Ramble

Sounds like you guys had a good day. I can remember fishing with dad when i was a kid, and talking to him about stuff that im SURE he didn't care about. But time well spent, is time well spent, no matter the conversation. What was the biggest perch of the day. -Ramble

Saturday was a different sort of day. We got up at 6am after about 5 hours of sleep we made the drive back to the Scugog. There were quite a few people out for the morning bite, and again we were a little late but did manage a crappie. We punched some more holes, and began the ritual of jigging and checking setlines. Sometime later I caught another small crappie. We were having a good time and watched the snow clouds blow in. It was pretty windy all day and it was always snowing to some degree. Sometimes it snowed pretty heavy… And sometimes it was lighter… As the day went on the setlines saw less action than the day before. Jeff hooked up with another bass around noon jigging…you gussed it…his orange pimple. I managed another nice crappie. About 1pm the setline nearest me had it’s flag drop, and after a pretty decent fight we had a nice smallmouth come up for a visit. After some more debate as to where the weed edge went, I punched 2 more holes with the spud. One hole was quite a bit shallower then the rest, and yielded a lot of dead weeds. We ended up not fishing that hole much. But the other hole I punched yielded a small smallmouth and crappie in an hour. We had 2 holes 6 feet apart, one with weeds, one without. We finally got it right. We watched the weather and kept fishing. At 10 minutes to 2pm, Jeff’s orange pimple did the trick and we had the day’s 1st walleye on the ice. The afternoon plodded on and the closer it was to 5pm the higher our hopes became. Of course there was the odd fish to fuel our excitement. About 4pm people were coming out in droves setting up all over the place. We met a couple of fellow OFC’ers who had seen my short report from Friday. They set up near us, in some deeper water. After 5 the bite started and the fishing got exciting. The walleye were biting a lot lighter then they were the night before. We felt a lot of taps, and missed a lot of fish. I tired a small pimple and minnow tail and managed one walleye on it. We found half minnows to be the only option for the light bite, and the tail half worked the best. That orange pimple just kept producing. By the end of the night we had a nice pile on the ice. We shut the show down at seven, after I pulled a nice eye off a setline. The bite hat noticeably decreasing, and we were both tired, and satisfied. We stopped by our fellow OFC’ers to see how they were doing. They had a few ‘eyes some nice crappie. Everyone we passed on the way in and a couple of ‘eyes. Once home it was straight to the kitchen and the fillet knife. We had one 13.5" walleye, 3 within a half inch of 16" and one that was a 1/16th of an inch from 18". The 18 inch walleye had some old war wounds from a BIG musky. When I was filleting her, I found a musky tooth between her ribs! There was some damage to the fillet, but it was still palatable. I checked all the other wounds for teeth but didn’t find any. In our 2 days of fishing this 18" walleye was the only female we caught. The three biggest crappie of the day were 13.5" 12" and 11.5". My girlfriend and I are Biology majors, so I asked her if she wanted to have a look at a walleye heart. She had just taken a vertebrate biology course last semester and enjoyed it. After filleting one of the walleye I removed the heart and to my surprise it was STILL beating!! It was incredible. I had broken that fish’s neck about 4 hours before and it had spent that whole time sitting on the ice. We were all amazed. Here’s the video we took. Walleye Heart Overall we had an AMAZING couple of days. We caught 26 crappie. Kept 14. Caught and kept 11 walleye, caught and released about 8 bass and lost one musky. The majority of walleye came from ONE hole. In total we had 4 holes that produced more then one fish. We punched 10 holes in the 2 days, and fished another 9 that were already drilled. LOCATION is EVERYTHING! The orange pimple caught the majority of fish. The setlines were also an asset. I also tried a host of other baits, from a small blue/silver cleo, to a plain jig with a minnow. The pimples were the best by far. Don’t be shy to use big minnows our biggest crappie was caught on a minnow that was about 3-3.5” long (Setline). The crappie preferred the shiners over mudds whereas the walleye didn’t seem to care. I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend as well. Tight lines everyone -Ramble

