tbayboy

Sorry if this should be in classifieds (or if it shouldn't be posted at all) but since I'm not selling anything I figured 'general' would be the spot - correct me if I'm wrong. Anyhow, there's a coleman warehouse sale that I thought might be of interest to board members. There's also sunbeam and a few other brands there but I can't keep my tent warm with a blender so I'm not too interested in those items . Its from this Friday til the 17th and is out in Mississauga, details in the PDF: Coleman Warehouse Sale Details

Oooh thats tempting Bill. I spent $300 for a west jet flight up to thunder bay a few weeks ago for a flight this would have covered (July 5 -9). 2 more fishing weekends and I'd have covered the cost, think I might have to see what my refund policy is and how many weekends my buddies back home are available (or if they'll lend me their boats hehe). Thanks for the heads up

Great post Cliff. The two of you are class acts and your whole hog, try anything approach to fishing is really infectious. Like you I really hadn't fished since I was a kid until I found this board and posts by people like you that convinced me that not owning a boat and not having friends in town that fish was no excuse not to get out there (my friends still think I'm nuts getting up before noon on a weekend). Since then I've had the pleasure of fishing with a a few OFNers and I've had a great time with them all (I still think you were hiding the real spots from me though ). Other than the money I seem to be tossing away left right and center I'm hooked again. Anyhow, glad you 2 are here (and everyone else), keep up the great work. Sean Oh and Blackfish - I'm am so dang jealous its not even funny , enjoy your holidays

That is one serious freak of nature gigantic trout. Congrats to your friends, great job.

Great report and really great pics as well. Gotta love showing up during a mayfly hatch though At least you got to mix hockey and fishing at the same time.

Sounds like an incredible trip TJ thanks for the great pics even better descriptions.

Congrats Cliff but I hope you won't be offended if I hope we're done with the cold snaps, damn near froze last night (forgot to switch the A/C back to heat..brrr). So does that mean Bly gets to fish tonight? I'm expecting to see a 38" 25 pounder landed by her solo today

Great story, bet you won't leave the lure dangling like that again

Great report man. I was wondering if you'd guys get any fishing in (knowing how those 'get the guys together' trips can be much more about the fun than the fishing). That pass out pic is just dang hilarious. Our annual boys trip up north has just fallen from 6 to 4 guys now guess we'll have to pass on the keg and stick with bottles, maybe you should make the drive up to Thunder Bay to show us how its done

Nice haul there sleded.

Hmm maybe I should walk upstairs to your office here Cliff and show them the pics Seems weird seeing sunlight in your photos but damned if you can't bring 'em in day or night, congrats.

Wow, thats impressive guys. Good job on the planning and the execution.

Great pics, now I'm dying to get out walleye fishing thanks

Nice fish Paul, sorry to see the trailer get hit, at least it's fixable and no boat damage but still would it have been so much trouble to leave a note and a number, some people I guess

Musky + kayak = report I had to read right away . Great stuff jedi.

And that my friends is what we call a perfect weekend. Man am I jealous. Gotta get out of this rat race and find a way to own some land on a lake.

Oh I'm sure perchie will make a comeback, we'll have to hook up again and see if it hasn't got a few more fish left in her (you hit nippising yet?) Haven't used the finder yet Poacher (well other than sim mode to play around with it). Was gonna rent a boat this weekend but the threat of thunderstorms turned me off that (of course there never was a storm - stupid weathermen). Maybe this weekend even if I have to clamp it to the side of a rental canoe in 3' of scugog muck

Very cool thread for a Monday morning. Being single but fishing with lots of not single guys I certainly see that now is the best time for me to blow all my money and time fishing as much as I can. That said most of my friends still get out fairly regularly its the buying new toys that they seem to run into some pressure with most of the toys costing twice the list price - once for the toy once for the new kitchen gadget, expensive night out, spa trip, etc . But then again, the joy you see in people taking their kids fishing makes all the missed days worth it in my book.

Good point irishfield - I can picture myself with a glove stuck to my hand because of a hook that way. I bought them more for the grip then the protection (bought it before my little impaling incident) and I find I can hold onto the snot rockets much better with it and that means less flopping thus less trebles heading my way so in that way its hook proof

Nice stuff, amazing how a little presentation change can make a big difference.

