I had an opportunity to take my 19 year old son, who is on summer vacation from VTC out salmon fishing Saturday afternoon
6/12 after installing Some new to me down riggers on Reelax...(thanks Jusfishin)
We were on the water around 3:30pm.. Weather;10mph wind out of SW, moderate chop.
Chris had never caught a salmon And I had hopes of getting him his 1st... We put in at Van Everest in Milton and headed South along the east shore...After setting up and making a pass at 60-80 ft, We werent marking much, so we moved into deeper water. On the 2nd pass at 100ft, with 2 rods down on
the riggers at 55 and 65 ft. 2 Rods setup with slide divers out the side at 140 and 165 ft of line. The 1st rod goes off.... Its the slide diver with the money lure.. Chris has his 1st Salmon on... After a couple of small runs we boat the 20 salmon..
Chris is all Smiles...
After getting the rod set back up it goes off again... This time ZEEEEEEEEEE,ZEEEEEEEEEEEEE,ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Its on a hard run right outta the shoot.! As Chris grabs the rod, it jumps out of the water about 150ft off the back of the boat at the end of the 1st run..
Looks like a nice one! This fish Went on 2 more runs during the ~15 min battle and I filmed the middle to end of it... I had to drop the camera for netting...
Chris did a great job guiding him to the net after a little acrobatics at the boat, we had his 1st FINE salmon aboard... This guy was 24 and weighed in at 5lb 7oz On the scales.... I dont think Chris realized this fish would have placed in the $$ in derbies of years past..
I wasnt sure who was more excited, Chris or I. Both these fish came on the divers, and After I lost the knob of one of the Big Jons in the lake while manually cranking, We droped back to 3 rods.(my offering to the lake gods for the nice fish) The riggers
didnt do anything, but it was nice to be able to get down to the 80 depth where we marked bait often...
We were running 2.4-2.8mph on GPS and the fish hit in 100+FOW, guessing we were 45ft down with the divers.. Both salmon hit on the money lure.. Honey bees were silent
for the 2hrs we were on the water.. Chris went 2 for 2 on his 1st 2 salmon ever I think we may have the makings of a salmon fisherman on my hands....
The 24 Salmon was full of alwives, and looked to have been eating very well... With only one old Lamprey mark on him.
On the water fast, off fast, 2 for 2 on salmon in 2hrs Quick rigger shake down cruise And many smiles to go around .
A day my son will never forget Gotta love Champlain!
Tight lines all...
