frozen-fire

probably a rare genetic mutation. can't wait to see pics.

Right on. That fallen log is where my buddy missed one that was of similar size. For people who know, release the biggies. It's clear that you can enjoy the fight another day from the same fish.

Catch and Release works! What did you catch yours on? Yes, this fish came shooting out from under a tree

Not a problem with the canoe! There were 2-3 other larger fishing boats in the general area... however, I guess it was just too shallow for them to get into the thick stuff. At some points, it was just 6" of water and everything else was weeds. I think next outing, I want to try the deeper east side of the lake. Hungry for another muskie.

You bet! Once I saw the wake coming from the right, it instantly reminded me of last years fish...similar thing happened. Gotta love topwater. I was using the green back with yellow belly one. I'm still waiting for the other pics to upload...theres one showing the frog inside it's mouth and it looks tiny haha. Definitely took us for a ride in the canoe! Agreed. That's how I like to think of it too. I always wear it in the canoe. Hear too many stories of preventable accidents nowadays. Why risk friends and family pain?

Decided to head for the last two hours of sunlight. 7pm-9pm. Since I am pretty much addicted to fishing topwaters for bass now, I start by throwing a spro frog over lily pads in a calm bay away from the wind. I miss a couple of explosions but carry on my routine. casting anywhere and hopping the frog over the pads. About half an hour in, I throw the frog about a foot away from shore. Give it two twitches and I see a wake forming from the right heading right towards the frog. There's a big splash and my frog disappears. I wait a couple seconds, reel in the slack 35lb powerpro and BINGO. I feel headshakes and it's a GOOD one. It leaps and clears the water doing a crazy flip. I get scared that it's going to jump again, but it decides to head right down into the weeds/pads. Thank goodness for PP. I horse this baby in through all the weeds and it's my best bass so far this year. Still shy of the monster I landed last year, but no doubt a 5lber at least I assume. Sorry for the crap photos, but these were with my phone. Pics don't do this beast justice. Gave my hand a nice bite that tore skin upon it's release...crazy thing! Better pics with DSLR: This was my only bass for the day, and I also managed a nice crappie on a jointed rapala. My buddy had 2 nice 2lbers and a gigantic bluegill all on topwaters. Absolutely nothing beats topwater explosions on calm water. Here's the one I had last year roughly about this time, caught on jointed rapala. Today's fish still don't beat that one I say. I always forget to measure the damn things!!! I always try to avoid weighing them with scale though cause it seems so stressful/damaging to the fish.

can't really help you as i don't rent out of simcoe, but just wanted to say that if your avatar is of your fish, then you have a gorgeous short finned betta!

Very calm in the morning, but the winds picked up later on towards the evening...to the point where I put my pfd back on!

Jedi, I'm making sure your old sportspal is seeing lots of time on the water Never got a measurement on it. I wasn't expecting such a fish, so I wasn't more prepared. Didn't know where the tape measure was, and I wanted to get it back in the water asap, considering I used 6lb mono... so it may have been a little more tired out compared to if I was using heavier gear. I would put it around the 3 ft or 36" mark though?

I agree with msp Dirk. Hold out until you get a 5 or 6 which I'm sure will happen considering you're there every weekend!

nice clean ski. awesome!

I love it when she joins me out on the water! Her passion is pike and crappie fishing though...not a big fan of bass haha.

My first real outing after the trip to Scugog where I got the muskie Decided to try Rice for the first time this year. I had no idea there was a tournament going on, so I figured it wouldn't be such a good day. Despite seeing lots of tournament anglers and many other fishing boats out there, we did okay! Lots of smaller fish, nothing to brag about At least they kept us occupied. Fish were caught jigging visible weedlines. I was going for walleye but came up empty handed. spinnerbaits didn't produce, topwater in the evening by the pads and scum didn't produce. Here are some pics of the earlier ones we got that day. Most of the fish were clones. Seemed to be exactly the same size... born the same year I guess. We stopped taking pics cause it seemed like we were catching the same fish over and over again haha.

wow that ski is thick. awesome!

If you're looking at brand new, I was quoted about $1300 for the one I have right now. Used ones do come up for sale at more reasonable prices, but not often... and they usually get snatched up quickly.

I had to tire out the fish first. I kept trying to bring it to the boat, but it kept taking off. Eventually it will tire out and will come to the side of the boat. At this point, I will touch the fish on the head...may seem weird..but I put my hand on it's head and it will tell me if it's ready or not to come aboard. Once it doesn't take off after I touch it, I grab the fish by the gill plate (DO NOT TOUCH THE ACTUAL GILL RAKES AS THE FISH NEED THESE TO TRANSFER OXYGEN FROM WATER INTO BLOODSTREAM...damage to this part of any fish is mostly fatal). I then lift the head of the fish out of the water and remove the lure. Once lure is gone, support the belly, lift fish out of water, take pictures and put back in water, cradle it until it gains enough energy and shoots off. I've taken 2 other muskies larger than this one out of the water this way. One two years ago with a friend and one my dad caught while crappie fishing earlier this year. For smaller sized muskie such as the one I caught...I don't see a big problem...but if I ever encounter a 50"+ ...it might be different haha...would probably have to go to shore and beach the fish to avoid tipping over in the middle of the lake!

