Jigster

Brand new, never been used unit. Preloaded with Navionics Canada maps, includes GT20 transducer and mounting kit. I bought this for a remote fishing trip, only to realize the lodge owner provided sonars - this has never been used and registration has yet to be completed. I will provide receipt of purchase from June 2022. Asking 400, open to offers. Thank you! Mark 647-308-1848

Hey everyone - looking for an accountant/bookkeeping resource for some fishing lodge-related work. If this belongs in the classifieds please let me know and I will remove this message. Thank you and for all those interested please PM me and I will tell you more. Many thanks and tight lines!

Well, i just realized this post was made in september 2013... See you this summer georgian bay smallmouth!

Old ironmaker, i go by the moniker jigster but at one time went by schnaggs and waaay way back when this board first started (canadave years) i went by the name jerkbait annihilator. Been part of the community since day one pretty much and its been amazing to see what its become. Im a multispecies fisherman but have recently become a fly fisherman and just cant get enough of the smallies. Now, as for the regs, they're online here https://www.ontario.ca/document/2015-ontario-fishing-regulations-summary. Not sure what im missing but in zone 14 (which is what i believe moon river belongs to) or zone 15 (inland from moon river), the regs clearly state that bass open 4th sat in june. There also doesn't appear to be any exceptions to these regs. I'd love to be fishing the moon right now so please let me know if i'm misinformed!

The moon is an incredible mulispecies fishery. these pics were from near moon basin a few years ago. Lots of scrappy catfish and i've seen some huge gar and esox there... Can you guys enlighten me I thought smallies were off limits till the end of june in both zones 14 and 15?

Absolutely pristine and chalk full of fish - great report Mike.

Pigeontroller - those rapids in the first two pics are at Recollet Falls, which is at the end of a great hike starting at the French River Visitor Centre. We stopped there on the way up to Chaudiere and I highly recommend both the hike and the exhibits. The hike takes about 30 min one way, follows the French River Gorge and is stunning. It's a great way to break up the trip and get some exercise. If I ever do that hike again I'm definitely packing some gear as the water around the falls looks amazing. http://www.visitgeorgianbay.ca/scenic-vistas.cfm?action=1&things_to_doid=59&category=0

Many thanks for the kind words everyone! Joeytier - you're right about the conditions being tough. the most common mistake people make up there in is 1 -not to stick with the jig and minnow and 2- not to use a stinger hook. The other invaluable tool we had was a lowrance split screen gps/sonar, which was absolutely huge on those slow days. Sometimes I'd just put around contours until we found a pod of fish, and with no wind, we'd just sit there and twitch the bait right off the bottom. I did mark a ton of suspended fish though and was thinking maybe a spoon would have been effective. Anyone have a productive no wind/sunny condition technique for eyes? As for being "dialed in", I'd say at the upper french that would mean 30+ fish days (especially when bass opens)... was there last year when a hailstorm hit and it was one after the other walleye on the main channel using gulp... awesome

Thanks to a prolonged visit by Old Man Winter, my anticipation for an encounter with Ole Opal Eyes on the French was matched only by an ongoing obsession with pork fat. Yes I was getting sentimental, but who wouldn’t knowing they’d be spending five days with their dad up in shield country. It was time. Time to respool the reels, calibrate the jaw spreaders, and to create a playlist worthy of the soulful, mystical Upper French: Pink Floyd, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and plenty of Dvorak were loaded for the drive up with the old man. Knowing cold water would be deactivating fish, our plan of attack was to target areas in and around bays and bay mouths with temps approaching 50 degrees, rather than the try the frigid lower 40’s found in the main channel. Our approach was bottom-centric; ¾ ounce bubblegum jigs, bottom bouncers, and lindy rigs rigged with fat minnows or 3” gulp emerald shiners tipped with a piece of crawler. Stinger hooks were added to all live bait rigs, which proved critical. Our first couple days were spent hitting our traditional walleye spots, and we hit pay dirt early at Johnson Hole: a narrows between two islands flowing into a bay basin of 40-60 ft. We hammered a specific area with depths of 18-22 feet with live bait and jigs, producing hits or hookups on almost every drift. Although this spot was the main contributor to two consecutive 15-20 fish days, we also had good luck at other island narrows, and bay mouths exposed to the big water main channel. In the of absence enough wind to create decent walleye chop, the key was to find narrows creating wind funnels (oftentimes blowing in the oddest of directions) and to drift them with jigs. We were also paying attention to the tips of feeding shelves protruding into bay basins, which paid off with hard fighting Walters and brief visits from Sir Esox, who took off with his share of jigs. Speaking of visits, on our second day, while at Johnson’s, we were approached by an unmarked boat with three McGuyver-looking hosers wearing aviators. Good dudes, those CO’s. On our last couple of days we were assaulted with brutal cold front, zero wind conditions. Despite this setback, we, after much experimentation, adapted by slowing our presentation down, dragging the bottom with slight twitches, cutting the motor whenever possible, and targeting deeper waters (40+ feet), again close to bay mouths. With these tactics, we managed to scratch up 7-10 fish per day, with too many light bites and missed hook sets to mention. At the very end of our trip, at around 8pm, my dad and I were fishing some narrows close to the lodge, and weary from four days of nonstop fishing, were ready to head back to our cabin. Although I managed some decent eyes on minnows, my dad, who had been working a tired looking Gulp minnow for the last three hours without a bite, was telling me he wanted to call it a day. “One more pass”, I said, and maneuvered the big Alaskan in low gear for another start-stop drift through the narrows. Before we knew it, dad is fighting a 27” healthy male bulldogging its way into a nearby shoal. We landed the fish, the biggest of my dad’s life, and with a fading wet grey sky behind us, realized those final moments would replay themselves in our minds forever… Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air, and deep beneath the rolling waves in labyrinths of coral caves, the echo of a distant tide comes willowing across the sand, and everything is green and submarine….

