling like I am getting back into the swing of things!
Pete Collin
www.pcforestry.com

Glad I’m still considered “young”. Great job Pete! I’m looking forward to giving laker jigging a shot on Ontario.


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