Lake Toho Trophy

So, I have given my report for Lake Toho.  I could only describe my experience on the lake, and how we fished.  When we got back to the dock, my brother - Sir, Duk and my brother's old workmate, whom we shall call Dalton - the pacifist philosopher who will kick ass if needed, were waiting for us...


Dalton - Leave the pigeons ALONE!!!

When Spam and I got back to shore, we heard stories of their trolling of live bait to mimic a school of shiners in order to stimulate bass activity.  We also found that they had used the same live bait tactics that we did. 

While it worked for Sir, Duk's white bucket was almost completely empty, landing 1 little dink that was not worth taking the camera out for!  However, Dalton used these tactics to great effect, as we were told about Dalton's bonafide Florida giant!

Approximately 9.5lbs!

Relying on his pacifist approach to fishing, and unwillingnesss to hurt the fish by actually setting a hook with enough force to puncture the fish' mouth (perhaps he is from San Francisco as well), Dalton coaxed this monster into the boat.  Despite taunts from Captain Dean proclaiming that his daughter sets the hook harder than he, Dalton persevered, and has caught something none of the other BASStards have.

This alone, made the trip worth it!  I will post a video that Sir captured of the giant once I get my hands on it!  Stay tuned, and be forewarned, there are a lot of expletives in it...

My Bachelor Party - Day 2/3

So, the first night, Tight Moves is up late, pounding drinks back because that is what he expects at a bachelor party - and rightfully so.  However, the rest of us take it a little easier, preparing to be up early the next morning.  Upon convincing him that the next night would be a 'Big Night' (not that it took really any convincing - Tight has this way of convincing himself of ideas by a series of asking and answering his own questions), he hits the sack.  I did remind him that he was my first mate, and that he didn't want to disappoint me on my bachelor party... Or so I thought... 6:00 am

Me - Hey!  Get up!  We're going fishing now!

Tight - Go without me.  Pick me up when you come back in.

Me - What?!

So, with that, I set out to explore a brand new remote lake, 8 hours North of civilization - alone.  However, at least my best man and cousin would remain close all day - not that I would need it in the end.

Emmanuel and Pele were up when I was, as were Mek Mek and Sir.  Mek Mek and Sir would hangclose to me throughout the day while Emmanuel and Pele had their own plan...

Their plan was as follows:

1. Fish for one hour.
2. Go back to the cottage for a coffee.
3. Fish for one hour.
4. Go back to the cottage for a coffee.
5. Fish for one hour.
6. Go back to thecottage to eat.
7. Repeat in the afternoon.

They never strayed more than 20 minutes boat ride from the cottage and some hot beverages.  Those Italians love them some coffee.  But can you blame them?  It was cold.  Sure, Pele brought up some warm fishing clothes - jogging pants, long sleeve shirts, a baseball cap and running shoes.  Nevermind that he didn't bring anything like gloves or a toque perhaps.  It was the weather...

Anyhow, back to the fishing; it started to rain overnight, and continued on right throughout the day.  It was cold and rainy.  However, the fishing was not too bad.  Sir was able to land a nice 7 lb pike, as well as a smattering of other smaller pike.  In a sheltered cove, I was able to elicit a lot of topwater strikes on my new Norman Top Dollar walking bait, which combines a water spitting attraction with a walk the dog action.  (That is one catchy fucking slogan).  However, I was unable to hook up until I switched to an inline spinner (one of my homemade jobs).  Moving on, I found a small island close to shore where the lake opened up and the current funneled into this shallow saddle.  So, I anchored here and gave it a shot.  Casting inline spinners towards and parallel to shore, I was able to land a few small pike and a decent smallmouth bass.  Not bad for a team of one.

That's what I thought until we ran into Knot'Yo and Kakka who showed us what 'doing well' really means.

10.10 lb Kakka



Knot'Yo 12.12 lb pike, HIS 12.12 lb pike...

Knot'Yo and Kakka caught these two monsters, along with a host of other in the 5 to 10 lb range in this one large bay at the South of the Lake!  Using silver and blue husky jerks,  they caught their personal best pike, and Grand Slam qualifiers! 
Catching those gators made them good and hungry, so in we all went for as fresh a fish fry as they come!  On my way in, I pass a boat with 3 anglers in it.  They wave, and I assume they were waving to someone else since no one had 3 in their boat aside from Spam, and I know what that boat looks like.  I get back to the cottage and have a fun time docking by myself when the boat of three pull up and Pele, Emmanuel and Tight Moves are in the boat!  Bastard jumped ship and joined Team Italia!

Fried fish + fried potatoes = heaven (via coronary)



Tight looking for something vegetarian friendly...

Yep, I still cooked on my bachelor party...

After lunch I had a nice nap.  It was so nice that I slept almost until it got dark!  No worries since the bite definitely tapered off and little success was had afterwards.

That night was not the 'big night' that Tight had hyped it up to be.  In fact, it was rather relaxed as it got really cold, and the night sky really cleared up, revealing a night sky dotted by thousands of stars.

Fishing was much of the same thenext day, although tougher.  A smattering of pike were caught throughout the day, but nothing of significance - especially when compared to the 10 and 12 lbers caught the day before.  Camo did manage to catch his only fish of the weekend - a sucker, leaving Tight as the only one who got skunked.  Shoulda'a just woke up that first morning.  As seen on this blog, karma is a fishing bitch...

