Big Swede

Sad state of affairs when all of your trips in a year can be posted in one shot. I have two little ones at home now so I don't get out all that often these days, but this year was one to remember. I figured I'd share with a bunch of enthusiasts! Grey Bruce 2009 - August 12-14 cookslav and I went on our annual trip to this beautiful part of Ontario to fish new waters and to return to old hunting gounds. We've been doing this for years now and regardless of how many days we go up, it's always a blast. First up was Isaac Lake which was awesome to boat on (complete ghost town) but with so much structure and shallow waters, finding the fish proved tough. It would be awesome to hit at night though for some top water, that is, if you aren't afraid of losing lures to the huge pike in there. I did end up catching a small pike using a white offset with gold blades. Apparently, that colour combo works like a charm. Isaac Lake: We then made our way to a favourite spot to do some top water fishing as the sun set. Loads of fun. But before we got on the water, I asked cookslav if he wanted to bring the net. Confidently, he said no, we never need it. A decision that would haunt him shortly. He hooked into a monster largie (rare in those waters) using a skitter pop but didn't get the hookset right. As it passed close to the boat, we all got a real good look at it. Then it went under us and shortly after, cookslav's line went slack. Would have been the fish of the trip. I reminded cookslav of that for the rest of the trip too. Just because I love him like a brother. Me on the other hand, on our second visit to that water the very next day, buried my hook deep into this 17" largie using a top water plug:, no net needed On the second day, we tried some new water which is the best part of this trip. Hotter than hell that day though, but we saw so many big smallies cruising, we will be back. The best part was that the water was super clear so we started bombing them with plastic worms. I had no luck, but cookslav did great with a couple of nice smallies including this one: After we cooled off in the lake with an impromptu swim, we headed back out for some top water night fishing. The last day, we again hit some familiar waters and went to catch some pike. For years I have been wanting to bend my wobblers but never knew how to until cookslav showed me. Man, was that awesome. I started nailing the pike using a style I call Honey Harbour (after another fishing trip) where you cast 5' off the back of the boat and then you steer your lure over the weed tops. Within 5 minutes, I landed two decent pike, one of them is here: After the third one, cookslav switched up! But as fast as they came on, they turned off. But not until cookslav caught a little one. To spare him the embarrassment, I won't post a pic! But I will post this one: (Totally legal folks, as the only motor we use is electric) All in all it was a great trip to make with a great friend! Florida Keys - September 3 This trip was a once in a lifetime experience! I was down that way on business when I got an offer to change my life by trying salt water fishing. I have wanted to do that for years so I jumped at the opportunity. We headed down past Key Largo (how cool is that?!?) to Tavanier. My buddy's boat is an inflatable with a steel hull and a 130 HP motor. Thing flew across the water. Being that it was rain season (hurricane season!), it was beyond humid and storms were always brewing. That just added to the awesomeness of the trip. Cool boat: Thunderheads abound! We started out of Harry Harris Park and here's the view on the way out: We went 14 miles out to the Largo Hump then onto the Wolf Reef. Loads of flying fish but no big birds to point the way to the Mahi Mahi or Dolphin as the Floridians call them. Moments after asking if my buddy had ever caught barracuda, I landed a 30". Not much of a fight, but still way cool. Seriously, check out this thing's teeth! After that, it got pretty quiet. Unbearably hot too. Then my buddy thought we should try somewhere else... Islamorada. As we pulled up, we saw 6 charters circling the area and we knew we were in for it. Frigate birds everywhere too, another good sign As soon as we took our first pass we banged into tuna. Man, what a powerful fish! As soon as they hit, your reel screams for mercy. We caught a couple of Big Eye tuna and some huge Skipjacks, a double header of 22 and 23lbs. Incredible fish! Check out the fatty (the fish, not me) We decided to pack it in as the weather was looking rough. But as we started going, we heard some hollering from another boat and then saw a fish jumping at the end of a line. A school of dolphin fish was in! Sure enough we hooked into a couple and let me tell you, this is the ultimate fighting fish. Beautiful colours, super powerful and crazy acrobatics. These things would jump 6' in the air several times and take monster run after monster run. We ended up catching three mahi, 8, 10, 12 lbs. And on the way out, we got the chance to say hi to some nice people on a big boat (note how close this is!) Another thing that floored me was that we were 14 miles off shore on the Atlantic and the water was as calm as a small Ontario lake! Seriously, this is the freakin' ocean! Here's a shot of the mess of fish we brought home that day One last pic from that trip I wanted to share... how many times have you seen this road sign? Gotta love Florida! Bay of Quinte - December 14 It's been a couple years since I made it out to the BoQ with the last time being this complete disaster which I documented here: http://forums.quintefishing.com/phpBB2/vie...&highlight= This trip was much better weather wise and I got to say hi in person to Superdad, who I have been exchanging online pleasantries for over 10 years now. Well worth the trip for that. In terms of fishing, cookslav and I were one of the many boats methodically patrolling Picton Bay that day, marking loads of fish, but not having many bite. We left super early to get there (3:30am from Kitchener) and were on the water by 7:30. So by the time the afternoon rolled along, I started napping in my seat. When I woke up, cookslav had turned us around and I was startled, forgetting where I was for a second. Moments after and still dazed from sleep, I noticed my planer go under and I set the hook. Can't really recall much of that though! But I did end up with this beauty using an orange and purple reef runner (Cat Dog colour) It was pretty quiet after that, with this being our only bite and fish. Of course, as we got off the water, we heard that just east of the ferry was a turkey shoot, with almost 40 fish being caught by two boats. Grrr... Well good on them for leaving the pack and being rewarded big time. Any how, this jaunt worked well for us as a day trip so it looks we are going to try this on an annual basis, and hitting the water last minute to avoid that earlier nightmare I mentioned. Have a happy holidays everyone and good luck on the hard water! It'll be here soon enough! Thanks for reading my 2009 report. Here's hoping 2010 allows me more chances to tell you some tall tales!

