More First Time Slams
July 30, 2018
July 29th 2018
After spending a couple of days on Lake Ontario for salmon, I was back on the water this morning with a couple of clients. Joel & his son were in from the UK and about to experience the time of their lives!
We wasted no time heading to our first spot despite the rollers from SW winds. After being on the big pond, these waves were nothing! A quick orientation on the rod holders and they were ready to catch fish. Joel had fished plenty but his son Theo was pretty new to everything and was handed the rod when the first fish hit. He brought to net a small northern and it was also his first pike ever!
We trolled around the area and managed a couple more fish, including a nice keeper walleye and then it happened. One of the reels fired and Joel was into a big fish. I could tell by the way it was fighting that it wasn’t what I was use to seeing and brought the other two rods in for the fight. Confirmation was soon made when we saw the fish and he couldn’t believe the size of this thing. He was hooked into his first, ever seen, musky! After a while I was finally able to boga grip his catch and brought it aboard for a few pics. We released it soon after and watched as she made her way back to the depths. I told him it would be all downhill after that fish but reset the lines anyway.
We covered lots of water and I managed to put them on plenty more fish. Both walleye & pike were landed throughout the morning and some of them were pretty good size! All these fish were new to both of them and Joel already had his first Canadian slam. I was pretty sure I would be able to get his son one as well by targeting the smallies, little later in the day. In the mean time, we were focussed on the task at hand and that was trolling the area we were in.
We continued searching for more big eyes and both of them landed several before I decided to switch it up. I had wanted to leave some time to drop shot deeper water and try for a few smallies. I pulled the lines, packed everything up and headed elsewhere.
I stopped on a shoal in the middle of the lake and prepped the rods for them. I also explained what would happen and how to set on the fish when they bit and we began. On the first drift they both had bites but were unable to monopolize on them. I was also fishing some to show them what was needed and landed a couple of small walleye from this area. They were however about to catch on real quick!
After a couple of fishless passes, I moved over to another rocky area and Joel immediately was tight to a crazy smallie. It leaped 3 or 4 times while he fought it before I finally managed to get it into the net. It was also his first ever bass and made for his fourth species today. I really wanted Theo to experience this as well and worked with him until he was able to hook up one of his own. He finally caught a nice bass and obtained his first Canadian slam as well. A little while later he hooked into another and landed this one to take the lead. It was now 2 to 1 but it was going to change! They both had multiple chances in the remaining time, but his father was able to bring a few more in the boat before we were done.
Today was both an excellent day and a great learning experience for Joel and his son Theo. They had gotten to see a couple of different techniques and landed all kinds of fish while doing so. Apparently back home the fishing is so bad that this was more than they could land in a year! To me this was just another average day on the water, but with a bonus fish of course! I guess we’re just blessed with the fishing over here!!
