johnnyb

Well....you know what google is....and you know how to read a list of google results. But if you knew how to USE google to get what you want....you would have come up with the info that Roy did

Yep, picked it up the other day....love that ad

http://www.google.ca...5l0.4.3.1.1l9l0

Nice bull...and REALLY nice walleye, wow!!!

Thanks for the knids words....but I didnt' wirte it -- Bicephalic did! I will gladly accept your compliments though Still giddy about the whole thing...can't wait for the next chance to go. And a thanks goes out to the various speck-experts that I pm'd for advice in advance of this trip...you know who you are

Nah...you should get all the glory....your post...mostly your fish

I had the opportunity this past weekend to hit up some year-round brookie lakes with a great friend and newer member of the board here, Trouty, along with my cousin, Bicephalic, and another compadre who spends his time posting on a different forum. Now, Bicephalic and I had tried for brookies on stocked lakes a few times prior to this with no results, and he was somewhat skeptical about sacrificing our usual fall smallie/pike fishing for more potential skunking. All I can say is...he changed his tune in a hurry, and I have found some new real estate to go back to for the next little while....what a great time we had. My cousin wrote up a great little report and posted it on a different forum, and with his permission, I've done a little cut and paste and put it up here. Hope you enjoy....we certainly did. * * * * * * * * * * About a month ago, Johnnyb, Rob Beaudry, and myself were lucky enough to receive an invite from Trouty to join him for some camping, and to explore some backwoods, year round, stocked Speck lakes. I know, I for one was hesitant to accept the invite, knowing full well that stocked Speckled Trout didn’t actually exist, let alone bite. Did I really want to waste my weekend chasing unicorns? Yer darn tootin’ I did! We left Mississauga (in the rain), almost on time, and made our way north…meeting up with Trouty and Rob in an already fully functional camp (in the rain), about 1:30am. We wasted no time polishing off a few drinks, and shooting the breeze, swapping endless stories (in the rain) until someone looked at a watch and realized it was 2 hours (likely less) until sunrise! We all had a short nap, and wasted no time getting fed up and geared up, and off we headed to our first stop. The rain tagged along. We launched, and made a few exploratory laps around the lake, casting here and there. We passed the time cursing worm thieving strikes from unknown assailants, and the rain which worsened considerably shortly after Rob landed the first brookie of the day; a healthy 8-9 incher. After the rain subsided, the strikes ground to a halt. We were all starting to worry that they had shut down from the rain, when SLAM. My first Speck over 3” – a new PB! 15” said the tape, B-E-A-YUtiful said my eyes! After that the fish really did shut down, and the four of us were drenched and getting chilled. We headed back to camp to warm up. Rob and I compared fish (sorry buddy ) and then prepped them for the pan. We hid out from the never ending rain and ate and drank, and talked trash for most of the afternoon, then JB convinced me to help him paddle around another lake in the rain and wind for smallies. We managed a few hits for me, and a few spunky fall fish to the boat for him, and then rejoined the boys at camp to deal with the beer problem. The fridge was just infested with them! All that selective culling of wild beer is tiring, and we worked up quite a hunger. Out came the BBQ and fryer. First course, Smelt: They disappeared in a hurry. Second course, fish fillets, potatoes with bacon and cheese, and salad. Did I mention it was still raining? The rain foiled our plans of a camp fire, and kept us inside for most of the evening, so we called it an early night, and still woke up an hour later than expected, but wasted very little time heading down a few more dirt trails to find our second lake. Shortly after we launched, the sun made a welcome appearance, and it turned into a lovely day. Then it got better. New PB – 16”! Ryan followed that up with a nice 13” – pictures to follow. Then Rob, decided to use one of his favourite ice jigs, and cause a bit of commotion of his own: “Hey, hey you! Come over here and show us what you got!” 17” of glorious Speck! Johnnyb, not to be outdone, finally pulled it together and stopped paddling me around long enough to catch this 13” beauty of his own With the action at that side of the lake slowing down, we headed off in opposite directions. The wind wasn’t cooperating and pushed us into the weeds. In an open spot I saw a thin submerged stump, and decided to take apage from my bass tricks, and dunk my worm tipped spinner down the side of it. Like a scene from Jaws, this beauty shot out of nowhere, and went absolutely insane with my bait in it’s mouth. 3rd and final PB for me of the weekend : 16.5” and chunkier than the others. The release: That about wrapped up the fishing, so we packed up, shot a few pictures, and headed back to camp where we enjoyed a few BBQ’d specks, and packed up for the long trip home. That about sums it up folks: An Excellent weekend, with the company of some great guys. Thanks for making it a memorable weekend boys – can’t wait to get back out there with you all, and an extra thanks to Trouty for housing and feeding the rest of us animals and sharing some of his honey holes - appreciate it dude I guess Unicorns do exist after all… Thanks for reading!

