tbayboy

What the heck is with all the giant musky pics lately? That is a real beauty, congrats to your buddy!

Wow thats one beautiful fish. Congratulations!

The way they keep looking at the camera reminded me of this bit of classic movie trivia (The Meaning of Life) FISH #1: Morning. FISH #2: Morning. FISH #3: Morning. FISH #2: Morning. FISH #1: Morning. FISH #3: Morning. FISH #2: Morning. FISH #4: Morning. FISH #1: Morning. FISH #3: What's new? FISH #1: Not much. FISH #6: Morning. FISH #5: Morning. FISH #4: Hello. FISH #2: Morning. FISH #1: Morning. FISH #3: Morning. FISH #5: Morning. FISH #3: Morning. FISH #4: Morning. FISH #2: Morning. FISH #1: Frank was just asking 'what's new?'. FISH #6: Was he? FISH #1: Yeah,... mhmm. FISH #3: Hey, look. Howard's being eaten. FISH #2: Is he? Makes you think, doesn't it? FISH #6: Mmm. FISH #3: I mean, what's it all about? FISH #6: Beats me.

Great report as always. Funny how no one ever suspects that the fish are right at the launch, way to show 'em up

Took longer to remember things than to put the report together The camera is a Canon S3 IS - run about $200 used here in Toronto - pretty happy with it (next step is crazy SLR land and I don't want to go there). The phone camera is from a Nokia N95 - best mobile camera out there right now (5MP, all the bells and whistles, even geotags and uploads directly to my flickr feed). EDIT, its an S3 not an S5

Just how is it my fault you play rugby and don't have the common sense to skip a scrum the first nice fishing day of the year? . Glad to see you back on the water - let me know when I can show you how to not catch fish again.

Thanks guys. Way I figure it Johnny is that the river fish don't have as many spots to hide in the heat (river only gets 5-6 feet deep) but I'm guessing once it cools off a bit more they'll really be on (at least I hope so)

Nice stuff, congrats on the 5.5, that's a great fish.

Great first report, keep 'em coming! Nice smallies for sure.

