JustinHoffman Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Hello All, With the great weather we have been experiencing as of late, I decided to treat myself to a few days on the water. Was also looking forward to testing out the deck extension my Dad constructed for the boat. Adds an extra 22" of deck, and with it butting up against the two livewells, it creates an even larger area. Still shake my head that this boat is 20 years old this season.. Day 1 (September 21 - Sunday) Headed out with my Dad onto a stretch of the Rideau River. The weather was quite chilly to say the least. Had found the fish the previous week relating to shallow water cover, so began by working over that stuff. Flipping jigs and Texas-rigged craws/creature baits were the main baits used, with water between one and four feet being the target. Fish were definitely tight into cover, with only the odd fish being found on the outside edge of the slop. The sun hiding behind the clouds didn't help our cause with this method of fishing, but we did manage to put a few in the boat. Here is the best of the day.. I must say - fish were pretty cautious this day, with many coming out to look at the bait, but opting not to eat it. Working the jig or craw in place for longer than normal achieved a few extra bites. Judging from their skinny appearance, I'd say the front from a few days earlier had shut down their feeding, and they were just beginning to turn on again. Not the best outing in terms of numbers or size, but I had a good feeling about the next days excursion... Total Largemouth Caught - 7 Day 2 (September 22 - Monday) Decided to spend a day trophy fishing on my favourite "BIG" bass lake. My bud Andy came along for the hunt. Launched into calm waters this morning, with a slight nip in the air. Headed straight over to a large rock shoal and began working the edges with a variety of lures. Topwaters, cranks, Senkos and flipping jigs all got a good workout, yet action was hard to come by. Andy and I both missed our first fish to strike, which caused a few curse words to fly across the desolate lake. With nothing to show for our efforts, it was time to hit "money" shoreline. This shoreline has coughed up a few beasts for me in the past, and is a typical trophy fall bass spot - fast sloping shoreline, slab and chunk rock, wood, and a scattering of weeds. I was throwing a 3/4oz Booyah Jig and YUM chunk, while Andy went with a 5" BPS Stik-O. It didn't take long for a big fish to show itself. Two casts in and Andy reefs back on his rod - instantly I knew we were into a sow. Big largemouth (especially those in deeper water) are notorious for bull-dogging when hooked, and literally put a huge bend in a stout flipping stick. This fish was doing just that. 15 seconds in and it finally surfaced. I was confident we were both staring at a bonofide 6lber. Of course, I hadn't brought the net along, and other than a few hairy seconds while I tried to lip the bass, the fight and capture was picture-perfect. 5lbs 14oz of pure largemouth! A quick weigh on two seperate digital scales confirmed the weight. Andy and I high-fived, let out a little yell, and had smiles from ear to ear! It was quite the moment. Guiding Andy to his biggest largie ever felt pretty damn good, and it actually ties for the second largest bass I've ever seen first hand. The streak on this lake continues - in three years I've put a 6lber, two 5lb 14ozer's, and now Andy's 5lb 14oz's. Now those are pretty good numbers! With this being Andy's first fish of the day, we knew the remainder of the outing would be pretty anti-climatic. lol! The largies were few and far between for the rest of the day, but we did manage to put another eight or ten in the boat. Here is my best of the day - 3lbs 10oz's. Came from a tree sitting over 16 feet of water. A flipping jig was the lure of choice.. Around 1pm we decided to change things up, and went in search of smallies. Found a sweet hump that rose from 26 feet to 10, and put four quick 2lbers in the boat on tubes. We then scooted over to a small bay that often holds a mixture of both bass, and found the weed beds lush and green, and chock full of bait fish. First cast with a Spook and Andy had his biggest smallie of the season in the boat - 3lbs 10oz. She was a fatty for sure! Came from 6 feet of water.. Had a 15 minute window of fast topwater action (with quite a few fish missed) before the water went calm. Worked other areas over for largies, but were only able to pull small fish. With our time coming to close, we ended the day with a few more smallies on topwaters off a rock shoal.. Total Largemouth Caught - 22 Day 3 (September 23 - Tuesday) With the weather man calling for even nicer weather, and with the trophy from the day before still dancing in my head, I decided to hit the water one last time. My destination was another stretch of the Rideau River. Most of my productive weed clumps had vanished from the previous weeks outing, so running and gunning the water was the recipe for the day. Worked over most types of structure, and with a large variety of baits. Most productive pattern was shoreline wood, slop (both open water and shoreline) pads, and undercut cane. Saw a tonne of cruising largies on this day, but most were far too skittish for sight fishing tactics. Big fish of the day was 3lbs 4oz's, and came from 1.5 feet of water and from under some slop - the bottom of the following picture shows where he came from exactly... I forgot the tripod on this outing, so unfortunately, didn't take any other shots. Was a warm one out there, and a fun fish for sure. Total Largemouth Caught - 13 Well, the three days of fishing was certainly eventful - 42 bass in total, and one PIG of a largemouth! I don't think Andy will forget this one for quite some time.. Will be back looking for trophies again real soon - time to put a 6+ in the boat before the season ends... Until next time. Good Fishing, Justin
tibbs Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Fantastic Report Justin! Congrats on your friends MASSIVE large mouth!
