2025 Lake Ontario Fishing Day 4 - Home

After getting up, I was ready to head home.  I spent a few minutes choosing my route.  Since I was leaving early, I decided I would risk the 401 to avoid the tolls on the 407.  I also had a quick couple cups of coffee, hopefully giving me just the right amount of caffeination for the trip.

As promised, Denis was up around 4:00.  We loaded up my fish and a few Coho salmon for me to try.  The amount of fish was truly shocking - I've had hunting trips with less (but then again, I've had hunting trips with nothing in the cooler).  I tied down the cooler and I was on the road by 4:15.

I followed the GPS to the 401 and it was the right decision.  It was a bit busy nearer Toronto, but there were no slow downs.  I did have to pay attention - mostly because I was on unfamiliar roads.

I listened to the end of The Secret Life of Groceries.  The end of the book was probably the best part - if also a bit sad.  It got into the psychology of buying, which was interesting.  It also got into the food supply chain - specifically a lot about the seafood supply chain; every time I read about seafood and all that goes into it - I'm appalled at humanity.  The world is doomed and humanity might deserve this.

I guess I did feel a bit better that the fish in my cooler were obtained ethically and in a conscious manner.

After finishing Groceries I listened to Ologies podcasts for the rest of the day.  I almost gave up after the first one - which wasn't very good.  But I was in a hairy spot so I just started another one as the easiest thing to do, rather than find one of my other podcasts.  I was glad I did, since most of the rest of them were good - which just enough humor to get me to laugh a few times in each one.

I avoided buying fuel for the Maverick in Canada, but the level was lower than I was comfortable with.  I did get absolutely fantastic mileage the whole time I was there - even more surprising since my speeds wouldn't suggest it should be this good, but I'll take it.

I crossed the border back into the US at Windsor since this would put me mostly south of Detroit.  The line was moderate, but it was still the right decision.  It was mildly infuriating when a dude forced his way in two cars ahead of me.  But we already know that a small percentage of the population has no redeeming qualities (the internet has reinforced this...).  The border itself took 30 seconds to get through.

I continued my way towards home.  Traffic was actually worse in places than near Toronto.  

Soon enough I was home with enough time to unpack and take the dogs on a quick walk.  Fish were still frozen so it was just a matter of transferring them to the freezer.

I know I'm very fortunate to have friends like Denis and now Julie.  Fishing for big salmon is something I've always wanted to do.  I hope to be able to do this again.

And barring anything unforeseen, I'll be back in Canada in a few weeks!

2025 Lake Ontario Fishing Day 3 - Un poisson

With a little better lay of the day, I was up and ready for coffee.  Denis had kindly set the coffee to start a bit early for me.  Sometimes small things are big blessings.

And with a little better lay of the land, I didn't get lost in the very dark morning.

Signs pointed to it being a very good day.  But sometimes life hands us signposts which go nowhere...

We drove out to the marina which looked very different as it wasn't a holiday.  Additionally, after we got there, a friend of Denis walked up and said their charter was cancelled due to high waves.  We decided to give it a go anyway.

Initially it didn't look that bad, but as we motored out of the protection of the harbor, the waves increased quickly.  It was tolerable - and I counted my blessings that it wasn't the previous day when I wasn't feeling 100%.

We trolled for a while before one line told us there was a fish on.  Julie took the pole and reeled in a nice Chinook salmon.  The boat was hopeful that the less-than-perfect weather was not going to be a significant negative factor.

But it was not to be.  We tried deeper water, but the waves were much worse there.  We had a couple VERY small strikes, but nothing else came in the boat.  Oddly, we marked more fish on the fish finder, but they must have just been snobby fish.

That doesn't mean it wasn't a good day.  The rocking wasn't terrible and the weather, other than that was nice.  We chatted and hoped and dozed.  It was still a good day on the water.

And with only one fish, clean-up was a breeze.  I didn't feel all fishy afterwards either.

We quit a bit early since all we were doing was burning gasoline.  Back at the campground, we had some down time - which was also nice.

Dinner was Alberta Whitetail burgers before turning in for the night.

2025 Lake Ontario Fishing Day 2 - Chinook In Five

I woke up early with a headache (of course).  I dozed for a bit before getting up.  I knew the coffee maker was going to go off at 4:00 and I was ready.

I sat outside drinking coffee before heading to the bathroom - only to get turned around and lost on my way back.  I was slightly embarrassed.

Soon enough we were on the road to the marina.  It only took a few minutes to get the boat ready and we headed out.  It would be an understatement to say it was a stunning morning.  It was cool but not cold, and there was very little wind.  Wildfires are not good, but the haze makes amazing photographs.

