BillsTheBassMan

This past weekend a group of us rented a cottage on Georgian Bay. As always, we were anticipating the fishing opportunity, but feared the cold front could throw off the fishing. We were right about the cold front and only managed to grind out a few small bass for our troubles. We grinded through 40km+ winds, rain, and waves. Here’s what we were dealing with: Sadly, we didn’t see any exciting fish for our toils. Well, again unfortunately, that’s not true. We saw one exciting fish. From about 200 yards away we noticed a big fish bobbing up and down with the waves on the surface. “Musky” my buddy says. “Big Musky,” the other re-iterates. We make our way over to the fish and sure enough a big G-Bay musky is floating on the surface. We notice what appears to be a hook mark in its lip and red fins (indicating stress). We debate what to do and we decide to bring the fish into the boat in an attempt to revive it in my buddy’s livewell. We figured it was only right. OFC member Timmeh took charge and worked the water through the fishes gills on and off for roughly 30 minutes. Then it hits the boat driver “Oh Damn! We could get in a lot of trouble even having this fish in the boat.” Despite the fact we didn’t measure the fish we were sure it was under the 55” slot. After a few more minutes in the livewell, Tim took the beautiful fish out and leaned overboard and held the fish into the flow. The Musky gave him a faint kick, its gills were still moving, and we let him go. It didn’t have a chance. It floated away, presumably not to recover. Here's the fish and the attempted revival: (When we opened our livewell, it was belly up - note the pink on its belly): (With moving gills and even the faintest kick, we didn't give up on him) (This isn’t the focus of this post, but it inflamed me and I want to share it:) We were all pretty pissed off about the situation that someone likely had that fish out of water for way too long and didn’t know what they were doing. We find out later that a couple of guys caught a 40” Musky 6-8Kms away and pulled it back on a stringer as they didn’t have a livewell. It was their intention to enter this fish into a $2 fishing derby. Upon attempting to enter their Musky the coordinator said “I can enter it and weigh it, but as soon as I do I’ll have to call the MNR on you . . . unless you want to go release it.” So that’s what they did I guess. They went and “released” it. Here are the fish that won the "derby" Anyways, I guess this post has two focuses (with more attention on point 2): 1) People are ridiculous and need to be more educated (period), but with Musky in particular. These are sensitive fish (though most fish would die from that kind of abuse). They're also important for the ecosystem. 2) Could we have got in trouble for attempting to save this fishes life? I know there is always the possibility that the CO wouldn’t have believed us, but keep that aside. If we have a Musky in our LIVEwell and are attempting to bring it back is that a violation? I know the Musky guys do it all the time on fishing shows. Nonetheless, I said to my friends on board that if a CO wanted to be obtuse about it that we’d just say “I guess next time we’ll just club it with a stick.” Here are some of the non-musky pictures of the weekend: Timmeh with a nighttime "Largie": The Unpredicatable Skies: My buddy fumbling a smallie out of the boat: But there's always a pot of gold at the end of the bad-fishing-weekend rainbow (or at least a delicious beer) Thanks folks. EDIT: I've wrote a good Muskellunge Catch & Release Guide. You can find it HERE

Hello All, Some time back I had asked you folks about the Great Canadian Tournament Tackle company. I found them vending at a farmers market, got 4 lures for $10 so I gave them a shot! I asked them if their products were made locally and they said "nothing is made locally anymore. Everything is made overseas." (IE China). I still decided to purchase the 4 lures for $10. A $10 mistake. I ran these lures this weekend and they're very poor. They don't run true. The topwater frog that I bought almost fell apart before I could tie it on. I didn't waste my time with 1 of the lures. If you see these goods popping up in the general area just keep on walking by - awful quality. I'll stick to Rapalas, Cordells, Heddons, and Live Targets thank you very much

You have 24 hours to produce your license, so I find this a little hard to believe.

Welcome to the boards sir! That's a nice smallie from those gin clear waters up there. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to seeing more in the future. Cheers, Ryan

We were away at Georgian Bay this past weekend (report on its way soon) and we were talking to some of the locals and swapping fishing stories. One local tells me about this summer battle he was having hunting what he suspects was the same Musky "Walter" was his name for him. He had him hooked several occasions and saw him once. One day, he caught a smaller fish and was reeling it in and BAM the line started going and going and going and then the rod went straight. "EXPLITIVE" he yells. He retrieves his line to see he still has a fish. It's a 27" pike with a 6" gash along its side and he's bleeding relatively heavily. In his words, here is how the story ended: "The pike had a 6" gash and he was bleeding heavily. I put him in my livewell and tended to him on and off for the next 24 hours. The next day he was doing fine and he was good to go/" "That's crazy!" I say. "So he swam away fine?" "Nope, we cleaned him and ate him."

