tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86380572041266217552024-03-21T19:47:47.523-07:00Freshwater sport fishing in Montreal, Quebec and Ontario.The official Freshwater Phil blog. Information on sport fishing based on my personal experiences.Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.comBlogger482125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-54960674749060944992024-02-28T05:38:00.000-08:002024-03-05T16:41:51.912-08:00South Florida shore fishing February 2024<p>Back from a few days visiting my daughter and her family in South Florida, namely North Miami beach. Of course, my plan of action is to get in as much Florida fishing as I possibly can. With her and her husband working full time, and their kids in school, I pretty much had an 8am to 4 pm schedule open to fish as I pleased.</p><p>As opposed to past trips there, my plan was to work the area around her home on foot, all fishing from shore. Didn't even bother to rent a car during my entire stay.</p><p>The first spot I planned to fish, was the snake creek trail which runs along the Royal Galdes (or is it Glades?) canal. I've fished their in the past, and though it has been quite tough fishing, the peacock bass always intrigue me, as we don't get them up here. In addition, I've spotted some grass carp in there, and as we don't get those either, I brought along some very basic gear to help me try to target the grassers as well.</p><p>Day 1:</p><p>Woke up bright and early, in order to make the first morning prayers at the local synagogue (Bais Menachem) before sunrise. First time I can ever remember needing to wear a sweater in Miami, I think it was a chilly 9C.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmiami20241.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="252" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmiami20241.gif" width="336" /></a></div><br /><p>Warmed up ever so slightly on my way home at sunrise about 1 hour later...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmiami20242.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="253" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmiami20242.gif" width="338" /></a></div><br /><p>After the 12 minute walk back to my daughter's home, we had breakfast together. They headed off to their days at work/school, and I grabbed my 2 rods, a backpack of mixed tackle, and enough water to last a while. </p><p>The first segment of the canal that I planned to fish at has a fitness trail and circuit, where most of the locals go for scenic walks, jogs and bike rides.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/snakecreekcanalplaque.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="430" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/snakecreekcanalplaque.gif" width="323" /></a></div><br /><p>I proceeded to chum a spot with half a bag of frozen corn, hoping it may attract some grass carp. I then worked my way casting the entire segment of the canal on both sides, using a variety of lures. The only ones that garnered any interest at all, were a #3 and #4 spinner. About 2 dozen follows from juvenile peacock bass, but no hits at all, just chasers. That took about 3 hours.</p><p>I then proceeded to stop and fish the spot I chummed for carp, using a variety of frozen corn, popup chilli lime corn, and peanuts. No carp in sight, I went on to do another 3 hours of casting, spotting some more peacock bass. Still no hits, and I ran out of drinking water after around 7 hours, so I headed home, skunked.</p><p>Day 2:</p><p>Warmer weather had me in a t shirt. Switched plans for the day. After seeing kids off, I decided to start at the spot I had chummed, as I had dumped in the second half of the corn before leaving the previous day. Set up my rods, and while they were fishing, I took advantage and got a good workout in the warming sun amidst the palm trees. Mix of callisthenic, isometric, aerobic, ending with a bit of yoga and stretching. Still no carp in sight, seemed the ducks and other aquatic birds were more interested in the corn, and that segment of the canal is loaded with all sort of these birds.</p><p>I decided to try a bit of sight fishing, and spotted the biggest grass carp I have seen there to date, probably pushing 20 lbs or so. It spooked real quickly, but I decided to chum that area with a bag of corn again.</p><p>I then proceeded to head out exploring another segment of the Snake Creek trail, on the other side of Miami Gardens. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/snakecreeksign.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="505" data-original-width="300" height="355" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/snakecreeksign.gif" width="211" /></a></div><br /><p>The segment of the same canal turns into Sky lake on one side, and there is a small lake across with a few secluded casting spots. I couldn't find it's name on Google maps, but it seems to be called Pickwick lake based on the homes/estate at the road entrance.</p><p>After casting Sky lake with a couple more follows from peacock bass, I tried Pickwick lake. Seeing a nice topwater splash from my first spot, I made my way through some pine trees for a better shot at casting to the fish. Sure enough, first cast with my topwater lure (walking mullet) was money, and I landed my first fish of the trip, and decent little largemouth bass. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass022224.