North pole report(err I mean North Bay)

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Left Saturday morning and headed for Callander bay. Got there around 1:00pm. Unloaded all the stuff at our cottage Sunbeam bungalows? Did our shopping, went to get our bait and, and made it on the water around 2:30pm. It was already raining.

 

Started drifting and were using worms and minnows. My 2 friends had pickeral rig style setups with the bell sinkers at the bottom. I had a jig head and a worm.

 

I was playing with my fishfinder(that never finds fish) And I decided to take the fish ID off like everyone else I fished with does.

 

I go there is a fish below the boat!! And my friends, friend gets a hit and brings in a sheephead. Nice! Its a start. A little while later, I see another fish on the fishfinder. I get a hit. I set the hook? Its a nice eater pickeral! In the livewell it goes! I finally figured out how to read the fish finder!!!!

 

We keep fishing and we were catching silverbass, sheephead but no pickeral. My 2 friends had had enough and wanted to go back. Dropped em off at about 4:30 but I was there to fish!Went back.

 

I started drifting and was doing pretty good! Nailed all kinds of sheephead. The whitebass were stacked in 18-22 FOW. I mean every cast on a minnow and a pickeral style rig. Wouldn't take long to get a bite. And they were all between 1lb to 1 1/2lb. I caught another 2 eater pickeral. And around 6:00 pm, caught my last one to make the limit and headed in for a fish fry(which was burnt and tasted bad).

 

Usually when we go up 90% of the fish are in the slot limit so the MNR were correct. Bumper crop for eaters.They are doing a great job up there.

 

Anyways, when I told my friend the fishing was hot? He wanted to get out and fish for the last hour. We got out, and we couldn't find them. The silverbass moved out. The pickeral were gone. But the strange thing is that we were cathcing a lot of pike on worms in 16 FOW. We also caught the occasional sheephead. We missed the evening bite because my friend had to go to the can.

 

Next morning I wake up cold!! The heater wasn't working. I had slept 10 hours in 2 days but said what the heck. Went out to fish. The fishing was pretty good. Was catching the fish shallower than the day before and these were all in the slot and were released. I then threw on a spot and started cranking in 7-8 FOW and it got smoked! It was a huge pickeral, 4+ lbs. Bring it to the boat and try to horse it up and the hooks came out! Checked the lure and the back hooks were all mangaled. I may have stepped on them before.....

 

So it was about 8:00am decided to go in and get my friends and tell them the big ones are bitting. We all had bacon and eggs, got ready, went to pick up more bait and we are on the water. It started raining again.....

 

We fished for a bit and the bite was slow. One friend had had enough so we dropped her off. Then we fished for a little while longer and all that my friend was nailing were smallies. In 14-16 FOW. I was catching the occasional sheep head and nailed 2 eater pickeral. He was getting cold and wanted to go in too. Dropped him off. Caught another 4 eater sized pickeral, mixed with sheephead and pike and the rain was too much. I wasn't cold at all but hate fishing in a rainsuit......It rained ALL Sunday......missed the evening bite again.

 

Had a great fishfry, put some wood in the fireplace, and drank beer till I passed out.lol

 

Woke up around 6 but slept till 7. Got out and the winds were BRUTAL and they were cold. We are talking arctic winds here! It was SNOWING(wet snow)!We fished for a bit, my buddy finally caugh 2 pickeral and a pretty big sheep head(6-7lbs). I caught a few smallies and small sheephead. Went back at around 9:00 to clear the cottage and get everything ready. Went back to fish and the winds were making it hard to fish. We fished for a bit longer and caught a few more fish(but no pickeral). Tried to head for shelter but got soaked trying to do so, so we called it a day and left North bay around 12:30.

 

Well for the most part I had fun. Caught most pickeral right in front of the cottage in 14 FOW. On a lime green jig head tipped with a worm, dragging it on bottom behind the boat. The weather sucked so we weren't in any mood to take pictures. Worst weather we ever had in May on a long weekend in Nippissing, but always better than staying home.

[ccmtcanada]

Great report Johnny! You need friends who will fish in bad weather though....LOL. At least you got out there, figured out your fishfinder and caught a bunch of fish. Despite the weather, you did pretty good out there in my books!

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Great report Johnny! You need friends who will fish in bad weather though....LOL. At least you got out there, figured out your fishfinder and caught a bunch of fish. Despite the weather, you did pretty good out there in my books!

 

Thanks. I don't think they were as prepared as I was. They were soaked to the bone....These guys are usually pretty hardcore but I think the weather was a bit too much this time.

[ehg]

Great report Johnny! You need friends who will fish in bad weather though....LOL. At least you got out there, figured out your fishfinder and caught a bunch of fish. Despite the weather, you did pretty good out there in my books!

I always enjoy reading your posts as well, never a dull moment.

Also learned a few things about some lakes i've never been to through your posts over years.

 

Thanks,

 

ehg

[tbayboy]

Nice hardcore report Johnny - definitely not the nicest may 24 in while.

[Gerritt]

JB, I feel you're pain... I too was fishing Nip on the opener.. not terribly far from you either.. Constant rain and wind.. We as a group decided NOT to go out Monday as the winds were just to severe, Fishing in large rollers on the south shores is not a pleasant experience, instead we cleaned up, washed the boats and attempted to stay dry..

 

that said, it was nice to be out there regardless of the weather eh? and the drive home was a bit less severe as alot of people just did not bother to head north due to the weather.

 

G

[johnnyb]

Way to stick with it -- you were rewarded with some decent fish! Nicely done

[Guest Johnny Bass]

JB, I feel you're pain... I too was fishing Nip on the opener.. not terribly far from you either.. Constant rain and wind.. We as a group decided NOT to go out Monday as the winds were just to severe, Fishing in large rollers on the south shores is not a pleasant experience, instead we cleaned up, washed the boats and attempted to stay dry..

 

that said, it was nice to be out there regardless of the weather eh? and the drive home was a bit less severe as alot of people just did not bother to head north due to the weather.

 

G

 

Thanks guys. Gerritt, I never regret going to Callander/North Bay. Just love it up there.

[Greencoachdog]

Usually when we go up 90% of the fish are in the slot limit so the MNR were correct. Bumper crop for eaters.They are doing a great job up there.

 

I think a large part of the abundance of eaters will come from the MNR raising the bottom of the slot from 40 cm. 15.7" to 43 cm. 16.9" which will turn a lot of previuosly "untouchable" fish over to the table!

[Carp]

Despite the weather, you stuck it out &

had some action.

Excellent !!!

 

Thanks for the report Johnny.

[Cory]

I think a large part of the abundance of eaters will come from the MNR raising the bottom of the slot from 40 cm. 15.7" to 43 cm. 16.9" which will turn a lot of previuosly "untouchable" fish over to the table!

 

 

Check your exceptions bud, hate to see a yank busted for not reading page 60 of the regs.......

[Greencoachdog]

Check your exceptions bud, hate to see a yank busted for not reading page 60 of the regs.......

 

I'm familiar with the exceptions... but not with all the areas. I'll be fishin' the West Bay and West Arm and abiding by the regs. Dunno if Callander Bay is included in the exceptions or not. (where Johnny was fishin')

 

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR_E001331.pdf

Edited May 21, 2008 by Greencoachdog

[snagmaster]

nice work Johny....you got into some fish even tho the conditons were shotty...

[snag]

You certainly make a pictureless report colourful!

 

A great read.

 

Good hard-headedness.