My Bass Opener

[The Urban Fisherman]

Every year I look forward to hitting Longpoint Bay with my old man, oldest daughter and a friend or two for the annual Longpoint Bay Bass Derby. This year the derby was shrouded on controversy because the local municipality decided it'd be a good idea to allow one of the the main access roads to marinas & bait shops to be closed for a marathon. Local marinas, bait shops and anglers alike were all pretty ornery about the situation. There would typically be as many as 5000 boats buying bait, paying launch fees and lining up to launch at the various marinas. This meant bass opener would be a backed up mess early Saturday morning on the Longpoint side, and businesses would miss out on a substantial amount of income along the other side of the bay.

 

Well, as it turns out mother nature had a different plan anyways. We ended up with 80-90 KMH wind gusts and supposedly 9 foot waves on the main lake so they cancelled the derby. Some crazy dudes still went out and even complained about the cancellation. lol It was the first time they cancelled it in 35 years and I think it was the RIGHT call. Even the Bassmaster Classic would have been pushed back a day or so.

 

SO, my friends who made the 6+ hour drive from Sudbury friday afternoon ended up leaving late Saturday to make the long drive home in the rain. I sat there, deflated and bummed out. Eventually, at around 5:45 pm I said screw it... I'm taking the jon boat and hitting up the local in-land lake for some largemouth despite the fact that it was literally down-pouring rain. We hadn't had lightning all day so I went for it. The wife needed me home for 8:30 pm so I had a little over 2 hours to pull off some bass fishing on opener.

 

The reservoir is a small body of water, and is surrounded by hills and high trees, so the 50 - 80KMH winds can barely kick up a few ripples on the water... The long and short of it is, it was insane! I didn't catch anything over 2.5 to 3lbs and the average fish was only maybe 1.5 lbs but it was literally every single cast. Jig, jerkabit, spinnerbait, drop shot it didn't matter... It was the most incredible 2 hours of bass fishing I've ever experienced on this body of water. If I had cracked off a 5-6lber that would have been the icing on the cake, but I'll take it.

 

Here's a few pics - would have taken more but if I destroyed my phone taking pictures of fish in the rain my wife would have killed me. hahaha You can tell by the stupid looks on my face how excited I was.

 

Happy Canada Day Folks! Get out there and catch some fish!

 

 

First cast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2015 by The Urban Fisherman

[MCTFisher9120]

That's pretty awesome write up Ryan, sorry about the tourney not happening but heading out for a few hours was definitely a good idea. I've had moments where you throw 4 or 5 casts and you catch 4 or 5 fish but 2 hours sounds like a wicked time despite the rain.

 

Nice Report sir! I didn't to so great on opener might post a few pics today.

[Lape0019]

That's awesome! I do need to see a few more pics of that awesome looking John boat though!

[Steve]

you have that reservoir down pat.

 

great to have local holes that you can retreat to when the winds kick up.

 

I heard about that weather down here in Southern Ontario...wow. musta been crazy!

[bawbag]

Not a bad day at all. The wrap on that jon boat looks familiar?

Did you deep hook yourself in the one pic with the line going in your mouth but no bait to be seen lol

[The Urban Fisherman]

That's pretty awesome write up Ryan, sorry about the tourney not happening but heading out for a few hours was definitely a good idea. I've had moments where you throw 4 or 5 casts and you catch 4 or 5 fish but 2 hours sounds like a wicked time despite the rain.

 

Nice Report sir! I didn't to so great on opener might post a few pics today.

 

Thanks buddy! Post your opener pix when you have a minute... I'd love to see em. It was on fire man, but like I said, lots of small fish. Good times regardless!

 

That's awesome! I do need to see a few more pics of that awesome looking John boat though!

 

haha It's a sweet little jon boat... I'll see if I can dig up some more pics at some point.

 

you have that reservoir down pat.

 

great to have local holes that you can retreat to when the winds kick up.

 

I heard about that weather down here in Southern Ontario...wow. musta been crazy!

 

The wind storm was nuts... took down some big trees on Longpoint but as far as I know there wasn't any major damage to any houses / cottages etc. I love that little lake... it's a great spot to take the kids for panfish action..

 

Not a bad day at all. The wrap on that jon boat looks familiar?

Did you deep hook yourself in the one pic with the line going in your mouth but no bait to be seen lol

 

I work for Dave Mercer and he wrapped the jon boat a few years back to shoot a backlake show. So yeah, it looks exactly like his previous bass boat wrap.

 

I didn't hook myself.. I just have a bad habit of chewing on line after I bite the tag end off while tying knots. I took the pic because it was down-pouring rain on me and I had the phone out to take a fish pic...

Edited July 2, 2015 by The Urban Fisherman

[highdrifter]

That's some sweet bassin brahj. Didn't know the pond was so productive!!