Slamming salmon: mid-summer chinook action on Lake Ontario

For bait, Richardson uses herring that he orders from B.C. and preserves using a combination of brine, powdered milk and borax. The brine stiffens the bait, improving its roll and making it more tear-resistant. Here, he’s trimming the herring with scissors so it fits it into the bait sleeve (on transom) and then secures it with a toothpick, below. The goal, Richardson says, is to have the bait run as naturally as possible, and he always tests the cut-plug before dropping it down on the downrigger (below, at right of photo). On the day we went out, Richardson was running the downrigger ball at 100 feet.