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Hey Guys, 2020 eh? lol when we last left off, the boat ramps had just opened up and I was on a bit of a heater as far as fishing was going, maybe it was the least the "fish gods" "god" "vishnu" "yaweh" or whatever you believe in throwing me a bone. 2020 had its rough moments, the loss of an uncle, the loss of a best friend's father, the literal close to total isolation from the people I love fishing with so much, and last on this pile was some late season boat troubles (as you may of already heard me complain about in other threads) 2020 however also did include some absolutely incredible highs which I hope to summarize in the review below so without further adieu its once again AKRISONER's (Ae-Kree-One-Ers) (or Scott's as some of you now know me by) Annual Review Thankful to once again have my own boat in the drink bass season quickly approached, but this one was a strange one. What is usually a tradition of my best friend's dad and his best friend and another one of my best friends having a small family fishing derby provided us with a complete mix in the plans. I sure missed the regular post derby drinks and barbecue next day group fish that we normally do on bass opener, but these year we shook it up. Agreed to create separate teams with no interaction, launch at a public launch and fish with one partner only for the derby and no fishing after. A small delay had us show up at the ramp on Chemong...and covid gave me the first taste of what the 2020 boating season was going to look like. 5:30 in the morning and we had an hour wait at the ramp. When we inevitably blasted off for our small derby it was already 7:30 in the morning! Sure enough almost every single spot was had planned to fish already had at least 1 boat on it. Oh boy, spot one we didnt get a sniff and I thought, oh boy here we go, move over to spot two and theres one high end bass boat out off of it, but we pull in 150 yards down the bank and start fishing when another high end bass boat comes roaring in and stops and i hear "hiiiii chrissssssss" from the original boat (chris apparently) replies...busy out here aint it? and takes off. I sit for a second wait a minute? Holy crap that was Bass Master Elite Chris Johnston fishing Buckhorn on bass opener. 10 seconds later im tossing a chatterbait and i catch a fish...a good omen Chris was, we ended up continuing to catch fish all day and beat our buddies in our derby by 6lbs. Slept in a tent that night on my buddies lawn, already missing the regular comradery that we normally would have post tournament...this year was going to be different indeed. An annual tradition, Georgian bay opener for the week followed. But instead of one of my friends joining me for the week, this time I would be spending a heck of a lot more time guiding my family and showing them why the opener is such a special time on the bay. my GF's first ever smallmouth A couple of days in and looking for someone to chat with while i fished, i convinced my 66 year old mother to get in the bass boat with me and fish some evening topwater smallies, unsure at first...i scared the hell out of her driving 50mph through the channels and put her on some fish. sharing my love for topwater smallies, she immediately fell in love with watching them strike and setting the hook as well. The smile says it all Heck even i catch a fish from time to time My brother reading our texts and seeing the photos I was sending out got jealous. He sent me a message along the lines of "if I pack up the family and come up north, do you actually 100% think you could put Owen (my 7 year old nephew) on some bass? And maybe get me to catch a big smallmouth as well?" my reply was simply "yup" Sure enough he arrived mid day just as I was taking my first dunk into the pads for some largies...he texted me "are you close by" my reply was "yes im literally 1 minute away and I just caught my PB largemouth" I put the big girl in my livewell to show the kids back at the dock and get a decent photo. My nephew then hopped in the boat with me and we boogied back to where I had just caught the big girl and released her. We then continued to fish and my job was easy...Owen at 7 years old, far too smart and wise for his age was calm cool and collected. Followed my instructions to a T and barely showed any over excitement as he reeled in his first largemouth. Im pretty certain I was more excited than he was lol The following day I took my brother out for a fish for that big smallie he was looking for. The fish as they do through that opener week were already starting to transition off of the ledge out a bit deeper, the bite was pretty off and I started thinking "oh boy am I not going to be able to deliver?" at the end of a stretch I wanted to fish I was starting to explain why it can sometimes be tough to be on the fish as they transition out into their late spring set up when Steve hooked up with his PB and first "good" smallie The nights in the spring although filled with bugs for one reason or another can provide some of my favourite fishing weather of the season, warm but not too warm and calm calm calm perfect for low light topwater. This particular evening the bugs were starting to come down and Dawn was starting to get mad at my reluctance to leave to save her some mosquito bites, but I approached a spot that I just knew that on a night exactly like this, at this exact time of year, with these water temperatures was going to have a good fish on it (man I am going to miss knowing the lake like this) but sure enough just as dawn was about to push me into the lake and drive the boat home herself I convinced her to cast up near one rock with the popper...twitch twitch twitch...I say to dawn "wait, let it sit for a second"...and as i finish saying it, a perfect full breaching topwater strike occurs. not so mad anymore...she still wasnt convinced it was worth the bug bites lol back to my squatting home in Georgetown, Dawn and I took care of my parents house over the summer while they continued to live up north. I've never been a big cat guy, but my gf's cat was now living with us and needless to say the cat has absolutely fallen in love with me. He is quite literally sleeping up against my laptop as I write this post Summer was in swing and a trip booked a year earlier finally arrived, it was my second time getting out with Taro Murata except this time it was July, we had dreams of catching an absolutely monster bag and even learning some of the finer points of largemouth fishing from a true pro. Taro self proclaimed, loves fishing largemouth...and because of him my appreciation for them has grown immensely. They are a very technical fish to catch consistently, heck the skipping lessons and clinic put on for us in the boat showed me just how far I have to go as a bass angler. Man was it absolutely stinking hot (we were on the very tail end of that ridiculous July Heat wave storms actually ended our day after 11.5 hours but taro was still willing to fish had the frequent lightning approaching not booted us off of the lake.) Sharing the front of the boat with the legend himself is an absolute riot. Taro is hilarious, and mannnnn can he catch