Salmon fever has got me!
Last week browsing Spoonpullers there were several teams looking for a observer for the tournament, so looking forward to seeing the top 60 teams ( it's a invitation only tourney ) from Ontario, New York, Quebec, battle it out for 20k first prize money I decided to try to get on as a observer. After replying to several of the threads I was contacted by Steve of team Get Bit out of Whitby and agreed to join the team. I had a guy get back to me Thursday night late willing to pay me and take me fishing on Friday for the pre-fish. I had committed so I try to call my brother to see if he was interested but no answer and he's heading for Rice lake on the weekend so he's out! Called a buddy and he's good to go.
My day on Friday starts at 2:00 am, too excited can't sleep. I'm in Whitby for 5:00 am, meet Steve and we head by boat to Toronto, start the fishing just past Pickering and the rain that was forecasted was holding off. A hour into it we're hit, nice fish fish 22lbs, I get the first kick at the cat being the guest.
We fish till noon, weather calling for the perfect storm to develop with 2 fronts moving in. We go 6 for 6, 2 shakers, one bow and 3 salmon, the biggest being the 22 I was lucky enough to haul in.
Friday night is the team meeting, dinner and the pairing of observers with their ride for Saturday, Observers fish from a different team than their own for obvious reasons. Great dinner and lots of great prizes for the draw. Ended up meeting lots of friends and acquaintances. Had the pleasure of having a few drinks and lots of conversation with Trannyman, this guy is a encyclopaedia of fishing knowledge. The night finishing at midnight back in Whitby where I had a room booked.
Saturday morning starts early 4:00 am, at Bluffers for 5:30 meet the team that I'm observing. And here's where my luck goes bad. There are 60 teams in the competition and some boats are 40 plus and decked to the nines. I find out I'm fishing out of a 19.5 footer and the team has 4 men and 1 son, about 9 or 10, so 6 of us going out was very close quarters. What about the 40 footer for the old fat guy to observe out of.
The winds at this point are about 25-30 km/hr. Not going to be pretty and I'm contemplating pulling out, and can't believe for the life of me why the dad is even considering taking his son out. To make a long story short early morning the winds die down to a acceptable level and it's getting hot and the boys are putting fish in the boat 2 at this point. They then decide to change locations so off the the blue zone we go at Port Credit about a 30 kms trip, it wasn't pretty got pounded to death, the move proves productive, 2more fish, biggest is 26, brought in by the young fellow, who happens to be a very good fisherman, watched him switch out baits run the riggers and even run the boat. He's going to be a contender for sure. They fish till 2:30 when all rods had to be out of the water. We have to be back at bluffers for 3, we're 40 kms out and the waves are 2-3 feet. I will finish this story by saying my head will still not turn to the right due to utter beating laid down by trying to get back. To say the least there were a couple of times I thought the boat was going to flip. The boat was a disaster by the time we got to the docks. Front casting deck broken in two, dash cracks, radio falls out of dash, electronics break off, 1 pedestal seat breaks, screws backing out of dash, equipment everywhere. it wasn't pretty. I can only say I will never be put in that position again!
To sum up, the overall experience of the shootout was excellent. The ride I drew was a different story. But I'm not going to let that tarnish the tournament itself. Met some great people and learned a little, so all in all a good experience.
The winning team boated 118 pounds with a 6 fish box.
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