Wacky Weekend

tbayboy · July 22, 2008

Funny how around the same time everyone starts posting about their days with wacky rigging or senko style baits in general.

Well guess what I've got? Yup, a report all about wacky rigging!

The Report

Mike and I started our weekend on Pigeon with thoughts of huge musky but for those that might not have noticed - it was dang HOT in southern ontario on Saturday. Holy cow was that a sauna of a day. Once the sun got high we decided to change up and toss some worms. Great idea for a couple reasons:

1. Its a lot easier to throw 5" worms on light gear than 3 ounce baits on musky rods thank you very much

2. Fish love worms!

We worked a few different spots on pigeon but mostly stuck to shade (are you a fair weather fisherman if you avoid sun?) Mike was pretty new to wacky rigging and was still trying to figure out what to do with the hook:

Which end goes in the fish? :rolleyes:

We had lots of fun even if the sizes weren't great. We found a few spots to check back again later as we called it a day.

On the way home we thought about making Sunday a full wacky day - no other baits. Originally we though Scugog because we knew a few spots we thought would produce well but we both new the weather was suppose to be bad - thunderstorms and rain all day so I told Mike to check the forecast and drop me a pm Saturday night. When I got home I checked the forecast - yep, looked UGLY. But then I got Mike's message "i think it'll just be rain and we can start late so you can sleep in". Well hot damn, give me an extra couple hours sleep and I'll fish in anything so I said sure why not.

Sunday morning at the nice hour of 9am I arrived at Mikes and we headed out the bog. About 1/2 way there Mike wondered if maybe the weather would be better up north and if Scugog would be really muddy with the evening/morning rains. I said it made sense to me so we changed plans mid drive and decided to head for the tri-lake area.

Talk about right decisions - from what I gathered it rains here all day Sunday but up an hours drive north we got rain til 11 then nothing til 6 when it drizzled a bit. Perfect!

As for the fish - well first stop and 5 minutes later...

Ok so not exactly a giant but its a start . Actually all day we just explored - looking for patterns that worked for the style of fishing we were doing - wacky rigging all day long (though I cheated with a tube, spinner bait and the odd top water from time to time but never for long). Patterns were pretty simple to figure out - shorelines with cover, edges of pad, rock piles, weedlines and of course combinations of the 4 all worked well though we never found real monsters. Here's a 2 species double header - next time I need to remember the tripod though I kinda like the way this turned out as we tried to get in frame

It wasn't all bass though, there were of course millions of rock bass. For some reason I landed every 3 inch rock bass we came near whereas Mike managed to get the big ones. Mike also got this huge bright perch - one of the most colourful I've seen (too bad my picture sucked )

But bass we wanted and bass we got

Though we never found any monsters we did get some respectable fish including my best of the day

As the afternoon moved into night we decided to work around the launch for a bit (just in case the weather changed) and found that a popular short spot was still producing

Finally we decided to call it a day as it started to rain a bit. Mike said next bass was the end and I promptly launched my worm into a retaining wall and snapped off the hook. Mike of course got this on his first cast

And we were done. Gotta say, that was a really fun weekend. Flipping worms for bass in open(ish) water is just a flat out fun way to fish - watching your line go sidewise, never sure whats on it (or perhaps seeing them come out and grab it) and fishing with light gear just puts a grin on your face regardless of the size of fish. All the way home we talked about things to try next time - different sizes, different locations, etc etc but the sun was setting and so was the weekend.

What I Learned

Thought I'd start putting this in my reports - try and share info even if its stuff that everyone but me already knew

1. Colours matter when it comes to worms. Not all the time but they had definite preferences and those changed from area to area. Common good ones however were pink and white as well as a natural brown with a bright coloured tip.

2. Work areas thoroughly. We found one rock pile that came out of the water at one end and went under tailing off for about 100 feet. While we found fish on most of the pile there was one 10 x 10 area that produced hits every cast and decent fish as well.

3. O-rings for worms - these helped a lot in saving our bait. I tended to be lazy and not bother with them and probably used $10 in worms over the 2 days where Mike was much more stingy and kept most of his thanks to o rings. Just make sure they fit - I was using some long skinny worms and the fish were able to pull it out of the ring.

4. Ignore the weather guys - we had great weather. Just get out there. If the day looks aweful maybe plan a bit of a later start so that if you do run into aweful weather you don't feel like you got up for nothing.

Now off to buy some replacement hooks, take care all

Sean

ccmtcanada · July 22, 2008

Sean...for a guy with no boat you sure get out a lot...LOL.

Great report again...with great pics.

Your reports always have some great tips in them...or at least your learnings. For newbies like myself in the Kawarthas, I take note when you talk about the hot baits etc...

Great stuff....again.....

So, when are you heading out in waders with the waterproof camera again slaying bass in the rivers?

tbayboy · July 22, 2008

I'm dying to get out on the Grand again but the weather never seems to co operate this year. I've been out twice and got skunked both times. Ah well, I'll get there soon (Patrick - pm me and tell me when we can go!)

