ozaibak1

Rapala shallow-water crankbaits.

You shoulda specified for what species? But if you wanna go general, I'd have to say a jig and twister tail with a worm tipped for scent!

Here here, let's honor all those who place helping others ahead of helping themselves. A truly honorable intention. They made this country a real beacon of freedom and democracy in their time. I hope I can achieve what they have.

There ya go! The balanced answer. Not horizontal not vertical but the best of both. It's funny, this horizontal vs vertical thing reminds me of the left vs right, conservative vs liberal, this vs that Bull. Take the best of both, don't get divided, its the way! NICE GCD, post shoulda been closed after your comment, cuz it hit the nail on the head.

If its fried I find it harder to tell the taste, but it is still discernable. When cooked / bbqed regularly, there is a huge difference in quality of taste.

Just because someone is using spinners doesn't mean they are targeting bass does it? What about walleye, pike, muskie on spinners?

Epic report, thanks for a great read!

Interesting...

Yeah I use it, not for personal reasons though, more as a website strategy.

I wouldn't mind seeing them.

Meh, I've seen people like this, too many in fact. Any discrimination based on any difference is pitiful and despicable. This is regardless of ANY difference (skin color, accent, religion, gender, etc...). Best thing to do with these people is leave them alone / ignore them. Ignoring people is very rewarding although very hard to do! But it is very satisfying. You will not change this by reporting it, but next time tell them to get lost! You are as much a Canadian as they are, if not more so probably by the way they are acting. It's funny how so many people think this land is theirs, just because they / their family have inhabited it for a few decades after decimating the original tenants, and then have the gall to discriminate on others. Despicable, it's a shame we will NEVER get along, not all of us at least, and not in this lifetime.

If you're fishing at night, the crappie will be solitary most of the time, typically experienced hunters...

Thanks for the report... and for the information. I don't know how many people on the board fish for crappie, but its quickly become one of my favorite fish to catch. My first introduction to crappie came from catching them at night while fishing for anything that bites with a white plastic twister tail. I didn't know what these fish were I kept catching, they looked like a deformed bass, I realized soon after they were crappie. Now, after the spawn the crappie don't school as tightly. They are not as concentrated (relative to ice-out and spawn). However, the BEST time to catch them as the temperatures warm up is at night right on shores. Big crappie later into the season (now and later) are more solitary creatures than early on in the season, often cruising shorelines and docks. In fact, the second occasion I ever caught a crappie, it was at night off a dock at a trailer park near LoveSick Lake, and it literally cruised into about 1 foot of water, I visually sighted it. It was caught on a 3" pink sparkly twister tail worm, the same one my friend caught a 5pnd bass on first time he ever fished Big crappie hunt shorelines at night, FACT, and your report backs this up further. Haven't hit up the BOG yet this season, I will try to hit it up at least once, I don't know if I can kick the Kawartha habit though, it's quite addictive! Anyone else here love catching crappie? I know our Southern Neighbors love crappie and panfish in general more than we do. The cottage I was at this last weekend on Stoney, a group comes in with two full buckets of panfish. I thought I caught a nice crappie at 13", their's was even HUGER!!! Around 15", what a beast STONEY BABY

Welcome to the board, I'd take a forest too!

I've never done close to this well in the spring, although I have been learning a lot each year, been getting nice crappie...

Good way to celebrate, have fun! I like fishing Lower Buckhorn for bass in the summer, there's some big ones in there.

Wow, great report and amazing pictures, thanks for taking the time to put it up, its HIGHLY appreciated! I especially like the pictures of the Billy Goats, I've watched a few documentaries about them and find them to be quite amazing.

Hi Clarence I rechecked the regs (http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR_E001336.pdf) and I'm pretty sure the area we were fishing is not included in that sanctuary. Burleigh Falls was just the closest major point on the lake where we were fishing.

Nice report and results Steve considering a tough day. I noticed the tree in the side of the pictures, with the shade, that's always been a great producer of fish for me, regardless of the species! I find finding that nice shaded spot during the day gather quite a few of the smaller fish attracting the bigger predators in the area.

I also thought that at this time of year the walleye should be quite shallow? We talked to some fishermen (who tend to be American and not Canadian on Stoney by the way most of my encounters) and they were cranking for walleye shallow but just got some nice bass. I know Hell's Gate is supposed to be a nice walleye area, but without the electronics and never having caught a walleye myself, and my fishing buddies only catching them in shallows around sunset, I think I shouldn't focus on walleyes until I get the right electronics, and a horseshoe stuck up my rear. I think I'd have a better chance catching them if I was targeting something else

Hmm I think that may be the problem. We weren't even more than 8 ft Main problem is I still don't have a nice fish finder setup for the rental boats, so I've been doing it all by experience (not more than a few years) and instinct. I think that may be the reason I'm having trouble with walleye on these lakes. I'm strictly a cast fisherman with no electronics so far, it's done me nicely on bass perch crappie etc... but that's about it. I'm sure I'd do better on other lakes for walleye, but it's quite tough considering they can be quite deep and I don't have a decent fish finder yet, but when I do get it, it will be all the sweeter. I'm getting pretty good at reading 10 feet depths and less.

