pooch

Thanks for the positive comments. I should add that 10.35 lbs got us a middle of the pack finish (32 of 64 boats) as expected. If one of those lost fish was over 3 lbs we would have easily made a pay spot. Had we boated all 4 of the big bites a top 5 position was possible, as it was a tough bite for most guys out there. Weights were down almost 2 lbs from the day before. But hey that's fishing. It's not over til it's over!

Home lake advantage, or is it… On Sunday I competed in the Competitive Sport Fishing League’s Tri-Lakes Wildcard event, held out of Bridgenorth. To qualify for the year-end CSFL BassMania classic, I need four good results using only one wildcard as a replacement. Since event one and two were almost a complete bust, I need some good results going forward. Our cottage is on the Tri-Lakes so my expectations and confidence going into the day were high. Practice for me had gone fairly well, and I had found several deep weed lines that held good numbers of quality largemouth. I also had a good read on some giant smallmouth that would be a nice bonus if they cooperated. Our plan was to hit our smallie spots in the morning, and if that doesn’t work out go for largies in the afternoon. Well, long story short our smallie and largie spots produced no keepers for us this day. At 10:30 am and no fish in the wells, we decided to switch it up. If they are not deep, then they must be shallow? So we went shallow alright, and our biggest fish of the day came punching a slop mat in less than a foot of water. We had four quality bites fishing shallow, but only landed two of them. Our final day tally was one four pounder, one three pounder and three barely legal for 10.35 lbs. The Good Happy that my partner and I scrambled to at least get a limit in the boat. We had a chance at a cheque and some decent points, had we not lost any fish. The Bad Losing two quality fish really stings. On those tough bite days, you just can’t afford any mistakes. The Ugly Our chances at qualifying for the year-end classic are dwindling fast. I am looking forward to the next stop; three days at the Bay of Quinte on the August long weekend. The Bay of Quinte is one of my favourite fisheries; I can’t wait to get out there. Lots of fish and some big ones too. What worked? Lure – 3/8 oz Black / Blue Strike King Pro Model flipping jig, and Zoom trailer Depths – one to four feet. Slop, docks and pads produced our biggest bites Rods – Shimano Crucial Medium Heavy / Extra Fast Reels – Shimano Curado 201E7 Line – 65 lb High-Vis Power Pro braided fishing line Weather Conditions: Sunny in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon. Winds – west 10-15 km/h Surface water temperatures 76-78 Fahrenheit (dropped 3 degrees overnight!) Air temperatures reached a high of 25 Celsius @http://twitter.com/RedsFishin

Some Smallie Action! Every year at the beginning of the season, I vow to try new techniques to improve my fishing skills. It is pretty easy to fall into a comfort zone and forget to push the learning curve. This year one of my fishing goals was to pursue smallmouth bass enough that come tournament time, I have the confidence to target them if the largemouth bass are not cooperating. I got out this morning with just my smallmouth gear on the deck of my boat. The lures for the day were jerkbaits, top-water poppers, tubes, and senkos. The idea was to use fast moving jerkbaits and top water baits to locate the smallies, and tubes and senkos to catch them if they are reluctant to hit the reaction baits. Off I set out running and gunning, planning to hit a dozen smallie spots over the next couple hours. Stop number one, I land a couple smallies and lost one about two pounds. A good start, but not the big bite I was looking for. Stop number two and three produced another couple small fish. It was stop number four that impressed me, and got me into a good smallie. After losing a couple on the top-water popper, I decided to slow down and throw the Senko around. Not more than a dozen casts and I felt the weight of a good fish. Looking down to check out how big this fish is, and I notice two more giants cruising along side during the fight to the boat. Hmmm, come tournament time, at least one of those fish would look nice in the bottom of my live well. Hopefully a five fish limit of them! What worked? Lure – 4” Yamamoto Senko pink and watermelon Depths – two to four feet of rock/weed Rods – 6’ 10” Shimano Cumulus rod medium-light power, extra fast action Reels – Shimano Stradic CI4 2500 6.0:1 gear ratio Line – 20 lb Phantom Red Power Pro braided fishing line Weather Conditions: Mostly sunny Winds – north 10-15 km/h Surface water temperatures 75-78 Fahrenheit Air temperatures reached a high of 26 Celsius http://twitter.com/RedsFishin

For sure the high and lows are part of tourney fishing, and that is what makes it all the more exciting when you do figure it out! I'll be out there on Quinte also, love that place. Monsters galore, smallie option and quantity too. My next CSFL tourney is the Tri-Lakes wildcard out of Bridgenorth, should be fun. Thanks for all the feedback.

