On to the summer journal...
June 9th - Arrived home from Attawapiskat.
June 13th - Lakers. Blown off the water by 10:00am. 2/3 small greasy lil' terds came over the gunnel while I tried my hand at the jig-jig-whack-whack. Will be giving this another try some time in the future.
June 17th - Muskie. A full afternoon with Grant was just what the "Stealth Bomber" (Bomber for short) needed. Grant is one charismatic, amusing, fun, relaxed and fishing friendly guy. We got awesome weather that day and it was only the beginning of more days shared to come. Raised 6 muskie, and Grant caught 2. Thanks again for the day Slop... or "Slob" as Leah calls ya.
June 21st - Salmon & Bows. A brief window to decide, I jumped at the chance to meet Carl and fish again with Mike (SM05) on Lake O. These two made half the group for an upcoming Kesagami trip. The opportunity to make friends and gel ahead of time only foreshadowed the excellent time we would share later on. Thanks Carl for the mini nooks and bows you let me reel in.
June 25th - Muskie. A second crack at the big Esox, Muskiemagnet (Pat) aboard The Bomber proved why he is a "muskie magnet." I find Pat and Grant's character are much alike, but that Patty would be a version of Grant on Ritalin. Patty doesn't sing screwed up versions of song lyrics on a whim or get quite as nutty, but either version would be always welcome in my boat. It was another perfect day fishing and at the point when Patty said... "time for a troll' and then he sent his line out the back as I got the boat to speed and he in seconds hooked a fish... well... that's Pat for ya. He dials in quick. Raised 4 and Patty caught the 2 of the day.
June 27th - Bass Opener. Long lost BC'er and littlest tattooed hobo FLOAT stayed under my roof for a couple nights. I don't see my BRO enough. Kev is like my wife, impulsive and from the heart... so I have no choice but to love him. We had back to back fun days and I managed to pull my biggest summer toad from out under the trees. Opener for us was good for a couple dozen fish.
June 28th - Muskie. Second day with Floaty we tried two bodies of water for toothies. At last light while casting I blew a shoreline hookset on a biggun'. 0 for 1 on the day, but Kev found a smaller cousin to keep the complete skunk off The Bomber. Appreciated having Kev stay and hang out with me.
Canada Day - Bass. Launched at 8:00am and was totally blown off the water within 2 hours. Winds came up out of nowhere. Tough fishing morning, but that afternoon the family jumped in the car and with my GPS and backroads Mapbook we took a drive from home to Griffith, to Bon Echo and back home through Ardoch, Arden and Sharbot. Lots of launches and lakes plotted to chip and memory, and the girls kind of enjoyed the 5 hour tour.
July 7th - Bass. Made the mistake of fishing 2 days after a Renegade tournament. Senkos and Waveworms moved a dozen smallies in one new spot I found, but the shallow cruising big largies I sighted didn't want nuthin'. What was I thinking going to the Rideau.
July 8th - ATV tour with the girls. We let the morning rains settle after I unfortunately had to cancel plans to overnight camp somewhere with my daughters. They love the quad, so I made it up to them with a full afternoon touring around in the Highlands. Dad found more trout lakes to fish while out and about too.
July 10th - Bass. Snuck away to a nearby lake in order to beat on some largies. Solid afternoon with a count of 21. One thing this summer I've tried to work at changing and improving is my hookset. The walleye sweep that has been engrained within, just doesn't work for bass. Even the big magnified walleye sweep used with pike doesn't work well either. It's more up... needs to be up and hard... really hard if it's in the junk... So yes, my bass hookset could use a little Cialis until it's all naturally tweaked... but this summer I got it up hard quite a few times... and it worked.
