jediangler

Well Hedfish, the Blue Fox was silver with a purple bell. It did have a purple bucktail tied to it, thanks to brother Joonmoon, but that only lasted for about 12 fish and then it was all shredded. For you snog I have a couple of pics of the camera mount. It was made from a hockey stick, a peanut butter jar, 2 tripods and a piece of nylon string. Two pieces of hockey stick attached with a hinge and then screwed through the kayak. A quick release from one tripod is attached to the end of the top stick. The other end of the quick release is attached to the outside of the jar lid. Inside the jar lid is the smaller tripod with the camera screwed to it. Once the fish has been landed you attach the jar to the top stick using the quick release. Then you remove the jar leaving the lid,tripod & camera. Set your 10 second timer and hit the shutter button. Then using the string lower the camera into place. You now have about 7 seconds to grab the fish and pose for the photo. After the photo you can pull back the camera by the string and check if it turned out OK. A piece of velcro strap keeps the sticks secure for car top travelling and the string goes through a hole and wraps around two hooks inside the kayak to keep it out of the way. This carp was 31" so I think I can photo a fish up to about 40-42" before the ends of the fish will be cut from the frame.

You gotta love the conservation areas for non stop action.

After our great fishing on pike opener I decided to return to Mountsberg again on Saturday to see if the fish were still biting. This time I brought the kayak since the wind was to be less than 15km/h. The Shipper teamed up with the Impaler and again the 12' Sportspal was brought into action. The boys followed me across to where Joonmoon and I had most of our action last week. It didn't take long and we started to get a few hammer handles. The Impaler caught 6 total most of which hit a bigger sized spinnerbait. The Shipper caught 3 including this 25" that hit a Black Mamba sluggo type bait. After unhooking it he realized that at some point his rod had fallen overboard. He was not a happy camper after that. Of course the Impaler and I laughing at him didn't help much. I landed 13 for the 5hrs we fished (8am-1pm) with the biggest being this 30"er. All were caught on the same #4 Blue Fox spinner that caught me 18 the week before. My camera mount for the kayak worked well in it's second testing and now I think I'll be ready for musky opener. The weeds must have grown a foot in one week and soon that lake will be choked with them.

Don't forget about that awesome panfish bite. Pops showing off a sunfish from last year. This crappie was 13.5" and tied a personal best. The other was caught at Guelph lake. A couple of years ago brother Joonmoon and I caught our panfish limit (25 per boat at Orangeville) in less than 4hrs. We only kept crappie between 9-11" so we released 30 under and 6 over that self imposed slot. As well we caught a dozen pike each but all were under 20". Great place...as long as the wind isn't howling.

I don't usually go to Island lake until mid or late June for Crappies. They always seem a little more active then. The pike are always eager to bite so I think anytime is good for them. Good luck. They give you a copy of that map at the gate when you arrive.

With that scenery, any fish would be a bonus. Another great report.

Thanks all. Hey silveradosheriff, I had forgotten that you witnessed the syncronized swimming that the Shipper and His Holiness did a couple of years ago. I still always get the camera ready whenever the two of them launch the boat. The Shipper and his Dad have gotten wet launching at Shade's Mill too. It just runs in the family I guess.

Congrats on the PB, and it's good to see the kids working on the invasive species. Great report.

