Garry2Rs

Yes Friday was a PD day so Natalie and her Dad called to see if I was interested in going fishing...Is the Pope a Catholic???...grin. The water was in the high 50's at around 9:30, and the lake was dead calm. The game plan was to start fishing just past the marina in West bay, around the big shoal ...There were lots of fish hitting the surface, but for our crankbaits, worms and spoons, there was nothing doing. Next we worked our way toward Tallan Creek and found a couple of small Pike on a triangular shaped shoal. Moving north toward the creek there's a shoal at the mouth of what I think is called Hawk Bay, I caught a good Bass on a 4 inch Senko type worm. There was nothing around the docks and boats in the small bay east of the creek mouth and shoal. There are many weed patches in this bay. Tossing spinnerbaits and spoons we got a couple more small pike. Both took a white and chartreuse spinner bait. It was now well after noon, and a breeze was ruffling the surface. I wondered if this might get the Bass bite going. We motored to the south shore and basically hit boats and docks. Working shallow we picked up another couple of Bass. At 4:00 we had to head home to deal with other commitments. In Summary: The fishing was challenging...read tough...grin. The dead calm water was probably what made it hard to get a bite. The action picked up with the breeze. The Bass are still shallow.

I got a message yesterday asking about a lake that's a few minutes from my place. It's quite rocky and poorly marked. This year I was only there once, back in July. Somehow the morning had gotten away from me. I had intended to go fishing, but got started on a recipe for lasagna using cabbage instead of pasta...Now it was 1:30 and a case of going somewhere close or staying home...since it was on my mind, I decided to give the lake another try. This lake contains SM Bass and Musky, but the locals complain that it's hard to catch anything except Rock Bass... Boy were they right! Working the shoreline, docks and rocks etc. with a wacky 4" worm I hooked a RB on 8 or 10 consecutive casts... The first SM. I caught was in front of a dock, in a little deeper water than the RB's. I tried to cast to more deep rocks etc. but the RB's hunted me down...grin. Moving out into the lake I fished around the first group of islands that I saw. I was still getting some RB but the ratio was now more like 50/50 or 60/40 rather than 1 in 10...hahaha. This might have been because the open water was more attractive to SM's than the sheltered bay I had come out of, but it might have also had something to do with my changing baits... Last spring, when I was gearing up for Crappie, I bought a tiny set of curly tail minnows that attached to an odd looking combination spoon, jig head. It's made by Berkley and is called a " Blade Dancer." I never got around to trying it on the Crappie, but yesterday I thought it might be fun to toss it to the RB. The whole bait is only two inches long, the plastic minnow representing about 75% of that. The spoon is set at an upward angle, sort of like a diving lip in reverse...The minnows are skinny and painted as exact replicas of live fish, except for the curly tail...On the retrieve, the spoon flashes and wobbles while the plastic does it's curly tail thing. The hook is soldered on with a large blob of lead. When you stop cranking, the bait dives. The angle of the spoon causes it to circle and glide as it goes down. In this size it is very light, so I had to crank slowly, or it would rise to the surface... On the first cast I hooked an RB, as expected, but on the next three or four casts I caught Small Mouth, including the best fish of the day. This was a two pounder that grabbed the skinny little two inch bait!!! As I said, the little curly tail minnows are painted up very realistically, I wondered how important that was to my success when an RB bit the tail off...Removing the wrecked minnow, I replaced it with a plain curly tail Crappie grub, just to see what would happen. Later, I also tested a Crappie size tube...It was a short test, but I think they worked just was well as the fancy minnows. I know that I have seen this bait in larger sizes. I will take a look around CTC etc. today to see if they have any left. I recall seeing some with 3 or 4 inch pike minnows, but the tail wasn't curly, it was natural looking...Perhaps powered by a larger spoon, it wobbles and swims...It doesn't look like something that will work as good as a curly tail to me, but I will buy the kit anyway. I think a larger spoon-jig head will swim a regular curly tail grub or 4 inch worm in a very interesting way. Garry2R's PS: The lasagna was great...grin.

