Victoria day carping with the kids

Kids were off school for the long weekend, with 1 decent day in the forecast, we planned an outing for my 3 boys. Toss up between chasing pike, crappie and big Bluegills, versus carp and the odd panfish. Interestingly enough, the 3 unanimously agreed to go carp fishing, knowingly selecting size over numbers. I guess they're growing up, perhaps a tad spoiled when it comes to fishing...

Got to my spot shortly after 10:00 AM, set got my lines set up. Plan was to test some newer braided lines I picked up over the off season to see how they would fair as far as hookup ratio and abrasion resistance. Also tried my chocolate boilies versus the vanilla/hazelnut, despite the chocolate being primarily a summer bait.

Didn't take long, got our first hit in about 1/2 hour, right in my most treacherous spot. The 50 lbs Kanzen superbraid cut within 5 seconds into the fight... 15 minutes later, another run on the same line, same story. So much for this overpriced line (2-3 times the price). I quickly added about 75 feet Power Pro 50 lbs line as a shock leader. 

Next hit came about 1/2 hour later, first one on a chocolate/cinnamon boilie, as well as the first one on my 50 lbs test Cajun Braid line. As Eli has never caught a carp yet, I handed him the rod, and helped him fight and land the fish. A nice 15.5 lbs, his first carp ever at 7 years old:

I noticed a large nick in the Cajun mainline after releasing the carp, seems like it just held up by a thin strand. Not too impressed, but it was less than 1/2 the price of the Kanzen line. 

Things got quiet after that, took nearly 2.5 hours for the next hit. The kids spent time catching small sunfish, rock bass, and gobies while waiting for the carp to start biting again. The gobies were in full spawn. Avi managed to catch a gobie fry by hand in a school right up on the rocks, and Levi eviscerated a fat female, as they are forbidden to be released. Good riddance...

The Kanzen line with the Power Pro shock leader went off, I handed Avi the rod. As h'es fought a decent number of carp, he had a relatively easier time fighting and landing the fish. Weighed in at 18 lbs:

Took about 20 minutes, and my heavier 65 lbs Suffix 832 line went off. I handed Levi the rod. He managed to pulled to big carp out of the treacherous spot that had snapped the other runs, but was having trouble controlling the fish, as it put up quite a fight. It ended up running into the pilings of a low bridge we were fishing close to. Levi held on, and somehow managed to horse the fish out of the pilings despite it being wrapped up tight. By some miracle, the Suffix line held, and the fish was still on. Just as the fish came up, it darted in front of an oncoming motorboat. I screamed, and luckily they were going slow enough to hear me. They move out of the way just in the nick of time, and I had the big carp in the net a couple minutes later. Weighed in at 20.5 lbs, biggest carp Levi has ever landed, not too shabby for a 10 year old:

Thing died down again, I eventually lost another one to a line cut on the Cajun Braid line, again in my treacherous hotspot.

Both Vanilla/Hazelnut and Chocloate Cinnamon boilies performed evenly throughout the outing, didn't have any garlic/cayenne on hand to test.

My next step will be trying a 50 lbs mono shock leader versus the 65 lbs Suffix 832 superbraid, will post results as they come.

Carp fishing heats up with cold front

After tough fishing conditions during last week's heat wave, I was hoping the incoming cold front would stabilize the fishing. Had a guided trip planned early on Sunday morning.

After last weeks' finicky fishing conditions, I decided to go with a slightly thinner line, namely, 50 lbs Power Pro. Though it cuts easier on rocks, it seems to get more hits due to it's thinner diameter and lighter weight. I also opted to go with shorter and lighter 9 foot rods, as my client was bringing along his 8 year old son. Not being too used to fishing, I imagined he may have a tough time with 12 foot rods.

Got to my spot around 7:00 AM. Set up 1 line, did some baiting, and waited for my first clients of the season to arrive. They arrive close to 1 hour later. No sooner had they got out of the car and said hello, we got our first run, again on my Vanilla/Hazelnut boilies. Unfortunately, the fish cut the line on the hookset, must have been wedged between some sharp rocks. Price to pay for going with thinner line.

Next hit came about 45 minutes later, same bait, same spot. 8 year old Eitan fought the fish most of the way in to the shore, then handed me the rod so he could net it as well. His first carp ever, and by far his biggest fish at about 13-14 lbs:

The strong winds were blowing a cold chill, and Eitan had had enough. He headed to the car to warm up.
Shortly after,  the next one went off. Again, another Vanilla/Hazelnut boilie, they were really on fire. This time, his dad Avi took the line and fought the fish, had it on the landing mat within minutes. Slightly smaller at about 12 lbs:

At this point, I knew it was going to be a successful outing, and figured we should hook into lots more fish at that pace. Set up another vanilla/Hazelnut boilie line. Unfortunately, Eitan had enough of the cold wind, and wanted to head home early. They left after being there for about 2 hours, but both got their fish.

