irishfield

 

Was that the last trip for the Glastron?

 

Other than the one up the highway with it in the morning....YES.

Headed for Picton at 8am on Thursday the 16th of November. Stopped at BPS in Vaughan to pick up Dano @ 10am. He made arrangements with store security to watch his truck over the weekend and felt it was a much safer place to leave it compared to a car pool lot at Hwy #9. we did our rounds in the store and were able to get through the cash register by NOON! Hit the highway for Picton...arriving at Merland about 2:45 in a monsoon. I'd reserved way back a few months back and got cottage #12 on the water

Dano moving in with our junk. We had enough food between us to feed a small army.

The flood outside our door

It rained and it rained and from 1am 'till about 5am Friday. The wind was HOWLING and our cottage was moving...a window blew open and I was sending telepathic messages to my cell phone to ring hoping it was Lloyd and he wanted to cancel. Off went a phone and I though YES>.. only to realize it wasn't my ring tone..it was Dan's alarm clock. Up we got 5:30 to meet Lloyd at 6am. Lloyd called to tell us he was hiding in the local car wash setting up the boat. We met him there and then followed to the Picton launch.

Dano...wet and driving as Lloyd sets up the lines about 6:25 am

Dano much happier and warmer after I let him have first fish at only 6:35am. A scrappy little 27'"r and you can see it's already getting rougher. Winds were 40 gusting 69kmph on Friday

Happy Dan after his first BOQ hog..

Now really starting to get mean. One thing....we had the reach to ourselves. 5 trips in total trolling down, pulling in all the gear and running back as close to shore as we could to stay out of the big ones. My back wasn't appreciating it...but adreneline kept me going. Since we were on a charter I'm not going to share speeds/tactics/lures etc on an open forum. I think we owe that to Lloyd considering years of perfecting on his part.

Gear out and you can get an idea of the wave height. They were about 4 feet to 5 feet high.

Our guide Lloyd Daume and myself deep in thought it appears. You won't meet a nicer guy than Lloyd IMHO

The next one I can't describe in type...many heard the story around the fire/Picton Inn dock..but we faught this one for a good 15 minutes. Lloyd said fish on...I said weeds and handed the rod back. Then the rod tip would take 5 or 6 pulses and he'd hand the rod back. Needless to say the pic says it all....but we had a good laugh about it...

We toughed out the rain/wind right thru the day. Almost 7 hours between fish...but at 3:10 I reeled in this baby. 31 1/2" and over 12 pounds.

We were having a good laugh and thought we'd try the full arm length pose!

lloyd being shy! LOL

We tried for another 1/2 hour and then packed it in. Of course we were now down past the lighthouse again and it was a VERY painful ride back thru 4 and 5 footers at full steam. THANKS Lloyd...we had a ball despite the weather that was thrown at us.

Back at the cottage Dano and I had supper and some visitors for some immense laughs. I think we had Emil a bit worried at this point....but he figured us out I hope! On the couch l to r...icefisherman (Emil) that was bunking in with us and douG...with Dano fillin his face.

Up the next morning and headed for the reach. "Captain Dan" driving while I got our line spread out.

Captain Dan's first mate "Forest"...I mean me irishfield.

The planer mast doing it's thing. Worked like a charm with that adapter I made up...never budged a bit

Looking back. Two lines on planer line and two on riggers. We were being carefull on the riggers with nothing below 35 feet. Spoon on one and a diver on the other with the canon ball at only 5 feet.

About noon Dano hooked into a nice 28"r. Not much fight...but it sure warmed him up bringing in 200 feet of line!

Just thought this made a nice shot of what was going on in the boat and on the lake.

Rear 1/4 shot showing rods/planer board and the fact it's a lot calmer today

A short time later I hooked into this 28" scrappy bugger. It took a good 20 minutes even throwing the boat in neutral on and off. I was sure I had the biggest darn Sheepshead on...I was using a 10'6 rod and 5601 reel and I couldn't convince it to come in. I was doing good at times to hold it in place and while I'm doing that Ron is calling and calling on the radio. Once the fish was in i called him back only to find the bugger was trolling right beside us and just trying to make me busier. I'll get ya back Ron...don't worry bud! LOL

Saturday night we were all sitting around shooting the sheeeeeet and Dano and I said we were going to sleep in...take a day off maybe even since we had Monday to fish as well. We no sooner said that than Kevin that owns Merland walked in the door and handed me a note. "Buster will be here at 7am". damn...forgot about him...so we told Terry to plant him in front of the TV 'till we got up! Buster showed at about 7:05 and we didn't let him sit long and were out on the water by 8am or so.

