Last Week of Salmon Derby Report - We Won!

[Aaron Shirley]

First off, I apologize for the week-long report. I have been fishing like a mad man with very little sleep and haven’t turned on my computer in over a week. I spent the last week of the salmon derby fishing solid in the mornings and evenings for kings for the Great Ontario Salmon Derby. I pretty much burned the candle at both ends staying up late fishing until dark and getting up at 3am every morning for the last week of the derby. I fished hard from Port Hope to the south shore east of Port Weller in search of big kings. I was on a major Quest to win the last week of the salmon derby with a week of holidays. I decided that I would spare no expense with a lack of sleep and fuel costs to travel anywhere from Port Hope to the South Shore that I thought I may get into big fish.

 

 

I found awesome fishing the second last weekend of the derby at Port Hope taking out a buddy Justin, but unfortunately, nothing over 27 and a half pounds despite lots of big fish. It was a crazy morning, as we had a very hard time getting a 3rd rod down, and couldn’t get our fourth rod down until about 9am. It was chaos in the boat, the kind of chaos we all dream about. It was entertainment at its best with a good buddy. After the flurry when things slowed down, Justin takes a freakin’ banana out of his lunch box and starts eating it with a big grin. It was hard to get mad at him after spanking so many nice kings lol. We had our success fishing a rigger down 21’ and Dipsy out 86’ on a 3 setting with no ring over 40- to 60-feet of water. The best baits were big Luhr Jensen Coyote flashers and a new prototype real cut herring strip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that awesome fishing, we had some very harsh winds that made a mess of the north shore with very high temps top to bottom. I have learned over the years that staging kings are outside of their preferred temp range and hit in much higher temps outside of river mouths; however, really high temps 70 F. and more shut them down. Accordingly, I had a very tough go the following 4 days fishing mostly solo all over the north shore. Bob Barnes who I filmed a salmon show with in July joined me one morning at Port hope, but we only managed one mature, despite me throwing in many tricks I’ve learned over the years. I averaged a fish per trip, and even got skunked on Wednesday at Bronte in my own backyard. I wasn’t happy that my week off was such lousy fishing, especially putting in so much effort.

 

 

After regrouping on Thursday night and studying the weather and lake data closely all week, I decided to head to the south shore on Friday. It was a gamble, but I had a hunch from experience and reviewing lake data that I would find big kings between Four Mile and Port Weller. So Friday I set off like all the other days, but this time a good friend Mitchell Burke would join me. My hunch paid off in a very big way. The fishing was a bit slow at first, but then we found them. They cannot hide with the Lowrance HDS units We had about a 2 hour window on Friday that the fishing was hot. We got about a dozen fish all big kings.

 

sonar looked like this a lot

 

Mitchell hooked a big king that took a long time to fight. I knew it was a good fish, and we took our time and got it to the back of the boat and I netted the fish with my new long handled net. I needed that long handled net, as my hot wire Dipsy rod has a 12’ lead to the bait! It looked like a decent fish so I put the scale on it and it said 31.12 at first. I almost chucked it back in the drink, but it quickly bounced to 33-pounds. I thought this was great, we may be able to make the middle of the top ten and possibly get $1,000. and get into the Fish Off at Port Credit. Into the Lund’s big live well it went. We got the fish about 9am, but since the fishing was so good for big kings we kept fishing until it slowed down. We packed it in about 12:30pm and headed home to weigh in the fish at Bronte Outdoors near my house. When I put the fish on the scale, I was perplexed, as it read 35.96. It took me about 10 seconds to realize my freakin’ scale was WAY OFF and we just took the lead on the second last day of the derby!!! Well I let out a big wooooohoooo in the store a couple of times lol. Mitch came over with a big grin on his face now realizing the fish he reeled in could win us a car. I was in shock, as the fish didn’t look that big to me. Know I know it is because my scale has been almost 3-pounds light and all the bigger fish I caught this year were much larger than I thought! I let a few big fish go that only weighed up to 30.08 on my scale this year. I’ll have 2 new scales very soon!

 

Mitchell Burke with his 35.96 king

 

 

These are the type of teeth that have sheering off 40lb fluoro!

 

 

I fished solo on the last day of the derby just east of Weller. It was a little slower fishing, but I picked away at them. They moved overnight a couple miles east closer toward the mouth of the Niagara River. I found them from close to the border to Four Mile in the same depths, and got a couple of fish guesstimated close to 30-pounds, a 28 and a few 20’s with the rest being under 20. I even got a double header solo and a silver fish about 20. Although I had a good trip with some big fish, I had nothing to weigh in. I didn’t take any photos of the fish since the Monday due to the warm bath water and fishing solo in the wind. It would have killed the fish for the sake of a photo. I fished until 4:30pm on the last day of the derby and had to leave because I was starving and badly dehydrated, even though I planned to fish until 7:30pm.

