JonnyButts

Had a good weekend of fishing. Safe to say the fall temperatures have arrived. Started out Friday night with my pal Mepps , we got out and successfully washed all the musky lures we had on hand. Seems like the fish have pushed off and moved out of the early fall spots we were previously having success on. It’s always a good time when I get out with Mepps and with a friendship spanning 20 or so years , it makes for lots to reminisce and talk about . Friday -Fish 1 - Jonny -NIL Early Saturday morning , myself and 2 of my sons headed out to the Upper Niagara. I had booked with a local guide . 6 hours of smallie hunting was on the menu . Should have know when the sunrise was so red that the weather would be dicey. “Red sky in the morning , sailors take warning “or something like that my Papa used to say. We launched out from Black Creek and started drifting and drop shottin plastics . 2 hours and nothing much happening . We switch over to swimbaits and start casting . I got a dink just before the rain moved in. Rain was not in the forecast but rain is what we got , wind picked up going opposite the current which created some interesting waters to be out on. We kept casting . Somewhere in between getting rained and splashed I tied into a nice smallie , biggest of this season by a pound or two. Another 2 hours of nada and our time was up. Neither of the lads caught anything but we did have a good time out there and the banter was top notch . Saturday- Fish 2 - Jonny -half a nil Got up this morning and headed over to the job site to make sure my operator and gas tech got set up alright . Finished up there by 10 am and decided to head down to the local and cast some spoons. Only myself and another guy with the waders on. We took turns landing fish. Caught some big males and a couple of females with eggs still spitting out of them. Restocked on Roe which is always great with the browns starting to come in . Sunday finished out great, definitely time to break out my insulated waders as I was freezing my nards off today in my lites. Lost a bunch of hardware but when you have a multiple fish day it doesn’t seem to hurt that bad . Back to work tomorrow but this time of year it won’t be more than a day or two before I’m casting a line for something somewhere . Tight Lines J.B.

Looks like some great mornings out Misfish. Gotta love the Aerials! I’m hoping the snow stays away, it’s too early for the white stuff .

So my favourite holiday is upon us. Nothing I enjoy more than Turkey , Ham and pumpkin pie. It’s like Christmas but I don’t have to buy anyone a gift, it’s the perfect holiday for this Scotsman. It also means fishing, traditionally we do a mixed bag of fishing but since it was only me and the wee man at home for this one , I let him pick. All he wanted was to catch a salmon. As any good Dad would, I heard the call and loaded up on the proven lures . Set up the float rod and rigged up a bottom bouncing outfit . We had all the tools to catch him a big gal , now we just had to put in the time. Friday night we hit the minor moon phase and casted J-11 and J-13’s till dark , then switched over to an array of glow spoons . 5 hours of watching fish surface and nothing hitting . Friday was a bust. Saturday we had crazy winds down in Southern Ontario, felt bad for everyone fishing the CTE on Erie . Almost lost some patio furniture (gotta put that stuff away soon) The weeman and his friends went out for smallies and managed to land 3 fish before the wind sent them home. I opted to go into work for a bit and then spent the rest of the day watching 39 hours and dreaming of fishing . Sunday A.M. we were out early, casted glow spoons till the sun came up. Rapalas and spoons got thrown, bounced roe bags and even floated a few jigs, nada , not even a bump. Out of all the anglers we saw only one fish almost get caught , but after it pulled some circus class acrobatics , she spit the hook. Another 6 hours of fishing and the wee man is convinced no one catches Salmon . Had a great dinner Sunday evening with all the fixins, wasn’t the usual big get together but the world isn’t it’s usual place right now. In the midst of a turkey and ham coma and watching 3 different games at once I agreed to head out again this morning. The lad had his waders at the door this morning at 5 am. Get down to the water and tie up leaders , I put on my trusty K.O. Wabbler , third cast , bang , big gal on. The wee man grabs the net and after a couple of runs and jumps I have her within seconds of being in the net. My son , who I love with all my heart , makes the worst attempt and netting a fish I have ever seen. Puts the rim of the net straight into my leader and snapppp , I just miss the tail of the fish as she swims off. Welll #@€£ , I was losing it on the inside but thankfully my Parenting skills kicked in and I didn’t react . We had a good talk about proper netting and what went wrong. Last thing I want to do is make it a negative experience for the lad and have him swear off fishing all together. Another KO on the line and away we go. Hour later I get another one on and lose her to the rocks . I would repeat this a few times on both KO wobblers and Little Cleos. The spot we were fishing has some serious boulders and on some of those long runs they seem to head directly for safety in there . The wee man had a rough morning. Countless snags and spoons lost , I think 8 in total . He was tying leaders for days . Poor kid I lost another biggun to the rocks and finally landed a small trout . I didn’t want to leave without seeing him get one on but time was against us and he had to get to his Moms for Turkey . Man was he just steaming , cursing all things salmon as we were leaving. I tried to relay stories of the countless hours I have put in and the thousand of fish I’ve lost, but none of it matters, he’s on his own mission and so far he’s losing the battle. I told him we would get out a few times this week , just gotta get into Peters and restock on lures and I think the Abu needs more line after this weekend Fishing, sometimes ya land em, somedays ya don’t . It’s a suckers game I tell ya. The wee man and I are out on Erie for football sized smallies come Saturday. Throw a few prayers up that I can get him into a Salmon before then. Tight Lines