That's a beauty post Ryan. You can rest assured that this bonding time you have spent with Averie will stick with her forever and that the two of you will always be best friends. She may find herself away from fishing for some time (I fished with my dad growing up, but went away from it for 6-8 years) but she'll always look at it fondly and it will always be something you've shared. Wish the little gal good luck on her first day from all the OFC'ers. Cheers, Ryan

Another Beauty Report Fish_Finder, those trout streams are looking inviting, and with these cold nights, it shouldn't be too long before I am there . . . we will most definitely have to get out before the year is over! Cheers and Thanks Again for Sharing, Ryan

I got the Fuji camera that Dave Mercer endorses - it's waterproof, dust proof and underwater able. I love it personally. The zoom is weak, but not generally needed for fishing pics. It was 160 on sale at Future Shop. New report coming soon folks.

Every topic makes me shake my head just a little bit more S25.

That is one of the best looking musky I have ever seen! I love it! Thanks for sharing!

What exactly are you planning on doing with this information?

Beautiful Specks . . . thanks for sharing (I smell a trip next spring )

I get disagreeable after missing a day on the rivers, I can't imagine a month, and I'm just denying the fact that winter is en route. Shoot me a PM and we'll see what suits. I'll be trying to fish every night next week.

There are so many quality books to read it will really blow your mind, but NOTHING BEATS TIME ON THE WATER! My favourite fishing author is John Gierach. He is technical, but most of his books are a collection of fishing-related short stories that really capture the sport. He's a great read when you're sick of reading textbook style technique fishing books. Whereas he discusses most fish species, he focuses largely on trout. Dave Mercer's Facts of Fishing website has a great rigging section that teaches you how to tie/setup some very popular rigs, such as drop-shoting & Carolina rigs. You can also read my blog here: My Blog (as I'm currently focusing predominantly on bass and my next few articles will be "How-To" oriented.) I can provide you with countless fishing resources if you are interested, just pm me with what you are specifically interested in and I'll point you in the right direction. Lastly, stop going to Canadian Tire. They're useless as a fishing resource, save for the odd sale. Find a local tackle shop or two and talk to people who actually fish and have a good knowledge base. Hope that helps.

After the inevitable death of my camera last Saturday, I didn't let it sour me and kept on slogging. Sunday saw me with a mild hangover, so it provided the perfect opportunity to go carping with my nephew. We were skunked but he had fun and learned a few things and he's already supporting the best football team around: Monday it was back to the rivers for some smallmouth bass action with the new underwater camera in tow. I didn't have to wait long before getting a chance to use it (or the attempt thereof) on a 15" smallie. Sadly, this is the best I could do with my first go around: The night saw about 12 small bass, a decent pike on a topwater, and this guy who bit off a little more than he should reasonably be able to chew: Next up was Tuesday night with Tybrad and I, to explore some new water and see what we can find. We were looking for smallies, as that's the common catch around these parts, but were surprised when my first cast resulted in this small guy: Next up was an even bigger surprise. This is my second Walleye in non-walleye waters this year and this guy put up a vicious fight. I thought it was a smallie until I saw the beautiful gold and big dorsal fin. This may not look like much, but it really is a once-in-a-lifetime catch in these waters: A little further on the river we ran across the species that we were actual targeting as I hooked into the first smallie of the day. Tybrad did the photowork on this quality underwater shot: And, Tyler got the skunk off-the-river before the night closed, and hooked into a 12" smallie that required too much unhooking attention to get a decent picture of . . . it was too small anyways It was a quality start-to-the-week on the water and I'm en route to continue it now before my 7:45 Annual Fantasy Football Draft. Tight Lines & Go Packers, Ryan

Jedi, they have those Mepps Musky Killers @ Fishing Fanatics for 9.99 versus the 14.99-17.99 that Canadian Tires have them for. I bought a pair of them, but don't get up to Musky water very often.

As I understand it, most reels have a "stopper" bearing that will cause your reel to seize up if it gets water in it. Some of these bearings are more waterproof than others, as my 4-year-old Stradic has never seized, whereas my 1 year-old ultralite Pflueger President seizes often. I'd call this an important factor for all of us river guys.

I'll take the more fishable weather anytime.

I think Cudz should do one of these every week . . . . Leftfield Trends, or something like that. It's interesting anyways.

Great Fish & good camera phone pictures! I've stopped caring about bass weight and I go almost strictly by measurement at this point - it's an easier barometer and does less harm to the fish. Ryan

The fish I'm catching are starting to go on the feedbag now . . . I suspect an early fall and a cold winter - this weather will turn on us so enjoy it now!

Awesome Report . . . Congrats!

Great Report Man . . . nice to see how you mix up the species you fish for, and an amazing report. Thanks for sharing. Cheers Ryan

Great Day and Great Pics. Thanks for sharing!

Yep, I'm hoping that the rice trick works and that I at least get to salvage the pics. I'm intending on going out tonight and getting a good set of new pics with my underwater/waterproof camera. Fingers crossed on both accounts.