em. Part of the deal from the get go was that we wanted to try and find some of those absolute monster simcoe smallies...easy work for taro even with them being absurdly spooky Adjusting to my new life back in the burbs countless hours were spent with my boat back in the driveway getting cleaned, tackle getting organized, I was really getting used of the idea of having the boat at home to play with even off of the water. Mid summer came and my other brother decided to bring my nephew up for a bit of fishing. The bite in august is always challenging, the fish transition so much through the the day that sometimes you begin to question your ability to catch em. In weird fashion and something I do with somewhat strange regular occurrence, the middle of the afternoon sunny hot day jerkbait produced some walleye for me and a couple of smallies for my nephew. He became really good with the ned rig. Better than a lot of adults ive tried to show. With the smallie fishing being tough, i spent a lot of time cruising open water, finding pockets of fish here and there, but I was grinding bigger water My attention decided to turn back to fishing those largies...my love for flippin em growing with every catch. Me also loving sharing my learnings on how to catch them consistently. My brother with his pb largie Flooded G bay...ya its high ...has created an absolutely awesome timber fishing...shhhh dont tell the smallies, but flippin a jig into wood for buckets might be my favourite way to fish now a couple of flips of the jig, a couple of swamp donkeys Another small covid safe derby organized by the boys, a pre derby 1 week quarantine and a pre fish with my buddy Dave I was really missing fishing with the guys and was just thankful for the opportunity to get out one time, even if it meant sleeping in a tent on their lawn. during pre fish a first for me happened, and funny enough it happened right in front of the property owner, I had never even seen this done in person, but lucky for me it happened on my rod. The owner was pretty amazed and so was I. The next two will have to be bigger. Man what a strange fight. If you can believe it, the next day Dave my tourney partner did again, except with two species lol what the heck are the odds?! September rolled in and as always my focus switched back to those bait chasing smallies. As is the rule, find the bait, find wolfpacks I took this photo and not 30 minutes later I took the second photo. In hindsight that may have been one of, if not the best day of smallmouth fishing I had ever had in my entire life. With Cooler temperatures, the fish were putting on weight, I exploring some new water very near one of my honey holes stumbled upon a spot that will go down in the legends of my mind...It was so damn good from the end of september and into Late october that I every time I went out fishing, id convince myself I was going to fish somewhere else and then would end up back fishing the exact same damn spot. Me on my way to the spot after getting skunked elsewhere lol After one weekend of absolutely cracking fish after fish after fish throwing a DT-10 my brother wanting in on the action i convinced him to come and give it a try and this PB tells the story My old man popped a couple as well Hearing about the consistency I was catching them, my other close fishing buddy jake debated making the three hour drive up with his boat for some two boat social distancing fishing. The day trip was well worth the 6 hours of driving as he also proceeded to crack his own PB as well! the pickerel were even joining in on the feedbag With my 3rd minkotta in 2 years now busted entirely, my bass season came to a somewhat of abrupt end. Things were cooling off anyways so my old man and I would take his boat out for trips for a fall favourite walleye run. A bit too early for the goods, I convinced my old man out of the river and into the basin. If the walleye weren't cooperating at least some smallmouth came to pay us a visit [ It got really hot and here I was winterizing my boat with the guns out? Man changing your lower end oil in 25 degree weather is nice lol Then the weather really turned. We fished some of the most miserable weather I have ever fished, 0 degrees and pouring rain and sleet with gail winds and really really really slow fishing. I thought to myself, this grind has got to pay off these conditions are so ridiculous that even the normal crowd of boats fishing the run was dwindled down from the usual 30+ boats down to 3! having just about had enough that old familiar thunk hit my line, i set the hook and the weight even surprised myself considering we were really struggling to get any bites at all. The next day my old man poked a beauty of his own too it was somewhat of a farewell from Pointe au Baril...through all of this my parents made a decision to make a move permanently to Carling Ontario on blind bay in Parry Sound. Ill admit I was pretty apprehensive even to the idea at first, but in some kind of universe controlled way, the timing of everything worked out perfectly and wouldn't you know it, my girlfriend and I were able to buy the house we had been squatting in over the past 7 months. The new place my parents have at the lake is absolutely incredible, my first morning at the place I woke up to this on our front lawn My house has also kept me very busy...the important stuff like the furnace and roof and windows have been done, but the decor screams 1996 in some spots still. I stay busy changing rooms from this to this but most importantly in any house...and the real reason for moving from the city is this 😏 Ive learned a lot about residential electrical the past few months too, I love the garage lighting. Ran new line to new boxes and added under overhead lighting which I recycled from the kitchen when we installed pot lights. In that photo the garage is clean, and you can see my new trolling motor sitting on the floor waiting to be installed...well like any good project shop they dont stay clean long ahaha Who would have thought that simply strapping on a new trolling motor would basically require a complete rewire, plus rewiring of my bow electronics, livewell controls and creating a new access panel for the bow. Id say I tried to make the best of 2020 even with what it threw at us collectively. Luckily there is a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us with this vaccine. news thus far has been fantastic. Maybe someday sooner than later we can create that "new normal" that is a lot along the lines of our old normal fishing with our buddies and making memories. A family imposed total home arrest lockdown for 2 weeks allowed for my brothers and the grandkids and I to see my mom on Christmas. I was so happy to see my two nephews and niece, even with this crappy ice making weather, were still soaring into 2021 with a positive outlook (this is what happens when your uncle makes the jumps) For everything that 2020 was and wasnt...it was the best year of fishing Ive ever had in my life, hopefully new water and 2021 will make it even better. Im really looking forward to exploring and catching a few new species on the regular as well. We shall see where "The Sound" takes me. Thanks for reading

