At the start of the last fishing season, I had set some goals for myself. While I am by no means, a professional angler; nor do I compete in any tournaments; I still am the type of person who had wants to improve my skills in doing those things in which I will spend a lot of time. Fishing is one of those things.
When the temperature warms up, the snow melts, and the ice covered lakes begin to thaw, my mind turns to fishing, and stays there until the temperatures drop and the ground is covered in white. What about ice fishing you ask? I did it once.
Eight friends.
One ice fishing trip.
Eight hours.
One hut.
Zero fish!
I know this kind of sounded like a credit card add, but it certainly was not priceless. It was actually about $45 for 8 hours of male bonding. And by male bonding, I mean huddling with 8 dudes for warmth.
Again, I repeat, ZERO fish.
Back to the soft water...
So, with the intention of rounding out my fishing skills, and filling out my arsenal, I set three goals for myself last year:
1. This will be the Year of the Soft Plastic
2. Thou Shalt Keep a Fishing Log
3. Don't Gimme No Lip
This will be The Year of the Soft Plastic
The purpose of this goal was to become more comfortable and confident in using soft plastic baits since my friends and I tended to lean towards moving reaction baits. So, in order to add additional tools to my tacklebox, my approach to fishing was dictated by the following rules:
1. I will use soft plastics for at least 50% of a fishing outing provided that the soft plastics I have are appropriate for the targetted species. By this I mean that if I am fishing for pike before the bass season opens, I may not be able to throw soft plastics because most of my soft plastics are geared towards bass, which may not be in season (i.e. June). However, if I have soft bodied jerkbaits and swimbaits, I can throw those as they can be used for targetting both pike and bass.
2. I will start off each outing using soft plastics of some sort subject to the limitations identified in Rule 1.
3. Bass jigs will fall into the soft plastic category for the purposes of this 2011 goal since I have used bass jigs as much as I have used soft plastics.
4. Where a hard bait is working, I will attempt to find a soft plastic corollary.
This past year, I must say, I stuck to my rules like they were in the Bible. Let's recap.
1. I used soft plastic so much so that nearly all of my memorable catches last year were on soft plastics. I also found that I more consistenly caught fish when compared to my friends who were using hardbaits and reaction baits. I used my finesse rod and reel combo, and found that the finesse approach was really effective at catching fish when other approaches were not working. My bait of preference was a Strike King Caffeine Shad in pearl or baby bass colours. I would cast it out, and let it sink, then give it a few jerks, then let it sink again, repeating until the bait was at the boat. This lure proved to be my go to last year as I caught my PB bass - just shy of 4 lbs (nearly a qualifier) and a musky.
2. I always started out with a soft plastic. Early mornings, when topwater was my first choice, I threw a rage tail shad. While still a reaction bait, it fit the category of soft plastic. Other times, it was my new go to lure.
3. Unfortunately, I did not use bass jigs much at all last year, which will lead into this year's goals.
4. I constantly used soft plastics. When hardbaits were working, I threw and caught with soft plastics. This is how I gained confidence in the techniques I used.
All in all, place a check next to goal number 1.
Thou Shalt Keep a Fishing Log
Last year, I stated that I would use this blog as my fishing log.
I did this as well as I could considering my propensity to go for long stretches without blogging. I tried to maintain details of water depths, temperatures, weather conditions, cover and structure. I should strive to continue this and then to catalogue the catches to hopefully develop some long term patterns.
All in all, let's give this a check only because I actually did keep a log.
Don`t Gimme No Lip
With this goal, my intention was to become adept and confident in using the lipless crankbait. All of my success prior had been on lipped crankbaits, and I only ever half heartedly threw lipless baits. So last year, when I reached for a crankbait, I didn`t get no lip for my first crankbait out of the box.
I do not believe that I caught a single fish on lipped crankbaits last year. Early in the season, i threw lipless crankbaits when not using soft plastics or spinnerbaits. As the season progressed, I began throwing soft plastics perhaps 70% of the time, and a hodgepodge of other lures (spinnerbait mostly) for the rest of the time.
All in all, I would say that I was successful in this goal as well. I have a huge amount of confidence in lipless crankbaits now, and will include them in my regular rotation where appropriate. One thing that we did not do last year was get out during the fall to try and hit schools of bass fattening up before the winter. This time of year is supposed to be great for lipless crankbaits, and I am anxious to try it out.
