Discovering Valhalla - Report

[JustinHoffman]

Hello All,

 

With my good friend and fellow fishing writer, Tim Allard, recently back on Canadian soil, hitting the water for the first time together this season was high on the to-do list. This past Tuesday we made it happen.

 

Making the decision to hit the river for a day of heavy cover fishing, we launched the boat and headed upstream at 8:30am. Having checked the weather forecast the night before, I was expecting a 5k/10k/5k blow throughout the day. This was not to be the case. A strong easterly breeze was was working its way down the river - gusting between 15 and 20 clicks. Knowing how the river funnels the wind from every direction on this body of water, we had a feeling we might be in for a tough fish. At the least, we had our work cut out for us in terms of boat control.

 

Working a flat for some early roamers - using a variety of topwaters, swim baits, plastic sticks and hair jigs - had us come up empty handed. Although I generally don't hit shallow slop until the sun has peaked higher, we headed to some prime, sheltered real estate early on to escape Mother Natures breath.

 

Tim put the first fish in the boat shortly after. It came from a shoreline slop mat and hit a Texas-rigged Culprit "Craw." It was nice to see the first Ontario bass go to the guy that has been living in Aussie land for more than a year. Nothing big but the first always gets the confidence up.

 

While running the boat out to the main channel we came across an isolated cabbage bed. A few pitches with a YUM Money Craw and I had my first decent fish of the day. Things were beginning to look up.

 

At this point we made a decision to turn this outing into a bit of an adventure. Laying flat in the boat we worked our way under a small bridge. Clearence was a bit dicey, and anything bigger than the boat we were in would be a no-go. For years I've been wondering what the other side held - we were about to find out. Prior to heading under we hit two of my favourite shoreline trees. A 3lb 4oz fish sucked in my craw and gave me a healthy tussle.

 

 

To read the rest of this report, and view more images, check out my website/blog at:

 

http://www.justinhoffmanoutdoors.wordpress.com

 

Good Fishing,

 

Justin

Edited August 3, 2011 by JustinHoffman

[fishindevil]

nice report and fish justin !!! thanks for the report...cheers

[JustinHoffman]

More than welcome, fishindevil...will have a couple of new reports out this coming week.

 

Good Fishing,

 

Justin