steverowbotham

I'll post pics from my best day this year. Went out for an afternoon with my girlfriend and my dad. We waited out the rain in the morning and got out around noon. Best day of pike fishing I've had in Southern Ontario. Fish caught on jerkbaits mostly. Can't ask for much better than that

As you leave the harbour there are a few rock islands and shoals. I have had some nice smallies and eyes around them

You need a heavy action Rod about 6 feet, a Cardiff Reel and 65 lbs braid. Use a 5/0 Mustad Triple Grip with a bag on each hook. A 1/2 oz bullet sinker and you're good to go! Come on man, this thread cant be serious?

NICE!!!

I got a call from a previous client wanting to get out again with his wife and youngest son. We decided on Couchiching and got out around 4pm for a half day charter. It was hot and calm, but the fish were biting. Landed 17 bass in 4 hours, here's some of the days largest. All fish were released following photos. Fish were caught on 5 inch flippin tubes with a 5/16oz bullet head and 3/0 Owner Riggin hook. Milfoil beds in 8-14 feet of water.

nice job, Muskoka's been fishing tough this year. Chug Bugs will always take a few.

Been out quite a bit this year, cooler temps than usual have made the fishing tough, but I cant complain, still great to be out. Here's some pics of me, family, friends and clients from 2009 thus far. Enjoy

I think there were only 18 or 19 at this one

Didnt really allow it to lol. With the small limit we had, I had that fish in the boat within 5 seconds of hooking her, no net, just craned in QUICKLY. Gotta love heavy braid!

Yesterday Kelli and I made stop 3 on our Bass Pro Employee tournament series. We fished Balsam Lake, and with a busy schedule had no time to prefish. I have actually not been on Balsam since last September, so with the wacky water temps this year, I had a few ideas, but the 25k winds out of the west kind of ruined those plans. Went to plan B and started on a sand flat in about 6 feet of water. I started with a popper, but after Kelli put 4 smallies in the boat in 20 minutes on a fluke, I made the change. We landed almost 30 smallies by 11am, but most were in the 1 - 1.5 pond range with only a couple 2 pounders. We were having fun, but it wasnt going to win the tournament by any means. We made a move to some deep weeds and pulled out the heavy gear. I started throwing a 5/8 oz jig into thick weeds in about 8 feet of water. Within minutes I slammed a 5/0 hook into a solid fish and put a 4+ pounder in the livewell. A few 12-13 inch fish followed, no help. With about 20 minutes left in the day I got a 2.5 pounder on the jig and that added almost a pound to our weight. We caught over 40 fish today, but only 1 good fish. We weighed about 13 pounds and placed 3rd. We also took Big Fish honours with a 4.34 pound largie. Tough day all around it seemed with the winners weighing just 14.54 pounds.

cant complain with that!

no trout in six mile. bass are very common, walleye and pike are present but not in the numbers of surrounding lakes

This 3 day report starts a week ago. Last wednesday, Kelli and I fished our 2nd of 4 tournaments in our Bass Pro Employee series. This stop was at Rice Lake. Rice and I.... we dont really see eye to eye. If I could fight Rice Lake, I'd totally do it. Nonetheless, I had to fish it. I've only been there 3 times, where everyone else in the tourney fish it like every weekend lol. Fishin for points here. Started off alright with a 2 pounder on the 3rd cast, then struggled hard the rest of the day. Managed one almost 4 pounds on the jig. Fished our butts off for 10.4 pounds and finished 8th. Frustrating, but cant wait for Balsam and Simcoe next on our list! I needed to catch some fish and get my confidence back up. My cousin Brent has a Junior Bassmasters tournament coming up on Bass Lake in a couple weeks, so I figured we'd go out there, I'd catch lots of fish and teach him a thing or two. It worked, and it felt nice. We caught about 30 fish in 4 hours. No tanks, but lots of solid fish. Here's to hoping he can get em in a couple weeks time. All fish on senkos and flippin craws. Today, I fished a club tournament on Lake Eugenia. The water temp is still only 71 degrees, and I'm having a hard time figuring the fish out on some of these lakes. I'm catching fish, but not consistant big fish. Not tournament winners. My non-boater smashed them on the dropshot, and I flipped my way to a dissapointing day. Swung for the fences and struck out... kinda. I won big fish prize for the tourney, but the rest of my bag sucked. Lucky he played it safe and kept us in the running for a 3rd place finish. My fish came on a 5 inch craw flipping to wood and weeds in 4-12 feet of water. HE fished a ring fry on a dropshot in the deeper water. I have been humbled the past couple weeks, and I seek redemption!!! Stay tuned.

you look awfully excited for your first 6 pounder lol. Nice fish man!

thats awesome!

