Norm & Jean accompanied me on a road trip to the big O for a couple of days of phenomenal salmon fishing this morning. We departed at midnight and hit the water by 5 o’clock with high expectations for some silver beasts, but never expected what was about to come. I had planned this trip around the weather and hoped that Mother Nature wouldn’t change the forecast. We were greeted with almost no wind and mid 70 degree temps upon arrival but it would soon climb into the 90 by days end. Water temps were 67.5 degrees when we set the lines and barely a ripple was seen. I believe the wire line was the first to go off and Jean was into his first salmon ever. It was a good starter fish and a beautiful king of nearly 20 pounds. A few quick picks and a release back to the lake it went. Norm was up next and he was soon into a really nice steelhead that topped the scales at over 12 pounds. We had the makings of a multi species day even here on Lake Ontario and I couldn’t wait to see what was next to come. Well it didn’t take too long before we were landing another salmon but this time it was a great Coho in the mid teens and a third species to boot. One more king and even a nice brown trout had us completing the grand slam and we were thrilled to have accomplished this on the big pond. The area we were in didn’t seem to be producing the numbers that I was use to seeing and the spiny sea fleas were a real problem. Most of the lines were gathering big amounts of fleas, so I decided to take out and relocate to another section of the lake. Let’s just say that this was one of my best moves in a long time! Although it took a little while to zone in on the fish, I finally found the right depth and it was “Game On”! We were having constant action now and the reels were going off like crazy. Down riggers were popping, wire lines were screaming and both Jean and Norm were complaining. It seemed that the fish were just tearing them up and they didn’t have much time to rest in between. My heart bled for them too! I know at least a dozen people that would have traded places with either one of them to be in as much pain. It was like watching a comedy routine when each of them were fighting fish as lines were pulled in order to free up at least one of the sides allowing the fight to be free of tangles. Kings, cohos and steelhead were coming aboard regularly and the numbers were climbing. At one point, Norm spent at least 10 minutes battling a high 20’s king on the wire only to be laughed at by Jean when it was in the net. Apparently he was spent and his arms were burning too! Before we could release the fish the other wire rod fired and it was Jean’s turn to be laughed at. Same thing, different person! Lots of laughs and plenty of fish provided us with excitement for the remainder of the day and when it was all said and done, there must have been 35 fish landed. Just insane fishing for the first of two days on the big “O” !!! Day two started out after only about 5 hours of sleep but who could blame us after the first day. We started in the same areas and were soon fighting fish once again. Kings, cohos and steelhead again were coming in and the battles were once more a laughing experience. It seemed that neither of them wanted to take the wire rods and hoped the riggers would pop when it was their turn. Too bad because the largest fish once again came from the dipsy rods and wire lines and the pain continued. Although it wasn’t as fast & furious as yesterday, it was still satisfying to pound on these silver bullets once again. I think we lost more fish today in a half day than we had lost in an entire day yesterday. For some reason they were biting off or just getting off the lines entirely. By the time we pulled the lines around 12:30 there were over 15 fish landed but at least that many lost too. In just a day and a half 50 silver beasts managed to find their way into the boat and all were released to fight another day. We hadn’t taken too many pics as we wanted to get the fish back as soon as possible without harm. The shots we did take however were definitely worth a thousand words! Both Norm & Jean can’t wait to get back and I think it’ll bee happening real soon. You gotta love the big water silvers!!!

Haissan & W were back again today for some more action but left Danny to work this time. We hooked up shortly after 7:30 and were fishing just after 8:00 in flat calm conditions. It was going to be a scorcher! Without any wind and temps to reach into the 90’s, I knew we were going to fry today. Water temps were around 74 degrees when we set the lines and began our troll for walleye. It was a little slower than I had expected with only a handful of walters, smallies and an occasional pike coming aboard so after a couple of hours, I decided to relocate. The breeze felt pretty good as we ran to our second spot and began casting soft plastic for smallies. Both guys were hooking up regularly and some of these fish were pretty good size too. After spending plenty of time in this location, we decided to run once more and cooled ourselves off in the process. This next area was undoubtedly the right choice as it produced both size as well as numbers of bass. W had been holding onto the lead for a while with his 4.5 pound smallie when Haissan finally captured one of his own. It wasn’t much larger, but it did give him bragging rights and from that point on, it just kept getting better. I’m pretty sure that at one time, Haissan was hooking up on every cast he made. It felt more like we were fishing in a hatchery rather than a lake as there were smallies all over. By 5 o’clock we were officially wasted and decided to call it a day. I think the best part of it was the long run back to the ramp as we were finally cooling off. Unfortunately it all came to an end when we stopped the boat and the air temps felt a whole lot hotter when we were on shore. Despite the heat wave, we were able to endure and capture loads of smallies and some real good ones too. A great day all around!!

