steverowbotham

That's just how river guys are. I'm have numerous PM's complaining about me posting river pics with backgrounds visible. Guess what? If you recognize the background, you've already been there and I'm not telling you anything new!

That's black grub and the worst case of it i have ever seen

awesome!

thats fall fishin for ya. Awesome on unpressured lakes too!

I've used the ramp at Little Boshkung, but at this time of year they drop the water levels and its too shallow to drop my boat. The bunks dont even get wet

nice job boys

Well, every year for thanksgiving I head up to Haliburton area to Kelli's cottage for her family's thanksgiving celebration. Lucky for me, there's some great fishing to be had. We drove up Saturday morning and fished a small lake on the way to the cottage. Through a bit of research I knew it was mostly a largemouth lake (what I wanted), but did have some smallies as well. We launched the boat at 10am into 53 degree water and I picked up my flippin jig and didnt put it down. Within 5 minutes I had 2 small pike in the boat, and quickly followed it up with a nice 3 pound largie. Some time went by and Kelli put a few decent smallies in the boat casting away from shore with senkos and jerkbaits. I kept flippin, and I got into a nice surprise... a 43 inch musky. I kept flippin and managed to put a few good fish in the boat. One largie around 5, the rest were 3 pounds or so. I also got a 4 pound smallie on the jig off a floating dock. Kelli managed some decent smallies as well At around 2:30 we pulled the boat out and headed for her cottage on 12 Mile Lake. I launched the boat and went for a quick fish while she mingled with family. In an hour I managed to get about 10 fish, all decent fish on a jerkbait. Went in and had a nice dinner, then took her uncle out for a bit. It cooled down significantly, but managed a couple more fish, one around 4.5 pounds. The fish are FAT! Slept in a tent on Saturday night, holy eff. It was a bit chilly at -3. Woke up and went for another fish. Still -3 out. Got into a few fish but it was slow, managed one real good smallie on the jerkbait. Here's where the weekend got interesting. Went to take the boat out at Wedgewood Marina at 1:00pm and there was an old pickup parked in front of the launch ramp. There were 4 other boats waiting to get out of the water and no one to be found. One group of guys put their trailer around the guys truck and down the ramp by hand. I helped them drag the boat and trailer up the ramp by hand to their truck and they agreed to help me. As we got my boat on the trailer, the marina owner came home and lost his mind! He threatened to call the police for trespassing and told us to never return among other curses and random non-sensical rumblings. Now, I understand it is his property and he has every right to block his ramp. There was not a single sign posted anywhere saying he was closed (apparently he is closed every Sunday) and he never informed us when we launched our boat the day before. First off, what marina closes every sunday? Especially the sunday on the last long weekend of the year? There were 4 other boats needing to pull their boat out at the only marina on the lake. He not-so-politely informed me that his hours are on his website. Why would I check his website when it would take 10 cents to grab a pen and paper and write closed. Either way, the guy was a complete jerk and I got my boat out. Wedgewood Marina, I wouldnt recommend the guy to my enemies.

Gonna hit up a few lakes in the Haliburton area. Cant wait

As a tournament fisherman and a guide, I'm always looking for a competitive edge, whether it be better hooks, new gear, new baits etc... Over the years, I have come to realize that there is nothing more important than good hooks. I have my hooks, and every crankbait, jerkbait, topwater etc has its hooks changed out of the box. Well worth the extra price. Anyhoo, in my quest to find something great and different from the rest, I inquired with a friend about tying me jerkbait/topwater/crankbait trailers. Custom tied means they're different from the rest, and what a difference it has made! He is starting to get more into it now and is looking to do it a bit more often, he is charging $3 a trailer if you provide the hooks or $4 if not. With a minimum order of 3 trailers (they can be different) WELL worth the price. He will do anything custom, but here's a few that he tied for me recently... A sweet crawfish trailer he did up for me, goes great with craw cranks. A nice olive trailer, caught me a few fish over 5 this year Sweet white/flash trailer, all about the material on this one, looks AMAZING in the water, took 2nd place on Simcoe on Sunday with this one Nice white/chartreuse flash, again, the material is amazing. Hope you enjoy, let me know if you're interested.