Another pretty busy week for me. I ran a charter on Wednesday afternoon from 4pm to 8pm on Lake Simcoe. Viktor and his friend had contacted me the week before about smallies on Simcoe, so we set the date and headed out. It was cloudy with 20-25k winds and threatening rain, but the were up for the challenge. I'm game. We ran to a smallie spot of mine and immediately started hooking up with perch on jerkbaits... lots of perch. They kept about 20 of them for the pan, might as well. Off to a new spot. We slowed down and started dragging tubes very slowly to get bit and they managed a few nice smallies, but overall a pretty slow day out there. The ride back was rough to say the least, that wind can buck on that lake man! Here's one of the smallies back at the dock. Saturday, I volunteered to do a Junior/Senior mentor tournament with the Barrie Bassmasters club. I was paired up with 2 members of the Junior Bassmasters Club and I was to show them some tricks and spots and work with them on a tournament format. We fished Lake Muskoka. I was very impressed with the base knowledge these kids had, and so eager to learn, it made my job easy. We caught a lot of fish, but could get into the size that we needed, we finished 7th but the kids had a blast and its always great to hear the genuine thank you's at the end! Sunday I worked until 2pm and then ran another charter on Simcoe for Danny and George. This is Danny and George's 3rd time with me and a beauty day it turned out to be. The wind and rain held up for us and we had a great day on the water. The bite was relatively slow, but the fish are finally starting to move deeper and we managed some good largies! Gotta love it!

First off, Dave, I commend you for making this post, well said. As for the Mercer's Magic colour, as far as I know it was exclusive to Bass Pro and I know for a fact Bass Pro doesnt carry it anymore. Dave may know how to get more, but I'm pretty sure it was a limited quanitity.

that blows my mind that that would be published. It is definitely a beautiful fish and likely over 6, but 10 pounds? No sir.

nope, i was asked that a lot when I went to college in Lindsay

Several reasons really. To start with, I'm not much of a fish eater. I'll keep my limit of brookies once per season, and I'll usually bring home a dozen perch or so a few times per season, I also really enjoy smoked whitefish. Bass, I have tried and did not enjoy I also enjoy catching them so much, I enjoy releasing them even more.

If paying customers want to take some fish home, they are more than welcome. A bass in my mouth, however, not in a million years

Well, I'm just about recovered from strep throat and a sinus infection. I have spent a lot of time in bed, hot and cold, exhausted and just an all around bag of horse poop. Eliminate fishing from 2 weeks of illness? Hell no. I've managed to get out quite a bit an nurse myself in the evenings, pop my meds and early to beds haha, the summer's just too short. Over the past 2 weeks I have done a bit of guiding, some fun fishing, a couple tournaments covering Lake Couchiching, Sparrow and Lake Muskoka. I'm spending a lot more time on Muskoka this year with multiple tournaments on their way. I know a lot of the lake, but there are too many unexplored regions that needed some investigation. I got to it. In one area, I saw some giant pike so I dug down into my swimbaits to try and pull a 40+ but only big smallies would eat it! Gotta love it, steel leader and all! I have had a dissapointing start to the tournament season so far. Two tournaments and two 5th place finishes, one with 22 boats, the other with just 14. I had some missed opportunities and made some stupid decisions, but hopefully my luck will change soon, I'll figure them out soon enough. Enjoy the pics, and questions, feel free to ask. Repeat clients on Lake Couchiching Lake Muskoka smalljaw Swimbait smallie Kelli with a nice smallie on the dropshot Another decent Muskoka fish Kelli giggled this fish into the baot and told me I had to post the pic lol Muskoka again Clients with a decent day out on Cooch, lots of eaters for the BBQ His first bass, released to swim another day New area on Muskoka This shore was stacked with 2-3 pounders Looking oh-so-thrilled with my 5th place finish Kelli and I doing our first tourney together in a few years, had fun.

i cant believe im saying this, but those are actually pretty carp.

Thats just too young man, best wishes to you and your family. Stay strong brother.

beauty pike nonetheless