Ice fishing for carp - first attempt

Headed our alone to attempt icing my first carp. The area I went to is supposed to be a good wintering spot for carp and other bottom feeders. An aquaintance was there a few days earlier with an Marcum underwater camera, and confirmed that their were tons of small carp around, as well as some channel cats.

I also took the opportunity to test my new 6 inch Fin Bore manual ice auger. Drilling holes was a piece of cake compared to my 8 inch Swede bore. However, due to the small diamter, I decided to go with oversized holes for carp, as even a small carp would be tough to pull through a 6 inch hole. I ended up drilling 4 holes next to each other, then getting rid of the connecting ice in between the holes. Made a few of these giant holes, so I easily drilled over 20 holes with it into 9 - 10 inches of solid ice. Didn't even end up with sore muscles. Anyone want to buy a used 8 inch Swede Bore?

I set up 2 carp lines. The first one was similar to my warm water setup, basically a sliding sinker on superbraid mainline with a superbraid hair rig. I improvised on the next line, figuring I would try to go stealth with flourocarbon and no connecting swivels. I first tied a hair rig onto about 20 feet of flourocarbon, then connecting it directly to my mainline with a uni knot. Used a couple small split shots to get it down, but still had to deal with the memory on the flourocarbon.

I use canned corn as bait, chumming lightly, tried some home made boilies as well. Set up my baitrunner, and clipped strike indicator bells on the rods. While waiting for the carp to bite, I set up a third rod with a Rapala jigging Rap, using a steel leader due to the high volume of small pike in the spot.

Fishing was very slow. Got spot checked by the game wardens, apparently they were out everywhere with the warm weather, as we're supposed to be getting a cold front and storm system moving in tonight.

Moved from spot to spot every hour or two. Nothing much doing most of the day. Finally, around 3 PM, I got my first hit on the flourocarbon hair rig. Not much of a hit and then nothing. I set the hook only to pull it out of the fish's mouth, not sure if it was a carp or possibly a channel catfish.

Went back to jigging the Rapala ice fishing lure. As nothing much was hitting, I removed the leader to improve it's action. Sure enough, I end up with a fish on, but it cut my line on the way up, so I'm quite sure it was a small pike.

That was it for the day. No fish landed, couple misses. Another guy fishing the spot came over to chat for much of the day, as his pike lines weren't too busy either. I think he ended up landing 4 on 10 lines. A few others showed up late in the day, and landed a small channel catfish on a live minnow.

I will probably hold off targeting carp through the ice until the bigger ones move in later in the winter. However, I may decide to try some open water winter carping again... Stay tuned.

Ice fishing for rainbow trout

2012 is here, made it out for my first outing with my eldest son Ari. After pushing off the trip due to blistering cold, I ended up with the same weather for this outing.

After trying a few outfitters that stock mainly speckled trout, we decided to try a new one that has some bigger rainbow trout as well.

We headed up to Pourvoirie Coin Lavigne it the same Come / Zec Lavigne region of Quebec. With ground temperature of -22 and a wind chill of -34 in the early morning, we were in no particular hurry. We got up there a bit after 10:00 AM after a 2 hour drive from Montreal. We parked, packed our gear and one of the employees drove us up the mountain to Lac en Coeur by quad.

While he drilled our holes for us outside, my son and I got to work in the small cabin I rented. I set up a fire, while my son baited the "brimbales", Quebec's version of a tip up (actually a tip down).

Once the fire was going, I went out to set the lines. Dropped my first one down. As I was dropping the second one a few feet away, the first one went down, fish on! Pulled out 12 inch rainbow trout through the small hole, my first fish of 2012.

As I only paid for one license/quota (10 trout), we only had 5 lines to fish with. After setting up the rest of the brimbales, I got to work rigging the 2 ice fishing rods we brought along. One they were set up, we got to swapping them for 2 of the brimbales, as fishing with my "special" 2 hook setup with jigging rods is way more efficient and fun than handling trout on heavy Dacron line.

As soon as my first line hit bottom, I had another hit, fish on again! I landed 13 inch trout, which had my son commenting about me leaving some fish for him. I reset the line, gave him the rod, and proceed to bait up my new 30 inch Ugly Stik ice fishing rod, the newest addition to my Ugly Stik arsenal.

Sure enough, I got another hit as soon as the line hit bottom, pulled up a nice 14 inch trout. The medium action made it better than my other fast action rod, and my son was now freaking out.

As I went back to re-bait the line, one of the brimbales went down. My son grabbed it, and hauled out our biggest trout of the day, a 19 inch / 3 lb beauty. I guess they weren't kidding about stocking nice sized rainbows in their lakes, nor about being able to fill a quota in a few hours, as we were almost halfway there after the first hour.

That was it for the brimbale action. The rest of our quota came on the 2 ice fishing rods we brought. Using a multiple hook/micro jig set up, I actually caught my first ever double header of trout, something never done before at that outfitter, as everyone fishes the single hook brimbales. I eventually filleted some trout for shore luch, they turned out delicious as expected.

The only drawback was the cold weather. Though were were properly dressed, our holes kept freezing up within minutes. The spatula they provided didn't have a chisel like mine, nor did they provide a chisel. The 6 inch holes quickly turned to 4 inch holes, but their employee returned later in the day and drilled us some new ones.

In addition to the holes freezing up, my beer turned to slush withing a few minutes, so I had to let it warm up in the heated cabin. No sipping beer in my folding chairs while "enjoying" the weather. On the bright side, I got to test my new Baffin polar proven boots, rated good until -100 Celsuis (-148 Farenheit). They held up super well as expected.

I definitely recommend Pourvoirie Coin Lavigne to anyone wanting to try ice fishing for big trout. They stock more trout than any other spot I've been to over the last 15 years, and their rates a reasonably priced for the quality/size of their fish. Apparently, they stock 80,000 trout in their lakes every year (most during the spring/summer), and are stocking a new trophy lake with rainbow trout up to 10 lbs. They also have a nice lodge, fully equipped with a restaurant and bar, etc.

To get in touch with Pourvoire Coin Lavigne, call 800 872-1072, ask for Sylvain Turenne. Ask him to set you up in "my" spot, tell him I referred you, or simply give him my regards.

Happy 2012 from Freshwater Phil and the crew!