Pop or milk crates will also work. To slow myself down even more, I once used a left over piece of plexiglas to cover about half of the bottom. A shingle, or a scrap of plywood would work just as well. The crates are light and strong and the handles won't pull off...grin. garry2r's

I'm not sure what your real question is. If you are asking if Rapala is the best brand of crankbaits, in my opinion, they're as good as any, and better than most. If you're asking if a Rapala crankbait would be my first choice in all fishing situations, the answer is no. But if I'm using a crankbait I will probably start with some sort of a Rapala. Here's some other thoughts... You will often hear that something is just as good as the name brand product...When you hear those words, you might be wise to buy the original...grin. Over the years I have bought some lures that never caught fish...I have never had a Rapala that didn't catch fish...but I have never had one that always caught fish either...that's fishing...grin. Some lures, I've had were hard to keep in tune, they didn't run straight, or were easily knocked out of tune. I've never had that problem with a Rapala. Model for model, Rapala's seem to be a little more expensive than other brands, but each Rapala lure is tank tested to be sure that it swims properly before it's packaged...that has to be worth something. Most Rapalas are made of wood...I believe that wooden baits swim better than plastic ones do, but that's only my opinion, I'm sure there are many excellent plastic crankbaits too. In the past I have returned broken Rapalas to Normark in Oshawa and received replacements free. I don't know if other manufacturers do that or not... garry2r's

This weekend my old work buddy Larry came to my place with his brother Bob. Friday afternoon we tried hard to get out on the water. It was raining when they arrived, so we had some lunch and hoped that the sky would clear...In an hour, or so, the sun came out. We loaded the boat and headed for the lake. Twenty minutes later, as we pulled up to the launch, we saw huge black clouds forming...We sat and watched for awhile, to see if it would pass, but returned home when it started to thunder along with the rain. Saturday was bright, with only a few high clouds. We hit the water at 9AM. The lake was too calm again and the fishing was tough. In the first hour all we caught was one Rock Bass...Things picked up when a breeze started to riffle the surface just after 10 o'clock. We caught several Bass along the docks and boats on the north shore and then moved to the shoals where Musky Bill hooked his big one last weekend. There were no monsters biting for us today, but I did lose two good fish when my small hook pulled out. I was using a 1/32 oz jig and a 4 inch worm. After the second fish came off, I switched to a 6 inch worm and a 4/0 hook...GRIN. We fished farther down the north shore than I usually do and had good success...I will have to try it again this week. In the past I thought that this was an unproductive area, but in those days I only fished for Musky. I need to check it out again now that I'm targeting Bass. We called it a day around 4PM. and headed home for a tall cool one. In Summary: We caught a dozen mid-size Bass, both SM&LM, close to shore on worms, after the wind riffled the surface. The weeds are still healthy looking. Lots of fish are still shallow. Sunday would be a short day for us because my guests wanted to be on the road at noon. We left the house at 9AM, Stoney Lake was our destination. I didn't get a bite on the rock's and weeds where I had good action a couple of weeks ago. We did get two nice Bass, one Sm off some rocks in the lea of an island and one Lm over weeds in the lea of another island...Both were caught on 6 inch purple worms. There were no takers for our crankbaits today. In Summary: I find Stoney tougher than my favourite cottage lake but the average size is better. The "moss" that drove me nuts the last time I was there, is clearing-up. The water in the Kawarthas is still in the mid 60's. garry2r's

All the major line brands now have a braided line in their roster. I suspect many of them are made by Western Filament, who makes Tuf Line XP. That company makes everything from sewing thread to rope, and used to package about three different braided lines under the Tuf Line brand. I don't know if they still do or not. Originally, Power Pro was smaller in diameter, for a given pound test, than the Tuf Line products. My understanding was it was wound under tension to more tightly compact the fibers. When Western Filament introduced XP is was the same diameter as Power Pro and in use, I couldn't find any difference between them. Tuf Line was cheaper in Canada, but the same price as Power Pro in the USA. I have used the Spiderwire Stealth and thought it was about the same as Tuf Line...I would stay away from the cheaper lines like Gorilla Braid, I didn't have good luck with it or the old Berkley Fusion. Garry2r's

Hi Brian; Yes it's the same old boat. I did some work on the engine this year to wake up some lazy horses...grin. Now it scoots pretty good. Hi Johnny; The water temperature hasn't changed and the shallow weeds are still healthy, so I'm finding Bass in all the regular Summer places. Garry2R's

As I said elsewhere, after Curtis left us at the lake yesterday, Buck and I fished for a couple of hours. The water was so clear and still that the fish were spooking as soon as we entered an area. Since I could see potential hiding spots like weeds or rocks but had to stay well out from them, I put on a Rapala DT4, which stands for "Dives to four feet." This little bait could swim beside and over the cover without diving into it. It produced half a dozen bass, the best one was this 16.5 inch fish. He came from the hole in the lily pads that you can see in the lower left foreground. Back at the launch, Buck continued his quest for votes among the minnows... Garry2R's