Now my dilemma was whether to stay to enjoy some good fishing, or do the smart thing and catch up on some work, as well as much needed work around the house. I opted to stick around for another 45 minutes. 10 minutes in, I got a screaming run, (again the vanilla hazelnut boilie), hooked into a nice one. It just wouldn't come up, and had my 9 foot rod bent in half. I brought it close to shore a couple times, only to have it take off in screaming runs again. I was sure I had a very nice carp on, until I finally got my glimpse of the  fish.

To my surprise, it was a big channel catfish. Very unusual for them to fight like a carp, they typically just pull straight down, then roll round the surface once you get them to the top. This one fought like a carp until the very end, and I got my first batch of catfish slime onto the already carp slimed landing mat. Kind of my version of "bottom feeder gefilte slime". Weighed in at 13.5 lbs:

Headed home shortly after. Looks like the carp are back in their groove, I'm hoping it stays that way. Still have some available dates in the 3rd week of May and during the first 3 weeks of June, when carp fishing  should be at it's peak. Book your outing by clicking:  http://freshwaterphil.com/contactcarp.cfm

Fishing spring's first heat wave

After a winter that just wouldn't end, spring seems to be nearly over, at least as far as fishing is concerned. After a 10 day heat wave has warmed the water to the low to mid 60's (Fahrenheit), the fish are extremely finicky and unpredictable. Many of the fishermen I know are seeing the same thing, especially when it comes to pike and carp, some of the few species open at the present time.

I started off taking to of my kids to troll Lake St Francis for Pike on Sunday. Outside temperature reached in the upper 20's (Celsius), no wind, so seemingly a perfect outing. Unfortunately, the fish just weren't at their usual spring spots. I hit about 3 or 4 spots, multiple times each. We did manage a few pike, but not the size or numbers I was hoping for.

To make matters worse, I forgot my camera, so didn't shoot any fishing pics with the kids. To make matters even worse, inconsiderate jet skiers kept buzzing around us, nearly running over our lines a couple times. Add the swarms of gnats and high speed yachts throwing 3-4 foot waves at us, the pike opener was less than I had hoped for. Still, the kids had fun, and I got out of the office.

A couple days later, I headed out carping with a friend. The warming water should have throw them into a feeding frenzy by now, but again, the fishing was slow. Tired unsuccessfully using a couple flavours of boilies, eventually switched spots and finally caught one using corn.

Also got to test out my new 12 foot Daiwa black widow rods, performed well so far, but they take a bit of getting used to at that length. Got to mess around with my rod pod and bite alarms, and kept cool by spending some time in the water for the first time this year.

Finished off my fishing week by heading out pike fishing for the afternoon on Wednesday, with my friend Mike. Again, the fish weren't at the usual spots, but we ran around and found some sporadic bites, mainly while trolling. Caught about 20 pike in 3 hours or so, most under 4 lbs, but have some big followers and a nice one Mike caught.

Again, I got to test some new lures, namely, a Rapala Flat Rap FLR16 I picked up on special for $6.00 at Le Baron sport a few days ago. Looks like my work schedule will have me busy until the weekend, hope the change in weather will bring some more consistent fishing with it.

Carp fishing season is upon us

The ice has finally melted around Montreal. After missing one last week with partial ice cover on the surface, I was itching to get out to catch some carp.

Headed out for a short 5.5 solo hour outing. Incredibly, I got a run in the first 5-10 minutes, on a home made vanilla/hazelnut boilie. Unfortunately, the fish spit the hook within 5-10 seconds. felt real big too.

Waited 2.5 hours for the next run, this tme, I made no mistake and buried the hook. Had this nice 15 lbs carp in my new landing mat within a couple minutes:

Strangely enough, the carp were surfacing everywhere, very rare to see that sort of activity this early in the season. Hope to head back within the next week or so.

Trolling Lake Champlain lakers

Ice has finally melted on some of the waterways near Montreal, but seasons for most game species are still closed. Was scheduled to try some cold water carping, but changed plans when my friend Mike invited me out to head across the border to Lake Champlain to troll for early season lakers. After the success I've had with him in the past, I new I was going to be in for a good outing, despite the water still being near freezing temperature, and us only having about 4 hours to fish.