Rich Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Awesome as always Justin! And congrats to your buddy Andy on a true trophy largemouth. Boat looks great too. Gotta love having tons of casting room. 10 years, lol the Filth Hound is going on 30!
mattyk Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 some great looking fish, great report! Thanks for sharing.
tbayboy Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Nice stuff Justin and congrats to Andy!
Cudz Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Those fish look big. How are you weighing them? Is it a digital scale? I would have put that smallie at over 4.
JustinHoffman Posted September 25, 2008 Author Report Posted September 25, 2008 (edited) Hey Cudz, Both digital scales - an X-Tools and a Mustad. Both read the same, and are accurate within an ounce when I calibrate them/test against a known weighted object. She was a chunky smallie, but just shy of 4. (Plus, he's holding it a bit closer to the camera than normal..) lol The big largie weighed 5lbs 14oz on both digi scales - weighed it twice as I was certain it was over 6. Good Fishing, Justin Edited September 25, 2008 by JustinHoffman
steverowbotham Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 those fish are pigs, I would have said over 6 and over 4
Cudz Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Hey Cudz, Both digital scales - an X-Tools and a Mustad. Both read the same, and are accurate within an ounce when I calibrate them/test against a known weighted object. She was a chunky smallie, but just shy of 4. (Plus, he's holding it a bit closer to the camera than normal..) lol The big largie weighed 5lbs 14oz on both digi scales - weighed it twice as I was certain it was over 6. Good Fishing, Justin lol. Fish near camera trick alwasy gets me.
MCTFisher9120 Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Congratulations to both of you, thanks for sharing!
ccmtcanada Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 WOW!!! Fantastic report and pics! That largie sure was a lunker! His smile says it all!
Leecher Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Great report and pics Justin Congrats to Andy for his PB A real fat hog for sure Thanks for sharing Leechman
JustinHoffman Posted September 25, 2008 Author Report Posted September 25, 2008 Thanks for the comments, guys... Hopefully I can share with you a 6+ in the coming weeks. Good Fishing, Justin
corvette1 Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 nice job guys on the big mouths congrats
Bly Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Very Nice!! Congratulations to Andy! I am looking forward to your next report already
lunkerbasshunter Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 wow those are some great fish!!!! Cheers!
BassAsin Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 these are the kind of postings i like to see. some real nice fish and theres just something about the bass that gets the crank turning. and as u say the smallie is jammed into the lens a little close hahahah
Dutch Posted September 25, 2008 Report Posted September 25, 2008 Did you know there are lakes out there that average those 6 pounders? Just kidding...lol. Great fish!
ehg Posted September 26, 2008 Report Posted September 26, 2008 Some nice bass there! Thanks for posting this, ehg
steve_paul Posted September 26, 2008 Report Posted September 26, 2008 Congrat to Andy on that bass, what a beaut. Thanks for the report Justin, great as always. Your dad did a nice job too on the casting deck.
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