A rough start to the tourney season! My tournament bass season began on Saturday, with back to back days on Rice lake for the Competitive Sport Fishing League eastern series. I never do well on this lake, and the days of practice told me this weekend would be no different. My fishing partner and I pre-fished (think practice for the tournament) a few days last week to get an idea of what the fish were doing and what our game plan would be for the weekend. Our pre-fish did not go well, as many of my proven spots from last year were void of bass, and the fish we did find we could not get them to bite (Dang you small mouth bass!). My new Aqua Vu underwater camera worked great at finding and seeing the small mouth bass, but it still doesn’t put them in the live well. We figured out a big fish pattern late on the Friday before the weekend, and we thought it was our best chance at a winning strategy for tournament day. This ended up being the right decision as the winning team and runner up team were also fishing the area and the same pattern, but there was something missing in our technique. I can not reveal the technique or the area we fished, as that would not be fair to my fellow competitors, but I will say that those anglers that were successful had this technique mastered to a fine science, whereas my partner and I were just on the cusp of the learning curve even after two straight days of fishing. My partner was even throwing the exact bait the winning team was throwing, yet we couldn’t get our five fish limit! Our poor showing is a hard pill to swallow, but that just goes to show you how important “on the water practice” is. The first and second place teams have been fishing this pattern for years, and have won numerous tournaments doing it. I will certainly be working harder next year to master this Rice lake tactic. My next tournament is tomorrow for a “fun” twilight clubbie on the Scugog river. My plastic frog is going to get a work out I’m sure! What worked? I’m thinking I should change the header of this section to read “What didn’t work?” Seems to be a bit of a trend… Lure – Black and Blue Strike King Pro Model flipping jig, and YUM trailer Depths – fish we caught were in two to four feet of water Rods – Shimano Crucial Medium Heavy / Extra Fast Reels – Shimano Castaic Line – 65 lb High-Vis Power Pro braided fishing line Weather Conditions: Mostly sunny Winds were southwest 15-20 km/h Surface water temperatures 70-73 Fahrenheit Air temperatures reached a high of 30+ Celsius with the humidex @http://twitter.com/RedsFishin

Sounds like you got the hair jig all figured out. It's my favorite tactic, because it's so much fun when they bite. Feel the tick, then hammer home. Love it!

Now that I’ve unloaded all my muskie and walleye gear from the boat, I thought I’d put together a video compilation of some of the muskies I caught on camera this spring. Hope you enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22kxqYgkZAY

Thanks for the positive feedback, much appreciated. I am surprised no one noticed (or commented on) the loonie sized scar on the gill plate of this muskie. There was an identical scare on the left side also. I sent the picture to the MNR, and they are not sure what it is either. Anyone here know or care to guess?