Finally got out and set up close to 10:30 AM. Mike set up us with 4 rods using planer boards, as New York and Vermont rules allow for 2 rods per person. First area we hit registered water temps in the 38 (Fahrenheit) degree range. Still a bit cols, even by lake trout standards. Trolled for an hour without success. Started bringing in our lines to switch spots, last line in got hit, fish on! Landed my first laker of 2013:

Now the dilemma was whether to stay on the spot in hopes of landing another one, or trying to find warmer water. Mike decided to find warmer water, and it turned out to be a good choice. We found an area with water in the 41-43 degree range. Turned out to be the right choice. Over the next 3 hours, we had 6 more hits, managed to land 5 of them, all bout the same size and weight range:

Needless to say, I was more than thrilled with the short outing, and some of our friends will be happy with the fresh lakers we brought back for them. Once again, Mike came through even in tough conditions, we noticed some other boats that weren't doing nearly as well. I highly recommend Mike as a guide for any species, contact him by clicking: http://freshwaterphil.com/contactmike.cfm 

Last ice fishing outing of the winter

Fished my first open local water outing of the season last week, was attempting to miraculously try to catch some carp in this weather. No such luck, I was slated to go back and try again this week, despite subzero temperature and a cold windchill or -15. My friend cancelled, as he was getting over a cold, and I decided to switch venues to hit the ice one more time before the official end of winter tomorrow.

Got to my first spot only to find a good 30 inches of ice covering the shallow 4-5 foot water I was fishing in. Didn't make prospecting with a manual auger very enticing. I still managed to drill half a dozen holes, hitting mud on one of them. No bites for the first 1.5 hours, so I headed off to another area.

Got to my second spot shortly after noon. Drilled a few holes, was happier to find only 18-20 inches of ice there, made things a bit easier. Still no luck, besides for a small pumpkinseed sunfish I caught on a micro jig, my first of the season. Drilled a few more holes to prospect in, switching to a small Rapala Jigging rap, no success. Eventually switched to a small Williams Wabbler jigging spoon, still not too much going on. Getting desperate, I tipped the spoon with half a worm. That did the trick, the fishing started hitting immediately. I landed another sunfish, about 5-6 inches:

Not much of a game fish, but surprisingly very colorful despite being under ice. Next bite pulled a bit harder, I landed a small largemouth bass:

After landing another small bass, I landed a black crappie:

After another bass and crappie, a big school of sunfish moved in. Despite drilling and switching holes at the same depth  throughout the afternoon, that same hole was the only one producing any results, so I went back. After landing about 50 sunfish, I managed a fat bluegill:

The big surprise was that I didn't land any perch the entire day, despite perch typically being the most aggressive winter fish in the area.

Total tally for the afternoon was 3 bass, 2 crappie, 1 bluegill and 55 sunfish, not too bad compared to my last couple outing. I also left my flasher home for this one, as the max depth I fished in was about 7 feet.

Reflecting on my 2013 ice fishing season, It was another interesting one as expected. I found some new spots, and learned some new things about old spots that were less successful in the past. The biggest learning experience was my Humminbird ice flasher. After fishing with it a few times, I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it really helps me see what going on with my lure, and how the fish respond to it. At those times, there is no way I would know what is going on under the ice without the flasher. On the flip side, I seem to do a lot better when I don't bring it along. May be do to the fact that I'm forced to figure out what works in those instances, instead of focusing on what's showing up on my flasher screen. I guess the testing will continue next season.

First carps of 2013

Just got back from my annual visit to Dallas, Texas. Spent a few days with my son and extended family, and had some meetings to attend as well. As my time was somewhat limited, my plan was to fish short sessions in between meetings, forcing me to find spots relatively close to where I was going. Also forced me to stay local in Dallas, so the trip was mainly going to be urban fishing in the Dallas area. Carp were going to be my target species for the trip.

Due to airline restrictions, I brought the bare minimum with me, which included a Rapala travel rod designed for bass, which breaks down into 4 sections, a couple baitrunner reels, and some end tackle. Borrowed an old 10 foot surf rod from my father in law which is no longer in use, except for when I visit.Texas allows for fishing up to 100 hooks per person, potentially allowing for 100 rods. Some areas have 2 and 3 rod restrictions, so it pays do do some research before heading out.

Got out of the airport on Thursday before noon, was closer to noon by the time I reached my destination.
After unpacking and a short break, I picked up my fishing license, a landing net and a few bags of frozen corn for bait. As a non resident, my license cost me $58, still better than paying by day which would have totalled $64. It's also valid until the end of summer if ever I make it back this year.

Hit my first spot close to 2:00 PM. Spot was just about unfishable due to low water, heavy weed cover at the bottom, tons of ducks and geese, and some kids throwing things in the water. Got fed up after about an hour, so I headed to my second spot after about an hour, hitting my favorite liquor store (Sigels) on the way. Luckily, I knew what I was looking for, with over 100 varieties of tequila and only 1 bottle allowance to bring back, it can be overwhelming unless you've done your homework. Picked up some nice cold imported beer as well, only to find out later on that most spots I fished had laws against drinking in public.