What a Beast! Beauty Fish.

Awesome Report 4x4Bassin . I keep hearing great things about the pike fishing up that way.

I see this kinda stuff all the time. Salmon run brings out all kinds . Last night I had a spot to myself , just enjoying the evening. I’m retying and along come 3 guys in their early 20’s , hop down and right into my spot. Bunch of carrying on , I lasted 20 mins before I got outta there. Sometimes I wish they required more for fishing than just a license, like maybe some Education and Etiquette on fishing . I’m looking forward to the cold weather, seems to weed out the riff raff of angling.

Just got back in from Port D. Parking lot is closed off and the break wall is Gated from lighthouse rd. The waterfront trail is closed off from Michigan ave and has no trespassing signs. Only access is to fish Port Dalhousie is from Port side to the green bridge and also the parking lot next to the new condos. I’m hearing that construction is going to last 2 months , and they are placing structures in the water so who knows what fishing will look like after this. Also the 2 month timeline is from the same city that told us the restructuring of the piers would be completed last year. I guess it doesn’t matter since there are no fish in Port Dalhousie anyways ...... 🙄

How big was that fish Lew? That’s some sage advice , I’m going to email Rapala tonight when I get back in from fishing .

I wish Rapala built them worth the $10 bucks a lure they are. I’ll be posting reports everytime I get the net wet . It’s good to be back !

Fished there yesterday . Parking lot is closed but could still walk in , Word from the old boys is we are losing access for 2 months while they place rock piles in the water . I emailed the city to see what is actually going on there since I can’t seem to find any info online . Really going to suck losing even more access down there and especially right in brown prime time. I guess I’ll throw the waders on and join the boys in the “hole” till it’s done.

Thanks Guys. Thanks Discophish . I just put my truth out there . I’m finally living life the way I was supposed to be. I appreciate the comment. Tight Lines J.B.

Beauty fish. Looks like you got that smoker down pat !

LOL, they sure don’t . Thanks for the welcome back Brian, always enjoy your reports from the toon!

Thanks Toronto_Angler , it’s good to be back !

Thanks Lew. I always loved reading your Musky reports back then. I’ll take your word on that first 50 , I know ya got the experience !

Hey OFC . Used to be active on this board about 13 years ago. Never really left but had been lurking for a longtime . The worst kind of member! Life went sideways and addiction got the best of me. Been clean for over 4 years now and busy fixing the 3 ringed circus that was my life. Finally figured it’s time to get back at er now that 2 of my boys are in university and it’s just the weeun at home. Reconnected with my old buddy Meeps and he got the musky fever back in my life . Been losing more big girls than I’ve landed , which is frustrating but I’m still on em and consumed with the thought of a 50” plus. Still early in the fall and lots of trips planned , I think I’ll get that 50” in the net soon! Pictured is a nice fish I got after losing 2 that day, Meeps was quick in the water and did the net work for me, held her up quick while I snapped a pic and back in the drink she went. Musky fishing is some sort of psychological mind F@(£ , from watching videos and trips to the local shop, online orders , countless hours on the water throwing lures as big as my dog and all around being consumed by these fish, I think I got the bug bad. The wee man has really caught the fishing bug and has been on me to catch his first Salmon , we’ve been down to our local spot a bunch and he just hasn’t tied into one yet. This morning while he and his buds opted to head out for smallies , I checked in with the apps and saw that there was a minor moon phase and wind conditions in my favour so back down to the local I go. Chucking spoons for a good 3 hours with not a whiff , decided to throw on the ole Rapala and first cast had a big girl smoke it. What a fight she put up. A bunch of runs and acrobatics and she finally hit the net. Some how I managed to have the front trebles in her , Thank God, as you can see she snapped that rapala in half. All in all the fishing has been great and amongst these crazy times I can always find my solstice down at the water. I’ll keep posting and appreciate all the members who have been doing so for years. Tight Lines J.B.