steverowbotham

Thanks guys, it was a good weekend for sure. Love those fall smallies and beautiful backdrops (not that I spend much time looking at them lol). I appreciate the view more once I look at the pictures, which is too bad.

Kelli and I headed up to her cottage on Sunday. The cottage is on Twelve Mile Lake just north of Minden. It is a small, beautiful lake and the fishing is tough, but can be awesome when you find the fish. It is also a lake that I think could be VERY vulnerable to overfishing, so I would recommend catch and release to all bass fishermen. Anyways, we got to Wedgewood Marine around 9am and there was a truck parked in front of the ramp and the owners were nowhere to be found, after waiting an hour, no one showed up so we went to the gravel ramp on 118. The ramp is too shallow for my boat so we needed to get in the water and pull the boat off the trailer. I was not impressed to start the morning. Anyways, by 11am we headed out and it was pretty windy so we immediately started chuckin spinnerbaits and jerkbaits around the steepest drops we could find. I missed a good fish on the jerkbait, then ran into Jigger, a fellow OFNer. We had a quick chat about the lake then got on our way. Headed to a new area and found the fish ... caught 7 or 8 on the jerkbait, a couple on tubes and 3 or 4 on spinnerbaits, even saw some big lakers cruising up shallow. We headed in at around 3 to meet and greet with the family and enjoy some turkey, then back on the lake by 6 for an hour of fishing. I landed 4 more on the jerkbait. Caught 5 tagged smallies today!! a nice little smallie (1st of our tagged fish) a couple nice smallies posing for a photo op.... one was slightly deformed but fat as could be. Kelli with some beauties BEautiful couple with some beautiful fish haha A big tagged smallie I caught up shallow after the group photo fish had been released Monday morning, we got up at around 8am, had some turkey sandwiches and headed back out onto the lake. We were on the water by 9:30 and fished until around 12. We got all our fish on jerkbaits this morning, and KElli caught a pig smallie. Same locations produced again. Kelli's uncle Scott followed along to a spot I showed him and landed a nic elittle pike as well. Fishing in some awesome scenery Scott's pike Kelli's big one on the jerkbait ... she's starting to like jerkbaits haha Kelli with a couple beauts from the morning they took the dock out by the time we got back and we had to wade for our pic haha, all fish released just fine. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

He had pasta ... my brother and a shared a bunch of wings haha

I'm watching the replay as well. St. Pierre is a giant. My brother is a professional fighter and I have had the opportunity to meet and dine with St. Pierre. The dude has the widest shoulders I have ever seen. So big for 170 pounds. Super nice guy too!

Filled her up at 1.049 today

This time of year, watch your graph for schools of b aitfish in 15-50 feet of water, you'll likely find the bass.

I knew I should have played hooky

Ask solopaddler, as I believe he is in possession of approximately 1 costco warehouse full of Alaskan coho eggs. LOL

Debates like this come from people being uneducated on the subject, and even beyond that, there is still going to be controversy and a clash in beliefs. I have extensive training and education in animal handling, pathology and sedation/euthenasia. In a situation like this, I guarantee the first instinct of people is to kill it. The first instinct of professionals is to subdue and transport it, especially given the population status of the cougar. Fear comes from media. This cat was "resting" in an area, and given sufficient time, they could have subdued the animal and transported it either to a remote location or captive sanctuary. However, there is not always sufficient time, and on the spot decisions must be made. Although I personally would have preferred to preserve the life of such an increasingly rare species, thats not always the best choice, and I'm sure they made the right decision for the situation at hand

LOL! And all hail the man that taught me what I know on this wonderful lake!

I WISH! Unfortunately, I gotta work in the AM

8 inch perch coloured Jake

St. Croix Avid Musky Series or Pete Maina Series Musky Rods. Both are great quality with great warranties.

You can get good numbers in 4-8 feet. If you want size ... go 10-20 feet

he deserves it. what a fool

Big Gold Spinnerbait!!

FATTY!!

Yes

It wasnt purple under the store lights!!

Unfortunately, with polarized glasses on, its purple. I get Barney a lot! LOL

nice eyes!

After a day of feeling like crap, I had a night to rest and recover, so, I had the opportunity to fish Simcoe today, it was rough and tough, but we managed some nice fish. Most fish landed on jerkbaits and tubes in 18-20 feet of water. Our biggest 5 would have been around 22-23 pounds

Obviously, in a tournament, the bigger the fish the better. Obviously, once again, bigger fish are harder to come by than smaller fish. So it is important to catch big fish, but also important to have a full limit. I will generally throw a "numbers" bait first, such as a senko or a tube, and catch by 5 fish first. Then I will pick up a big bait, like a big jig, or more recently a big swimbait. The thing about the swimbaits, is that they are a bigger profile bait, so generally the bigger fish prefer it. Any fish will take 1 big easy meal over 20 small meals, its all about energy efficiency. So, I may only catch 1,2 or 3 fish after I pick up the bigger swimbait, but they are usually larger fish!

And the good thing about that, is that your family will not care either ....

I have started throwing swimbaits a lot this year, especially in tournaments. Once I get a decent limit, pick up the swimbait and start chuckin it, because I know it will get bigger fish. I won my first Angler of the Year title this year. LEts leave it at that.