We didn't go out very far before Denis started setting out lines.  As he was getting the second line out, he yelled, "Fish On!" and grabbed the first pole handed it off to me.  I wasn't sure what was on it, but it was big and it did not want to come in.

It took about 15 minutes to get the first Chinook Salmon I've ever caught into the boat.  It may not have been a monster, but it was close enough to a monster for me.

I have to admit though, that when reeling in big fish, there is a small part of me that is rooting for the fish; just a small part though.

The good thing about all the early excitement is that it basically ended my headache.

An hour or two later a much bigger Chinook came on the line.  This one took almost a half an hour to get it into the boat.  Thankfully I did not lose it.

And so it went throughout the day.  We would have slow periods followed by action - such is fishing.  We went out to deeper water and got into some Steelhead.  When I was a kid - Steelhead was THE fish to catch on Lake Michigan.  So it was pretty cool to be able to catch a few.

I felt somewhat bad that I was the designated catcher.  But Julie said that was the plan for the day.  I have to admit I also did enjoy it.

We did miss a few fish.  Sometimes this was user error - at one point I think we were all sleepy and missed the strike.  We had the line break once as well.  And there were a few releases of smaller Steelhead to be caught another day when they are bigger.

Total count for the day was three Chinook and three Steelies.  But this was only part of the point - it was, frankly, just an amazing day on the water.

As the afternoon wore on Denis brought in all the lines.  Then he fileted the fish right on the boat - which makes total sense to do.  The filets were packed on ice as we made our way back to the marina.  In the later afternoon it got almost hot, with just enough wind to give the lake some chop.

Back at the camper we packed up the filets in individual bags and dropped them in the freezer.  Hopefully they freeze before the trip home.  I was feeling quite fishy and gross - so a quick shower brought me back to the land of the living (even if I thought I still smelled a bit fishy).

Dinner was pork chops - which were great.  Fish might have been more appropriate, but it had been a fishy enough day.

2025 Lake Ontario Fishing Day 1 - Breezing Through the Border

I think I first met Denis in 2013.  Since then, we've hunted together in South Carolina more times than I can recall.  Denis has a big boat and as he's (I think) partly retired, he spends much of the summer catching fish on Lake Ontario. 

We talked in 2024 about me coming out to fish with him, but that ended up being a busy year for him and for me it was the year of health challenges.  Fast forward and we made plans to go fishing.

I was a bit apprehensive - which was stupid.  It is way too easy to get caught up in the work-eat-sleep routine and to take work too seriously.  It didn't take too long for me to realize how awesome this would be.

The summer so far has been exhaustively hot and humid.  Friday came gloriously with cool air and decreasing humidity.  This allowed me to spend Saturday getting caught up on some chores around the house as well as spending time doing some maintenance and small repairs (that required doors/windows to be open).  I felt wonderfully productive, if somewhat tired.

One of my repairs was going to need some subsequent work, but it was good enough and didn't stop me from heading out early Sunday after some quick coffee.

I was out the door and on the road around 5:15.  Predictably, I had the Sunday morning road to myself.  I was listening to The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr.  The first  section of the book felt a little like and advertisement for Trader Joes - although he does make a disclaimer that he's agnostic on the chain.  It might have felt a little more real had I ever been to a Trader Joes, I suppose.

My mind did wander a bit, which is to be expected.  But the book was pretty good.  At some point I realized I wasn't going to finish it, so I switched to some rather forgettable pod casts for the last few hours.

I bypassed the Detroit/Windsor border and continued, crossing at Port Huron.  This may have added a few minutes, but I was anticipating the crossing a drive to be a little easier.  I breezed through the border within a few minutes.  The line of trucks coming into the US was crazy; I couldn't help but wonder if it was to avoid the next round of tariffs?

I  realized this time was my first time out of my home state since January (I think).  This is a bit sad.  Although I guess I could count my dog walks into Indiana.

Once into Canada, the traffic was nonexistent at first.  

It got much hairier and uglier as I got close to Toronto.  The roads seemed overly complicated, but I just followed the GPS - or tried to.  I'm a bit terrified I'll need a second mortgage to pay for the 407 tolls - but I guess that is just part of the trip.

I made my way to Denis and Julie's campground.  Denis was out getting the boat ready.  I had never met Julie before so we had a while to get to know each other.  It was fun and she was easy to talk to.

Denis showed up on his motorcycle late afternoon.  It was good to see him as well.

Dinner was beef steak and veggies before turning in relatively early in preparation for a fairly early morning.

2025 Fishing Lake Erie Part II - Queasy Monday

Dave said he was only doing one boat this year, so I was happy I made the cut.  I definitely look forward to fishing on Lake Erie.  I do need to sometimes park part of my personality elsewhere - lest I become too ... neurodivergent.  

