JoshS Posted January 15, 2012 Report Posted January 15, 2012 (edited) I love reading reports and so thought I’d contribute and throw one up here. Last week we had some great warm temps (not for the ice fishing guys!). Friday Jan 6th, 6degrees, little wind… knew the fish would be active. I had arranged early in the morning to meet a friend at the water after work, with anticipation of finishing work kind of early. I finished later than expected, just before 4, and ran down to the water and was casting just after 4:20. Only had maybe 30-45 mins but it's always worth it. First spot, no sightings. However, this is a one or two cast spot on the way to the better spot and my confidence was still high. A cast takes a long time this time of year because of the speed you work your baits so one cast an area is by far all the time I had. I met my buddy at the next spot who said he had a follow from one of the biggest pike he's seen down there, "well over 40 for sure with huge shoulders". My first cast on the new spot, slowly twitching my jerk bait that seemed to slowly sink perfectly, I hook up. It stayed down, had some big slow shakes and I knew it was big. Got the fish to the 8ft cement wall I was fishing off and noticed I had a massively fat fish that looked to exceed the 40in benchmark. Perhaps my biggest pike ever... And according to my friend, a chance it was the fish he had seen earlier. Also noticed he had one treble in, barely hanging from the corner of his lip. Ohhh no. As I approached the ladder to climb down to land him, and man were my knees shaky! Guess what? He shook me off way to easily and slowly swam away. My knees instantly hit the floor, I dropped my rod and stared into nothing for a min or two speechless. I was so discouraged, that this 33 incher I got a few casts later seemed like nothing and I tried to shake the hook so I didn’t have to land it. Couldn’t shake it off so landed it and changed my opinion on him so took this "stunning" pic: Sorry about the blurry pics! The next day was calling for the same temps but windy. I slept in and planned on getting a few afternoon hours in. I got out around 1 and drove down to the same spot to meet my friend who informed me he had seen nothing in over an hour of casting. Without even wetting a line, I then decided to make a move to another spot I’d been thinking about. We ended up getting some lunch, taking our time and got to the other spot and casting around just after 2. An hour into it… no fish sightings. I’ve only fished this spot once a few years ago and have yet to catch one here but knew it would be a good place for big fish to roam until spawn. Also, the sun was high, winds howling and conditions weren’t in our favour, despite the warmer than usual air temps. Think it got up to 8 degrees that day. Then, I noticed the wind made a slight change to the NW and some clouds rolled in, or could it of been that prime time (aka evening bite) was approaching that, sure enough… We nailed one! A high 30s fatty that looked like it swallowed a basketball! A beauty open water January big female. My friend kept saying this was the fishing gods consolation for the lost monster the night before, I said they are going to have to do a little better than that but what the heck I'll take it. Few casts later, and 30 meters or so along the same breakline ,this fat mid 30s inhaled my jerkbait: Fishing gods were doing ok now Again, sorry about the extreme blur, not easy on the eyes I know. All fish were super chunky. Funny how on the second day we saw zero follows, just two bites. I was expecting more. The day before, my friend had seen multiple follows. I think this time of year you get shorter feeding windows for these fish and at times they just shut off. I’m constantly conflicted on where to fish close to home on the warm days of winter… Steelhead, pike or casting for browns. I know the ice fishing guys don’t like it but next weekend is looking pretty good LOL! Wanna try some big suckers on quick strike rigs and floats next. Hopefully I'll sneak out mid week on one of these warm days coming up, however I'm almost positive some spots are iced up now. Until the ice fishing bug hits me hard (bound to happen), I'm loving these warm winter days for open water. The spots are not big secrets but please don't mention, thank you. Thanks for reading. Edited January 15, 2012 by JoshS
Rod Caster Posted January 15, 2012 Report Posted January 15, 2012 Great story-telling! Anybody would be happy with fish that size... But too bad the fishing gods spoiled your fun with the 'ol one hook shaker move
lew Posted January 15, 2012 Report Posted January 15, 2012 Some really nice chunky fish there, well done !!
mercman Posted January 15, 2012 Report Posted January 15, 2012 Softwater fishing in January anywhere in Ontario is bonus Nice gators dude!!
Djeep Posted January 16, 2012 Report Posted January 16, 2012 Looks better than decent to me! nice gators
msp Posted January 16, 2012 Report Posted January 16, 2012 Nice fish. Helsinki Shad ! I knew it would be a killer pike colour.
johnnyb Posted January 16, 2012 Report Posted January 16, 2012 I'm impressed! Those are some really nice fish....you have a pretty slick routine down there...and a great write-up too
Gregoire Posted January 16, 2012 Report Posted January 16, 2012 Thanks for sharing. Makes me think I should spend some time chasing gators in winter.
SirWhite Posted January 17, 2012 Report Posted January 17, 2012 Really nice, great colouring on all of 'em! Caught from shore! Big miss from shore! So where's that then? Lol. Good job man
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