All that being said, I am happy with my growth as an angler last year; so much so that I want to continue to grow and evolve. This brings us to...
23 March 2012
29 February 2012
Extended Hiatus
Hey all,
I apologize for my absence since July. I had been waiting for picture in order to write up my report on our cottage trip to Buckhorn, but could not get the pic I wanted from Kakka. I think he was jealous that I caught the big bass of the week. We did not fish much after our August cottage trip as Musky and I had recently moved into our new townhouse in Milton, and were busy settling in.
Anyhow, in October, I had a bleed in my eyes, rendering my partially blind. To those who do not know, i am diabetic, and had been suffering from a complication of diabetes called retinal neuropathy. Essentially, the blood vessels in my were damaged due to the diabetes, causing the eye to generate new weaker blood vessels which are prone to bleeding. I have had bleeds in my eyes since before I was married, but this was different. I had bleeds in both eyes, making it difficult to see. Imagine looking at everything through frosted glass. That was what it was like for me for a little while.
For obvious reasons, fishing was not high on my priority list. Anyhow, some surgery (pics to come) and with the warming weather, fishing is again on the mind.
More to come, including a recap of my goals from last year, as well as the cottage trip to Bockhorn, and a slew of new fish recipes.
Hugs and European Kisses
I apologize for my absence since July. I had been waiting for picture in order to write up my report on our cottage trip to Buckhorn, but could not get the pic I wanted from Kakka. I think he was jealous that I caught the big bass of the week. We did not fish much after our August cottage trip as Musky and I had recently moved into our new townhouse in Milton, and were busy settling in.
Anyhow, in October, I had a bleed in my eyes, rendering my partially blind. To those who do not know, i am diabetic, and had been suffering from a complication of diabetes called retinal neuropathy. Essentially, the blood vessels in my were damaged due to the diabetes, causing the eye to generate new weaker blood vessels which are prone to bleeding. I have had bleeds in my eyes since before I was married, but this was different. I had bleeds in both eyes, making it difficult to see. Imagine looking at everything through frosted glass. That was what it was like for me for a little while.
For obvious reasons, fishing was not high on my priority list. Anyhow, some surgery (pics to come) and with the warming weather, fishing is again on the mind.
More to come, including a recap of my goals from last year, as well as the cottage trip to Bockhorn, and a slew of new fish recipes.
Hugs and European Kisses
29 July 2011
Cousins Camping
I must apologize as I am the worst blogger ever! It has been almost a month since my last post. Has it been almost a month since my last fishing trip? Yes. But have not blogged about that yet. So, here goes...
For the Canada Day Long Weekend, we decided to have our annual Cousins Camping trip! We typically go to Tower Manor Lodge on Rice Lake. This year, however, we were unable to secure our regularsite, so we ended up going to a very nice campsite on - you guessed it - West Lake lol. Yes, we ended up at West Lake, yet again. For this year's trip, we opened it up to Musky and Pre-Cut's cousins since they are now family as well. All in all, we had about a baker's dozen at our campsite, which was secluded and off to the side, bordered by woods on 3 sides. This year, in addition to Mek Mek, Sk8r Boi, Sir, Pink, Musky and myself, we had 2 of my other cousins - Vanessa and Chet, and 4 of Musky's cousins - Hermione, Sk8rfan, Cheater and Kanye, as well as Knot'Yo.
