Although we cancelled todays trip due to my wife's flu, I did manage to get 2 days out of the planned Trifecta of salmon fishing. This is where I used my vacation days to insure full times out on the lake. The birth of my second child is June 5th, and unlike last year through a combination of crappy weather (for family stuff) and the luster of a new boat, I managed fishing every weekend up until Memorial day and then through Labor Day on and off (thanks to a birthday surprise downrigger...hehehe)This year will not be lucky in the area of fishing time as I am looking forward to more and different responsibilities - like trying to get my 3 year old out of pull ups and diapers before the newborn....
Since I have no idea about whenthe next time I will be on the big lake, I would like to let you know what I would do if I was going fishing over the next two weeks:
1) Purple / Orange is the best color for quality fish. No question.
2) Find wind and fish with this wind. The good salmon like a top current and cruise for abnormalities such as your fly, spoon, or bait.
3) As there are midges hatching all over the lake, there is much activity near the surface and all fish that were kept (about 20% of all caught) {we kept 5 fish for 2 days out} were full of midges. During the day, these midges will hatch from the bottom to the surface. Small through medium size fish will feast on the midge larvae and this is why you will see alot of baitfish. In these areas though, the bite seems to be pretty picky. We find that moving to deeper water will get us into harder hitting salmon (or so I seem to think).
4) The planar lead core produced the most quality fish as I beleive the salmon are still quite boat shy.
5) The fish are all over the place. However, the broads, long island, sandy island, and Welch island were slow. We found great success around Timber, then near Becky's Garden, and on the west side of Bear Island.
The best fighting fish were near Timber and Locke though. The biggest salmon we boated was 4.1 lb. We lost one over 6 lb (Both of these were on the east side of Bear Island). The last fish of the day on Thursday was mine. After 12 jumps (no lie) the fish still didn't want to come in. After bringing in the second line off the planar, the fish kept heading for the chartreuse planar cord. Finally the fish jumped clear out of the water and over the PLANAR LINE which was 6 inches above the water and 35 degrees from the boat. I couldn't beleive it. And as luck would have it, it was a gold medal jump for that salmon as it was awarded freedom. There we sit after getting chopped up by the wind, and the fish. All we could do is smile and say how much we loved salmon fishing.
Good luck to all and I will be thinking and hoping for some time on the water this year....
PS - Where are those confounded lake trout. Could not find them anywhere!!!
Good Luck with the new addition coming, and hopefully the wife will give ya a couple of days off if your a good boy LOL Take Care God Bless and Good Health to you and your family, Tight Lines Dave!!
