Georgian Bay Report

[backbay]

Time finally came to open up my pal's cottage, which normally coincides with the opening of pike season in that neck of the woods.

There was a fair bit of work to do this year: some plumbing, a septic pump that was uncooperative (that's bad), a roof and ceiling leak to repair, some wiring to do, a room to panel and finish, and a host of the normal cottage stuff to take care of, so I stayed up for 10 days to take care of things, and to scare the fish.

 

 

The weather, of course, was unbelievably good. Considering it often snows this time of year, it seemed like summer arrived overnight.

As usual, the area's beauty was a welcome sight after spending winter in Toronto.

 

After getting the place up and running, some of our pals came up to welcome the new fishing season.

My buddy Timo only throws Topraiders and some drastically over-sized submarines disguised as lures. As a result, he was working on a weekend total of zero by the time Sunday rolled around.

On the way back to the cottage, I pointed out an area where I caught a muskie the summer before. Timo asked to troll though, and redeemed himself from the dreaded skunk:

 

On Monday, after the guys had gone home, I went to check on my favourite beaver pond.

The pond looked great. Can't wait till it's time to get on it with some topwater gear.

 

 

 

The next morning was pristine. Massasauga Park at 7 am:

and on the way home that night:

Wood blends in with rock on Woods Bay:

As usual, the fishing was great, with lots of pike being caught, as well as quite a number of OOS footballs, which seemed to have already started to move off their nests.

In the 10 days or so that I was up, the pike had started to transition off the shallows and into deeper water as the water warmed up. I hate the cold, and seldom swim in May, but was in the water a few times. The water temp off the dock five feet down was 65*, which was surprising as the depth is over 20 ft. deep.

It was a fantastic time to fast-forward into the middle of summer, and I can't wait to get up again.

A few notes:

As I mentioned, the focus changed from looking for pike in knee-deep water to 10-15 ft, over the period of a week or so. I briefly tried an Alabama rig, despite bring ridiculed by my girlfriend Cindy for cheating. I'll take another crack at it after bass season opens. It take just a bit of prep to choose what swimbaits/plastics you want to use, and to make sure they are are running true. As a guy who usually fishes with 5 or 6 rods, often in a smallish boat, you have to pay some attention to how and where you place it when not in use. It can be a pain, actually.

 

The fishing was best during the super-moon, without a doubt. All of the eight guys who were up had great luck, and a few of them do very little fishing.

 

I got a pike using a Super Spook, which I normally wait to June to start using, as they just seem to work better then. I also caught my first gar of the year. I was some of them doing the Lambada in the shallows.

 

I invested a lot of time paying attention to the bottom contour in advance of muskie and smallie season, looking for walls, breaks, and holes. This is going to be my year chasing the heavyweights!

[BucktownAngler]

couple nice pike. good job

 

pretty brave lipping it like a Bass

[backbay]

He had this crazy glove with him, but I couldn't agree with you more!

[adempsey]

Thanks for the report. Some great shots there! I love Georgian Bay when nobody is around.

[fishindevil]

nice report & pics !!! sure does look awesome up there from your pictures of the scenery,and you got some nice pike too !!! good luck for the rest of the season,show us some of those big football smallies !!! cheers

[Cast-Away]

Nice report Backbay. I recognize quite a few of the scenery shots having been there myself so many times. Were you by chance fishing with a bunch of guys from Belleville?

[Rich Clemens]

Very Nice. I can't wait to get back up to the Canadian Sheild ... two more weeks.

[backbay]

Nice report Backbay. I recognize quite a few of the scenery shots having been there myself so many times. Were you by chance fishing with a bunch of guys from Belleville?

 

No, the guys were all from Toronto. There were a few boats on the weekend, and a group from the Pennsylvania club up for the week, but there are a lot of places to hide up there, for sure.

[johnnyb]

Great report and pics....LOL at the pike hold