steverowbotham

I personally believe its a hybrid. The jaw extends past the eye indicating largemouth, though it does have many smallmouth characteristics

Interesting catch here. A member of my club caught this fish in Cooks Bay a couple of weeks ago... What do you all think?

Alright so I have had a hell of a week. Still working overnights full time, but I've been putting a lot of time on the water. Not much sleep for me this summer, and its looking like a busy couple weeks ahead. Friday August 12 My dad is moving to Halifax tomorrow and last Friday, with our schedules, was our last chance to fish together prior to him leaving. We took full advantage and headed out to Simcoe. Even my brother Mike came along for a couple hours. Unfortunately the couple hours Mike came out for were brutally tough and we only got 1 small fish. We dropped Mike off and headed to a different area. Again the fishing was tough, then dad hooked one on a dropshot and it was on. We landed close to 20 fish, all good quality. Got a couple crankbait fish, though most came on the dropshot. In the video above I needed a swim in the heat and the fishing was too good... new sport? It was exhausting actually! Weighing my big five. Saturday August 13 I took a couple friends out on Saturday to try and get on the smallies again. My first spot was our skunk spot from the day before, and guess what, they were back in full force. Amazing the difference a day can make. We never left the spot all day as we had no reason to, they were loaded and feeding. We didnt catch the quality from the day before but they were still big fish and we got more on jerkbaits though my biggest was on a slammer. Landed about 15 fish. Sunday August 14 Sunday we had a club tournament on Lake Muskoka. Its tough to leave Simcoe to go catch smaller fish haha. I havent been up there all year so we just had to play it on past experience. We headed right to a good flat that I like and we got a limit each (4 fish each) really quick but they were small 1.5 - 2 pounders. We hit about 15 waypoints without a sniff. We headed back to the flat and kept weeding through the fish and slowly upgrading ounce by ounce. We came in to weigh ins dissapointed in our weights. I only had 8.20lbs for 4 fish and Adam had 7.75lbs. It turns out it was a tough day all around and to our surprise our 15.95lbs bested the field. I'll tak the W. Monday August 15, Tuesday August 16 Monday I headed down to Rice Lake to take a group of regulars. Monday evening, even with scattered storms which brought us to shore for a while, we managed some good fish on dropshots and flipping jigs. They kept 5 for the pan, still plenty released. Tuesday the bite was scattered and really tough. We managed about a dozen good bass but nothing huge. They were happy with the day nonetheless and if they're happy, I'm happy. There was even a PB smallie in there. Wednesday August 17 I was pretty burned out by this point, but when I got off wok at 7am I was back out on Simcoe with my cousin's boyfriend Darryl. He loves fishing but doesnt get out much. We had a good day out there landing a dozen quality bass. Fish were deeper today than they have been but still great fish! Everything on a big ISG tube today and they were all coughing up crayfish. I TOOK THURSDAY OFF TO SLEEP!!! Friday August 18 Friday I headed to Georgian Bay for the day. We spent half the day fishing water we've fished before and half the day exploring. As G-Bay seems to go, there were quality fish everywhere. I'm very impressed with G-Bays fishery though it slips my mind too often. We got fish on a variety of baits, nothing really standing out. Hope you enjoyed and as always I appeciate all feedback I'll be adding a couple videos shortly

Been a couple weeks since I posted a report, but I've been fishing quite a bit and it has been good. I expected the hot summer to make fishing tough but it has been a really productive summer out there. I think I left off at my crankbait day on Couchiching, so from there I went to fish a tournament on Lake Dalrymple. We started the morning fishing shallow docks and pads throwing a combination of flipping jigs and frogs. After only a couple of small fish, we went to the deeper weeds in 7-11 feet and started fishing jigs slowly in the thickest spots. We quickly picked up a 14-15 pound limit, but needed some bigger girls to cash some coin. Around 2pm we hit the shallow stuff again with jig in hand. We ended up pounding them as a wave of fish seemed to move up for the afternoon. Ended up weighing 18.63 for second place. Since then, my mind has been on Simcoe. I've come across a pattern that seems to be working really, really well and I'm trying new locations around the lake with similar features and it has been producing quality fish. This lake never ceases to amaze me. I'm getting the fish on a mix of XZone Slammers, tubes and deep diving crankbaits. Enjoy the pics and the video, I appeciate all feedback. I'll be adding more photos from yesterday as they are sent to me

The bag from last year was 31.55 lbs for 5 fish. The way our club works is that each member weighs a 4 fish limit for 8 fish total per boat. Don and Bill had a 6.65, 6.50, 7.55 that were weighed individually for big fish. Bill had an appriximate 5.5 and a 5 in his bag... So their combined 5 (if our tournament ran that way) would have been a little over 31 pounds. Theres no one claiming a new record, just another unreal bag produced by lake simcoe.