Here's a tip for when it's time to disassemble the rod: Put the rod behind your back...across your butt Grip the rod on each side of the ferrule...with your hands/wrists as tight to your hips as possible. To pull the ferrule apart you need to pull in a straight line...so they don't bind. In order to do this, you only need to squat slightly. It works like a charm! Garry2R's

My friend Musky Bill arrived about 7:30am on Saturday morning, however, we didn't head out until after a long breakfast. In the meantime there was a brief shower, but by the time we rolled, the rain had stopped. Buck decided to sit this one out...He's running in the local elections, and needed to campaign...GRIN Because there was such a strong wind, Bill and I decided to return to my favourite lake, we felt we could find some sheltered areas on the smaller water. When we approached my usual, weed-bed-in-the-last-bay starting point, there was another boat working the area. We chose to start on the north side of the lake, and fish those regular docks and boats. Along the way we landed several small fish, but nothing to write home about until we crossed into the Bay with the four islands. Between the two sets of two islands there are several shoals...Off the end of one of the shoals, Bill connected with a huge fish. When he hauled it over the side, the Small Mouth had broken his spinnerbait in half...grin. The line was hanging on by a half curve of broken wire... We had no scale, but on the Golden Rule, it measured 21.5 inches. What a pig!!! I didn't get shut-out, but how can a guy follow an act like that? I'm sure some of you guys remember Curtis who used to post here when he was about 14... [ Well, he's 19 now and he called last Friday night. Because of work etc. he hasn't had much chance to fish, and/or post recently. We arranged to fish together on Sunday. When I got back to my place he was waiting for me. We planned to try Chandos for Pike and Bass. The fishing was fairly slow as we checked out a few shoals and bays etc. In the morning it was dead calm...Buck found several schools of minnows to chase at the launch... At about 11:30 the breeze picked up for the rest of the day. Curtis had a Pike come-off at boat side, and a SMBass and a very good LMBass... I had a few Rock Bass...GRIN. We were supposed to fish together on Monday, but the travel plans got mixed up and Curtis' ride arrived about half an hour after we hit the water. before his Dad reached us we spooked a 40"Musky, but nothing came of it. I opted to hang in and fish a little longer. The lake was still and the sun was high... I learned a great deal about the shape and location of various weedbeds, but you know the old saying, "If you can see them, they can see you"... It was a beautiful Fall day but with the sun so high and the calm water it was tough. You had to stay well way from cover. I threw a small Rapala DT4 crankbait and took 5 or 6 smaller Bass before heading home, at around 3PM, for supper. Garry2R's

This is only a guess, but I think that bigger baits are easier to throw on a head shake, and that the stiffer rod is less forgiving because it doesn't shock absorb as well as your soft rod does. Garry2R's

Another beautiful day. The lake was as very calm when we reached the launch. Buck and I were late getting started, it was 12:30 before we reached our first spot. This was the same lake as yesterday, but we were checking out different locations. This morning I dug out a 3/8 ounce stand-up jighead that I wanted to try the craw/worm on. The bay where we started today is 1/2 way down the lake and very similar to yesterdays starting spot...It has the same sort of heavy weedbed in the center, and we worked around it with the crawworm and jig combination. Again we had lots of action from the Rockies but no keepers... At the back of the weedbed I switched to the Curlytail on a small jig and caught a 14 inch LMBass on the first cast. This fish was just outside the west edge of the weeds. Continuing toward the rocky point at the mouth of the bay we picked up a SMBass of almost 19 inches on a 4" Wacky worm. From here we turned the corner into an inlet that used to produce a musky every time we stopped there...well almost every time...grin. Here's an old picture... I have caught Bass here before, but today only dinks and panfish were active. Moving clockwise I passed between the shore and the central weedbed...Suddenly a 3 foot musky burst from cover beside the boat...he must have felt trapped in the shallow water. He charged across in front of us, toward the weedbed...this caused a major panic amongst the resident panfish as they exploded in every direction including into the air to get out of his way...hahaha. Leaving this part of the lake we returned to the spot where we quit yesterday and spent a couple of hours trying to perfect a way of catching Perch, without catching Sunfish...It was great fun on very light tackle and crappie size tubes, but I didn't perfect a way of being species specific today...grin. Later we got two more 12 inch SMBass before calling it a day at about 6PM. Garry2R's

I don't want to hi-jack this thread into another discussion of fishing line. BUT, if you're breaking off all the time, you might want to consider investing in some 30 pound test PowerPro. It is the diameter of 8 pound test mono and with light wire hooks, like those on Rapala's etc. You have enough strength to pull off many snags or even straighten a hook to release a snagged bait.