Yeah its the lindy glove, I picked it up at the spring fishing show but I wasn't thinking and got the wrong hand, the glove is on my right but I'm right handed so holding onto the fish with my right makes it hard to use the tools but still its good for the grip on the slimy little ones and its fairly puncture proof but I still wouldn't be sticking my hand in that pikes mouth and a hook straight on will go through it but it helps I suppose. Plus it means less slime Kevin I'm sure you know the spot, leave me some for next weekend ok (damned job ruining good mid week fishing). And Mepps I think you might be right about silver. The yellow five of diamonds and the gold cyclops didn't have much luck but that silver weedless worked well.

Saturday I decided to head down to the islands to kill a couple hours (suppose to have thunrderstorms so I'm not expecting much - stupid weather guys). Anyhow, started at 10:45 with the goal of setting up camp around a spot I'd heard was good (though I'd never caught anything there before). My first spot was occupied: <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1144/526849959_d639aa0b12_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="They grow up so fast!" /></a> They grow up so fast don't they? Luckily I managed to find a nice spot that even had shade (thank God, it was a roaster in the sun). I tried everything I had handy over the next hour : <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1237/526952743_2444d63098.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0701" /></a> But nothing, no follows, no bumps, nothing. Saw loads of carp pass buy and a bass but nothing resembling a pike. I continued on down the rails (insert Johnny Cash song here) but had the same results everywhere including spots I'd caught fish before. Feeling discouraged I decided to stop picking spots based on hearsay or where I'd caught stuff before and instead look around and try to see what the conditions were telling me. First my old 'good spots' were full of day trippers - paddle boats, zodiacs, kayaks and several larger boats going by making lots of noise and stirring things up. That can't help so it was time to move. Given that it was hot, humid day with the sun high in the sky and the weeds really coming in I started looking for deep water weed lines. First up was a lagoonish area where there were lots of baitfish, some sunfish and a big set of weedbeds. Unfortunately the only thing I caught was an accidental large mouth (you could see them nesting around the area). He went right back and I moved on. I could also see bullhead moving along the shore as well as the zillion massive carp (many moving in pairs). They were also 'getting it on' or something where ever there were branches or other cover right near the shore - huge splashes /thrashing for minutes at a time. It was getting that I couldn't take a cast without thinking that I'd run over a carp on the retrieve. Finally at 2pm I got a hit off a weed edge. I'd been using a just unpackaged weedless spoon for the past 45 minutes or so and that seemed to do the trick (I really didn't have much a choice, everything else brought in a forest after a couple cranks of the reel). This guy gave a nice fight and certainly felt bigger than he turned out to be (helped that I had my drag set too loose). These little guys sure are feisty: <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1240/526760978_6e1f52f884_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="little hammer handle" /></a> And as is the norm he went nuts when out of the water (thus the glove). I managed to avoid getting myself hooked this time but he did get some slime and a bit of blood on my shirt. I thought about running around scaring the children but instead though I'd just wash it off with the bottle of water I had . At least the skunk was over (the bass didn't count). And now all the people going by with the old 'catch anything yet' weren't quite as annoying as before. I then stopped for a quick raping (by raping I mean $8 for a slice and a bottle of water) and for some reason decided to go back to the spot I started at, convinced that now that I'd broken the skunk the spot would start producing. 1/2 hour later and I'm giving up there - still nothing happening. By now its getting a bit later so I decided to do one more walk down the channel I thought would hold something. Stopped at a few spots but nothing happening. Finally I found myself back where I'd impaled my finger on a treble a few weeks ago and started picking apart the weeds at mid channel (at least as much as I could from shore). A canoe came buy with 2 kids and their mom and the boy asks me if I caught anything and luckily I can say yes (didn't tell him it was small) and his response was 'well catch one now'. As if, sheesh. And of course I hit some weeds and the rod bends 'He's got one' calls out the kid. I grin and I'm about to say its just some weeds when suddenly the 'weeds' start running away from me, fish on! It was pretty clear right away that this wasn't a snot rocket as my drag started screaming out. This warm weather has really made them more active and a lot more fun to play. Finally I got a view of him and he got a view of me. Zoom! apparently he didn't like the looks of me and he went for a couple more runs but I liked what I saw. Finally on the third pull towards the shore he seemed to be willing to come in for a visit. By this time a guy biking by had stopped to watch the fight and was happy to take a