Well, Laker John and I decided that Friday, the 8th was going to be the day for the first fishing expedition in 2016. Hit the road at 0630 and off to pick up the boat in Picton and the gear at Hay Bay.
As we drove on Hwy 49, we could see the ice on Long Reach, Shermans Point and all the way to the ferry. That kinda decided that we would be on the North Channel. Made it to Finkles and there were two trailers in the lot already.
Loaded the boat, got the motor started and headed off into a stout north-easterly wind. Decided that disgression was the better part of valour and that fishing in the lee of Amherst Is would be better than running to the Batcave or Keiths Shoal.
Found the shelter of the Island and set the rods, two with walleye lures and two lead cores with spoons.
I hardly had time to get my cigar lit and the lead core fired, "FISH ON!!!!!!" what a great sound. John grabs for the net and I yell "Double Header". He takes the second rod and the fish is taking drag, just put it in the holder and do one at a time. I brought the fish to the net and John slipped the fish into the basket.
Now about the second one, John took the rod and said it was gone
Unhooked the fish in the net, got the scale and camera - just a shade under 10 lbs - great way to start 2016.
The walleye lure fired again before I got the first one out and John was into a fish, slowly he brought it in and I scooped the net, got the treble and the fish wriggled and was gone
We decided that we should switch everything to the ShoeHorn spoons, but having to use weights to get the lurs down seemed like a lot of trouble in the small boat. We would use the two lead core rods.
After we made that decision, I was letting out the lead core and just as John was clipping the board to the line, I felt the line pull sharply, I said - I think we had a strike- John put the board and I started to let it out and the board was acting funny - Fish ON!!!!
John brought the fish to the net and no mistakes this time - landed another.....
Oops hit the wrong key, not preview but submit......
So, we had each had a fish and were satisfied about coming out on Jan 8th.
For the next hour, we had strikes and misses and several more fish. either downwind or upwind.
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And another
The bite calmed down and we made several downwind passes in the 24-27 foot range and our efforts were rewarded with a couple more fish.
Last one of the day:
We called it a day at 1330, fishing for about 3 hours with 13 strikes, six landed and one lost at the net - Quite a day I must say.
Back to the ramp, unload the boat and head for the storage and drop the gear at Hay Bay.
That was a GREAT start to 2016 - we hope it gets better. We're hoping to made it back out in February to continue the monthly fishing.
Stay Tuned
David aka Superdad
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