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/:

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...

West Lake May 27-29, 2011

So, last year, we discovered the glory that is West Lake, and have since returned numerous times to feed at her table.  For this weekend, we once again enjoyed the hospitality of Scott over at West Lake Willows.  We stayed in their newest, largest cottages, which were handsomely equipped with 3 bedrooms, (1 queen, 1 twin over double bunk, and 1 single bunk).  Our group consisted of 10 people in 2 identical cottages. 

With us this weekend were Sir, Pink, Duk, the Hobo, Kakka, Knot'Yo, Dalton, Musky, myself, and a newcomer to fishing - Gas Log, so named for his meticulous diary of gas he keeps.  I considered calling him FWG for the following picture:

Yes, he is shirtless in his foul weather gear.  However, it should be noted that he has never fished.  But do not be fooled, he is at home on the water as a sthailor!  Yes, I said it with a listhp...

As late additions to the party, another friend of ours - Red Light Special, his wife Rinda, her sisters and their boyfriens.  They stayed at a couple of cottages a little down the road. 

With the numbers we had, we rented 4 additional boats to accomodate all of the sthailors.  Gas Log borrowed a rod from me for the weekend, but not for fishing.  He strung upthe rod with a bedsheet and made a sthail with hich to cruise around West Lake!  Fashionable and Ingenious!

Fishing started out for Sir, Kakka and myself friday afternoon as we got there around 4pm.  The conditions were overcast, rainy, windy and around 15 degrees C.  However, this did not stop the fish from biting. 

I started with a white soft plastic swimbait, retrieved just above the tops of the weeds, with moderate success.  I switched shortly thereafter to a lipless crankbait also retrieved just above hte tops of weeds, and ripped free, when I felt the hooks catch.  This proved to be an extremely effective approaach and accounted for the majority of my fish on that first day.

The next morning, the conditions were much different, with calm waters.  It was still overcast and somewhat cool, aroud15 degrees C.  However, fog had rolled in off of Lake Ontario, obscuring our view.  This did not affect the fishing greatly as the fish continued to feed.  This next day, the fish did not want to hit the lipless crankbait.  However, they were not shy about attacking the white soft plastic swimbait.

Later that day, the sun came out, and the temperatures rose to the mid 20's.  We moved to some shallow weedbeds as we were catching too many OOS largemouth bass deeper.  Targetting pike, Musky and SIr switched to topwaters.  Sir was using a pencil type walking bait while Musky switched to a lure I had just picked up, the Team Daiwa Mouthwasher - a combination propbait popper.  Whatever it was, Musky nailed a good number of fish on this lure.  Her hokset timing was perfect, and she christened her ligthsaber rod - numerous times, in fact!

Shortly afterwards, I began to get chills, and came down with some serious chills once we got back to the cottage.  I then broke into a fever.  Not a good way to end the fishing weekend - which is whatthis was for me.  Over the next couple days, I would alternate between chills and fever. 

Over the first 2 days of the weekend, our boat totalled around 90 fish landed!  It was another great fishing weekend, and West Lake provided again!  Despite falling ill, the weekend was fantastic for all.