I spent the summer of 1985 working for Ouananiche (pronounced Wah-nah-nee-chee) Charters as the fist mate on one of the three boats owned by Captain Bob Larison. At the time I couldn't imagine a better job: getting paid to fish and catch fish. It was awesome, $40 for each trip, most days we had 2 trips booked. Tips often exceeded my "salary", and I was able to pay for the first couple of years of college with the money I earned, but that isn't what this story is about. In August of 1985 I inexplicably had an afternoon off from professional fishing and found myself fishing with Dad, because what else would a fisherman do on his day off? That day the lake had fallen into a consistent staging salmon pattern, with the fish located in 75-100 feet of water off of Nine Mile Point, and the feed was on. Dad and I fished until it was nearly dark and to say the fishing was good would be an understatement. We caught Kings, Cohos, and even a rare Atlantic salmon in what was noon-stop action. As I pulled in the lines at the end of the day, we noticed the dark clouds settling in from the west. In the days before the internet (imagine the horror!) we were often unaware of what the weather forecast for the next day was, often staying at the lake without television and not paying particular attention to the radio. It turned out we were fishing immediately in advance of a massive summer storm that made fishing impossible for the next 2 days.
The massive storm raged for at least 24 hours, with high winds and lightning, culminating with some waterspout sightings in the Oswego area. Needless to say, we didn't fish for a couple of days, and when we returned to the lake a couple of days later for our early morning trip (usually leaving the dock by 5:00 am) we found a completely different lake. Before the storm the lake had settled into a nice late summer pattern, with the fish stacked in a nice pocket of their favored water temperature roughly 30-50 feet below the surface of the lake. Surface temps before the storm were in the low to mid 70's, considered warm for August on Lake Ontario. After the storm the lake had "flipped". Cold water in the 40 degree range was now on the surface, and the warmer water was located considerably deeper, often at the bottom in water that was in the 50-60 feet depth range. The fish were scattered throughout the range, no longer holding to any pattern after the storm.
Why did this matter? It mattered because as professional fishermen, someone who was being paid by clients to catch fish, we had to adjust to the conditions and think outside the box to make sure our clients were happy at the end of their trip. During that first trip it took the captain and I some time to locate the fish, finally finding them in close proximity to the mouth of the Salmon River. We utilized a mixture of techniques, including flatlining big stick baits, dipsey-diver rigs and shallow running downrigger set-ups, but eventually we caught fish. We worked hard, adjusted to the tough conditions, and managed to catch fish on a day when many charters (including the other 2 boats in our fleet) didn't. It wasn't a banner day, but it was good by most standards and great considering the difficult conditions.
It's effort like that, working hard and smart when others won't, don't or can't that I feel will be a hallmark of Dirty Oar Adventures. If we're there, whether we're with paying clients or not, we work hard to catch fish. A smarter man than I once told me effort combined with intellect will lead to success. I would like to think that is what Dirty Oar Adventures is going to be about and what will separate us from the pack. That and the fact that we'll be having fun
all the while!
Make fishing fun again!
David
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