Mixing in some Muskie Action Thursday I was invited to join a couple anglers for some Kawartha walleye fishing. I met my fishing partners for the day at the launch and we were casting by 10 am. Hair jigs and Berkeley Gulp were being tossed around up front in the bow of the boat, both pretty standard offerings. It was when I started my day throwing an 8” perch pattern jerk bait, tied to a heavy action muskie outfit that things started to get interesting… Much to the chagrin of most muskie anglers, many of the biggest muskie caught each year are by walleye anglers, using light tackle. The current Ontario muskie record (a 65 lb monster) was caught trolling a small Rapala on gear certainly not specific to muskie. Even though both muskie and walleye anglers know this trend occurs, the worlds never seem to collide. This spring alone I have witnessed 20+ muskie either landed or missed while fishing for walleye. Why not take advantage of the walleye spots and get those missed muskie into the boat? Well that’s was my logic at least. It didn’t take long before I realized I made the right decision. On about the eighth cast I yell to the front of the boat, “There’s one!” Both anglers in the front of the boat have caught their share of muskie, but neither seemed too willing to give me a hand landing them this day;-) Not sure their reasoning, but eventually I land this strong and healthy muskie. After a couple pictures we get it back into the water to fight another day. We continue fishing this spot, me casting my muskie jerk bait off the back of the boat, them pitching walleye offerings off the front. About 30 minutes later, I yell “There’s another one!” Quick to realize this one was a squirt of a muskie I reel it in fast. Just when I had this small muskie about six feet away from the boat I notice a giant shadow lurking just beneath. I have no way of judging the size of this “follower” but when my knees started shaking I realize she was a monster; big, long and fat. She was probably just curious, but possibly contemplating eating the smaller muskie for brunch, pretty cool. The skies cleared up, and the sun came out. Not exactly what I wanted to see, but I continued to work my jerk bait through all the depths available. I do recall staring down at my walleye gear several times throughout the day as the two anglers in the front of the boat started to land a few. But I’m nothing if not stubborn, so I persevere. With about an hour left in the day I make a shallow cast up in about three feet of water on a sandy flat adjacent to an inside weed line. The water explodes when a muskie nails my jerk bait at rest on the surface. While I fight my muskie, my fishing partner lands a walleye in the front of the boat to complete a rare, but fun multi-species double header. The total by day's end was three muskie landed and two substantial follows. Oh and several bait-fish caught off the front of the boat! What worked? I have been throwing mostly jerk baits over the last couple weeks as they seem to be out performing steady retrieved spinners and crank baits. This day the boat was positioned in 8-10 ft of water and I was casting to inside and outside weed edges in and around these depths. Lure - 8” perch pattern jerk bait Depths – fish were caught in three to ten feet of water Rods - All Star 7’6” Heavy Action Reels - Shimano Calcutta 401 TE Line - 80 lb Power Pro braided fishing line Leader - 130 lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon Weather Conditions: Mixed; rain, sun and cloud. Most of the muskie action occurred during the cloudy and rainy periods. When the sun was high and shinning bright the muskie action slowed down noticeably. Winds were west 20-25 km/h Surface water temperatures 70-73 Fahrenheit Air temperatures reached a high of 23 Celsius @http://twitter.com/RedsFishin

Your welcome and thanks!

A Change of Scenery - Blog Post June 17, 2010 Thursday I decided to go fishing with a guy I have known for a couple years. Doug has caught hundreds of muskie and when our schedules matched up for a spring outing, I was pretty excited to get on the water. I’ve been struggling on my home body of water, and needed a change. Doug decided we should make take a run up to a northern lake he’s had good success on in the past. The first spot was a gradual sloping shoreline and we were casting from deep to the shore. I think about ten casts in, and Doug yells, “Got one!” I turn around to see a massive splash, huge boil on the water and Doug’s limp line. “That was a good one!” he says with a smile on his face. We stare for a couple minutes at the scene of the miss, regroup and get back to the game plan. Off we go, pumped that it’s going to be a good day. With no more bites on the first shoreline, we head to the opposite side of this section of the lake to a nothing looking bay; a 150 ft indent/bay on an otherwise featureless looking point. About six casts on spot number two and I slip my Beckman under our first fish of the day, a healthy muskie estimated at 42”. Not the monster we were after, but a good looking specimen. Another four hours of casting and two more strikes, but no more muskie landed (except a couple tree muskies!). The day was beautiful, but not very muskie-like with blue bird skies most of the afternoon and very little wind. The final day’s tally was: four fish on Doug’s walleye pattern jerk bait and one landed. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon on the water! What worked? I was casting inline spinners and jerk baits with no success, and Doug was throwing a 10” Suick jerk bait which saw most of the action. We positioned the boat in 12 to 15 feet of water and made long casts to rocky shorelines; pausing the baits at any noticeable drop-offs. Lure - 10” walleye pattern Suick Jerkbait Depths - four to six feet Rods - St Croix 6’ Heavy Action Reels - Shimano Calcutta Line - 100 lb Power Pro braided fishing line Leader - 200 lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon Weather Conditions: Clear blue bird skies Winds were west 5-10 km/h in the morning diminishing to barely a breeze by mid-afternoon Surface water temperatures 65-67 Fahrenheit Air temperatures reached a high of 26 Celsius @http://twitter.com/RedsFishin

