steverowbotham

If there's one thing I enjoy about working a nightshift, it has to be my ability to fish on pretty much any given day. It has turned me into a kind of "fair weather" fisherman, but that has its perks too. The past 3 days, everything looked right to get into some lakers. Warmer temps, higher pressure and late season are a great recipe for a good day on the water. I couldnt ask for more. Over the 3 days of fishing, I spent time with a bunch of good people, some of whom I hadn't seen for years. Even better than good company, is good fishing and we certainly enjoyed that. I put over 40 lakers on the ice over the 3 day period including one big bruiser. We fished anywhere from 61 - 85 ft of water and never had to travel any deeper. X-Zone swammers and lipless crankbaits were the choice baits as the lakers were all wailing on schools of herring and smelt. I'm -4 lipless crankbaits on the week as I had a few good fish take them on me, one around 15lbs right at the hole too. Anyways, on to the fish porn... And I caught a wicked sunburn Keep It Reel

The past few years I've noticed an even mix of naturals and stockers, which is awesome to see. One thing that has been far more prevalent this season, is the lakers regurgitating herring. Big 9-13 inchers. They're chewing out there and staying healthy! And Greg, lets do it buddy!

X Zone Swammers

A few clips of what we've been up to lately, enjoy!

Well, after that dumping of snow, I still decided to head out on the lake and make my longest walk of the season thus far. Stupid. On several occasions, I debated leaving my stuff on the ice and calling for a helicopter rescue. What an exhausting trek through the snow drifts to our location. Luckily, it didnt disappoint and we left by 130 with over 20 fish iced. What a fun day out! The walk back was dreaded all day, but didnt seem as bad after icing so many fish over the course of 4 hours. Had some fish eat a lipless crank, but couldnt keep them pinned. The fish we landed all came on X-Zone Swammers in both 3 and 4 inch sizes. No real big fish today, but some healthy fish to keep us entertained!

Well it wasnt a fast and furious day on the lake, but I got the wife out for a few hours on Thursday morning. She hadnt been out all year and only got out a few times in all of 2012, so she was itching to get into some fish. You'll never hear me complain about that or make an excuse not to go, so off we went. Got to the lake around 9am and punched some holes in 107 feet. With the strong east wind, I wasnt overly optimistic and I knew the pop up was going to stay anchored in one spot so we'd have to wait them out. They came in groups of 3 or 4 fish here and there and we each managed to put some healthy fish on the ice. I wanted to make sure she caught some, and she did, which made for a very fun day. Off the ice before 1 to get home for a comfy movie day.

Well I headed out after work each morning, and was definitely glad that I did. I only got 3-4 hours of fishing in each day as I had to go home and sleep for the night shift. Yesterday we headed out to the main lake to try and avoid crowds and fish some fresh water. It was a slow start, but once we had the trick dialed in, it was game on. Hit double digits in the few hours and called it a day just after lunch. Some good quality fish, several of which spit up good sized herring. Today I headed to a new area and I swear it was Lake Simcoe's nursery. There were so many fish around, and even though they were moody, I think they're competitive instincts kicked on and they would often be racing each other. I had 8-10 fish on my screen on several occasions. Landed around 20 fish in the 4 hours I spent out there. Here's the kicker... I dont think one of them was over 4lbs. I've never seen so many small trout on Simcoe as I saw there today, a mix of naturals and stockers. Kept two for the pan as they were only 3 pounders... good eaters. I had an absolute blast but can't believe I never got one big one with that many fish around. Insane day. Here's some pics from yesterday

I've tried a hundred different baits out there and the swammer by X-Zone is far and away the most productive bait I've ever used to ice lakers. That said, I still always have a good selection with me as no one bait will ever be the be all, end all. On any given day the fish may prefer a different approach and it's always worth experimenting.

Well despite the freezing rain forecasted, I headed out to KBay on Monday in hopes to duplicate my action from Friday. It was a slow start, set up in about 110 feet of water, but with the wind and freezing rain, I decided to stay anchored in my pop up and wait it out. Around 1130, the fishing picked up and I went 6 for 12 in the next two hours before packing it in. I didnt want to go home, but I had to get some sleep before the night shift. All fish came on the swammer again! Nothing huge, but good quality fish again. Kept a couple this time, and enjoyed them hot out of the pan. Just 1 fillet left and she'll be gone before dark!

Wasnt that lonely, I just trekked away from the pack. The pack was out in full force this weekend though!!

Well the gorilla is off my back! I finally got out on Simcoe for some greasers yesterday. I had to work until 8am, so I didnt arrive at the lake until about 845, on the water for 9. Ice was good and black, but only 2.75 - 3.75 inches in the locations I drilled. I assume she's made a bit more, but I still urge everyone to exercise caution out there! Be safe! I started off up pretty shallow, but action was very slow, landed one small laker in the 2-3 lbs range and made a move to deeper water. Once I set up out there, it was game on. I ended up hooking 12 fish and landing 8 in the 4 hours I stayed out. Ice was still thin and I wasnt ready to get the pop up out over the thin ice, so I braved the cold and by 1pm my hands were asking me to go home. Hot bait of the day was the usual suspect, a 4" X-Zone Swammer. Enjoy and BE SAFE!!!! Check out the video from the day

hahaha

It's all because I used a song thats "matched third party content" ... nothing I can do unless I remove the soundtrack, sorry

With this cold weather coming in, I'm getting excited! Enjoy!

