King Of Kings Tourny

[ckewley]

It started around 4:30 pm on Thursday when I received a call from buddy of mine. I don't get calls from him too oftain, texts & PM's through Facebook sure but calls....so I knew this was important. A friend of his was entered in a big salmon derby (King of Kings) for this coming Saturday & their team had a major setback, their observer had cancelled on them. The observers "job" is to sit on a competing teams boat & make sure they are not cheating & inorder to fish in the derby each team must have one.To understand fully whats at stake, this derby packs in teams from all around Ontario & bordering U.S. states, Quebec as well, a maximum of 60 boats can enter with a ticket price of $1000.00, never mind fuel, dock charges & all other stuff & is done months in advance.....so last minute cancellations can be bitter. I was lucky to be able to jump at this opportunity. After reassuring Matt a few times that I would be there without fail, I met the team on Friday for the Captains Dinner (largely of the beer variety) & a few other teams. This is a fairly tight knit community & even if there is politics between teams, it's not bought out in the open (at least that I saw). I met the captain of the boat I was to be on, Gary. The next morning I was to show up around 5:30 but as with all this kind of thing I couldn't sleep all that much. So 4:30 rolls around & I'm out the door blasting my way towards Bluffers Marina, text Matt when I get there & he's 20min away. Start to talk to a few guy's, all are friendly but don't dare ask what or where they will be fishing, government agencies could learn a few things about secretes from these gents. Meet up with Matt & his team (Boxy or Foxy never could get it straight & Matts Dad, good bunch) only to be dropped off at Gary's boat & his team (the Bronte Buoys, Gary, Mike, John). After they completed their check list it was off to the staging area. Now I snapped a lot of pics but very few turned out because at 6:30am it was blast off.....dang, me was that insane, 47 boats rocketing top speed in all directions, we were air time more than once!!!! Somebody had video that shows Gary's boat all of 2ft out of the water...lol. There's not an inch of Lake O that these fisherman don't know so it's more of a guessing game as to where they(the fish) might be that day. The days leading into the derby teams are allowed to pre-fish but fishing proved to be hard for most, thanks largely due to the East winds that blew through. Most boating small kings if that & on derby day nothing had changed. Constant chop & 2-3ft rollers all day made fishing....fun. Gary chose a tried & true area off Toronto Islands & within the first 20min we had one on then lost & another bump but no take then ,,,,nothing. 2 hours rolled by & although very few fish were marked allot of schools of bait fish were, so it was a matter of time. The rigger fires & John is fighting a decent fish, it runs a few times & boat side we see it's a decent but by no means big fish, around 12 lbs. With new found excitement the team start changing everything on their lines, by the end I don't think a single spoon/lure/meat/colour combo wasn't tried. If the lack of fish & harder elements weren't enough you had to see the hundreds of sail boats that poured out of every marina, don't know if there was a race for those guy's going on but man o man, saw a few of the smaller racing boats flip....Anyway cut off time was 2:30 meaning lines out of the water but you had till 3:30 to make it back to the marina & make weigh in. Rather disheartened the team didn't want to weigh in their fish when they heard other teams had 2 or more fish but truth told they would have been top 15 as many teams including last years winner boated worse to no fish. I took a pic of the tally board but my camera sucks, 1st place team walked away with 18,000 total weigh in of 72lbs 2nd place had something in the area of 43lbs not sure on the pay out. Big fish on the day was 22lbs. This year is a year of firsts for me, I had a charity ice fishing tourny that Chris Brock invited Bain & me to, then a cancellation put me in my buddies boat for a real tourny a few weeks back inwhich the boat caught the fish but I was lucky enough to reel in the only King for the boat that day, took 5th place overall, & yet another cancellation put me in a "pro" tourny, not off to a bad start. I walk away with meeting a bunch of great down to earth guy's who's passion for fishing has taken them to the next level, I'm sure it won't be the last time I see them! Sorry in advance for lack of photo's/fish porn my camera sucks & hope to rectify that soon.

About 2 seconds before blast off

John with the only hook up for the day

Back at the weigh in

The Captains Dinner, allot of great prizes were raffled off, rods/reels/riggers, I won a Scotty rod holder, won't fit my boat though.....

Didn't know we had things like this in the GTA, I want one!!!

[misfish]

I feel your excitment. I too had the experince to be an observer. I had a great team to watch . Turned out to be a couple of memebers from here, were on the team. Started off with a triple header right off the bat. Learned a ton from these guys. Even won a side bet on which bait would catch the next fish. It,s a long day, but when the team is catching, it,s a blast . I heard other guys say man, that was a boring day. Guess I lucked out.

 

Glad to hear you enjoyed your outing.

Edited June 21, 2015 by Brian B

[Freshtrax]

Sounds like a great day on the water..., if anyone needs an observer call me.

[misfish]

Sounds like a great day on the water..., if anyone needs an observer call me.

 

You have a boat, get a team together.LOL

[Gnote]

If i had 1000 extra bucks id be right there too lol

Edited June 21, 2015 by Gallie

[chris.brock]

Great story Chris. Sounds exciting to witness a hardcore tournament like that.

[ckewley]

Thanks for reminding me Brian, before this I knew 2 things about big lake salmon fishing, Jack & Crap. These guy's were a wealth of knowledge, teaching tactics, colour combo's, times of day/year.... the more you observed & asked questions the more they got into it, awesome stuff!!! Ya Chris it was extremely cool!

Edited June 21, 2015 by ckewley

[Freshtrax]

You have a boat, get a team together.LOL

 

Anyone want to spot the entry fee? Hahah, I would like the opportunity to get out with a premier team on the lake more than anything to "observe". Or learn a few things.

[sleepjigging]

You were in the right place & right time Chris. Should invest in the OLG.

[Old Ironmaker]

Good read thanks. That first pic looks like the 401 at 5PM, man talk about traffic. I would also love to act as an observer sometime, how do you volunteer? It is a sad state we live in today that an impartial observer is needed so that fishermen don't cheat. I guess when theres money involved people will do anything. I have a few golf buddies that could use an observer in our 5 buck Nassau's. Big Bob has what I call a size 14 foot wedge. He cheats steady and really gets upset when after all his cheating I still beat him.

[ckewley]

Looks like I'm invited back for the next one (Aug 1) so I'll ask around for you guy's that would like to volunteer. There are a bunch of rules, but the main ones are where guy's would be tempted, fishing start & stop, you're allowed to put out your boards but must wait till 7:30am before you can drop lines & lines must be out of the water by 2:30pm (any fish caught after is disqualified, if it hooked before 2:30 it is still legal ). Not allowed to use the radio or cell phones, like myself some guy's are on call 24-7 so it is up to you to let him answer his phone or not but if another boat see's him they "may" tell the officials & the boat might get disqualified.