Saturday - 45 miles, 10 hours and 2 fish! Well that about sums it up . Mike and I got together for another trip to our favourite wacky rigging bass lake and I think we've finally pushed out luck to far. We started off with a big bright ball of fire creeping up the sky <a href=" title="Ready to go by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/2812860824_cff503f3c2_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Ready to go" /></a> We quickly worked over our regular spots with barely a rock bass to show for it. We then worked a load of pads and pulled in one little runt but that was it. On the way we found a real fisherman: <a href=" title="Ready to fish by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/2812862482_76c1d5dde7_b.jpg" width="796" height="1024" alt="Ready to fish" /></a> <a href=" title="Better fisherman than I by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3128/2812861740_2446e28d72_b.jpg" width="1024" height="1001" alt="Better fisherman than I" /></a> Nice pumpkinseed! Anyhoo - we continued working while I played with my new toy - a garmin GPS76. Great unit that was quickly full of tracks criss crossing all over the lake. It was a depressing map to say the least . At the end of the day we made one more run to look over an island with a pretty good drop off. This finally worked for us - the drop off was kinda shaded as well and I think tht was the ticket - with the warm water and sun they'd gone for deep weeds and shade. Finally after 9 1/2 hours I managed to land a couple fish pretty quickly. I didn't even ask Mike to take a picture, it was that kind of day. So I just took a couple quick snaps <a href=" title="Best of the day by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/2812015805_2f9844962a_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Best of the day" /></a> <a href=" title="First of the day by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2812015135_2be64f87f4_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="First of the day" /></a> And that was it - according to the fancy smanshy GPS we'd covered 45 miles over 10 hours when we put the boat on the trailer. Some days the lake just plain old wins I guess Sunday- Try less, win more! Sunday night I had a dinner and party to go to so I didn't make any plans for fishing. Instead I got up at 10am, made some nice breakfast, watched some TV. Had a nice morning. Around 1ish I realized it was a really nice day out and I was bored so I headed up to Kitchener to kill a few hours on the Grand. I wasn't sure what the water would be like but I saw quickly that there was very little flow which is always a good sign. The water was a little murky but still pretty good for the Grand, especially the way this year has gone. <a href=" title="Grand River by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/2815096333_9be0d91d9b_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Grand River" /></a> The first cast with a mepps #3 caught a little bass and I started feeling optimistic. I caught a copule more little guys as I moved along to a spot full of big boulders I like to fish. The current was pretty slow so I put on a 5" pink senko and pretty soon I had a little fight on my hands. Damn I forgot how much fun river smallies are. I hadn't even bothered with my camera but luckily my new phone has a pretty good camera: <a href=" title="Nice worm fish by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3160/2815096597_e14106c4b4_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Nice worm fish" /></a> A couple more little guys played with the worm but I decided to change it up (swear I've got a case of lure ADD). I put on a smallish white spinner bait and second cast I nearly had the rod pulled from my hands. Wow are these current fish strong. <a href=" title="Biggest of the day by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3283/2815096929_25e060769c_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Biggest of the day" /></a> And off he went to fight another day <a href=" title="Off to swim another day by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/2815948284_4dd7ecca2d_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Off to swim another day" /></a> 10 minutes later and I had a blue and white pop-R on (I'd seen a few fish leaping). Sure enough a few casts later and I had another fun fight. Here he is getting ready to swim away <a href=" title="Ready to go by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3126/2815948650_49cd21de4e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Ready to go" /></a> I had a couple more little guys after that but I had to leave in order to get back to town for the dinner but I gotta admit I was singng along to the radio the whole way back. Those two hours really made my day especially after the marathon of pain that Mike and I had gone through the day before. Monday - Got a hangover cure? Sunday night was well... (sorry can't embed facebook images you'll have to click the link) Facebook Photo Enough said about that . So needless to say I was hurting Monday. As I nursed my poisoned body back to life I looked over the pictures from Sunday and this little voice kept telling me to quit my whining and get back out there. So at 3pm I pulled up to the same parking spot with a box of chicken nuggets and a big iced coffee ready to try again. Let me tell you - 30 degrees with that big ball of fire in the sky just isn't the hang over cure you'd think it would be And of course the fish had to throw in their 2 bits as well. Everything that worked the day before was being flatly ignored today. I had a couple little (like 5" little) guys but that was it. I gave it a couple hours and was ready to throw in the towel when I saw a big jump a ways away so I figure how much worse can it get right? So I trudged up and tossed the pink senko I had out in the area a couple times and finally got my reward. Right away I knew this was a nice fish - I grabbed the camera as he ran circles around me and snapped a couple pics <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/2820019730/" title="Come to poppa by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2820019730_d93df0485d_b.jpg" width="1014" height="1024" alt="Come to poppa" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/2819175923/" title="Ready for my closeup by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3034/2819175923_79d240cbd4_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Ready for my closeup" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/2820020600/" title="Release shot by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3279/2820020600_78bd019ce0_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Release shot" /></a> At least I ended the day right . So anyhow, thats how I spent my labour day long weekend, hope yours was enjoyable! Sean

Congrats, those are some great looking fish. Next time let the wife catch 'em

Nice collection. I dream of topwater days like that. Thanks for sharing

Epic report. I can't believe I grew up 2 hours from there! Sounds like an amazing trip was had by all. "anglinate the roof off the mutha" <-- best fishing report line this year

what mikeh said for tommorrow (I just show up and he drives to some water and I start fishing ). Party sunday night so probably taking it easy - maybe grand river if it isn't mud.

Wow nice pig. Congrats!

Oh boy I hope she doesn't find google - this site is fully indexed you know

Cool report, nice mix of fish with some real beauties. The ones lost at the boat are just all the more reason to come back again .

