johnnyb Posted April 9, 2012 Report Posted April 9, 2012 If you just can't contain yourself….scroll down until you see a picture of a fish Otherwise, enjoy my ramblings and scenery pics as I break down my Easter weekend for you. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the weekend at my parent's place in Muskoka, and with the ice being out on the lakes, I figured I'd get a shot at some lake trout either from shore or in my canoe…possibly even the tinner if time allowed. I had also found a lake close by that sounded very interesting for stocked Brookies. I had downriggers packed (just in case), a medium spinning combo, and a pile of body baits, spoons and spinners. We (wife and daughter and I) drove up on Friday and were in Muskoka by 2pm. By 4 or 5pm, Dad and I had the tinner in the water and the little 8hp Nissan started on the second pull. Our lake has panfish, bass and walleye….so pretty much nothing to fish for unless I wanted to look for perch, which wasn't terribly high on the list. Saturday morning was when the fun started. Had a great breakfast at the local general store/gas bar/café while I let my lovely wife sleep in, then handed my daughter off to Nana to decorate her Easter basket. Grabbed my spinning combo and a tray of spoons and spinners, and headed down the road with my GPS in hand. I love walking through the woods this time of year…dry and clear and easy to get through! Unfortunately, the section of road that the MNR said the access trail I wanted was off of, was marked as private when I got there. I parked further away, but spent most of my time skirting around this road and the cottages on it, not wanting to trespass or tick anyone off. I did find one pond, which seemed to hold nothing after casting a good portion of the shoreline. Looked good though: As I ran out of time and packed it up, I bumped into a local who lived not to far from the lake I was looking for. Sounds more like the cottagers on that road have made a public road SEEM private….but no more time was allowed, as we had a date with friends in Huntsville. So I'll have to come back to this lake another time. Off to Huntsville we went, to hang out for the rest of the day on another lake…which happens to be stocked with lakers….and our friends had their boat in the water, ready to troll Sadly, I didn't get any pics….we had two downriggers going, and we were looking for a shoal that comes up pretty quickly….so I was busy rasing and lowering those while he steered the boat. My friend doesn't troll very deep this time of year, but uses the riggers so he can control his depth, as the shoals will come up from 40fow right to 6….and he finds it easier to get hung up when flatlining. Anyway, our time was cut short by a low fuel supply. That is, we ran out of gas! Apparently he let his son do a bit too much "touring" during the day…his half tank of fuel got mostly burned up, leaving us about 30 minutes of trolling. D'oh! Rookie mistake to assume he had gas without checking it…but we called a neighbor who came out with a small jerry can and we puttered home to be greeted by lots and lots of laughter. Ah well…at least dinner was delicious J Along came Sunday….and I knew I still had a shot at one more outing. I was hoping to take the tinner out on Rosseau or Joe, but after church, and an insanely good turkey lunch….the clock was working against me. After packing the bags and loading the car so that chore was out of the way, I was left with two and half hours in which to fish. Trailering the boat down the road to Rosseau was only going to leave me with 30 minutes of fishing time….not worth it. So I resigned myself to going for panfish at a local waterfall….where I'd also caught my pb brookie many years ago. I figured it was close by, and I was likely to get some action….plus I might get lucky and score a trout. Beautiful day to be out No fish though….every year it seems more and more like that brookie was an incredibly lucky catch. Didn't even get panfish biting….maybe too cold still. I knew of one more lake relatively close by that holds lakers….and the shore access was decent….and of course the lakers were likely to be shallow. Off I went. Got to the lake with about an hour on the clock, and started casting a chunky blue and silver little cleo into the wind. Started deep, and worked my way shallower, casting closer to shore. In about 7 feet of water, close to a large boulder visible under the surface, something grabbed my spoon. Something with some pull! I could see a good sized fish under the water…and then it jumped. D'oh. Out of season bass. A tank of a fish though…definitely not a stretch to say this fish was at the 20 inch mark…put him back and told him to meet me in July. Two casts later, another