tbayboy

My wife and I have been going up to Kipawa for the last 3 years. The first time as a dare to see if we'd stay married. We're still together but this year did have its challenge. We stayed at 3 seasons camp again (http://www.3seasonscamp.com/) and it continues to be a great place, hell my biggest fish of the trip came 200 yards away from the docks. Kipawa is known for it's walleye and lake trout but there's also some big pike (and some bigger ones in the back lakes) and the small mouth have been growing and spreading out in the last few seasons. Lake Kipawa is about 6 hours from Toronto - we drove up to North Bay friday before the cottage traffic gets to bad and spend the night there. From there it's about a 90 minute drive to Laniel, QC where we're picked up by the lodge for the boat ride into the camp. He's got 7 cabins there that hold anywhere up to 8 guys (more if you want to get friendly I suppose). By the time we'd unpacked and sorted our stuff it was probably noon on Saturday. Then it was just a matter of fishing as much as you wanted until we were taken back to the docks the next Saturday Morning. On the whole fishing seemed slower to me but this is only our 3rd year up so we're still figuring some things out and others at the camp did quite well. We still had several good fish feeds and caught walleye every day. Biggest for me was a 23" caught on a white spinner bait cast up into lumber on shore looking for pike (love it when you get eyes that way). Most of the fish were small this year though - spent most nights sorting through 10-13" fish to find a few in the 15-18 range. Pretty much all of our eyes were caught in 8-12' of water using leaches, either under a float or vertically jigged (worms also worked though). Points and cliff faces were the primary spots we found fish in. Trolling wind blown shores also produced a few - Lost a giant trolling a chartreuse shad rap (yeah yeah, the one that got away) and picked up a few trolling worm harnesses as well. Weather was mixed - cool and rainy the first couple days then blue skies and hot (event spent a couple afternoons swimming and picnicing instead of fishing). Water temps went from 66 to 71 and back to 67 again on Friday (depending on where you were of course). The bugs were pretty bad - not "oh my god get me the hell out of here" but bad enough that we didn't bother trying the back lakes (those trails would have been murder) and my wife is still not sure if she'll let me take her back - they really liked her Anyhow, just thought I'd share a little report - here's some pictures and a short video of some classic jigging for eyes. First of the trip: First and best in the boat by Sean Maurik, on Flickr Weapons: IMG_0124 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr The warcraft: IMG_2513 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr The locals: IMG_2629 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr Before... IMG_0462 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr And after (Beer batter deep fry - mmmmm) IMG_0135 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr The show off.... IMG_0141 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr Not all hers I'd like to point out IMG_0143 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr And Mr. Grumpy IMG_0147 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr A snack? IMG_0155 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr Poached in lemon and herbs IMG_0163 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr Picnic time IMG_0473 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr Just after he tried to pee on me IMG_2759 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr Fishwich! IMG_0188 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr Smallie: IMG_0191 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr And a video:

Caught a few eyes trolling the shad rap version on the opener until it was donated to a submerged tree . Can't say it outperformed traditional shad raps but certainly didn't underperform them.

Thanks everyone

Hi everyone, I need to pick up a new battery for my finder before the weekend. I've been using a 12v 7a battery for years and they work great for the weight (kayak and rental boats). Anyone know where I can pick them up in Toronto (quick google isn't helping). This is what I'm looking for: Thanks Sean

Beauties Steve, knew there was a missing pike report due here

That paper plate has me drooling. Looks like a great place, thanks for the report.

We saw the same thing in the Thunder Bay region (My post about it is down below somewhere). Lots of large prespawn fish in cold water (we only saw 48 in shallow rivers and didnt find any eye's there).

Awesome picture!