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="360" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass022224.gif" width="270" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I eventually made my way further down past I-95, and started fishing a new segment of the canal, but was getting tired from all the trekking in the heat, and starting to run low on water. Before calling it a day, I headed back to try to fish the area I chummed for carp again. This time, the flock of birds that came when I had chummed, basically ate all the corn I put out, and when I cast, one of them dived and nearly got hooked trying to steal my bait. </p><p>So much for "wasting" any more time with carp. Truth is, that grass carp are put in those types of waterways to eat the overabundant grass, so throwing in some corn does not have the same effect that it would on common carp. With very few grass carp there (I only spotted 1 in 3 days), and insane amounts of ducks, geese, turtles, and other aquatic birds, it's little wonder that I wasn't able to have any success. I headed home and planned to fish Sky lake hard the following day.</p><p>Day 3:</p><p>The hottest day of my trip. I had a bit less time to fish as it was Friday, I decided to beat up both Sky lake and Pickwick lake with a large variety of lures. Topwater, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits a spinners in various size and colors each. </p><p>I was always wondering how accurate these signs were.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/manateezonesign.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="500" height="233" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/manateezonesign.gif" width="276" /></a></div><br /><p>Sure enough, I finally found out, as I spotted a couple manatees, a big 8-10 foot mother and it's calf swimming near the surface.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/manatees2024.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="600" height="220" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/manatees2024.gif" width="477" /></a></div><br /><p>A bit after noon, I saw a splash on Pickwick lake, tossed a small spinner, and landed my first peacock bass of the trip. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass0223241.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="400" height="330" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass0223241.gif" width="255" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Nothing big, but very welcome.</p><p>Minutes later, I saw another surface splash, this time on Sky lake. Again, the small spinner did the trick, this one a bit better in size.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass0223242.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="313" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass0223242.gif" width="235" /></a></div><br /><p>Tried sight casting a few lures to some cruising largemouth bass, but no takers, and I called it a day about an hour later.</p><p><br /></p><p>Day 4:</p><p>This was to be the big highlight of my trip. An afternoon going into night of shore fishing for giant sharks, namely hammerhead, tiger and bull sharks, near Jensen's Beach Florida, with one of my childhood friends that now lives in South Florida</p><p>Unfortunately, the guide that I booked (No Name charters / Jake Barker) through a web site called fishingbooker.com turned out to be one of the worst / unprofessional guides I've ever booked.</p><p>Without going into all the details of the failed outing, results were no hammerheads, tiger or bull sharks, despite the guide promising the moon before I booked him. We were lucky to avoid the skunk with this decent blacktip shark.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philblacktip0225242.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="550" height="303" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philblacktip0225242.gif" width="334" /></a></div><br /><p>Day 5:</p><p>After getting home a lot earlier than planned from the previous days shark outing, I was originally thinking of saltwater fishing for my last day in Florida. My thoughts were to have my daughter drop me off at the Sunny Isles Pier for the day on her way to work, and then pick me up at days end. Between not wanting to overburden her, and still being a bit groggy from a night of drinking with my friend after the failed shark outing, I decided to stay on foot and do more exploring further down the Snake Creek trail.</p><p>I got a later start than usual, got to my first spot at Sky Lake around 10:30 AM or so. After a bit of casting to some inactive bass there, and a bit at Pickwick lake, I made my way further West along the trail, to a new segment of canal I hadn't fished yet.</p><p>Made my way down casting spinners, was getting a decent amount of hits from tiny largemouth bass without any hookups. After fishing the entire length of that segment of canal without anything to show for, I tried working my way back up casting another topwater lure, the Berkeley Choppo. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing tons of drifting grass towards the side of the canal I was fishing, so I couldn't get a clean retrieve. I switched to a small spinner, and not long after, I caught my first Florida Bluegill sunfish. Decent size for the species, and it hit at the end of my retrieve, about 1 foot from shore.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbluegill0226241.