My Quest continues – Late Pigeon Lake Report

[007]

Hi all.

 

Last weekend I stayed at the Pigeon Lake Resort near Nogies Creek at the north end of the Lake. The plan was to rent a boat for two days and try and catch a few new species on my ‘quest list’ - particularly Walleye and Musky.

 

My wife and I took the boat out Sunday morning to explore and look for potential areas to fish. I had hoped to make it down to a few areas near Big Island that people had suggested but because of the cold front and a strong wind my wife wanted us to stay in the relative shelter of Nogies Bay rather than venture across the wide choppy expanse of Pigeon Lake.

 

After lunch I decided to fish from the resort docks rather than take the boat out, in the hope that the wind would calm down and the fishing would be better in the evening. So I started float fishing from the dock in and among the weed. It wasn’t long before I was getting bites with half a worm on the hook. For a couple of hours I caught fish steadily. Bluegills, Pumpkinseed, Perch, Rock Bass, Largemouth Bass and a big minnow (lake chub I think). I even experimented with a few small soft plastic baits as the bites were so constant I was going through worms too quickly. Found that the fish loved plastic leeches – caught some good sized bluegills and rockies with those. Later in the day we headed out in the boat and tried jigging for walleyes but had no luck. Here’s a few pictures from the first day…. Check out the deformed perch I caught too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday morning, we headed out again in the boat. The wind was still pretty strong so we tried fishing the more sheltered side of the bay – targeting rocky shorelines in the hope of catching some decent Smallmouth Bass to add to the growing list of species caught on the trip. Sure enough, a couple of casts in and we had hooked and boated the first smallie. Managed a few more but nothing too big, so we motored over to the weed beds around some small islands to see what we could catch there before lunch. The weeds were pretty thick but we managed to hook into a few fish including a beauty of a Largemouth Bass and some big Bluegill. Even saw an Osprey trying to get in on the action too. I did try for some musky off some deep weedlines but had too many problems hooking into the weeds with my spinners or rapalas so got frustrated and gave up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day, we ventured out in the boat back to the weedy area we had hooked the largies in the hope of a few more. My wife really enjoyed fishing in the sheltered bay and was catching lots of nice perch and sunfish, so I didn’t pursue my desire to head out across the lake to the better musky spots and accepted it was better that she was happy – which she is when she is catching!

 

I then got a nice surprise fish. I got a really strong bite and set the hook in what I presumed to be a bass but as I reeled it in I realised I had hooked a big Crappie, my first of the year. Finally a new fish species to add to this year’s list and a PB too at 11 inches and just under a pound in weight. After that the fishing slowed and I got side tracked taking photos of a resident great blue heron.

 

 

 

 

 

As the sun started to set I decided that I really should give fishing for walleye another try. So we started to drift back towards the resort over an area we had told had a rocky bottom and should hold walleye. I was having real problems knowing if my jig had reached bottom. But on the last drop I could feel that I was dragging the jig ad white grub along the bottom. So fingers crossed. After about a minute I felt two small bumps and set the hook – fish on! It had to be a walleye or smallie coming up from the rocks below, when the fish surfaced there was no jumping so I knew then I had caught my first ever walleye. Unfortunately it wasn’t the size of fish I had been dreaming about at 11 inches but that little cigar of a fish certainly put a smile on my face and was a great way to end the weekend’s fishing! Here’s some more pics…

 

 

 

 

 

On the way back to Toronto we stopped off at Bass Pro for one last look and to stock up on some worms for fishing the next two months – as this is likely to be my last ever visit to BPS before I return to England in December. Who would have thought from this shot it was in the middle of a huge urban mall.

 

 

I didn’t catch a big musky or a decent sized walleye but I hope you enjoyed the report. At least I managed to catch the famous ‘pickeral’ and also a nice crappie. Hopefully there will be a few more fish species and reports before the end of the year.

 

007

[fatherof3]

good job and that is one messed up perch

[fishindevil]

Nice catch !!!! well you have sure put a great deal of effort into your quest,of different species of fish...so thats cool, you will now have great memories to talkabout and pictures to show everyone back home.. ..you still have time to get a few more so keep-up the hard work....cheers

[smokinall4s]

Good job on checking off some more fish species on your checklist. Also, nice pics of the fish too. It looked like it was a great weekend for you two.

[ccmtcanada]

Woo hoo!!! Crappie check! Walleye check! Great job out there...this quest has been a real treat for me to follow this year. Thanks!

[b2kptbo]

Beauty report, musta been a beauty time...

[frozen-fire]

great job out there. multispecies is the way to go!

[huntervasili]

WTG... lots of species there forsure, and congrats on the first and PB... Thanks for sharing

[tbayboy]

Congrats on the whirlwind fishing tour of a summer, nice to see you add a couple more this week.

[Rizzo]

got frustrated and gave up

 

you got frustrated musky fishing...inconceivable.

 

Nice report though, hooked into a lot of different species

[Joey]

That was a great report 007. Nice pictures.

 

Smart man keeping the wife happy like that

 

Joey

[MartyP]

Great report 007 Glad you had a good time. Thats what its all about

[Bly]

2 new species, that is excellent! I have really enjoyed following your quest this year! I concur with Joey ...smart man for keeping the wife happy , might even bring you some good fishing karma for your next outing!!

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Excellant Report!!! Caught alot of fish and variety! Congrats on those 2 PB!

[Greencoachdog]

Great report and pics Double O!!!

 

Those are a couple of very respectable Crappie!

 

That Wall-ice is about the same size as my first ever, caught last year. The good thing about catchin' them that size is... they can only get bigger!!!

[Loonietoon]

007... I hope you had a good time at Pigeon Lake Lodge,, I know that they try hard to please. It's only to bad we did not get a chance to meet there May be next time

[007]

Thanks for all the comments. Glad you enjoy the reports - will try to get a few more species before the end of the year. It's been great fun trying to catch all these different species.

 

One thing I learnt quickly when fishing with my wife is that if she's catching she'll be enjoying herself which ultimately means we'll stay out fishing longer!

 

007

[Smokey]

Congrats on the new speices for you and good luck with the rest of the quest.

[MJL]

Fantastic report Gavin. Congrats on your very first walleye. To catch the number of species that you did this year is quite an accomplishment - I know very few people who've managed to catch the same amount of species in such a short time. Top angling

[Mike the Pike]

Your starting to make it look easier 007.Congrats on the new species. MTP