After setting up our little tent city, Sir, Knot'Yo, Sk8r and myself went out for some evening bassing. After finally getting our boat launched (the ramp at this park leaes something to be desired), we boat over to the
sand banks and begin casting. In about 8 ft of water with sparse weeds, I am throwing a white and green swimbait. The first fish, however, goes to Sir, on a spinnerbait. However, that was all we would get at the first spot. Moving on to a shallow (4') spot with heavier weed growth that tapered into deeper water, I switched to a small Daiwa GameVibe in silver and blue (lipless crank) and immediately put a pike and a bass in the boat. These were significant fish as they were the first game fish caught on my custom finesse baitcasting rod. I must admit that fighting the small fish with this rod was a blast. After the action died again, we moved to our windblown cove. The wind was blowing into this cove so weset ourselves adrift at the mouth of the cove, drifting into the cove. Water depth ranged from 6-10' with heavy weed growth. It was here that the fish began to turn on. Fishing a mix of swimbaits, lipless cranks and Rage Tail Shads casted towards shore and retrieved jut above the weeds, I nailed around 10 bass. Sir landed a number of fish on spinnerbaits and Sammy-style topwaters. Knot'Yo landed his fish on Spinners and big, double bladed buzzbaits. Where was Sk8r throught all of this you ask? He was fishing hard, but had nothing to show for it except for some missed strikes. I was really hoping that he would pop his custom rod's cherry, but its virginity remained intact.
The following morning, Sir could not get up to join me for some early morning fishing, but Knot'Yo was game. So, we trolled out to emergent grass in 5-7' of water and began hitting the grass hard with topwater baits. Knot'Yo landed the first on his trusty double bladed buzzbait. Meanwhile, I landed the next 2 using the Rage Tail shad (it is a soft plastic bait with a wide tail that churns up water like a buzzbait when retrieved). Knot'Yo landed the last fish before we moved on. We found a calm shallow (4') bay with dense weeds (2' below the surface). I caught another small fish on the GameVibe and then a nice chunky 2.5 lber (guesstimate) using a swimbait retrieved extremely slowly. We did not catch any other fish before returning for breakfast.
After eating, we picked up a rental pontoon and brought the cousins out for some hot, midday inner tubing and lounging on the sand banks. While the cousins lounged, Musky, Knot'Yo, Sir and I headed out to catch some dinner. We head back over to the windy cove from the evening before and troll the shoreline leading into the cove. I caught a couple of bass, again on the GameVibe, casting away from shore into deper water, before seeing something that was pretty awesome. We trolled past a nuumber of garpike that looked to be spawning. They were breaking the surface all around us and were all around the boat. You could see these submarines cruising the shallows, not interested in the lures in the least. It was quite an awesome sight for me. We eventually got into the cove and caught a few more fish, on the same lres as the night before. We ended up with enough fish for dinner and headed back in to begin cooking.
We did a fish fry and fed our baker's dozen with fresh, beer battered cajun fish and fries. It was a fun day despite losing most of it to tubing. We did not fish the sunday before heading out. This was probably just as well since the night before, a thunder storm rolled in, right on top of us, and churned up the wate really good int he morning.
As a side note; I hate racoons. I understand that they are just doing what theydo, and we are encroaching on their habitat. However, we had 2 racoon bastards that had no fear, and actually stole a bag of garbage that was literally 10 feet behind us while we were sitting around the fire. I give the racoons mad props for having balls that big though. But they would still go after garbage while I was standing staring them down. Maybe I am not as tough as I think?
For the Canada Day Long Weekend, we decided to have our annual Cousins Camping trip! We typically go to Tower Manor Lodge on Rice Lake. This year, however, we were unable to secure our regularsite, so we ended up going to a very nice campsite on - you guessed it - West Lake lol. Yes, we ended up at West Lake, yet again. For this year's trip, we opened it up to Musky and Pre-Cut's cousins since they are now family as well. All in all, we had about a baker's dozen at our campsite, which was secluded and off to the side, bordered by woods on 3 sides. This year, in addition to Mek Mek, Sk8r Boi, Sir, Pink, Musky and myself, we had 2 of my other cousins - Vanessa and Chet, and 4 of Musky's cousins - Hermione, Sk8rfan, Cheater and Kanye, as well as Knot'Yo.
