Lake Ontario Rainbows
Oh Lake Ontario, how I have missed you!
Sunny skies and no wind meant we were finally able to get out on the big water Saturday morning, and we were not disappointed. Launching at Lakefront Promenade in Mississauga, we were greeted by flat, glassy water as far as we could see. The goal for the day was to spend some time trolling and hopefully hook into some rainbow trout, or maybe some salmon. It would have been enough to just spend some time out on the lake.
There’s nothing I love more than seeing all that beautiful water. What a great way to start the day!
The Toronto skyline.
Darrell revved up the motor and took us for a bit of a run. I love sitting at the front of the boat, the wind on my face, so much openness in front of me – what a rush. If we had a bigger boat I would just keep going.
In 90 FOW we decided to stop and set up our rigs. With a 12ft tinny there is not a whole lot of room for moving around, but we still manage to run our max of two lines each. Our spread included two lines on downriggers, one line on the planer board, and one with a Dipsy Diver. Having no idea what the fish were dialed into, we picked some favorite spoons, a flasher and fly combo, and a body bait.
Rods everywhere and one happy captain.
I love this sight.
While fishing our way to deeper water, Darrell noticed some bait on the fish finder, not schooled tightly, but enough to possibly trigger a bite. Some motion on the surface caught our eyes and after a closer look, it appeared that the rainbows were pretty high in the water column. We made some adjustments to depths and kept on trolling.
After a quick nap (early mornings don’t agree with me), I woke up to the sound of Darrell digging in the tackle box. Time for a change. Pulling out a blue, white, and silver spoon, Darrell gave me a grin and told me he was going for bows and clipped it on behind the Dipsy Diver. How prophetic.
I made a comment about us being skunked for the day, only to be told to get ready, the bite would pick up. Seems Darrell still has some of his Lake Ontario magic that was earned in previous years, because only a few minutes later I saw the Dispy rod start pounding and was struggling to get it out of the rod holder. A flash of silver, a couple of jumps, a run at the boat followed by several attempts to run away from it…like most rainbows, this girl wasn’t giving up without a fight. Darrell netted her and brought her into the boat for a picture.
The net-man holds for a picture. I love rainbow trout, especially when they’re healthy like this one.
I think we did pretty well matching the bait. Look at the spoon in the fish’s mouth compared to the bait.
Spending a few minutes to revive the fish meant she was in great shape by the time she flicked her tail, splashed Darrell, and swam away. I was ecstatic. Kings may be the quarry of choice for most Lake Ontario anglers, but I’ll never turn down a pretty rainbow trout. Best fight I’ve had yet this year.
More time passed and I thought we were done for the day, then one of the riggers fired and Darrell reeled in a small rainbow that he released at the side of the boat. That second fish came roughly in the same area as the first, so we swung the boat around and went back through the area. A couple of passes later the Dipsy rod went off again and I reeled in another small bow. We now stood at 3 for 3 and I was ready to call it a day, but the rod fired again just seconds after I had put it back down. I wasn’t remotely ready to be grabbing the rod and couldn’t believe it had fired one more time. Judging by the pounding of the rod, this fish was at least as big as the first one. I saw a flash of silver and my excitement grew. This one was fighting even better. But then, I made a silly mistake and stopped reeling for a split second. A head shake later and the fish was gone. D’oh!
Finally realizing how late in the afternoon it was getting, we decided to call it a day. I would have loved to have stayed out there, but the animals back home would not have been happy about us getting back so late.
I used to hate the big water and I really disliked trolling. It’s amazing how much an opinion can change when fish are caught. I now love being out there, seeing water all the way to the horizon, and trolling for the silver fish beneath.
We headed back out this morning, but the wind had picked up and the waves made it difficult for us in such a small boat. We had about two hours on the water, lost one fish, and never made it out as far as our waypoint from yesterday.
I can’t wait for the next weekend with good weather when both of us are free. One of our goals for this year was to spend more time on Lake Ontario, and this was a great way to get started. I love this lake!
argosgirl
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Awesome! I can’t wait till we get the big boat done to take out on Lake Michigan and Superior.
You’re going to love it! I wish we had a big boat for the big water, but that will have to wait 🙂
I showed Matt the picture of you guys trolling in your 12 footer, and he grinned. We tried doing it on our large-but-smaller-than-Erie lakes in our 14 ft wooden jonboat, and the waves almost swamp us every time.