Buster

We let Buster have first fish...since we already had two days behind us. Scrappy "little" 27"r. I forget the exact weight...but it was 6. something.

Dan cold and looking miserable (he wasn't miserable just looked it!)

Not too much longer and Dano had on his next fish. This one was only a 1/2" longer than Busters yet weighed in at 10.2lbs!!

Another ship..this one not pushing 6 feet of water and a little more nervous of the boating fleet. He even called on 16 for security that he was leaving the picton docks. The guy on Saturday didn't bother with that smart call and roared down the reach with boats scrambling out of his way.

Beautiful waterfalls that come out of Lake of the Mountain.

Hope you enjoyed that and sorry for the dial up hell...but that also took me a couple hours to do since I'm on 22,800 dial up myself.

See everyone at the next G2G!

Wayne

We didn't lock the door Don...you should have just walked in. The campfire was beside our cottage..the Walleye Wonder.

Yah...I'm venting. Never heard of anyone hyped for fishing that slept in in the morning. Lots that had a wife that said no ..... way bud though!

Yep...ya gotta point Roy and it was great seeing you again and all the other OFC'rs we visited with in our cottage, around the fire beside our cottage, down at the Picton Inn and out on the water waving/cell phoning and VHF'ng as well.

Why do I bother worrying about how to make other guys lives a little easier...more enjoyable. Who am I to try and help them out, adding thoughts on how to make things go smoother for them next year so they can get out on the water. I'll just shut my mouth now...call Dano/Terry/etc on the phone and we'll do our own thing at BOQ next year and not worry about anyone else having fishing partners etc.

GREAT Stuff ! Worth the dial up wait for sure.

It's easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission!!

Your most welcome!! Always nice to take OFC boys out for a day of eye hunting

Hey Lloyd...was it something we said....didn't do that for us out there braving that 40 gusting 69 crap you took us fishing in on Friday... for 10 back pounding hours ! LOL

Great stuff none the less...good to see you squeezed a great day in between fronts.

Great support/product stand behind Mike....BUT can you get any of them to run straight! LOL

Art...break the Pepsi back out...I asked my Doctor and friend exactly what you speak shortly after Lakair last year. He told me in his opinion dark pop had FAR less to do with stones than genetics. Maybe Joe's stones shatter when he runs those darn 5 miles every day. Maybe you should run along beside him...on foot...not the tractor for a change! LOL

Wayne since your so concerned about carp being stood up and so everyone knows, my power in my house went off sometime through the night and my alarm clock did not go off carp called and woke me up and I figured I didn't want to hold him up any longer since I was still in Belleville. If he would have said are you still coming I would have but I knew he was anxious to get out on the water. I have apologized for the situation now I think you should drop it.....I am only posting this because you have centered me out or else it would've been a pm if mods want to pull it thats fine but since I was centered out by YOU I figure all OFC at least should hear my side... peace...

Blackfish..grow up. I'm just trying to make people aware of how better communications could make everyone's fishing trip more enjoyable for next time. Not beating on anyone and if you think so well I guess that's your choice. Remo came to our cottage said he had called you and you were supposed to call him back. It was now 9:30 and he still hadn't heard from you. If I had of wanted to single you out I would have put your name in print, which I did not...and if we had of known he was going to be out alone...or if Stan had of hung around he wouldn't have been sitting on shore at the ferry dock....he would have been on the water. There were other cases of this as well...just not going to list them all as not necessary to make the point of COMMUNICATIONS.

Wayne, the launches are easy to find from the water, just look for the docks.

The darn tow vehicle gets a little damp doin it that way bud!

Good to mention HH...last year the guys that didn't even hit the reach did better than everyone else. They just fished in front of the cement plant right there in Picton. Also keep in mind that the roughest piece of water can be the area just WEST of the Ferry in that big open gap...so if you have a smallish boat keep that in mind for your launch spot. There are other launches along the shore. One in McFarlen (i think) Park just east of the Sportsman Inn. Others further down the reach past the Ferry..but take some work to find the first time.

You can launch right at the Ferry..but you have to take it across to the North shore to do so...free..runs every 20 minutes 6:30 to 1am. There is also a Marina almost down to the Ferry on the South shore you can launch at.

