Saturday morning we planned to fish for White Fish with our buddy and Owen Sound resident, Josh Choronzey. We hit the water early with a chill in the air which was a balmy -5 Celsius. We had to take advantage of a few hour window in which we had a South wind. A North East wind makes it impossible to get out.
We are in an area called Owen Sound, which is at the very Southern end of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Anytime you have a N.E blow, you end up with a pretty impressive surge.
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Saturday morning, the wind was slightly out of the South, allowing the bay to lay-down and give us some opportunity.
The ramp was plenty busy that morning and several anglers had the same idea. Even some anglers with some motor trouble couldn’t pass on the opportunity.
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These guys somehow convinced their buddies in a smaller boat than theirs, to give them a hand. This was accomplished with a 9hp. Johnson and a small diameter rope held by one of the knuckle-heads in the tow-boat. “Canadian Classic” With the odds against them, they did manage to make it to the fishing grounds about a half mile out of the marina.
Chumming for fish in certain fisheries in Canada is part of the program. The hard core White Fish fishermen, build their chum rigs out of a can to make a weighted dropper-can delivery system.
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Connected to braided line on a level-wind reel, they lower the weighted can filled with single eggs, scraped from roe. The can hits the bottom, they give it a quick jerk inverting the can to release the chum and just like that you have a pile of enticing feed on the bottom beneath your boat.
Chumming only works if you have taken the time to secure your boat with a dual-anchor rig to ensure you stay on your spot over your chum. Anchoring a 16 foot boat with two 60lb, anchors on rope, hand-over-hand is interesting. Especially at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet.
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The rig these guys use is pretty straight forward. A lot of guys prefer a bait cast reel. Most guys have custom built rods, which are actually made from the top end blank giving the rod about a 2 to 4lb rating and about a six foot length. The guides actually spiral around the rod. This is due to the fact that they actually jig bait for these white fish.
The terminal rig is simple. Ten pound braid for mainline, to a small size 14 barrel swivel. Above the swivel is a bead and sliding 1/2oz. to 3/4oz egg sinker. The other end of the swivel is tied to a two foot piece of 2 to 4lb. Fluorocarbon leader. The leader terminates at a size 18 treble hook.
That’s it, that’s the simple white fish rig. You simply bait two of the three tips on the treble hook with single eggs ie; Orange Deluxe or Yellow Jackets, or you can also use corn. Lower your offering to the bottom, in and around your chum and wait for a bite.
That was pretty much it. Of course it was tough fishing. Some of the boats went out trolling for Chinook. About twenty boats were anchored fishing for White Fish. In about two hours, we saw one fish caught. After about two and a half hours with no action the wind picking up and the chill in the air hanging about -4 Celsius, we called it a morning.
It was a short outing, but once again I was able to expierence yet another fishery with guys in a totally different part of the world, who share a common passion…..
