Highlights 2023
Fishing Reports July /August Steelhead / CohoAugust brought in some of the best coho salmon and steelhead fishing that we have experienced in years. While the steelhead were not as pleniful as in past years the action was steady. Once again the area south and east of the old weather marker in 370’ of water produced consistently all month.Wind and weather did cause a many postponements and cancellations of scheduled trips but overall it was a good season. With the king salmon great returns of 23 and excellent reports of bumper natural reproduction in the nrorth shore streams, it is predicted to be a great season for king salmon.
June 22 & 23 2023 Troll to OshawaOn a perfect day, Dr. Doug and myself started a troll along the Toronto drop-off trying to reach Oshawa and the Darlington Nuke plant. Concentrating on King salmon we had steady action with multiple short hits. We did spend some time circling a school of kings in front of the Pickering Nuke plant in 150' of water with good success.
We never made it to Oshawa and stayed over night at the Whitby Yacht Club. Despite a club full of sailors, we were well received.
An early start the next day we trolled back to Mimico.
Multiple hits on a single dipsey rod all the way back with no results. A total of 20 solid hook-ups on that diver, we lost them all. That rod was the only rod getting hits. We tried to match up another diver with the same set-up to no avail.
We did hook up with our best king of the season on a rigger trolling just off bottom. It was the only king landed that day.
We plan a longer trip east in 2024
Garmin Panoptics The Garmin Panoptic sonar system was quite a successful purchase. Suggested by Vito Damato ( a well regarded fisherman) at the Toronto Spring Fishing Show, Vito displayed actual video of king salmon moving to the lures in real time. An expensive purchase, but Vito's video convinced me that the Panoptic sonar would be a welcome addition.
Installed and first tested in St Catherines, we encountered some initial set-up issues, but with some adjustments the unit became a valuable addition to our electronic equipment.
Watching steelhead diving to our lure set-up. moving from rigger to rigger checking things out, was exciting awaiting the hook-up but frustrating when they had a good look and then just swam away.
Additional tweeking of the system for king salmon will be ur main objective this season.