nice trip! Can't wait to spend Thanksgiving weekend in the Hali's

Come on fish and wildlife tech! Thats a great blue heron... FO SHO! It was a tough weekend of fishing with these fronts, wait until you get a nice hot day and that river will be on fire again. Current makes a HUGE difference too. Keep casting and you'll figure it out

Had a small 11 boat tourney on Six Mile yesterday, despite the high of 8 degrees and 25km winds, my good friend and I managed to win the tourney with 19.50 lbs and big fish at 5.58 Report to follow...

Troll 8-10inch Believers

I hate wind. lol Had a charter cancelled today and my dad had the day off so we headed out to Simcoe for a few hours. We had a strong west wind, so we ran up to Hawkestone area and north towards Orillia fishing the west shore out of the wind. Fishing wasnt stellar by any means but we managed to take about 12 fish between us. Started throwing jerkbaits and spinnerbaits but had nothing but followers. Gave my dad a dropshot slammer and he caught a few 2.5 pounders. We have a tourney in a couple weeks, so we kept our biggest 4 each to see our weight at the end of the day, just to get an idea and stay in tournament mode. After he put some in the box, I tied up a Strike Zone Slammer on a split shot rig and started getting into them pretty good. No giants today, we each caught a bunch of 3- 3.5's and each had one "real" simcoe Smallie. Fish today were in about 16 feet. Waiting for use of the launch, I was firing a spinnerbait around and picked up this guy.. Heading over to the west side of the lake tomorrow for some GIANTS

Wil, I havent caught a tagged fish out there since I emailed you about the last one. I never heard of any caught, but I didnt ask either. Ask Gerry to send an email out to the club and maybe remind some of the guys, our Simcoe tournament is a couple weeks away.

Yesterday our club had a tournament on Lake Couchiching, it was our smallest turnout of the year which was dissapointing, but I'm always excited for a Cooch tournament. I only got out 1 time to practise and only for a few hours as I was having trolling motor issues. Now fixed. In past club tournaments on Cooch, I have placed 1st (2008), 7th (2007), 1st (2006) and 2nd (2005). This is known to be "my lake" in the club, and the expectations are always high. It puts a lot of pressure on me, but I love it! My pre-fish was bittersweet. I found some BIG fish, but couldnt get a single fish to bite. With the stable weather we've been having, I figure the fish were full. No pressure changes to stop their feeding patterns and what not, but who knows. Just a theory. I pull up to my first location, a smallmouth spot in 6 feet of water and with the 15k winds, started chucking spinnerbaits. My non-boater was up first and landed a 2 pounder. Decent start. Within 5 minutes, my rod stops dead and my line peels sideways. Thought for sure it was a pike until a 4+ largie hits the surface. Craned her in the boat and I've got my first. Up into 3 feet of water now and I put a couple little 13 inchers in the livewell. Move to a rocky break and hit a 3.7 pound smallie. Not bad. I've got my limit. Our club works differently than most in that we keep 4 fish each. I keep 4 and my non-boater keeps 4. My individual 4 go towards angler of the year standings, and our combined 8 go towards cash awards for that tournament. I've got a decent weight (around 11 pounds I figured) I won it with 13.55 last year, setting a new club record for the lake, so 11 pounds is a good weight, and it's only 8:30. Now I needed my partner to get fish. Moved to an area thats usually good for a bunch of 1.5 - 2 pounders so he could get a limit. He threw senkos and I tossed around a jig'n'pig. I felt the unmistakable thump of a good largie and set the hook hard, I quickly put a 3.8 pounder in the boat. She had company and my partner hooked a 2.5 pounder on a senko. Before unhooking mine, I pitched a tube out there then unhooked my fish. Picked up my tube rod and it had weight. I brought in another 4 very carefully on light line. Now I've got over 15lbs for my 4. My partner landed another 3 pounder and the action died. Went to a big fish spot to swing for the fences, throwing jigs and big worms. I hit a 4.80 pound largie to cull out my 3.7 smallie. Got lots more 2 pounders that wouldnt help and it was time for weigh in. Our club record for Cooch was 13.55lbs for 4 and 24.35lbs for 8. Our record for 4 fish overall, was 15.70 pounds from Dalrymple. I waited until the end to weigh my fish and the second last guy weighed 13.55 lbs, that created quite a buzz as it tied the record and I got some razzing. I handed my weigh bag over and the weighmaster gave me the "holy shittake mushrooms" look. On the scales the 4 went 16.80 pounds, destroying the club record and our combined 8 at 27.35 set a new team record as well. I can't wait to try and break the record again at our next tourney on Simcoe. Here's a pic, its a cell phone pic for now as I havent received one from a camera yet.

