Wednesday @ Snake Lake or Ode to a Horsefly

[cprince]

So I was able to entice Tallpaul to get to the farm by 4:30am yesterday morning. I have no idea what time he had to get up to make it to the farm by that time... but he came armed with an XL triple triple, that made me a happy man.

We go to what I now call Snake Lake at about 5:30am and started out to our first spot to try and get some Pike Pounds. The weather was sunny and windy. 10 minutes later... it was cloudy and light rain. The rest of the day the rain mostly held off while everywhere else was getting a fair amount of rain. Lucky day!

The lake has serious drop offs within 5 to 15 feet of the shore line down to about 30FOW. Weed were not in where I was expecting to see them yet. So we really had to adjust our plan of attack. At the mouth of the first bay (Shaped more like a Fjord!) we found a nice patch of cabbage in about 10 FOW. Paul nailed his first fish of the day;

We took a pic not because of its impressive girth, nor it's majesty... but just because it took so long to get the first... and I secretly feared that it might be the only one of the day...



Well, I was quite wrong and my fear was clearly unfounded!

Paul and I were laughing all day at many socially inappropriate jokes and with respect to celebrating Sexual Harassment Week... but the biggest laughs came when Paul was trying to imitate his hero; 24/7.

When using the swim bait Kevin... trying to give it the appearance of a dying rock bass... what exactly is the rock bass dying of?

Eventually... Paul gave his swim bait terminal gonorrhea and was able to fool a pike into T-Boning the little sick bugger, seconds after saying that Kevin was full of poop!!



We moved spots and found a really nice bay with some cabbage and about 10 to 20 FOW adjacent to deeper water and the bight was on! We pulled out a bunch of pike and harvested two 3 to 3.5 pounders for lunch;



When we beached the boat and I went for a leak... I nearly stepped on the biggest grass snake I have seen. It was while cleaning the pike that I came up with the name of this lake (changing the real name of the lake to protect the pike... but anyone with a pike stocking report from the MNR could find it!!). I was putting the bones and skin on the shore line, then I noticed that there was something there... a water snake gorging it's self on the scraps!!! I wish I would have thought about taking a pic of it...

Towards the end of the day (about 12hrs after launching)... I was able to hook into the fish of the day;



She was about 5lbs... but I really thought she was bigger than that... still a great way to end a great day!!! We had a blast!

We finally ended our day 14 and a half hours on the water.

Thanks again for going with me TallPaul (Who really IS tall!), your have a sick sense of humor... don't change!!. Can't wait until we make it out together again.

Craig

[Dore]

Great report Craig !

[Rideau-snag]

great report

nice fish!

[stetco]

Great report. Is it just me or are there no photos in your report. Maybe they won't load for me. Anyway a great read

[Fishing 24/7]

hey craig thumps up to you man.

getting people out fishing.

thats whatit all about.

i have great respect for that buddy.

keep up the good work!

[troutnmuskiehunter]

Good report Craig....No wonder you call that Snake Lake.....the last pike is nice and long but man is it ever skinny.....it really does look like an ugly ole snake !!

[canoedude]

Way to go Craig - looks like you had another fruitful day on the water!

[GR8-Scott]

Nice work Craig - Way-2-go man!
That must have been something to see the water snake gorging itself on the scraps....Man you should've taken a pic.....

[tallpaul]

Craig - sorry for the delay in responding, but thanks so much for organizing, getting me out in your boat for a FULL day of fishing, all the laughs (we were both laughing at inappropriate jokes, so I think that makes them at least a bit more appropriate! ), the trip down memory lane and for posting the report!

Lots of highlights for sure and the weather also really cooperated.

24/7 - I'd really like to know how I can make my perch swimbait look like a dying Rock Bass though!? I fished a fair bit with the bait and only managed one fish. Really had no idea how to "swim" it...

Winning pattern for me was definitely my perch pattern NorthAM spinnerbait. Craig did well with his NorthAM Red/White spinnerbait I believe.

Kudos on that fish of the day too! Not a huge fish, but it's always nice to get the big one of the day!
Something Craig mentioned that day that stuck with me is that "it's cool to target a species and actually go out and catch them". Arguably pike are one of the easier species to target, but what I was happy with was being able to recognize bass-like areas and limit the number of incidental catches. I had only one in 12 hours of casting.

About memory lane - turns out Craig and I lived not too far from one another when we were growing up... attended rivaling elementary schools and the same high school (though at slightly different times). His memory is top notch and he was tossing names out of teachers and people he knew back then... turns out there was quite a bit of overlap! Small world... had more than a few laughs!!

Thanks again, Craig! I'd be more than happy to join you again... and/or maybe we can hit a spot in my canoe at some point!

Cheers,
relativelytallpaul