hit, and another bass easily the same length as the first one, but not quite as chunky. Paired up already? Seems like it….so I moved up the shore a little. Snagged my spoon, and snapped the 6lb Maxima trying to free it. At this point, I had tussled with a couple good sized fish, even though they didn't count, and I was down one lure. I thought about packing up, but with time on the clock, that just didn't seem right. I have an x-zone slammer that I put on a stand-up jig head a while ago, thinking that it would be good for hopping along bottom. Decided that if I was ever going to use it, now seemed like an opportune time. A few minutes of hopping it along bottom yielded nothing, so I experimented with it, to see what action I could get out of it. If I swam the rig, gently jigging it, the tail of the slammer kicked really nicely, and the flat headed jig fluttered down somewhat slowly. Certainly looked like a scared baitfish to me. I sent the lure out, and started swimming it back….THUMP…lure keeps swimming. Was that a fish? Didn't take the lure with it. Was it a snag? Seemed to be too hard of a thump for that…I'm not reeling that fast. I admired the action on my lure as it came into view about 10 feet from shore. Then, as I was getting ready to lift it out, a dark shadow darted in out of nowhere and grabbed it. Reflexes kicked in and I set the hook…I braced myself for a fight, but could only stand there as my reel SCREAMED! This fish easily pulled out 50 yards of line! I knew the drag wasn't set too light, and neither one of the tank bass pulled out much line at all. I took this as a pretty good indication that I had a laker on the line. All I could do was keep the line tight while this thing pounded away….he took 3 beautiful runs and at times I couldn't even move him. So much power! After some careful walking up and down shore, I guided a gorgeous laker into a shallow corner and grabbed him. Such a nice way to end the weekend! I packed up and headed back…cleaned the fish up and left my very happy dad with a thick, pale orange fillet I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing his face when I bring home a decent fish….and then put half of it in his freezer LOL Final measurements were 25.5" x 12.5" which the weight calculator puts at 4.9lbs. Not too shabby, and the largest trout I've landed in that particular lake. Well that's it....for now….can't wait for the next time. Happy Easter, everyone!
Terry Posted April 9, 2012 Report Posted April 9, 2012 nice going, looks like a great way to spend Easter weekend
mercman Posted April 9, 2012 Report Posted April 9, 2012 Great report, and looks like the best way to spend a long weekend !!! Thanks for sharing.
12footspringbok Posted April 9, 2012 Report Posted April 9, 2012 Sounds like you had a good weekend. Thanks for sharing.
manitoubass2 Posted April 9, 2012 Report Posted April 9, 2012 nice catch johnnyb! Nothing wrong with that laker at all. Sounds like you had an amazing time.
misfish Posted April 9, 2012 Report Posted April 9, 2012 Rambling??????????? Never noticed. Great report,and a nice bonus fish there Johnny.
Musky or Specks Posted April 9, 2012 Report Posted April 9, 2012 Man you should post a pic of that bait actually sounds intriguing
Cookslav Posted April 9, 2012 Report Posted April 9, 2012 Great read Really gets my anticipation going and the blood pumping....can't wait to get out and wet a line.
johnnyb Posted April 10, 2012 Author Report Posted April 10, 2012 Man you should post a pic of that bait actually sounds intriguing I know....but I snagged it shortly thereafter and don't have any more of those jigheads. I'm workin' on it though....pretty sure I know where I can get my hands on some more of them. Keep an eye on your inbox
solopaddler Posted April 10, 2012 Report Posted April 10, 2012 This post is a testament to your perseverence. Beauty laker bud!
Leecher Posted April 10, 2012 Report Posted April 10, 2012 I'm surprised you didn't get into any fish at the falls... looks inviting for any species to hideout Good job on the laker She's a beaut Thanks for sharing Leechman
Victor Posted April 10, 2012 Report Posted April 10, 2012 It's always fun to bushwack and find a beautiful place all to yourself. Enjoyed the read, thanks for sharing!
Walleye'm Fishing Posted April 10, 2012 Report Posted April 10, 2012 Great way to spend a weekend and a nice laker to boot.
ccmtcanada Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 Fantastic report! Not a lot of fish, but that's not always the point of getting out there. Looked like a great weekend to me!
woodenboater Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 what a way to cap the long weekend ! terrific read.
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