After setting up our little tent city, Sir, Knot'Yo, Sk8r and myself went out for some evening bassing. After finally getting our boat launched (the ramp at this park leaes something to be desired), we boat over to the
sand banks and begin casting. In about 8 ft of water with sparse weeds, I am throwing a white and green swimbait. The first fish, however, goes to Sir, on a spinnerbait. However, that was all we would get at the first spot. Moving on to a shallow (4') spot with heavier weed growth that tapered into deeper water, I switched to a small Daiwa GameVibe in silver and blue (lipless crank) and immediately put a pike and a bass in the boat. These were significant fish as they were the first game fish caught on my custom finesse baitcasting rod. I must admit that fighting the small fish with this rod was a blast. After the action died again, we moved to our windblown cove. The wind was blowing into this cove so weset ourselves adrift at the mouth of the cove, drifting into the cove. Water depth ranged from 6-10' with heavy weed growth. It was here that the fish began to turn on. Fishing a mix of swimbaits, lipless cranks and Rage Tail Shads casted towards shore and retrieved jut above the weeds, I nailed around 10 bass. Sir landed a number of fish on spinnerbaits and Sammy-style topwaters. Knot'Yo landed his fish on Spinners and big, double bladed buzzbaits. Where was Sk8r throught all of this you ask? He was fishing hard, but had nothing to show for it except for some missed strikes. I was really hoping that he would pop his custom rod's cherry, but its virginity remained intact.
The following morning, Sir could not get up to join me for some early morning fishing, but Knot'Yo was game. So, we trolled out to emergent grass in 5-7' of water and began hitting the grass hard with topwater baits. Knot'Yo landed the first on his trusty double bladed buzzbait. Meanwhile, I landed the next 2 using the Rage Tail shad (it is a soft plastic bait with a wide tail that churns up water like a buzzbait when retrieved). Knot'Yo landed the last fish before we moved on. We found a calm shallow (4') bay with dense weeds (2' below the surface). I caught another small fish on the GameVibe and then a nice chunky 2.5 lber (guesstimate) using a swimbait retrieved extremely slowly. We did not catch any other fish before returning for breakfast.
After eating, we picked up a rental pontoon and brought the cousins out for some hot, midday inner tubing and lounging on the sand banks. While the cousins lounged, Musky, Knot'Yo, Sir and I headed out to catch some dinner. We head back over to the windy cove from the evening before and troll the shoreline leading into the cove. I caught a couple of bass, again on the GameVibe, casting away from shore into deper water, before seeing something that was pretty awesome. We trolled past a nuumber of garpike that looked to be spawning. They were breaking the surface all around us and were all around the boat. You could see these submarines cruising the shallows, not interested in the lures in the least. It was quite an awesome sight for me. We eventually got into the cove and caught a few more fish, on the same lres as the night before. We ended up with enough fish for dinner and headed back in to begin cooking.
We did a fish fry and fed our baker's dozen with fresh, beer battered cajun fish and fries. It was a fun day despite losing most of it to tubing. We did not fish the sunday before heading out. This was probably just as well since the night before, a thunder storm rolled in, right on top of us, and churned up the wate really good int he morning.
As a side note; I hate racoons. I understand that they are just doing what theydo, and we are encroaching on their habitat. However, we had 2 racoon bastards that had no fear, and actually stole a bag of garbage that was literally 10 feet behind us while we were sitting around the fire. I give the racoons mad props for having balls that big though. But they would still go after garbage while I was standing staring them down. Maybe I am not as tough as I think?
05 July 2011
Ontario Angler Awards
On one of the fishing forums I am active in, one of the administrators runs the Ontario Angler Awards Program for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH). Here is an exerpt from Calfish from Ontario Out of Doors:
The OFAH Ontario Angler Awards program was introduced January 1, 2004. It is somewhat based on the Manitoba Master Angler Awards. The program is free to enter and is quite simple.If it is free to register, go ahead and register. Maybe you can win an award for panfishing? That would be cool!
1. Catch a fish in Ontario waters this season as per the Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary
2. Measure the fish and if the length is equal to or greater than the minimum length for that species in the program than you can enter it.
Each fish you enter you are eligible for a personalized certificate and decal. There are 19 species of fish in 10 categories that the program recognizes: Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Muskie, Walleye, Trout(Brook/Speckled Trout, Lake Trout, Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Splake), Salmon (Coho Salmon, Chinook Salmon), Panfish(Rock Bass, Yellow Perch, Pumpkinseed, Bluegill, Black Crappie), Carp and Whitefish.
Each angler creates an online account and then they submit their catches through their account. The website is slightly outdated and I am hoping to have time in early 2012 to re-design it but in the meantime it is what it is and the program is still running (almost 35,000 entries sionce 2004).
http://www.ontarioanglerawards.com/
Note: This is not a contest. It is a free program that helps recognize anglers on their success via a personalized certificate and decal.