Good luck to those chasing muskie this weekend. I had a lot of hits while fishing for walleye over the last month, hint hint... Maybe I can get a couple jigs back this weekend! Have a look at this Tiger Musky, I was lucky enough to land this yesterday. Caught it on a hair jig with 20 lb power pro braid, not even a nick in the braid. Cheers & Tight Lines! @http://twitter.com/RedsFishin

I like 3/8 oz in general, and I go to 1/2 oz when it gets tough to feel the bottom (windy, deep...). Keep at it, it's a fun bite when it's going well. be sure to watch your line for a strike. Grubs work too, but when you are in weeds and ripping grubs then you have to mess around with gluing them or always adjusting them. Buck tails aren't as finicky, just rip rip rip and go go go. For sure a grub is a great bait, but I just haven't needed to use them much this spring.

Thanks for the feedback guys! Deep is a relative term. I would say this lake is moderate in depth for the Kawartha's. My guess is it averages 10-15 feet with the deepest hole at about 40-50 ft. Water clarity is mixed, some areas it is 5-6 feet and just around the corner 10-12 feet. Sorry that probably doesn't help much. The deepest I've caught a Kawartha walleye this season is 18-20 ft. It's a great fight to get them deep. Good job in Ottawa.

Wind and Walleye Most years I would be busy during the first week of June swapping out all the pike and walleye gear in my boat and replacing it all with my muskie stuff. Given the great walleye action lately, I might have to rethink that move. With the help of a couple excellent walleye fishermen, I've been having a great spring with ol’ marble eyes and the action doesn't seem to be slowing down. Decisions, decisions, decisions… We started the day similar to previous days; targeting outside weed lines in about 8-10 feet of water. We were looking for areas with scattered weed and rock. Since the buck tail bite has been fun, and seemed to produce on previous days, we started the day “rippin’ hair”. The forecast was calling for overcast skies and south west winds at 20-25 km/h. This weather forecast seemed like perfect walleye conditions to us, but the fish at the end of my line just didn’t seem to agree. My fishing partner decided to not be as gracious as previous days; he out fished me five to nothing during the first few hours. After a quick lunch en route to another destination the day started to turn around. One of the moves was to a wind blown island-point, and this seemed to be the best move of the day. Even though the wind died down the fish seemed to be grouped on this point. About ten casts later and three nice walleye caught (even I started catching a few); we decided to stick around this spot to investigate further. We worked this island-point thoroughly and a weed flat on the opposite side of the island to get into a decent numbers day. Over the last couple hours of the day, we boated another 15-20 walleye turning a tough bite day into a pretty good day on the water. What a difference a couple hours makes. Interesting observation of the day: One of weed lines we worked seemed to produce bites when we fished into the wind, but no bites when we fished with the wind. Whatever the reason behind it (and I can think of many) it’s a good idea to pay attention to details like this and alter your fishing. You’ll probably get a few more bites by the end of the day. What worked? Black/black and black/pink buck tail jig Shimano Cumulus rod 6’10 medium power, extra fast action Shimano Stradic CI4 2500 6.0:1 gear ratio 20 lb Power Pro braided fishing line Pattern for the day: For the walleye; a hair jig, ripped in 8-10 ft of water just outside thick weed lines adjacent to deeper water. Weather Conditions: Overcast South West winds 20-25 km/h in the morning, 10-15 km/h in the afternoon. Surface water temperatures 70-73 Fahrenheit Air temperatures reached a high of 26 Celsius @http://twitter.com/RedsFishin

Thanks for the feedback, I think all my pictures improve immensely when they include the kids. As for that walleye, I kept a couple from the day before so after a quick picture back it went.

