Big Swede's Year in Fishing - 2009 (pic heavy!) - General Discussion

Big Swede

Posted December 16, 2009

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Posted December 16, 2009

Sad state of affairs when all of your trips in a year can be posted in one shot. I have two little ones at home now so I don't get out all that often these days, but this year was one to remember. I figured I'd share with a bunch of enthusiasts!

Grey Bruce 2009 - August 12-14

cookslav and I went on our annual trip to this beautiful part of Ontario to fish new waters and to return to old hunting gounds. We've been doing this for years now and regardless of how many days we go up, it's always a blast.

First up was Isaac Lake which was awesome to boat on (complete ghost town) but with so much structure and shallow waters, finding the fish proved tough. It would be awesome to hit at night though for some top water, that is, if you aren't afraid of losing lures to the huge pike in there. I did end up catching a small pike using a white offset with gold blades. Apparently, that colour combo works like a charm.

Isaac Lake:

We then made our way to a favourite spot to do some top water fishing as the sun set. Loads of fun. But before we got on the water, I asked cookslav if he wanted to bring the net. Confidently, he said no, we never need it. A decision that would haunt him shortly. He hooked into a monster largie (rare in those waters) using a skitter pop but didn't get the hookset right. As it passed close to the boat, we all got a real good look at it. Then it went under us and shortly after, cookslav's line went slack. Would have been the fish of the trip. I reminded cookslav of that for the rest of the trip too. Just because I love him like a brother.

Me on the other hand, on our second visit to that water the very next day, buried my hook deep into this 17" largie using a top water plug:, no net needed

On the second day, we tried some new water which is the best part of this trip. Hotter than hell that day though, but we saw so many big smallies cruising, we will be back. The best part was that the water was super clear so we started bombing them with plastic worms. I had no luck, but cookslav did great with a couple of nice smallies including this one:

After we cooled off in the lake with an impromptu swim, we headed back out for some top water night fishing.

The last day, we again hit some familiar waters and went to catch some pike. For years I have been wanting to bend my wobblers but never knew how to until cookslav showed me. Man, was that awesome. I started nailing the pike using a style I call Honey Harbour (after another fishing trip) where you cast 5' off the back of the boat and then you steer your lure over the weed tops. Within 5 minutes, I landed two decent pike, one of them is here:

After the third one, cookslav switched up! But as fast as they came on, they turned off. But not until cookslav caught a little one. To spare him the embarrassment, I won't post a pic! But I will post this one:

(Totally legal folks, as the only motor we use is electric) All in all it was a great trip to make with a great friend!

Florida Keys - September 3

This trip was a once in a lifetime experience! I was down that way on business when I got an offer to change my life by trying salt water fishing. I have wanted to do that for years so I jumped at the opportunity. We headed down past Key Largo (how cool is that?!?) to Tavanier. My buddy's boat is an inflatable with a steel hull and a 130 HP motor. Thing flew across the water. Being that it was rain season (hurricane season!), it was beyond humid and storms were always brewing. That just added to the awesomeness of the trip.

Cool boat:

Thunderheads abound!

We started out of Harry Harris Park and here's the view on the way out:

We went 14 miles out to the Largo Hump then onto the Wolf Reef. Loads of flying fish but no big birds to point the way to the Mahi Mahi or Dolphin as the Floridians call them. Moments after asking if my buddy had ever caught barracuda, I landed a 30". Not much of a fight, but still way cool.

Seriously, check out this thing's teeth!

After that, it got pretty quiet. Unbearably hot too. Then my buddy thought we should try somewhere else... Islamorada. As we pulled up, we saw 6 charters circling the area and we knew we were in for it. Frigate birds everywhere too, another good sign

As soon as we took our first pass we banged into tuna. Man, what a powerful fish! As soon as they hit, your reel screams for mercy. We caught a couple of Big Eye tuna and some huge Skipjacks, a double header of 22 and 23lbs. Incredible fish!

Check out the fatty (the fish, not me)

We decided to pack it in as the weather was looking rough.

But as we started going, we heard some hollering from another boat and then saw a fish jumping at the end of a line. A school of dolphin fish was in! Sure enough we hooked into a couple and let me tell you, this is the ultimate fighting fish. Beautiful colours, super powerful and crazy acrobatics. These things would jump 6' in the air several times and take monster run after monster run.

We ended up catching three mahi, 8, 10, 12 lbs.

And on the way out, we got the chance to say hi to some nice people on a big boat (note how close this is!)

Another thing that floored me was that we were 14 miles off shore on the Atlantic and the water was as calm as a small Ontario lake! Seriously, this is the freakin' ocean!

Here's a shot of the mess of fish we brought home that day

One last pic from that trip I wanted to share... how many times have you seen this road sign?

Gotta love Florida!

Bay of Quinte - December 14

It's been a couple years since I made it out to the BoQ with the last time being this complete disaster which I documented here:

http://forums.quintefishing.com/phpBB2/vie...&highlight=

This trip was much better weather wise and I got to say hi in person to Superdad, who I have been exchanging online pleasantries for over 10 years now. Well worth the trip for that.

In terms of fishing, cookslav and I were one of the many boats methodically patrolling Picton Bay that day, marking loads of fish, but not having many bite. We left super early to get there (3:30am from Kitchener) and were on the water by 7:30. So by the time the afternoon rolled along, I started napping in my seat. When I woke up, cookslav had turned us around and I was startled, forgetting where I was for a second. :blush:

Moments after and still dazed from sleep, I noticed my planer go under and I set the hook. Can't really recall much of that though! :lol:

But I did end up with this beauty using an orange and purple reef runner (Cat Dog colour)

It was pretty quiet after that, with this being our only bite and fish. Of course, as we got off the water, we heard that just east of the ferry was a turkey shoot, with almost 40 fish being caught by two boats. Grrr... Well good on them for leaving the pack and being rewarded big time.

Any how, this jaunt worked well for us as a day trip so it looks we are going to try this on an annual basis, and hitting the water last minute to avoid that earlier nightmare I mentioned.

Have a happy holidays everyone and good luck on the hard water! It'll be here soon enough!

Thanks for reading my 2009 report. Here's hoping 2010 allows me more chances to tell you some tall tales!