3 Reports, 2 Days - PIC HEAVY (14 pics)

[Rich]

I was blessed this week. I had two days off and both of them were just beautiful days. Sugarpacket and I never waste a nice day, so on Monday we packed up the waders and headed to the Grand River. We actually fished several spots from Cambridge to Brantford and the fishing was the slowest I've ever seen it. No smallies landed (saw a couple jumpers), and just a few suckers to show for our efforts. It was still a fun time fishin' the river and seeing some spots I haven't visited since I was a kid. Sugarpacket had never been to these particular areas of the grand so it was all new for her too.

 

 

 

Last night I called up Sleded and asked if we could borrow his outboard for a day on the Lake Wednesday. He was kind enough to let us borrow it (thanks again Eric!) and we also had a good time shootin' the breeze at his place over donuts and Busch of course.

 

Today was a toss up. It was down to the last minute on the decision whether to chase Long Point Bay pike or take advantage of the calm, warm weather and hunt down Erie smallies. After looking at the weather we decided there won't be too many nice days like that left this year and calm days on Erie are a rarity anyway. So we dropped the boat in and headed out on the big water for early fall smallies.

 

First we trolled crankbaits for a short time and didn't even get a bite, so we headed to a very popular spot and dropped anchor. We changed up between tossing crankbaits and tube jigs for a bit, and finally I had a bite. Odd lookin' smallie!

 

 

Oh well it was a fish to get things going. After getting a couple more sheepies on jigs & spoons I look up to see Sugarpacket with a nice smallie on! She had started tossing a spinnerbait and one just nailed it! Unfortunately at boatside it shook the hook.

 

So I decide, hey, if they'll hit a spinnerbait all day I'll be in heaven so I started tossing one too. I cast to a spot where current flows around a bunch of boulders and in 2 casts, WHAM! My first real Erie pig of this year came out to play. A decent fight and Sugarpacket was ready with the net. Just as the net went under this girl the spinnerbait came flying in the air! Good timing. Put her on the scale - an honest 4 pounder (scale said 4.5). Beauty!

 

 

 

The spinnerbait bite continued with a lot of 1-2 pound fish. Man oh man, nothing beats smallies on a spinnerbait. When you're rippin' as fast as you can and suddenly they smack it, there's no bigger adrenaline rush.

 

 

 

Sugarpacket tossed her spinnerbait a little differently after things cooled down, straight behind the boat in heavy current with a really slow retrieve. Almost like trolling without moving the boat. Wasn't long before BAM and she was into a nice smallie of her own that weighed in just a little under 3 pounds.

 

 

To the dismay of the other boats in the area, these smallies were all released to fight again.

 

Sugarpacket showed up a boat of 3 men nearby who couldn't stop staring at our boat. We weren't sure if they were looking at our fish or at the pretty girl outfishing them. lol They tried mimmicking our every move and even fishing in our spots, great guys. Didn't seem to work for them though.

 

As the time pushed closer to noon our average sized bass went down to this.

 

 

Sugarpacket also found the hot Lake Erie largemouth bite, she can give GPS co-ordinates to this baby if you want!

 

 

As she was flipping for those hawg largemouth she noticed a little creature that we couldn't completely identify. I assumed muskrat at first but it didn't have the muskrat tail. Any OFC'ers have an idea what it was? Mink? Otter? We tossed him a couple snacks (tiny white bass) and he was pleased with our offering.

 

 

Sugarpacket had to use the ladies room, unfortunately there was no ladies room nearby and she was too shy to use the Filth Bucket I was so pleased with myself for having aboard so we decided to just head back and pack the boat up. The smallies were pretty much done hitting until the evening bite anyway.

 

 

By the way launching from a beach is in no way easy! Talk about a workout. Notice our huge pipes in each picture. lol If you want a good worker for hauling your Filth Hound, look into hooking into a farm girl. lol

 

Anyways, after a quick visit with Grandma & an attempt to pick up Splenda (who happened to be having a nap when we showed up) we decided to kill a couple more hours, grab some lunch and hit the Port Dover pier.

 

Sugarpacket had devised a pattern yesterday when feeding the ducks that these carp were following the flocks and eating the bread that didn't get devoured by ducks or seagulls. Sure enough we showed up with a loaf of bread and the carp weren't too far behind. There were some beasts down there but they were a little smarter. I had a couple hit bread balls, then Sugarpacket drops a 1" grub of all things and a carp annihilates it. One of the best fights all day, and of course being that Dover's a tourist town she had an audience of about 15 watching the whole thing.