Pre winter carp fishing

Well, it looks like I know myself by now. I though my previous carp outing was my last, with that possible "maybe one more" in the back of my mind. Despite a super busy work schedule, I made some time to head out to try some freezing water carping.

The weather was less than desirable, about 8 degrees, intermittent rain and high winds. Had the long johns, down coat, tuques, gloves a winter boots on to stay warm. Water temp must have been around 2 degrees, so I was surprised to see a few carp surfacing.

Rigged a few corn nibblets along with a popup corn on my hair rig, did some slight chumming so as not to overfeed them in the cold water. Took about 1.5 hours for my first hit. The line didn't peel off as it usually does in the summer, it just started moving slowly. As soon as I set, I knew the fish was a decent sized carp. It didn't fight too much, was kind of sluggish in the freezing water, but I didn't expect more from a carp in freezing water. Regardless, I was happy to land the nice 22 lbs carp, my record for latest carp caught in a season.

Though I doubt I'll go again before the winter, I won't say never...

Cold water carp fishing

Cold water isn't very conducive to fishing for carp. Though I've caught carp early in the spring while there was still ice on the surface, as carp metabolisms slow down for the winter, they get harder to catch once the water temps dip below 50 degrees Farenheit during the fall. As such, I normally put away my carping gear by mid October.

I recently learned of a new spot where the carp were still biting despite the water temp being down to about 40 degrees Farenheit. With a warm, sunny day forecast, I decided to make it out to the new spot, a region I have never fished before.

I took along some frozen corn nibblets, as well as some small boilies I made a while ago. My fishing buddy decided to stick with frozen corn. We finallt hit the spot around 10:00 AM. Met up with some other people that had been fishing for carp there over the past week, they seemed to be on to some fish, most of them smaller than I had ever seen, small 1-2 pound carp. They were float fishing with tiny hooks, pobably #8 or #10, which would probably explain why most of their carp were that size, though they did eventually catch some better 10 lbs+ fish.

My buddy and I both started off fishing with corn. Took him about 1/2 hour to get his first one, a good 12 lbs carp. Nice start to the day. Fishing was very slow after that. After about 2 hours, he hooked one of the baby carp the others had been catching earlier on.

I switch to my home made boilies. Nothing doing for another couple hours, so we moved off to another spot. The new spot wasn't any better, and to make matters worse, the slight current kept fouling my presentation with dying weeds.

With less than 1 hour left to our day, I headed back to the first spot, as it was on our way back to the car. I hooked up 4 corn nibblets, along with a fake pop up corn nibblet I had bought over the summer on my hair rig. Sure enough, I got hit within a couple minutes of my first cast. The carp ran surprisingly fast considering the near freezing water temperature, and put up a nice fight. Finally landed it, noticed a big lamprey stuck to it's back. After a couple quick pics, I released the fish, but stomped the lamprey to death.

Needless to say, we were both thrilled to have landed carp big enough to make the drags sing. The sweet sound of the reel from those few screaming runs and the big bend in my new 9 foot Ugly Stik is the prefect way to end my perfect carp season... Well, maybe just one more outing ...

New fishing gear and tackle review

The 2011 fishing season was by far the one where I've tried the most new fishing gear / tackle. Last fall, I won a $1000 gift certificate from Outdoor Canada magazine, which I put to good use by splurging on some fancy reels I never would have bought, as well as stocking up on a varitey of fishing lures and terminal tackle.


Here are my reviews by equipment type:

Reels.
This is where I splurged the most. I've never owned a fishing reel worth more than $50, so I bought one for bass/pike (Abu Garcia STX20) and another for carp/catfish (Penn Slammer 560 liveliner).

The Abu Garcia reel is extremely smooth, and delivers up to 15 lbs of drag, very impressive for a small, light reel. It comes with grooves in the spool, and matching elastic bands to hold superbraid lines to the reel to avoid line slippage. Overall, I'm very happy with the reel, though I'm not sure I'd pay the kind of money (about $150)if I had to buy it on my own. Only drawback is that it wasn't available in a 30 series, which would have been my choice. Faced with a 20 or 40, I pick the 20 due to it's light weight. In most situations, it holds enough 20 lb superbraid (6 lb diameter) for most of my needs.

The Penn reel is a real piece of work. Designed to still fish live bait in saltwater, it more than suits my needs for the monster carp I target so often. It holds about 400 feet of 65 lbs superbraid, also deliver 15 lbs of drag, although I rarely fish with more than 3 lbs of drag for carp, especially with superbraided line that has zero stretch. The transition from liveliner/baitrunner mode to normal is almost instant, and extremely smooth, unlike the cheaper Chinese baitrunner reels I've been using. It also doesn't jam up like they do, which is extremely important unless you plan on loosing rods when carps take off with them. Though I never would have spent that sort of money (about $165) on a baitrunner reel, I see myself possibly getting another one somwhere down the line.

Rods:
I'm not one to tinker with fancy rods. In fact, I can't stand them. A couple of my friends spend $150-$250 for bass/pike rods, and these rods are constantly breaking one way or another. Though they may be guaranteed, chasing after the rod repair guy is a colossal waste of time.

Over the years, I've found 2 brands I'm happy with; Rhino, and Shakespere Ugly stik. I already had a 6.5 Ugly Stik, I decided to get a 7 footer, as Basspro wouldn't ship anything longer into Canada. I had planned to mount the Penn liveliner on it, but to my dismay, it was too big. My friend Jimmy bailed me out by selling me an 8 foot Saltwater Ugly stick that was well matched to my new reel.

The 7 foot freshwater Ugly stick didn't do all that well as a bass/pike rods. It's a bit on the heavy side, and frequetly comes apart when casting a lot. I mounted a 40 series baitrunner and used it for carp, it did very well until the water got too shallow and I started getting frequent cut offs from big carp in the rocks.

The 8 foot saltwater Ugly stick is much beefier. It comes with a stronger backbone and longer butt. Surprisingly, the upper section is quite wobbly whern compared to the freshwater series. However, when it comes to fishing for big carp, a wobbly rod is a good thing. Acts as a shock absorber when fishing with stiff superbraid line and small hooks. It had no problems whatsoever handling big carp and channel cats, I even used it to troll small musky lures later on in the season.