Here’s the Report Jeff arrived here in Peterborough Thursday night. After some moose stew that had been cooking in the slow cooker we headed over to the Olde Stone for a pint before coming home, and getting all the gear ready. The next morning we were up at 7am made a couple of sandwiches and headed for the Scugog. We walked out off of Goreski’s and stopped at the 1st group, of 4 holes we came too. Having never fished this part of the ‘bog we figured it would be a good start. The walking wasn’t too bad. There was some slush, but it was on the verge of hardening up. It just about supported our weight. By 9am we had the still lines up and we were fishing away. It was somewhere around -10 celcius but the day looked like it was going to be a nice one despite the snow in the forecast. At 10:30am we hadn’t seen any action after working our series of holes. So we decided to move to another group of holes we could see. They were about 60-70 meters away. I was walking up to a still line to pack it up, when the flag popped off it’s holder and went down the hole. I grabbed the line and set the hook, the fish didn’t budge, and I felt a strong head shake…MUSKY! I held the line and fish went for a run, I could feel the braided line trying to cut into my hand, so I gave the fish a little more pressure. The line went limp…I had lost the fish. I wasn’t sure what happened exactly. I didn’t think I had broken the line…it was 30 pound braided. When the hook came up it was clear what the problem was. I won’t be buying those jigs again. I wrapped up that line and we moved to the new set of holes and set the still lines up again. By this time the wind was picking up, but we were dressed for it. We weren’t set up long before another flag went down. I got their 1st and found a very nice large mouth on the end of it. After a picture it was immediately released. Jeff and I were sharing some stories from the lodges we work at during the summer, and I was right in the middle of telling him about the 11 o’clock walleye bite at Kesagami, when he hooked up with a fish. I looked down at my watch…5 minutes too 11am. 1st walleye of the day. We went back to fishing and chatting. A short while later, Jeff hooked into another fish. Another nice bass. About a half hour later he gets another solid hit, and hooks up with a big bass again. Releasing winter bass always brings a smile to my face. You get them back into the hole and they pause for a minute before taking off. While they are paused the tail sticking out, always makes a good picture. As the afternoon rolled around, we were pretty happy with our holes, and punched a few more with the spud. We kept trying different holes for jigging and for the setlines. We figured out what holes had weeds, and we were able to find some edges by making a few lucky guesses. One of the set lines was sitting in a hole we had punched and at about 3pm the flag had a good wiggle too it so we went over to investigate. We were surprised to find a very nice crappie on the other end. It was shaping up to be a good day, so we riigged up the setline again and went back to jigging. The evening was coming and walleye were on our mind when a flag dropped. It was my turn to fight a fish. It was another beautiful bass. Another quick release. A short time later and I get a hit on the pause while jigging my yellow Swedish pimple. Another hit, and I get the hook up. A few seconds later and we have another slab for the ice. Shortly after that, Jeff gets another strong hit, and lands yet another scrappy bass. The bite was picking up and we were defiantly in high spirits. 5pm rolled around and it wasn’t long before Jeff’s orange Swedish pimple was getting some more attention. We kept jigging, and then it was my turn. In the next 2 hours the fishing got better. At 7:30pm we started packing up and left one setline in close to us. We were about to pull it up with the flag dropped and guess what…another ‘eye. That was the last fish of the night for us. We packed up and headed home. We had a great day, and came home with a bath tub full of fish. We ended up with 6 walleye. They measured 17”, 16.5” 16”,15”, 14.5”, and 13.5”. We also had 9 crappie for the table. The biggest was 14” followed by 13”, 12”, 11”, 10” 9.5” 9”, 8.5” and 5”. The 5 incher took a treble in the gills. Here are the 2 biggest crappie. Here are the walleye. After I was done filleting fish and eating walleye, Jeff made a phone call, and were all set to go again Saturday.

Again, ill post a better report later. Eveing bite was from 5-7 again tonight. Mr. Wall Eye was bitting pretty light tonight, and minnow tails worked best. Orange Sweedish pimple held its title as Champion. Caught some great fish. The morning bite was good as well, but we were a little late. Here's some photo's. Nice 'eye Biggest crappie Today's Keepers before anyone mentiones the totalo walleye between 2 people....we ate yesterdays last night. Get out if you can! Jigy-Jigy-Jigy -Ramble

Fantastic Report! That's a good day by anyones standards.

This is the short, short, short version. Were hitting the ice again tomorrow...and ill put up a report for the whole weekend. Today went something like this... That's right its the bath tub. Couldnt get them all in the sink... and teh table was out of teh question. If you cen get out tomorrow night you should...be their for 5pm. three words... ORANGE SWEEDISH PIMPLE Tight lines, Jigy-jigy-jigy -Ramble

thanks guys!

Probably heading out off Goreski's tomorrow. Im presuming the ice is in in good shape, but i always like to check. While i'm at it...how's the fishing been latley? -Ramble

*drool*

Great Fish Hawg. Im jelous as always lol. -Ramble

Awesome morning. Those are some good looking fish.

Awesome

Great Stuff, and nice catch

Another good trip out. Solid Report. Keep them coming.

Excellent pictures.

I got that knife 2 years ago. I used it for two weeks at kesagami my 1st year then i lost it and couldn't find it. I gave it up for lost. One day one of the guys i work with lost his sun glasses in the lake off the dock and went in after them. About 5 minutes later he found my knife. It had been in the water about a month. She's been going strong ever since. The leather changed colour dramatically, and the finish of the handel aged as well. To answer your question, between June and July it does anywhere between 2 and 30 walleye a day. I can't even guess the number of potatoes it has sliced. It also does a really nice job of taking the breasts off of a grouse. I clean it on my pant leg most of the time or in the lake, i think it has seen soap 3 times. I keep it in the junk box in my boat when im not using it during guiding season, and on my desk during the off season. I sharpen it with what ever is handy. Most days i have use a little portable lansky quick sharpen thing. Doesn't but the best edge on it, but it definalty helps you get through fish. -Ramble

Nice fish.