What a weekend weather wise! Hope you have a chance to get on the water, seems most boaters in Ontario did; the waterways were very very busy. This weekend I was at our cottage on Buckhorn Lake with the family. Luckily my two girls (Reese five years old and Zoe two years old) love fishing almost as much as I do. The problem is they are good and I'm too busy unhooking their catch to fish myself! I'm not really complaining, getting out fishing with them is a lot of fun, and teaching them about life through the eye's of a fish is great too. I got out for a couple hours each day with them, and the fishing was surprisingly good considering the amount of boat traffic on the lakes. Each time out we hit a spot not far from our cottage. The plan was to rig up the girls tackle for pan fish, while I tried to connect with ol' marble eyes. Each outing I think the girls out fished me 5:1. This was good news since it kept them interested and more importantly kept us out on the water for a couple hours at a time. One tip for parent’s fishing with their kids; put their catch in the live well (or a bucket if you don't have a live well). This seems to keep them interested even when the fish are not biting. Make sure your live well is working too! Unfortunately on Sunday the timer on my live well malfunctioned and two of the walleye I caught went belly up. Not too big problem, since I am overdue for a dinner of fresh walleye. I laboured my way through the cleaning procedures (I’m really not very adept with a filet knife) then gave the fillets a quick shake in some fish crisp and pan fried them. We had a delicious feast of walleye for dinner which the girls really enjoyed also. Seems I am not the only one getting into fish lately. I talked with several friends over the weekend, and the walleye are on the feed, aggressively snapping up any grubs, hair jigs and crankbaits offered to them. If you have a favourite walleye spot, I recommend you get out there and enjoy the great fishing going on right now around the Kawartha Lakes. What worked? Black/purple buck tail jig Shimano Cumulus rod 6’10 medium power, extra fast action Shimano Stradic CI4 2500 6.0:1 gear ratio 20 lb Power Pro braided fishing line Pattern for the day: For the walleye; a hair jig, ripped in 8-10 ft of water just outside thick clumps of weeds on Buckhorn Lake, a couple feet shallower on Chemong Lake. The weeds are getting pretty thick and heavy in some places, which may be the reason the walleye are relating to the outside edges or maybe I can only catch them in the more sparse cover. For the crappie, bluegills and pumpkinseed the hot bait was a 1 ½” power bait tube jig about 24-36 inches below a float on an ultra light set-up. Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny South West winds 5-15 km/h Water temperatures 63-67 Fahrenheit Air temperatures 22-30 Celsius

Fishing with my old guy Over the winter I read a book titled, “Fishing with my old guy” by Paul Quarrington. It is a book about a young angler and the fishing relationship he has with an older or should I say “more experienced” fisherman. The book’s theme struck a chord with me and when a more experienced fishing friend invited me out for a day of fishing I literally jumped at the chance. The plan was to get on the water for a few hours of chasing walleye on a popular Kawartha lake. Locals on this lake repeatedly report it has no fish in it, yet my Old Guy consistently has 30-50 fish days on this lake every spring. Hoping today would be one of those days; we got to the launch around 10 a.m. and drove a short ride to spot number one. After about ten minutes and no walleye to show for our efforts my Old Guy says, “It’s going to be a tough bite today.” We continue fishing this spot and land one small walleye 12-14 inches in length. Off we go to spot number two. Another 30 minutes and another walleye, a bit bigger but nothing too spectacular estimated at 15-16” lost at boat side. Spot three produced one more walleye and an accidental but still impressive 47” muskie. The walleye pattern held up for the rest of the day, one walleye on each spot we visited, but nothing too spectacular until we got to spot number six. This spot is a big fish spot that was not likely to produce many bites; if we did get a bite it would be a big one assured my Old Guy. On about the third cast he sets the hook into something serious. I look at his rod and it’s bent over almost 180 degrees. Up from the depths comes a massive walleye which we both see about four feet below the surface. I reach down to grab the net from the locker, and pop! off comes this big momma breaking the knot between the mainline and the leader. The image of this monster walleye head shaking about four feet from the surface, and then waddling back to her home will be forever burned into my conscience. Shaken but not broken we stick on this spot for another 45 minutes. I land a small muskie, and my Old Guy lands a nice healthy 23” walleye. On most days’ landing a 23” walleye on a Kawartha lake would be considered a good day, but we were both still stinging from the estimated seven plus pound walleye that got away. We hit about eight spots over the five hours of fishing and we caught a total of seven walleye; a tough bite but not a bad day. Plans are already in the works to visit this lake again next week, stay tuned... What worked? Black/red, black/blue buck tail jigs Shimano Cumulus rod 6’10 medium power, extra fast action Shimano Stradic CI4 2500 6.0:1 gear ratio 20 lb Power Pro braided fishing line Pattern for the day: Ripping buck tail jigs about two feet off bottom in 8-12 feet of water. Weeds were again important in holding these post-spawn walleye. Also key was water colour; this lake we fished was slightly cloudy with visibility I estimate at about five to six feet. Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny West winds 10-15 km/h Water temperatures 56-61 Fahrenheit Air temperatures reached a high of 22 Celsius

