ccmtcanada

Those are cool pics! Kind of maddening seeing them...knowing they are there and for some reason they are just not biting! Great job on landing the one!

Or...how bout like the US Thanksgiving holiday? Most get the Thursday and Friday off before the weekend...haha. Seriously though, I think you are right about not being able to celebrate if it falls on a Tuesday to Thursday. Either Friday or Monday works for me...as long as it's a long weekend.

Scott...wow...I'd consider 6 a great day...esp how spooky and picky they are right now!! All those fish have great colouring...it's amazing how fast they go back to those colours after the spawn is done. You are right about the rain though....need some colour in the water!!

Basskicker and Photoz.... I think I may have been a little misleading about the hair rig and corn in roe bags. We didn't get in til pretty late last night and I was rushing the report so I could get some sleep...I have to wake up at 530am to get to work....LOL. We started out using that...had a few hits...but hooked none (float and bottom fishing). They began literally jumping out of the water feeding around 10pm so we decided to try a slow/medium retrieve with a single hook with the corn on the roe bag. I seriously think they would have hit anything with how aggressive they seemed to be. We got lucky and managed to get two. Not sure if they typically do this, but the water was only about 3 feet deep and ultra clear, so they could see anything we threw in there. There had to be hundreds in this spot. We went out last night knowing we'd target carp, but went setup for Steelhead at first...hoping for dropbacks and when that didn't produce anything we said ok...let's change it up. We didn't figure we'd get any steel, but wanted to try just in case. That's why the float fishing for the carp at first. I just read an article about carp....and it said that in shallow water, when they are actively feeding to try small gold spinners....we have some of those, so we'll try that and see how that does. Cant wait for the warmer water....and the fight once that happens...you guys have us pumped for that!! LOL.

Well...with the Steelhead bite off in the creeks and Walleye and Pike season closed, bly and I decided to target another species. We are both part of the OFC tourney and no one on my team (not sure about Bly's team) actively targets carp, so we decided to give it a try. We read up on setting hair rigs and we tied some corn in roe bags. We set off to a spot where we've seen them cruising from time to time. Within about thirty minutes we each caught 9" bullheads. Not our target species, but pretty close...both bottom feeders. Suddenly, bly sets her hook and yells FISH ON! The fish immediately took about 10 feet of drag off her spool....this was bigger than a bullhead that's for sure!!! With adrenaline pumping, and me with the net, she fought the fish for 15 minutes (yes I timed it...lol). She knew she shouldn't muscle it in, since she was using her noodle rod and only 6 pound test mono line. Finally, it got close enough for me to net....and it was a big one!! Here's the pic...she couldn't hold it up...had to rest it on her leg!! LOL. Her first ever Carp measured in at 35" long, 24" girth and a weight of 25 pounds! She realized afterwards that not only was this a big fish...but it's her longest and heaviest fish she's ever landed. Anyhow, a little while later, I felt the tug on my line...and I had a fish on! This one didn't take as long...maybe 10 minutes, and it was a smaller fish, but it still fought like crazy. These fish are a lot of fun to fight and land! Mine was a baby compared to hers...measuring in at only 30" in length and 15 pounds. Now...we had no idea at the time how these fish rated compared to the average. The minimum length for an OFAH award is 30", so we figure these are respectable fish. Anyhow, team 6 and team 9 now have carp entries. We'll try to get bigger ones soon!

Nice Rick! Good to see people are still willing to help others out in their time of need. It's not one bit surprising to me that you did everything you could to help her out! Bly and I recently were headed back to the car after a skunk as well a few weeks ago to find a lady who had a flat tire in the parking lot looking defeated. We changed it for her...and she was on her way.

Wow Jigger! I've really enjoyed seeing this project through all the stages. You've done an amazing job on it! Looks fantastic. I predict the skunk smell will be off this boat in no time. Sorry to hear about the prop though...that really is unfortunate. Only one thing though...I saw only one seat...where's mine?? j/k LOL. Seriously...you've done an awesome job...looks professionally done in my opinion!

Hey Shawn, Sounded like an action filled weekend out there! Great report....look forward to the pics! Glad to see you out on open water again....must a nice feeling to get out there after a CCCCOLD February and March. We're takin the kids fishing this coming weekend....Sydney has got the fishing itch BIG TIME!!!

