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Thanksgiving Weekend - HOT and COLD


steverowbotham

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Well, every year for thanksgiving I head up to Haliburton area to Kelli's cottage for her family's thanksgiving celebration. Lucky for me, there's some great fishing to be had.

 

We drove up Saturday morning and fished a small lake on the way to the cottage. Through a bit of research I knew it was mostly a largemouth lake (what I wanted), but did have some smallies as well.

 

We launched the boat at 10am into 53 degree water and I picked up my flippin jig and didnt put it down. Within 5 minutes I had 2 small pike in the boat, and quickly followed it up with a nice 3 pound largie. Some time went by and Kelli put a few decent smallies in the boat casting away from shore with senkos and jerkbaits. I kept flippin, and I got into a nice surprise... a 43 inch musky.

 

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I kept flippin and managed to put a few good fish in the boat. One largie around 5, the rest were 3 pounds or so. I also got a 4 pound smallie on the jig off a floating dock. Kelli managed some decent smallies as well

 

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At around 2:30 we pulled the boat out and headed for her cottage on 12 Mile Lake. I launched the boat and went for a quick fish while she mingled with family. In an hour I managed to get about 10 fish, all decent fish on a jerkbait.

 

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Went in and had a nice dinner, then took her uncle out for a bit. It cooled down significantly, but managed a couple more fish, one around 4.5 pounds. The fish are FAT!

 

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Slept in a tent on Saturday night, holy eff. It was a bit chilly at -3.

 

Woke up and went for another fish. Still -3 out. Got into a few fish but it was slow, managed one real good smallie on the jerkbait.

 

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Here's where the weekend got interesting. Went to take the boat out at Wedgewood Marina at 1:00pm and there was an old pickup parked in front of the launch ramp. There were 4 other boats waiting to get out of the water and no one to be found. One group of guys put their trailer around the guys truck and down the ramp by hand. I helped them drag the boat and trailer up the ramp by hand to their truck and they agreed to help me. As we got my boat on the trailer, the marina owner came home and lost his mind! He threatened to call the police for trespassing and told us to never return among other curses and random non-sensical rumblings. Now, I understand it is his property and he has every right to block his ramp. There was not a single sign posted anywhere saying he was closed (apparently he is closed every Sunday) and he never informed us when we launched our boat the day before. First off, what marina closes every sunday? Especially the sunday on the last long weekend of the year? There were 4 other boats needing to pull their boat out at the only marina on the lake. He not-so-politely informed me that his hours are on his website. Why would I check his website when it would take 10 cents to grab a pen and paper and write closed. Either way, the guy was a complete jerk and I got my boat out. Wedgewood Marina, I wouldnt recommend the guy to my enemies.

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Good stuff! I used to fish that lake like crazy, and adjacent ones, when I was younger. I remember that guy at Wedgewood (if hes the same one), and i remember not liking him too much either. Sucks that that is the only marina around there. Theres a launch on little boshkung too if you need one. Nice smallies!

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Great report Steve, thanks for sharing it.

 

Ours is a private marina. We don't allow folks to just launch and take their boat out when they're not members...it's an agreement that the town makes us adhere to. However, if ever anyone arrives at the launch needing to take their boat out of the water or launch it or pump out their boat or whatever... We'll let them and even help them do it..I think it's a common courtesy and I'm not so sure that blocking someone from using a boat ramp is not illegal. Wondering.....

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Good stuff! I used to fish that lake like crazy, and adjacent ones, when I was younger. I remember that guy at Wedgewood (if hes the same one), and i remember not liking him too much either. Sucks that that is the only marina around there. Theres a launch on little boshkung too if you need one. Nice smallies!

 

I've used the ramp at Little Boshkung, but at this time of year they drop the water levels and its too shallow to drop my boat. The bunks dont even get wet

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Nice looking fish Steve! I managed to not spend a single penny at that marina this year. I had a situation last year where I had only enough gas to get over to the marina and pull my boat out and wouldn't you guess? Yeah, ramp blocked. So, cursing his name, I made it to right around the narrows into Little Bosh when I emptied out the last drops of fuel. So I'm cursing him even more as I drop the trolling motor in. About 1km from the launch, you guessed it, emptied the juice from the battery. So I paddle and paddle, and so on until I finally got my boat on the trailer. Which is no easy feat at this time of year because of the low water levels, as Steve alluded to. As I'm pulling out, the corner of the trailer catches the ramp and twists it right out of whack. Had to tow back to the cottage doing 40km/h and, luckily came accross a trailer not too long after that.

 

The following season I paid him a visit and, VERY nicely considering I'd stewed over this for some time, told him of my misfortune and suggested strongly that he should put in an honour box for when hes not around. Also, that I put a few hundred dollars in his pocket every year up 'til that point, but that I wouldn't use his services anymore and that MANY other cottagers felt the same.

 

Its too bad, too. By the sounds of it, the Wedge used to be quite the hub of activity on those three lakes. Good times come and go, I guess.

 

Congrats on the outings Steve. The trailers really are the cats meow!

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