Shelley Cooper

What an amazing day…. Chuck got yesterday off, with work being slow. Chuck arranged for us to fish another area of the lady with some friends. We arrived and got set up by 8:30am. Within 5 min or so of fishing, Chuck looses a laker at the hole. He puts his spoon back down, and gets a hit right off. Sly’s dad starts yelling he needs some help, fish on. Chuck puts his rod down and goes to help John and John gets a nice whitey.. his first in 35+ years, He’s pumped now. Chuck later helps him land his first Laker in 40+ years. While Chuck was helping John… I start yelling for Chuck to come with the gaff.. he didn’t get there in time, but I still managed to land this nice whitey….boy.. did this one bleed a lot… Chuck finally gets back to his own line and no sooner starts jigging and he’s got a fish on.. Action shot. The whitey…. My turn again…. All this within the first half hour of fishing…. So, I’m sitting there thinking.. I don’t wanna go home yet.. lol So I real up, 20 ft off bottom to fish for Lakers, but still can’t keep the whites off my lure… 3rd fish of the day… 8pds 4oz and over 26 in long… My PB white fish.. and what a fight… I’d get a few reels in.. then it would take off, peeling line like no tomorrow… by the time I landed this fish, my shoulder and forearm were aching… I never had a whitey fight like that…. We tried to get a quick pic of its length, but it wouldn’t stop flopping around and we were more concerned with getting him back into the drink…and even forgot to take one of me holding him…. Sitting and jigging, we see a bike coming towards us… way out there in no mans waters.. lol and an older gentleman arrives.. He’s come all that way alone and his auger won’t start. He asked Chuck if he could fish with us and would Chuck please make him a hole.. of course, He did. And here is this man with his second whitey on… He landed it and was so very happy… he packed up his stuff, thanking us for a great morning, he said he was glad his auger broke, if it hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been fishing with us… lol I don’t know if he reads the board, but if he does… It was a pleasure….. Back to my hole…. I reel up and put on an even bigger lure and stay closer to 30 ft off bottom and I still am catching whites… and get another shot of a picture with ANOTHER 8pounder… Look at the size of this guy…. Back in the drink he went too… in amongst all this… Chuck has his second whitey and starts to fish for trout and he gets another whitey too… The bite started to die off around noon…. Dead calm long enough to have a coffee and lunch.. then it turned on again.. but not as furious as the morning… A couple from the afternoon…. We didn’t get any Trout on the ice, but we seen a few landed I ended up landing 8 white fish.. Chuck landed 4 whiteys in total, all being between 5-8pds.. In fact, I’m sure all fish caught were in that size range and none less than 22in…. We brought 4 whities home for the dinner table…. And mmmh, mmmh were they good We lost count of the many, many fish we either had hits from, hooked and lost or even rolled.. it was simply an amazing day of fishing the lady…. You don’t get many of these days…

Nice laker Rustic... we got a few whities today... Sure was cold out there....

Congrat's Rich on the new addition to the family and new fishing partner.... I know of your mixed emotion's all to well.. I'd always had a dog or dogs in my life, when my last one had to be put down for cancer, it was so hard on me, I swore I'd never have another. I didn't realize that something was missing in my life, but my children did. They kept trying to talk me into getting another dog, but I wouldn't allow it. Then 3 Christmas's ago, my oldest daughter bought me a dog for xmas. What was I to do? When I first had her at home, although 5-6 years had passed, I still had those same mixed feelings an emotions, and wasn't sure I wanted her. It didn't take to long for me to warm up to her and love her to peaces just as I had the others. I like the name you picked.... I called my new girl Kia too.. only I spell it... Kea Today, I wonder how I lived without her... My children were smart enough to know I had a void in my life and I thank them now... I think thats a great thing your wife and daughter did for you..... won't take long and you'll feel the same and be happy to be making new memories with this one.... Good luck with your new girl....

WTG Tony... Awesome laker's.... Congrats on the win... Great prize too...

I'll be right behind ya Terry...............

Awesome report and pics.... Congrats on the Laker Wayne... WTG.. Thans for sharing and Hope all goes well with the trip to the city and your daughter...

Hahhahaha.. thats cool....

Here ya go Mo... I looked through all mine too.. not really a group shot, but lots of people, including Tyler and his mom....

Hey Tabout... Bigchev and I took a trip to BBP yesterday.... The ice is good but the slush an snow amounts for walking are just crazy... Very tough walking.. and sinking into the slush made keeping your balance very difficult... Only seen or heard of herring being caught in the area.... You won't see me out there again till it all freeze's up....

Our BBQ looked like that this morning too Joey... We use the BBQ all winter too... WE just get more BURNT offerings...