Kind of a slow week for me, I've really only fished the past couple of weekends. Last Saturday I volunteered for a Junior Bassmasters event on Gloucester Pool, we had a fun day despite the blistering heat. We caught a lot of fish on flippin jigs and dropshots, but nothing of any real size. Still, we enjoyed it and I hope Nick learned a lot. Sunday the Barrie Bassmasters had a club tournament on Lake Simcoe out of Monto Reno in Lefroy. I made a pretty long run and was immediately on fish, though my choice to target shallow fish kind bit me in the ass. The fish were really spooky and I had a hard time getting bit. I caught some fish and lost a couple of key fish then decided to go fish largies to at least put some fish in the boat. I ended up with just under 13lbs for a 4 fish limit which is dissappointing, but what can you do? Cant win em all. The excitement on Sunday came when my dad and his partner, Bill Walker came to the scales. While everyone else struggled with the heat, they found a deeper honey hole and had a day that fishermen can only dream of. The had all of their success dropshotting XZone slammers. With a 4 fish limit each, they weighed 8 fish for 42.25lbs with their biggest 5 going over 31 lbs!!! Insane day with the big fish of the tourney going 7.55lbs a giant for July!!! This Friday I went to Couchiching to fish some new water and water I havent fished in years as the lake is always changing. I had a good day fishing largemouth and got some good fish on film too, most success throwing crankbaits and LC Crankbaits. And the video from Couchiching!

Thanks for the responses!

Nothing wrong with erie!!! I need to make that trip soon!

I had a couple of groups out this week fishing for big smallies. Wednesday afternoon I had a group of regulars out on Simcoe. We waited out the bad weather but took on the wind still. We saw a lot of big fish and had lots of curious fish following jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. We caught a few smaller fish in the 2-3 pound range on the XZone slammers but the fishing was tough overall and we couldnt get the big girls to go. We finished the day off fishing largies, and caught a couple decent fish but again, it was not a spectacular bite. On Friday I had some clients out on a favourite smaller lake. One of them had purchased a cottage on the lake and after a few unsuccessful outings had decided he needed some help. He brought a friend along and we beat them up. We got a bunch of real good fish throwing a variety of baits from XZone Slammers and Swammers to topwaters and flukes. We ended up with around 25 good smallies on the day and had an absolute blast. We got a few videos even. And the video

Lets be real. 2-3 quality bass an hour is an excellent day.

Thanks for the responses

Video addedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV5_Abvz8c0

Well folks, here we go. I didnt get a chance to do a lot of pike/muskie fishing this season but I still got out a few times and got some good fish. Most of the fish this season were taken on jerkbaits, Strike Zone Swammers and trolling a shallow invader. Crazy looking tiger muskie I've been lucky enough to fish every day since opener even if just for a few hours. I fished 2 tournaments in one day on wednesday one from 7-3 on Couchiching where I finished 5th on thwe windiest day I can ever remember fishing in. From 5-9 we had a 15 boat tournament on Cooks Bay that we were able to win despite the wind. We've done a few lakes for bass so far and our best success has come dropshotting Slammers and flipping jigs to shoreline structure

When its sunny i like bright colours like firetiger, clown and pink

Ive been on this forum long enough to not post an oos musky photo lol We got them as shallow as 3ft and as deep as 14

Awesome fish! Nice seeing you guys out there!