This board has had plenty of legends and yes I also miss Andy K's reports - didn't he go on to create the legendary MuskyStriker website? Talk about being on a mission he just took the online musky community to the next level with that site...

Thanks Bubbles - we've had some great adventures over the years. Fond memories include my dad hooking up with a monster laker while smallie fishing with senkos in Quebec or both of us being introduced to fly fishing on a magical river whose numerous bass take very kindly to black wooly buggers!

Hello OFC. Jigster here... I've gone by the moniker Jerkbait Annihilator (in the days when CanaDave was on this board), Schnaggs, and have settled on Jigster. Been coming to this site since its inception and am in awe of how things have grown. Since its been a while, some images have been included below from trips over the last couple of years with my dad, my faithful fishing partner. In fact, my dad and i are planning a trip from Sep 14-18, most likely to the Pickerel as we like its easy access, lack of boat traffic and quality fishing. We've had some substantial success west of the 69 and are wondering if exploring the waters further east (Kawimagog to Toad Lake area) is worth it without sacrificing the fishing and boat traffic? BTW we're not diehard musky or walleye anglers, with numbers of bass drifting leeches providing plenty of fun... Also looking at pine grove http://www.pinegroveresort.com/ so any feedback would be hugely appreciated (and reciprocated) Many thanks!!

Terry that makes a lot of sense - I really don't think Beauchene should be marketing themselves as a walleye destination given the terrific brook trout and smallie fishing they offer. In fact the easiest and fish to fool (and you can take them all day if you want) are lake trout! They're pretty much guaranteed if you're trolling 30-40 feet deep in 60-80 fow. We also caught them vertical jigging with spoons and I hear in the spring you can catch them on the fly: fantastic. Honestly though, if you just want to pound the smallmouth all day you can go to a couple back lakes I'd be glad to share with where catching over 50 fish is the rule not the exception... That being said when we targeted walleye we caught shore lunch within 10 min both times (little beauchene, devil lakes) and some larger ones to boot. Regardless, walleye at Beauchene are a bonus feature over an above the smallmouth main event, which is spectacular.

Around a month ago (mid july) I returned to La Reserve Beauchene (Temiscaming about 1 hour from north bay) with my father. High expectations from last year's trip were exceeded by sheer numbers of sizeable and varied fish. The bass fishing was so good that I wore through my cameras batteries by taking so many smallmouth pics. On some of the back lakes a fish was taken on almost every cast, all day long to the point that I started to sightfish with the fly rod as though I was in the bahamas chasing bonefish. Crayfish patterns (full motion crayfish) were the order of the day as were senkos, particularly black/smoke/watermelon in clear water and pink in darker water. We visited a couple of beautiful brook trout lakes with success, but smallmouth was what we were after and by god we caught enough fish for a whole summer's worth of satisfaction. This is a 40-lake, catch and release fishery for smallies but whenever we needed table fare the lake trout and walleye were closeby and were there in numbers... My father also caught a gorgeous 19.5 inch splake while bass fishing with a senko which was excellent eating. For a drive-to fishery only 5 hours from toronto this place is absolutely epic.... I love it! http://s649.photobucket.com/albums/uu220/K...mview=slideshow