Opening Weekend At The 2013 Salmon Spectacular
The opening weekend of the 2013 Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular was a chance to spend some extended time on the water with my favorite person. Sunny skies and largely favorable winds meant that our little boat was able to spend almost twelve hours on the water on Saturday, an absolutely amazing occurrence considering the limited fishing time we’ve had this year.
The best way to start a day.
We made it to Owen Sound a little later than planned since I had a really hard time getting out of bed. The sight of Kelso Park, the big white tent that acts as derby headquarters, and boats everywhere, immediately made me thankful for another chance at participating in this derby. Getting out of the truck, I found I was also thankful to have packed jeans instead of being stuck with the shorts I was wearing – chilly! After setting up the boat and using the launch at Georgian Shores Marina, we were out on the water and Darrell let the motor out for a run.
The night shift was still fishing so boats were everywhere and paying attention to our surroundings was key. This is one place where I always insist that Darrell drives the boat – there are just too many boats and too many lines in the water and I don’t have the confidence yet to navigate them.
Trolling along.
We began by fishing our favorite spoons. I rigged up a Matrix spoon that caught me a fish in this derby last year, while Darrell started with his favorite silver spoon. When these failed to provoke any action, we switched up to Lymans that always seem to work so well for everyone else, and eventually we switched up again to other lures. It seemed that no matter what speed we trolled at, what depth we set up at, or what lures we put out, the fish just didn’t want to bite. That’s pretty much the way it goes for us in Owen Sound!
Hunger plays a big key in how long we stay out fishing, and since I’d forgotten to throw some food in the boat, we headed back in around noon to get some lunch, have a nap, and check out the leaderboard.
The leading salmon and trout (along with a sea lamprey, unfortunately) when we went in for lunch.
What the leaderboards look like in the tent.
Darrell is great about checking the marine forecast leading up to our time on the water. He had warned me that we might not be able to get a lot of time out on the boat because the forecast was calling for the wind to pick up. As we headed back out on the water, it looked like his warning may have come true. We setup our lines and crashed through the waves heading out to the Green Can by Hibou Point. When you fish out of a small boat with a 9.9 on the back, you don’t take risks, so when we got far enough out that the run back would become a stretch, we turned around and trolled back into the harbour. Still, nothing was hitting, but we didn’t feel too bad since none of the other boats near us had caught anything that we had noticed.
Then a wonderful thing happened, when we had to make the choice to head in, or turn around and troll back out, we noticed the lake had laid down. As we trolled by the Green Can once again, the water became like glass. Who ordered the perfect weather? Thank you!
When the water’s like this, the only limiting factor is the amount of gas we have.
I spent a fair bit of time switching lures around, pulling the downriggers up, and setting them back down. My sea legs had finally come back, not that they were needed that night. As the sun began set the water was transformed into a city of lights. It is such a cool thing to be on the water and see the red, green, and white lights everywhere you look. I quite like being out on the boat at night, but I had not dressed appropriately and was adding layers as the minutes passed by. While I was trying to decide if I needed to call it a night, Darrell and I watched a boat beside us land three fish within an hour, including a double-header. They were fishing much shallower than everyone else and had the most action I had witnessed all day. We tried trolling through some shallower water on the way in, but eventually I was too cold, pulled lines and went in.
Sunday morning was another beautiful start to the day. The sun was shining, I was well-rested from a night on the air mattress, and Darrell and I were eager to go find some fish. Unfortunately, the wind had decided to change directions and pick up speed. The forecast wasn’t looking promising so we decided to skip breakfast and get on the water while we could still manage it. There was definitely some chop but nothing we couldn’t handle. I doubt bigger boats than ours really even noticed.
In the end, it turned out to be another bust for us fish-wise, but it was a ton of fun. We spoke to a lady that had put in 60 hours over the past four derbies and only just landed her first fish in all those years on Saturday night. She was thrilled and I remembered the great feeling I had when bringing my fish in last year. Most of the other anglers I spoke to were not having much luck, especially on Sunday morning. Many boats went without a bite, while others caught some small ones. However, some people were doing very well. It looks like it might be hard to catch the 16.05 lbs lake trout that Mark McKinley weighed in. After Sunday’s weigh-in the top salmon is still Clark Green’s 22.60 lbs fish. Judging by the winning weight of the past few years, that may very well stand up as the leader, but the rain we’re having today will likely help the fish move in and maybe a bigger one will be found.
It was another good time at the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular and I can’t wait to head up again next weekend for the final days of the event.
For the daily results, see the Sydenhamn Sportsmen’s Association site.
argosgirl
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I have no experience with derby fishing on the big lake, but your account of it is interesting. Thank you!
It’s a different experience than other derbies, that’s for sure. Thanks for reading!