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first pic is hillarious! world's smallest pike? haha

Dana,

I know you are new to fishing, however that sigh has the lake posted as a sanctuary, that means you run the risk of a very large fine and having your gear seized if you fish there.

I'm newly returning, yeah, but I'm really not an idiot. I try hard to fish fully legally. This is a great pastime, and I don't want to ever knowingly (or unknowingly) break any laws. Trust me, if I see a No Fishing sign, I'm not fishing there. Here's the closeup sign:

Here's a report for today, spent fishing with my cousin.

We started off by waking up at 4am, left my place at 4:30ish, hit the water with lines in at Liberty by 5:50am, in hopes of finally landing an Aurora. Beautiful start to the day. No action until around 6:30.

At that point, my cousin hooked one, OR SAYS HE DID, but lost it. I didn't get a single bite. We both tried with hook and worm and lures and lures with worms, trolled every speed we could, let out a mile of line, I tried with a tiny Williams Wobbler with the hook removed, then maybe a foot of line with a hook and worm, as recommended by a guy we met last time.

We did catch a whole lot of Liberty Lake Special - wood of all sorts and sizes. Here's the biggest one of the day:

On the way out of Liberty Lake, I wanted to take a Sharpie and black out the "ing" on the "No Fishing" sign. Too bad I don't carry them, and that's probably illegal anyhow.

On the way back to my place, we went to the Montreal River in Latchford (the parkette side of the bridge) and tossed away a brand new Rattlin' Rapala that I didn't want anymore. Never fishing that side of the bridge again. I had good luck on the opposite side in the past. Then we hit my place for homemade pizza lunch. while watching a trout video. Around 2pm we head out to my favorite spot on the Montreal, down a back road from Cobalt.

It hasn't done me wrong yet, and I'm due for a fish - hadn't got one since last weekend. 6pm rolls around, still no fish. I almost call it a day - it's been a long one already, but no, I persist. This curse must be broken!

7:30pm, I decide, OK, I can't cast my floating Rapalas very far, but they work great at Anima-Nip while trolling. I tie it on, cast out as far as I can about 3 times and I feel the nibbles... Next cast, bam! Smallie on, and landed.

I weigh over 300lbs (working on that...) so that bass is what, like a good 40-45lbs??

A few minutes later, wham! Pike takes it. Good thing I have a leader on.

Since my cousin hadn't caught a fish yet, and has never caught a bass, I give him the magical lure and I switch to my trusty Hula Popper. Within a few minutes, BAM! Another bass on my line! Love that topwater action! Nice size, too (didn't measure).

Hula Popping still... A few more minutes later, whack! Another smallie takes it! My cousin can't even keep his line in because he's taking the pictures, haha.

He decides he's gonna try popping, so we switch up again. I go back to my Rapala. A few casts in, BAM! Pike takes it. A little guy - didn't have my pliers, took a bit for my cuz to run and get them (now I know to clip them onto my shirt while I walk the shore). I held him in the water at the shore until he kicked away, so he should hopefully live fine. There wasn't much damage or blood or anything.

I LOVE THESE LURES.

And that was all she wrote. I did have another (fairly big) pike on, but it got off before I could land it. My cousin had a good time, but didn't land a fish. He's landing jumps in Burnout Paradise now as we rapidly approach the 24-hour mark of being awake.

I may try Liberty ONE MORE TIME. But I'm gonna wait on that for a while.

Time for dinner, and then bed for a 12-hour nap. Probably gonna hit Anima-Nip tomorrow evening with my fish finder from my uncle (should arrive tomorrow - it's really old, from the 80s, but hopefully it works fine).

Thanks for checking out my report.

Figure out what fish is in the lake, then troll with an appropriate lure. Or bounce a worm off the bottom real slowly.

Maybe that's just me.

First of all, reels with triggers do not have an instant anti-reverse. When you strike, the reel turns backwards for a full turn before the line tightens and you often miss the fish.

 

Trigger mechanisms are made of plastic. They quickly get worn and loose if they are not already loose. Only the cheap reels have triggers.

The reel doesn't turn backwards if you hold onto the reel arm/handle (which I am doing when I am fishing), and it certainly doesn't make a full turn if the trigger is near the rod. I have done a lot of fishing with my GX125 and it's still in perfect operating condition. What's your definition of a "cheap" reel? A $60-80 Spirex? Doesn't seem that cheap to me, maybe compared to the top-end, but it's certainly a far cry from the cheap $19.99 dealies.

Regardless, Dave wants a cheapo $40 combo. I am sure anti-reverse is nice, but unnecessary (as is a trigger, obviously). My suggestion would be hit a store and feel them in your hands and get the one you like the feel of the most, in your price range (I'd probably walk out with Shimano, myself, though a couple Quantums felt good too). Or just grab a pink Barbie rod and give'r. No trigger, no anti-reverse, and you can land sharks with them.

I'm sorry to hear that, man. He sounds like an excellent role model, and I'm glad you got to spend that time with someone so respectable. I'm really sorry for your loss.

I lost my grandma last year, the sweetest lady I've ever known. The sting of losing her was amplified by my family deciding that her birthday was most certainly not an appropriate day to hold her funeral. Instead, they held it on MY birthday. I couldn't even stay for the whole thing because I had scheduled my G driving test for my birthday, figuring, there's no way that if she passed on, that my family would put it on my birthday. Oh how wrong I was. I don't think she would have been impressed with them. But anyhow, it sucks when we lose true gems.

If I get a dog some day, I will call it Cat.

LOL!

Make sure that the reel has positive anti-reverse and does not have any fancy trigger device for casting.

Why is that? I rather love the triggers on my Shimanos.

Good suggestions but he was shorefishing

D'oh! Didn't read.. I guess I'm used to lakes around here where it seems there's really only one way to get to the other end, and that's by boat.

