2023 Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular

“Have you checked the marine forecast?” When the frequency of the question triples in our house, you know it’s time for the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular.

The 2023 edition of the salmon derby kicked off on Friday, August 25th. After obsessively checking the forecast and seeing the words “wind light”, we loaded up our gear and the dogs, and made the drive to Meaford for an evening on the water.

The derby boundaries have expanded over the years, giving anglers more choice in where to launch from, which has made for a much better event as far as I’m concerned. Darrell and I are terrible at catching fish in Owen Sound, but not so bad in Meaford. This year the boundaries expanded again to include the Lion’s Head area.

With just a bit of roll left in the water, and a mostly clear sky, it was a beautiful night on Georgian Bay. The dogs quickly settled into their sleeping spots, which are generally wherever they’ll be in the way the most, and we settled in to wait for some fish action.

I’m a “get away from everyone” kind of angler. I’d rather not see another boat around us when we’re out on the big water and there’s so much room. The Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular is the one time of the year that I’ll make an exception. Owen Sound is always packed and looks like there’s a floating village on the water. Meaford used to be not as busy, but this year there was a noticeable change with so many boats on the water.

Our night was pretty slow action-wise, but around 8pm I saw a rod bounce and jumped to grab it. Fish on! It took some reeling down and pulling up to get the fish to the boat, and though it wasn’t very big, I was thrilled to have my hands on a salmon for the first time in quite awhile.

After that fish, everything went quiet again until we decided to head in. Then Erza, our youngest dog, voiced her pleasure at returning to the boat launch with a couple of barks.

Weather kept us off the water until Monday, when the forecast finally looked calm enough to make the drive again. Darrell had taken the week off work, so we worked around my shifts and the weather to head up whenever we could. I was having the best morning, just relaxing and driving the boat, when a rod fired around 8am and Darrell grabbed it. He had one heck of a time reeling that fish in, and I found myself getting excited that he may have a big one. Instead, the fish finally came to the surface and we realized that the poor thing was foul-hooked in the gut. We quickly took a picture and he released it.

And so it went for the rest of the derby. The action was never crazy hot, but at least we were catching fish most days. We tried numerous lures and depths and presentations. The silver NK spoon that is our go-to so often, really wasn’t doing it. A meat rig caught the foul-hooked fish. But the main lure that worked was the green ladderback lyman.

After the first two fish we caught, every other fish ran at the boat. The rod would fire, we’d start reeling, and then it was a struggle to keep tension on the line as they came right at us. We lost a lot of fish because of it. They’d get some slack in the line, shake their head, and the hooks would come loose and they’d be gone. The ones that made it to the boat were so fresh and launching themselves all over the place. That was so very different than anything we’d experienced out there before.

Most of the fish we caught came at night, between 6:30pm and 8pm. Around 100ft of water was the best depth for us, though that was largely because we were staying out of the busiest areas. It was always the lower lure that fired. As is usually the case, everything we caught was released to swim another day. We prefer to keep them only if we think they’ll hit the leaderboard, or if they can’t be released.

We fished on warm, sunny days, and a rainy night that left us soaked through our jackets. There were days the dogs joined us, and days they stayed at home. A couple of times we made it out for both the morning and evening fish. Our sleep schedule got absolutely wrecked by early mornings and late nights. We commiserated with other anglers about a lack of fish, and shared congratulations when someone caught one. And it was all a blast.

By the end of the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular, the top salmon weighed in at 20.73lbs, caught by Ian Morrison. The top trout was actually the biggest fish entered in the derby, a lake trout weighing 22.40lbs, caught by Rob Harnack. As always the Sydenham Sportsmen Association put on an incredible derby. There’s lots of water to fish now, there’s always great entertainment in the tent, and a mind-boggling amount of prizes to be won. But the best part is the feeling of camaraderie, of everyone out there fishing and enjoying time on the water.

Hope to see you out there next year!