I tried on one of the eastern tribe last night, fished from 8-11pm, Before I left, there were 3 anglers who still refused to give up. I only witness two fish surfaced (not jumped) 150 feet off shoreline before 9pm. Not sure if they were Salmon, could be carp or other species, since bait fish were also surfacing.
Wind was 15km west on Aug 14
Water clarity was 1-2.5 feet, depending on the area, and higher then normal,
Bright Half moon with sporadic clouds covering it
Water was lukewarm to the touch.
I used Glow spoon on 9 ft rod .
Bugs everywhere, discouraging anyone from using their flashlights on the fishing ground . By the time I got home, i witness tons of live bugs inside my car, I have to clear out my knapsack, and tackle box while still inside the garage , full of flying mosquito- like live bugs. Luckily , I found out sooner before I took my fishing knapsack inside the house.
I spoke to a local angler, some fish were caught a week prior, but nothing to be too excited about. He also mentioned , more Police around this season, not just the MNR officer, will be actively giving tickets this year to those who try to break the law.
I have also taken note, the Lake temp dropped to 60's three days ago, but went back up to normal 75 degrees on Sunday. Occasional water turning over at Lake ontario might be more helpful to boat fisherman fishing deeper water.
I tried to explore on other spot, but no visible sign of any fish surfacing, nor anglers around, just quiet everywhere, I pondered today if I wasted my time to even tried to fish yesterday in spite of the warm weather, or to have stayed home and watch some Olympics events instead. But it is just hard to restrain my Angler's inquisitive instinct to not go and try. That same inquisitiveness instinct has made me found places that holds fish, or caught fish at the early stage of the Salmon run. Overall, it was a nice feeling to be able to experience this yearly Salmon fishing ritual again, just having to face the unethical practices or habits of some anglers is the disappointing sad part of this yearly event. The worst experience I encountered last year, was anglers bragging that they had already landed 15 fish, float fishing with fresh skeen, then they just left the cut up female fish on the sun, and assumed others will take them.
Major rain forecast to 50+mm rainfall by Tuesday. Then more rain on Sunday. No one knows when the fish might actually run up the river system,...............then we still have to hope we find a spot, and hope fish will be turned on , and aggressively hitting our presentation/lures.
If anyone, who also believes in conservation, and wants to split gas and car-pool, Pm me, I would like to go 2 times a week, with flexible schedule. Weekdays is better, and less crowd. From North york area, I am roughly 1.25 minute drive to cobourg, and 1.5 hrs drive to Niagara falls. It can be a pricey hobby , since I do not normally take fish home for consumption, maybe 1 salmon a season for friends who wants to eat them, Mostly catch and release on all species of fish, but I would never take a female home, I do not need to use roe to catch any salmon or trout in years, I have few improvised tricks and lures that works. I shore fished on few different tribe from cobourg to Niagara falls. Then fished simcoe and kawarthas lake twice a month on my boat.