Hi all, been a while since I've had a chance to post but think I still remember how . Had the lucky opportunity this year to do the Kawarthas walleye opener one week and then do the NW ontario opener the next week back home in Thunder Bay. Rice Lake The Kawartha opener meant getting the kayak wet for the first time this year and of course as many of you know the day ended up being cold and windy. 20k most of the day which for a guy in a 12' hunk of plastic and a paddle means a pretty limited selection of spots. I stayed in a back bay on Rice and stuck it out for 4 hours managing one smallish 'eye before getting bit off by a decent looking musky. Took that as a sign to fight the wind and waves and head back to shore. Oh well - I'll be back there next week to try again if the fishing gods shine on me. Lac des Milles Lac For the last several years the regular gang of buddies back home have been doing openers at Maki Bay on Lac des Milles Lac in the Thunder Bay region. I've always avoided making the trip up as I go up in August for our week long fishing trip and the weather is always so sketchy this time of year as to make the cost not really worth it for just a couple days fishing. But after years of ribbing by the guys and such a mild winter last year I decided to use some air miles and make it up there. Sure enough we spent all of last week watching the satellite photos and phoning the lodges to see if we'd even be able to launch a boat. The bay was full of ice on Monday, we were going up Thursday night. Luckily a warm spell and some rain broke up most of the ice and by the time we got there the bay was open though much of the main lake was still patched over with ice until Sunday. Friday we went out pike fishing and scouting (opener being Saturday morning). Turns out the pike were mostly on the spawn. This was confirmed by our boat being covered in pike eggs by the end of the day and being able to literally watch them doing the dance in the reeds at the side of the river banks. We didn't see any sign of walleye in the regular spawning areas (river entrances, rocky shores, etc) so we were kind of worried but that wouldn't stop us. What almost did stop us what the weather - it rained from early Saturday morning until well after we left on Sunday. Winds picked up just enough to make the wet rain that much colder - water temps ranged from 41 in the deeper areas to a high of 47 in the shallow river. Think my hands are still missing most of their feeling. That said, we did manage to find the walleye - right where they were last fall. Looks like they weren't even ready for the spawn yet, no eggs seen and only one mail found alone in the river dumped his load in the boat. The rest seemed to be coming in from the deep and getting their feed on before the spawn. Most were taken trolling cranks at a fairly good clip though classic spinner rigs on the bottom worked as well. Size was also interesting - we had a problem finding fish under the slot (Lac has a 13-18 slot with one over allowed). We had numerous fish ranging from 19-26" throughout the 2 days of walleye fishing. Most pike were decent as well, 30-36" and pretty beefy. Of course lots of snot rockets but those don't count . Also picked off a few nice smallies in the 3- 3 1/2 lb range for a bonus and a fat perch just for kicks. These pictures give you an idea of the wonderful fishing conditions - fun fun fun! Anyhow - good times had by all even if we were soaked and cold. Nothing a good bottle of cognac and serious steaks can't fix. Here's a quick video overview:

Thats awesome. It's all about the fishing and not the catching right (buy yeah - the catching is way better)

Just finished tweaking the kayak for this springs first trip Saturday. Try not to run me over while your out there but feel free to stop by and say hello

Just got back from Barbados - if he likes sipping his rum you can't go wrong with Mount Gay Extra Old: http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/lcbo/product/searchResults.do?ITEM_NAME=MOUNT+GAY+RUM+EXTRA+OLD+RUM&ITEM_NUMBER=&language=EN

Great video - good music matching too.

I've only been going for the last decade or so and I definitely have seen the drop in deal shopping. I use to go with a list of what I needed for the spring but now adays with the internet, the bass pro sale, lebarons matching at their stores and so on it's really not worth it as a shopping trip. That said I still enjoy it for a few things: 1) Talking to the guys working the floors - be it talking rod and reel choices, boat options, etc. I enjoy hearing their opinions (even if half the time they're just trying to sell their goods) 2) Seeing the talks - Took in Big Jim's talk yesterday, nothing earth shattering but still fun listening to him tell stories. Saw Bob Izumi but there was a huge line up so didn't stick around. It would be nice if they had more demos though (think the fishing show at the airport was better for that) 3) Archery and gun range: It's my wife excuse to shoot things. She can't stand the idea of hunting but man does she get excited to shoot. 4) The birds are always fun to see up close 5) Talking to the outfitters - we hooked up with one there a few years ago so it's a tradition to stop by his booth and see how things are going So it's basically the same reasons we go to the Royal Agricultural Fair every year - seeing stuff you don't normally on a Saturday and for that it can be fun (is it worth $55 to park and get in for 2 - not quite sure). Is it a good shopping trip - not at all.

