Headed up Friday for our annual salmon troll weekend with Ray-Rod, MG, myself and Scott. The weather, fish and company did not dissappoint, we had an incredible time all around! We entered the Fairhaven salmon derby for Saturday to see what we could do as a "team"
Got our start Sat by 5 AM heading NE out of Oswego, putting lines in when we hit 220 FOW marking loads of bait and fish before sunrise. Ran 3 riggers, 3 coppers, and 2 dipseys all pulling Atomik flies behind various colored flashers. Slow start gave way to a decent 3 hour bite. We managed 15 knockdowns with 11 landed and 4 that came unbuttoned almost immediately after the strike. At 10:30 we came tight on a fish off the planer that Ray-Rod fought for a few minutes. W/O a doubt our best fish of the day that came loose after straightening 2 of three bends on an owner treble hook! By 11 AM, it was like a switch was turned off! Not another hit until we called it quits by 1:30.
Back at the dock we assess what we had in the box and decide to weigh in for the tourney. Tourney was total weight of 6 fish and we had some bruisers, so decided to go. We weighed in at 24.5, 22.8, 20.5, 20.3, 18.2, and 16.7. Ended up 2nd overall of 60 boats and took 2nd place for $700.
Ran out again Sunday by 5 AM for a short troll. Again setup in 220 FOW and loads of bait readings. We got our biggest of the weekend at 27.98 just missing the 28 lb mark! Added another 23 lber to the box, threw back 1 skippy @ 19" and missed 2 more. Called it quits by 9AM, BBQ some brats and hit the road.