36th Annual Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular Starts Friday
If it’s late August then it’s time to spend our days on Georgian Bay for the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular. This year’s event runs from August 23rd to September 1st. As usual, there’s going to be thousands of anglers fishing, and many more thousands visiting the big tent for all the entertainment.
This event holds so many memories for me.
Darrell first brought me to this event in 2010, the year I started fishing. He’d fished the derby before and knew what to expect, but I had no idea. We showed up at the big tent, there were people and boats everywhere. Inside the tent were the leaderboards and the leading fish in the freezer. It was exciting but also overwhelming. I had not dressed for the chilly weather and couldn’t help but get cranky about it. To cheer me up, Darrell insisted we go for a walk in town and then we stopped at a bookstore. He knew pretty early on that books were always the answer. We barely even fished that year thanks to the wind.
By 2012 we were fishing out of our 12-foot Alumacraft tinny with the little Riviera downriggers that we picked up off Kijiji. We were always one of the smallest boats out there and really had to choose our days. Fortunately, the weather co-operated enough for us to get a few times. On one day out there, I was biting into an apple turnover when my rod fired. Holy crap, a fish! I can still remember reeling in that salmon and being shocked that I had finally caught something in Owen Sound.
By the time 2014 came around, we’d bought an old 22-foot Sea Ray boat. We really levelled up our derby experience by getting a slip at Georgian Shores marina and staying on the boat as much as possible. We went home to look after the animals, then loaded the dogs back into the car and headed back up. I got seasick the first night we fished and pretty much stayed that way for the next 6 days that we were there. Thunderstorms went through one night and knocked the power out to the big tent. It was eerie to have such sudden quiet. That was the year we got into a bunch of rainbow trout. A steady bite was an odd thing for us out on Owen Sound!
Although we fished the Salmon Spectacular every year, our curse of catching very few fish in Owen Sound continued. Some people excel at finding them on that water. We don’t. When the boundaries for the derby were expanded and included Meaford, we were thrilled. For some reason, Meaford is a place we can often find fish.
There was the night in 2018 when Darrell hooked into something big. A few rod pumps and a quick fight was all he got before the fish broke off, taking Darrell’s prized green ladderback Lyman with him. One of the old Lymans. If you know, you know. He still gets cranky about it.
By far my favourite days of fishing in the derby came in 2019. By now we were fishing out of our 16-foot Lund Rebel. We headed out around 10am on the last Saturday, when all the other boats were coming in and talking about how sick they had all gotten with the waves. We knew it was rough, but the wind was supposed to switch and lay down, so we gave it a go. We started by trolling in tight to the harbour, but eventually worked our way further out as the wind did shift and the waves turned into gentler rollers. A steady stream of monarch butterflies flew by as we continued to troll. We cheered them on and hoped they would make it to shore for a break. It’s like they were an omen. The rods started firing and for two hours they didn’t stop. We went 7 for 10 that day on lake trout and salmon. What a rush! We headed right back out again the next day and went 4 for 7. Making contact with 17 fish in two days was unheard of for us!
Over the years we’ve weighed in a few fish, never making the leaderboard. But it’s really about so much more than that. It’s such a neat feeling to be part of the village on the water. Boats everywhere. Everyone enjoying the excuse to fish as much as possible. Trying to establish patterns that will hopefully work throughout the derby, as well as in the coming years. I love heading back to the ramp and hearing everyone ask, “How’d you do?” The majority of people are just out there to have and try their luck.
I’m excited for this year’s Salmon Spectacular to begin. Of course, we’ve both taken the first day off of work and will be hoping for light wind to no wind. The dogs have already be warned to get ready, since they often come with us. They get rewarded with french fries after a day of fishing so they don’t mind.
The Sydenham Sportsmen’s Association puts on an incredible event. They not only organize an incredible week of entertainment, a fish fry each Saturday, and all the weigh-ins, but they also manage to secure an incredible amounts of prizes to be part of the derby. The Salmon Spectacular raises funds for the fish hatcheries run by the organization, which stock over 160,000 salmonids each year. The funds also go towards ongoing conservation projects. So whether you choose to support the derby by fishing it, or heading to the big tent entertainment, you’re supporting a great cause!
Read about our 2023 Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular experience here.
argosgirl
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