Oh well, that’s fishin' sometimes! I remember my science teacher once told me, when a science experiment didn’t turn out as expected, he said, “You can learn a lot from what didn’t happen.” Well I guess I learned a lot from today’s fishing outing. I was in a small walleye tournament on Rice Lake this past Sunday with nine boats from the Canadian Bass Anglers Federation. I enjoy these early season tournaments as they give me a chance to iron out any problems with the boat, tackle and equipment. I was teamed up with Jason Zigomanis from the Kawartha Lakes Fishing Club to fish for the day. Our game plane was to hit some weed beds adjacent to spawning areas, and work them with buck tail jigs, or jig and grub combos. I figured the bite would be similar to Chemong Lake and Lake Scugog, only better. With a bright sunny day forecast, we were optimistic the walleye would start to feed aggressively. The winner of the tournament would be determined by the boat that weighted in the heaviest four walleye within the 35cm - 50cm slot limit. Our finally day tally was two muskie, four largemouth bass, three smallmouth bass, a few perch, bluegill, and a dozen jumbo rock bass (if there is even such a name) oh and zero walleye. Yep, zero walleye in a walleye tournament! Argh, not exactly how I had visualized the day would go. Of the nine boats in the tournament only three caught walleye in the slot limit and only six walleye in total were weighed in. To say it was a tough bite would be an understatement. Congratulation to Garnet Armitage and Larry Courtice for weighing in three walleye for a total weight of 4.85 lbs. To be honest, we had a fun day, even though we were frustrated by the end result. It was a beautiful day to be on the water, not a lot of other boats out there and the fish were biting, just not the walleye. I remember nearing noon with no walleye in the boat and every time we set the hook on a fish you could hear a whisper, “be a walleye, please be a walleye.” Oh well, that’s fishin’ sometimes! What worked? Well, here’s what did not work: I threw buck tail jigs most of the day, as my partner changed things up. Together we tried; jig/grub combos, beetle spins, X-raps and numerous crankbaits in various colours. Shimano Cumulus rod 6’10 medium power, extra fast action Shimano Stradic CI4 2500 6.0:1 gear ratio 20 lb Power Pro braided fishing line Pattern for the day: Pattern? Hmmm, not much to say here Weather Conditions: Mostly Sunny Winds 10-15 km/h from the North East Water temperatures 52-56 Fahrenheit Air temperatures reached a high of 19 Celsius

Good luck! Don't forget to rip a hair jig!