Towards the end of the season, my local fishing store got the 9 foot freshwater Ugly Stiks in stock. I picked one up for my last successful carp outing of the season. After fighting the first fish of the day on it, I fell in love with the rod. Perfect combination of strenth and flexibity, very light too. Fits my Penn Slammer perfectly as well. It's only drawback is being too long to fit in my house or most cars without breaking it down each time. Just picked up another one on special for next season.

Line:

This season, I had the opportunity to test various lines under many conditions. Mainly superbraids, and briefly Flourocarbon as well.


Power Pro 20 lbs (6 lb diameter).

Picked up a 1500 yard spool at the end of 2010, was waiting to see how it faired in 2011. Spooled it up on my new Abu Garcia STX20 bass/pike reel. I immediately noticed it's benefits, strength and castability, as well as a major downside: zero resistance to sharp rocks. Funny how you can get a line that easier to cut on a rock than with a pair of scissors or a line clipper. Less funny when you start losing lures every time you graze a rock. I lost about 4-5 crankbaits, and that was it. The line is resigned to being spooled on my kids reels, or being fished in waters where the cover is logs or weeds.

Power Pro 50lbs (12 lb diameter) & 65 lbs (15 lb diameter).

While this line did well for carp in 2010 when the water levels at my hotspot were extremely high, the low water in the 2011 season quickly exposed the weak side of this line, anmely, it's low resistance to sharp rocks. Slightly more resistant than the 20 lb test version, I still lost a good 20 carp duie to cut offs, some while the reel was in free spool, before I even had a chance to get a hookset. Not to mention the expesive carp hooks and rest of the terminal tackle to go along with it. The 65 lb version didn't do any better than the 50 lbs.

In October, I had the chance to meet an American industrial engineer. Somehow, he started talking abut Spectra fibers. When i mentioned Power Pro being made from spectra braid, he exdplained how they streched the fiber to it's breaking point to give it the thin diameter. I guess that would explain why it snaps at the slightest tough of a sharp object...


Sufix 832 20 lbs test, 6 lb diameter.

I first saw this line at a fishing show early in 2011. I was hoping to get a chance to give it a try. A few weeks later, my buddy called me from the store, said they had the 20 lb version on special, so I asked him to get me a spool.

I spooled up my second bass/pike rod for our yearly family trip up North for the bass opener. Plan was to test it in neutral waters, side by side with the 20 lbs Power Pro. The Sufix 832 did extremely well. Cast just as far (if not further) as Power Pro, and is better in the weeds due to it being less round. Only drawback is that you have to handle it more carfully when trying to pull on it with bare hands, it cuts skin easily much like Fireline does. It also gets discolored quickly, but I don't think it affects it's performance.

Sufix 832 65 lb test, 17 lb diameter.

After the success of the 20 lb version, and the disastrous performance or Power Pro in the rocks, I picked up the 65 lb version of Sufix 832 to try on my carp reels. Results have been very good so far. About 15-20 carp landed in waters where they cut my Power Pro 60% of the time, not one cut off to date with the Sufix 832. I've switched my reels to it, as well as my hair rigs. Only drawback is that the carp seem to bit slighty more line shy due to it's 17 lbs diameter, wil probably tinker with the 50 lbs version next season as well.

Other lines I tried in 2011.

Tuff Line 80 lb, 20 lb diameter. Horrible line. I guy I fihed with hooked a mid sized carp which eventually spit the hook after a few minutes. When he brough in his line, I noticed 3 distinctive nicks where the carp had hit the rocks. A slight tug on each nick managed to snap the line like butter. Fish were also line shy due to it's 20 lb diameter.

Fireline XDS 80 lbs, 25 lb diameter. Extremely resistant to rocks, acually saw it chip of chunks from a sharp rock when running it along the edge to test it's strenght. Problem is it's diameter. Carp wouldn't get near it, as it's thick and rigid like telephone wire. Did manage a mid size channel catfish on it, but they don't require that sort of line. Also very hard to cast.

Seaguar AbrazX Fluorocarbon 25 lbs. After contemplating switching from superbraid to Fluorocarbon for carp, I researched some new lines. The review all point to AbrazX as being the most resitant to abrasion. I decided to tie some hair rigs from it as well, as it's supposed to be invisible to fish. The hairs ended up tangling on 50% of the casts. When they didn't, they did a fine job of hooking fish. However, when I set up a line with a 40 foot shock leader using the AbrazX, the first carp snapped it just as easily as they did the Power Pro. Also real tough to cast compared to thinner superbraid, so I stopped using it.

Hooks:

Got to test a fair number of specialized carp hooks this season. All hooks tested were size 4, and used in hair rigs with boilies as bait.

Monster carp tackle - These hooks are bottm line. Cheap, less sharp than the fancier brands, I had a number of carp spit them before I stopped using them.

ESP - Raptor and curve shank. I prefer the curve shank, the seem to do a better job hooking and holding fish. Teflon coated, micro barbed, extremely sharp and mid range cost ($0.75 - $0.80 per hook).

Kamasan B775 - Another good hook, sharp effective at hooking and holding fish, only started using them towards the end of the season.

Nash Fang X - Their number 4 are bigger than other brands, hooks are about $1.00 each. Didn't get to test them this season, but at that price, they better perform...

Lures:

Main lure I got to really test this season was the Lucky 13 by Heddon. I had 2 sizes, the larger one with 3 trebles did a great job, while the smaller one was mediocre. Aslo did a fair bit of casting using a 1/2 ounce Booyah tux tail spinnerbait with double Colorado blades. Cast a mile, works great, you can really feel the blades working even without a fancy rod.

Caddis neoprene stocking foot waders - First chance I got to test them in really cold water, probably around 40 degrees or so. They held snug, kept me warm, despite me being in waist deep, freezing cold water for 4 hours, as well as a slight drizzle all day.

Gardiner bait rolling tables (rolaball and suasage rolling tables). Despite trying a number of boiolie recipes, I haven't been able to roll a perfectly round boilie. Testing continues after much back and forth with their customer service department, but my small bait freezer is quickly running out of space. On the bright side, I won't be needing as many boiles next season...

My 2011 fishing season

Well, it's that time of the year again, looks like my soft water fishing season is just about over. It was another great season. Caught some new species, discovered news spots, tried new gear and techniques, and made some new friends.