Hahaha very true! Next time, I'll be sure the camera's ready! And btw, those PB bass weren't anything huge by standards on the board, still under 4 pnds, but around the 3.5 pnd mark which is respectable for Stoney although I've seen 5+ pounders pulled out.

Hi all, been since ice-fishing since my last report. I have to apologize that I did not take pictures this trip, we got into a hotspot in the last 3 hours of our trip and I was not expecting the performance we had. Stoney Lake is my favorite lake of the Kawartha Lakes I've fished so far. There are actually 17 Kawartha Lakes I believe, more than I thought there were. Of these I have fished 6, Stoney is still my favorite for two reasons: best fish quality and numbers, as well as how sparse it is on boat traffic. Anyways, this was my first time on the boat since last August! Target of the trip was walleye, we caught none, but thats not a problem. We fished Saturday through the storm, lots of rain, it was nostalgic. I actually enjoy the rain now, its a side effect of fishing. This time, we even fished through some lightning and thunder, but turned it in because the fishing wasn't that great. Sunday morning sucked as well. Weather was fair, fish were not. That's when I took a tip I learned on this message board, that it warms up on the north side of a lake first. We had been fishing the far south side of Stoney because that was closest to the cottage, we didn't want to venture too far out in the storm. The plan was, in our last 4 hours before we head back to Toronto, we will hit the far north side of Stoney at Burleigh Falls, this was about a 20-25 minute trip in our 15ft 10hp rental. We got there, and I was all set to catch my first walleye. Within minutes I snag a work of art (Blue Rapala Slashbait) on a rock and it breaks off. My first try out with a crankbait, I'm trying to learn the technique. We tried 2 more spots in the area, before we settled on a GEM aka HOT HOTSPOT. There were a few reasons this spot seemed promising. There was the narrow canal that led WAYYY up the lake (prime spawning ground for all species). There were also the EIGHT (8) hawks at one spot in the area! I've always noticed birds indicate good fishing grounds. Sometimes they lead me to the fish, other times I lead them! There were also the abundant loons right in our spot. The reason this spot was hot was because the water was much warmer than the south side, and actually had nice weeds starting to grow. I believe this is the main reason the south side of lakes aren't productive (lower temperatures, less weed growth in general). 3 of us in the boat, for 30 minutes straight we caught a fish on almost each cast (all of us). For the next 30 minutes after that, I was getting a fish every 2 casts. The last 2 hours, every 4 or 5, and we decided to call it a day. All 3 of us caught nice nice crappie there, it was a first time catching crappie for the other 2. I caught 3 crappie over a pound, and 6 total. They caught a combined 1 crappie over a pound, and 3 smaller ones. I also caught my personal best bass on the lake, although I was not fishing for them. Largies. My 2 personal bests came within 5 casts!!! They were not fighters, but what a rush. They were OOS, but we were not fishing for them and I enjoyed catching them still, beats the heck outta dink perch. They were biting glow in the dark 1/32 oz jigs with CRAPPIE tubes (pink body white streamers), and a tip of worm. The crappie and walleye was what we were targeting. I caught 9 bass at that spot, about 30 panfish, and 8 nice crappie. What was incredible about this spot, was that the action did not die down for over an hour. Usually when I fish, once we get into some action (a few nice fish), it dies right down within 30 mins. I never took pictures of any of the fish, I would have if I had the camera, it would of taken no longer for me to release the bass, they were outta the water to see them and promptly released. If someone here frequents the Stoney Lake area I can help you out send me a PM.

Hey I typically fish Stoney Lake mostly, as well as some other Kawartha Lakes. I've been on Lovesick Lake 3 times now. It's a very scenic, and small lake. This means you should be able to cover the entire lake in two full days of fishing if you wanted to. There are walleyes at the lock / dam, try to fish them early morning or around sunset for best results. Apart from that, just cast into the bays, and off of islands, shore... its a small enough lake that you could just fish it all! I found fish sizes were much smaller than Stoney since its a lot shallower and smaller. However, one thing I remember well. We were motoring back, and about 100 yards in front of us a HUGE fish surfaced. It was weird, it looked like it just floated up and was dead. When we were about 20 ft away from it, it dove back down!! Didn't know what fish it was, it was FAT and not too long. Coulda been a 5pn+ bass, not sure, or maybe even a carp (more likely). Good luck!

Thanks for posting, very interesting article I'm sure many senko users will enjoy, I know I did