Catching My First Owen Sound Salmon
The beautiful and relaxing sight of my fishing rod and the water.
“Your rod’s standing straight,” said Darrell, just as I took the first bite of of an apple turnover. “You’ve got a fish.”
I almost told him to stop playing with me but I looked up from my snack and realized that in the five seconds since I had last looked, my rod was indeed standing up. Tossing down the food I jumped up to grab the rod out if the holder, but I didn’t have much hope.
“The line must have just come loose from the clip, I can’t have a fish.”
I really didn’t think it was possible that I had a fish on my line. After all, this is Owen Sound, I never catch fish in this water. I enter the Salmon Spectacular every year but it’s more for the fun of the event, not for my ability to catch fish in that water. Lots of people catch fish this derby but I’m not one of them. To possibly have a fish on for the first day of this year’s event was almost unthinkable.
The clip had to have come loose. I turned the reel a few times and didn’t feel any extra weight. It felt like I was just pulling in my flasher and spoon. But then a funny thing happened – my line started to go back out!
“You have a fish!” Darrell shouted while looking almost bewildered. He doesn’t catch anything in Owen Sound either.
My trolling experience comes on Lake Ontario, the water that contains big fish. While I’ve never caught a true giant out there, I’ve caught a few that put together enough of a run to tire out my arms quickly. This felt nothing like those occasions. In fact, I was still unsure that I had a fish until it made another little run. Then I started reeling and laughing.
“I can’t believe it! I’m finally going to catch a fish out here! And on that stupid lure I bought up here last year that I’ve never used before!”
It’s true, I had chosen that gold Matrix spoon because I bought it up there last year and had never gotten it wet before. How ironic that it caught me my first Owen Sound salmon.
I wish I could say the fish put up a great fight, but it didn’t take me long to get him in. I made Darrell keep him on the bottom of the boat while removing the hooks, I wasn’t letting this one have the chance to escape before I got a look at him.
My first ever Owen Sound salmon.
While he only weighed in at a little under 7lbs, I was beyond happy to finally get something entered into the Salmon Spectacular. Waiting in line at the weighing station was a change from climbing out of the boat empty-handed. Darrell and I were both a lot happier to get the skunk out of the boat. All this time we thought people were lying about there being fish in that water.
It ended up being a very late Friday night but the long drive home did nothing to dampen our spirits. We finally landed a fish in water that had previously eluded us. We couldn’t wait to go back.
One day away from the water seemed to be enough, and we headed back to Owen Sound yesterday to see if our luck could improve. Catching a big one on opening weekend would be fantastic!
Unfortunately, the fish seemed to have other ideas and stayed far away from anything we presented to them. The weather also seemed to be against us as the waves picked up and I quickly became drenched from the waves crashing on the boat. I love our little 12ft tinny, but she’s not designed for very rough water. We moved back closer to the launch and found slightly more sheltered water. A few more hours of trolling produced nothing and we decided to pack it in and try to get home before dark.
While we didn’t catch much, plenty of other people did. A friend picked up a 13.2-pound salmon and it wasn’t enough to get him on the board.
It’s hard to see, but that’s a lot of boats. The water is turned into a boat city, especially at night during the derby.
As always, Owen Sound is a zoo during the Salmon Spectacular. The tent is the lively hub of the derby and has been providing entertainment to thousands of people each day. If you didn’t feel like fishing, there’s always something else going on.
I won’t be back in Owen Sound until the weekend, but I’ll make the last few days of the Salmon Spectacular count. Whether or not I land anything, I’ll enjoy my time on the water – where I get to do lots of boat watching, a favorite activity of mine – and have a great time being part of such a fun event. Maybe I’ll finally figure these fish out and catch some more. Who knows? I can’t complain as long as I’m out on the water.
After the first three days, the leading salmon is 19.76lbs and was caught by John Top.
For up-to-date results check here.
argosgirl
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