As I've been doing for the past few seasons, I'll summarize the season, starting with the predatory species:

Largemouth bass:

Had another great season. Caught about a dozen largemouth bass over 4 lbs. Devoted more time to catching largemouth bass at the surface on topwater lures. The technique proved very successful and much more fun than other bass fishing methods. Caught my biggest bass of the season (4.75 lbs) on a Zara Spook, and my 9 year old son Levi caught 2 bass one 1 lure on the same cast.

Had a great largemouth family trip up North again, and my dad managed to win the FPQ contest due to that trip.

Hope to target them under the ice during the winter...

Smallmouth bass:

Hardly fished for smallies at all this season, caught a few in the 2-3 lb range.

Walleye:

Din't get around to targeting them at all, mainly to the extremely high water levels during the spring. I only caught one all season, it came on my first outing fishing between chunks of melting ice in March.

Don't think I'll be targeting them too much next season either, though you never know when fishing the St Lawrence.

Northern Pike:

Put a bit more time into targeting and catching Northern pike this season. Found a few great new fishing spots for pike, for spring, summer and fall. Spring was pretty good for trolling, my 5 year old Eli caught his first pike on a Wally Diver.

I put some time and effort into catching them on topwaters as well, especially as pike and largemouth bass often share the same structure.

Also managed a few decent pike from the shore, all in biking distance from my home.

How to invest more time in targeting pike next season.

Musky:

Didn't bother with musky until the fall. Then 2 things happened:

1) I started biking down to the river and decided to put a few hours targeting pike/musky each time. Though I got a late start, I managed a couple follows and 1 small musky landed.

2)My friend and guide Mike invited me out to troll for muskies on a coupe occasions. Landed a nice one, lost even a bigger one. One things for sure, they always make for impressive pics.

Well see what happens next season...

Salmonides:

Brook/rainbow trout.

Not a species I target too often, I got a couple chances at them in 2011. Started off ice fishing for stocked rainbow trout and brook trout with the kids. Didn't do too well, but the outfitter guaranteed the fish. Ari caught one, we got another 19 from his freezer.

Lake trout / landlocked salmon.

Mike came through again, invited me out to troll Lake Champlain in May. Not something I'd ever attempt on my own, he put me on to some tasty fish.

Bottom Feeders:

Sturgeon.

Didn't target sturgeon much this season, so it's not surprising that I didn't catch any. If I'm going to be still fishing from the shore, I'd rather stick with carp, unless I get invited out to fish them by boat.

Channel catfish:

Caught a few while night fishing, then a few more that took my boilies while fishing for carp. Big surprise was this 14 lb catfish caught by my wife right in middle of the day during a heat wave.

Carp:

Last but not least, one of my favorite species. I devoted a lot more time to effectively targeting and catching them in conditions that were often tougher than in the past, due mainly to the extremely low water on the other side of the dam at Cornwall. Tried new rods, reels, lines hooks and bait, including some home made boilies for the first time. Took out new and old friends, family and the kids on many successful outings.

Starting with the kids, Ari, Avi and Levi all managed to catch their biggest carps this season, and while Eli isn't big enough to fight St Lawrence carp yet, He was there for the action as well:

Put some new friends and customers onto carping, as well as old friends onto new techniques for monster carp:

Finally, I landed my first ever mirror carp, an added bonus to my amazing carp fishing season.

Panfish.

Kids didn't get to do too much panfishing, but managed a fair share of bluegill, sunfish, rock bass, perch and bullheads, mainly early season before game fish were open.

There you have it. Another great season. Many big fish landed, and (probably) even bigger ones lost. That's what keeps us going back time after time. Many lessons learned, many good laughs, many good (and sometimes frustrating) moments.

At the end of it all, I plan to start again next season.

Dad wins fishing contest

Ever since the FPQ launched it's annual fishing outfitter's tournament/contest, we've been participating. It was more of a tournament when it was first launched a few years ago, the prizes were a lot better too. My son Avi had won it at the time, topping out all competition in the kids category for bass.

This year, it was my dad's turn. Though it's a now a drawing based on all participants in the category instead of a tournament based on size, the win is still pretty sweet. His picture was drawn from about 100 participants in the 50 year + category.

He wins a spinning combo, $350 gift ceftificat at our outfitter of chaoce, a free 1 year subscription to Sentier Chasse peche, and a couple tickets to the annual Montreal fishing show in February.

Congratulations!

Catching muskies from the shore in Montreal

With extended holidays over the past couple weeks, I haven't done much fishing. Finally got back into my regular schedule, and took advantage of sunny skies to bike down the the waterfront a chase muskies from the shore.

The cold water has killed off much of the dense weed cover, but dying weeds are still fouling up some of my presentations. Tried casting a Lucky Strike ol wooden plug as well as a Bomber Long A, both came back with some weeds more often than not. Water temp is a bit cold for topwaters, but despite the wind, I tried with the musky Jitterbug for in a couple shallower spots. Bucktail spinner didn't do much better, though the spinnerbaits came back clean on most casts.

Started of by hitting 2 of my spots, first one was where I saw a couple muskies follow my Musky Jitterbug a couple weeks ago. Nothing doing, not a fish in sight. Eventually found a new spot with less weed growth, was able to cast the diving lures and get a clean retrieve, but still no hits.

Decided to hit one more spot on my way home. Casted a variety of lures, still no hits. Finally decided to try something new, a home rigged contraption I've never tried before. Rigged up a 6 inch swim bait using a big jighead designed for fishing bass tubes. Attached two trebles with a thin wire to from a sort of double quick strike rig, put one of them in it's back, the other on it's belly.

I cast it out far, let it sink a bit and began the retrieve. Bang! Fish on, first cast too! Not the giant I had hoped for, the baby musky measured about 15 inches. Regardless, I was thrilled to finally catch one from the shore intentionally, as most of the few other muskies I've caught from the shore were incidental while jigging.

The fact that it came on a new home made lure on one of my recently restarted biking outings, overshadowed the size of tiny musky. While a tiny musky isn't much to brag about, it means that there are spawning sized ones in the vicinity.

Thanksgiving day fishing outing

Kids were off school for thanksgiving, which put me on daddy duty again. As usual, fishing was the venue, especially with warm and sunny weather this late in the season.

Kids were split on whether to target bass or carp, so we decided to do fish carp for the first half of the day, then fish for bass the second half.