Twenty-five or thirty years ago I was part of a club that but duck blinds in Binbrook every fall. There was access to a parking lot about halfway down the lake on the north side. There was also a road that crossed the west end of the lake... At that time there were Crappie, Bass and Pike as well as Brown Bullhead and other rough fish in the lake. Rather than continue to loose tackle, I'd get a slip float and a can of worms...You can fish any depth and worms will catch anything that's in the lake. If you don't know what a slip float is you need to find a tackle store like Fishing World or Grimsby Tackle where there are knowledgeable people who can explain things to you.

It's been a number of years since I lived in Hammytown. Pro Gear could be gone...too bad, I bought all my Loomis rods there. The Barton street guy stocks StCroix, I wonder who is the Loomis dealer now? Garry2r's

This morning, after breakfast, I put Buck in the truck and three rods in the boat. Our destination was a small cottage lake about 20 minutes from my place. This lake has both LM and SM Bass, Musky, the odd Walleye and panfish. On the southwest corner of the lake is a huge rock, about the size of a three story apartment building. This rock forms one side of a narrow bay about 100 feet wide and 300 long. At the base of the rock, the water drops almost straight down 10 or 12 feet then humps up in the middle before dropping slightly and then rising to form the east side of the bay. In the shallower center area is a large weed bed of coontail and millfoil. As the bay opens back into the lake, there are some isolated patches of Cabbage and then a couple more large weed beds. In years past I've caught Musky at the base of the large rock, but this year the water seems to be lower and the weeds thicker. Approaching from the northeast, I cut the motor well out and drifted toward the bay with just a little help from the trolling motor. Yesterday I purchased some Tiki Man craw/worms and Tiki Man Wave Worms on sale at Wally World for less than $3.00 a bag. I rigged up a craw/worm with a jig head. A couple of long cast produced some interesting tugs from the Rock Bass in attendance, but no real Bass. I replaced the craw/worm with a small curlytail worm and tossed it into some of the openings in the weed bed and along the front edge...nothing doing. The breeze had picked up a bit now and was pushing me out of the bay, toward the open water. Both motors were down, and I came to an almost complete stop in one of the thick outer weed beds. From here I could cast to the edges of the bed and to some open spots within the bed etc. Cast isn't quite the right word, it was more of a flip, being right on top of my work, I was swinging the little worm out, like a pendulum, so as not to make a big splash when the bait entered the water. I had stared with the closest holes and edges and was now flipping to the far side of an outside edge. This would have required pin-point casting...It was easier to toss beyond the target and then tug the bait back toward the edge, before letting it sink. The worm is on a small jig, it sinks on a slack line and then you take up that slack and shake the rod tip...As I picked up slack this time, I realized the worm wasn't where I'd put it...the line came tight ...I felt weight and set the hook. This first fish was about a 1.5 lb. Large Mouth. Buck was very happy to see the fish and wanted to taste it...we had to have a discussion about seeing with your eyes not with your mouth...That settled, we continued on...grin. Beyond the weed bed is a series of large rectangular rocks that look like they could be assembled into a first class break wall...In the spaces between the blocks, we found a couple of Small Mouth. I returned to the weed bed in the bay and threw a Frog on top of the weeds working it out over the edges...the only action we saw was from some Rock Bass, when the frog got water logged and sank, they tugged his rubber band legs...grin. I moved to the east side of the bay and tossed the craw/worm again. It caught a couple of small SM. Bass around the rocks where the weeds ended, but I missed a couple of better fish when they threw the small hook...I think I will save these for trailers on larger weedless jigs. I switched to a Wacky worm and then a Shaky worm, looking for bigger fish around the weed edges where I've caught them before, but no one was home. It was 11:30, we'd been on the water for about 90 minutes and had boated three or four Bass but only one would have been over 12 or 13 inches... It was time to move on. I felt sure the Bass weren't in the heavy weeds today. Tthey were around rocks and cruising in weedy, but open areas. I followed the south shore around the corner and out of the bay. This was the lea side of the lake, and I was able to fish without constantly adjusting my position with the electric motor. I didn't land anything but dinks as I went down the south shore to a point where I had to move toward the centre of the lake in order to pass a series of islands rocks and shoals. As I fished my way out, I picked up another nice SM Bass on the shaky worm. Buck felt that I needed help so he dove in...I landed and released the fish then landed the dog...grin. The wind was now pushing me fairly hard, so I let it carry us all the way to the north shore while I had a snack. On the north side of the lake are a series of docks that have always been good to me. The first couple of docks only had small Bass or Rockys, but our next stop was a goody. This next dock faced directly into the wind. I made a wide turn in order to get the angle right. I was a little farther away than I needed to be, but with the wind behind me it was an easy cast. The dock was floating so I threw a low sidearm cast and skipped the wacky worm right up to the dock. I was using one of my new Tiki Man Wave Worms. I have never used this brand before, but as I said before, the price was right...The worm is much larger in diameter than a Senko and quite heavy. They cast very easily. I was using a 3/0 hook, because it was already on the line, but 4/0 or 5/0 wouldn't be out of place with such a thick bodied bait. The worm hit about 4 feet short of the dock, then skipped and dribbled the last few feet, to stop against the dock. With no weight other than the hook, I watched it slowly sinking... These worms are sort of a marbled mix of tan and cream and are fairly visible as they sink. I had closed the bail and picked up one turn of slack line when the worm suddenly vanished...the line took off sideways...One quick tug to set the hook started the "Airborne and Tail-Walk Show." It was about a two pounder and would be my best fish of the day. I continued along the north shore until it opened into a large bay. There are two sets of two islands and some rocks and shoals in that large shallow bay. I found several small Bass and three more "keepers" before we called it quits. Buck and I were back in the house at 4:15 having landed 6 good fish and 6 or 7 small ones, not counting the pesky Rock Bass...grin. In Summery; We found the fish in there regular spots...docks and rocks, Those that were associating with weeds, were cruising well outside of the heavy weed beds. The water was 65* in the lea and 68* on the windy side of the lake. Those stories about the wind pushing the warmer surface water to the windy shore are true! There wasn't a cloud in the sky...don't let anyone tell you the fishing is bad on "Bluebird "days...grin. The weeds are still green and healthy. For those of you looking forward to the weekend...It should be a good one! Garry2R's