Hit my second post close to 3:30 PM. Set up my rods, didn't take long for sunfish and turtles to start eating off my bait. I would have been a lot better off with boilies there, but didn't take the time to make any before I left.

I eventually hooked a very small carp, ended up spitting my hook. Hooked another one later which took me straight into a tree and snagged my line. That was it for the day, headed out before 6:00 PM, as I had to meet my son.

A cold front blew in the next morning, temperature was about -2 wind chill when I got up. Not too good for fishing, as that's about as cold as it gets in Dallas. Did try a short 1 hour session between 2 meetings, no bites. With another spare hour in the afternoon, I decided to try Bachman lake, which is less than 5 minutes drive from where I was staying. My original plan was to night fish Bachman lake, but after doing some research, I was advised to avoid it even in the day, let alone at night, as it's located in prime gangland. With the cold front, I was quite confident that there wouldn't be any gang activity there during the day, so we headed out for a quick session. Sure enough, we had the entire lake to ourselves, but fish weren't biting.

That was it for the weekend, next chance to fish was on Sunday. Temperature had warmed up to a nice 22 degrees, so Ari and I planned to spend a good 6-7 hours on the water. Last May, Ari found a spot full of carp near a Marina on Lake Lewisville. Having been skunked a number of times at Lake Lewisville back when I lived in Dallas about 15 years ago, I was very skeptical. When we finally got to the area, we found "no fishing" signs everywhere, so had to fish further away. Nothing doing for about 2 hours, I had enough and decided to hit our next spot.

Dallas was many flood control creeks and ponds throughout the city, and most are stocked with bass and catfish by Texas parks and wildlife dept. In addition, many connect to each other as well as the Trinity River, so many other species including carp inhabit them. I had never fished this area before, so wasn't too sure what to expect. Got started just before 2:00 PM. Cast out a couple rods for carp, using corn as bait. Ari brought along a bass rod to throw some lures with while waiting for the carp to start feeding. Sure enough, he had his first bass of the season within 20 minutes or so, a nice 2.5 lbs Largemouth bass.

The carp didn't take much longer to get going. Within 10 minutes to Ari catching his bass, I got my first run. Landed this 11 lbs carp within a couple minutes, my first carp of 2013.

Didn't take 10  minutes, and Ari landed 2 back to back carp, 7 and 8 lbs. After slowing down a bit for an hour, my bass rod went off. The carp dropped it, only to come back with 20 seconds or so. Had the 14 pounder in the net shortly after, really nice fight in the light rod I was using.

we finshged the day with Ari catching another 14 lbs, followed by a 13 pounder.

Monday was my "day off". I had planned it a while back, idea was to head to world famous Lake Fork. Though Lake Fork is famous for the size of it's bass (18 lb lake record), the first carp and buffalo tournament there in 2012 was quite a success, with carp up to 35 lbs and smallmouth buffalo (buffs as the locals call them) up to 65 lbs landed. Not knowing where to start or end on that lake, and due to the potential size of the trophies, I decided to hire a guide. I opted to hire Richard Sommerville, who currently holds the lake record for buffs at 67 lbs. Originally from the UK, Richard has fished Texas for over 10 years, and is one of the pioneer carpers in that state.

Unfortunately, Richard is participating in the 2nd annual carp tournament, which is being held at Lake Fork next week. This meant that he wasn't allowed to fish any of the pegs for 2 weeks in advance, which forced us onto a different part of the lake. Though the conditions looked very promising, all we managed to land for the days were 3 channel cats, biggest one about 8 lbs.

Despite the lousy fishing, we had a good time. I learned a lot from him during the course of the day, and being the the first class guy that he is, he invited out to fish with him next time I visit.

It felt great to fish open water again, and even better to experience some nice screaming carp run in the dead of winter. I even got to wear a t shirt for the first time in 4-5 months. Now that I'm back, I will likely head out on ice another coupe times before the hardwater season ends.

Fishing with my Humminbird ice 35 flasher

The brutal cold front finally ended, was itching to get out on the ice again, as I've been trapped in my office behind my keyboard. I rarely fish in places that have cabins or drive on access by car. I don't use a shelter either, so the weather has to be bearable in order for me to spend a comfortable days outdoors in January.

Plans were to test and hopefully catch some fish with the help of my new toy for this season, the Humminbird Ice 35 flasher. I was still undecided as to how important or useful this piece of equipment will be for me. Many serious ice fishermen swear by flashers, but I'm not that much of an ice fisherman, and most of the areas I fish are rather shallow.