Ol' marble eyes, nice to meet you again What a weekend weather wise; snow, rain, cold and windy. Not exactly optimal fishing conditions! I hope all the brave souls that ventured out for the walleye opener got some, you deserve it. I was sort of happy that family commitments kept me off the water, because I know I would have been out there otherwise. Even though I assumed this cold snap would not be welcome for the fish, I was itching to get out. Monday I fished on Chemong Lake for my first shot at walleye this season, and Tuesday on Lake Scugog to pair up with a friend and conveniently a professional fishing guide Scott Homes. I figured the odds were in my favour that I’d boat at least one walleye this week. Monday Chemong Lake Winds were brisk and cold coming from the north east. I thought my best shot at some post spawn walleye would be weed beds in close proximity to spawning areas. I looked on my maps and found a large weed flat that ranged from four to twelve feet deep, remembering to steer well clear of the fishing sanctuaries that are still in place for another week. I started shallow in four to six feet of water and worked my way deeper. 2 hours had past before the target species was finally located and boated, and nice spunky 16" walleye hit my black/red hair jig on the drop. At noon I picked up my neighbour for a few more hours of fishing, but we were unable to get another walleye to cooperate. Oh well, at least it was sunny pleasant day on the water. Tuesday Scugog Lake I was really looking forward to this outing. I’ve known Scott for a couple years and had heard he was a good guy to fish with, knowledgeable about the Kawartha Lakes and willing to teach. We were on the water at 10 a.m. and battled moderately strong east winds to get to spot number one. Locals had been reporting disappointing catch rates over the past weekend and we figured this cold snap was negatively impacting the bite. Similar to my plan on Chemong, Scott’s plan was to fish a weed flat adjacent to spawning areas to catch some hungry post spawn walleye. The first notable fish was a slab crappie on a black/red hair jig estimated at 13-14”; a nice bonus fish on a tough day. Scott said, "I know the walleye are in here, we just have to wait them out. They’ve got to eat.” And sure enough they did. On the third drift we got a nice walleye right in the middle of the slot limit. Another three passes and we boated three more walleye (including one double header!), a couple out-of-season largemouth bass, an out-of-season musky and a few perch one of them a jumbo. It was a great day, in spite of the tough conditions. We snapped a couple pictures of the walleye, crappie and perch and back they went for another day. Thank you to Scott! A couple walleye Bonus fish! What worked? 3/8 - 1/2 oz buck tail hair jigs black/red for me, black/blue and black/green for Scott Shimano Cumulus rod 6’10 medium power, extra fast action Shimano Stradic CI4 2500 6.0:1 gear ratio 20 lb Power Pro braided fishing line 7’1” Rapala R-type spinning rod med heavy Rapala R-type 25 spinning reel 30 lb Suffix performance braid Pattern for the day: No solid pattern emerged, as it was a tough bite but ripping hair jigs caught most of the walleye. On Chemong Lake the lone walleye came in twelve feet of water, and on Scugog five to six feet seemed to be the sweet spot. Weeds were key and water that had low visibility seemed to play a role. On Monday I tried a weed flat on Buckhorn Lake that had clear water and I had no success and saw no bait fish. Weather Conditions: Chemong Lake Mostly Sunny Winds 10-15 km/h from the North West Water temperatures 48-53 Fahrenheit Air temperatures reached a high of 15 Celsius Lake Scugog Overcast Winds 15-20 km/h from the East Water temperatures 48-50 Fahrenheit Air temperatures reached a high of 10 Celsius

Very nice Louis! Where did you get that rubber grommet? I have had no luck locating such a thing.

Good luck! I use crimps, never found a knot that worked well.

Here's my "To Fish" list: On the Trent-Severn Waterway: Lake Simcoe Canal Lake Sturgeon Lake Lake Scugog Pigeon Lake Big Bald Lake Little Bald Lake Buckhorn Lake Lower Buckhorn Lake Chemong Lake Stony Lake Ontaonabee River Rice Lake Seymour Lake Percy’s Reach Bay of Quinte And these ones just off the main system: Dalrymple Lake Sandy Lake Cordova Lake Belmont Lake Crowe Lake Chandos Lake Jack Lake Gull Lake Kashagawigamog Lake Paudash Lake Boshkung/12 mile Of course not all of them, but should be fun to try.

I know does the world really need another fishing blog, but I would say yes! My target market is the cottager coming up for the weekend, to try and get them out fishing more often. For those of you that fish the Kawartha lakes, check it out. I'll be posting up-to-date fishing reports, tournament results and lake conditions with pictures and video. I plan to update it weekly or even bi-weekly as the fishing season heats up. Any tips or advice shoot me an email. Hope you enjoy it. http://www.mykawartha.com/blog/809885