Finally in the full swing of things!

It was a long winter but I’ve finally been out on the big water, got the Sea Nymph wet, and even got my first sun burn of 2009!

This year was another year of “Salmon Slammin’” a small organized tournament which sees two fishing message boards competing, the private “Reel Buddies” board and the “Spoon Pullers.”

For a second year in a row I teamed up with Darrel and his Lund, and with another friend we were called “Team Slaughterfest.”  Pre-fishing Friday had a lot of people worried as there was a “small craft warning” and most people decided to duck out and head for monster Grand River catfish instead.

We decided not to believe the weatherman and instead launched at Port Weller where we would quickly get into a couple salmon.  I managed to land my first Chinook of 2009 and Tony got his first ever Atlantic Salmon, proof that the Lake Ontario stocking program is working!

My first salmon of 2009:

Saturday morning, tournament day, after a 4:30am wake-up and stop at Tim Hortons, we were launched by 6am.   As someone who is located in South Eastern Ontario, I am not on the “big” waters as much (Lake Erie or Lake Ontario).  When I am, we are often met with crazy winds and really rough water.  To my surprise this day it was flat calm… no wind and even bugs started coming out.

Maybe it was the difference in conditions from the day before but for a long day of fishing we managed to go 2 for 4.  Still brought in a box of 25+lbs but we were about half way to the winning total.

Regardless of few fish, having one of your first soft water fish peel a few hundred feet of line certainly makes me excited!

Big thanks to my friend Darrell to guiding us to some beautiful salmon!

Once home, I was anxious to get the Sea Nymph out and launched it at a local lake:

I managed to boat over 30 pike on a solo mission but unfortunately the average weight was about 3-4lbs, nothing really post worthy.  It always surprises me the amount of aggression that comes from these small “hammer handles” absolutely killing the spoons every chance they get.

It is officially on for 2009 – already have almost every weekend booked for fishing until the winter.  Looking forward to sharing some more stories.

Tight lines,

Christine