Last night while looking outside.. we didn't think we did to bad with the snow fall amount, but this morning, we awoke to this..... I later took a trip to the Park and things did not look good... Ski doo's were even having a hard time.... Talked with a few people just coming in, and they said it was not good out there… They said they didn’t know if they were stepping in a slush hole or an ice hole… the slush is sooooo bad….They were going out to bring their huts in, but didn't feel it was safe//// Here’s what the entrance onto the ice looked like this afternoon…. A close up…… Don’t go out alone…..

Happy birthday Rich...

Really nice boat Mike.... congrats...

I got myself out on the Lady Thursday morning and what a beautiful morning it was…. The view at 7:30 am By 8 am, I was all set up and put my lure down the hole. Not long in to it and I get a hit.. then another hit… ya, I was getting excited, this was going to be a good day… then another hit, this time the fish is on… I could feel the head shakes.. it’s a whitey… ya… half way up… GONE… Pull my lure up and remove several scales and head back down for more…. Another fish on…. But this time, it doesn’t feel so big.. get it to the hole, it’s a perch.. a 9 in. perch… back down the hole, fish on, more perch… this kept up, I was thinking of moving, but thought, well, its better than anyone else is doing.. I’ll just stayed and keep trying.. not long and I have 4 nice perch on the ice… Although no big fish to bring home, I did ok.. Got a baker's dozen of 9 - 12in perch, and 6 of them being 11inches... and would you believe it.. on a big William’s spoon...The afternoon was moving on and I was just sitting thinking.. I'll have a last smoke and pack up, not half way through my smoke... Wammmo... another fish on.. But boy, could I feel the difference... I was sure I had a whitie.. I was casual.. played with it a bit... and finally got it to the hole... It’s a laker, not a huge one, but it’s a laker.... My adrenaline pumping, I try to get its head in the hole, and it turn's side ways at the hole and takes a mad dash.... Snap.....My line breaks on the ice circle and there goes my Laker..,,,, along with my Lucky spoon of the day.... it was still a great day… I got to feel the whitey head shake, fight a laker to the hole and brought home a meal of nice size perch for the 2 of us…. Saturday Another beautiful day on the Lady… This time in deeper waters.... Chuck and I arrived at the park around 7:15am…and headed for Chuck’s honey hole… it was a bit of a walk and we had to cross the crack… which I wasn’t to crazy about.. I stayed well back following in the same tracks… We finally made it to where his honey hole was and drilled some holes to find pretty good ice…. We found 4-5'' everywhere, over 85ft of water, with bikes and sleds all over the place. We fished for some time with no action… I was thinking.. sure, some honey hole… lol Chuck decides to move a bit… set up again not 20 min. into the move… he fights his first whitey … and onto the ice it comes. It wasn’t one of the biggest ones we’ve seen, so back she went… Finally around noon, I get a hit, fish on, GONE… Chuck kept marking fish only 20ft under the hole and decides to set up a second line and just as he was setting it up, he gets another good solid hit.. And onto the ice comes this real nice Laker….. We kept fishing and enjoying the outdoors and watching others around us flying these big Kites getting pulled across the ice on skies….. when around 2:30pm, I finally get a good solid hit… A nice whitey… about 22.1/2 inches…and on the ice…. We fished about another hour without marking any more fish or seeing any around… What a great way to spend a winters day… Sunday we were back out to the same spot… Not much action for us today.. We both lost one in the morning and nothing again till afternoon when I got this whitey on the ice… She isn’t that big, so back down she went to grow a little more… and fight another day. We packed it in around 3pm… Today was another beautiful day on the Lady. Hard to believe it’s the end of January…

Great to hear Rick... Thanks for the update...

Glad to hear your back home Jack.... Hope everything continue's down the good path of recovery....

Hope all goes well Jack.... Jackie.. chin up.. all will be well in no time... Our thoughts are with you...

Hey.. hey.. hey... another fishing buddy.... WTG... Congrat's to both you and your wife....

Happy belated birthday Clif.... Hope you had a great day....

Nice fish... WTG..

Great report and pic's Cliff... Nice fish too... Thanks for sharing...

Really sad to hear to hear this... All to many people keep there animal's alive because they can't bear to part from them.. but it is not fair to leave the animal to suffer for our own sake.... You did do the right thing for the dog, and your family.... Sorry for your loss....

UPDATE.... Justin IS HOME, just a short while ago.. but he's home.. in a back brace still and hopefully it will continue that way until he is FULLY healed .... Thanks again to everyone for their thoughts and prayers... Shelley

All good here in Innisfil... didn't loose hydro at all... thank god...

An update on Justin... Justin is still in the Toronto hospital.. they have done an MRI and have put a back brace on him. They want to see if this will take enough pressure off his disks, to allow them to heal. He will have to stay a couple more days and if all goes well, he'll be going home with an aprox. 4 month recovery period. If they don't feel he is healing with this back brace, in the next couple days, he will have to have surgery... It will be another couple days before we know anything more... Dustin and Chandelle are still very sore and i think still in shock, but they started moving around a little yesterday.. and that can only be a good thing.... Thank you again to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.... Shelley....