At least I was a good Net Man

[johnnyb]

This year has really flown by…bicephalic and I have been busy crossing things off of our "to-do list", but haven't crossed a whole lot off the "to-fish list".

FINALLY, late in the season, we were able to put a day together. Left Mississauga a couple minutes before 4:00am Sunday morning, and were in Muskoka, with the boat hitched up, fresh oil in the lower unit of the trusty Nissan 8hp, and rolling just a couple minutes before 7:00am. Now the question was….where to fish? Before turning on the main road, we grabbed a coin and took a minute to study it. The Queen faces right…which will take us to bass waters…and the potential of lakers as they're all year-round in that particular lake. Turning left would take us to pike waters where bicephalic caught his current PB a couple years ago. Heads =bass...tails=pike. To be honest…we were both thinking pike…so when the toss came up "heads" we decided on best 2 out of 3. Second flip…tails. Tie breaker:

 

HEADS!

All righty…bust out the bass gear…we are going to try and track down some fall-feedbag smallies! Quick drive down the road…then an easy ATV trail…couple deep puddles but nothing awful…and it was a short carry down to the water. I think we were fired up and floating by 8:00….not too shabby.

The wind was quite a nasty wake-up call…and the sun hadn't found a way around the clouds yet, so we stayed in a protected bay and jigged for a bit….not a sniff.

Got out into the wind, and did a bit of recon with the Lowrance…figured that we may as well troll while we scanned. 35FOW…up to 26-27…uneven bottom….43 degrees…brrr….ooohhh, here's a hump, coming up to 18FOW….now back down to 35. Hmmmm….our lures should be going over it soon….tick-tick-tick….yup…FISH ON!!!

I was first to hook up, on a purple taildancer….and the fish quickly got off. Dang…but not 30 seconds later, bicephalic has one on! This chunky fellow (the fish, that is) found his way into the net just after 9:00. We is on the board!!!!

21 inches and none too skinny. Too big to keep, so back he goes.

We trolled back and forth a couple more times, and whaddya know, we got ourselves a pattern! Get the lures dragging bottom over that hump, and whammo! 2 more smallies for bicephalic….19 inches apiece!

All the action is getting bice warmed up enough to the point of almost being able to smile!

 

 

Unfortunately, our pattern did not include any fish for me. Really started to seem like the fish had a preference for the fat, bulky profile bicephalic had (his lure, I mean! ), and were passing on the long slender profile of my taildancer.

Knowing that it was swarming with fat, hungry fish, we wanted to be dragging tubes and dropshotting this point, but a few factors were working against us. First, the wind was too stiff for the driftsock to keep us moving slow enough, and second, the motor refused to warm up to the point where it would give us a nice slow idle…so staying in one spot was next to impossible. Didn't need the GPS to know that we were trolling faster than we should…felt close to musky speed. Not to mention that with ice forming on our rods and filling our reels with slush...it was tough to do the casting/jigging thing. A few more passes with no fish, so we went off in search of more similar structure. Found a gorgeous point with lots of traffic on the screen….no takers….dropped off into 60FOW and saw lots of laker-looking marks…dropped down the jigging spoons…one small bump but no commitment.

The cold and wind was starting to slow us down….not to mention we couldn't buy a bite at any of the prime spots we were trying…spots that produce some nice fish whenever we hit this lake. You know it's bad when you start taking pics of the scenery….

We stopped off at an island…cranked up a quick fire and warmed up our lunch. I officially cemented my status as Guide when I gave bicephalic half my sandwich….sheesh! Eat my food….catch my fish…LOL

The day was dragging on (much like this report), and we needed to either get into some fish, or get packing. We headed back to our original spot, and on what literally would have been our last trolling run of the day, bicephalic nails the fattest bass we've ever seen in person. At 20.25 inches long, it was shorter than his first piggy…but wow, did it ever out-girth it!

 

 

 

Dropped the boat back off at my parent's place where they just happened to have a nice hot dinner waiting for us , and then home.

And that was all she wrote – not often that I get skunked and don't care about it. We had a great day – no mechanical breakdowns…had a lot of laughs…and we put some nice fish in the boat. Can't wait to do it again!!

[fishnsled]

Great report and some very nice smallies. Nice of you to offer to be the photographer for the day.