Amazing photos, just amazing. What a great trip you had and thanks a bunch for taking the time to post all of that, really appreciated.

Congratulations. A real beauty and your second this year even! Can I borrow that horseshoe?

After spending a week back in Thunder Bay I was looking forward to hitting lakes with weeds again but spent my first weekend back sick as a dog (stupid summer colds). Last weekend I was feeling better though and Mike dropped me a line to see if I wanted to go bass hunting Saturday. Sounded good to me (even if the 5am alarm didn't) so off we went. The lake had actually changed quite a bit in the 3 weeks since I've been on it. The water was now nearly gin clear and most of the open spots had been filled in with this annoying string like weed (not sure what it is - a single 1/8cm diameter strand going all the way to the surface). And sure enough that also changed our regular patterns . In fact we started the day hitting two spots that have never failed to produce for us and guess what - yup they failed. Actually I got one non dink smallmouth (pound a half maybe?) but I hadn't been paying attention and the poor bugger swallowed the circle hook really baddly so it went into the livewell for an evening snack. Later that night I found my 5" worm and o-ring fully intact in its digestive track - just another reminder to pay attention when using a dead stick presentation to avoid these kinds of incidents (that said, was a pretty tasty snack). Other than that one though we got next to nothing from our 'go to' spots. Here's the first largie - 10:30am, over 2 hours in <a href=" title="First of the day by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/2795284364_6cb7791c23_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="First of the day" /></a> We then started looking at some new grounds including some pads. Mike was tossing a big lizard over the pads and I had a frog going. Mike dragged his lizard off some slop and a fish struck at it but missed (hit some weeds the hook had picked up). Not one to pass up an opportunity I zigged the frog over the same pads and left it dangling in the water right in front of the pads and was rewarded just when I was about to reel it in with a solid explosion. Thanks for finding this one Mike <a href=" title="Frog Bass by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3075/2794438937_b927686545_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Frog Bass" /></a> An hour later and we were working a bunch of submerged/barely exposed rocks and getting some really little fish when I tossed a 5" brown worm into the edge of the weedline in 10' of water. Before the worm had sunk a couple feet it started sinking a whole lot faster so I gave it a tug and it went down even faster. Woah, this is a real fish! At first we thought it was a small musky based on the flash we saw but it was soon clear it was just a long skinny bass. Once she came to the boat we put a quick scale on her and sure enough its a new personal best for me - 3lb 11oz. Doesn't look very big in the picture but she was long. If she'd had a full stomach she would have cleared 4 and a quarter or more. <a href=" title="Biggest of the weekend 3lb 11oz by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3295/2795289118_024b96ea86_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Biggest of the weekend 3lb 11oz" /></a> Once again we found that the fish were very particular when it came to worms. On Saturday with the really clear water they wanted natural. PowerBait Heavyweight Fat worms in 'breen' were the winners - very realistic worm colour: <a href=" title="Brown was the colour by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/2795290560_3ae9c730b5_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Brown was the colour" /></a> Here's another largie, we only got a few of this size, most were competing with rock bass in the size department <a href=" title="The average bass by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/2794446501_84e1587049_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="The average bass" /></a> Mike had been having a really bad day - after I stole his pad bass he was struck with a run of rock bass and other fingerling size fish. At the end of the day we stopped at one last spot for 10 minutes right near the launch and Mike made the call - next bass and we're done. Wouldn't you know it - next cast and Mike finally gets a decent fish: <a href=" title="Last of the day by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/2794452041_253a39b686_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Last of the day" /></a> Not exactly a banner day but still better than nothing right? We headed back to the big smoke and talked about how crappy the weather was suppose to be Sunday. When we got back I told Mike to check the forecast and if he was up for some rain I could be up for it too as long as I got to sleep in (guy needs his beauty sleep you know). Well the weather still called for thunderstorms and 20k WNW winds in the AM so we decided to head for a different lake to see if we could make up for Saturdays disappointements. We started the morning at 10am feeling ince and rested thank you very much by heading