Ditto here - LOADS of small ones only a few keepers (maybe a dozen between Lexxington and myself). 3 herring as well - those were kind of neat but I've seen enough 4" perch to last me the rest of the winter Certainly was a zoo out there today though - looked like the whole town of innisfil had been moved onto the ice and parking was nuts. Also some great booming ice noises - got to watch a crack appear under my feet - that'll wake you up! (But ice was just building up - were on a solid 6 inches) Ah well - beats sitting at home.

Hey everyone, hope your new year is starting off well. For the last couple weekends my wife has been off doing things with her sister so I've had a free fishing pass. So of course the weather last week had to jump to 15 or whatever and melt all the ice on Simcoe . I thought it was going to be the same for today but checking around it looked like things had solidified pretty well up to this morning so I threw the clam in the truck and headed out to get some fresh air. Man it felt nice to be on the ice again. The ice was fine when I went out, 4 to 5 inches once you got past the broken up stuff at shore but I gotta say coming off at 1pm there was a lot of water on top and I'm glad I didn't stick around longer. Anyhow, there was lots of guys out though no one using sleds or atvs which was good to see. The bite was great for the first couple hours (I got on the ice around 8:30) but really died off around 11 or so. Mostly dinks but luckily I managed enough for tonights dinner. Of course being the first trip of the year I forgot to bring a bucket/minnow pail so I just went artificials today. Typical mix of dinks to keepers - probably 10 to 1 or so with one really nice girl. Pretty much all came on a perch pattern jigging rap (see the pic below). Great to get out, weather looks like it should lock everything up this week so hopefully there's a few more trips to be made - really looking forward to the Tyler event again this year and going after some whities. Here's some pics from the phone - have a great weekend everyone. FB_IMG_13586069650237398 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr IMG_20130119_100623 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr IMG_20130119_114351 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr IMG_20130119_183715 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr IMG_20130119_184313 by Sean Maurik, on Flickr EDIT: I uploaded a panorama of the lake - you can't embed it but if you want to look: https://plus.google.com/photos/105951357550051946157/albums/5835275157333296033/5835275161988387010

Ahh - thanks Rod Caster!

One thing I noticed missing (sorry if it's been mentioned) is that the old board remembered where in a thread I was and when I viewed it it started at my last read post. For example I read this last night and was on page 2. With the old board when I clicked on the thread title it would start at page 2 already scrolled down to where I was but the new one seems to have lost that (I always start at the beginning). It's a great feature for long threads and it would be great if it came back. Again - sorry if I missed someone mentioning this one already.

Beautiful fish Simon, congrats!

Whoops - thats what I get for typing before I've finished my morning coffee - thanks for the correction

Generally your looking at about $100 a day + gas. Most wont do an hourly rental (though they may have a half day rate). I've rented from Harrison's boat works many times and they've been great but I'm sure there's other good ones as well.

Great fish and great job sticking with it

Fishing with kids always makes for a great report. Certainly helps to see fish as well

I'm 180, 5' 7" with maybe a beer or two too many making me a bit forward heavy Balance is pretty good - it's a double v hull so you put one foot in each v and then just roll with things. That said if you go over it's a whine to get into because it's not a sit on top so it's basically the same as a canoe from that respect. There's a great discussion about it on one of the yak forums (sorry if this link shouldn't be here: http://www.yakfisher.net/smffiles/index.php?topic=6604.0)

Hi Craig - yeah it's a gopro on a scotty mount. Need to pick up a pole to get it above since you could only see what happened on one side. Johnny I was wondering if it was the lure as well (always blame the lure right?) I had several that I was sure were pinned that came out but All I had were 3 of the same brand (live target large frogs) so I couldn't try anything else out. Next time I'll bring a mix and see if it helps. I thought it might have been leverage as well so spent about half the day standing and didn't do any better. Ah well - still fun