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="500" height="284" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbluegill0226241.gif" width="330" /></a></div><br /><p>Kept working my way East using the spinner, until the point where drifting weeds were no longer an issue. I switched back to using the topwater Choppo, and sure enough, it got crushed by a nice peacock bass. During the entire fight, another peacock bas of identical size kept chasing the one I hooked, and twice, it tried to steal the lure from the first one's mouth. Would have been totally nuts to catch the two peacock bass on the same lure at once, but it didn't happen.</p><p>I landed the first one, a nice 15 inch fish that put up a great fight for it's size, and now my biggest of that species. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass0226242.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="400" height="346" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass0226242.gif" width="246" /></a></div><br /><p>As well, it was my first topwater peacock bass, as all the previous ones I have manage to land over my past few trips to the area have all been caught on spinners.</p><p>I kept casting the area for a while, hoping for the other one to come back, but it likely took off to an other area. They seem to do that more than largemouth or smallmouth bass once they miss a lure, most often giving you only one shot at catching them.</p><p>As the day went on and I kept working my way East towards my starting point, I made my way back to sky lake. I ran into two other guys fishing the same stretch of shore line. They were locals, and it was their first time fishing the area. We got to talking a bit, and they were very excited to hear that I had landed a peacock bass, as they hadn't had any success all day.</p><p>I showed them the picture, and then the lure I was using. Just as I was demonstrating how the lure worked, I nice largemouth bass swam right up to us, and stopped about 8 feet from where I was standing on the shore. I tossed my lure next to it, and within 2 to 3 twitches, it nipped at the lure, and I was hooked the nice bass. </p><p>Managed to land in right in front of them, and my demonstration of the lure could not have worked out more perfectly!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass022624.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="500" height="336" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass022624.gif" width="323" /></a></div><br /><p>I didn't bother weighing it, but I'd guess it was pushing the 4 lbs mark, about 20 inches long or so. While quite small by Florida bass standards, it is my biggest largemouth bass landed in Florida, as most of the fishing I have done there in the past was in saltwater.</p><p>Kept seeing more bass cruising the shallows at Sky lake, but unfortunately, none were active enough to hit my lure, and I ended up heading home about an hour or so after that.</p><p>As it was my final outing of the trip, after a quick shower, I sat down for a self celebratory drink. One of all time favorites when visiting the USA, pity we don't get these here in Quebec.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/fosters2024.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="500" height="277" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/fosters2024.gif" width="311" /></a></div><br /><p>For those of you old enough the remember their TV commercials, thought I'd share one of my favorites:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="356" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yHULvYC04qU" width="428" youtube-src-id="yHULvYC04qU"></iframe></div><br /><p>Gotta love them Aussies!</p><p>Got back to the warmest temps I have seen here in February, I was even wearing the same clothing in Miami and Montreal on he same day. Hoping to find some safe ice to fish up North next week.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-31236702020949079302024-01-09T17:04:00.000-08:002024-01-29T15:46:04.937-08:00Ice fishing report for January 2024<p>First, I'd like to start by wishing everyone a happy new year, and all the best for 2024. I'm planning to detail my ice fishing outings for January 2024 in this blog post, so I hope you'll bear with me, and enjoy the reading and fishing pics.</p><p>Ice has been very slow in forming anywhere in the Montreal and surrounding regions. As such, options have been limited, especially early in the month.</p><p>January 3 2024:</p><p>My first outing of 2024, I decided to spend a few hours running some of my spots closer to home, instead of heading North for bass, as I had done during the previous week to close 2023. Out of the 5 spots I checked, only 3 of the had safe ice, and 2 of them were quite crowded with others already fishing there.</p><p>I had one spot to myself, with mainly 3 inches of ice, though the spud bar was in order, as some spots were slightly thinner.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/spudbar010324.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="450" height="224" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/spudbar010324.gif" width="271" /></a></div><br /><p>The ice was thin enough for my Marcum's transducer to shoot through it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/flasher010324.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="350" height="361" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/flasher010324.gif" width="250" /></a></div><br /><p>Unfortunately, nothing but small perch, though in very large numbers. Managed to land 27 of them, mostly in the 4-6 inch range, despite upsizing lures. Only fished for 3 hours, drilled about a dozen holes, and found fish mainly suspended over 12 feet of depth.