July 11th - Muskie. Sad state of affairs on this day. An old friend who rarely fishes and whose largest fish may be about a two pound smallie, joined me for muskie. On his fourth cast he hooked into a small one... and it came off at the boat. Later on the clicker rips on the troll and I handed off to him what I knew was a good fish. Joe accepted a little coaching and played it well experiencing a good battle with a mid 40" range ski... I botched the net job......... Joe's immediate response... "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!... BUNK, I HAVEN'T HAD AN ADRENALINE RUSH LIKE THAT IN 10 YEARS MAN!!! Ohhhhh!!! AWESOME!" And what's funny sad is, I wanted a picture for him and I both so bad... and Joe really didn’t care less. He was totally happy to have that experience as it was. Shame on me.
July 14th - Bass. The Canada Day drive into the Land O' Lakes wasn't just for burning gas and taking in scenery. With my little ladies in tow we left bright and early for the 1.5 hour drive into God's Country. I picked out two different lakes but the first one I wanted to hit was deep and rocky with a few shallow bays, and if that more smallie like lake didn't work out, we'd tour over to a more shallow lake. Deep lake coughed up 4 fish by 1:00pm. We had a picnic and cooked up some hot dogs. Shallow lake... 32 Summer counted by days end. My girls had a blast and caught some solid bass of their own. I nailed what's likely one of, if not my biggest smallies.
July 17th - Muskie. The return of Slop in the boat for an afternoon of ski hunting was a tough go. I had caught one snot rocket muskie in the WarCanoe the previous fall, but I could hardly count it as a first. This one wasn't a whole lot bigger but it was a welcome catch for me... finally... in my boat. Nice looking baby muskie. Grant makes near skunkings a whole lot more fun.
Late July... Kesagami. Link to the full report here...
http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/inde ... opic=46006
August 9th. Crappie. Change of pace was needed. Toothy fish galore at Kesagami, the bass fishing was going pretty good, I tried a hand with the crappie for something new. Turned out, they came to play too once the evening arrived and it was great fun ultralighting a couple dozen of them up. Having never tasted crappie, I took some home for Bren and I to try from the pan, and I also caught this one cracker that came in just shy of 14 inches, could have used a quarter. Not a bad time at all fishing these oversized pannies. Fileting them I can see how they got their name. Pee-U.
August 12th. Bass. Back at it with the girls we hit the road stopping first at a pancake house to enjoy the most filling piles of flour ever imaginable. Having them off for the summer meant plenty of hang time with dad doing whatever. Summer has taken to recording all fish caught, their general size and what specie. Didn't take her long this season to stop asking what this or that fish is... it'll be interesting next year to see how much actually got absorbed. Her records indicated a mixed bag of pannies and bass on a 36 fish day. Fish were OK size for fun.
Mid August... Specks, Pike & Lakers. My good friends Dave and Keith joined me for a road trip. The Stealth Bomber in tow we packed much gear and shuttled our excitement out west for a chance to chase after trophy caliber fish. To say we had fun and caught great trout and pike would be putting it lightly. I'll let just a handful of pics explain.
September 4th. Bass. The Labor Day weekend is last call for family time before the kiddies head off back to school. Bren wanted the sunday to drag us all down to Shawville for the fair and Paul Brandt concert. (I really quite enjoyed my first country music show... I'm "Alberta Bound" in a "Great Big Convoy" now) The Saturday was mine though, and so with huge winds meaning no boating, after hitting a pancake house I took all the girls for a big hike and fish. The winds couldn't find us along this magnificently scenic river and ducking under trees neither could the odd shower, but the smallie action was incredible. A two and half pounder in the river would likely be the tank, but with the ultralights and current fishing the four of us caught bass after bass. There was a point where I got 10 in 10 casts... and we all likely caught 4-5 dozen. The tough fighting fun fishing for the girls, the hike, coupled with a picnic and having the entire gang out together fishing for the first time in a couple years... it was my favorite day. The sentimental one of the season. Took tonnes of pics and probably shouldn't post to many, but I will.
September 7th. Walleye. Got together with a friend of mine and set off in chase of ole marble eyes. We found a few non keepers flashing in the pan but were unfortunately chased home after only 3 hours by thunderstorms. Ahhh well.
