After the long wait for the ice to disappear, it came time to turn to the Walleye opener on the Bay of Quinte. I've been fishing this derby for about 7 years and my success has been non-existent. Just can't seem to figure those early walleye out, paired with some boat issues it just wasn't a successful trip. While still waiting for bass season, one has to keep busy. So me and John headed out to Calabogie area and went on a hike/fish for some little brookies. It's always fun to explore new areas and catching fish is just a bonus.
And then it was late June, and the season I always anticipate the most was finally here, Bass Season!! I headed out to Kars to cast the cobwebs off and dial in the drags on all my reels again. Ended up helping some guy hold his boat while he parked the trailer. Got talking a bit, and he invited me out for a couple hours to share in his excitement of bass opener. Gotta love this fishing community, had an awesome couple hours with Paul in his Skeeter, with the biggest coming off a dock by the captain.
John and I then started to hit small back lakes to test out his new boat, and look for some bass. No monsters came into the boat but I caught more fish this year than any other, with a couple 4's along the way. When I wasn't in John's boat I would have to go out searching the shores. Actually had some pretty good luck in the Barrhaven area as well as the St. Lawrence.
My most memorable bass day of the year was on the Rideau River where we threw Frogs all day long, with great success. We boated close to 25 largemouth all caught on Lunkerfrogs. Hard to beat that aggressive topwater blowup! It seemed I had the magic touch that day because I was catching fish 2ft from the boat, and spots where John had just casted. Lots of nice fish came into the boat, targeting thick duckweed blow-ins was the key to success this day!
Also caught a bit of bass knuckle on my Okuma Helios! gotta keep that rod tip up and the pressure on no matter what!
Only managed one tournament this year but had a pretty solid day on Big Rideau with my buddy Jordyn. We were probably the two youngest guys out there, being 21, with the smallest boat but we had a solid game plan and stuck with it! Finished 21st out of 70 boats at the Shootout Series, with 15.69 lbs, and a 4.68 largie that I caught 10 minutes in, was also the first fish in the boat.
Bass season always seems to be over in the blink of an eye. It was now time to start college again and make my move to Pembroke for the next 2 years. After two months of "hard work" at school, John gave me a call and told me we were going for Salmon...."I'm in!" We tied some bags up the night before and hit the road. Always a fun trip, and always an amazing experience doing something completely different from the norm.
And then it was time to actually focus on my Environmental Technician program, and didn't get out a whole lot. Now it's time to play the waiting game for this warm weather to pass and I can finally get out on the ice!