</p><p>January 9 2024:</p><p>Decided to try a new spot for my first pike fishing outing of the year. I have fished in the area before, but this spot is new to me, at least as a far as ice fishing goes. I originally found the fishing spot while float tubing during the summer, and did OK, catching largemouth bass and pike there over a couple outings.</p><p>Got to my spot just before the start of the mid morning major. Found 6 inches of solid ice, with a few inches of fresh snow cover. This area typically has at least double the ice by early January, but this year has been unseasonably warm. </p><p>No signs of anyone else having fished there sine the ice formed, so I was hoping to find more fish where I had last had most of my success there. Went with my my 8 inch manual fin bore auger, as I do enjoy the extra workout every now and then.</p><p>I started off by setting u my spread of tip up lines, suspended at depth of 6 to 10 feet over 14-16 feet bottoms. We are allowed to use up to 10 lines during winter in this zone, so I baited p tip ups, with a variety of frozen mackerels in the 7-8 inch range, and some headless gutted smelt in the 5 inch range.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/mackerel010924.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="450" height="327" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/mackerel010924.gif" width="276" /></a></div><br /><p>I also rigged a few of the lines with double smelt, one on each treble of my quick strike rig.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/doublessmelt010924.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="500" height="234" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/doublessmelt010924.gif" width="290" /></a></div><br /><p>Finished setting up my last tip up rigged with double smelt around 9:40 am, just after the start of the major. I drilled my first jigging hole, and started off jigging with small Yozuri Rattle n vibe rattlebait, my go to lure for largemouth bass and big perch.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/rattlenvibe010924.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="341" data-original-width="500" height="199" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/rattlenvibe010924.gif" width="291" /></a></div><br /><p>On my first drop, I saw a big mark hovering near my lure on my Humminbird flasher. It disappeared shortly after, only to come back and leave a gain a coupe more times. Finally, I managed to get it to eat on it's fourth time, suspended 3-4 feet off the bottom depth which was 15 feet. </p><p>The ensuing battle was quite intense. I had to keep my rod submerged under the ice hole to avoid having the thin fluorocarbon line cut on the ice hole's bottom end.</p><p>After a few runs, I manage to land my first pike of the year, a chunky fish pushing 6 lbs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0109242.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="450" height="411" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0109242.gif" width="296" /></a></div><br /><p>Just as I was releasing it, my last tip up line I had set a few minutes earlier, sprung up.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/flag010924.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="450" height="290" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/flag010924.gif" width="299" /></a></div><div><br /></div>This pike was not quite as long, and a lot thinner, more typical of the summer pike that I've caught at this spot.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0109243.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="475" height="378" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0109243.gif" width="303" /></a></div><br /><div>Released it through the ice in good condition, just as the first one.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0109244.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="600" height="280" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0109244.gif" width="313" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div>Starting the day off with a double header, with both pike landed within the first 20 minutes of the outing, had me relaxed for the rest of the day. Just as well, didn't hook any more fish for the next 5 hours or so before I left, nor did I see much activity on the flasher. </div><div><br /></div><div>Was also very happy to get my first flag up, as I hope to put some more time into fishing tip ups than I have over the past few seasons. The fact that it hit on the double smelt rig I was experimenting with was gravy.</div><div><br /></div><div>January 14 2024:</div><div><br /></div><div>With safe ice in zone 8 still hard to come by, I opted to fish a small farm pond, where I've caught some nice bass and smaller pike under ice in the past. Plan was to fish for pike using most of my allowable lines with tip ups, and save the last line to jig for bass and panfish.</div><div><br /></div><div>Found a solid 7-8 inches of ice, which was sort of what I had expected. Unfortunately, the bass were super finicky, as were the panfish. Probably slowest I have ever seen at that spot.</div><div><br /></div><div>Around noon, one of my tip up flags sprung up, the line had been baited with a decent sized mackerel. When I lifted it, the line had somehow got caught up in the spool, so I had very little lie to fight the big pike with, and had to horse it more than I would have wanted to.