Beautiful Fish

Nice Work

Looks like you guys you guys had a great trip. Those were some beautiful fish. Lake trout are definantly one of my favourite fish. Great Post. If you guys are going to catch fish like that, you should get out more often. -Ramble

The K-Sawg report is over half done!!! It's a dangg beast of a post. Ill have to work on it some more and proof read it. May even have to take some stuff out. It should get done in the next 2 weeks. It's full of pictures. Thanks for the comments everyone. -Ramble

I’ve been chomping at the bit to hit the hard water for the last two weeks, but school kept getting in the way. Friday rolled around and I had plans to hit the Bay of Quinte with a good friend no matter what the weather. Dominique and I left Peterborough around noon and got to Belleville around 2pm. The roads were in bad shape the whole way. We stopped on the way to help a lady who was stuck. We arrived at 2pm, and Jeff was already at my house waiting. We put the minnows in the bucket; I threw my cold weather clothes on, and grabbed the gear. 3:00pm we were on the ice, off the east side of Point Anne heading out into the storm. The ice was slick in the clear patches, and the drifts were up to my knees in places. Despite the wind and ice pellets, we were both sweating with our jackets open. So it was off with the jackets, and to work with the auger. The auger turned out to be a lost cause. The blades on Jeff’s hand auger were in a terrible state of repair. Lucky we had a spud bar with us which we had brought because neither of us could get a good ice report for the area. Somewhere around 12 inches of good, black ice later, we had the 1st hole in the ice. While he cleared that hole, I worked on the next hole. Once we had 4 holes, we set the still lines, and rigged up our jigging rods. It wasn’t long before we spotted the 1st jostle of a setline. Jeff grabbed the line; and we had the 1st perch on the ice. We were hoping for walleye, but the perch kept biting, so we kept catching. Notice that there is no horizon, and the white horizontal blurs in front of Jeff’s face. We had pretty steady action the whole time we were out. We’d catch one jigging, and just as you hands were getting warm, the set line would go. It stayed like that till dark. We didn’t catch any walleye but came home with some nice perch. Plenty went back down the hole. The two biggest. When we got home, I filleted the fish and left the skin on for later. Jeff took half this fish home for supper. We had a great afternoon; I think the terrible weather actually made it more fun. Saturday morning rolled around, and my alarm went off at 8am. When I got up at nine the day looked like it was going to be a good one. Then I got a phone call from a neighbor and spent the next 2 hours helping her shovel out her house. About noon I was done shoveling, dad had the van packed and off we went. 1st stop was Northway, for lunch. After lunch we went due north up 62 until we hit our turn off for Steenburg lake at Trudy’s. There were quite a few people out on the ice and they were moving around quite a bit leading me to believe the splake weren’t cooperating. We punched our 1st set of holes with the auger threw about a foot of ice and it wasn’t long before we had the 1st fish of the day. We were right on top of a school of perch. They were biting so well we pulled up the still lines and had a riot jigging for them. We were catching perch hand over fist. Some were of a decent size, so we started keeping a few. We brought the portable stove, and had a couple of cups of tea between fish. After we had about dozen we moved around trying to find some splake. We punched a bunch more holes and pulled out a few more perch along with a few rock bass. Before we knew it, the sun was down, so we packed up and headed for shore. Once home, I filleted the fish to the same point as the fish the night before and took this picture. Then I removed the skins, and heated up the frying pan. Only dad and I were home, so we fried up the fillets and devoured the whole batch. It was delicious. Can’t wait till I’m home for reading week. Hope your week was as good as mine. -Ramble

Campsite 110 in Medowlands is a good site if i remember correctly.

Beautiful 'eye as always Hawg. I have plan to hit th Bay Friday afternoon with a buddy, i'd be happy if we do half as well as you guys did. -Ramble

i havn't fished the west arm but I've used gulp many a time. White and Pink for 'eyes has worked well for me. But for some strange reason the orange gulp does not out produce a regular orange twister tail. It's actaully the opposite. The bright yellow also has it's moments. I think it's all on the mood of the fish. The action of the twister tails i use have far better action the the gulp tails and i think that may make a differance. It's interesting that you mention the colour of the worm harness blade. i have noticed the same thing when i used to fish the Bay Of Quinte regularly a few years back. We used to use a hammered silver coloraldo blade with red beads, or a red willow leaf in the low light condtions in the morning or the evening. But once the sun got up a little we were doing better on Blue and Green willow leafs. We also had a yellow/orange willow blade combo that didn't do too bad on cloudy days...but it also had a habit of picking up sheepshead if there was any around. -Ramble