This past August, I had the pleasure of producing a segment for our television show, ADVENTURES IN FISHING WITH CAPT. RAY KELLY, in Canada. I must say, Canada has some of the best fishing in the world. On this particular adventure, we fished out of Pt. Hope, Canada with Capt. Don Forster of Rhombeus Charters.

I had contacted Capt. Don on the internet.  Rhombeus Charters has a great website. The URL is http://eagle.ca/~rhombeus.  Email is a great communication median.  Capt. Don immediately replied and said he would sponsor the filming.  When a charter boat sponsors the filming, we send a production team to that particular location and film THE CAPTAIN AND HIS ANGLERS fishing.  The captain gives tips and techniques for the type of fishing that he will hopefully be catching.  This is the basic format of our TV show.

My cameraman, Bill Rapp and myself headed off to Port Hope in my van.  The drive was only 9 1/2 hours.  We checked into our hotel and drove down to the marina where we saw the boat, a 26’ Trojan, that we would be filming.  You could tell she was a fish catching boat with four downriggers off her stern.  I knew we were going to be in for some fantastic fishing.  Luckily, we met Capt. Don overlooking beautiful Lake Ontario in his pickup truck in the parking lot.  After initial introductions, Don told us all about the great fishing in Lake Ontario. I could not wait to meet him at the dock the following morning.

Bill and I headed back to the hotel and had a nice dinner and were in bed by 10:00 PM.  We awoke at 4:30 AM, showered, headed to the local donut shop for coffee and donuts and down to the boat.  Capt. Don and his crew were waiting.  We met Don’s Co-Capt. Lloyd Daume Don’s brother, Mike Forster and Lloyd’s friend, Kevin Bartley.

We headed out of the river and about a 1/4 mile out into the lake, we started trolling with shiney spoons.  Capt. Lloyd set the lures at different depth which varied from 95 feet to 105 feet.  It did not take long and the right downrigger was hit.  Kevin grabbed the rod and reeled in a 10 pound salmon.  They said this was small chinook salmon. The left down rigger was hit and Mike jumped on the rod and reeled in another salmon which was a little bigger.  We were off to a great start.  I did not think I needed dramamine as we were fishing in a lake.  Wrong.  The swells were much bigger than I thought.  It wasn’t rough but before long, I was chumming as they say.  Everyone had a few
good laughs.

The fish kept biting and kept getting bigger.  Bill was filming some great action.  Capt. Don said we would take a break for breakfast and we headed in.  After docking the boat, we headed for the Railside restaurant.  After a leisurely breakfast, we agreed to meet back at the boat at 12:30 PM.  I was feeling much better.

We jumped on board the boat and headed back out into Lake Ontario.  The swells calmed down a little and just as Capt. Don predicted the fishing got better.  The salmon being caught were now in the twenty-twenty five pound range.  We took turns on the rods.  When it was my turn on the
rod, I was amazed and the way the rod (a noodle stick) bent and took shock as the fish fought hard to get away.  The fight was unbelievable. I thought for sure I would lose the fish but I didn’t.  This chinook weighed 27 pounds.  Needless to say I was happy and proud.

Bill fought the next fish which was another nice salmon which weighed 24 pounds.  We were having a great day and I knew we were filming a great show.  The last fish of the day was caught by Kevin.  You could tell by the battle it was going to be the biggest fish of the day.  We had all entered the local Salmon Derby and this salmon could top the 34 pounder that had been winning the derby to date.  After Kevin landed the salmon, Capt. Don weighed it.  It weighed 32 pounds on Don’s scale.  We headed back to the dock and then to the local certified weighmaster.  This fish
weighed 31.9 pounds.  Kevin was very proud.

Capt. Don had us back to this house for a nice barbeque.  We met Kevin’s wife, Andrea
and invited her along for the next day’s fishing trip as we like to promote female angler’s on ADVENTURES IN FISHING.  To my surprise, she was at the dock at 6:00 AM the next morning.  Again we headed out into Lake Ontario.  The lake was flat.  The downriggers were rigged and Capt. Don started trolling.  Andrea immediately hooked up.  She reeled in the salmon.  It was small about 8 pounds.  Soon after she reeled in another salmon of about 10 pounds.  It was amazing how the fish just kept getting bigger.  Granted this is a fish story but it is a TRUE fish story.  The big fish came at about 9:00 AM.  The line screamed off the reel.  Andrea tried to hold the fish back but there was nothing she could do.  She had to hope and pray that the fish would tire.  After 20 minutes, she started gaining some line.  After another 20 minutes, we could see the fish another salmon…a big salmon.  It was also wrapped in the line.  I was amazed the line did not break.  Credit must be given to Andrea because I don’t think I could have landed the fish.  Capt. Don netted this monster, weighed it because we knew it could also be the Derby winner.  This salmon weighed 33 pounds on Don’s scale.  Needless to say, we headed in to the official weighmaster and the fish weighed in at 32.8 pounds.  The biggest fish of the filming.  This would be the highlight of the show.  There is truly fantastic fishing in Port Hope, Canada. I will definitely go back and I will be fishing on board, Rhombeus Fishing Charters with Capt. Don Forster.  You can experience this fantastic fishing yourself.  Give Capt. Don a call at 1 800-489-7885 or give ADVENTURES IN FISHING a call at (516) 929-6711 and we will make the arrangements for you.

AND REMEMBER-  "LET’S GET KIDS HOOKED ON FISHING...NOT ON DRUGS!"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Capt. Ray Kelly is a USCG licensed charter boat captain.  His boat, ADVENTURES, is based in Riverhead, NY with charters available in Peconic Bay, Shinnecock Bay and offshore out of Shinnecock Inlet.  Flounder, Fluke, Bluefish, Striped Bass, Shark and Tuna charters are available when in season.

He is Executive Producer of ADVENTURES IN FISHING WITH CAPT. RAY KELLY,
a weekly television show which airs in New York, Massachusetts and California.  They are always looking for charter, party and private boats to be featured on the show.  For further information, call
Starlight Productions at (516) 929-6711.

I'm having the crew back for another filming in 1999. It will be hard to beat this years filming.
Don