irishfield Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 What a glorious day to take the seasons first boat ride. BillM met me at my house for 8:30 this morning and we headed for the Pete Peterson launch in Midland. Boat fired right up, Bill parked the truck/trailer and then jumped from the boat launch pier to the boat, since the wharf isn't in yet, and we were off! Species being hunted was Ice out Lakers and I had a place in mind to start the shallow troll beside deep water. As we arrived we netted this instead of our targetted species. A good 52" if not 54" ! and thick. No marks or apparent reason for it's demise. So we left it to let mother nature take it's course and headed off trolling long lines. Had my favourite laker spoon out on the 10'6 Talora and Bill had out Terry's favourite Walleye plug... the Bomber A ! LOL Shortly into our troll, between a couple rocks in the Gin Islands, Bill's line took a good short rip and it wasn't bottom. Was a great sound... just too bad we never heard it again. I figure we trolled a good 20 miles. Stopped in one spot and tried some vertical jigging, as we were marking tons of fish in 70/80FOW between 40 and 60 feet down. Nadda. We marked lots of fish in many places.. but nothing was biting. Water temp is only 39.4F in most places and we found a windward shoreline in deep water that was 44F for only about 200 feet.. then went back to 39. Suggests to me that the deeper water is warmer than the surface and the wave action/steep shoreline brought it up in this one spot.. and possibly why it appears the lakers are still down at 40 to 60 feet. I snagged bottom once.. so we were testing the draft of the boat a couple times!! Amazing how Giant's Tomb always looks so close.. but it took us a few hours to get to it at 1.8 MPH... Good pile of ice up on it's shore and some ice floating off the West point still Ended our fishing around 5:30, after trolling the full south shore of Giant's Tomb Island, and then blasted off for home..dogging floating objects all the way. Loaded the boat about 6pm.... perfectly first shot I might add ! Was a great day on the water with another new OFC'r. I've lost track of how many I've met this way and still have yet to be disappointed in fishing partners. Hope it continues that way! One thing I must say though... it's sure gonna be a suntan lotion year. I could do an advertisment as a Delmonte tomato. Sure glad I left my sweater on.. so only the backs of my hands are red and my entire face/ears/neck etc. Gonna hurt about 3am I think!
danbouck Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 I bet it felt nice to get back in the boat!
Musky or Specks Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 Winter is hard on all fish. For scientific purposes it would have been nice to harvest the head. Oh well what can you do.
Roy Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 Wash your net out carefully. Glad you had a good day.
Gerritt Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 Wayne... that report certainly beats me sitting at my office anyday!!!.. That fish looks like it has been dead for a bit... natural causes such as old age?? your thoughts? G
irishfield Posted April 22, 2008 Author Report Posted April 22, 2008 (edited) No idea G. Water's a tad deep though that area to be lack of oxygen I'd think. Wasn't overly decomposed. Could have been frozen in the ice for the winter though. Could have been caught ice fishing and stuffed back down the hole. Been a south wind for days.. so it could have come from anywhere Port McNicol way out. Just hope it's not the follower that I had, early in the fall, when fishing with Glen and Rob. Edited April 22, 2008 by irishfield
Roy Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 natural causes such as old age?? your thoughts?G It's not immediately evident Gerritt. He may have been pushed or perhaps suicide. The autopsy should clear up the mystery.
irishfield Posted April 22, 2008 Author Report Posted April 22, 2008 Guess I should have picked it up and delivered it to Bruce Ward at the OMNR.
Tarzan's Jane Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 Sounds like you had great day cruising.. didn't you already lose an ear to frost bite....hheeelllloooo
Carp Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 Good to hear you got out Wayne. Too bad the fish weren't co-operating. That's a big lunge.
b2kptbo Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 Good that the boat's running well, too bad about the fishing, next time...
BillM Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 What an excellent day out on the water. Wayne it was great meeting you and you kept me in stitches the entire day! The fish were definitely not in the mood today, but they were down there. I think once the water warms up a bit, that spot we found at Giants Tomb is going to be deadly.. The next time we vertical jig, I think we should use something other then rigger rods We definitely got a 'A' for effort and a little sunburn to go along with it. This was my first outing with a OFC'r and I couldn't have picked a better person. Wayne showed me the in's and out of the bigger water on Gbay, gave me a few hints as to were to go for some 'skis when the time comes, and also answered the 1000 questions I had for him yesterday. Again, a big thanks to you Wayne, it was very much appreciated. I had a great time and hopefully we can get out on the water together in the near future. (Imagine if we actually caught some fish? )
ccmtcanada Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 Nice to see the open water reports again! Too bad about that muskie....and the lack of live fish. How's the sunburn today????
BillM Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 I had a nice base from being in Florida for 2 weeks, no issues here. Unfortunately Wayne is a little more fair skinned then me
irishfield Posted April 22, 2008 Author Report Posted April 22, 2008 (edited) didn't you already lose an ear to frost bite....hheeelllloooo Nancy.. my mother's still alive... I don't need two ! too bad about the fishing, next time... Fishing went exactly as planned.. catching would have been a bonus, but compared to what most here were doing... well.. How's the sunburn today???? I slept through most of the night.. well except when I rolled onto either ear that is ! Edited April 22, 2008 by irishfield
lew Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 Like I always say Wayne, you don't need to catch a fish to have a great day of fish'n. Good to see you boyz had a good day on the bay
bigbuck Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 It would have been good to send the cleithrum (sp.) bone from the head of that musky to Dr. Casselman who's studying muskies in Ontario. If anyone finds a dead muskie, keep that in mind. You can probably get more info from Muskies Canada as to where to send the head or if someone will pick it up from you.
BillM Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 Wayne, mentioned we were both sissies for not picking the muskie up.
Musky or Specks Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 It would have been good to send the cleithrum (sp.) bone from the head of that musky to Dr. Casselman who's studying muskies in Ontario. If anyone finds a dead muskie, keep that in mind. You can probably get more info from Muskies Canada as to where to send the head or if someone will pick it up from you. Youd have to get MNR to pick it up. Ive discussed this with them before and if its out of season you can be charged.
snag Posted April 22, 2008 Report Posted April 22, 2008 I guess I'm a little disappointed in you. I've seen you preach to newbies about proper musky gear (net, pliers, snips, etc.) Where was the defibrillator? Where? Shame. Shame
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