I woke up "late" Sunday.  I was wondering why the older dog was almost sitting on top of me.  Most likely she was hungry.  

My morning with coffee, waffles, and tea sent me to a dark place on the internet (dark as in where the world is).  I'm not sure it is fair to say that the world is changing so fast - that has probably (almost) always been the case.  But too often, it seems like I need to just make it to...  What that "to" might be is always changing.

The company I work for has announced downsizing.  People keep asking me when I'm going to retire, or if I'd leave if offered the chance.  I don't want to get my hopes up one way or the other.  Keeping my game face on is hard enough at times.  My response remains either:  "It depends on the day."  or "I'm not old enough yet - I only look like I'm 90."  I'm still well aware that where I am is objectively at least good enough.

After a morning dog walk, a few chores and doing the push-mowing, I packed up and headed to Dave's.  The roads were infected with pokey Sunday-morning drivers, but I wasn't in a hurry.  Dave was packing when I got there.  After hellos, we packed up and headed over to Nick's house.  Fishing this year was myself, Dave, Nick, Lou, Chris and Phil.  Everyone else piled into Nick's van while Dave and I stayed in his car.

The trip north wasn't the most fun.  There were several rounds of rain, and at times it was a deluge which was hard to see through.  But the inclement weather was selective; Port Clinton and Lake Erie got almost no rain.

We were staying in a hotel this year instead of the condos.  The rooms felt like a sanatorium - just a little bit too much like the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.  But all we needed was a place to sleep before fishing.  We went to eat at a local tourist restaurant.  It was crazy busy, but the food was decent.  I ordered shrimp instead of Erie walleye or perch - which seemed sacrilegious.

We stopped by the Marina before heading back to the hotel for the night.  The sun was just near setting, which was beautiful.  It was hard to recall the heavy rain just to the south not that long previous.

Davis-Besse was churning out megawatts for our enjoyment.

With an early morning on tap, we all turned in relatively early.  I was feeling the beginnings of a headache and hoped a good night sleep would keep that tiger in a cage.

_________________________________

But it was not to be.  I woke up with a full migraine brewing.  The rest of the crew went to breakfast while I stayed at the room and just ate the fruit I had brought with me.  This was the healthier option...

We met Ned at his boat at the appointed time.  Soon enough we were headed out onto the lake with Ned's comment, "It's going to be a bit rough."  The wind wasn't that bad, but the lake was roiling.  We had well over an hour to enjoy the chop to to get Northeast where we were fishing in deeper water near the Canadian border.

The fish finder was marking lots of fish so we started fishing.  Between my migraine, the rough water and the smells, I got as queasy as I ever have on a boat.  At one point I set my pole down and backed off into the cabin just feeling like survival was in question.  Thankfully I was able to recover enough to resume fishing.

Instead of the shorter drifts we usually do in shallower water, we did much longer drifts across the open, flat plains of deep Erie.  Fishing through the day was good, but there were long slow stretches as well.

There were lots of theories why, but Ned and I absolutely hammered the walleye.  I think Ned caught about a third of what was caught, I caught a third and the rest of the boat caught a third.  This did serve to distract me from feeling on edge.

There was a bit too much shop-talk during the fishing, but I suspect this is to be expected when everyone in the boat had work history together.  I mostly stayed in the background.  Weather through the day was great and the wind died down which also brought the waves down.

We caught 41 fish out of the limit of 42.  We desperately searched for the last fish and thought we had it until Chris brought in the one and only sheepshead of the day.  Oddly, I never grabbed a picture of me with any fish - despite a few decent sized ones.

With a long boat ride back, we packed it up around 1:30.  The trip back was much better was minimal waves.  Back on terra firma, we dropped the fish off to be cleaned before putzing around a bit.  With clean fish in hand, Dave and I headed south directly to his house since there wasn't any reason to go back to Nick's.

The trip back went fast enough.  Traffic and weather cooperated.  I grabbed my fish and headed home from Dave's.  Back at home just before sunset, the dogs were happy to see me.  I wisely planned Tuesday off of work.  S/O and I separated fish out and into the freezer before turning in for a blessed night back in my own normal.

2025 Lake Erie Fishing - Good Enough

Weather forecasts were good enough.  Rain with a threat for severe weather Thursday night.  Rain with a much heightened threat for severe weather Friday night.  But Friday, during the day, was expected to be sunny.  And warm.  The month of May can be a gamble.

I scurried out of work on Thursday a bit earlier than usual and rode the Gold Wing home.  Once home, I took the younger dog on a quick walk; she thrives on routine.  I packed up a few things and waited for Doug to pick me up.