Yeah, that would be hilarious... You know what would also be funny as hell? If a big fat dock spider ended up in your tackle box.

WORST... FISHING TRIP... EVER Let me put it to you this way Cookslav... if my fishing trips with you start to more often than not resemble this fiasco, I'm taking up golf. It would be a far less frustrating experience. Did I mention that I suck at golf? You know it. Big thanks to the folks at Merland's for giving us another trip full of great hospitality. Loved the new Suzuki motor too! But I'm pretty sure I requested no wind or frigid temps. I'll have to check my confirmation letter just to be sure. For those all of you headed up towards the BOQ in the next few days/weeks, the freeze is coming sooner than later from what we saw. The harbour was mostly covered up when we were leaving and a few still nights and frigid lows will lock down Picton Bay too. As for helping out fellow anglers, cookslav and I were paying it forward when Pete Bowman and his Fishing Canada buddy saved our bacon last year when our rental called it a day as we were out at Thompson's. We'd be halfway across the Atlantic by now if they hadn't taken the time to help us out. But that's how it works out there folks. We are all in it together and taking some time out from fishing could very well save someone's life. Besides, it's only a couple minutes but you are making a huge difference in how things could unfold out there. And it always comes around, for good or for bad, right? Later OFC'ers! I'll be laying low, licking my wounds from a dismal 2007 campaign. But I'll be right back out there soon enough. And once my little Swede gets old enough, then you won't hear the end of my chatter! Happy holidays everyone!

I'm loving the words of encouragement and the debate on the ratio of trolling miles to casts! That was a grumpy comment I made in jest to cookslav after 6 hours of battling steady winds that were supposed to die down at noon. Thanks for the support guys but rest assured, like most of you here on this board I am sure, I can spend 16 hours in a boat with no food, no bio breaks and no fish, and I will still hit the water with fishing rod in hand the very next day. It's the silence and discovering new water in the great outdoors that keeps me going. IMO, the thrill of a fish pulling back at the end of your line is just the cherry on the sundae. Keep those lines tight, my friends!

After a fruitless (and fishless) trip to a windy and choppy Stoney Lake, I had a lot of time to think about all things muskie. With cookslav and I working hard at striving towards that legendary magic number of casts required to catch a muskie, I had to wonder about whether we are going about it the wrong way. I mean, if 10,000 casts is the magic number needed to catch a muskie , then how do you count casts when you primarily troll for them? Does it just count for one or is there a number you multiply by? Say, by mile trolled or something like that. If it's just one, well then that's just plain crap and might just explain our lack of success. And what if you are fishing in muskie waters but targeting another species like walleye? Can you count those casts too? Jeez, I hope so!

The Big Swede deems this report worthy Nicely done bud! If you can ever find me a nice patch of soft moss to rest my head and more importantly, get those fish to start biting, I may just have to join you guys so we can get the band back together again!

Good luck out there Crazy Hook! As cookslav says, you might not need too much luck as they are ready to rock out there. Looking forward to an unbelievable BOQ open water report this early in the new year! Hell, I am even thinking of buying the wife more diamonds to get out again!

My $:fish ratio is way outta whack but I am hoping to fix that over time. Seriously though, good gear and tackle are worth every penny if it does what it should when there's a big fish on the line. Gear failure and unpreparedness will not be tolerated nor should it be!

