Never caught a Salmon!

[JohnF]

Okay. All this Bring & Brag about Salmon has got my attention. I've only been fishing for a couple of summers, just bass and pike in the rivers. I've bought some pretty good light gear for that (after experimenting with a lot of cheap crap) but I've never caught anything the size of those salmon you guys are all showing off. I'm only an hour's drive from Goderich so I'm tempted to give it a go. The problem is I know nada about the process.

 

I'm picking up a bunch of used gear this morning from a customer of mine who had to give up fishing so he's giving it to me, cuz I sounded enthusiastic I suppose, or mebbe cuz I begged for it. I know there are a bunch of Cleo's in the box, a lot of Rapalas, a herd of spoons and spinners and who knows what else. Sadly, no float type rods, just trolling rods and biiiiiggggg spinning reels on short tree trunks. I may need to find someone to tell me what they all really mean (i.e. - are they any good for anything).

 

I've been following all the posts here about river and shore salmon fishing (doing my homework) but what I'd really like is to hook up with a mentor, some old fisherman who knows all the ropes, even if he is prone to waxing philosophical about life and it's vagaries, so long as he shares a little of his compendium of fishlore with me. A young gun is fine too, but they're so damned energetic. If I'm gonna do something physically taxing, I want to be the pacer, not the keeper upper.

 

Anyway, gotta go pick up that stuff. Mebbe I'll post an inventory once I figger out what I got. Then all you old crusty types can weigh in with advice if you want.

 

Thanx

JF

[JohnF]

So here's what's in the grab bag:

 

15 assorted Rapalas, mostly floaters size 5 & 7 but a few bigger ones and a couple of divers

10 of those fat rattlers that look like a pregnant guppy

3 really big flat diamond shaped rattlers (dunno what they're called)

lots of assorted jigs

5 Kwikfish several sizes

a small assortment of largish spoons

6 Cleos of different sizes

5 Luhr Jensen Cleo lookalikes

a bag of Rebel Redneck yellow plastic mudpuppy lookalikes (w/red flared necks)

a variety of sizes & styles of spinners and buzzers

quite a bunch of small Mepps, Martins, and Olympiques(sp?)

some brass swivels incl some 3 ways

some new wire leaders & a lot of snaps

a large Fenwick box with hanger racks in the bottom compartment

a Triton trolling reel on a Shimano Downrigger rod

a Daiwa RG350 spinning reel on a 7' Fenwick rod (reel has lousy balance)

a Shakespeare Sigma Supra reel on a heavier 7" Fenwick rod (reel feels nice but has what feels like about 50# mono on it)

 

One interesting lure is an old wooden black & orange (w/red spots) Kwikfish marked X4 with a 1 1/2' wire crosspiece on the shoulder eye that has a small treble on each end. I just took some pics but then realized I don't have my card reader here at home. if anyone's interested I'll put 'em up later.

 

None of it may be worth anything but it was sure fun digging it out of the box and sorting it out. It didn't cost me so anything I salvage is found. If nothing else it was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Now we're getting ready for a run to the Thames to see if there's anything biting.

 

JF

[Canuck2fan]

If you are thinking of fishing Goderich you might just want to wait till after the rain on Tuesday. The water is lower than a snake's butt in a wagon rut... The salmon run on Lake Huron is either late this year or going to be non existent.

Edited September 23, 2007 by Canuck2fan