Well it certainly didn’t come easy, after getting skunked on four outings last year I finally found some success trolling from my kayak on Lake Ontario. To be honest I was pretty shocked when I saw the tell tale sign of a Salmon pulling on the trolling rod, adrenaline immediately kicked in and my heart rate must have doubled. When the second one hit I was even more in shock.
Trolling out of the Mariner 12.5 by Native Watercraft is luxurious. Having your hands free to control the rudder, check your phone or whatever is a nice perk and makes a long day much more enjoyable. I still have some tweaking to do on the rudder to get it working properly but even with it functioning the way it was I still seemed to have no problem getting my speed right. The addition of a sonar and a proper reel with a line counter were definitely big contributors to my success but a lot of the credit has to still go to the Mariner.
I was kicking myself for not buying a derby ticket as these fish were definitely pushing close to the weights needed to get on to the weekly leaderboard. I had one last year, but with the wedding this year right in the middle of the derby I didn’t think I was going to be able to get out enough. Next year I will definitely be ready to go and give it a good run.
Too bad I didn’t have a great angle for the GoPro, I have some videos too but with the camera so close to me its hard to get a good idea of what’s going on. I have some ideas for a better mount for next time that will get a good shot of the strike on the rod.