I have to share how my first Salmon charter went. After being out for salmon a few times in the past in non charter boats I was really looking forward to fishing with Scott from Bay of Quinte Charters for both a chance at some fun fish but also a chance to learn from a pro. I was not disappointed in all of the information Scott was able to / willing to share with me. Scott was very open about all the tricks of the trade and best of all was up beat and fun to be around. This was important because the day didn’t necessarily go as planned…
The day started with the first solid rain / thunder storm that Wellington had had in over a month which figures because it was the first day of my vacation as well. After communicating with Scott throughout the morning my father in-law, brothers in-law and I met Scott at the launch at 8am. We made our way out to the Bonnet knowing that there could be another storm blowing in at 11am. The water was a little bumpy but not too bad at all. We didn’t even have all of our lines set before the first fish was in the boat, a nice rainbow trout to start the day. Maybe 20 minutes later after getting the spread out we had another decent fish, but the salmon jumped the net and ended up breaking off around the down rigger cable. I don’t know who was more disappointed, Jim or Scott! We kept fishing but before long we started smelling gas and sure enough one of the brand new 150hp Evinrudes had gas pouring out of its fuel filter. Scott was quick to jump into action and had the issue resolved fairly quickly, but in the mean time the storm began to blow in and the smell of gas was pretty strong…not sure whether it was some bad timbits or the smell of gas or the BUMPY water but before we knew it 3 out of 4 us were chumming the water. We called it a day and cleared the lines to make the bumpy ride back to the dock by noon.
Scott felt pretty bad for us due to the motor issue and mentioned that he might have an opening on Thursday and would be in touch. None of us expected that Scott owed us anything as we had fun and he shared a ton of info on Monday, but Scott being Scott didn’t think it was enough. He got in touch with us and had us back on the water at 6am on Thursday morning. But get this, Scott sprained his ankle playing soccer earlier in the week and was hobbling around on one foot. Scott also had family visiting and was up fairly late the night before plus had another charter the same afternoon from 1 - 9pm, yet, he still met us at 5:30am to get us out again, on one good foot.
We had a great day with two fish in the box early. The fishing died down and the jokes started being told while Scott shared more great information about salmon fishing. Scott remained optimistic that we’d get another fish even as we listened to radio chatter about how nobody was catching. As we were about to clear lines I was talking about how it had been a great day, Scott reminded me that “It ain’t over until the last line is out of the water”…sure enough we hooked into a fish…it wasn’t a monster but it put a bend in the rod and I was able to bring it in. A nice little salmon for the dinner table. Scott took us back to the dock after cleaning our fish and wished us well.
We didn’t catch any monsters and the numbers weren’t great but I can’t tell you enough how great of an experience we all had. Scott is a fun guy to be around and has a wealth of information on Salmon fishing. Oh, and his boat is pretty amazing! Remember to give me a shout in 10 years or so Scott if you’re wanting to sell your boat!
Thanks again for a great couple of days on the water Scott!!! I think we might have an annual tradition on our hands now.
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