Thanks for all the kind words guys...Blush...Grin. Garry2R's

For thirty bucks you can buy 1000 feet of steel line at CTC. Three hundred feet of twelve pound test wire will take a Shad Rap down to thirty feet. Garry2R's

In the morning I plan to test the waters...grin. I picked up some small jigs with longer hooks today, some new worms, and some crawdad/worm baits that I think Smallies will just eat up! Garry2R's

In theory, on a windy day the Bass should be most active on the wind blown shoreline and on the windward side of islands and shoals. The Zoo Plankton, eaten by minnows, is pushed to the windy shore, the baitfish follow the food and the bass follow the baitfish. Waves hitting the shore form a rebound current that moves back toward the deeper water. Some Bass will be in the shallows chasing prey, and others will hold slightly deeper picking off minnows etc that are caught-up in the rebound current. That's the theory... The problem, in my opinion, is that in deep, clear lakes, weeds grow to depths of 20 feet or more. I don't think, the wind and waves have that great an impact because wave action diminishes to nothing at about four times the wave height. So, unless your talk hurricane strength winds, any fish below about eight or ten feet aren't even going to know about the party...grin.

The Sledge is a great Musky bait. Garry2R's

As a boater and fisherman, that waterproof Pentax sounds good to me. Water is sudden death to electronic cameras. I killed two of them by getting them wet in the boat. The Pentax is a nice size too. I had a big Nikon, lots of features, but to bulky to take everywhere, and a tiny Canon...took it everywhere, but the zoom pack-it-in about the same time as the warranty expired. I'm now using a small Nikon. The best thing about it is that is uses 2AA batteries. I also like the feature that tells you if an image is blurry. Personally, I find these super light, little cameras harder to hold steady than a slightly bigger model that has more to hold on to. My daughter has a small camera with image stabilization, great feature, but it doesn't have a view finder...That might not matter to you, but I spent too many years looking through a view finder to be completely comfortable using the LCD display... The last time I was in the market for one, I felt that the ergonomics were better on cameras built by camera makers than they were on cameras that came from business machine companies, but that may have changed by now.

Terrific report Brian! Congratulations on a good finish under very tough conditions. 2R's

Congrat's on the PB. Great story! 2R's

My gauge was showing 63 - 64 on Sunday 2R's