Set up 3 rods for carp, using a mix of store bought and home produced boilies of different sizes. Fishing was very slow, got one run after about 2 hours, fish snapped the line 50 lb Power Pro before I even had a chance to set the hook. As luck would have it,my new Sufix 832 arrived the next day. Carp haven't managed to snap the 65 lbs Sufix 832 yet, I plan to spool all my carp reels with it for next season.

We then hit our largemouth bass spot around 2:00 PM or so. Was hoping for a bass frenzy typical in mid October, but it seems that the water is still a bit too warm, probably need another week or 10 days until they really turn on. We still managed 8 largemouth bass ranging from 1 to 2 lbs, in about 2 hours of fishing. All of them hit spinnerbaits.

Kids were happy with the outing, and I taught them how to effectively fish a spinnerbait, as none of the other lures produced any hits.

Sewer fishing

No, you didn't read the tile wrong, and no it's not a typo either. Was coming over to my parents house, and met my sister there. She didn't look too happy, as my brother in law had accidentally dropped their car keys down the sidewalk drain.

He called the city to come and open the drain, I imagine they could have waited for hours. Armed with a flashlight, line a treble hook, I attempted to snag his keys. The sidewalk grain isn't the kind with the grid; rather, it's one with a solid plate with a couple tiny holes, it's opening being on the side, which is where the keys fell in.

I spotted the keys under some leaves towards the back end of the sewer, which meant that I wouldn't be able to snag them without a rod. No sweat, got my 3 foot ice fishing rod, perfect length to reach the back end of the sewer.

Jigged the treble a couple times, caught the key ring on my fourth or fifth try. My sister was thrilled to not be stuck waiting for the city workers, and I saved us taxpayers a few bucks too.

Shore fishing for musky

After my last musky outing, I decided to attempt shore fishing for musky. Though the Montreal region has no shortage of musky in it's waters, catching from the shore is quite the challenge.

To begin with, I don't have any musky gear, I sold most of it a couple years ago. What I do have left are a couple big Mepps bucktails, a musky Jitterbug and a Lucky Strike Ol' Wooden plug, probably intended for pike, as it's only 6 inches long.

My catfish / sturgeon / carp rods are too big or to cumbersome to haul around and cast all day, same goes for my bigger reels. So I took my larger bass/pike rod, a 6.5 foot Rhino. Medium action rod, has plenty of backbone, I've caught my biggest carp and catfish on that rod. My 30 series Abu Garcia reel is spooled with 20 lbs Sufix 832, so I filled the spare spool with 50 lb Power Pro just in case.

Headed out on back to back outings. First day was sunny with a cold front moving in, very windy. The spot I started at looked good on Google maps. Plenty of shoreline that looked easily accessible. After getting to the water and finding parking, I set out on foot carrying my net and rod in hand, my gear and water in the backpack.

Google maps can be deceiving. Most of the shoreline was very steep, and full of bullrushes everywhere. So much for spending the day casting the 3-4 kilometers I had planned on, I was lucky to find a couple spots that were barely accessible, and only after lots of trekking.

Changed areas after a while, to a spot I knew had occasional muskies passing through. Not much luck on the musky side, though I did have a small pike follow the Lucky Strike trolling plug I was casting. As I made my way along the shoreline, I hit a spot too shallow for my musky lures, so I tied on the one spinnerbait I brought along. Landed a small 2 lb bass on it a few casts later. Switched to 2 more fishing spots for musky, none to be seen, no hits at all.

Headed out the following day, this time by bike. Plan was to hit some spots I previously scouted in hope of getting a nice musky hit my lures. The bike gave me added versatility if required. The outing was kind of short, as I was swamped with work all morning. Finally got to the spots, started off casting a black bucktail spinner. Though I was burning it over the weed tops, it kept catching weeds every time I tried to slow down my presentation. I switched to the Musky Jitterbug. After about a dozen cast, I finally got a musky follow my lure all the way back to shore. It was small for a musky, probably under 2 feet long, but it had me thrilled. I wasn't able to figure eight a topwater lure from the shore, so I splashed it around a bit. The musky wasn't

too interested.

After casting for it repeatedly with no success, I worked my way down the shoreline with the Musky Jitterbug. No more follows, no hits either. The weedline was too thick to switch back to the bucktail lure, so I switched to the 1/2 ounce spinnerbait, more of a pike lure. Sure enough, I hooked a pike after a few casts, about 4-5 lbs. Spit the hook at the shore. Eventually switched spots, found a nice area to throw my bucktail, but no hits. I wood have liked to cast the trolling plug, but I didn't bring it on this outing knowing I was going to fish a weedier area.

I'm quite happy with the small musky following my musky Jitterbug, the pike I hooked was an added bonus. It will give me something to dream of for the next couple weeks. The kids are off school, so I should be on daddy duty, and casting musky lures with the little ones is out of the question. Will probably resort to carp or bass/pike next week, hope to chase some more muskies by boat the week after.

St Lawrence River musky fishing

My friend and musky pro "Musky" Mike Phillips invited me out for a half day outing. Needless to say, I was more than thrilled, as I rarely have the opportunity to target muskies, let alone with an expert of Mike's caliber.

We headed out to the St Lawrence on his new 20 foot Lund, fully equipped with the latest electronics, kicker trolling motor, etc. Was hoping for at least one fish, the clear blue skies and warm front may have made for a nice day to troll, but not necessarily one for musky fishing in the fall. The clear water in that part of the St Lawrence River doesn't make things any easier for muskies that tend to get finicky when the weather pattern changes. Floating weeds and other debris kept us busy checking our lines quite often too.

Regardless of the tough conditions and short time frame we had on the water, Mike put us onto fish as I expected he would. We got our first hit within 20 minutes of launching. Fish put up quite a good fight. Wasn't a monster musky, but still a nice 40 incher, that I landed within a couple hard fought minutes.

Mike's been tagging muskies for the government this season, but he's caught so many muskies that he's already run out of tags for the season. He measured the musky, logged it into his book, and I released it in good condition after a couple quick pics.

Over the next 3 hours, we quick trolled many of his hot spots spread out over a good 25 kilometer range. Getting from spot to spot was a breeze, his 200 HP engine had us cruising over 90 KM/H. The muskies weren't too cooperative until the last minute. We were just about to call it a day, when another musky hits the line. Bringing it in, it felt heavy but didn't fight at all. Then, 10 feet from the boat, I saw the line coming up at high speed. The big musky jumped straight out of the water doing a twist while shaking it head, threw the lure, and swam off. It seemed to have been hooked funny, kind of on the outside of it's jaw. Best guess is that it hit the lure instead of taking it in as muskies and pike often do.