Sorry for the pointless reply, MichaelAngelo!

I would fish both sides, myself. One day try one, see what you get, then try the other. Of course, this is just what I would do, not knowing the depth.

Edit: just saw you have access to a canoe - bonus! I don't know much about fishing yet either, still learning all I can, but that makes my earlier suggestion of trolling relevant again! Depth really seems to depend on species you're after, time of day/year/temperature of the water, etc.

Hmm, I may try this with pike. I love my fried bass fillets (oil, pepper, seasoning salt.. mmm, simple) too much to "waste" one. And I rarely go after and catch walleye right now (love them equally to, or maybe a bit more than bass).

Happy birthday!

Don't lose your card though... it can take a long time for them to replace it. And if the company you got it with is no longer in business then you'll have to do it again.

 

A marine officer recommended I leave my original at home and just carry a photocopy in the boat for just that reason.

Good advice. I think BoaterExam lets me pay $10 to order a second card or something, but if photocopies are acceptable, I'll be doing this. I had been keeping my card in my tackle box, since it's always with me if I'm in a boat.

You only gotta ever do it once, and it's about $40+tax if you do it at BoaterExam.com and use a coupon code to get ten bucks off. My wife and I both just did ours not long ago. Just check RetailMeNot.com for a coupon code.

I'm new to owning a battery and a charger, and here's what I can tell you: I bought a Schumacher (model SEM-1562A or so much-1562A, not sure which). It said it was for recharging small batteries, including deep cycle, and maintaining them. Well, after a few trips in the canoe, the battery level said recharge when I checked it with the Minn Kota motor, so I hooked it up. After I don't know how many hours (many), it said it was charged. Took it out, the motor said it was about half (low)! The stupid charger doesn't fill it up all the way. It doesn't even take as long as the manual says it should before the light goes green! I keep disconnecting a lead and putting it back on, then it charges some more, repeat over and over. Do not buy this model. I need a new charger now.

+1 to buying a new battery. I'd never buy used batteries. Also, I wouldn't order from Hong Kong or whatever. I did that with a NiMH battery from DealExtreme, the thing is crap. Worst battery life ever.

Some people hate it, but I love it: trolling. This is basically all I do when I'm in my canoe right now, since I don't have a depth finder [yet] and I am unfamiliar with the lakes. I'd suggest, if you can, to troll around and get fish that way. If you find you get a fish in a particular spot, try anchoring and casting there for a while. Again, I'm still fairly newly-returning to fishing, but this is how I did it as a kid (mostly going for pike at the time) and how I do it now (got walleye and lots of bass this way in certain lakes). Once I get a depth finder and/or learn the lakes, my tactics will change slightly, but I think I'll always have a love for trolling.

If I am fishing with someone else who is anchoring and dropping a worm on a hook, I'll do that. I consider myself a newbie too, and I'm not entirely sure what else to do in these scenarios.. I sometimes cast anyhow, but usually end up hooking pike when we're going for walleye.

If I am fishing by myself (or with people who aren't "in charge" for lack of better term), I always use artificial lures. Once I tagged a worm onto the treble of a Williams Wobbler and I got a nice little smallmouth bass on it.

One of my friends always uses a pickerel rig with either worms or dead minnows on it. Always. Always... He saw me hook a bass on a Rapala and it jumped and at some point it got off, but he says to me, "I didn't think you could catch fish like that." And I asked what he meant, and he says, "with a lure." ... LOL

We went fishing at the Montreal River off the shore and again, pickerel rig. He caught nothing. I caught two smallmouths. He saw me working a Hula Popper and goes, "so you just try to snag them?" Uhh, no, that's not how it works. LOL

So we went fishing in the canoe another time. Again, he's got his pickerel rig. Doesn't even bring tackle of any kind with him, just one single pickerel rig. I caught two pike on lures, he caught nothing. Finally he says, "Next time, I think I will try a lure." SUCCESS!

Wow, you have been really busy with Photoshop! I can hardly tell that you stretched all these fish to look so huge.

I wanna get something big like those sometime... Good job.

Like Mike, I lost my job and couldn't find one for about 5 months and was planning to move cities in hopes of finding work. Nobody gave me a cent - not even my own parents. All I got was EI, which came too late to really help and I paid into to begin with.

The parents and coaches should be organizing fundraisers to - gosh - fund this kind of thing, if they have to do it.

Wash my car - it costs what, a penny per car? I'll pay for that. Cut my lawn - that costs you nothing, I've got a lawnmower you can use. I'll pay for that. Shovel my driveway in the winter - I've got shovels you can use. I'll pay for that.

Begging is not fundraising. This is teaching these kids that the world owes them something, when it's actually the opposite.

Congrats!

Nice!

Nice report! I'd love to get me a bucket o' perch sometime this year.

I've owned many Rapala lures over the years (at one point, it was just those and Williams in my tackle box - I've broadened my horizons since then), and had one or two's lips bust in half, but never had one pull out of the body. I've lost many more due to hard snags than ever broken. I'd definitely contact them and see what they say if it's fairly new.

Edit: oh yeah, I did have a treble hook break in half while trying to get the hook out of my net - that was kinda odd, but hardly a real issue.

Geez man!!!!

 

You sure are getting out a lot...I'm envious!

Yeah, haha. Well, we didn't catch anything except sunburn on my knees, and my cousin who was manning the bow caught a guy's Ugly Stik (w/ Sedonna). Those Auroras must only like very early morning (exact opposite of me!), so I'll give it another shot sometime soonish.

Right on! My favorite catch so far has been a 16"er.

I, too, am getting a bit of water in my Sportspal again, but after 10+ hours on the lake yesterday, it wasn't too much. I'm not too worried.