Rainbow Trout

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Ice, Ice, Rainbow

My focus this winter has been stocked trout.  Here in Southern Ontario there are numerous opportunities for stocked trout including speckled, lake, brown, splake and rainbow.  After success with splake and brook trout It seemed like a good time to chase after another trout species and there was a small local lake we had in mind.

Dave and I had tried the lake before with no real success but still remained optimistic for the lake.   After doing the math, based in the size of the lake, the location of the beaten path, and the number of stocked rainbows, there had to be catchable fish there.  So, with confidence from my recent trout trips, we decided to give the small lake another shot.

Aside from a bout of car sickness on the way to the lake, things went well, and after a nap, I was feeling up to actually fishing.  May be it was the nap on the ice, or maybe it was waking up to a set line flag that turned into a beautiful Raindbow caught by Dave. Either way I was suddenly well enough to fish and moments later I had a decent hit.  I fought the rainbow for a few minutes and it seemed like there was a real chance I was going to catch some chrome.  Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be and the fish got off.  Even still, a fish and a miss is way more success than we have ever had on the lake, and in my mind that counts as a win.  As a plus, this was Dave’s first Rainbow trout! Congrats Dave!

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Congrats Dave on your first Rainbow Trout.  I wonder what to target next, Lakers or browns?

Cheers from the ice,

Albert

 

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An Ontario Special – Four Species day

Southern Ontario is blessed with an abundance of great, albeit often overlooked, fishing opportunities. I know I am starting to sound like a broken record on this issue but hear me out.

The misconception is that you need to travel a great distance to get to good fishing opportunities but in my experience this is not so. While there is great fishing in the states and Northern Ontario, Southern Ontario has many vibrant watersheds that are not only conveniently located near major centres but afford the angler a chance at quantity and quality of fish.

Case in point, my report below:

I packed a light bag and hopped in the car at 8:30 pm Thursday evening headed for Bethany to meet up with my uncle.  After a few hours of sleep we awoke at 4:30 am and were on our way to Port Darlington.  We launched the boat and sailed out of port into 80 FOW.

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We dropped the down riggers and dipsy divers and instantly had a hit but couldn’t capitalize.  We trolled for another hour out to 117 FOW with no hits and no sign of bait balls.  Things were looking grim with no fish in the boat so we decided to head back to the scene of the crime where we had the first hit.

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Sure enough we had two quick bites and boated two rainbow trout: one was 6lbs the other was 9lbs.  Both were healthy fish and provided a strong fight.

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An hour later and a after  couple more near misses we received a strong hit on the down rigger.  I set the hook and proceeded to reel in the fish thinking we hooked another decent rainbow.  You could imagine my surprise when the fish kept up its impressive run for what seemed like forever.  Fifteen minutes and a couple blisters later we boated a beautiful 18lb Chinook salmon. This was a truly magnificent beast, built for speed and strength.  The truly impressive thing about these fish is that they will fight to their very last ounce of strength making it essential for proper equipment and proper release techniques.

One more impressive thing, they are located just minutes from the 401 along almost the whole stretch of southern Ontario.

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With our Big lake appetite sated we pulled the boat and took a few hours break giving me just enough time to make a quick stop at SAIL and have a quick nap.

In the afternoon we towed the boat to Sturgeon lake, located near Lindsay Ontario to take a crack at the resident walleye population.

The walleye cooperated and we boated multiple 40cm fish which put them convienently in the 35-50 cm slot in force on the lake.  All within a couple hours.

Since I can’t resist the taste of fresh walleye we kept two nice eating sized fish for the table and released the rest.

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(my new abu Garcia verdict and cardinal in action)

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All in all an impressive day on the water with a total of four species caught ( included a jumbo perch caught while trolling) and all within less than an hour’s drive.

Once again, I recommend trying the fishing opportunities in Sothern Ontario.  Not only is the fishing great but you will save on gas too!

Cheers from the Wild

Al

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Summer Salmon – A Lake Ontario Specialty

Summer brings many things to Southern Ontario. Soccer teams flock to the fields to test their mettle against one anotehr, bikers are out in droves pushing their machines to the limits on our endless Ontario highways, yard sale/antique season is in full swing.  Great hobbies to be had in a great place. but perhaps my favourite thing to do in the summer, besides sipping an ice cold Ice cap from Tim Hortons, is to head out on the big lake to enjoy pitting my wits against the steely Rainbow trout or a Majestic Salmon.  Thanks to stocking efforts from the MNR and agencies in New York, Salmon fishing in lake Ontario is some of the best in the country.  Sadly, few people realize the resource we have so close to home.

I was definitely one of those few people until my uncle (watch out here, comes the shameless plug!), who runs RP Salmon Guide Charters, asked me and a friend to join him one warm June day in 2011.  A tad early for the bulk of salmon fishing but a beauty of a day no less.

We left port at about 6 am from Newcastle, On, a popular launch site for many salmon charters and headed out to 60 feet of water (FOW).

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Once we got there we rigged up the rods with an assortment of giant spoons, flies and cut bait rigged up to down riggers and dipsy divers. I’ll spare you the explanation of these amazing contraptions.

This was quite the set up as most of my fishing is fairly minimalistic when it comes to hardware.  However, I trusted my uncles experience and knew he wouldn’t steer me wrong.

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First fish of the day went to my buddy who had never really caught anything bigger than a small bass in his life.

Im not sure what was running through his mind when he set the hook this giant Rainbow Trout, but when he couldn’t gain any headway, I’m sure holy sh*t was among his thoughts!

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What a beautiful 13 lb 8oz fish! After some quick photos of a beautiful fish and a proud/excited fisherman, the trout went back into the lake.

My friend still bugs me ever summer about when we can do the trip again!

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Now that the appetizer was out of the way it was my turn for the main course.  bout 30 minutes later we trolled through a large school of bait and just after got a hit on one of the flies.  This was a big fish and consequently, my first crack at a Lake Ontario Salmon.

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It was probably at this point where I realized that 1) this was probably the biggest fish I had ever hooked into and 2) this wasn’t just some big empty mass of blue we were trolling on.  This was a healthy fishery with some world class trophies swimming about it.

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Following a decent 15 – 30 minute fight I managed to wrangle this 22 lb salmon into the boat.  I was absolutely stunned, excited and ecstatic all at the same time.

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A few minutes after dealing with the big beast, it was my uncles turn.  He boated this decent little 8lb 9oz rainbow.  A respectable fish by an account!

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Followed again by several small salmon (shakers as the guides call them because they are not strong enough to pull the lines from the down rigger balls).

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Unfortunately they did not make it back to the lake, but take it from me they make quite the feast compared to store bought/ farm raised fish.

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So next time your cruising along the shores of Lake Ontario, remember, there is more than meets the eye out there and I am not talking about transformers!  Maybe, if your brave enough, you will decide to attempt to catch one of these majestic beasts.  Trust me, if you pull the trigger on a trip out to Lake O, and hire a guide worth his salt, you will not be disappointed!  You may even walk away with a feast fit for a king.

Cheers from the wild,

Albert P

RP Salmon Guide Charters – https://www.facebook.com/pages/RP-Salmon-Guide-Charters/128039840606982