Sounds like you really made the best of it.....and it came down to the wire...exciting day...way to go...you'll get that trophy back next year

That shot of the orange and red tree is incredible....and the fish ain't too bad needer! Thanks for sharing that bountiful harvest

You had to wait a whole 20 minutes....BRUTAL! Seems like this is quite a gem of a spot....keep the reports coming

Thanks for the update, Garry. After a season of Suffix vs PowerPro, I have to say I'm more apt to stick with the PowerPro...interested in seeing the "superslick" stuff. So far I don't find the Suffix to have any great advantage over the PP, and on the spinning reel, the PP outcasts it by a noticeable margin. I should really try something else for my spinning reel, and think I'm ready to try Fireline...I know...it's old...but I haven't seen anything that consistently gets good reviews by other spinning reelers. I'd be interested in a good flourocarbon too thogh...so your opinions or future reviews are appreciated

Awesome writeup...congrats man!!! I'm curious....how do you rig up those mice for bait?

My first thought was $120....but I'm cheap...so I'm sure even $150 would have been a good deal! Congrats

Finally.....a muskie report that we can all agree on...awesome stuff!! Beautiful fish, and well-deserved...talk about pulling that one out of the fire...could easily have been a depressing wet weekend. Very impressive.

Not a bad thanksgiving at all....we are all waiting for the day we read about that 50"er again

What a great report....beautiful place to be....don't know if your dad will invite you to [out]fish with him again though

I love your writing style....and the pics have a certain rustic quality to them....like watching old footage on grainy film. I could learn a lot from you about being patient with kids in the boat...great report once again

Your new avatar and motto: I don't post often.....but when I do....it's EPIC Amazing summer man....great photography and fantastic fishing....thank you so much for sharing.

Definitely a rough week...sorry for you loss...thanks for sharing the news with the folks here, and I have to say, I like your kind of therapy....nice fish!

That stinks, man...sorry to hear it. Remember the good times

Ahhhh.....just reading that makes me all relaxed and warm and fuzzy......then insanely jealous!!!!....then relaxed again.....

I will say that the Lightning Rod has been great bang for the buck for me...but I've only used their baitcasting models. The new shock as well as the older grey ones...very impressed. Also just picked up a Rapala TS2....I'm amazed at how nice it is for a $50 rod. I myself got the 5'10" vertical jigging model....possibly a bit too much backbone for what you want....but it's REALLY light in the hand, and has great sensitivity...worth a look. To your original question, the BPS line is not bad at all either! Berkely, BPS and Rapala rods I *think* are all in the same aisle at BPS...try'em out. I vote to forget the Ugly Stik, but that's just personal bias cuz I don't DO ugly

Beauty! I saw the title and was going to skip it...then I saw it was Drifter....where you live and fish, I'm quite happy with what you call "wee"

Hilarious....and ridiculous....almost preposterous...you're most definitely one of us...thanks for the laugh

Hey! You got your name back Love this report