Well it finally happened today as we were able to coordinate a day on the water that has taken over a year to organize. John & his son Chris were joining Christiane & me for a fishing day that had the makings of a real beauty. The weather was picture perfect with temps expected to reach into the 90’s but little to no wind might make it feel a whole lot hotter! Water temps had now been over 70 degrees for several days and some of the fish were starting to change locations. I wasn’t worried though as I would begin by trolling areas that were holding a variety of fish species and surely some of them would bite. It didn’t take long before Chris was into the first fish of the day and this one was a walleye of about 3 pounds. Nice starter fish! He managed to catch a few more soon after with a pike thrown into the mix before his dad got into the act too. John seemed to pick the right time as a smallie ripped the line from the reel and proceeded to go to the air. Although it may not have been the largest of the day at just over 2.5 pounds, it was a contender! Not to be outdone, Chris landed another just under 4 pounds to overtake the lead once again. With the lake flat calm and dog pecker knats all over the place we decided to troll away from the area we were catching to see if something a little bit larger might be willing to bite. Unfortunately we only managed to get a couple more walleye and lost a few others in the next half hour making my next decision quite simple. We were off to cast for smallies! Well this didn’t take long as everyone was into fish almost immediately, once again. John managed to get the best one at over 4 pounds but Chris had plenty of opportunities to match or even beat his dad. Christiane even got a few casts of her own in and landed a couple of nice ones herself. In about an hour of casting there had to be at least 15 smallies battled before we decided to move once more. Back to trolling and only one more northern to show for our efforts before we called it a day. Between the floating weeds gathering on the rods and the blazing heat, we were spent. In just several hours of fishing they had managed to get into a bunch of quality fish and had a riot spending quality time on the lake. All fish were released to fight another day too! Can’t wait to get them back out again but John’s schedule can be pretty hectic running a local restaurant. I should know as we see him there at least once or twice a week on a regular basis. The food can only be surpassed by the service as all of his staff treats you like royalty when you eat there. Located in the west island, everyone should give it a try as I’m sure this won’t be a one time visit. This place is packed most days and really fills up on the weekend too. Check it out on line at http://www.delfriscos.ca you won’t be disappointed!

Herve & his son, Thomas were fishing with me today and we met at the ramp shortly after 7:00 A.M. I had been out the day before searching for more walleye & pike spots in order to get them into fish today and definitely found them. Today however, we were back to the hurricane winds and floaters all over the water column. Although it looked pretty rough out there, I thought I would give it a try anyway. Winds were out of the west blowing at 20 knots or better when we began and in a couple of hours closer to 30 knots. By then I realized that it just wasn’t going to happen on this lake and decided to jump ponds. We had caught one bass & one walleye in all the time we had been fishing and I had probably cleaned all the rods a couple of hundred times. I literally went from one rod to the other and couldn’t keep up. We arrived at the second lake around 10:30 and were fishing shortly after in similar conditions. The only thing here though was that I was able to fish areas for bass casting different baits. Thomas hooked the first bass on a spinnerbait and it was pushing 5 pounds. Definitely his personal best! He also landed several largemouth bass before his father, Thomas got into the game. His first smallie hit a soft, plastic jerk bait and committed suicide. At around 3 pounds it was nice but not quite photo worthy! Senko’s were thrown into the game and soon several more smallies were coming aboard along with a few more largemouth. Herve even managed to bring a nice one aboard that too was pushing five pounds and this time photo worthy. A few quick pics and right back to the lake. We fished several more areas, all the while getting into fish both large and medium in size. Most of them were smallmouh bass but some largemouth were caught right along with the smallies too. I decided late in the afternoon that we would give the trolling another shot and tried for northerns in one area closer to the ramp. This turned out to be an identical replica of the morning troll on the other lake with huge rollers and tons of floating vegetation. Needless to say, it didn’t last long! After checking & cleaning the lines 25 to 50 times each I just packed it in and called it a day. Jumping lakes was definitely the way to go as we managed to catch plenty of big smallies in just the few hours out. I hope next time the weather cooperates a bit better because trolling would definitely pick up the numbers for them. Tough day but Mother Nature didn’t totally win this time!!

Well, I had hoped for better weather today but the winds were pretty much just as bad as yesterday so I opted for another lake instead. Haissan, Danny and “W” were to join me in hopes of some bass. I was hoping for smallies along with largemouth as a backup in case the rollers were as bad as they were yesterday. Well, they were! We got a later start than usual but were fishing before 10:00 and Haissan was the first to lock up on a tube. His fish was an honest 4 pounds and I thought we were just going to crush them when he landed this one, but it was to be the last. We had a few others on and even more missed strikes but could only come up with one quality bass. I hopped around in 3 to 4 footers from the S/W and only hit a few here and there in several hours of fishing. We finally decided to try for largemouth and ventured out of the wind and into the weeds looking for old bucket head! Apparently it was the right move because everyone caught fish here. Although there weren’t any real big ones, the action was pretty good for the remainder of the day. The largest bass in the weeds was around 3 pounds but at least we were out of the wind and catching fish. I definitely would like to see the winds get down to around 10 knots in the coming days instead of the 20 to 30 with stronger gusts that we have been fishing in lately. Let’s hope for a miracle!!