splashhopper

I am thinking I should have drove North instead of south to sleep and fish Friday night

Geesh, I finally get a little desire to go fishing again and was welll, shall we say UNDERWHELMED ! Loaded up my food and sleeping gear for the van and headed up to my latest favorite fishing river for pike and bass. Being self employed, I take 4 day long weekends and left Friday morning to avoid the traffic. Put the cruise control on 85 km per hour and drove through THE WORST DAMNED MANURE LADEN stretches of highway found north of London ! I was laughing my ass off the on the way up just remembering how my buddy, Dutchy- the city boy , reacts to this. We would drive home through this and he would have me laughing so hysterically that I would have to put the van's wipers on to clear my eyes! lol Friday afternoon WAS GREAT PIKE fishing. Except for the first cast! I tied one of my favorite lures on with a 12 inch 30lb steel leader. Tossed it across the river, slooow slooow retrieve and, SWOOOSH ! LIMP LINE WTHeck ? Well, at least I know the bite is on. And it was. I caught 3 pike on that stretch of river. Nothing too big, but fun all the same. Took a walk up river a 1000 yards further than I usually do there and was pleasantly surprised to discover another long deep dark bottom stretch. Might take the canoe up there next Sunday if the weather cooperates. Since I had made plans to meet up with a friend in a nearby town, I packed my gear up and went to a conservation area to do some late afternoon and pre-dusk fishing. Was I ever glad I did that... The bite was on.... again, nothing big, but plenty of action. I decided to do some trolling for the first time in my little canoe and was pleasantly surprised at how relaxing that can be after a day of tossing lures. Just as it was getting dark, I caught caught two pike back to back in less than 10 minutes. Whoo hooo.... What a great way to end the day, or so I thought until I went to get the 5 inch Husky Jerk out of the last pikes yap and I didn't have a jaw spreader with me Yep, you guessed it, two real good slices on my left pointer and saluting fingers ! Here is the toothy lil bugger that did the damage: ( no flash on my new blackberry sucks,, a guy took that pic in front of the headlights on my van for me) I went and met my friend for some soup and a bagel at Timmies and had a good couple of laughs for an hour or so. Then I headed up the coast to do some shore fishing. Not to be. I was plain POOPED. Crawled in to the back for a "nap". Woke up at 6 am to the sound of other fishermen arriving. I crawled outa the van to a river almost lined with fishermen. I was outa there and back up the deserted conservation area real quick. Guess what? EAST WINDS ! I never have much luck in those winds and in short, I didn;t this Saturday either. On a positive note though, Dutchy along with JJCanoe and his son showed up for some fishing. None of us got in to any decent bass, but APPARENTLY JJ caught a couple of nice pike trolling on MY LAKE ! lol Oh yeah, Dutchy caught a pike too So Saturday was all but a bust for me. I headed home late Saturday afternoon and was in bed by 9 pm... done,,, pooped,, bagged.... fried.... kaput! Sunday morning I picked Dutchy up to take him to a new place i "discovered" this summer. I have caught some great LM bass there and was hoping for the same yesterday. It wasn't to be. EAST WINDS again ! No worries, I was out on the tinnie with Dutchy and he was sitting in "the leaky end" of the boat Serves him right, he is a PSYCHO FISHERMAAAN anyways >> Yeah yeah yeah, I KNOW,, we held the fish close to the camera to MAKE >>US<< FEEL BETTER ! LOL AS YOU CAN SEE, THE LEAVES WERE EVERYWHERE and it was tricky fishing those NEW waters for us. We did get in to some BIG bluegills though and made some mental notes for ice fishing All in all, it was good to get out on the water with my fishing buddy in such a beautiful settings this weekend. Cheers Splashhopper and Dutchy

As the thanksgiving weekend is upon us I am reminded of how lucky many of us are to have safe warm homes and families to enjoy this celebration with. One of the highlights of thanksgiving for our family is to invite people that don't have a place to go home to for special occasions like this. Some of them are students at UWO, some are newly divorced or separated and uncomfortable going home, some are work transients to the city from far away places and some may be just down on their luck, some may have lost a loved one recently, some may be working their way back from a life of addictions etc. My weekend will start off tonight working with the Salvation Army on their street cares van looking for people who will not ( for whatever reasons) come in to the various shelters available to them. Then on the weekend I will be trolling my way towards Owen Sound to meet up with a young man I met at the Men's mission here in town last night. We will likely share a war story or two and then grab a coffee with some other like minded friends after an hour of jibber jabber about changing our lives from self centered to out of self. "Serving is the opposite of our natural inclination. Most of the time we're more interested in "serve us" than service. We expect others to serve us, not vice versa." This weekend is all about gratitude for me and my family. We are truly blessed to live in this city and to have a bountiful life together. What is this weekend about to you all and how do you show your gratitude in service to others?

something is very strange about this story as I just read a similar one ( almost verbatem) about a guy in Africa in the same situation.... I am looking for the article

great pics... are u sure you are not the sales and marketing manager for that outfit though

I might be near your inlaws with Dutchy on Saturday... chasing the bass and possibly those baby pike you catch there...

love that last pic ! Coulda called the thread " hawgs in da mud" too

As I am sitting here contemplating my fishing plans for the weekend, I know of two places that I can fish all night and have a fire on the beach as well. I have never tried shore casting in to the waves. I have a couple of rods that should handle it though. A 13 ft and a 10.ft I am thinking I could put my old shimano 2500 on either of them and bomb a drop shot type set up out there near the mouth of the rivers. If anyone has any suggestions or pictures or links to help, I would appreciate them. Thanks Splashhopper

I am swinging my way up towards Owen Sound and area. Will be targeting pike and rainbows on the river banks. Sleeping in the van and following the wind. How about you all ?

I want to land a 40"+ pike in the river I fish solo on targeting them. I know they are there as i have caught quite a few 25-30" ones so far this summer on it.

Welcome aboard "Joe" I am sure you are going to find a lot of humour, support and just plain ol fish tales here on OFC. Glad to meet you. Splashhopper London,ON

that is one faaat beagle.... holy COW !

great looking fish bro... see u on the tribs soon

the pics are not showing up ?

got a few 2-3 lbers on the weekend with a real sloooooooowww retrieve on crankbaits in 3-5 ft of water. Also got 2 on senko's in 8-10 ft of water near submerged trees slow slow slow slow slow slow slow snooooze snooose snoooze snoooze HIT!

awesome pics

Looks like it was a bountiful day for you

and what was your little fiasco yesterday ?

There is a Quesnel at the top. Isa he related to TJ from here by any chance?

very kewl of you Frozen fire