 

Saw a lot of these, and got many of them to bite Action is good on the south shore right now, go get them!

 

The best action on the south shore was between 100- to 160-feet of water. The rigger was good between 100- to 125-feet down with a big green glow Luhr Jensen Coyote flasher to the prototype herring cut bait. My Wonder Bread Dipsy was hot out 300’ on a 3 setting with ring with a big Wonder Bread Coyote flasher and prototype cut herring strip. I also did well on a Sushi Fly Zilla on the Dipsy out 365’ on a 3 setting with green Dipsy.

 

I was content but on pins and needles until it was posted that night that Mitchell’s fish won week 7 of the salmon derby. A big sigh of relief and cold beverages followed.

 

The details of the week 7 winner: Weighed in at Bronte Outdoors at about 2:30pm on Friday the second last day of the derby at 35.96. It was caught just east of Port Weller in about 140 FOW on the Wonder Bread Dipsy on a 3 setting with ring out 301-feet with a big Luhr Jensen Coyote flasher in Wonder Bread colour with a chrome blue scale bait head to the prototype cut bait. I tied my own cut bait heads with 40lb Maxima fluorocarbon (upgraded this year from 30lb), to a size 3/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook snelled as a spacer with a lead to a size 1/0 Gammy treble to be just past the tip of the cut bait tail.

 

I’ve been fishing the salmon derby for many years, and it is nice to finally hit pay dirt with a good friend. I sacrificed a lot of sleep the past week and seeing my wife and 18-month-old boy in favour of pounding Lady O for the derby. My wife thought I had lost my mind, until Friday when we weighed in the big male. Now she will not have a problem with my addiction as much next year. I’m looking forward to taking my friend Mitchell out in the Fish Off at Port Credit in September. See some of you there!

 

Aaron Shirley

[solopaddler]

Wow what a story Aaron, congrat's all around!

[splashhopper]

[Roy]

Aaron, you deserve a big win...you've worked hard enough at it. Thanks for the report and the porn. Giv'er hell at the fish off.

[Joey]

Well hard work and long hours paid off, congratulations

 

I knew the banana in the boat was just a myth

 

Joey

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

Those are some wicked chinnies.

[glen]

Great report.It is nice to have you as a member here.

 

Good luck in the fish off.

[LefroyFisherman]

Awesome! great job, some huge fish

[vinnimon]

Congrats Aaron

[lew]

That's great Aaron, congrats on the win !!

 

Amazing number of huge fish too.

[canadadude]

Congrats Aron on the week 7 win......the week 6 win was aslo caught on the south shore off Dalhousie sure would be nice to get weigh-in closer to St Catharines

[asdve23rveavwa]

Now THAT is dedication...or maybe just plain old "fish crazy"!! Way to go Aaron, Mitchell and Justin!! Some really nice kings

[Twocoda]

Congratulations on the effort of the win ....you deserve it ....BIG TIME!!!

 

Now all you have to do ...is learn to walk on solid ground again ...lol...vertigo for a week...lol...

 

Nice shootin

[Pigeontroller]

Great report, Thanks and congrats!

[Leecher]

Sweet reward for your efforts Aaron

Congrats on the win

Leechman

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Great story and congrats on a well deserved and well earned win. Love the story. I can feel your excitement and love for the sport. Thanks for sharing.

[sheyuid]

very nice fish and report.

[steelhead hunter]

congrats Aaron you are the man

[spincast]

Way 2 Go. those are some serious salmon - and great dedication! You must feel great - still sleeping -- ?

[justin elia]

When Aaron and I went out on Friday morning, he mentioned to me on the way to Port Hope that he would fish the derby hard all week and was going to win Week 7; the guy was seriously determined. Good on ya pal for sticking at it and calling your shot! I think I'll call you Babe Ruth from now on.

[bongo]

Way to go on the huge Chinnies. I was just fishing on Friday and caught some Chrome Salmon in the river, wow I didn't know the Salmon were already turning dark out in the lake, looks like those were ready to go up with the next rainfall for sure

Edited August 31, 2010 by bongo

[Spiel]

Stellar!

 

Kudos to you Aaron and Mitchell, you certainly worked hard to put that fish in the boat and deserve to be rewarded for your efforts.

 

Mayhaps next year you'll get your prize Justin.

[justwannafish]

Great read! Beautiful fish!

Nice one!!

[PERCHER]

Congrats on the big win.All the time spent on the water paid off.Did that fish show as a Toyota on the screen?

Dan

[Grimace]

Well done sir.