| |
Salmon is one the best known game fish in the world; its popularity some times surpasses even that of Trot. Being an ecologically sensitive fish, its metamorphosis to changing conditions of water characteristics, makes this fish a unique animal. There are three stages in which you can catch salmon. There is the Lake Stage, River Mouth Stage and the River Stage.
In the Great Lakes and many other lakes of Canada, there are different species of Pacific Salmon. The two most common are the Coho Salmon and Chinook salmon. Chinook salmon is also called a King Salmon, is a great fish on the west coast. There are some Kokanee and Pink Salmon, but they are very rare and mostly found in Lake Erie.
In the Great Lakes, many anglers use bigger boats that tend to troll faster so the only way they can fish for salmon is with downriggers. In the lakes, salmon usually hangs around at the thermal layers of 53 degree, where bait fishes live in shoals. It means, angler will just have to mark fish on his fish finder and set downriggers at different depths within 20 feet of marking the majority of the fish. In the summer they can be 150 feet deep but as the summer moves on, the salmon start to come to the surface. Most anglers use lures like William’s Wabblers, Nasty Boys, Rapalas, Thunder Sticks, Sutton Silver Spoon and Cleos and they have found success too. This fish can also be lured using a slow light tackle troll.
During late summer and early fall, the salmon start residing at the mouth of rivers. Their intuitiveness makes them to wait for a rain which makes the river water level up by at least 2 to 3 feet so that they can swim towards upper reaches. This swimming migration enables them to lay eggs and subsequent incubation. Catching them at this stage is very curious; some people use spawn bags with a little Styrofoam in them to make them float. Just cast out them with a sinker and let the spawn bag float off bottom. Anglers also use many legal methods like casting and trolling in the mouths of the river. At this time of year, the salmon are aggressive and agitated and tent to hit rattle baits more then anything. Most anglers use baits that are white, silver or gold in color.
As the salmon starts migrating upstream, they tend to stop feeding. Many of salmon that are caught in a small stream are snagged. Most anglers like to catch by snagging them; but not all salmon are snagged. At this juncture, Salmon have nothing on their minds besides spawning. Now, they are very aggressive and territorial in nature and will defend their spawning ground from Rainbow and Brown Trout which tent to follow salmon up stream to feed on their eggs. Throwing a Rapala or spinner that has Rainbow or Brown Trout colors, will make the salmon hit the lure. They usually do not hit to feed, they hit to defend. Sometimes they will also hit loud colors such as bright red or bright yellow. Salmon are more less color sensitive and this weakness is often used to lure them.
Moral and legal issues crop up when you try to catch salmon that are migrating upstream for breeding purposes. How ever, disguised methods are also used to bypass the legal restrictions; most of these incidents happen when salmon are waiting in the mouths of the river to cross over to upper reaches.
|