Everyone has there idea of what trolling speed should be. Some are .7 to 1mph others are 1.8 to 2.1 I found my boat with two pails draggin...two rigger balls down...two big Canon boards out and 4 lines does 1.9 to 2.1. We caught fish.

We caught on all makes...TD-11..Manns 20..Reef Runner and a spoon even. Colours that worked changed each day it seemed.

While I wait for my pictures that Dano has on his camera so I can do our Adolphus Reach/BOQ post I thought I'd throw this up.

The weekend was a great time for many involved and IMHO could have been a LOT better for some with a bit more planning and thought control on their parts.

Carp ended up fishing solo and sleeping in his van in Tip of the Bay parking lot. Surely...ourselves included..someone could have made room for him on their floor.

Sunday early two guys I'll leave nameless, as I don't want to embarrass/single out anyone, showed up at our door looking for me and I was still in bed and Terry told them that. They left instead of coming in...watching some TV and trying to sort something out. As it was they immediately disappeared and not an hour later Remo (Carp) showed up to use our bathroom to get ready for the days outting. He got stood up for a partner and could have taken BOTH of these gentlemen out fishing for the day. I intentionally left the phone number for the Merland office in the pinned BOQ thread on the old site so in a situation like this if someone had of called and left a message we could have spent the night around the campfire..or our trip over to the Picton Inn finding these guys a boat spot for morning.

There were other instances of guys fishing alone...while others had three in the boat...people left on shore etc. Heck even Emil went out solo Sunday. Fishing in August on a hot summer day alone can be okay....but -1C..blowing 40K..gusting 69 solo sure wouldn't have been my cup of tea without a boat mate like "Captain Dan" to share some laughs with and to forget you can't feel your fingers anymore.

Cheers,

Wayne

Nice fish Bill!!! DId anyone else think they were in a Lund commercial on the weekend? Wow, so many guys runnin Lunds!

HH

Yep...I just hope I don't drive mine like all the ones we went head to head with....crowding us into the shoreline...cutting us off to the point I could bang my planner board off their transom etc. I'm gonna Krazy Glue exacto knife refill blades to the front edge of my boards for next year.

..any funerals this week Terry? LOL

Key on counter...everything great and Kevin had no concerns about the broken light fixture either. Emil probably still wondering about the whole lot of us.

LOL Bill...trawlers, freighters and tankers!! Beauty fish bud. Wonder how many planner lines they get each year..."security/security/security...the cement ship XYZ is leaving the picton dock in 10 minutes...we can't stop..we can't turn...so get the...out of the way NOW!"

I know that spot! LOL

Great meeting you both...well all three...that Terry's a piece of work for sure! LMAO.

Great meeting you too Mike! And you are right..and the word ain't "brave" for the wack jobs in the canoe with Electric trolling motor...going down the center of Adolphus Reach. Not even wearing life jackets that I could see.

I think the built-in circuit beaker button thingees are also there for when guys plug into wall sockets! LOL!!

That won't save them from 120v AC Chris! Just find it odd Big Jon stil uses the cheap lamp cord they started with back in the early days...like when these were made...

Tom...you try walking on those Jet dock blocks! Try adding a morning frost and you'll crawl too. Just glad I didn't buy them for my cottage like I was going too.

Great stuff Bud! The only thing that always amazes me with Big Jon though is that darn 110Volt plug they use for their riggers. Surely by now some dumm.... has plugged them into the wall at home to see if they work! LOL

You gonna drill holes in your gunnels or pick up the Lund Rigger mounts that fit your Sport trac and outboard track for cover?

How about a group hug and let this thread drop into cyber space....

Not an "uneasy" look Tom. It's a who's spewing Bull now look ! LOL

As for douG..with a silent G.... crawling around on all 4's..what happens at Picton.. stays at Picton

The best fight I had on Friday was from a 5 lb ball of weeds! The 31.5 x 12lb + I reeled in later in the day came in easier..although it did do some fighting..running left and right before hitting the net.

Saturdays 28" was another story. 10'6 Med Heavy Talora....5601 reel...30lb PPro with mono leader and my arms were falling off. It wouldn't budge..thought it was a huge sheep head...and then there was this guy Ronnie callin on the radio during the fight just to add to the fun..that lasted at least 15 or 20 minutes.