Yes, the ride was a reel rush Post #12 will answer your question.

Nope...the added swiveling fold-up seats are only about 5 inches higher than the webbed seats. The sportspal is the most stable canoe I've been in. Super wide and flat. I've never had to worry about wobble or tipping... This a__hole in a rental with his family (daughters and wife) blew by me full throttle even though they were only like 20-30 feet from me in a no wake zone. He was making quick zig-zagging turns trying to scare his family into screaming. loser. I slowed down and steered the bow towards the incoming wake (first experience with waves of this magnitude -- did I do the right thing?) and the canoe held up fine... was just bumpy

Well... after all the rain we had, it felt really good to finally get out and fish. We actually decided to do some exploring this time, but couldn't locate a suitable launch without having to get wet. With the last hour or so of sunlight we had left, we decide to head back to the good old spot and drift around in the wind. We drift from the docks heading east and 2nd cast using 6 lb mono and a black single colorado spinnerbait, I get a good hit only to realize it's a decent crappie. I was expecting walleye. 4th cast... I barely even started to retrieve when something slams the lure hard and starts taking off. I'm thinking I have my PB largemouth beat with this one (my big one was caught in the same area last year ~6lbs). It gets closer and I realize it's a muskie! It makes a couple leaps out of the water doing 360's and I'm literally shaking from the rush. The fight was probably only about 5 minutes or so, but seemed like forever, with all the long runs it was doing. Finally got it to the canoe and it was a super clean fish and not so skinny like a few I've seen pulled out. Release was simple...Took off like a bullet leaving me soaked. We continue drifting along and I soon get another solid hit on the spinnerbait. Turns out to be a pretty decent walleye (my biggest this year... I know...pretty sad) We soon find ourselves in a nice calm bay loaded with lily pads... I take my baitcast setup with 30lb braid and tie on a spro topwater frog and soon get some nice hits. I was able to land a couple smallish sized largies...nothing huge. There was a BIG blow up, but I got over-excited and set the hook too soon and lost it. The sun set, and the mosquitoes chased us back to the dock where we packed up and called it a night. Took the eye and a few crappie home for dinner

Thanks for the comments guys... Fishing with family sure is great Totally don't understand what you typed in that last line haha!

So, my sister has been asking me to take her fishing on the canoe for a while now. Last week she went out to renew her license. She hasn't seriously fished before, just for fun while camping with friends. Figured this would be the perfect opportunity to get her hooked. Even though the forecast called for light rain and slight winds, it seemed like an ideal day to go while we were still at home. By the time we got to the lake, the skies had darkened and the wind picked up. We launched and motored our way over to some fishable water. I rigged her up with a 3" pink grub on a 1/4 oz jighead and she almost instantly landed a decent crappie...too bad it fell off the hook as it was being raised. The weeds are EVERYWHERE. South end of Scugog is pretty choked up already. They started to frustrate her, so I then tied on a topwater so she could avoid most of the subsurface weeds. I try to look for deeper pockets that were free of weeds. Ended close to the shoreline where it was very shallow, but was also free from weeds. We started throwing some topwaters and she lands a small perch. Finally! Fearing I would get skunked, I soon land a rockbass... followed by a few dink perch as well. As we near the shoreline by the reeds, she tosses out her lure and watches as it wobbles back to the canoe. A feisty bass grabs it and the fight is on! Instinctively, she starts reeling in like no tomorrow. I tell her to take it easy and keep tension on the line! It comes to the boat and I unhook it for her. Her biggest fish ever. She seemed pretty excited! Right after her bass, I manage to catch a crappie about 2 feet away from shore. I was really surprised how shallow these fish were. By now the rain had started to fall. I make a few quick casts towards some open water by a clump of weeds and managed to entice a bass to explode out of the water grabbing my lure. Nothing huge, but at least we got into some fish for being out there an hour or so. Wind picked up big time and it started to pour. We were forced to head back even though I wanted to stay a little longer hoping she'd get into a few more fish. On the way home, she said that she was glad we got into some fish, otherwise it would've been horrible. Hopefully the next outing, I can get her into numbers.

yup...just farm raised green bass and tilapia you see in all the tanks at restaurants.

Great report...thanks for sharing your adventure with us The eggs are most likely from a female snapping turtle (due to quantity) and they didn't hatch, they were dug up and eaten by a mammal.

Sounds excellent Mike! Will definitely look into it.

This coming weekend looks great in terms of weather! My girlfriend has been wanting to go to Hamilton for a weekend for quite some time now. She found a site that listed many waterfalls to go to in and around hamilton. Figured it's a great way to spend some time outside, walking some trails and practicing on my photography. Recently got a tripod for my DSLR, so i'm ready to take some nice long exposure waterfall pics Majority of the creeks and streams forming the waterfalls I don't think hold many large fish. Are there any rivers and creeks in that area that I can access for some fishing as well? I'm willing to catch anything, but looking forward to more smallies as I got into a few a couple days ago and the fight is unbeatable! Thanks for any info!