Headed out with a buddy of mine, decided to try an area I had ice fished only once before, without much success. Got set up around 10:00 AM, plan was to jig small Rapala Jigging raps and see if I got any response on the Humminbird Ice 35 flasher, in which case I'd test to see if coaxing the fish to bite would actually work.

I drilled the first couples holes over 10 feet of water, no response, nothing marking on the  Humminbird Ice 35 flasher except for my lure. I moved out deeper, drilled over 14 feet. Set up the flasher, dropped my line, and instantly, I saw a fish come off the bottom after my lure. Landed my first perch of the day, a nice 10 inches, perfect keeper size. Unfortunately, the fish wasn't part of a school as I had hoped, and that was it for the action in that hole for the time being.

My buddy had a small handheld sonar, more for measuring depth than for marking fish. After jigging unsuccessfully with soft plastics, he switched to jigging live minnows. His tactic paid off, he landed a pike not long after switching his bait:

I continued drilling holes in various depths ranging from 10 to 16 feet, then power fishing them with the Humminbird flasher / Rapala Jigging Rap combo. I eventually switched colors from black and silver to blue and silver. Response was instant, a small school of perch surrounded my lure, and within a couple minutes, I had 5 more perch on ice.

My buddy landed another pike jigging a small spoon with a dead minnow on the treble hook, and fishing slowed down for a while. I eventually marked some finicky fish coming up to my lure, added a small minnow head to it. Tactic worked, I caught my first bluegill of the season:

Eventually managed to more bluegill and more perch, but they were extremely finicky, and had to be worked. I would have been able to pinpoint their location and coax them into striking my lure without the help of the Humminbird flasher.

Headed out with my Humminbird flasher again, about a week after originally publishing this blog post. This time, the weather was significantly colder, around -8 with the wind gusting at 25+ km/h, made it feel closer to -15 in the sun. Plan was to alternate using the Humminbird between myself and my fishing buddy, to see how we would do with it vs. without it given the same conditions and location.

Got set up around 10:30, started off jigging with a small jigging rap. The lure was immediately swarmed on the Humminbird flasher's screen, didn't take much effort for me to catch a good 20 or so perch in the first hour. My buddy who is quite new to fishing was having a tougher time, but still managed to land some without the flasher. We eventually switched, and sure enough his catch rate increased, while mine decreased. That was when I started realizing how finicky the fish actually were, probably do to the cold/sunny conditions associated with the high pressure.

As the high pressure cold front kept moving in, the fishing slowed down. Eventually switched spots, didn't do much better except for a nice jumbo perch. Switched back to our original spot for the afternoon / evening bite, by now, my buddy was getting cold and wasn't too interested in unhooking fish anymore. He eventually spent the last hour in the car with the heating on, as the setting sun and dropping temperature went felt below -20 with the wind.

Unfortunate for him, as the bite was on. The fish got really aggressive as long as I was jigging suspended at about 9 feet over a 14 foot bottom. Again, I would have a tough time figuring out the sweet spot without my Humminbird Ice flasher. Caught a good 25 perch in the last hour of the day, and a small bass on a Williams Wabbler:

On both of these outings, the flasher proved to be extremely useful. It helped me decide whether or not to drill/switch ice holes, what depth and style to fish at, but most importantly, I was able to see exactly how the fish respond to different lures, depths and methods. I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to hang on to my flasher or sell it, but I think it's a keeper.

First brook trout on ice of 2013

I recently met a new friend that immigrated here about a year ago from down South. Originally from Peru, he made his way up here from Florida. Strangely enough (to me), he has never fished before. He has been wanting to try some winter outdoor activities, so I invited him out to try ice fishing. After making sure he had enough warm clothing, we headed out to fish for brook trout.

With the rain and warm weather we have been having recently, much of the ice surface was smooth as a skating rink. Some areas still had a thin upper layer of ice, with a couple inches of trapped water in between the bottom layer, made walking quite difficult, as water on ice is about as slippery as you can get.

After showing my friend the the rod an reel combo works and explaining how to set the hook and bring fish up through ice holes, I showed him how to use the manual auger to drill holes as well. Fishing started off a bit slow, took about 1/2 hour for him to land his first fish ever:

Took him 36 years to do it, just another proof that it's never too late (or too early) to start fishing. The morning continued quite slowly, we drilled many holes moving from spot to spot with a few more fish. We eventually hit a nice sized school, and the fishing heated up quickly. My buddy even landed a double header:

Not to shabby for a beginner!  The bite was red hot, we quickly filled our bag limit of 20 fish.

Though he loves eating fish, he's never had to clean them on his own before. Regardless, I'm quite sure it will be a tasty learning experience for him.

