tbayboy

Garmin just announced a new model that's designed for driving, cycling, walking and boating. Takes their bluecharts maps and is waterproof and also has all their regular in car stuff. Think I found the GPS I've been waiting for. Of course Canadians get screwed as the to get the Canadian roads you loose the Topo maps (US gets both) but oh well.... Garmin Nuvi 500/550

I'm dying to get out on the Grand again but the weather never seems to co operate this year. I've been out twice and got skunked both times. Ah well, I'll get there soon (Patrick - pm me and tell me when we can go!) Have fun on the trip Cliff.

Where's the beer? Can't wait to here the stories from this trip guys, have fun!

Funny how around the same time everyone starts posting about their days with wacky rigging or senko style baits in general. Well guess what I've got? Yup, a report all about wacky rigging! The Report Mike and I started our weekend on Pigeon with thoughts of huge musky but for those that might not have noticed - it was dang HOT in southern ontario on Saturday. Holy cow was that a sauna of a day. Once the sun got high we decided to change up and toss some worms. Great idea for a couple reasons: 1. Its a lot easier to throw 5" worms on light gear than 3 ounce baits on musky rods thank you very much 2. Fish love worms! We worked a few different spots on pigeon but mostly stuck to shade (are you a fair weather fisherman if you avoid sun?) Mike was pretty new to wacky rigging and was still trying to figure out what to do with the hook: <a href=" title="The hook goes where? by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/2690238865_8399301e56_b.jpg" width="645" height="1024" alt="The hook goes where?" /></a> Which end goes in the fish? We had lots of fun even if the sizes weren't great. We found a few spots to check back again later as we called it a day. On the way home we thought about making Sunday a full wacky day - no other baits. Originally we though Scugog because we knew a few spots we thought would produce well but we both new the weather was suppose to be bad - thunderstorms and rain all day so I told Mike to check the forecast and drop me a pm Saturday night. When I got home I checked the forecast - yep, looked UGLY. But then I got Mike's message "i think it'll just be rain and we can start late so you can sleep in". Well hot damn, give me an extra couple hours sleep and I'll fish in anything so I said sure why not. Sunday morning at the nice hour of 9am I arrived at Mikes and we headed out the bog. About 1/2 way there Mike wondered if maybe the weather would be better up north and if Scugog would be really muddy with the evening/morning rains. I said it made sense to me so we changed plans mid drive and decided to head for the tri-lake area. Talk about right decisions - from what I gathered it rains here all day Sunday but up an hours drive north we got rain til 11 then nothing til 6 when it drizzled a bit. Perfect! As for the fish - well first stop and 5 minutes later... <a href=" title="Starting the day by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3035/2690240317_336091d431_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Starting the day" /></a> Ok so not exactly a giant but its a start . Actually all day we just explored - looking for patterns that worked for the style of fishing we were doing - wacky rigging all day long (though I cheated with a tube, spinner bait and the odd top water from time to time but never for long). Patterns were pretty simple to figure out - shorelines with cover, edges of pad, rock piles, weedlines and of course combinations of the 4 all worked well though we never found real monsters. Here's a 2 species double header - next time I need to remember the tripod though I kinda like the way this turned out as we tried to get in frame <a href=" title="Double header by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3274/2691052834_af4ae7d3dc_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Double header" /></a> It wasn't all bass though, there were of course millions of rock bass. For some reason I landed every 3 inch rock bass we came near whereas Mike managed to get the big ones. Mike also got this huge bright perch - one of the most colourful I've seen (too bad my picture sucked ) <a href=" title="Jumbo perch by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/2691054212_0f31e0ce02_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Jumbo perch" /></a> But bass we wanted and bass we got <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="375" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=55430"'>http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=55430" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=c9374222ed&photo_id=2690275991"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=55430"></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=55430" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=c9374222ed&photo_id=2690275991" height="375" width="500"></embed></object> <a href=" title="Ready to come in the boat by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/2690243829_ffee5664c6_b.jpg" width="927" height="1024" alt="Ready to come in the boat" /></a> Though we never found any monsters we did get some respectable fish including my best of the day <a href=" title="Largies like pink by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3220/2691055916_b800ecafe9_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Largies like pink" /></a> As the afternoon moved into night we decided to work around the launch for a bit (just in case the weather changed) and found that a popular short spot was still producing <a href=" title="Causeway bass by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3029/2691057232_3afd1dbe19_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Causeway bass" /></a> Finally we decided to call it a day as it started to rain a bit. Mike said next bass was the end and I promptly launched my worm into a retaining wall and snapped off the hook. Mike of course got this on his first cast <a href=" title="Last fish by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2690248057_c0a8b54da0_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Last fish" /></a> And we were done. Gotta say, that was a really fun weekend. Flipping worms for bass in open(ish) water is just a flat out fun way to fish - watching your line go sidewise, never sure whats on it (or perhaps seeing them come out and grab it) and fishing with light gear just puts a grin on your face regardless of the size of fish. All the way home we talked about things to try next time - different sizes, different locations, etc etc but the sun was setting and so was the weekend. <a href=" title="Sunset by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/2690250991_89606aae0d_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Sunset" /></a> What I Learned Thought I'd start putting this in my reports - try and share info even if its stuff that everyone but me already knew 1. Colours matter when it comes to worms. Not all the time but they had definite preferences and those changed from area to area. Common good ones however were pink and white as well as a natural brown with a bright coloured tip. 2. Work areas thoroughly. We found one rock pile that came out of the water at one end and went under tailing off for about 100 feet. While we found fish on most of the pile there was one 10 x 10 area that produced hits every cast and decent fish as well. 3. O-rings for worms - these helped a lot in saving our bait. I tended to be lazy and not bother with them and probably used $10 in worms over the 2 days where Mike was much more stingy and kept most of his thanks to o rings. Just make sure they fit - I was using some long skinny worms and the fish were able to pull it out of the ring. 4. Ignore the weather guys - we had great weather. Just get out there. If the day looks aweful maybe plan a bit of a later start so that if you do run into aweful weather you don't feel like you got up for nothing. Now off to buy some replacement hooks, take care all Sean