My brother Joonmoon and I hooked up with the Shipper and his brother the Dalai Lama, for pike season opener at Mountsberg. http://www.conservationhalton.on.ca/ This is my 14th year fishing out of my trusty 14' Sportspal. It has never been dumped and although it is scratched and dented never been punctured and doesn't leak. My first pike of the year is hooked within minutes on a Matzuo crankbait while waiting for the Shipper to get his 3yr old 12' Sportspal into the water. I get 3 more pike while crossing the entire lake to get some protection from the 25km/h winds. Once we settle into a quiet spot, Joonmoon gets one on his home tied Blue Fox #4 spinner. I happen to have the one he gave me for my birthday last October with me, so I tie it on. Joonmoon gets 8 pike on his magical Blue Fox spinners, the biggest being this 26"er. The other brothers finally make it across to join us and are photographed by Joonmoon. The Shipper manages to catch 5 pike on a T1 spinnerbait in red chrome including this 24"er. His Holiness got 1 pike on a rapala perch but refused to unhook it for religious reasons. His brother finally agreed to do it for him. They left after 3hrs because the Shipper was picking up his new motorcycle that afternoon. Joonmoon and I stayed another 3 hrs and the snotrockets kept a coming. This was the biggest of the day at 31" and put up a great battle on my light rod. I ended the day with 22 pike and lost 4 more at the boat. Although we didn't have any double headers like grilw and Johnny Bass, three times I caught pike on back to back casts. Most of these fish were between 18" and 22" with a couple of 24 to 26"ers. After catching 18 of them on the Blue Fox my brother gave me for my birthday, I'll need to have it re-tied with new purple bucktail since not much remains. All the fish we caught were released, but there is a 2 fish limit and the C.O's are right on site. If you try to dodge the $10 fee, they'll slap a $58 fine on you. Great first day out with the Sportspal this year, and with my bro and some buds, and the pike doing their part, it doesn't get any better. Thanks again Joonmoon for my most productive birthday present ever.

That's a nice Kawartha eye man, congrats.

Way to go Jigatollah. You are the Jigatollah of Rock and Rollah. Keep us posted. It's just too bad they didn't have a nicer boat to lose. The Force is strong with this one...

Never surrender. Anything beats getting skunked. Nice job.

Sweet river shots Nug, looks like a nice slow stretch.

Watch the Pennysaver for used Sportspals.

Nice girth on that doggy. That fish looks like it could weigh 11 or 12lbs. Pretty fish, congrats.

Great report. What about this lucky/magic lure? C'mon guys, no secrets. I promise I won't tell anybody.

Great report, and a nice variety of species. Thank you for not posting pics of OOS fish

I always have had great success with white jig & grub combos in the Trent, for all species. I thought I hooked the world record walleye a few years back on a white grub. Turned out it was this Trent river beauty.

Gas here in Kitchener this morning as I filled up was $1.00/L. I'm glad I drive a 1.5L 4cyl. That $40 I just spent will last me 3 weeks or about 575km. Who would even think of buying a vehicle with a HEMI in it. And I can even take both my boats with me when I go fishing.

If you go to Guelph, try up the creek arms in the stump fields for big crappie. My buddy Goatboy caught this 13.75" crappie on Bass opener 2 years ago while flipping a jig into the stumps. It was released after the photo.

My only advice for topwater pike would be to use baits that track straight and are therefore easier for the pike to get a bead on. I have seen pike miss while trying to hit walk the dog baits like the Zara Spook. I like Jitterbugs or Buzzbaits for my topwater piking. Also keeping a constant speed rather than a stop and go retreive seems to work best for me.

Guelph lake is a great choice for pike as well as crappie and bass. Try around the island and any tree growth that is submerged at the base. Using spinnerbaits and spoons as well as crankbaits can be productive. With the cold front coming in Friday night you might want to go to jigs and sluggos to slow down your presentation a bit. This pike was taken on a football jig with a spider grub while fishing out of my Sportspal from Guelph a few years ago. It was 35" long and 10.5lbs. You should have seen the faces of the European guys on shore when I released it. They were almost in tears. Buy the map at the gate, it's worth every penny. Good luck PM me if you have any questions.

I was going to go walleye fishing this weekend but with the cold front coming through Friday night I think I'll try my luck with some pike instead. Winds changing from W to NW to N to NE to E by Sunday. High Friday 26C low Saturday 5C with a high of 15C. It won't keep me from fishing but I'm trying to increase my chances. Good luck to all who get out this weekend.

When I post a report I always say where I was, what I was using, how warm the water is and how deep the productive water was. On another site I was harassed about giving too much info. Guess what, I don't contribute to that site any longer. If anyone PM's me for more detailed info, I always give it. This is what it's all about, no? Fish with the Force When in doubt, just ask yourself, what would Yoda do?

Nice work Victor. The Grand is a great place to fish for all kinds of different fish. Don't blur your backrounds, it ruins a perfectly good picture. If people don't want to show where they fish they don't have to put pics in with their reports. Personally I think this site is great for sharing information and learning from each other. It isn't some bragging board. Look at me and what I caught but don't ask where or how because I won't tell. Maybe I'll see you out there sometime. You shouldn't be hard to recognize with that hairstyle.