Hamilton, Ontario

Caught 3 or 4 tanks a couple of days ago a 30+ lb salmon catch and release session, as always. Long story short, I went out for fall pike, but instead of pike, I found salmon. I didn't want to fish there, though. I wasn't feeling the crew, so I went off to do my own thing. We couldn't catch anything, and my son started getting frustrated, smacking his spoon on top of the water a couple of times. Every time he did, angry Chinook would sprint toward his spoon to investigate, only to change direction and disappear. Unfortunately, they were completely ignoring my presentation. So we packed up and left. On my way back, I ran into two really good anglers. They looked at me and said, We know that look. You're fishing the wrong side. Come with us, and we guarantee you'll catch something there. I was like, Let's go 😂 And the rest is history. Glowing lures, glowing flies they were biting everything. Salmon eggs, you name it. We caught a ton of salmon. I'll upload some of the other catches as well.

Another big one.

Another 30+ pounder.

These are my female salmon from my last trip, probably the first and last ones for this year. I was feeding them different variations of glowing flies, and it looks like they were enjoying it. I released them right away and kept only one for the eggs to use next season. I kept the eggs and gifted the fish to another angler who couldn’t catch one. Nothing went to waste. All the others were released right back where they came from.

Another tiny one. I only had 10 minutes to fish, and this little guy hit the spinner on my second cast.

Probably my last freshwater drum of the 2026 season. Not only have they become harder and harder to find, but every time I catch one, it seems to be smaller than the last.

2 small pike and 6 bass — not bad for mid-October in this area. Last September was really good. Catching 2–4 pike a day wasn't unusual. This year, though, I just couldn't find them. I don't know if fellow anglers ate them all or if they simply disappeared. After searching six different spots, the sixth one finally paid off with 2 pike and 1 bass. While searching for pike, I also caught 5 small bass. Lures that did the job: Pike: Panther Martin spinners. Bass: The smallest Blue Fox Strobe Teardrop spoons in the Five of Diamonds pattern. By the way, these spoons are absolutely deadly. Both pike and bass seem unable to resist them. This summer, I was even catching walleye on them. If you decide to get some, I recommend picking them up in different sizes. You won't regret it.

King salmon Sunday