Knot'Yo - nothing left to prove

Spam - my boat's wake will sink your puny boat...

On the last day, only Spam, Sir, Knot'Yo and I head out for a last minute chance at a giant.  The morning was cold and crisp.  It was sunny and cloud free.  A high pressure system had moved in, and expectedly, we caught nothing that last morning.

We packed it in and headed home later that morning.  The drive home felt shorter than the drive up.  Perhaps we all slept more, tired from a great fishing weekend.  Perhaps sleeping was better than being awake for Mek Mek's first time driving with a trailered boat.

Whatever the case, the weekend was great, and was exactly what I would have wanted, and got for my bachelor party.  Thanks to my brother, Sir, for planning this thing.  Thanks to all of my groomsmen for standing with me on my wedding day, ad being there to back me up on all the days leading up to it.  Thanks to the rest of my friends who thought enough of me (or fishing) to spend a weekend with us up North.

Guys Fishing Weekend June 2010 - WestLake

So, with the black cloud thatwas Ahmic hanging over me, I was determined to find a place that would bring us the glory of fish, and rid us of the stench of skunk.  So I connect to the internet andGoogle directs me to West Lake. 

We book at West Lake Willows and head out for redemption.  With Windsor chirping in my ear everyday leading up to weekend, I issue a challenge - longest average of 6 fish per boat.  Each boat is loaded with 3 anglers - Myself, Sir and Knot'Yoin my boat and Windsor, Emmanuel and Tight Moves in the other.

Sir and I arrive Friday afternoon, shortly after Windsor and Emmanuel, who now have a head start on us.  SO, we immediately head out after unpacking and get our lines wet.  It doesn't take long before we are into some fish - bass and pike.  In 2 hours of fishing that first afternoon, Sir and I land about 15 fish - mixed bag of bass and pike.  However, the competition has not started yet, and this catch does not count.  However, more importantly, we find the pattern which sets us up for the entire weekend - white spinnerbaits.

We park ourselves on top of a huge weedbed off of the Sandbanks, and fan cast white spinnerbaits above the weeds as we drift over them - reeling in just fast enough to tick the tops of the weeds.  This pattern ends up being an extremely effective pattern for the entire weekend.  SIr ends up discovering a secondary pattern of soft bodied swimbaits, also proving to be sucessful.  Because we are so successful, I begin to experiment, and end up catching fish on some gulp alive minnows on a shakey head.

All in all, we end up boating over 120 fish over the weekend - silencing Windsor... at least for now.

Unfortunately, I only have 1 pic from that weekend.

Ice Fishing

So, cabin fever was killing us.  We were glued to WFN, watching other people fish, wiching we were the ones fishing when one of our friends asks, "What better way to get your fishing fix than to go fishing?"  To which I reply, "What'chu talkin' 'bout Willis?!  It's winter.  How we gunna fish?"  As he takes a sip from his drink and puts the glass down, I hear the clink of the ice on the glass and realize just what Willis was talkin' 'bout.
So, with that, we set out to Cook's Bay in Lake Simcoe for some winter fishing.  (I know, I know - I should have known better with my track record there...).  On this hunt would be the usual suspects: Myself, Sir, Duk, Knot'Yo, Spam, and three others - The GodFaja, Camo-Toe, Just Cuz.  Just Cuz is named such because he is just Camo'Toe's Cuz.

from left to right: The GodFaja, Duk, Just Cuz, Knot'Yo, CamoToe, Spam

We get out there and they truck us to the party hut in this:

If you have ever met us, you will know that we are big boys, which made for a fun drive lol.  Anyhow, we get set up and lines in the water and wait.  And we wait.  And then wait somemore.

Absolutely nothing bit.  Eight lines.  Zero fish.  Eventually, we lost patience and played outside in the snow. 

On the upside, we had a killer snowball fight.

Buckhorn 2009

So, I wanted to do more than just camp this year.  So, after some research, I found this great little cottage for rent on Lower Buckhorn in the Kawarthas.  It is part of the tri-lakes, along with Upper Buckhorn and Chemong; and is known for great fishing.

So, we pack our things and head up for the week of the Canada Day long weekend.  Along with me were Musky Hunter, Sir, Pink, Knot'Yo, Pre-Cut, as well as my parents.

We got there and found a wonderful little cottage that felt like home.  It was cozy and was located in this quitet little cove on the lake.  Better yet, it had some great fishing - right off the dock!

My Dad with someone else's fish...

I must say that one of the things that really struck me about this lake was the beauty:

Back to the fishing. It was good.  I caught my first fish on a bass jig.  I caught my first fish on plastic frogs.  I caught my first fish on sammy style topwater baits.  It was a great week for fishing.  Here are some pics:

And although we brought some friends to the party, that didn't stop the catching...



Sir Fusses with a friend who we will call, "My Best Friend's Girl"



Me with the Knot'Yo's co-angler, Kakka (Italian for Number 2.. I think)

All in all, it was a great week, filled with lots of fish and relaxation.  It was so good that we decided that we were gonna do it again.