Rapala Jigging Rap multispecies ice fishing

With a warm front moving in this week, I decided to head out on my first solo outing of the season. My original plans to go later this week were changed, probably for the best, as the warm weather and rain in the forecast will probably turn the ice surface into a slippery pool covered in 6 inches of water within the next few days. During the outing, I planned to do some more testing of my new Humminbird Ice 35 flasher, as I still want to determine whether or not this expensive toy will lead to additional success while fishing on ice.

I planned to hit a few spots for a few hours each. Got to my first spot, only to find knee to waist deep snow covering the most of the ground I have to cross to get to the water. Carrying all my gear, drinking water, flasher unit with battery, folding chair, ice rod and auger, proved quite difficult due to the deep snow (my short legs don't make it any easier). I got back into the car and headed to my second spot. Though I have easier access, the water is shallower for the first half kilometer or so. I drilled my first hole, a good 10 inches of solid ice, so I knew it was safe. Dropped the transducer in the hole. marked the bottom at 6 feet. Dropped my small Rapala Jigging Rap, and hooked a perch within a few seconds. It didn't mark on the flasher, despite having the gain set high enough to show my lure.

Headed towards deeper water, drilling and fishing along the way. Caught a few more perch. Eventually found a snowmobile track leading to deeper water, so I was confident that I was still standing on safe ice. Drilled a set of holes over depths of 6 to 18 feet, still 8 inches of ice on the surface, despite the slight current. Fished a couple hours without success trying a variety of depths and lures. The flasher marked occasional fish, I imagine they were bait fish, was they registered about the same size us the small lures I was using.

Eventually, I got bored and made the long trek back to the car carrying all my gear. I had the choice of either returning to my first spot close by, or trying 2 new spots I've never fished on ice yet. Decided to head back to my first spot, this time, taking only the bare minimum need to access the water and start fishing, due to the extra deep snow I had to walk through. This meant leaving the heavy/bulky flasher in the car, but not the end of the world, I'll get more time to test it this winter.

Got to my spot, drilled my first hole over 16-18 feet. Started jigging the bottom with a small Kastmaster micro soon, no success. Eventually, I switched back to my Rapala Jigging Rap, caught a nice perch after couple minutes:

When I unhooked the perch, it burped up a small baitfish, very close to the color and pattern of the Rapala jigging rap I was fishing. Just about a perfect case of matching the hatch.

After fishing the bottom and catching a couple small perch, I decided to try jigging a bit higher in the water column. I brought my lure up about 3 or 4 feet, and within less than a minute, I hooked and landed my first bass of 2013:

Nothing too big, maybe 8-9 inches or so, but still a largemouth bass, nice surprise on ice. I continued the suspended jigging, and the hole I drilled produced another nice surprise, a fat black crappie:

The spot kept producing good results. Despite drilling a few more holes, my original one was where I hooked most of the fish over the rest of the afternoon. In about 3 hours of fishing the spot, I landed a total of 4 largemouth bass in the 7-12 inch range, 9 black crappies and about 20 or so perch. Pretty decent, as I was using only 1 rod and 1 lure, no bait. I hope to go back soon, this time with the flasher, to see how the suspended / feeding fish show up on my flasher.

Kept a few of the larger perch and crappie, had them for breakfast this morning backed in a butter / lemon pepper sauce, quite delicious. Though I rarely keep fish other than trout for the table, it's extremely rewarding and very Canadian (and tasty) to be able to eat fresh caught panfish in the middle of winter.

New year family ice fishing trip

Kids still off school for New years break, I decided to take them up North for a few days despite some cold weather in the forecast. I wasn't expecting to match the spectacular results we had while trout fishing last week, as the target species for this trip was largemouth bass. Being a warm water fish, they are notoriously hard to catch under the ice, but well worth the results.

After catching some bass on that lake last February, I was hoping to top the results this year. I brought along my brand new Humminbird Ice 35 flasher, figuring 3 days would be ample time to test and get used to it. Though I'm not much of an ice fisherman, I rarely splurge on gear in that price range. But after a very busy 2 months at work, I decided to make an exception...

We got up to my favorite outfitter (Mijocama) just before 9:00 AM on new year's eve. Got settled in our chalet and hit the ice shortly before 11:00 AM. Plan was to fish the same area as last February, as he already has his first ice shanty installed on the spot. Being with my 4 boys, I knew that the 3 younger ones may have a tough time staying our on ice, so the heated shanty with 2 indoor ice holes made good sense.

I set us up with 1 jigging rod each, as jigging is by far the most effective method to catch bass under ice in regions where live baitfish are forbidden to use. Also set up my ice flasher, going from hole to hole every 10 minutes or so, giving my ,kids a chance to try it as well. Marked some huge schools of baitfish, but nothing big as far as I could tell.