</div><div><br /></div><div>Either way, I landed this beauty of a pike!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0114241.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="550" height="370" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0114241.gif" width="457" /></a></div><br /><div>At 36 inches and weighing 9.8 lbs, it was more than double the size of any other pike I've caught at that spot, as well as being the biggest pike I've landed on ice to date.</div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't dream of ever catching a pike that big in a pond that small, but this very welcome surprise made my day.</div><div><br /><p>January 29 2024:</p><p>Finally got out for the first time in 2 weeks, as I was away for a short trip to NYC during the previous week. For this outing, I brought my youngest son Zev along to fish for stocked brook trout, on a small lake that had its annual ice fishing derby a couple days prior to us going. I had gone their after the derby a couple years ago, and the brook trout they stocked we quite sizeable, and very easy to catch. I planned to fish to worm/jig rods, one tip up baited with live worms, nd jig a small w2 jigging rap.</p><p>We got to the lake by mid morning. There were a couple deer waiting for us at the parking area.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevdeer012924.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="500" height="365" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevdeer012924.gif" width="318" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Started off fishing in very shallow water, mainly 3-5 feet deep. After close to an hour with no bites on any of the lines. I moved deeper, and within 15 minutes of so, I caught the first trout of the outing. Fish hit a stationary worm line in about 7 feet of water.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtrout012924.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="400" height="375" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtrout012924.gif" width="234" /></a></div><br /><p>Shortly after, Zev caught his first trout of the year. Being a video game junkie, I think he enjoyed using the flasher.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtrout0129241.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="310" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtrout0129241.gif" width="233" /></a></div><br /><p>The bite was on, we landed our 10 trout limit within less than 3 hours, with Zev catching the biggest one to end the outing.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtrout0129243.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="500" height="345" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtrout0129243.gif" width="303" /></a></div><br /><p>While not enough trout in the limit to spell "2024", we came up with the next best idea.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtrout0129244.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="517" data-original-width="600" height="283" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtrout0129244.gif" width="329" /></a></div><br /><p>Unfortunately, it seem like the derby organizers decided to stock a smaller class of brook trout this year. Short but fun outing, and we have some tasty fillets in the freezer to enjoy over the next couple weeks. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-43909983396705794412023-12-24T17:30:00.000-08:002023-12-26T18:00:48.236-08:00First ice fishing outing of the winter<p>Finally got out to do some fishing for the first time in 2 months. I'd say this is about the longest spell I've gone without fishing in over 15 years.</p><p>Starting this winter, I'm planning to modify my blogging style a bit. Posts will lean more towards the technical aspects and results of the given outings, instead of the "play by play" style I've been using.</p><p>For this outing, my plan was to hit s small lake filled with mainly largemouth bass, along with some perch and smallmouth bass as well, hoping to start off my winter by harvesting a bag limit of smaller largemouth bass. With a lot of trekking to do, and anticipating having to drill many holes to find fish, I opted to use my 6 inch manual Fin Bore auger due to it's ultra light weight making it a breeze to hand drill all day. With the help of my flasher, I planned to stick to jigging 1 lure all day, a small Yo Zuri Rattlenvibe tipped with a live mealworm.</p><p>Conditions:</p><p>Outer temp above freezing at 2C. Wind 5 KM/H. Cloudy. 7-8 inches of ice, 1 inch snow cover.</p><p>Stats:</p><p>Fished 54 holes in 6 hours. Tough bite starting at mid morning major until afternoon minor. During that time, I landed 5 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, and 3 perch. All caught between 29 and 32 feet of depth, suspended 3 feet or so from bottom.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/smbass122423.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="450" height="429" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/smbass122423.gif" width="332" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass122423.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="450" height="447" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass122423.gif" width="330" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>At my 48th hole , during the afternoon minor, with about 90 minutes remaining to the outing, I hit the motherload. 