Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular 2021
After a year’s hiatus thanks to Covid-19, the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular was back and we were thrilled to return to one of our favourite fishing derbies. If you’ve never been to the Salmon Spectacular, it’s really quite the spectacle. So many boats out fishing that it’s often referred to as a village on water, especially in the dark, with all the boats navigation lights on. There are people camped at the harbour, fishing from shore, and in general just a huge influx of people to spots that are usually much quieter. With the pandemic carrying on the entertainment in the big tent was put on hold, but for those of us chasing fish, that didn’t matter too much.
The Salmon Spectacular kicked off last Friday but due to the weather forecast we decided to stay at home. It was was Saturday evening before we made it up to Georgian Bay. A few years ago the derby boundaries were opened up to include a lot more water and we’ve been fishing out of Meaford (our regular fishing spot) ever since. The forecast was calling for a thunderstorm to roll in around 9pm, so we knew we had to keep an eye on the sky and the weather radar.
We got out to our starting point, a series of waypoints we have from previous salmon catches, and got the lines down. The downside to this spot is that the depth changes frequently, and even when you’re watching your chart it’s easy to be surprised by a quick jump in the lake bottom. This happened pretty quickly to us when Darrell’s lure was set at 75ft and fired. The weight on the line didn’t move and we thought he had the big one…only to realize that he must have hooked bottom somehow. We had to circle back to free the lure and just as he was freeing it, my rod fired. It was a little chaotic in the boat at that moment. My fish put up a good little fight and soon I had a salmon to the boat. It wasn’t big enough to get on the board, but we hadn’t kept a fish for the freezer all year, so we decided to bring it home.
After the initial craziness things calmed down and we kept an eye on the western sky, watching the lightning flash from far away. We continued trolling through our waypoints. Between 70ft and 100ft we were marking lots on bait and the odd bigger fish, so we stayed in the area. It wasn’t long before my rod jumped and even though I grabbed it right away, the fish was gone.
Eventually the storm got closer and we decided to call it a night, along with many of the other boats out there. We must have waited half an hour for our chance to pull out at the ramp, but everyone was calm and courteous, waiting patiently in line, and things went smoothly. No sooner had we gotten the boat on the trailer and back to the parking lot did the rain start falling. Lightly at first, but five minutes into the drive home it was a complete downpour and remained that way for the rest of the drive.
We went back on Sunday but the fish didn’t want to play, so we settled for enjoying the scenery and fishing some different areas.
Our next chance to hit the water came on Friday, when we got up far too early for my liking and were on the water to watch the sunrise. I wanted to take a picture since sunrises are always the best over the water, but the water was way too rough to get my phone out. I forgot my Gravol that day and rollers had the boat going up and down and all over the place, leaving me seasick.
Eventually the lake started to settle and we were able to make the run out to our favourite spot. I’m never sure if it’s actually Darrell’s favourite, or if it’s just my favourite spot and he goes along with it to make me happy. Whatever the case, this area has a lot of great drop-offs to fish and we rarely go fishless when we make the run.
I’m guilty of having a preferred spoon for trolling in Georgian Bay. It’s not that I don’t change it up, but I almost always start with it. A silver Northern King lights it up more often than not. We had ridiculous success with it the last time the Salmon Spectacular was held, and I use it frequently when we fish this area. That said, it works best with some cloud in the sky and the sun not right overhead. It fired on this day to bring in a nice rainbow trout for Darrell. It was the first bow we’d had to the boat in ages!
When it was time to pull rods Darrell grabbed his line, released it, and all of a sudden it was fish on. A nice laker came to the boat.
The spoon bite continued the next day and we each picked up a lake trout. The fish weren’t big enough to weigh-in, but we don’t tend to worry about that. The derby is just an excuse to spend more time on the water. While we were fishing the wind direction changed and the lake started to pick up. The launch was south of us but the waves coming from the east made for a rough trip in. Darrell had to zig-zag across the lake to get us back in and the run took twice as long as normal. We were late meeting up with friends afterwards.
For the final morning of fishing on Sunday (the derby ends at noon) the west wind kept us closer to shore. I found myself falling asleep at one point only to hear “FISH ON!” I immediately jumped to get the rod but had a sneaking suspicion that Darrell would have jumped over me for it if I was a second later. I wasn’t even sure the fish was on at first but it finally realized it was hooked and tried to run. It didn’t take long to get that salmon to the boat.
We called it quits shortly after 11am and headed back to the launch. We took our time packing up and were eating lunch in the parking lot just after 11:30 when I heard “Hurry up, we’ve gotta get going.” I looked over and we saw a man unhooking his boat trailer, grabbing a cooler, and running back to his truck. He clearly had a fish to weigh-in. It was 11:40 when he left and the scales close at noon. I don’t who you are, but if you see this, we were rooting for you to get there with the buzzer-beater! That clearly didn’t happen because the winner was caught on opening weekend, but we were looking forward to the story it would have been otherwise.
And just like that, another Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular was in the books. We had a great time once again, even if we didn’t get a pile of fish. We witnessed beautiful sunrises, sunsets, an awesome storm, and so much more. We got to boat watch and discuss the pros and cons of our favourite ones, see some pretty fish, and we enjoyed every minute of it.
For a great summary of this year’s event and winners, read this Owen Sound Sun Times article.
argosgirl
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