to an island. We worked our way around trying some different colours when the wonderfully named 'party' coloured gulp sinking minnow landing me our first smallie of the day <a href=" title="Sunshine Wacky Smally by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/2794453501_18f52a93a2_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Sunshine Wacky Smally" /></a> We had lots of fish from around this island but nothing terribly big so we ashewed photos and headed to another 'go to' spot. A shorline that always has some action if not size. Just like Saturday however we were left very disappointed. Maybe it was the high sun (thunderstorms? wow were they wrong) but more likely its that old adage that you can't keep sticking with one or two spots all season long - fish migrate so you need to be adaptable. So adapt we did - eventually we found some fish - here's one Mike found around some really hard to guess at structure <a href=" title="Wacky Pigeon Bass by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/2794456641_553277849d_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Wacky Pigeon Bass" /></a> We also tried the slop again. This time we were moving pretty quick as we only had so much time. I was in the back when I saw a big surface strike right at the back of the slop and immediately tossed my frog that way. What I didn't realize was that Mike hadn't seen it and was plowing away. Stop the boat I yell and just like the day before I thought the frog was to far from the slop and I was about to start reeling when the water erupted and the fight was on. This guy managed to get wrapped in the pads a bit but Mike went in and we got him out - turns out he was pretty damned small. Funny how a face full of weeds can make them seem so much bigger. <a href=" title="Pad bass by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3279/2794457889_34b94219e6_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Pad bass" /></a> Also had a muskie explode up on the frog but he went at it from the side and totally missed (apex predator my ass - how do you miss a frog?). The rest of the day was really slow. Worse than Saturday and we tried all over the place. According to my GPS we covered 45km on this damned lake. Finally we tried one last little bay and just like Saturday Mike managed to save his day with one last fish: <a href=" title="Last of the weekend by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2795308476_22005fb984_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Last of the weekend" /></a> With that we called it a weekend. Tough fishing for sure but at least we didn't get the thunder storms they kept talking about so I'm not gonna complain. Oh and of course we weren't the only fisherman out there this weekend: Snapper: <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="375" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=59154"'>http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=59154" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=391d644898&photo_id=2800951753"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=59154"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=59154" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=391d644898&photo_id=2800951753" height="375" width="500"></embed></object> Osprey: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/2795307354/" title="Pigeon Osprey by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3149/2795307354_a0ed313450_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Pigeon Osprey" /></a> Heron with Rockbass: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/2794444905/" title="Another fisherman by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3064/2794444905_0b053a8ece_b.jpg" width="705" height="1024" alt="Another fisherman" /></a> Technical recap: Natural colours were the winners this weekend: 5" Powerbait sinking heavy worms in 'breen' (dark brown that faded to light brown in the water) and 3" coffee tubes in a similair colour worked. The water was really clear so long casts and floro leaders seemed to be the best approach. Bigger fish came out of the deeper weed lines or from under pads/slop. So nothing really new learned but sure was more fun on the cloudy days when the water was a little darker and you could really nail them without all this being sneaky stuff. Looking forward to the long weekend (can you believe summer is over already?) Sean

Cool stuff Limey. Funny how locals always think their own lake isn't a good spot to fish isn't it. Of course when your as spoiled for lakes as you are in your neck of the woods I guess I can understand it. Thanks for the great report as always.

Nice report Johnny, sounds like you really worked to make the most of every day. Glad to hear that the camping worked out - sure is nice to be right on the water and skip the 2 hour drives. Thanks for the update

Some real beauties there for sure. And to think everyone goes up there looking for walleye pike and muskies - I bet all the guys planning for the sept get together are repacking their tackle bags now

Very cool report Jedi, congrats on that beautiful musky.

Beauty stuff Dan, can't wait to hear from the other guys as well. Sounds a fun time was had by all