While I didn't get a picture or accurate measurement of the second musky, I was happy enough to have fought it to the boat, and even happier that I got to see it, otherwise I would have been losing sleep over the one that got away.

I highly recommend Musky Mike for anyone looking to tangle with our top freshwater predator.

You can view his profile on my guides page at: http://freshwaterphil.com/fishing-guides.cfm

Hope to chase some more musky this fall. Stay tuned...

More urban Montreal fishing

After the instant success I had last time I combined a biking and fishing outing, I decided to do some more urban fishing around Montreal.

As you can probably imagine, it's essential to pack as light as possible, as I'm already hauling extra weight such as adequate amount of drinking water, bike lock, and everything else I need in my back pack. The fact that I live on the other side of the mountain doesn't help much, but it's a great workout climbing Mount Royal in both directions in order to get to the water.

Headed back to the same fishing spot as last time, was hoping another big pike replaced the one I lost their last week, but no such luck. As I noticed the weeds dying down in some areas, I will probably bring along some jigs and crankbaits, as I stuck with surface and subsurface fishing over the past couple outings. Casted a new spinnerbait for about 45 minutes, got 1 small hit near the surface. Couldn't tell whether it was a bass or pike.

Packed it up and headed to another spot not too far away. Hooked into another nice pike after a dozen or so casts, landed it this time around. A decent 5 lbs fish, got my revenge after getting my spinnerbait cut off last week. I fished the spot and some adjacent spots for another 1/2 hour or so, no more hits.

Packed it up again, and headed to a third spot. Explored some weedbeds with a snag proof frog, nothing much doing except for a tiny bass that hit one of it's legs.

Finally headed to my 4th spot of the afternoon, again kind of slow, all I got was 1 follow by a 1.5-2 lbs smallmouth bass.

Urban Montreal street fishing

With all the time I devote to fishing, I decided to get back to combining it with another pastime I love, riding my bike.

Last summer, my double suspension bike got stolen. That put an end to my urban street fishing / biking combo I was just getting used to. The bike I eventually replaced it with was a lot lighter, but had no suspension. I quickly found out that instead of being able to ride further, I was riding less and less. Finally sold it this summer, and replaced it with an ultra light double suspension model. So now I have the best of both, comfort and light weight. Should keep me motivated to get more urban fishing and biking done.

Enough about my bike. With a cool, sunny afternoon in the forecast, I headed to a spot I had scouted a few days earlier. Looked like a good pike/bass spot, so I started off throwing my favorite spinnerbait. Double Colorado gold hammered blades, about 1/2 oz with a white/chartreuse skirt. Ultra sharp hook I just finished resharpening this morning.

First cast, I get nice sized pike follow my lure all the way back, thick shoulders, a good 6-7 lbs. Couple casts later, same pike busts the surface just as I finish reeling. Another few casts, he comes back with a vicious attack. Grabbed my spinnerbait from the side and inhaled it. I set hard, it heads straight for the weeds. Cuts my line and steals my best spinnerbait!

First time I've ever had a pike steal my spinnerbait, despite the fact that I never bothered using leaders. Must have caught a good 20 pike on that lure, as well as hundreds of bass and a even bowfin a couple weeks ago. Oh well, I'll have to replace it.

Kept fishing, no more fish in sight for about 1 hour. Decided to head to another new spot. I get back on my bike, just to realize I popped my back tire. End of outing, I know have to figure out how to get back home. Luckily, I had my wallet in my backpack, so I had enough cash to catch a metro back home. Took my about 15-20 minutes to get to the closest station, went straight to the bike shop and got the flat fixed.

I was super glad my new spot paid off immediately, despite losing the nice pike and my best spinnerbait. I plan to head back there next week.

Fly fishing adventure - first attempt

I don't know how to fly fish, and have never tried before. Though I have a decent fly rod my son won a few years ago, I never bothered getting fly line or flies for it. I do eventually plan to give it a shot.

In the meanwhile, I found a type of bobber that allows you to cast flies using a spinning rod. It's called the Crystal cast, sold online at: www.spinandfly.com . I originally ordered in early August, hoping to have a last chance at longnose gar surfacing in the warm water. Due to postal delays, I only received them a few days ago.

With 25 degree weather in the forecast, I figure I may have a slight chance at finding some surfacing gars. I tied some crude hookless lures using some rope, added some red color using a magic marker.

I then found some old vintage flies from my dad's old tacklebox, sharpened the hooks until they were were sticky sharp. I figured I may have a slight chance at hooking into some carp if the gar didn't show.

Packed up some pike/bass gear just in case things went wrong. Also packed water shoes and put on my bathing suit under my pants. Knowing that I have a few kilometeres of trekking through dense bushes, I figured it may be easier to wade the shore line, and cool off at the same time.

Took the hottest day of the week off work, with my luck, we had 25 - 30 KM/H winds gusting. After dosing myself in bug spray to avoid ticks, mosquitoes and of critters found in the dense "jungle", I trekked about 1 kilometer. More rain had washed lots of slit into the water, visibility was about 6 inches. Needless to say, between the coffee colored water and the surface chop, I didn't spot any carp or gar where I was hoping to find them.

The forecast also called for thunderstorms, and after about 1 hour of casting the flies with no success, the clouds and thunder started moving in. There is a bridge further upstream, but in order to get there, I had to cross a stream. Off with the pants and hiking boots, water was still relatively warm. The vegetation on the other shore was too dense to make it through, so I opted to wade my way there, as close to shore as possible. This meant wading through lily pads and other assorted weeds. After watching and episode of "swamp people" a few nights before, I was sure happy we don't get gators this far up North.

Manage to slice open my leg on some sharp rocks I couldn't see, luckily it was nothing serious. Finally got to the bridge, and got out of the water. Cleared all dirt of my feet and legs. Made sure I didn't have any leeches attached to me, and stopped to rest.

