MJL Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 After a dismal carping session Saturday night (into Sunday morning), I was pumped for another fun day of hunting brookies. Over the weekend I did some research on more places to try my luck for brookies. Pulled out old maps I got from the Toronto Sportsman Show years ago. Also did more searching on Google Earth and I visited the local library to see if I could get my hands on a few topographic and hydrographic maps. Left the house at 8am this morning with my: Fishing licence + wallet, polarized glasses, ultra-lite combo, a small net, a sandwich, a bottle of water, camera, bug spray (definitely needed) + sunscreen, waders + boots and a small box of spinners and other mini lures. I packed light for this trip. Got to the river and climbed down the bank (I actually got lost twice on the way to the river but I won't discuss that ) …Tried the first few pools above the road with a panther martin spinner but no luck…Not even the chub or minnows were biting (I actually didn’t hook any all day). Walked further upstream and found a big deep pool with some fallen logs. I hid behind some shrubs for maximum concealment and 2nd cast with the spinner I get one to hit. Success! It was 10 inches long and the biggest brookie of the day Walked further upstream and fished deeper runs, pocket water, rifles, pools, undercuts and log jams. Most of the places I actually stopped at I either hooked and landed one or hooked and lost one…Unfortunately most spots were just 1 fish spots – I'm guessing the rest of the fish probably ran deep into cover afterwards. Another one – This was about the average size today – Still beautiful nonetheless A kaleidoscope of colours Landed 12 brookies in total in a 1.5km stretch of river and lost a good number of small ones. All of them were caught on the panther martin spinner (My only one which I subsequently lost to a sunken tree today). I was amazed at how fast they dart out of cover and hit lures. At 1pm I hopped into the car and made my way to a lower stretch of the river. First cast into the pool, I’m greeted with a small but sweet brownie They really liked the Mepps spinner. The release In total I landed 12 of these small browns…All them were roughly the same size. I had a fun time catching them on the ultra-lite and thought my day went pretty well (I'm sure the fishing won't always be like this)…I had another half hour to fish till I had to go home…A few more casts wouldn’t hurt… I casted my size 1 Mepps upstream and retrieved with the current…I suddenly found my drag singing like mad and my 5’6” ultra-lite rod bent over double I had a good idea what was taking me up and down river for a run After 5 frantic minutes of running, trying to horse the thing in, subsequently slipping on some mud and falling onto my ass and cussing, I tail a chrome steelhead of around 7lbs Seems the steelhead gods flicked the On-Switch…In the last half hour of my day, I hooked and landed 3 more steelhead between 2-7lbs in the same pool with the Mepps. For the other members of my Chromaholics Anonymous support group, these fish were accidents and I didn’t enjoy catching them at all (well maybe just a little ). It was a great day out. Weather was nice, fish were biting (some bugs were too but Deet kept them at bay). I’m afraid to say that I think I'm becoming addicted to this type of ultra-lite fishing. It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever wanted to try fishing for something measured in inches rather than pounds and I’m enjoying it a lot. This evening I purchased a few more Panther Martin and small Mepps spinners from BPS and it looks like I’m ready for another round with the brookies. Hope you enjoyed
limeyangler Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Definitely enjoyed that MJL! Absolutely love that 'release' picture, really cool. thanks for posting Simon
alphaalpha Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 wow, sounds like an awesome day! i've been doing alot of browsing on google earth as well, what a great tool it is. just wish i had more time for exploring all them small streams... congrats on your success!
Victor Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 (edited) so you finally bought a net for this ? lol!! nice work man, that definitely was a great day. Edited May 20, 2009 by Victor
drwxr Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 sweeeeeeett man... a steelhead on ultra light, i bet that was fun...well done...
okumasheffield Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Dude, why do you always go fishing by yourself? If I were to tag along, I could have taken pictures of you holding fish! Cheers,
b2kptbo Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Nicely done, musta been a good ride with the ulta light...
Greencoachdog Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Great report and pics!!! I'm also addicted to ultra lite fishing! The fish around here have seen every big bass lure there is, and they ain't falling for that old trick. They love to gorges themselves on baby shad, and a small 1/8th oz. inline spinner is the perfect imitation! I landed both of these fish on the same size rod and reel you were using with 4 lb. fluoro. Yeah, I catch a lot of small fish... and they're lots of fun too!... but I also get some big'uns too!
Spiel Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Hard not to be happy with that kind of success, well done Mike.
highdrifter Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Mike.. We been friends for a while now. When you gonna share the love?! Awesome dude!! cheers HD
Paulus Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Great report! Nice reading material for a work break, indeed p.-
Zubris21 Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Sounds like a great day out there. I love seeing the reports of river adventures!
Joeytier Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 You're killing me here! I probably won't be able to get back to the streams until at least Friday. If you need assistance taking photos and/or netting fish, I'm your man.
MJL Posted May 20, 2009 Author Report Posted May 20, 2009 Thanks guys so you finally bought a net for this ? lol!! nice work man, that definitely was a great day. I've had that net for a few years...Use it when I'm fishing smallies in the canoe. I think it's the first time in 2 or 3 years that I've used it though.LOL GCD, that's awesome...You ever have to pull up anchor and chase Moby Dick? Ever get spooled fishing the fast water?
Rattletrap2 Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Great report and an awesome mixed bag of Trout, MJL
bbnotty Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 Great post Mike, love the spinner fishing eh. Berge
NAC Posted May 21, 2009 Report Posted May 21, 2009 great report and I'd definitely keep that spot under my hat!
MJL Posted May 21, 2009 Author Report Posted May 21, 2009 love the spinner fishing eh. You know it Can't go wrong with spinners. For steelhead I enjoy tossing spinners as much as I do getting them on the pin. In terms of fun, it's hard to beat watching them follow a spinner close in, then nailing it right at your feet and then having to dodge their initial few jumps right into your spawn sacks (if you know what I mean)
BillM Posted May 21, 2009 Report Posted May 21, 2009 You know it Can't go wrong with spinners. For steelhead I enjoy tossing spinners as much as I do getting them on the pin. In terms of fun, it's hard to beat watching them follow a spinner close in, then nailing it right at your feet and then having to dodge their initial few jumps right into your spawn sacks (if you know what I mean) I nailed 2 early season shakers on the Notty last Sept(3-4lbs maybe). It's not even a hit, it's like they annihilate it. I've never had fish fight that hard before. It was unreal. One second you are reeling in the spinner, the next your reel is lit up and you've lost 50 yrds of line in no time.
Leecher Posted May 21, 2009 Report Posted May 21, 2009 An absolute awesome report Mike Truly enjoyed the read.... you can't beat a day like that Those brookies and browns are the most colorful and can put up quite a fight on lite gear.... even for their size. Again great job Mike and thanks for sharing Leechman
CLofchik Posted May 22, 2009 Report Posted May 22, 2009 You don't need to go to the library to look up topo maps, they're available free to view on Toporama or download and print on Geogratis. Very helpful for wistful evening trip planning. Also bring some smaller cranks with you too, I've found small Kwikfish or baby Salmo's are deadly on trout bounced infront of wood or undercuts. It's a little bit like playing chicken, you don't want that $7 plug getting tooooo close to that wood......especially with steel around
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