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Posted

Hello All,

 

Headed out last Thursday and Friday for two days of fishing - here is what happened..

 

Day 1

 

With the weather looking nice (calm winds and +8 temps.), I made the decision to do a solo fish over on Mississippi Lake, and hopefully scrounge up some bass and walleye.

 

Launched out of 9A shortly after 9am. Made my way over to some productive weedlines and began working water between 7 and 12 feet deep. Spinning gear, braid, and a SPRO bucktail jig was the game plan.

Missed a decent walleye right off the start that hit the jig at boat side. Sadly, other than another I saw cruising amongst the weeds, I wouldn't run into any more this day.

 

Started connecting with the bass shortly after, and they were definitely thumping the jig. Most came directly off the weedline, but a few were found a bit further out.

 

Bass03-3.jpg

 

Bass04-2.jpg

 

A simple "rip jigging" technique was putting fish in the boat - cast out, let jig flutter down almost to bottom, two quick snaps of the rod tip, and repeat. Most fish hit would hit on the drop.

 

Bass01-3.jpg

 

Did get a smallie on a BPS "Sonar" from 15 feet of water, and also a largie on a Rapala DTSS06 (craw) crank.

 

Bass02-3.jpg

 

Bass01-3.jpg

 

Did try some bottom bouncing with spinner rigs later on in the day, targeting water between 18 and 21 feet, but no walleye action was to be had.

 

Ended up putting a mixed bag of 18 largies/smallies in the boat, with all but two coming on the bucktail jig. All fish had a tonne of fight in them, and made for a fun-filled day. Best thing about it - I only saw one other boat plying the water!

 

Bass05-2.jpg

 

Bass06-2.jpg

 

 

Day 2

 

Came home this second day after working an overnight shift. Although the eyes felt like shutting, sleeping the day away with the weatherman calling for +13 degree weather just didn't seem right. Put in a call to my bud Andy, and at high noon, we pulled the boat over to Quebec to fish a small lake that Andy's cottage resides on.

 

After using his backyard launch, we are taking our first casts by 1:15pm. Decided to target smallies and largies, as both fish seem to occupy similar water and structure on this lake. Began fishing a rock point that tapered out in 22 feet of water, that contained sparse weed growth on each edge. Didn't take long to find a couple of fish.

 

Bass08-2.jpg

 

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As we do on every trip we fish together, we set a goal for ourselves. Today it would be to put 21 bass in the boat. Generally these are random numbers - sometimes we meet the goal, other times we don't. It does put a bit more excitement into the day nonetheless...

 

Tubes on spinning gear was the predominant bait for this outing, although I did alternate between a Strike King Coffee Tube and a 4.5" BPS Flippin' Craw. Rigged both plastics on a 3/8oz. Title SHot "Football" Jig, which really helped in overall hook penetration.

 

Bass14-1.jpg

 

By about 3:30pm, we had 12 fish in the boat. A few spots coughed up decent fish, but we fished a secondary part of the lake and came up empty handed. Andy was wondering aloud if we should perhaps call it a day, but I suggested we fish one last "cove" area. This spot averaged 7 feet deep, had a soft bottom and isolated weed growth. For whatever reason, it was stacked with bass!!

 

First cast coughed up a decent largie, then all hell broke loose. At one point I landed 5 largies in 10 casts, and double headers were also occurring. The fish were smashing my craw, and it definitely was producing better than the tube.

 

Bass12.jpg

 

Bass09-1.jpg

 

Bass10.jpg

 

With the fish being so aggressive and active, I tied on a spinnerbait for a bit of fun. The first three casts put three fish in the boat..

 

Bass11.jpg

 

As we fished our way back to the cottage, I put the best fish of the day in the boat - a 4lb largie.

 

Bass13-1.jpg

 

In just under two hours, and in an area no larger than 100 yards long, we put 32 bass in the boat, and ended off the afternoon with 44 fish for five hours work!

 

Although I have the opportunity to spend a tonne of time on the water, this trip rates up there as one of the most fun I've ever experienced. It's action like this that really gets the heart going...and smashing our goal sure felt sweet!

 

Ended off the night at Jeans Burger for Quebec poutine and pogos - can't get much better than that!

 

Until the next trip...

 

Good Fishing,

 

Justin

Posted

Great detail report and pics Justin :thumbsup_anim:

 

Man that's a ton of bass :w00t: Beautiful colors on the 4Lber and real fat too :thumbsup_anim:

Your buddies lake sure looks familliar.... I guess you had to drive up North on route 105 to get there ;)

 

Thanks for sharing

Leechman

Posted

MIssisipi lake? Is that US? AMericans always seemed to have more fish.

 

The water also got calm afterwards from your picutre, fish seemed to be more active during the fall if the water got calm.

 

What was the water temp that day?

 

I have not given up on bass fishing either, and will attempt for it one or two more time.

Posted

BassFighter - Mississippi Lake here in Ontario (just west of Ottawa in Carleton Place...)

 

Water was calm in the morning and late afternoon - only got a minor chop on it during the mid-day period. Wind and wave action doesn't seem to have much of an effect on bass during the fall in my experience, although it definitely does when talking walleye...

 

Not sure of the water temp....as you can see from the photos, my ancient unit doesn't take temps., nor much else for that matter. Purely for the depths...

 

Will be picking up a GPS graph this off season for sure.

 

Good Fishing,

 

Justin

Posted

Another great report. Thanks.

I noticed that little spray bottle with green label on your boat.

Is that helpful or not much at all?

Posted

335396 - That is a bottle of Berkley "Gulp" Fish scent. I use it on all of my plastics and jigs - in my opinion it helps in bait retention time, and also in masking the "bad" smells we emit. When the fish get sluggish (such as late fall), it can also help in getting those few extra strikes...

 

Good Fishing,

 

Justin

Posted

Great report as always Justin!

Interesting choice of lures as well. I noticed the Cicada in the fourth photo is something I don't see two often. The hair jig looks like a nice bait as well. Is that a BPS jig?

All those photos of beautiful Bass are hard to take when some of us have to put the boats away early, but I'm glad someone is out there enjoying themselves!

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