$400 delivered to Kingston? 😁

Aint going to be close to that down there. Temps are going to be -2 - +3 all week and weekend. Get out and catch some . Good luck and be safe .

Thanks man! And I think you need to go back for that southern gar soon as the borders open. Appreciated Greg! Although years pass and times have changed, still always nice to hear people read and enjoy the write-ups as they always have. Know of a particular cabin which you may speak of. Hoping the best for northern friends in the business cause my Lord they took a hit through 2020. At the very least, it should be accepted that Canadians move about following best precautions they can, especially those planning to further distance and merely go about enjoying their lives. Thanks for reading fellas!

Awesome ties

I will only fish Rondeau Bay in the spring. The weeds are thick by July. There is an area where the channel from the lake comes into the bay that has good fishing. That is where I start.

GREAT report! Thanks for sharing. Despite a few setbacks (my condolences for your losses) you had quite the year

I sold my Rapala Cruz M1 'cause it was too heavy, but a lot of that weight is in the bench you removed. @akaShag The CLAM Kenai is pretty light at 45 pounds, but its tight in there. I sat in one at Trombly's for a long time and almost bought it (sometimes I still wish I did!)

Glad to see you killing it out there - Hope you're doing well all the way up at PAB!

Thanks again guys, Holland Marine was the last piece of the puzzle. I was able to pull some things back out of the shopping carts and I’ll be buying the remaining items semi-local. I haven’t done the math, but I think I’ll actually be saving money, or at least not being too much more invested. And I’m able to buy cut quantities of wire instead of full rolls. can’t wait to start the build

Get them early, like late April/May , they come in shallow to spawn/feed. Look for dark bottoms as those areas warm first. Speaking on my experiences at Long Point, once they move out they are difficult to locate, maybe they suspend over deeper water.

Yup , you do you need more equipment

I spoke directly to an OPP Officer at a local detachment today. She tried to maintain the party line ("Travel is not recommended at this time") but I boxed her in and she conceded there is no specific law against travel in Ontario at this time. I recommend anyone who is unsure or prefers to do their own due diligence call their local detachment. It is a quick call and confirms what you want to know directly from the horses mouth.

bunk those nunavut fish with the banana colouring to them are mind blowing. Congrats once again on the musky cup victory. That gar your daughter caught...good lord, it almost looks like an alligator gar its so big. (i managed to have an 100+lber follow my chatterbait boatside down on santee cooper 2 years ago...scared the living hell out of me)

What a report, just wow Happy New Year.

as always some amazing fish and pictures. Thanks for putting that together!

Awesome - my Dad and I always look forward to your reports! You do such a great job writing them and taking the pictures at such cool places most can only dream of going too! Happy New Year to you! You are my fishing hero!

Come on weather please; my fish hut has been sitting in the parking lot of my shop and it just may stay there again the year. Miss the weekends staying out on the ice; sleeping in the hut. May try putting pontoons on it and using it as a boathouse, LOL Oh crap it'll need to lose a lot of weight to do that; she's a bit on the heavy side. Dan.

Nice report.. my plans for fishing Nipigon and staying in "the cabin"(you may know of this secret place) was canceled due to covid and the fact that we would be coming from a virus Hotspot. I have worked through the entire pandemic so I had to stay close to home once the ramps opened.. the grand river and long point bay are decent but can't compare to the north..