couple pics after I landed this little beauty: <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1007/526761476_1569ad5f6d_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="33" of fun!" /></a> 33" once measured: <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1205/526852275_99c44495a5_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Measure todays best" /></a> A new personal best (I think - we didnt measure the one in my avatar but I'm pretty sure this one had it by a couple inches). A couple seconds reviving in the water and he gave me a good splashing for my trouble as he headed back out into the channel. The first thing out of the little boys mouth in the canoe after all of that: "Catch a bigger one now". Well I tried for a bit but that was it for the day. All in all only a couple real fish to show for nearly 6 hours but at least it ended with the good one. Of course then I got home and a quick glance in the mirror showed me that I'd forgotten to put sunscreen on my chest (was wearing a shirt open at the top) so now I've got a great big red V to remind me of the day. Given this boards sudden lust for nudity shots I figured I give you all a good chuckle: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/528556572/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1239/528556572_d04fe88fa3.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0707" /></a> Saturday night I was beat but PatrickG wanted to try a new spot and was only able to hit the water Sunday. I was praying for an excuse to get out of it - suppose to rain, thunderstorms coming, DVP is closed, sunburn. I had every excuse but Patrick's the reason I found out about the islands so if he says he has an idea I'd be an idiot to pass on it. Slept in a bit and then had to deal with a 45 minute downtown commute since the DVP was closed but hey - no rain so no complaints. Patrick was already there by the time I got down and had one pike landed (He has the pic on his camera). I opened up my box and took out the new Super Lure (yep the same weedless for Saturday) and we went to work. The spot we were at didn't want to produce any more so we moved to a promising looking point and pretty soon after I had a snot rocket. Didn't bother with a pic as he was kinda ugly hooked and by the time I got him off I didn't want to waste time getting the camera. He swam away fine so hopefully no harm done. Patrick then realized he'd left his pliers at the old spot and went back to get them. While he's off I had one hit right in front of me, came out of nowhere and tried to steal my lure. Was about the same size as the little guy pictured above. I would have another picture but I left this guy hooked in the water for 10 seconds while I unpacked the camera and sure enough .. shake shake .. no more fish on the end. Doh. Lesson learned - have the camera (and other gear) ready before you start casting. Patrick made it back, pliers in hand and quickly pulled in this guy on 'the ghost' (a white x-rap): <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1209/528517628_1b3ce15ff3_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="IMG_0704" /></a> He'd wrapped himself in the line pretty badly so the lip grippers were used so that we could safely get the trebles and line unhooked from the various places this guy managed to hang himself on . Once cleaned though he seemed fine, no blood just a bit of a scar and he took off without a second look at us. A few minutes later I hear 'holy crap' and look over to see Patricks lure out of the water but a HUGE swirl just in front of him. "That was a big fish, followed it in but wouldn't take it". I didn't see the fish but the swirl was all I needed to see to know he wasn't kidding. We kept working the spot for another 1/2 hour or so when boom, I've got something real on the line. As the spool starts spinning I realize he's trying to take me around the point I was on, for a bit there I thought I was going to have to get wet to keep the line from wrapping up on the rocks but he tired out and I was able to get him where I wanted him and when we saw him we knew we'd found 'the swirl fish': <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1058/528518280_46732312b2_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="IMG_0705" /></a> 32" by the tape, my second 30+ of the weekend, what a great couple of days. This one is Patricks as much as mine though - his ghost told us he was there and it was Patrick that brought me out (and to think I was trying to get out of fishing today - what an idiot). We tried for a while longer but I think this guy told all the rest that it was a trap as we didn't even see another. Just a bunch of carp and one accidental largie landed by Patrick (quickly returned, no pic). So we ended up with 6 between us for the day (5 pike, one bass) and 2 pike, one bass the day before. All of my pike came on my new favourite lure, think I'm gonna have to pick up a couple more though as its taking a beating - this was it after day 1, there's a few more scrapes on it today. <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1034/526852543_13944e1501_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="June seconds best bait" /></a>

Never even seen one of those before, very cool. Thanks for sharing and good luck on the quest.

Nice mix there but this full frontal nudity trend can't lead us anywhere but downhill

Wow what a great report , thats some serious carp action. And that second pics is a great photo, really well done.