Rice brothers spring Nipissing trip

[kickingfrog]

Short trip to Nipissing for some fishin'.

 

High water, late spring and just about every type of weather possible in 2 days at the end of May. The fishing was average to slow, and we never really hit on one pattern. Good chance though to give the boat a real fishing shake-down. Very happy with the boat, I may try to tweak a couple of things for tackle storage and a minor modification for the rod holders but that's about it... for now.

 

First fish, in season, in the boat. Trolling a crankbait.

 

I want to get a couple of small pieces of 1 inch thick plywood to make it easier to mount and unmount the rod holders.

 

Cranked up a few eyes that were in the bottom end of the slot. Real walleye chop out there eh?

 

 

Got some bottom bouncing crawler harnesses.

 

A couple jigging. Some were eaters and tasted very good. My brother still uses meat sometimes on the jig.

 

 

Another pike on a crank.

 

Only one drum this year, solid fight on a medium walleye jigging outfit.

 

 

Best lit shot of the trip.

 

May try to get some musky slime next week.

[danc]

Not too shabby Rob. Couple of decent Walleyes there. Good times for sure!!

[Joey]

Nice report. Glad to see some fish were caught. Tough weather conditions with the changes for sure.

 

Do you troll for pike or pickerel like that?

[Walleye'm Fishing]

Good lookin' bunch of eaters for you two and a nice report to boot.

[Jigger]

Looks like you guys did had a great time! Heading up there next weekend cant wait! What were the water temps?

[kickingfrog]

Nice report. Glad to see some fish were caught. Tough weather conditions with the changes for sure.

 

Do you troll for pike or pickerel like that?

 

Not realy, but sorta. With a console I do use it sometimes trolling for eyes as the driver. My brother will use it just when he needs both hands free.

[Rizzo]

Nice! Glad you had a good chance to test out the boat and got into a few fish. Nipissing has a lot of hazards...hope you didn't need to implement the spare prop. I finally get to put my new boat to the test later this week (first day I had to go real gentle on it for the break in).

[Rizzo]

and by the way, nice sheephead! I've caught a few that really had my heart racing until I saw what it was. They sure can fight.

[Nipfisher]

Good report Rob. It sure was tough conditions. They walleye were really biting this week off of Sunset Point along Lakeshore Drive. In all the years I have fished Nipissing (over 20) I have yet to catch a walleye on a crankbait. I use meat on my jigs, harnesses, and spinners 100% of the time.

[kickingfrog]

Nice! Glad you had a good chance to test out the boat and got into a few fish. Nipissing has a lot of hazards...hope you didn't need to implement the spare prop. I finally get to put my new boat to the test later this week (first day I had to go real gentle on it for the break in).

There are lots of hazards, but that part of the lake is where my family's, now my uncle's, cottage is. (It's hidden behind the big cottage on the right side of that drum photo) So that area I know very well, but the gps does helpl.

 

and by the way, nice sheephead! I've caught a few that really had my heart racing until I saw what it was. They sure can fight.

In the spring when walleye fight the poorest I find it's easy to tell when I have a drum on when they take that first run. Later in the year when a nice size eye can at least fight a little it's sometimes tougher, but ya you are always thinking maybe this is a 10lb eye instead of a 4lb drum.

 

Good report Rob. It sure was tough conditions. They walleye were really biting this week off of Sunset Point along Lakeshore Drive. In all the years I have fished Nipissing (over 20) I have yet to catch a walleye on a crankbait. I use meat on my jigs, harnesses, and spinners 100% of the time.

Most of our bigger walleye are on crankbaits. I mostly use the deep taildancer or a big shad rap. I have the most confidence in perch colour although this year I used firetiger in the middle of the day in clear water and still got fish or two. Even casting in less then 10ft of water I like the deep diving baits because they seem to deflect off of rocks well and don't get hung up too much. Guys soaking bait hate it when you pull up on a spot and hit a solid fish in the first couple of casts. I still like jigs and crawler harnesses but I use scented plastics and don't think it impacts my numbers, it also helps when the perch are a problem. On a side note, we didn't have one perch tap the whole time.

[Rizzo]

I was fishing a big nitro glider bait up there once for muskies off a rocky point. Had a fish absolutely smash it....missed it...came back for another swipe and this time it was fish on. What power, had to be at least a mid 40's musky I'm thinking...nope big ugly giant sheephead. Had to be over 10 pounds (although I admit I did not weigh it).

[kickingfrog]

Musky bait eh, haven't heard that before. Minnow baits, crankbaits and of course jigs and harnesses. My cousin caught one that would have easily broken the record back in the 80's but at the time he didn't want anything to do with it and we didn't know it was a record at the time.

[woodenboater]

Looked like a great day with your new boat and you've a got full summer to look forward to ! Hope you don't spend it unhooking sheephead though

[Rizzo]

was the only one I ever caught on a musky bait before. Probably took 2 swipes because it was hard to fit even the hooks in its mouth never mind the bait

[kickingfrog]

Forgot to mention Roger, in 2 and a half days of fishing we used just over 23 litres of fuel. No real long runs but lots running time.

[misfish]

Time with yer bro. PRICELESS.

[Rizzo]

came as advertised! I usually went through about 10 litres in a day of fishing, sounds like the same for you

[Old Ironmaker]

It's great to get the new boat in the water for the first time and everything works. To actually boat a few nice ones is a big bonus. It looks like that walleye took the stinger hook on your jig, a must have on that lake. Since learning about stingers I use them on all my jigs and will out fish others regularly on all lakes. I have even put them on tubes using a very small hook with a touch of meat on it.

 

I love sheepshead, heck they have entire pro fishing circuits dedicated to them down south. They paint a spot on the tail and call them Redfish. Nothing like thinking you have a sheepshead on and finding a hog Erie pick on the hook. If you always think you are fighting a big walleye and find a sheepshead you will be disappointed, think the opposite and then you can really high five when you land the pickerel.

[Muskieman]

Great report Rob !!

[Leecher]

Awesome report Rob Fishing with family, on your new boat and catching a good mix bag of fish just doesn't get much better than that

Thanks for sharing!

TJunkie

[Sinker]

Nice work guys! I love those taildancers too! I usually cast them off weed edges. The nice thing with them is when you hit a weed, you just stop reeling, and 90% of the time the lure will float itself off. Glow chub in #7 or 9 are my go to. They're killer on spring lakers too!

 

S.