Weekend Review

[tbayboy]

After spending a week back in Thunder Bay I was looking forward to hitting lakes with weeds again but spent my first weekend back sick as a dog (stupid summer colds). Last weekend I was feeling better though and Mike dropped me a line to see if I wanted to go bass hunting Saturday. Sounded good to me (even if the 5am alarm didn't) so off we went.

 

The lake had actually changed quite a bit in the 3 weeks since I've been on it. The water was now nearly gin clear and most of the open spots had been filled in with this annoying string like weed (not sure what it is - a single 1/8cm diameter strand going all the way to the surface). And sure enough that also changed our regular patterns . In fact we started the day hitting two spots that have never failed to produce for us and guess what - yup they failed. Actually I got one non dink smallmouth (pound a half maybe?) but I hadn't been paying attention and the poor bugger swallowed the circle hook really baddly so it went into the livewell for an evening snack. Later that night I found my 5" worm and o-ring fully intact in its digestive track - just another reminder to pay attention when using a dead stick presentation to avoid these kinds of incidents (that said, was a pretty tasty snack). Other than that one though we got next to nothing from our 'go to' spots. Here's the first largie - 10:30am, over 2 hours in

 

<a href=" title="First of the day by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3118/2795284364_6cb7791c23_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="First of the day" /></a>

 

We then started looking at some new grounds including some pads. Mike was tossing a big lizard over the pads and I had a frog going. Mike dragged his lizard off some slop and a fish struck at it but missed (hit some weeds the hook had picked up). Not one to pass up an opportunity I zigged the frog over the same pads and left it dangling in the water right in front of the pads and was rewarded just when I was about to reel it in with a solid explosion. Thanks for finding this one Mike

 

<a href=" title="Frog Bass by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3075/2794438937_b927686545_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Frog Bass" /></a>

 

An hour later and we were working a bunch of submerged/barely exposed rocks and getting some really little fish when I tossed a 5" brown worm into the edge of the weedline in 10' of water. Before the worm had sunk a couple feet it started sinking a whole lot faster so I gave it a tug and it went down even faster. Woah, this is a real fish! At first we thought it was a small musky based on the flash we saw but it was soon clear it was just a long skinny bass. Once she came to the boat we put a quick scale on her and sure enough its a new personal best for me - 3lb 11oz. Doesn't look very big in the picture but she was long. If she'd had a full stomach she would have cleared 4 and a quarter or more.

 

<a href=" title="Biggest of the weekend 3lb 11oz by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3295/2795289118_024b96ea86_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Biggest of the weekend 3lb 11oz" /></a>

 

Once again we found that the fish were very particular when it came to worms. On Saturday with the really clear water they wanted natural. PowerBait Heavyweight Fat worms in 'breen' were the winners - very realistic worm colour:

 

<a href=" title="Brown was the colour by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/2795290560_3ae9c730b5_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Brown was the colour" /></a>

 

Here's another largie, we only got a few of this size, most were competing with rock bass in the size department

 

<a href=" title="The average bass by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/2794446501_84e1587049_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="The average bass" /></a>

 

Mike had been having a really bad day - after I stole his pad bass he was struck with a run of rock bass and other fingerling size fish. At the end of the day we stopped at one last spot for 10 minutes right near the launch and Mike made the call - next bass and we're done. Wouldn't you know it - next cast and Mike finally gets a decent fish:

 

<a href=" title="Last of the day by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/2794452041_253a39b686_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Last of the day" /></a>

 

Not exactly a banner day but still better than nothing right? We headed back to the big smoke and talked about how crappy the weather was suppose to be Sunday. When we got back I told Mike to check the forecast and if he was up for some rain I could be up for it too as long as I got to sleep in (guy needs his beauty sleep you know). Well the weather still called for thunderstorms and 20k WNW winds in the AM so we decided to head for a different lake to see if we could make up for Saturdays disappointements.