Thanks man, through all the frustrations of the season, quality fish make it all worth while.

Well everyone, it's been an interesting year to say the least. Lots of boat problems this year prevented me from fishing as frequently and put guiding to a halt. I still got out lots and made lots of memories before calling it an early year. Here's a video recap of my season, enjoy! http://youtu.be/NRVxKtBjl4A

Rich said it best... I find the low light hours often produce more bites, but the sows come out to play in the heat!

It's been a couple weeks, but I'm back with another report for yas. The month started off with a couple club tournaments on Gloucester Pool and Lake Muskoka. G-Pool was some of the worst weather I've fished in in a while. It was blowing 30-40km/h all day and the rain came down HEAVY at times, with thunderstorms threatening all day. I managed to scrape together a semi-decent limit, but one dead fish cost me big time. The tournament was so tight that the 0.5lbs penalty dropped me 5 places in the standings. Lake Muskoka was a different ball game. The weather was changing all day, but some experience on the lake helped me out. It was a tough go, as Lake Muskoka often is in August, but we put close to 25 fish in the boat and managed a second place finish. No big fish, just consistancy. Got most of the smallies fishing whatever weed clumps we could find with a mix of spinnerbaits and Slammers on a dropshot rig. Next up was a BPS tournament on Gloucester Pool again. With the conditions being more ideal, Mike and I were able to fish the zones we wanted to and put together a 17+ pound limit, good enough for 2nd place. We got all of our fish in deep milfoil on 1/2oz and 5/8oz green pumpkin jigs. Finally, I had a couple days off to fish my favourite lake. I'd only been out there once for fun all season so I was excited to get out there and do some damage. On Thursday, I targetted the deep milfoil and some rock piles I had located mid lake. Both spots put out great quality fish in good numbers. I had planned on fishing Simcoe the next day, but I decided to get back out there while the bite was hot. Glad I did! I had another awesome day out and landed a largie close to 6lbs on camera. Most fish came on black jigs, but some on dropshot, senkos and craws. Enjoy! Lake Muskoka G-Pool Tournament Cooch smallies Cooch tank Another deep weed chunk nice pair! Good morning fishing cane Nice largie Quality Cooch smalljaws! My toad! http://youtu.be/dhdfEhkQL3M http://youtu.be/V_IqoQ8lMqI

Well, I finally got my internet up and running after almost a month in Elmvale. It has been an interesting summer to say the least. Mid-July, I cracked the hull of my boat in some rough water out on Simcoe. I cant remember the last time I was boatless, at the mercy of the dealership. Well, long story short, they didnt come through for me but a good friend, Bill Vardy did. He took the boat off my hands and had it fixed up in 2 days. A far better outcome than the 2 weeks it sat at the dealership just waiting for an answer. Anyways, I did get some fishing done in July, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. Fish this summer seem to be deeper than usual but the heat has got to be a big contributing factor. X-Zone Slammers as well as flipping jigs have accounted for most of my fish this summer. Enjoy the pics and as usual, any questions, feel free to ask away. Fun day on Couchiching with the wife! Some nice ones from my new home lake Teaching Lunkerboy some new tricks... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W5D0YyJ3sg

Hey everyone, today is moving day as I keep creeping north to the small town of Elmvale. The trucks are packed for load number 1 and the wife is still sound asleep, so I'll write up about June before I pack this thing away. May saw some slab crappies and slob pike, but June is always my favourite month! BASS OPENER! Before bass opener, I still had 3+ weeks to kill. Back up to Muskoka I went to chase down some big gators again. We had a few successful outings, but with the move coming up, I didnt get out as much as I would have liked, and took until bass opener to pack and prepare for the move. Our pike success came targeting deep breaking shorelines close to spawning bays, the more undeveloped, the better. We caught them on a variety of baits but once again, the X-Zone Mega Swammer accounted for the vast majority of our fish. My buddy Darryl was able to land his new PB pike as well! Then came bass opener, my favourite. I didnt enter the Casey Cup this year, so I took the opportunity to join a Junior Bassmasters mentor tournament. I had two members of the barrie junior bassmasters join me on the boat for a 5 hour tournament. We had a blast catching smallies on crankbaits, topwaters and swammers. Unfortunately, I knocked the switch for my back livewell recirculation and had 2 fish die in the heat without the recirc running. That 1 lb penalty knocked us down from 20.30lbs to 19.30lbs, but it was still enough for first place and we all had a blast. Later that afternoon, since the tournament ended early, I had a friend meet me up at Simcoe. We went out and fished some new water for a few hours and got into some gooduns. Wouldnt be my go-to spots, but good ones to know in the future. Wednesday we had our first club tournament of the year on Simcoe, and what a tough day it was. The wind was howling and the water in my zones had dropped all the way to 58F. I had to make some switches but still managed some quality bites and was able to pull out another win, plus big fish at 5.80lbs. Great start to the season, can't wait to get settled in Elmvale and get July started!

Very nice!

I dont know about toast... 1500 is not a big number for the size of kash

When they have to deal with the customers like the ones in front of you all day, can you blame them for being edgy? That goes for all retail outlets. It all begins with the way you handle yourself as a customer. It's not a cashiers fault that your rod broke, or your dvd doesnt play, or your ice hut broke etc etc. Be kind, and expect kindness returned. Good for you, and I'm happy they took care of you!

thanks guys! Was a very fun month!

nice eye!