mother of god.....

Sparrow fish weigh light, I've found that out many times haha. She's definitely a high 4. Good fish for sure

I had to work today, the Saturday of the long weekend, but I made plans to take my dad out on Simcoe for some smalljaws. We got out around 4pm and the boat traffic was insane! We moved out to deeper water (25-30 feet) figuring it would push the fish deeper. We caught a few small fish around 2-2.5 pounds, moved to a break from 22-28 feet and started getting into some better fish. Landed 10 all together, all on tubes. Lost 2 on a jerkbait. My trolling motor blew out at around 7:15 and we headed in. This thing has been giving me issues all season. Oh yeah, we had smallies puking up gobies. First time I've seen it out here! My old man with a few nice fish Smallies' new diet!

what he said

Last wednesday I had some clients out on Couchiching for some largie action. The bite was slow, one of the toughest bites this year, but they still managed to put some semi-decent fish in the boat. Monday I took out a buddy from work for some Simcoe smallie action. The bite was tough overall but we did manage to find one pod of aggressive fish that were more than willing to smash some jerkbaits. Here's our best 4 for the day. Tuesday, with the weather, I couldnt pass up another day on the water. I invited another buddy from work to test out the action. The bite was even tougher but we managed to take about a half dozen fish on a combination of tubes and jerkbaits. Same as the day prior, all fish were in 12-18 feet Tonight I took Kelli out to enjoy some of the action. We have our "Classic" coming up at work and we want to do well. I'm expecting a decent jerkbait bite and wanted Kelli on her game, what better lake to practice on!?!

GIANT!!!

is that Mill Lake?

Not much I could have done, it was an unfortunate situation, and they werent wasted. Rye, bobby h took them, lol.

Kelli and I fished stop 4 of 4 in our BPS Series today on Simcoe/Cooch, 18 boats. There was a lot of pressure on us being that Cooch is "my lake". I have been on some good fish lately, so my gameplan was to go for largies to start then run to Simcoe and swing for the fences. We got to our first spot, a milfoil bed in about 10 feet of water and I pitched my jig into the weeds. The jig didnt even hit bottom before I felt the thump. I set the hook and a 3.5 pounder came out of the weeds. As I was lifting the fish into the boat, Kelli set the hook on a 4 pounder. Good start. We put them in the livewell and kept pitching. About 40 mins later, I hooked a 2 1/4 pounder and when I went to put her in the livewell, the plug was loose, the water was drained and the fish were dead. This has never happened to me before and it was pretty heartbreaking, but we kept plugging away. Kelli put a few 1.5 pounders in the well and we had our limit. I hooked and lost a 4+ on a topwater and it was time to go to Simcoe. We put some miles on the merc today hitting waypoint after waypoint and only got 1 smallie to show for it, a 4.20 pounder. Back to Cooch for some largies. We got into a school of 2 pounders and started culling. Guess what? I culled too many and we were down to 4 fish. I broke off another 4+, but managed to pluck a 1.6 pounder off a dock before weigh-ins to salvage the limit, but I was not happy. We had 2 dead fish penalties and ended up weighing 16.40 pounds for our 5. Fortunately for us it was tough all around and we managed to win it! It was a stressful day, but we pulled through and thats what its about, plus a fellow competitor is enjoying some BBQ largies on me.