4 of 6 next holes produced additional 14 largemouth bass, 1 smallmouth bass, and 2 more perch. Shallowest bite of the day, these were all caught between 24 and 28 feet of depth, schooling and very aggressive, chasing lure 8-10 feet up from bottom.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmbass1224232.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="450" height="343" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmbass1224232.gif" width="277" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch122423.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="450" height="347" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch122423.gif" width="279" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Total for the day ended at 19 largemouth bass, 2 smallmouth bass, and 5 perch. With that amount of manual drilling, I didn't need to wear my coat at all, stayed warm just wearing sweater and bibs.</p><p>Harvested my 6 largemouth bass limit, release the rest as well as the smallmouth bass. Perch mostly riddled with white worms and black spots, kept only 1 perch.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecatch122423.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="450" height="387" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecatch122423.gif" width="262" /></a></div><br /><p>Two days later, I headed back for more bass fishing on same lake. Started off fishing my old holes for the first 90 minutes or so, as they were still open due to warm weather. Managed another bag limit of largemouth bass within the first 45 minutes or so, but they were a bit deeper this time, mainly in the 30 to 35 foot range. Still biting suspended.</p><p>I then drilled about 40 holes over the next 3.5 hours, most of them in spots I normally don't get to due to heavy snow cover. Deepest spot on the lake I found was 61 feet, and to my surprise, I pulled a couple perch out of that depth. Deepest perch I've ever caught.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch1226231.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="357" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch1226231.gif" width="268" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch1226232.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="450" height="402" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch1226232.gif" width="264" /></a></div><br /><p>Caught a pretty deep smallmouth bass as well, at 40 feet.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth122623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="450" height="384" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth122623.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><br /><p>Final tally for the day was 12 largemouth bass, 3 smallmouth bass, and 9 perch. All on same rattlenvibe rattle bait lure tipped with mealworm.</p><p>Harvested a few more fish for my freezer as well.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecatch1226231.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="600" height="318" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecatch1226231.gif" width="374" /></a></div><br /><p>Found this cool frozen crayfish on my way out.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecrayfish122623.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="400" height="411" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecrayfish122623.gif" width="263" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-32777306011775471852023-11-28T04:45:00.000-08:002023-11-28T04:45:08.472-08:00My 2023 carp fishing season<p>Another season of slower than usual carp fishing as far as hours spent on the bank in 2023. Didn't do any guiding for carp, and when I did get out to fish for carp, it was mainly short outings of 2-3 hours at a time. Still, I did manage some very nice catches, as well as a significant number of by-catches.</p><p>Apr 16 2023:</p><p>My first outing of the season, to my usual early season spot right after ice out. Mission was to land at least 1 carp in the frigid water not long after ice out, and to harvest, debone and cook it into something palatable. Mission accomplished, carp fell for one of my Fireball boilies. You can read more by <a href="https://www.montreal-fishing.com/2023/05/filleting-deboning-and-cooking-carp.html" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/cookedcarp2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="600" height="330" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/cookedcarp2023.jpg" width="308" /></a></div><br /><p>Water remained cold through the first part of May, but i still managed to catch a few more carp, during a couple evening outings a a spot I pre-baited. Best baits were Fireball boilies mixed with range cubes fished on bottom, and Fireball popup boilies.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp050423.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="600" height="227" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp050423.jpg" width="382" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp051023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp051023.jpg" width="369" /></a></div><br /><p>A couple weeks later, with warmer water temperature, I started pre-baiting for carp again. On my first outing, I was surprised by catching my first couple tench during a short outing with my son. The tench seemed to favor my Sweet Dream boilies over any other bait I was fishing with.