22 June 2011
Lake Scugog
This weekend is the last weekend in June, which means that it is bass opener! Yay! This is like Easter and Christmas combined! It is like Baby Jesus is climbing down chimneys all around the world and leaving chocolate eggs for all of the goo d little boys, except more awesome because it is fishing.
So, with the enormity of the approaching weekend, I was stuck with deciding where to go to hunt little green fish legally for the first time this year. There were the obvious spots that we go to frequently like Rice Lake and West Lake, but I wanted to explore Lakes unfamiliar to my friends and I, yet close enough for a day trip.
To the internet I went, and then it hit me like the tail of a freshly caught fish - Lake Scugog! This lake is close, but is renowned for its bass, walleye and musky fishing, all of which happen to be part of the Grand Slam challenge. Not only are all of these fish present in this lake, they are all present in the sizes that would make them qualifiers.
Here is a pic from http://www.kawarthaanglers.com/:
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Here is some info from Wikipedia:
Lake Scugog is a lake in Scugog Township near the town of Port Perry, Ontario. The lake has an area of 514 km² with an average depth of 1.3 m. The lake is fed by the Nonquon and Layton Rivers and drained by the Scugog River. The depth of the lake has become more shallow over the past century as development around the lake has removed most of its forest cover, allowing it to fill with silt.
The lake was formed when William Purdy dammed the Scugog River at Lindsay, Ontario in 1834 to power his grist mill. The new lake was originally very unpopular with the local residents; its formation also destroyed the wild rice stands and cranberries harvested by the native Mississaugas. Today, the lake is used for fishing and recreational boating. The lake is surrounded by swamps and marshes which provide habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.
Lake Scogog also has an array of fish, such as muskellunge, sucker, bullhead, carp, rock bass, pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, yellow perch and walleye. link title
The name "Scugog" may be an Ojibwe word meaning "marshy waters". However, according to Place Names of Ontario by Alan Rayburn, Scugog is a Mississauga word meaning 'waves leap over a canoe' in reference to the flooding of the river valley.
source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Scugog
The lake is shallow and weedy, which sounds perfect for largemouth bass. The challenge will be identifying which weeds are productive, and which aren't.
Wish me luck, and I will let you know how it goes...
So, with the enormity of the approaching weekend, I was stuck with deciding where to go to hunt little green fish legally for the first time this year. There were the obvious spots that we go to frequently like Rice Lake and West Lake, but I wanted to explore Lakes unfamiliar to my friends and I, yet close enough for a day trip.
To the internet I went, and then it hit me like the tail of a freshly caught fish - Lake Scugog! This lake is close, but is renowned for its bass, walleye and musky fishing, all of which happen to be part of the Grand Slam challenge. Not only are all of these fish present in this lake, they are all present in the sizes that would make them qualifiers.
Here is a pic from http://www.kawarthaanglers.com/:
Here is some info from Wikipedia:
Lake Scugog is a lake in Scugog Township near the town of Port Perry, Ontario. The lake has an area of 514 km² with an average depth of 1.3 m. The lake is fed by the Nonquon and Layton Rivers and drained by the Scugog River. The depth of the lake has become more shallow over the past century as development around the lake has removed most of its forest cover, allowing it to fill with silt.
The lake was formed when William Purdy dammed the Scugog River at Lindsay, Ontario in 1834 to power his grist mill. The new lake was originally very unpopular with the local residents; its formation also destroyed the wild rice stands and cranberries harvested by the native Mississaugas. Today, the lake is used for fishing and recreational boating. The lake is surrounded by swamps and marshes which provide habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.
Lake Scogog also has an array of fish, such as muskellunge, sucker, bullhead, carp, rock bass, pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, yellow perch and walleye. link title
The name "Scugog" may be an Ojibwe word meaning "marshy waters". However, according to Place Names of Ontario by Alan Rayburn, Scugog is a Mississauga word meaning 'waves leap over a canoe' in reference to the flooding of the river valley.
source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Scugog
The lake is shallow and weedy, which sounds perfect for largemouth bass. The challenge will be identifying which weeds are productive, and which aren't.
Wish me luck, and I will let you know how it goes...
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