 

We started the morning at 10am feeling ince and rested thank you very much by heading to an island. We worked our way around trying some different colours when the wonderfully named 'party' coloured gulp sinking minnow landing me our first smallie of the day

 

<a href=" title="Sunshine Wacky Smally by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/2794453501_18f52a93a2_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Sunshine Wacky Smally" /></a>

 

We had lots of fish from around this island but nothing terribly big so we ashewed photos and headed to another 'go to' spot. A shorline that always has some action if not size. Just like Saturday however we were left very disappointed. Maybe it was the high sun (thunderstorms? wow were they wrong) but more likely its that old adage that you can't keep sticking with one or two spots all season long - fish migrate so you need to be adaptable. So adapt we did - eventually we found some fish - here's one Mike found around some really hard to guess at structure

 

<a href=" title="Wacky Pigeon Bass by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/2794456641_553277849d_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Wacky Pigeon Bass" /></a>

 

We also tried the slop again. This time we were moving pretty quick as we only had so much time. I was in the back when I saw a big surface strike right at the back of the slop and immediately tossed my frog that way. What I didn't realize was that Mike hadn't seen it and was plowing away. Stop the boat I yell and just like the day before I thought the frog was to far from the slop and I was about to start reeling when the water erupted and the fight was on. This guy managed to get wrapped in the pads a bit but Mike went in and we got him out - turns out he was pretty damned small. Funny how a face full of weeds can make them seem so much bigger.

 

<a href=" title="Pad bass by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3279/2794457889_34b94219e6_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Pad bass" /></a>

 

Also had a muskie explode up on the frog but he went at it from the side and totally missed (apex predator my ass - how do you miss a frog?).

 

The rest of the day was really slow. Worse than Saturday and we tried all over the place. According to my GPS we covered 45km on this damned lake. Finally we tried one last little bay and just like Saturday Mike managed to save his day with one last fish:

 

<a href=" title="Last of the weekend by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2795308476_22005fb984_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Last of the weekend" /></a>

 

With that we called it a weekend. Tough fishing for sure but at least we didn't get the thunder storms they kept talking about so I'm not gonna complain.

 

Oh and of course we weren't the only fisherman out there this weekend:

 

Snapper:

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Osprey:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/2795307354/" title="Pigeon Osprey by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3149/2795307354_a0ed313450_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Pigeon Osprey" /></a>

 

Heron with Rockbass:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/2794444905/" title="Another fisherman by Sean Maurik, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3064/2794444905_0b053a8ece_b.jpg" width="705" height="1024" alt="Another fisherman" /></a>

 

Technical recap:

Natural colours were the winners this weekend: 5" Powerbait sinking heavy worms in 'breen' (dark brown that faded to light brown in the water) and 3" coffee tubes in a similair colour worked. The water was really clear so long casts and floro leaders seemed to be the best approach. Bigger fish came out of the deeper weed lines or from under pads/slop. So nothing really new learned but sure was more fun on the cloudy days when the water was a little darker and you could really nail them without all this being sneaky stuff.

 

Looking forward to the long weekend (can you believe summer is over already?)

Sean

[GBW]

Great report (again)!! You 2 have some great times out on the water for sure.

[lunkerbasshunter]

great report! Looks liek an awesome time!

 

Cheers!

[jediangler]

Cool. Kinda like a National Geographic fishing report. Great pics.

[b2kptbo]

Great report thanks, looked like a good outing...

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Great Report. Sounds like we had a similar weekend. I also seen an osprey that dove for my fluke(or something that was attracted by it)! Lucky he missed!

[mattyk]

great report, thanks for sharing!

[PatrickGG]

Looks like you guys had a Wacky day , Nice pics and report.

[corvette1]

nice bass out of the slop

[Leecher]

Great report and pics Sean

 

Looks like you guys had a good time on the water! Congrats on your PB

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

[mikeh]

great report Sean, on Saturday on Buckhorn we fished 3 spots that we fished before and 4 new ones . On Sunday on Pigeon we fished 3 spots that we fished before and 6 new ones , was definately a good learning experience .

 

Also the picture with the boat house in the back ground the owner of the property let her dog bark at us (yappy poodle) for 5 minutes, while she was 50 feet away, I guess some people don't like fishermen working there shoreline.

[fishnsled]

A couple of decent days on the water in my books. And a PB to boot!! Congrats! Always enjoy your reports Sean. Lots of pictures and some great info, love the recaps. Thanks for another great report.

[Zubris21]

Great read... Considering the conditions were tough it sounds like you guys made out pretty well!

[ciceri]

I know what you mean man, the muskie are always missing my little skitter pop.

[ehg]

Great report, pictures, and summary of techniques!

The wildlife pics and video are nice addition.

 

You are right where did the summer go?

 

Good stuff as usual,

ehg

[ccmtcanada]

Maybe not the best weekend of fishing, but it beats pounding the shore and getting skunked!! When you can get together with a friend and spend time together catching fish, then it's a good weekend. Oh...and summer is not over....it's not over until the fall walleye bite starts and the chrome are swimming up the streams....LOL