Port Hope Report

[Erie-Eyes]

Made my second annual trip to Port Hope last Tuesday am with two fishing buddies (Mike & Joe) who had never fished salmon before, or visited the Port Hope area. We left Ottawa at 1.00 am and were on the water in PH by 5.30 am along with numerous other boats. Rock and roll time as wind was picking up from W and Lake O was starting to dance. Set out two downrigger rods and trolled in general area of other boats with no luck. By 9.00 am both buddies were hanging over side of boat, so we decided to call it quits for the day and headed for shore for some much needed stability and a late breakfast (Mike was unable to eat). Played tourist for rest of morning and checked into motel to obtain some much needed sleep, play some cards, and get ready for early start on Wednesday, weather permitting. By 4.00 am Wednesday, wind had died down and shifted to N making Lake O much more friendly, and we were on the water before daylight - nothing like watching the sun rise out on the lake. Other anglers had advised luck fishing 35' down over 50 fow and we proceed to follow this advice along with numerous other boats. By 8.30 am we still had no luck and decided to head out to deeper water. Went out to 90'++ adjusting downriggers close to this depth as we went. We were all enjoying the beautiful morning and calm waters, when reel on port downrigger starts to SCREAM !!! I grab the rod, try to set hook, but there is no stopping the freight train on the other end. I have 250 yards of line on this reel and its disappearing at an alarming rate despite drag and thumb pressure. Mike is at wheel of the boat and Joe brings in other lines. The frieght train must have reached the station because it slowed down and slowly but surely I were able to recover all that line and eventually saw a long dark shadow at the end. Joe had my large walleye net ready and in short order we soon had our first Chinook aboard, even though it barely fit in the net. Weight accoding to my scales was 14lb 10 oz with a length of 36 in. (Sorry I'm unable to post pictures as I haven't yet figured out how.) I can see how one can get hooked on this type of fishing as in all my years I have never experienced anything like the powerful run of this fish - makes me want to do it again - plans for next year already underway.

[FromTheNorth]

Great report! Sounds like it was exciting.

I'm not getting down there for a couple of days... you're killing me. But I love a good salmon story.

Did you hear of anyone having success from shore? We aren't going to have a boat until the third day of the trip.

FromTheNorth

[SALMON]

It is always fun. Get a free account at www.photobucket.com .then upload your picture to it. At the bottom of your pic you will see 3 addresses..copy and paste the bottom link into your story..

[Erie-Eyes]

Hi FromTheNorth. We did notice several people fishing from shore but did not notice any action. Maybe we just didn't watch long enough.

[Carl]

I have been hearing reports from the weekend and the fish are starting to come up river...

Evening and morning fish have appeared to be the best times. They are starting to come up!

[Erie-Eyes]

I was able to post a picture to the Gallery Window Trout & Salmon, but still haven't figured out how show it here.[/img]

[porthopesteel]

After the rain we have been having the first run of fish have started moving up the river with a good number of fish being caught in front of the willows. Out in the lake most people are fishing around the piers in 35 to 50 ft of water. Lots of people are reporting good catches and friend of mine took most of his fish off of dipsy divers.

[sportfish_dom]

WTG E.E...it's a blast when you get those screamers on...