The clouds cleared as fast as they had rolled in, so fishing was on again. I could go back where I started, but decided do go further downstream to another spot I figured I may have more success. As I got back in the water, I noticed I was heading into an area with very soft mud, almost like quick sand. Being alone, I wasn't about to take any chances. Off with the watershoes, on with the pants and hiking boots. Now had to cross a few hundred feet of extremely dense bullrushes, about 10-12 feet high. I really could have used my machete, as they were so thick I couldn't see 6 inches in front of me, nor could I see my feet. Finally manage to reach a small clearing at my spot, started casting the flies again, despite not seeing any carp.

Hooked into a small perch, and landed my first fish on a fly.

Having that out of the way, I switched to topwater lures. Go a small hit on my Zara Spook, not much else. Decided to trek further, again the bushes were too thick. Off with the hiking boots and pants, on with the water shoes. Waded the shoreline for another 100 feet or so, then finally hit some ground that was mainly tall grass. Back on with the pants and boots.

By now, the winds worked up too much of a chop for my topwater lures, so I switched to a spinnerbait on one rod, and a subsurface Rapala J-11 on the other. Hooked into a small 2-3 lb pike on the spinnerbait, came off right near the shore. Managed a couple more hits from some really small largemouth bass an the spinnerbait, nothing on the J-11. After a couple hours in the sun with slow fishing, I decided to change area.

Trekked a couple kilometers back to the car, stopped to pick up some cold beer on the way. Headed to an area on the St Lawrence River not too far away. The spot isn't too good this time of the year, overgrown with thick weeds. The high winds had the river in big whitecaps everywhere. Managed about a dozen small hits casting a Spro frog very shallow over a thick weed carpet, but none actually came out to take the lure. I fish next to my car, as I heard the storm rolling in. Sure enough, we got about 10 minutes of heavy rain. I sat it out in the air conditioned car, listening to some good music sipping my ice cold beer. More sun and another half an hour of fruitless fishing, I packed it up and called it a day.

Fishing pike on topwater lures

Jimmy invited me out for some more pike fishing, Tony joined us as well. With some customers lined up, practicing will ensure successful outings and repeat customers.

We headed out after noon, started fishing about 2:00 PM. A few nice hits in shallow water, small pike and bass landed. We motored down to some of the hot spots, but the water was a lot murkier after lots of rain. As pike are visual predators, the fishing was very tough. Spinnerbaits were the only fighting chance. I tied one on that had orange/red blades, it seemed to outperform the gold and silver they were using, just as Tony had said they would.

Eventually, we switched spots to look for clear water. When we found it, the fishing went from being extremely tough to "on fire". Both Jimmy and Tony started hooking up on their spinnerbaits, while I focused on fishing a topwater lure, using my beloved Zara Spook.

I attempted to fish the Zara Spook using a small leader, but found that the only way to retain some walk the dog action was to keep the rod tip high. It still was getting the side to side slow motion I wanted, so I took the leader off.

As the topwater bite turned on towards evening, the Zara spook got hit over and over again. The key was to work it extremely slowly. When the pike weren't chomping down on it, they were hitting it hard enough to send it flying in the air, which gave us all a good laugh (especially after a couple cold ones).

Eventually, my Zara spook ended up hooking the biggest pike of the outing, a good 6+ lbs.

Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to stay out that late until next season. With the kids back in school, the dinner / homework / bedtime routine is largely my responsibility.

Making boilies - first attempt

After doing some online research, I decided to attempt making my own boilies. From what I read, it's more rewarding to catch fish on home made baits, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I bought a few basic ingredients after researching many recipes online. When I finally tried to follow the recipes, I failed miserably on my first 2 attempts, couldn't get the dough to work properly. Fed up, I improvised and created my own recipe, substantially changing the fundamentals of what I'd read online. The dough worked on the first shot, I was soon rolling the "sausages".

With my boys off school for Labor day weekend, I took advantage of some child labor, and had them roll the sausages into a couple sizes of boilies, somewhere in the 10 mm and 20 mm range. The balls were a bit on the crude side, but it didn't matter at that point, I just wanted to boil and dry them to see of the dough worked. Sure enough, it did.

My kids were pretty excited to go out and try the boilies they made, so I took them out the following day. One of the local experts mentioned how bad the carp fishing had been all week, so I figured it would be a real good test. I set up 2 rods with my home made boilies, and 1 rod with the standard store bought ones I've used all season. I immediately noticed that the crude shaped home made boilies were very tough to cast accurately, especially into the wind. They took wild turns while flying, kind of like a curve ball having a bad day.

Despite not being able to efficiently chum my lines, the home made boilies got hit first. I was letting my kids try to fight the carp, so we lost the first couple fish. I eventually took the rod, and landed our first carp on a home made boilie. Not a monster, but a good start, and proof that they worked.

Throughout the day, the bite got really good at times, then died down for 1- 2 hours at a time. Levi ended up landing his biggest carp at 14 lbs, and lost another one in that size range.

Avi landed a couple big carp, lost another as well.

The home made boilie lines ended up hooking 6 carp, store bought ones only 2. All this despite running out of home made boilies halfway throughout the day, and not being able to efficiently chum due to their lopsided shape. To top it off, 4 groups of locals were at it that day, fishing different spots in the same area. They ended up landing a whopping 1 fish all day!

I didn't dream of this kind of success on my first attempt at boilie making. Now, I'm ready to get a couple small rolling table to make proper boilies for next season. I foresee more research in the future...

Multi species river fishing

After dedicating the past 6 weeks to carp fishing, I got invited to do some multi species fishing by Jimmy, my top bass guide (http://thebasstracker.com ) in Montreal. Tony came along as well, so I figured we'd be in for an action packed afternoon/evening outing.

We launched around 3:00 PM, and headed to an area I haven't tried yet, so I tied on a spinnerbait. Landed a tiny pike on my first cast, followed by a perch on my next. Nice to see the perch was aggressive enough to take my 3/4 ounce spinnerbait!

Fishing got much better. The spot is a true pike "factory", I caught another 6 or 7 pike on the spinnerbait, going up to about 5 lbs. Jimmy and Tony managed their share as well, some somersaulting out of the water to Jimmy's torpedo. I'm guessing we caught about 25-30 in total.

In addition to the pike, I managed a small largemouth bass, as well as a nice 4 - 5 lb bowfin on the spinnerbait, first time that happened to me.

Tony managed a gorgeous 4.5 lb smallmouth bass as well.

