Dutch

If that had ever happened to me, yes I think I would despise it immensely.

Thar' she blows.....great catch!

Get one and use it religiously.

Well, it was about time to take a day off work and go out fishing. No better excuse than a good pal and his dad visiting from Sarnia and staying at the Three Castles to make Lower Buckhorn our destination. Headed out about 7:30 Friday morning to bright skies and a chilly morning. We were using a 14' tinny so making long runs was out of the question. Ten minutes through the channel and down the lake we were at our first destination. Manage to boat a couple of small ones: And this not so small 17"er (probably a good 2.5 pounder): Most of the other guests were complaining about the smaller bass sizes and not catching too much in the way of numbers. For one day, I thought we did OK, boated about 12 bass in about 7 hours of fishing, not bad considering the cold front that went through. Most, unfortunately though, were of the smaller variety. Next day my wife and I got a chance to stay a couple of nights at Elmhirst's Resort on the Eastern portion of Rice Lake with friends. I hadn't fishied that part of the lake so we were fishing blind. We went and picked up the boat - 9.9HP and 15'er and parked it at the dock. It was really, really cold there with intermittant rain and knowing how that lake can change around in an instant, we fished from the dock. Caught 2 LM about 12"-14" and 6-8 cold ones from the bottom of the cooler.... We debated about getting one of the wives to DD us and hit the water, but I saw a cloud edge that didn't look too promising moving towards our location. The wind direction had also changed from SW to a good easterly tack, not a good sign. Started to spit a bit with the sun still out so we moved 'er inside. Good thing we did and even better idea we weren't out on the water. It started to just pour - then the hail started. Anywhere from pea size right up to large marble size. I hadn't seen hail like that since a bad storm spawned a tornado when I was at school in Niagara region. Here is a picture of the hail on the ground: And the look out over the lake (visibility about 30-40 feet): The owner of the Resort said he hadn't seen a hail storm like that in over 20 years. They have float planes there, one visitor had a hole punched in one of his wings and was grounded. A non float plane on the runway suffered some damage too. Quite the experience seeing that whole storm transpire. We did go back out fishing after dinner and managed a couple of other bass and a first for me - a brown bullhead. Fish were probably turned right off after that hail, some probably caught a few nuggets on the noggin! It was damn cold, so we came back in after about and hour or so. In about 3 total hours of fishing, we landed 4 bass, a bullhead and a perch. Nothing to write home about, but at least we got out on the water a bit. Four and 5 inch Yum Dingers were the bait of choice for both outings, rigged with a very small bullet weight, Texas Style. Take care all...when the wind direction changes on that lake, take cover!

Hmmm - Pike not good for the Kawarthas. Opinion only. Can someone post a link or something to the MNR talk about stocking pike? I find that troubling.

Thanks for the report. Nothing better then spending time fishing with loved ones. Couple of young bassmasters in the making no doubt.

WoW!! Congratulations, you look like a proud popa. Enjoy every second.

Great report..quality time with the family

What a great tribute you gave to your close friend. I'm sorry to hear of your loss.

The good news is it's a gorgeous day outside and a long weeknd to do lots of fishing. Have fun everyone

Great post, thanks for sharing

Condolences there, BC. Tough loss.

Take a map or GPS - they can't block every route.....Nice, peaceful protests I'm sure.

I would second some kind of in-line spinner. As another option a 4" Berkley power grub. Another option - texas rigged plastic worm, right up to 7". Last two walleye I've seen caught on pigeon have come on a texas rigged worm.

Congrats, fine looing little man. A mini-angler I'm sure.

Great job Bly

Dollarama Slamma at its finest....probably won't give you a lot of longevity, but the bang for the buck will more than make up for it.

IMO it is better to keep the smaller fish for the table and let the larger, more seasoned fish go back to breed. The larger fish usually are more "gamey" or fishy tasting (go figure?) and not great anyway.

I have never seen what a weedless treble looks like. I find that if there is a skirt around the hook (like a spinnerbait) that it keeps the hook fairly weedless. There is a spinnerbait type lure out there called a rocket shad that is much like a spinnerbait, but with a treble-like hook and a short skirt that doesn't pick up a lot of weeds. I find that it's not the hook that picks up the most weeds, but when your line wraps the weeds and then gets caught up where the line is attached to the bait. Even texas rigged worms are not 100% weedless due to this. Good luck with yor idea.

A friend and his dad are coming in from Sarnia to fish Lower Buckhorn starting tonight and ending Saturday morning. I've got Friday booked off for the day. Looks like we will fishing frontal conditions at best. Downsize and slow is on the agenda I guess.

Thanks for the report - I haven't heard of that lake before.

Headed out to the "O" for some dam shore fishing tonight - glad I did. Second cast of the night hooked up with a pretty thick (not one of those Kawartha eels) muskie. Hooked right in the dam wash, heck of a fight with the current coming through, glad I had the wire leader and 50# PP on. At one point all I could do was watch the line coming off the drag. After a run out with the flow, it was back towards one of the outflows and it just sat in the wash coming over, my line on or near the concrete the whole time. I thought it was over, but I managed to horse it out. Now one more problem - I'm standing on a concrete ledge about 6' above the water - how am I going to land this thing? I let out a bunch of line, up and around and down a steep trail, down the bank towards the river and wade in. I thought it was ready to come in, couldn't have been more wrong - 3 more runs as it came close to shore. Next - how was I going to grab this thing? My hand wouldn't fit around the tail, or behind it's head. Put rod down, grab tail and gill plate at the same time and it was landed! Quick measure using the rod length (a solid 40 3/4", thick fish), pop out the treble (Vibrax muskie buck) and about a 4 minute revive and off it went....Out of the water for maybe 4 seconds total. Sorry no [iNSERT EXPLETIVE HERE] picture, didn't think I would need the camera. Not sure how I would have got one anyway, but nonetheless it would have been nice.... Fishing Lower Buckhorn on Friday, will make sure I take the camera.

Great read! Thanks for sharing all the stories.

Upper Chemong/Little Mud Lake is a great fishery, but not many venture up that way. Redwing cottages have a great stretch up there.