September 8th. Muskie. Finally a day for the books for me and the muskie. Threw caution to the wind and trailered the WarCanoe to an entirely new expanse of water. I had a clue from past reports, Google'd to find the launch and on a day that blew mild and poured off and on all afternoon, I finally hooked a solid muskie. A personal best to be exact because it was measured and because it was the culmination of a TONNE of time trying. Actually got two and lost one on this day, but the second fish was small, took time to unhook and so I got it back quick. It was surprising how nervously cautious I was with the fish... INet and muskie fisherman do that to ya I guess. After an attempt to land it by hand; like I've done nearly every pike in my life except my PB, there was no way the wily Lunge would have that happen. Scary boatside fish... so, it went in the net and remained submerged until I set up for a shot. It released really well, and that was good as it was a spotless fish that was no worse for wear having taken only a single treble firmly through the front of the bottom lip. They leave you wanting more though. You fish so long for an appearance. Hopefully time will make me more efficient at boating these beauties.
September 10th. Bass. More wind played a role on this day and so did the long trip with The Bomber after its return from the west. Thought I had troubles at the launch but with some unnecessary running around and a dumba$$ moment, I got to fishing about 3 hours after I had intended to start. Senko saved the day, got some fish, but it was a long day.
September 11th. Bass. Friend of mine allowed me to launch onto a "semi-private" lake. Bass can grow pretty big there but they're kinda hit hard all summer long on this busy cottagers playground. For the weekend after Labor Day, at one point I could see and count 12 boats cruising around. Picked up maybe a dozen smallies and a largie, saw a great pike, watched crappie feed like mad on the surface at sunset and, thought I'd try the place again some midweek day in the future.
September 14th. Walleye. Grant met me at the launch and during the afternoon winds we drifted around putting some bass in the boat. None were anything to write home about. Come dusk it was time to play with the walleye though, and although they weren't on fire, we caught a respectable few keepers and released some others. Every time out with ole "Slob" is a good time. Really enjoyed his company a number of times this summer. Thanks again bud.
September 20th. Bass and Walleye. This would be it for summer as next day would be the first day of fall. My dad mentioned in the spring how he wanted to make a visit to a big and scenic lake up in the Highlands. He rides his Goldwing on the roads up there frequently and I think wanted to see the sites from a new vantage point. The weather was to be great. Luckily since just this spring until today, I've been able to fish more with my dad already (just four times now) than we have fished together in our lifetime. It's perfect. It's the way it should be. I sometimes wonder if he thinks I'm a totally obsessed knuckle head fisherman though, but then other times believe he is interested in knowing more. Crappie, gar and now a cool bass outing, then muskie this past sunday, if you're not accustomed to it, its gotta be eye opening. I know his involvement makes him happy, and me too... so on this last day of summer we set out and cruised around all over the big lake, dropping lines often in search of smallies but having a hard time, when finally come a half hour before sunset I found bait and some interesting structure while just trolling about. "Bait is thick dad... thick... and hooks all over." Trolling into the wind we passed by and picked up nothing until the bait stopped. We took time to tie up jigs and switch to ultralights. First cast back behind us I felt the all too familiar tick of a walleye. Sweep. In da boat. We drifted back through with the wind and each picked a few more. All were pike bait size if you ask me, but it was a nice note to end on.
So it was an interesting summer. 21 days fishing on the local waters plus another 14 days divided between two great trips. Six muskie outings going 7 for 11 with another 10 raised. A PB crappie, PB muskie, possibly PB smallie and my second best largie. Ten new bodies of water. Great company... yes, a definite bonus to living in the south has been having company in the boat. Friends and family really made this summer fishing what it was, so thanks again, especially those who had to be patient when work interrupted plans.
With the new life to balance and so many things to consider and do... it was done pretty well. Fall should be fun with more opportunities. Maybe see some of yas out there.
Bunk