Wow, seems like its been forever!! We had a really busy spring and we moved to a larger property just north of Barrie and I'm loving it!! I can finally put my boat in the garage which is super exciting. Did a few early May speck trips with some decent success, but nothing spectacular. Got out to Couchiching for pike opener last weekend. Fishing was tough but managed to get into a few. Most were just little hammerhandles but got a couple decent fish on a Strike Zone Swammer swimbait. Saturday, I took a friend up to Muskoka for opener. Fishing was tough again, we got some really good fish but we had to work hard for them. Sunny, flat calm weather mixed with an insane amount of boat traffic didnt help our cause. Jerkbaits and swimbaits did the damage for us. Even got a 40 inch musky, which I've never caught out of this lake before. Thanks for reading

So many people are going off about how Shogun looked bad, the fact of the matter is that Jon Jones is an incredible fighter. Watch his post-fight interview on www.mmafighting.com about him and his coach chasing down and catching a mugger in Jersey a few hours before his fight.. The kid is a superstar and will continue to dominate for years until the "next generation" of MMA stars come up. Give him some time to put on some mass and he will be laying the same beatings in the heavyweight division.

Well the ice season has come to an official close for me. We had a slow start to the season, but we managed fish throughout. Things only got better as the season went on and we ended up with a pretty good season. Not quite as good as last season as far as numbers, but nothing to complain about, these things happen and we skunked just twice all season. We fished the majority of our short-windowed perch season in 34-55 feet of water as I find the better fish are deeper, and it gives the opportunity to get some lakers/whities as well. As for the lakers/whities, we caught them as shallow as 39 feet and as deep as 107, though the majority of our action throughout the season were in 78-82 feet. Our best perch baits were tungsten spoons, teardrop/maggots, strike zone pan slammers and a small jigging rapala. Our best laker/whitie baits were spoons, tubes, strike zone swammers and got some good fish on the laker taker as well. Enjoy the pics, and as usual, if you have any questions, feel free to PM me. Cant wait to take a month and a bit off, steelhead a little bit and get back into the pike fishing!!! Kelli with a good feed of perch Mike shows the surprises that lurk the perch grounds... Tough day for BUSTER, but we managed a few Fat Laker!!! Kept this one, and she had 16 smelt and 1 goby in the belly... talk about the "feedbag" A little bright... We release 90% of our fish, but a few times a season, theres nothing like fresh fish!! Long whitie I've had many questions about this spoon, it's a Michigan Stinger "Dirty White Boy" Lots of Solid fish swimming around out there... I prefer laker fishing, but whities can be so reliable... Quasimodo... Solid fish for Cal McKee with a nice laker Chunky fish caught just 20 feet down Client with a few nice ones! Nice fish!! Even though theres about 671000 in use at all times, the williams still puts fish on the ice... A hefty reward courtesy of the Strike Zone Swammer This was a beatdown!! Kyle's PB Laker on the swammer again Solid... Chunker to end the season Hope you enjoyed, cant wait for May 1 to be posting more reports!!

I caught a bunch on Simcoe this year with gobies, they're definitely in there good now and the fish are taking advantage!

Hey everyone, I hit Simcoe yesterday and today in search of some more deep water monsters, and she didnt dissapoint! We didnt get any real monsters, but we caught A LOT of good fish over the 2 days which was fun as hell, let me tell ya. Picked up some of the new Strike Zone Swammers which are a new swimbait Mark has designed. I had a few in the fall, but they got shredded by the Simcoe smallies in the fall and I finally re-upped my supply. The fish went bananas for these things, and I'm super excited about these baits. Phenominal action, great soft plastic and effective on both lakers and whities! They should be available to the public by May and I would highly recommend picking some up. As usual, caught a few on a spoon as well. Only a week left, and I hope to get out a bunch more and continue the beating! Released all of our fish yesterday, but kept limits today, can't wait for some milder weather and fire the smoker up! Enjoy the pics, any questions, PM me...

Hey everyone, Fishing has been pretty good this week out on Simcoe. The weather for the rest of the weekend looks sketchy at best and I think a lot of the access points are going to take a hit with the runoff, but only time will tell, definitely exercise caution out there this weekend! Tuesday we were out and managed to get into some fish. There was a lot of blank screen for sure, but we put a bunch of fish on the ice, mostly in the smaller range but a few good ones. Spoons caught most of our fish on Tuesday. Today I had a client out and the fishing was hot at times and COLD at others. The active fish came through here and there and we put a bunch more fish on the ice, always great to do that. Fishing in the 80-90 foot range both days.

Thanks everyone for your comments

I havent used them yet Mike, but they are a very soft frog, I wouldnt have bought them otherwise. I'm really excited to try them out

I have done well throwing the smelt pattern and craw cranks. I'm stocked up on frogs for the year too