Have fun on the trip Cliff.

GBW · July 22, 2008

great repot and pic's.

I've never seen those O-rings before, where did you pick them up?

MrMike · July 22, 2008

Neat report great pics

MCTFisher9120 · July 22, 2008

Very good report and congrads to landing a bunch of fish.

Leecher · July 22, 2008

Looks like your last minute decision paid off.

Good job and thanks for sharing :thumbsup_anim:

Leechman

Greencoachdog · July 22, 2008

Great report and pics!!! :Gonefishing: :thumbsup_anim:

Good lookin' fish too!

btw... I was reading an article in this months In-Fisherman magazine aboot Wacky riggin', and it mentions putting a small piece of heat shrink tubing over your worm in the middle and heating it with a Bic lighter for a tight fit and added durability.

Edited July 22, 2008 by Greencoachdog

Bitsmith2k · July 22, 2008

nicely done sean.. i've been living my fishing life vicariously through you this summer..

solopaddler · July 22, 2008

Some great photos Sean, looks like a fabulous outing!

fishnsled · July 22, 2008

Great report! Very informative and inspirational. You've inspired me to go fishing this weekend.

GCD - That tip from the In-Fishermen seem like a good one.

mikeh · July 22, 2008

great report Sean, I enjoyed that type of fishing also as it was very relaxing. Those O -rings sure did save the senko's for me as I only used two senko's all day Sunday. Another key was the circle hooks, almost all the fish except for one was hooked on the lip. At one point Sean was kicking my butt with the pink worms while I was using a white one , until I changed over to a pumpkin with chartruese tail and evened the score. Definately going to have to try that type of fishing on a few different lakes.

One thing I started to check on the weather network is the radar, which shows how the storms and rain are tracking. I'm no expert but the rain seemed to be forecast along the north shore of lake ontario, so it was a better choice to head up to the tri-lakes.

Edited July 22, 2008 by mikeh

bbog · July 22, 2008

great repot and pic's.
I've never seen those O-rings before, where did you pick them up?

You can pick up O-rings at Home Depot - in the hardware section. CTC as well I think.

I'll have to look through my "save-a-dive" kit and see what sizes I have! :lol:

July 22, 2008

Great Report. Fishing with plastics of any kind can be very productive. Just figuring out where to use them is the hard part! Looks like you guys did well! Looking forward to your next "wacky" adventure! :Gonefishing:

tbayboy · July 22, 2008

great repot and pic's.
I've never seen those O-rings before, where did you pick them up?

I grabbed some at bass pro that came with a little helper tool (http://www.wackytool.com/) to get them on the worm but really thats a rip off, just go to home depot (look for 1/4" or smaller, depends on the worm)

btw... I was reading an article in this months In-Fisherman magazine aboot Wacky riggin', and it mentions putting a small piece of heat shrink tubing over your worm in the middle and heating it with a Bic lighter for a tight fit and added durability.

Thats a nice trick as well

nicely done sean.. i've been living my fishing life vicariously through you this summer..

Hows the arm doing? won't take much to get the wacky going - just say when (hell you got me hooked on the worms in the first place)

GBW · July 22, 2008

Thanks Barnie and Sean.

Looks like off to the store...

Bitsmith2k · July 22, 2008

Hows the arm doing? won't take much to get the wacky going - just say when (hell you got me hooked on the worms in the first place)

slower than i could've imagined.. i'm pretty much healed, just working on the flexability and strength.. i've lost pretty much all my strength..

sometime in the next couple of weeks i'll make a comeback.. i'll shoot ya a pm.. when you headed up for your big trip?

douG · July 22, 2008

Great photos. I enjoyed them plenty, with thanks.

oncogene · July 22, 2008

Nice stuffs

i gota try out those bubblegum pink senko one of these days.

PatrickGG · July 22, 2008

I'm dying to get out on the Grand again but the weather never seems to co operate this year. I've been out twice and got skunked both times. Ah well, I'll get there soon (Patrick - pm me and tell me when we can go!)

Have fun on the trip Cliff.

Awesome report, wacky rigging can sure be fun just remember once you get a hit on that wacky rig follow up with a tube jig.

LOL! i went out there for 4 hours and just caught one little guy the water is still kinda high and they havent moved in or they are just spread out i actually walked the other end and seen a decent sized one but she kinda spotted me and dashed so i aint to sure to whats going on i am kinda wondering if Belwood Lake has let out there Dam yet but who knows, i will send you a P.M when i want to make the journey out there again.

Edited July 22, 2008 by PatrickG

ehg · July 23, 2008

Nice detailed report and great quality photos as usual.

Must be some type of 'guerilla marketing' subliminal messaging going on since i was speaking of

wacky rigging senkos on Saturday as well.

Cool and unexpected meeting youse up on Pigeon Saturday,

we did alright with old standby topwaters(not senkos) that day as well.

cheers,

ehg

lunkerbasshunter · July 23, 2008

great report! love those wacky bass

cheers!

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