The fishing was slow on day 1. Ari hooked the first fish of the outing, a smelt that hit his Rapala Jigging rap:

I managed a small perch that I tail hooked while jigging a mini Kastmaster spoon.

Jocelyn (the owner) took the time to come out and fish with us. Though I've been going to Mijocama for many years, Jocelyn rarely gets the time to fish with us, as he's typically booked solid and very busy throughout the summer. Winter is the exception. Being an outdoorsman, he takes the time to fish, hunt and trap as often as possible.

He had his sonar set up in his ice hole, and I put my flasher down in the same hole, so we can compare readings and possible action. Jigging near the bottom, he hooked up to a 13-14 inch bass that didn't show up on either of our systems. It must have been either lying on the bottom before it hit, it was his last bass of 2012:

We hit the cabin early for dinner, kids were asleep by 5:00 PM after a long day that started at 4:00 AM.
Next morning, they were up by 5:00 AM, after a solid 12 hours of sleep. We were ready to head out just after sunrise. With the temperature dipping to -14, they opted to fish inside the heated shanty. With the action being extremely slow, they headed back to the chalet to play Monopoly, which seemed more exciting to them than jigging an ice hole unsuccessfully for hours on end. After going lure hunting in the trees with Ari, Avi joined them as well.

Ari an I headed back to the cabin for lunch, with plans to switch areas on the lake, closer to our chalet. Though we'd be giving up the comfort of the shanty, we'd be right near the chalet if need be, and we'd also have a wider depth of water column to fish, being that we were adjacent to the lake's deepest hole (100+ feet).

We drilled our ice holes varying between 20, 35, 40, 45 and 55 feet. Again, many schools of baitfish at various depths marking on the flasher. Avi simultaneaously jigged at 25 and 50 feet for a short while:

He also tried drilling with my manual auger:

Jocelyn came by to visit and fish with us for a bit while prospecting new spots on the lake:

Shortly before sunset, I hooked into a nice 11 inch perch, first keeper of 2013:

With temperature dropping quickly, the sun set on another fund day on the ice:

The following morning, the ground temperature hit -25, felt more like a blistering -35 with the winds gusting at 15 - 20 KM/H. Levi and Eli didn't bother coming out to fish, they opted to do some sledding down one of the hills leading to the lake near the chalet. Avi and Ari were brave enough to come out with me, despite us not having access to a heated shanty on that section of the lake. Avi lasted less than 10 minutes, Ari maybe an extra 10 - 15 minutes. The 4 boys were all inside within less than 1/2 hour, not being equipped with the clothing I have, nor having the patience to jig holes that were freezing over within minutes.

As another group of people were coming to stay in our chalet, 1 hour alone was all I could afford, but well worth it. Though the fish weren't biting, I finally enjoyed that hour of peaceful,  quiet fishing, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air, despite being out fishing without shelter on one of the coldest, if not the coldest day I've ever fished.

Catching brook trout on ice

After my outing with the 4 boys yesterday, I decided to head out for trout again, this time, brook trout were the target species. As we were on public water with no cabins or management, I left the younger boys at home, to go out with Ari and Avi, ages 17 and 12.

After making sure that we were on safe ice, we set up 4 lines. Didn't take long for the action to start, and it just got better and better. As one hole would slow down, we'd drill another, only to find more fish almost each time, often within a few feet of each other.

We ended catching our 20 fish limit (2 permits) in about 2.5 hours.

Truly miraculous ice fishing!

Hope to head up North with the boys again next week, planning to target bass/pike before school starts again.

Quebec ice fishing for trout

Well, it's been a long spell of no fishing for me by my standards, just about 7 weeks or so. I tend to get swamped with work between haloween and x-mas, doesn't leave much time to fish. Finally made it out with my 4 boys for the season's first ice fishing outing, as they are off school for nearly 2 weeks for new year's break.

Unsure whether or not I would be able to find safe ice around the city today, we headed up North to fish for Rainbow trout, where the ice has been safe for a good 2 weeks or so. We were allowed 5 lines total, and a quota of 10 trout. Goal was to leave with our quota.

Got up to our spot and got set up a bit before 10:00 AM. We set up 3 ice rods with my special rig for ice fishing trout, namely, a micro jig at the end of the line, and a small #8 hook about 15 inches higher, both baited with live worms. The 4th line was a classic "brimbale" supplied by the outfitter, and my 5th line was reserved for jigging lures.

Took a bit over 1/2 hour for Ari to get the first trout of the day, then followed by two more back to back trout for Ari.

Avi followed with another nice rainbow trout of his own. After about 1 hours worth of jigging a small Rapala jigging Rap unsuccessfully, I switched to a Peewee Williams Wabbler. No success after another hour, I finally switched to my classic worm/jig setup.