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtench0602232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="550" height="301" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtench0602232.jpg" width="346" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtench060223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="500" height="237" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtench060223.jpg" width="329" /></a></div><br /><p>Not much of a fight from tench on rods and reels geared for monster carp, but was nice landing a new species for a change. During the next couple days, we landed a few more carp on Sweet Dream boilies mixed with range cubes, and this nice fatty on the same rig switched up to a Fireball boilie :</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp060523.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="550" height="266" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp060523.jpg" width="381" /></a></div><br /><p>Again, a few more tench were mixed in, seemed like they were getting onto my feed and slowly out competing / pushing out the carp from my fishing spot.</p><p>After taking a good 5-6 weeks off of prebaiting due to a few fishing vacations out of town, I started again late in July. Unfortunately, the bait drew in more tench and some channel catfish. At that point, I gave up on that spot for the rest of the season, and determined to focus my time mainly on float tube fishing for bass and pike until the end of summer.</p><p>I did get out for one more carp outing in August, back to a spot that doesn't need any prebaiting. Goal for that trip was to put Audrey (my son's girlfriend) onto her first carp. We were successful, and she managed to catch a few carp on a mix of Fireball and Sweet Dream boilies. We even started the day with a double header, first time in a while that that has happened.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/audreycarp0809232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="550" height="314" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/audreycarp0809232.jpg" width="322" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliaudreycarp080923.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="550" height="275" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliaudreycarp080923.jpg" width="344" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p>As September rolled in, I was ready to start pre-baiting another spot for carp. Hoping to avoid schools of annoying invasive tench, I focused my efforts far from where I had fished earlier in the season. First, night fishing outing at the spot, I landed a whopping 5 carp as well as a sucker and channel catfish. Bite was nonstop, and I would have stayed for more fish, had I had more time. Carp were hitting a mix of Fireball and Sweet Dream popups boilies pegged with fake corn. This nice trophy sized carp was the biggest of the outing.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp0903232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="600" height="283" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp0903232.jpg" width="352" /></a></div><br /><p>Hoping to replicate the action the following evening, I went back with a friend. Surprisingly, only one channel catfish came to play, no carp at all...</p><p>After a 2 week break, I decided to pre-bait another spot where I had some limited success catching carp last fall. Unfortunately, that spot didn't work out either, we ended up getting skunked. </p><p>After taking a good 4 weeks off of carping, and very little fishing in general, I started pre-baiting another spot for mid October. First outing resulted in a decent size sized carp, and another one that cut my line in the rocks. A few days later, I returned after some more pre-baiting. Started by rigging my hookbait with double boilies, mixing one Fireball with one Sweet Dream flavor. First fish of the day was an absolute beast of a carp, measuring 40 inches and weighing 36.4 lbs! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp1020231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="600" height="239" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp1020231.jpg" width="429" /></a></div><br /><p>By far, my biggest carp of the season up until that point. I then caught a couple more back to back carp in the mid twenties before I was forced off the water due to high wind bringing in huge beds of floating weeds that kept fouling my presentation.</p><p>The following week was very busy for me again, but I made the time to do a bit more pre-baiting at the same spot. I finally fished it a few days later, and the bites were instant. Within 5-7 minutes of my first cast, I landed my fist of the day, nice carp over 25.5 lbs that hit a double popup boilie rig. Fireball and black magic pegged with fake corn.</p><p>Less than 10 minutes after casting again, my line went off, and I landed this obese 29 lbs carp.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp1026233.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="600" height="221" src="https://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp1026233.jpg" width="386" /></a></div><br /><p>That one fell for a single fireball popup boilie pegged with fake corn. Another 10 minutes later, I got a false run, and then the bite ided down completely, nothing else for two hours. All in all, I fish only 3 times in October, each outing was about 3 hours long. By far the lest amount of time I've spent fishing in October, but those few hours were magical, with all the carp ranging from mid twenties to upper thirties.