Whoaaaaa!

It's been hard to keep up with my articles here in the summer long stretch. I've got a few on the burners but the research has been slow. I did get out for a salmon trip recently heading out from Port Frankfort in the NW lower. The five of us caught 50 in 3 days and much like deer hunting it's a long period of inaction followed by brief intense encounters with some big fish.  So it seems...


As you can see it can get crowded at the back of the boat some times. It's one of those great problems to have. We were on Captain Dan's Stormy Chinook and I really like the way he fishes. He usually knows where the fish are and isn't happy when the boat isn't putting fish in the cooler. Many times he'll say the fish are slashing, he can see this on his depth finder. To a normal person it's just a little streak on the graph but to Dan it's a fish that should be on one of his lures. This is the type of charter to look for, a fisherman that guides to catch fish and be in on the action. There are many other charters in the area and most are of the ilk that they're giving you a great experience on their floating living room and fish are just icing on the cake. I like the catching better.


This is an interesting way to fish with all the technology out there. First is the fish/depth finder. It's much more sophisticated than the one I have. As mentioned earlier the more you use it the more you can interpret. The best thing I could tell right away was the thermo cline where most of the fish congregate. This is the depth where cold water of the deep meets warmer water of the surface. Loosely defined as a change in temperature of one degree or more per foot for so many feet. The bait fish associate with this temperature structure and the salmon follow the bait fish. This trip it was about 100 feet and that depth reading now determines how the lines are set. First the downriggers are set with a 10 lb. weight on the end, three rubber bands are attached to the fishing line, after a fair amount of line is let out and the rubber bands are attached to the downrigger ball. Two downriggers off the back and one out each side with the depths of each separated to prevent any line tangling. So the right side of the boat would have the riggers set at 100 feet and 60 feet and the left side would be at 80 feet and 120 feet. It takes me longer to explain it than it takes the captain to set them up.

Now the long lines go out, dipsy divers and lead core and copper wire. The dipsy divers are disks that steer the line off to one side, so go right some go left. The lure is put on a lead and attached to the dipsy and the main line is attached to the other end of the disk. When a fish hits the dipsy springs open so it no longer tracks to either side and just becomes part of the main line but the extra length of the lead to the lure can cause problems when landing a fish(sorry Dan). These lines are set back 250-300 feet for a 100 foot intended depth. The other lines are the lead core and copper lines and these can be out up to 500 feet, that's a tenth of a mile. Just a little advise when the long lines take a hit and you're not fighting a fish at the time have a backup excuse or plan to evade the curse of reeling one in. Head to the front of the boat for a drink, or a bite to eat , or a cell phone check, or a potty break. Hopefully the youngest member of the party volunteers to take the line or is order to take the line, otherwise you'll eventually make eye contact with the captain and now you'll be reeling for about 30 mins. and your arms will not work for many minutes after. Did I mention 1/10th of a mile?

Such problems to have. It's all very enjoyable but a bit pricey. Hopefully you know someone with a big boat with all the equipment. Just recently steelhead trout were biting in large numbers off of the north shore of Lake Erie. Erieou and Wheatly are the most mentioned spots with catches of steelhead and walleye coming at the same time. How much better can it get, especially with this hot water we have now.

Hopefully things will start cooling off and the fish will start biting again. There was a big bass tourney recently with the weigh in at Elizabeth Park right by the free bridge in Trenton so the bass fishing should be good south of the bridge for a while. Now's the time to get ready for bow season. The Trenton lighthouse sells arrows and bolts for you cross bowers. Gander Mt. has a shooting range for $8 / hour. Start practicing.

Get Outdoors Downriver!