The wave tiki worms seem to work well as well (and smell like licorice, go figure).

You can place the worm in an o-ring then put the hook between the worm and the o-ring. They last a lot longer that way (vs having the fish pulling the hook through the plastic and ripping it all up. Just make sure you have the right sized o ring or the crafty rock bass will pull it right out (not that I've ever experienced that.... )

Very good episode - lots of good info, nice fish, good camera work. Thanks

Wonderful report scuro. An amazing mix of fishing styles and wonderful pictures and tales to go with it. Thanks for the great report.

Thanks guys. I've double checked with my buddy and he wants to get out on a boat and go bass fishing so any recommendations for any local lakes/rivers that rent boats and that are easy for a couple hung over guys not from the area and without GPS to find?

Nice fish Rich, looking forward to the video.

Hello everyone, especially our eastern Ontario friends . I'm going to be in our nations capital this coming weekend celebrating a friends stag. Saturday morning/afternoon most of the guys are going to Mooneys beach for some volleyball but 2 of us want to strike out and get in a few hours fishing instead. So my question is - does anyone know somewhere relatively close to downtown (1 hour drive tops) that either has shore fishing or cheapish rentals that don't require prebooking. The reason for the last criteria should be obvious - the stag starts Friday night and there's a very real chance we'll bail on the fishing Saturday morning . Any tips would really be appreciated. Doesn't have to be anything fancy - a shot at some bass would be fine (not enough space to bring up the musky gear thats for sure). I remember there being a small lake just a bit out of town with some bass in it but of course don't remember anything else about it Thanks in advance Sean

Nice stuff guys, definitely no shirt weather on Saturday - what a sauna.

Nice stuff Eric, beauty musky.

Cool pics Rich, nice platform you had there.

Awesome, simply Awesome

Here's my 2 cents: 1. Don't go straight into university without a plan. Don't go simply because 'its what people do'. ESPECIALLY if you're going to have to borrow to do it. Not to make fun of some degrees but you probably don't have the option to switch plans every year - I have friends who I think are still bartending at U Waterloo and have 5 arts degrees under their belt. If your not sure what you want then look around first. 2. Don't ignore trades and college - as pointed out many times above. University certainly isn't the be all end all the high schools seem to make it out to be (that said I'm very happy I did the university route but it was a very focused one) 4. Co-op/internship - your nuts not to look for these. First off they help pay: for 5 years at UW (yeah I needed extra term - who can study in the summers?) I borrowed 2 grand from my parents and got a 500 osap loan in the 4th year which I blew on beer - the rest came from my co-op placements. And more importantly you're really set for life with what you learn in the co-op terms. Not knocking the studies but the real world isn't a classroom. Now enjoy your file year of high school.

Congrats Bill. They sure are exciting fish especially when you don't expect one. See you in 10,000 casts!

Nice report and great photos as always Justin, thanks for the update.

Another great report from my favourite part of the country. 3 weeks til I'm back up north, thanks for the teaser Limey!

- gotta love Simcoe Nice fish Snag. I'd agree with the other guys about the slightest difference in technique. Saw it on the grand fishing the same stuff as PatrickG he'd be killing me until I figured out just the right speed and action that he was using bouncing the bottom. Some times the buggers are just finicky. The short leader could be it as well but I'm guessing its the bottom contact/action that was just a bit different. Also agree with the nice shirt comments - figures it'd be your or JohnnyBass that gets the t-shirt comments

Thats a great way to say hello to the board. Beauty smallie there. Welcome aboard.

Nothing beats a topwater strike for sure. Thanks for the update and congrats on a good few hours.

Sweet console, is that the 140 - doesn't seem as long as I had thought if it is. Nice fish too

Same goes for live bait on jigs - take a paper punch and cut out a bunch of little white circles. Put on your minnow and pop one of these one and it'll stop (well lessen) the chance of the pesky perch/bluegills stealing your minnow while you hunt walleye (learned from Manitoba Rob here actually)

Dang, I'd almost forgotten that stupid thing. Talk about backlashes from hell . Took it apart and it looks fine so I tightened everything up and will give it another go.