As the sun started setting, we moved off to another spot to try some topwater lure fishing, one of my all time favorite techniques. First spot was a real jungle, all I could throw was a weedless Spro frog. Got about 6 hits, none actually took the bait.

We moved out of the jungle, to an area that had intermittent weed patches scattered around on a sandy bottom. I tied on one of my favorite topwater lures, a beat up Zara Spook that was originally white and red. Why Jimmy hooked into fish using a high speed presentation with his torpedo, I opted for a super slow walk the dog presentation with the Zara Spook. I skipped the leader to avoid ruining my presentation, despite being in pike infested water.

I was rewarded immediately, I nice 4.5 lb pike took my offering. A few casts later, I got another big hit right next to a thick clump of weeds. The fish dove into the weedbed, I managed to horse it out a continue a nice fight. I assumed it was another pike, until I got it boat side. Supersize largemouth bass for the area and time of year, my biggest bass this season (so far), and biggest I've ever caught on a topwater lure. Weighed in at 4.75 lbs. I forgot to measure it...

After releasing it, I stuck with the Zara Spook as it was on fire. I few missed hits, and I finally got another fish on. I was very surprised to see the big smallmouth bass jump, as I've never hooked one on a topwater lure as big as the Zara Spook. I landed the fish, a good 3+ lbs.

It was nearly dark by now, I we had to make it back to land the boat before while we could still see what we were doing.

After dedicating so much of my season to chasing big carp, it felt nice to pull out 5 species lure fishing on one afternoon, in addition to a couple lunkers.

Initiating friends / family to carp fishing

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've spent much of my carp outings initiating friends & family into carp fishing, and old carp fishermen into using new tactics. Any fisherman at heart gets a special joy out of helping someone land a species they don't normally get to target, especially when they are among the biggest fish swimming in our river.

The most recent one, compiled a short video of his first carp, view it by clicking here.

My most recent "converts":

The "science" of carp fishing

Carp have me obsessed again, basically all I've been targeting for the past 5 weeks or so. I've gone out with some new friends I introduced to carp, all while trying to break down the best possible all around methods and equipment to use.

The water has been dropping steadily at my spot. This created a 2 pronged issue:

1) The lower water means that my mainline is more exposed to the razor sharp rocks that make up most of the bottom in the area I fish.

2) The water temp is warming up fast, and the thermocline getting deeper every day. This forces the carp to "hug" bottom when fighting.

I'm trying to be as methodical as I can,giving each rod equal amounts of time, cast to the same spots, usually 1 hour each, then I switch.

Started off by comparing a line with 50 lb Power Pro to One with 65 lb Power Pro. The 50 got more hits and more cut offs. With the low water, I getting the 50 lb test mainline or hair rig cut off about 2 of every 3 outings now. The 65 LB Power Pro gets less hits, but less cut offs as well.

I then decided to spool about 60 feet of 80 Fireline XDS onto one of the reels. Had lot's of trouble casting it, and the fish are very line shy. Haven't managed one carp on it, all I caught was an 8 lb channel cat that took my boilie.

After realizing that the carp are that finicky about the heavy line, I decided to throw another couple lines into the mix. I picked up a spool of 65 Suffix 832, which is advertised as being extremely abrasion resistant, something superbraided lines are not known to be.

I also picked up a spool or Seaguar AbrazX fluorocarbon, billed as the most abrasion resistance line they make. Wanting to keep castability, I opted for 25 lbs, the highest resistance sold for that given line with getting into leader material (too stiff).

I tied some extra long hair rigs for the Suffix 832 main line, which produced lots of missed runs. At least they're not line shy. When I shortened my rigs on the last outing, I hooked up pretty soon. Problem is that I had about 40 feet of the 65 lb Sufix 832 as a shock leader, the main line was 50 lb Power Pro. As I hooked up about 125 feet offshore, the carp ran and cut my mainline above the shock leader. The result: Fish are not line shy, still inconclusive as whether or not it's abrasion resistance is as good as they claim.

The Seaguar Fluorcarbon AbrazX worked well as far as stealth. I also tied fluorocarbon hair rigs with it. I did noticed them getting tangled on the cast more often than the softer braid I use, which fouled up a few of my presentations. Landed a few fish on it, also got some cut offs, not any better than the 50 lb Power Pro when it comes to resistance, despite having a diameter about double the size.

So, it's back to the drawing board for the wave of outings. Looks like I'll need to use a lot more Suffix 832 as a shock leader, possibly use it as my mainline. Also look like I'm better of using braid for my hair rigs as opposed to Fluorocarbon, even if I stick with a flourocarbon shock leader.

I'll post the results after some more testing....

OK. Here I am a couple weeks after originally writing this post, more testing with much better results. I spooled the Suffix 832 65 lbs as my mainline, and used it to tie my hair rigs as well. A guy I went with picked up some 80 lb Tuff line braid to use as a shock leader. The Tuff line is extremely soft and seems very resistant to abrasion. Due to it's thick diameter, I opted for a hair rig I tied using 50 lbs Power Pro.

The Tuff Line got the first hit of the day. After a decent fight the guy I was with lost the carp due to it spitting the hook. Went he brought in his line, it was significantly frayed in 3 spots, resulting from direct runs into the sharp rocks by the big carp. The first fray was about 10 feet up the line. I gave it a slight tug and it snapped. The second fray was about 6 feet higher up. Same story, it snapped after a slight tug. The 3rd one held up fine.

The Tuff Line went dead for the remainder of the day. The rest of the fish seemed to shy away from the heavier / larger diameter braid, we eventually switched to another rod with 50 lbs Power Pro. The 2 rods were getting an even amount of hits. The Suffix held up great against some big rocks, I after hooking and fighting about 10 carp on it, it hasn't got any significant damage. Better than that, I haven't had any more cut offs. So it looks like I'm sold on the Suffix 832 65 lb line as both my main line and hook link.

I've also noticed a huge difference in regards to the amount of fish spitting hooks depending on the brand used. I was quite happy with carp hooks from Monster tackle, until I tried Teflon coated ESP Raptor hooks. The Monster hooks don't compare in sharpness, and I haven't had a carp spit an ESP yet, in comparison to about 25% spitting the monster hooks.

I'm really glad to have been able to make the time to do all this research. The cut offs had me obsessed to the point where I would lie awake at night thinking about them. After the past few days and a some nice big ones, I'm sleeping a lot better.