[mercman]

Nice smallies. That last one is a real pig !!! Thanks for sharing.tite lines bud.

 

 

[jimmer]

Man, those are some nice smallies!

[limeyangler]

WOW.....every fish bar one smashed my PB...awesome fishies!

 

Question JB.....did you not swap over to your buddies bait?

 

Great report....not long for the ice by the sounds of your slush filled reels

[Smarty Pantz]

Wow, very nice smallies! And sometimes it doesn't matter if you get skunked as long as you're having fun & in good company

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

awesome... i've pondered hittin' up the ol' smallie hole a few times in the last few weeks but the 25-30 km/h winds every morning have sent me back to bed. good job on beating the elements for some BIG bass!

[johnnyb]

Thanks for the nice comments folks....twas a good day indeed.

 

Limey...I think the cold was affecting my brain a bit. My cousin was using a "Trolls-to 20"...and I only had a "Dives-to 7" that matched the same profile. I didn't clue in until near the end of the day that my DT is meant to get to 7' on a cast...letting out enough line to troll had it skipping bottom with ease.

I also found, however, that my powerpro was having an uncharacteristically hard time with the rocks....2 passes and I could break it with my hands...without so much as a sharp tug. If I were to get a second crack at it....I'd either use a couple anchors to stay on the spot...or troll something that just hits the shallowest part of the hump...instead of dragging my line right over it. Either way...that line's going in the garbage...not sure if it's because it's the red stuff, or it's just old and rotted....but PP has never let me down before. Switching back to the original green

[limeyangler]

 

Limey...I think the cold was affecting my brain a bit. IEither way...that line's going in the garbage...not sure if it's because it's the red stuff, or it's just old and rotted....but PP has never let me down before. Switching back to the original green

 

 

Yup, brain freeze...lol...that would be it

 

I just swapped over to power pro red stuff from from the berkely 'crystal' stuff.....the PP was awesome for the first week, casted for miles,but was getting loads of wind knots. Now it doesnt even outcast my other reel with berkely crystal still on it, the only reason i have not thrown it in the garbage too is because it 'feels' better fior bite detection, somehow feels heavier and lighter at the same time, reel nice line for straight jigging walters in deep water, oh yeah...unnuver reason i aint canned it is because at $20 a spool i will keep going till i wind knot the whole spool off!!!! wont be long.

[irishfield]

I'm not sure what it is.. but Laker Jessy is just so much cute'r in the bow!!!!

 

Nice outting lads!! Determined and fish... well at least for one of you!

[johnnyb]

Thanks Wayne....LJ and I are booked for some first-ice fishing on Nosbon....which means I'll get my butt whipped, but will finally be able to put her back in a report LOL.

As for the PowerPro, Limey....it sounds silly, but I'm inclined to think its the red stuff. Never had a problem with the green.

[irishfield]

Good to hear she's getting back out John. I'd plan a winter couples outing for us all this winter.. but unfortunately I can't at this time.

 

Give her a hug for me..

[johnnyb]

I hear ya....you guys are most definitely in our prayers. Hug has been passed along

[spinnerbaitking]

Great Report, it's always nice to catch fish but if you can't its nice for someone to catch fish, at least you know you were in the right area

Richard

[Leecher]

Great report and pics johnnyb

At least one of you was paying attention joking

Sounds like a fun time.... except for the wind

Congrats to Bice on those beauties

Thanks for sharing your time on the water!!!

Leechman

[bicephalic]

Sorry for the late reply...just stumbled across this report. Was a great day

 

Thanks for the kind words everyone. JB really is a great guide

[johnnyb]

Well now that you finally got around to reading this, perhaps that means the cheque for my guiding services is on it's way...finally?!?!?!?

 

I'm actually more disconcerted that you are giving up on the ice so quickly and have resorted to reading softwater reports from last year

 

 

[bicephalic]

I'm actually more disconcerted that you are giving up on the ice so quickly and have resorted to reading softwater reports from last year

 

Meh - at least I manage to catch some fish on the soft stuff every now and then. Getting tired of this stripe on my back.

[Joey]

Nice smallies, and great photography too

[ranksda58]

great report! love those smallies

and that football at the end?? WOW!