The switch paid off, and sure enough, Ari and I we pulling them out one after the other. We ended up landing a total of 15 trout and a few suckers.

The boys made an ice well to keep our fish fresh:

Took a short video of one of the throat hooked fish trying to survive:

Though we had paid for a 1 quota of 10 fish, many of the trout were throat hooked, so I kept them anyway.
Ari has his own license, so we are legally allowed up to 20 trout between the two of us. Of course, I told the outfitter about it on our way out, he charged us another few bucks for the overage, just as I imagined he would. After all, the trout are stocked, so it's his bottom line.

Overall, the kids enjoyed the outing, and so did I. The weather wasn't too cold, I was able to stay out during the entire 6+ hours. Besides for the great fishing, the kids had a blast playing outdoors all day instead of being glued to the Playstation or Wii.

If you have any questions regarding the outfitters, feel free to contact me any time.

2012: A season of challenges and new records

OK, it's about that time of the year again, just finished putting away most of my gear for the winter, and have my preliminary ice fishing tackle ready to go. By far, my busiest fishing season to date, so instead of giving you the yearly run down of my fishing season by species, I've decided to change it up a bit this year.

Challenges:
I decided to challenge myself with a few goals before the season started, something I haven't really done before. Completing those challenges would take a certain amount of dedication, often breaking away from guaranteed fishing success to venture into the unknown.

Here are some of the challenges I gave myself, and the results:
1) Catching a decent sized bass on ice.
2) Landing my first carp on ice.
3) Putting my kids onto some great fishing, hopefully having them beat their records for at least one species.
4) Catching carp on 5 new waterways.
5) Beating my previous record for number of outings done by bike.
6) Perfecting my boilie recipe to catch more carp.

1) First challenge I gave myself was to catch a decent sized bass on ice. Took me 2.5 days of solid ice fishing to finally land a couple, as the bite was slow, but I did succeed. Made it sweeter that my kids were there with me to share the moment.

2) Next challenge I gave myself, was to land a carp on ice. Unfortunately, the carp had other plans, so I failed at that challenge, despite trying prime winter spots a number of times using various techniques.

3) Next challenge I gave myself was to put my kids onto some great fishing, hopefully beating some of their previous records. Plan worked out quite well. Ari broke his record for Rainbow trout in January, then Northern Pike in July.

Avi caught his first few lakers in March, then broke his carp record in April:

Levi finally caught his first few pike in May, then broke his channel catfish and bass record late in June.

Eli caught this nice bass fishing at sunrise on our annual family bass fishing trip.

Last but now least, Chaya went fishing for the first time, instantly getting addicted like the rest of us, possibly more.

My nephew Ezzy landed his first bass.

My kids landed their biggest crappies fishing big flies with my crystal cast bobbers.

4) My next challenge proved to be the most time consuming, as well as demanding the most "sacrifice". Instead of hitting up some red hot fishing posts where I knew I could have some great outings, I spent time a decent bit of time searching for new carp spots, often exploring by bike. My rational was that if I didn't catch any, at least I'd get a decent workout trying. The challenge proceed frustrating at time, very rewarding at others. Barring any last minute surprises this season, I will have come close, catching carp on 4 new waterways so far, including some winter carp south of the border (in Texas).

5) Biking is one of my other passions. Late last season, I decided to combine fishing and biking, and the results were good. This season, I decided to dedicate more time to fishing spots around Montreal, exploring the waterways by bike. I put in a record 13 outings by bike, caught a number of fish, nothing huge, but very rewarding.

6) After some trial and error, I perfected my boilie recipe. During the course of the 2012 season, My kids and clients managed to land over 150 carp on my boilies, which often outfished the store bought brand 3-1. Some of the 2012 clients pictures are posted on my carp picture gallery at: http://www.freshwaterphil.com/carp-fishing-pictures.cfm

I did manage to break another number of records during my 2012 fishing season:

1) Shattered my previous record of 16 carp in 1 day with a whopping 40 carp in 6 hours while guiding a customer in mid June (postspawn).

2) I fished 62 1/2-1 day outings (so far) in 2012. In addition, I fished another 15 full days on fishing trips to outfitters, bring the total to 76 days when I fished at least once.

3) Did 6 trips to outfitters, breaking my previous record of 3.

4) Took out a record number of clients on guided outings, which I'll keep confidential.

Last but not least, I broke 3 more personal records, each multiple times on the same outing. 

Lake trout

Channel catfish

Musky

So there you have it. Another spectacular fishing season. Many thanks to my wife and family for putting up with my obsession, but most of all, to the good Lord for granting me the health and ability to pursue my passion. 

I hope you've all enjoyed my blog posts throughout the 2012 fishing season, hope to keep at it in 2013.