Guest Johnny Bass Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 I'm back!!!!! Been periodically surfing OFC for the last few weeks and enjoying the reports. Thought I'd submit one of my own! Made plans to Head for Georgian bay. Got there around 7:30. We honestly weren't expecting to catch much so we decided to go a little late. We paid the $15 and launched the boat at pier69. Right off the bat? The engine wouldn't start. I'm thinking battery. So I go get the trolling battery and sure enough It starts. Then I decide to try again with the origional battery and it wont start. I see sparks though. I clean the post of corrosion and presto. The boat starts on the first turn, even after it has been sitting for 6+ months!!!Gotta love Yamaha engines!!!We're in business! I reconnect the trolling motor battery and start setting up my rods. I try to cast with my new Ambassador C3. And I got a birds nest on first cast!!!I am starting to think of ways to sell this thing. After about 15 minutes I give up and reel in all tangled. I later figure it out and it works great. Though the way the line releases sucks. You have to use one hand to thumb the line and the other hand to push the release button. Finally set up all my rods.My rod rack works perfectly but I still have 2 rods that wont fit which eventually got stepped on. Though no damage that I can see, yet..... Now I started using my Diawa emblem X, though it is completly fried, Almost $150+ in repairs later and it only lasted me an extra 1/2 season.....I switch to my new Shimano Stradic. I cant say enough about this reel. Smooth as silk. I know it had a fast gear ratio so I varied retrieves. twiched, stopped, ect.. As far as the rod? I just bought a Shimano Clarus. I found it a little too stiff. Though it will be perfect for the application I bought it for. Tubes. Lots of back bone and a fast tip! Anyways we drive around, ask the locals and the pickeral are biting well on worm harnesses. We had no worms so decide to go for pike. Head for Port Severn. Get there and its too shallow to fish. Threw a few casts here and there with no luck. It was hard to stay on spots with the wind blowing around 20k. It was a north east wind and really cold. The water temp was 51 degrees. We tried a few other spots with no luck. By noon the sun was hiding under one huge cloud that went from east to west with clear skies north and south of the cloud! Wierd!The wind had picked up and there were gusts of 30+k.I'm starting to think we're gonna get skunked! We look for fresh weeds and found them in 10 FOW(the magic depth of the day). Around 12:30 the sun peeked out. I hit my first pike. And its decent. About 15 minutes later I catch another one. About 10 minutes later I hook another and it gets off! I'm estatic at this point. The sun was heating up and so was the water temps. We seen them rise from 51 degrees to 56 degrees! We found a pattern so I start parallel drifting the spot. I smash another one. Though this one mangled my last hook on my Husky Jerk. I replaced the hook with a rusty hook close to the same size. I'm thinking it will affect the movement and was starting to get discouraged. Even though I had more Husky Jerks, I kept casting out that one. A little while later? Wham! I get another pike! I guess the rusted hook didn't make much of a difference! On my very next cast? Wham ANOTHER pike. This one is the best of the day. 32 inchs and fat. About 6-7 lbs. I think this is the same one too but dont know for sure. Altogeher I think I nailed 6-8 pike in about 2-3 hours. Not bad. We decided to try for pickeral. We started trolling around. Mark was using a perch coloured crank bait. I was using a minnow coloured jointed shad rap. Mark gets a hit. He lands a 19 inch pickeral. It was in the slot so we had to release it. No picture taken. A few minutes later I get one. About 19 inches also. A few minutes later I get another around the same length. Then Mark hooks this beaty. 25 inches. We are both happy at this point! Then Mark loses one! Then we decide to troll deeper water. I was trolling a 10 foot ledge next to a 20 foot hole and picked up this beauty! It measured at 29 inches. This camera does not do this fish justice!! At first I thought it was a musky. One was caught earlier by the locals. It gave me a good fight and the gears on my cheap reel are finally toast. This is the same reel I caught the big musky last fall. The reel grinds as you are reeling in. I still need more equipment.... After that the fishing was on fire, the water temps had hit 60 degrees! Mark gets one at 16.1 inches. Just in the slot. Then I pick one up. 16.2 inches. In the water it goes. I catch another.Finally a keeper! Mark hooks a smallie. One jump and its gone. We decided to troll towards the lauch. Picked up a few more and called it a day. I wanted to get to the lauch before dark, since this was the first time this season egtting out, I didn't want to make any mistakes. A great start to another season!! Sorry about the long read. Many pictures didn't come out and there may be a double(pike) in there somewhere.
lew Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 Thanks Johnny B, I've been waiting all winter for your great fishin reports. Good to see you had such an excellent day for your 1st time on the water this year and hopefully your luck will continue thru the season !! In that last pic, you look like your saying thanks to the fish Gods
SlowPoke Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 Great report and worth the wait. I'm glad the day turned around for you... persistance pays off. -Brian
Jigger Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 Great outing for sure! You'll get used to the Abu, once you use it enough you won't even notice. Just be sure to set it properly and you'll have no problems. One thing to watch for is the three screws in the side, I've had them come loose from time to time.
lovetofish Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 Wow looks like you had a great day! nice report. didn't really know Georgian bay had such good pike and walley fishing lovetofish
silveradosheriff Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 Now, that's a great start to the year! Well done!
setomonkey Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 Good to have you back posting on OFC, and with a great first report of the season too... Mike
Rich Clemens Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 Great report JB and sure does sound like you have a great day on the water. Sure ... I'm a littel envious.
fishdawg Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 thats a decent day JB - good on ya Ive never fished G-Bay, from what I hear it can be tough at times,
solopaddler Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 Love to see reports like that! Seems to me the walleye slot system on Georgian Bay is reaping dividends. Congrats on a great day!
irishfield Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 GREAT stuff Johnny and I won't tell anyone where you were. Good thing your cameral blurrs the backgrounds for you...LOL Some great fish there. Sometime I think I'm a tad nuts with GBay in my backyard and heading North 4 hours to fish instead.
Golfisher Posted May 6, 2007 Report Posted May 6, 2007 Dang, it's good to see you back, and fully clothed as well. LOL!
Rizzo Posted May 7, 2007 Report Posted May 7, 2007 its been a while since anyone smashed some fish around here, glad to see a good report, keep em coming
Daplumma Posted May 7, 2007 Report Posted May 7, 2007 Great report JB .I appreciate it when people take the time to upload all the pics and tell the story,it takes more than a few minutes.Good job. Joe
daisy_girl58 Posted May 7, 2007 Report Posted May 7, 2007 WooHoo! We are going up next weekend! I like the pickeral hubby likes pike....Looks good guys! Lorissa
fishindevil Posted May 7, 2007 Report Posted May 7, 2007 WOW....great catch man, you guys did amazing,and you guys stuck it out considering all that happened,and it looked pretty rough as well,and it paid off with all those great looking fish,and gotta love those walleyes ,thanks for sharing your trip and those awsome fish pics....cheers
steverowbotham Posted May 7, 2007 Report Posted May 7, 2007 sounds like a good day to me. looks windy. great fishing bro!
Guest Johnny Bass Posted May 7, 2007 Report Posted May 7, 2007 Thanks guys. Glad to be back and I am looking forward to reading and submitting more reports! Its going to be a toughie figuring out where to fish the opener though. So many lakes , so little time!!!!
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