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A few weeks ago, I joined my friend Glen with his buddy Alan for browns on the shorelines of Lake Ontario. It was a great day out, as we caught a bunch of feisty browns in shallow water. Storm Thundersticks were the hot ticket trolled at 1.8mph. A great way to kick off the open water season! Glen and I fished with Tony on the north shore of Lake Ontario this past Sunday after Glen and Tony fished for lake trout on Saturday. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend to be out, and the fishing was fantastic! Glen and Tony did well catching lakers on Saturday, and managed to boat a behemoth over 25 pounds to currently lead the SCGF spring derby in the lake trout division. The guys asked if I wanted to join them on Saturday as well, but I declined as I didn’t have a derby ticket. I had a feeling! I bought my ticket on Saturday, and headed out with them on Sunday morning. Glen with his derby leading laker We got out Sunday bright and early, started setting lines and it didn’t take long to find the kings. Riggers and Mag Dipsys were the ticket. We didn’t get a bite off a standard Dipsy or planer boards. All the action came at 2.3mph at the ball on custom Big Erns done by Mike Blake. Mike does the nicest custom colours I have ever seen, and it regularly pays off for us. I also love the Shoehorn spoons, as they also have great colours and run well at slower speeds in the spring. As a bonus, the Shoehorn spoons are compatible with Big Erns. My favourite set up is a mix of Big Erns and Shoehorn spoons early in the season. The water temp was 38F to 39F from top to bottom most areas we fished. We all had a blast hooking up with almost 30 fish mostly kings. We even had a couple double headers, but it was a steady pick for the most part. At one point, it was hard to keep the hottest Big Ern down in green/silver with black dots. Some kings didn’t even wait for it to be let fully out before nailing it! The three hottest spoons. I get the feeling this will be a great year on Lake Awesome! It was great times with great friends. It doesn’t get any better than that. We are all thinking about making the next trip out again! Good fishing! Aaron

I had a week off work to fish for salmon on Lake Ontario for the Great Ontario Salmon Derby I had a family vacation during the first week of the derby, and I also needed to rig up 2 new Cannon downriggers on my boat, so I didn't get out once in the first week. This was my first time having Cannon riggers on my boat, and I must say, I love them! They handle heavy weights and are incredibly fast. I began fishing out of Bluffers on Monday, and fished the general area to the east and west for the week. When I first got out on Monday I hit one nice fish right away on a Coyote flasher and TriggerX Twinkie rig, then it died. I got out late ad caught the tail end of the morning bite. I began trolling shallow, mid depths and deep to no avail. I decided to pull lines and try a new spot a few miles away. At 10:30am I had lines down and instantly started hitting nice kings! I love when a big move pays off. I had trouble keeping 2 lines down. As soon as the Luhr Jensen Coyote flasher and cut bait was sent down on my new rigger and Dipsy, off it fired. I had double headers solo and caught fish the rest of the day. Riggers fired from 50 feet down to 100. The Dipsy Divers fired from 89 to 180 out on a 3 setting. 130 feet of water to 215 produced well. The fish were high in the water column. Nothing big enough to weigh in for the derby, but close! Tuesday, I headed out again to the waypoints I hit fish the day before with a friend Rob. To make a long story short, we pounded them all day right up until we had to leave. Coyote flashers and TriggerX bait heads with herring strips getting it done again. Same settings on Dipsy divers and riggers. Same depths produced again. I had a friend Mitch out on Wednesday, but things changed dramatically on the lake with a big west wind Tuesday evening. The bite was off. We hit a couple smaller fish, then it died. After a while, we moved around 20 miles checking and fishing spots all over east and west. Finally just before we left, we hit a few more fish in front of Bluffers. On Thursday, I had Rob back out again, and another friend Derek joined us. This was the first time I have fished with Derek, and it was a riot. We'll have to do it again soon bud. It was nice to fish three guys, and it allowed us to utilize downriggers, Dipsys, leadcore and copper. We weren't expecting much, but we got into them pretty well, with deeper presentations working and 300 and 400 copper lines off planer boards. A variety of Coyote flashers and Kingfishers worked with herring strips in TriggerX Twinkie rigs and cut bait heads. Most fish were under 20lbs, but Derek got a nice one. Still not big enough to weigh in for the GOSD. Friday was a tough bite. I had a friend Melanie out, and we tried a bunch of spots, depths and combos. We only managed 5 bites and one was a shaker and a 12lb rainbow trout that Melanie got. On Saturday I had a friend Mario out, but we could only manage a few small kings in the 2 hours we were out. Now I am limited to weekends hoping to get one big bite! Good fishing, and good luck to anyone fishing the Great Ontario Salmon Derby!