Hey Spiel...at least you got out there...the fact that the conditions haven't been great shows that you guys know what you are doing out there to get what you did manage to catch! Good report and pics...you'll get more another day....and they'll be there waiting....

You're on for next week...gotta figure out which day I'm going to be sick...cough cough....

Thanks Tony! Bly and I have had a LOT of fun re-discovering fishing again. This board has been fantastic to us in following us along our successes and "learning experiences"...LOL. We've had lots of support from the great members of this board...it's nice to contribute to it when we can.

Well, CANADIAN COPPER and I had planned to fish on Tuesday, but we decided on Monday night. I thought he was crazy because he was out from Sunday 7pm until 2pm yesterday!! Anyhow, CC, bly and I headed to a spot for some night fishing, but the only fish caught was a carp by CC!!! It was a little maddening, because you could hear and see the big steelies breaking the surface all night long!!! Well, after a while, we took CC home...poor guy was a little tired...WIMP!! LOL. Bly and I headed to another trib and decided to drift there for a few hours. On my fifth drift, I hooked into this beauty female! Breaking my old PB of 26 3/4" was this 28" drop back hen. It put up quite the fight, but this was the only fish I had on all night and I didn't want to lose it!! She was caught on roe...water was gin clear and low. If you look closely, you can see one single egg dropping from her...pretty cool. Well, we got in late, but at least one of us caught a fish!

Un-freakin-believable!!! 7pm til 2pm the next day?? LOL. Wow...amazing results Scott! Some nice looking big fish there. Congrats!

Hey...nice job out there! It was cool to see a bit of the prep in your report too. Nice fish...sounded like a memorable opener thats for sure!

What a great report...even if there was no fish! So...did you ever figure out why the fishfinder was reading the depths incorrectly? It's nice that you can find the humour in a bad day of fishing...good on you to help out Glen in his time of need!!

Yeah...you gotta get up here soon! We had a fun day out there that's for sure. As for our team name "Steel Eyes"....I like that better than "Wall Heads"....LOL

Nice job out there...some nice big fish too!

It completely quit on me...for about 20 minutes...this is the first I've been able to get back in....back to normal speed for me.

Hey there! Too bad we didn't make the connection yesterday. Hope you had a good opener...it was a pleasure meeting and chatting with you. I heard you pulled one out of that spot we were both drifting. Good job...I couldn't get them to sniff my bait...LOL. Maybe we'll see you out there again! Cliff

Wow!! What a report and some great looking fish! Judging from all the smiles, I'd say it was an incredible day out on the water. Congrats!

It's a tough call on these. You just never know what the tribs are going to be like from day to day. The creek we fished on opener was really shallow, ultra clear, and the fish were easily spooked. From everything I've heard, those conditions are NOT good for steelies. We didn't care...we didnt want crowds, so we headed to this out-of-way spot and had some success. I think you learned a valuable lesson...go with your heart....even if you get skunked, at least you'll know one way or another. Oh yeah....thanks for mentioning bly and I in your post....it was kind of flattering....LOL

What a great report! Must be awesome out there sharing these trips with your son....he'll (and I'm sure you too), will remember them for the rest of his life! Cant beat that Mike. Glad to see some fish there....you guys sure looked like you had a great time. Thanks for the great report and pics.

Sweet! Great job out there...esp since it was very crowded there. congrats on a great opener!

I chose carp, even though I have never caught one. Of all the course fish there are though, carp interests me because of their size and fight. I'll be targeting them this summer for sure!

Great thread Douger! Well...I started trying for these guys back at the end of December 2006. I went out probably 10 times and had only one fish on...but lost it...and only a few hits. I then enlisted the help of our resident steelhead master, CANADIAN COPPER. He took me out to a spot on a CCCCOLD -28C January day and there I landed my first steelie...on his rod, terminal tackle and roe. He pointed to the spot to begin my drifts and within a few hours I had one on....a nice little scrappy female. He netted it for me...here's the pic!! From there I've learned a lot from this board, and frankly just going out a trying spots, trying different setups, leader depths, roe bag colours, seeing what the tribs are like when waters are clear and low vs after big rains. I read the board very closely to see what ppl are using in those conditions and then I try them out myself. It's a lot of learning and trying and failing, but once you have success, the good times begin to roll.