 

 

Next was my turn after leaving the bread idea behind and switching back to faithful canned corn. Wasn't long before I was into my carp, another great fight. Holy cow this thing had plenty of open water and it used it to it's full advantage, running and running non stop.

 

 

After playing with the local shiner and goby population for a bit we decided it was time to take Splenda back and retire to the confines of our home, only to dream about fishing for another week.

 

We really lucked out on the weather, and couldn't have asked for better fishing today. It just seemed that everything worked in our favour.. except we've both got colds now. Well ya know what they say, the best cure for a cold is a day of fishing!

[sharper]

Sounds like you guys had a great day. Those are some huge smallies too congrats!

[ch312]

must be nice gettin days of work buddy. its been a while, we should get out again to toss some hardware.

 

im pretty sure thats a fisher. which i think is the only animal brave enough to kill and eat a porcupine. besides me that is

[Mark Kulik]

Good job Rich, nice to see your girl likes to fish too.

[bigugli]

A beautiful day out and the fish were biting. Couldn't ask for much more than that. Thanks for the report.

[mikeh]

great report with lots of nice fish

[tbayboy]

Nice stuff, you definitely had a couple great days of weather to work with. I was out for lunch today and thinking of how much I'd rather be on the water. Good to see someone took advantage of it. Thanks for the update.

[JustinHoffman]

Great mixed bag, Rich! And that smallie of yours sure is resembling a plump football!!!

 

Good Fishing,

 

Justin

[tibbs]

Great Report!

 

Good job on that smallie

[mattyk]

great report, thanks for sharing.

[xrap]

Nice mixed report!! And that looks like a Mink to me

[ccmtcanada]

Great report you two! Some great looking smallies!!! That 4 (4.5) pounder is a real nice chunky fish there.

[steverowbotham]

gotta love those smallies

[CLofchik]

Beauty smallie any day of the week.

 

Does anybody ever get hassled fishing Dover pier anymore?

Oh yeah that's a marten, there's alot of them around here in the last few years. At night they come out on the Lake O piers for the free goby & lamprey buffet.

[Moosebunk]

Nice report Richardo.

 

It's been said but, it is a good mixed bag fo'sho'.

[hammercarp]

Nice mixed bag of fish. Looks like you had a great day. Great report. By the way that's a mink.

[jediangler]

Great report and pics you two. Too bad about your luck on the Grand but she can be a fickle mistress when she wants to be. That is a really nice smallie as well Rich, well done. I'd say that fuzzy critter is a mink. I'm no expert but I think Martens have a white patch under their chin and are a bit larger in size.

[joonmoon]

Good job guys, the critter that we all are guessing at in my opinion is a fisher. They are small weasel like scavengers known to frequent shorelines for meals. Martens are more northerly and weasels are more southerly, Mink are much the same but my money is on fisher. Seen lots around the Grand areas I fish. Beauty fish and Sugarpacket you should try out for the Fishergirl calendar....One thing Rich....how the hell did you end up with such a hottie girlfriend?...lol. Glad to see yas had a good few days on the water.

[Reef Runner]

That's the way to spend some time off, WTG on the mixed bag!

 

I think that's a fisher as well, I see them crawling around the rocks when I head to the banks on Lake O sometime. I like to call them rock rats, lol.

[Ramble]

I'm gonna guess mink. Martens live in mature conifer forests for the most part, mink have the white chin, but the picture doesn't show that. Fisher prefer conifer or mixed forests as well. I've seen them around belleville sine there population boom a few years back. That doesn't mean it isn't a fisher, but i'd be surprised to see one living in those rocks they are tree hunters.

 

In conclusion, i'm betting mink. Did you see a white chin Rich?

 

-R-

[Leecher]

Great report and pics Rich

 

Looks like you guys had a blast out there!

That bass is a real nice chunky one

 

Good job you two and thanks for sharing

Leechman

[corvette1]

what a mixed bag looks like you & sugar had a great time nice smallie

[CLofchik]

That's the way to spend some time off, WTG on the mixed bag!

 

I think that's a fisher as well, I see them crawling around the rocks when I head to the banks on Lake O sometime. I like to call them rock rats, lol.

 

Y'know looking at it again I'm going to have to go with fisher, martens have bigger ears like a cats and their tails are bushier. There's a small colony of goby addicted martens that run around Bronte after dark, watching them wrestle with lampreys can be a fun way to pass the time

[Bly]

Thanks for sharing your days off with us! Beauty smallies!

[lunkerbasshunter]

great report! That smallie sure was a fatty!

 

Cheers!