Doug was punctual; I respect that.  We went to Doug W's house where we piled into Pat's Camry for the trip to Lake Erie.  I was sitting behind the driver seat which is my least favorite place to sit in a car since I constantly see myself in the rear view mirror - ugh.  While the Camry is a good enough car, the rear seats were surprisingly uncomfortable.  I was glad when we stopped at Steak 'n Shake to eat - or mostly glad.  The chicken fingers were good enough.

Back on the road we finished the trip at the same hotel as 2024.

We got to the hotel right as the expected rain was threatening.  As it got dark I was ready for bed.  The hotel room was good enough but humid.  Thankfully I was able to sleep reasonably well.  As I dozed off the rain blasted by.

Up near 3:00 I poked around on my phone for a bit. I caffeinated with hotel coffee and ate a couple apples from home.  The four of us met outside and we went to a gas station.  Then it was a quick jaunt to the marina; Ned was getting ready.  It was starting out to be a spectacular morning.

A slightly drunk dude at the hotel the previous night had said they limited out on walleye by 10:30AM.  I'm not sure what water he was fishing in, but the day started slow and didn't change much.

We motored out only a few miles into the water and started in the traditional deep water that walleye tend to like.  We caught a few fish and moved around a bit.  Radio chatter suggested it was a slow day.  There is always a reason for slow fishing:  the previous night's rain, the coming storm, the barometric pressure, chupacabras are eating the fish...

The fish we caught were generally pretty good size, but it was slow.  We'd catch a few giving us hope, then nothing.  I was able to catch the largest walleye I think I'd ever caught at a healthy 27 inches and fat, fat, fat.  But even a big walleye doesn't fight much - they seem to be resigned to their fate once hooked.

Weather through the day was better than good enough.  It started cool and calm.  Predictions were for rain and some waves, but that didn't happen.  Most of the day was stunningly sunny with a little taste of wind.  I was glad I had on shorts under my donkey pants by late morning.

We moved to fish some reefs and shallower areas.  Then back deep.  Nothing was great; nothing was terrible.  Fishing was good enough.

We had a brief bit of excitement when a water snake, miles from shore, swam past the boat.  Maybe it just had somewhere to be.  Or more likely - somewhere else to be.

Final tally for fish was 15 keepers.  My 27-incher was the biggest, and Ned said it was the biggest of the year so far.  This is almost all luck since what fish are caught is only partly up to the person fishing.

Back at the fish cleaners we dropped them off;  I admire the people doing this work.  The smell is so heavy it can be hard to see.

With four bags of fish filets, which were large enough, we were on the road by 4:00PM.

We raced the thunderstorms south.  Back to Doug W's house.  Doug and I quickly left.  Doug dropped me off just as torrential rain started.

Good enough.

2025 Hog Hunt Day 7 - Home

I was up and on the road early.  I knew there was going to be rain and while I didn't see any snow forecasts, there is always a chance of the unexpected in the mountains.  

I made my way north and west while listening to Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational by Michael Shermer.  It was far better than the book I listened to on the trip down.  The first part of the book is more academic and I did find my brain wandering a bit.  The second part of the book was more conversational and fun to listen to.  Although the section on how to talk to conspiracy theorists was just off.  Just about everyone I've ever heard who holds nut-job conspiracy theories believe it as dogma, and it is not rational.  Maybe just my personality, but I'll continue to nod my head and quietly judge (while enjoying the ride).

I missed not one, but two turns on my route.  I have no idea how I missed the first one - just a total brain fart I guess.  But Tennessee - why the snot do you have I-26 labeled as "Future I-26"??????  Maybe we are now in the future...

I was trying to figure out if the Cherokee Reservoir was low because of dam issues (Helene?) or if it was just a really dry year.  But the lake was basically a mud pit.  If I lived in the area, I'd wait for it to freeze in the coming weeks and go find all my lures I'd ever lost!

US25 through the mountains was tolerable, if a bit frustrating once I finally did get behind the conga line created by a single slow driver.  I just used it as a reason to practice my patience.  But overall, the US25 route was far preferrable over the West Virginia tolls.

As I got closer to home I started to see snow again.

Once at home, SO had left for family issues so I had the house to myself.  The dogs were thrilled to see me.  This also left taking care of the hog as a solo job.  I didn't even bother unpacking the truck, but spent most of the rest of the day cutting and grinding and freezing.  I had to remind myself that if I could get the entire pig taken care of, that would leave me two blessed days to recover.  While part of me was a bit disappointed I could not shoot one of the hogs in the two wads of them - my freezer is thanking me.

As always, the pig hunt was a great way to start the year.  I still have some things to mentally process about this year's hunt.  I'll have time to do that in the coming days and weeks.