Cookslav and I headed out to Picton in the early morning of the 27th for a short stay at Merland Park and one last shot at some trophy fishing. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Sure it was cool and we endured a couple of snow squalls, but overall the winds were low and that made boating easy and uneventful. Can you believe this picture was taken on December 28th? Where's the ice??? While we didn't catch all too many fish, their quality more than made up for the small numbers. Our first fish came at 3:30pm as we were trolling with planers near Pull Point. I was running around a 100' of line, with a planer using a 3 way swivel with a deep diving crank bait and a Perch coloured X-Rap. We were in 25' of water when instead of a walleye, this huge log of a Quinte pike inhaled my X-Rap. He took the lure deep (hence all of the blood) and barely put up a fight. But we let him go in hopes that he'll fight another day. He did swim off and dove into the deep, so there's always a hope. This is my PB pike and he measured in at 36" in length with a 15.5" girth. As cookslav points out, it was that girth from head to tail. And real pig to land! Our next fish came at 5:00pm near the Cement Plant in 40' of water. Cookslav was planing a single Clown colour X-Rap with around a 150' of line when he hooked onto this really nice walleye. Let's just say that his old PB walleye got shattered by this 31" fish with a whopping 18" of girth. Later on that night, we headed out to the harbour to see if we could keep up our run of luck. During our second pass, while we were making our turn just past the boat launch, cookslav got into big walleye #2, flatlining the same Clown X-Rap from his earlier catch. Again, he had a fair bit of line out (over 100') and the fish was big, measuring in at 30" with a girth of 17.75". Needless to say, I was green with envy as both of these fish bested my own PB walleye! I think it's also safe to say that cookslav is now a firm believer in late fall fishing on Quinte! Our second day didn't go as smoothly as we were jinxed by circumstances beyond our control. To the guys that towed us back from Thompson's point, thanks again for the ride home! Life adrift on Quinte wasn't all that fun so we were relieved to see some friendly faces. After a quick pit stop, we headed out again, but sadly our motor had enough and died as we were exiting Picton Bay. We trolled around Picton Bay until night fall, but I really wanted to work the cement run using floating lures at night. Oh well, that's what next year's trip is for right? By the time we were headed back to camp, Picton Bay was starting to ice up fast so I think we hit the water at the perfect time. I can't imagine how thick it must have been on Friday morning as by 6:30pm, we were steadily breaking ice even as far out as the middle of the bay in front of Merland. On a whole, the trip was great. Only really being able to fish the way we wanted for a day, we were really pleased with our catch. A PB pike and walleye in a matter of hours was pretty sweet on any trip and it definitely whetted our appetites for another December run in 2007. And again, it was DECEMBER 27-28 AND WE WERE OUT ON THE WATER FISHING!!! That's wild! Thanks again to the folks at Merland Park for the great cottage and friendly service and still being open this time of year. I am already looking forward to next December!

Excellent report Superdad! Fishing on the BOQ on December 16th... just incredible!

I broke two rods many moons ago while on a fishing trip to the French. The first one happened when I had my hook through my eyelets too tight and my rod rubbed up against a rock wall. The second one broke when I was snagged. That pretty much left me with a broom stick to fish with. Needless to say, the trip sucked. My takeaways from that trip was bring plenty of rods, don't make your line and rod so damn tight when travelling and go easy on snags, big fella! But by far my most shameful breakage happened when I was trying to show my buddy how flexible my ultralight was after a couple of pops. Remember that old Ugly Stik add with Refridgerator Perry? Well, my ultralight didn't want to co-operate all that much and it went SNAP! right in my hands. My lesson learned from that break? Stop being an idiot. However, I am proud to say that it's been at least 15 years since I broke a rod and I am planning on keeping it that way! (knocks on wood) Cookslav: Get in on this thread. We would all love to hear your war stories.

Cookslav and I crossed paths with a bruiser a few years back in one of our favourite lakes and it was a jaw dropper. Let's just say the days of dangling our toes in the water are long over.

The sight of snapping turtles always fills Cookslav's heart with fear and loathing. Somebody post something about spiders quick.

First class report Superdad! And it never fails... the nicer the weather is for us fishermen, the slower the fishing! I couldn't get over how calm the BOQ water looked in those pictures! Looks like even though the action wasn't as hot as it was last weekend that you guys had a blast. And that was a real nice 9.75 lb fish you guys landed! Nice sized pike too. Must have been a heck of a scrap. I've been meaning to join the year end party at Merland's for a few years now and I'll get there one day I'm sure. Looks like I am missing out on a great time with a lot of great people. Thanks again for sharing Superdad!

Stop yelling. And yes, it's the same guy.