007 Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatherof3 Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 good job and that is one messed up perch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishindevil Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokinall4s Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccmtcanada Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Woo hoo!!! Crappie check! Walleye check! Great job out there...this quest has been a real treat for me to follow this year. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b2kptbo Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Beauty report, musta been a beauty time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozen-fire Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 great job out there. multispecies is the way to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntervasili Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 WTG... lots of species there forsure, and congrats on the first and PB... Thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbayboy Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 Congrats on the whirlwind fishing tour of a summer, nice to see you add a couple more this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rizzo Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 got frustrated and gave up you got frustrated musky fishing...inconceivable. Nice report though, hooked into a lot of different species Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 That was a great report 007. Nice pictures. Smart man keeping the wife happy like that Joey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartyP Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 Great report 007 Glad you had a good time. Thats what its all about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bly Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 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!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Johnny Bass Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 Excellant Report!!! Caught alot of fish and variety! Congrats on those 2 PB! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greencoachdog Posted September 23, 2007 Report Share Posted September 23, 2007 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!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loonietoon Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 Posted September 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Congrats on the new speices for you and good luck with the rest of the quest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJL Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike the Pike Posted September 25, 2007 Report Share Posted September 25, 2007 Your starting to make it look easier 007.Congrats on the new species. MTP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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