</p><p>I had planned to go out again in November, but that didn't happen. The carp wintering spot I normally fish at before freeze up, will have to wait until next season. Looking forward to hitting first ice as soon as it's safe enough.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-74066408704059634432023-10-24T17:13:00.001-07:002023-10-24T18:00:17.829-07:00Float tube fishing - 2023 season<p> Another season of float tube fishing is in the books. did a bit less exploring fishing from my float tube in 2023, but still managed to put in some decent time, and land a good number of bass and some pike mixed in.</p><p>Noticed a significant leak in my float tube during my first outing in May, luckily I had a spare inner tube at home, as I was not able to find any more online for my float tube model, which is the Cumberland from Classic Accessories. It's been out of stock for the entire season...</p><p>After catching a few small pike in May, I finally made it to some of my favorite bass spots. Threw mainly PopR's when the weather permitted, otherwise a mix of spinners, spybaits and Rapala J9's for smallmouth bass. As for largemouth bass, again the PopR, as well as spinnerbaits, and walking mullet (topwater / walk the dog) lure. Bonus were a few pike mixed in, mainly on a spinnerbait.</p><p>Here are a few of of my float tubing fishing pics from the 2023 fishing season:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hbNILuB9e26UBlx3u1sws4VKHqpuixuQfMCMjSNABsf8pPhTC7JAiJ0nmPn6N5CAEjKKCaPTe9HOR5Zas-vMUhYN9OkxHT18tAWme1FPr7D4tykWnrQJno-xvitSDKAP8w5zi1LQxViBhwNeiZeJbYknzDJk4KCoIuh_d_YvhonHq6XiolmbM294QxIt/s604/philsmbass052223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hbNILuB9e26UBlx3u1sws4VKHqpuixuQfMCMjSNABsf8pPhTC7JAiJ0nmPn6N5CAEjKKCaPTe9HOR5Zas-vMUhYN9OkxHT18tAWme1FPr7D4tykWnrQJno-xvitSDKAP8w5zi1LQxViBhwNeiZeJbYknzDJk4KCoIuh_d_YvhonHq6XiolmbM294QxIt/s320/philsmbass052223.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yc8jA3t3R7hxtlW8-7U-Y6Dzh2liaopJ-0-jgI3lb2QXbqdQgz2XifqpzQ1SDtqw1XOyurtBTIGaeHWG-tw4eialZOa_NVSW06selBfFE6TsndKqTOykSQ2pyZNDveS7UtFsGZFBOMNwkGcCXV5Yp1PCOBkVG7zp1xwBYcqElBb3SWupLzLLdwWUqWk8/s592/philsmbass062023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yc8jA3t3R7hxtlW8-7U-Y6Dzh2liaopJ-0-jgI3lb2QXbqdQgz2XifqpzQ1SDtqw1XOyurtBTIGaeHWG-tw4eialZOa_NVSW06selBfFE6TsndKqTOykSQ2pyZNDveS7UtFsGZFBOMNwkGcCXV5Yp1PCOBkVG7zp1xwBYcqElBb3SWupLzLLdwWUqWk8/s320/philsmbass062023.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HPyeb8DYb1TDHCQzBgH7zMZs53VA0EK9YNUzDH_gXm0CuSU3Wb2Q67ACEQRRhFv3wJ8qyjqkhIBPLm9UAHtP_XwsaIOUMc-dDXT3gTYGb5n66eZnwYfkPllGU7BpznoC_JvJJxUowH9t0OI4sLvgK4Xl-Y5SJZ19-RSu8TRnMeLUb2qCOaMJsNuAaK9t/s595/philsmbass0529231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-HPyeb8DYb1TDHCQzBgH7zMZs53VA0EK9YNUzDH_gXm0CuSU3Wb2Q67ACEQRRhFv3wJ8qyjqkhIBPLm9UAHtP_XwsaIOUMc-dDXT3gTYGb5n66eZnwYfkPllGU7BpznoC_JvJJxUowH9t0OI4sLvgK4Xl-Y5SJZ19-RSu8TRnMeLUb2qCOaMJsNuAaK9t/s320/philsmbass0529231.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzj1OIUDUAj9fS6NkXjXGxxi301cDtG-Ho3g0FPBjOBcOFTdStzWqL6wAvm4QlHv8e888XHw9D8zYWElK8Je19TqwOc7IiHESPUiLxZRuqjg5YkhlvprYCP6a1qd7WUGjj_Gv5rb34TK3HbDxuw_EcDORvXUcyLl1psdiarPLN58I8hCCkAe4L-KhyKBz/s601/philbass091123.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzj1OIUDUAj9fS6NkXjXGxxi301cDtG-Ho3g0FPBjOBcOFTdStzWqL6wAvm4QlHv8e888XHw9D8zYWElK8Je19TqwOc7IiHESPUiLxZRuqjg5YkhlvprYCP6a1qd7WUGjj_Gv5rb34TK3HbDxuw_EcDORvXUcyLl1psdiarPLN58I8hCCkAe4L-KhyKBz/s320/philbass091123.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfZBybq3R5HadMi94rvWcgpQrILCoau3ZXYtBRno6Pvk3SyzBDNZ6HHLrvH-7LkHerFWXHrTWbQbYwDANiGpnGkelidpy2ppNsD0RxK7wljz9lI2IKMhO7LyUm6RaBFGpG0HeXsA_-t_JtEdUqUuw9U1PAhJ0h5PlCQqIyXJsqQbxaI-3dAU8YFt4chDH/s600/philbass0816231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfZBybq3R5HadMi94rvWcgpQrILCoau3ZXYtBRno6Pvk3SyzBDNZ6HHLrvH-7LkHerFWXHrTWbQbYwDANiGpnGkelidpy2ppNsD0RxK7wljz9lI2IKMhO7LyUm6RaBFGpG0HeXsA_-t_JtEdUqUuw9U1PAhJ0h5PlCQqIyXJsqQbxaI-3dAU8YFt4chDH/s320/philbass0816231.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6jxNNE7tXxcsCtxAP-E3caMpgABwpmDo7aeb95jrZw_GGJRkEeeXpi3eTh5EsFRw-idAJGe72jxBb3prPsldow8A9-jjSxNCokQEPAMiRRlvS4jqQSYmNdV0iHIT7hmAKmd35WRxsgP6d4cks0od3rzD8m2x76AqpsSCmPcBFnT-g23pCAhIajlqnbtgf/s556/philpike081623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6jxNNE7tXxcsCtxAP-E3caMpgABwpmDo7aeb95jrZw_GGJRkEeeXpi3eTh5EsFRw-idAJGe72jxBb3prPsldow8A9-jjSxNCokQEPAMiRRlvS4jqQSYmNdV0iHIT7hmAKmd35WRxsgP6d4cks0od3rzD8m2x76AqpsSCmPcBFnT-g23pCAhIajlqnbtgf/s320/philpike081623.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFasWbnViOTDrGG9VS9UJJOf9qVX1eRP4fuhmKrwo_th3cwmLZqYD5-3STnzohj_Rh0iHC7YYgpMt4iDNM9W7TD4V_1451bPP0Fer-TfZ1FVUQgAgvAXtABXfjx8PWb3sLtouM_i_vOtxnnl4lH_EmTw8G3bbIP8ygSqaBYL8nJK3T4Vfp3ECvAHgPLaE3/s585/philsmbass080623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="350" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFasWbnViOTDrGG9VS9UJJOf9qVX1eRP4fuhmKrwo_th3cwmLZqYD5-3STnzohj_Rh0iHC7YYgpMt4iDNM9W7TD4V_1451bPP0Fer-TfZ1FVUQgAgvAXtABXfjx8PWb3sLtouM_i_vOtxnnl4lH_EmTw8G3bbIP8ygSqaBYL8nJK3T4Vfp3ECvAHgPLaE3/s320/philsmbass080623.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbgD4_LX1bGlC1f7JJavhhk91hDpQ2gTYGH4FhSSib98EIFRhKcdFAh1z4NZpTLBIlUMHnj72AJpGPot7BjHPEn7tHbYq-GMeIo0BC9RmhtGmEChqDD4XmAnxavT4PxGK0nmkLLTf6Xywl6QgSLLPzuFDCZ_ZYrEN_2y8xehUhQvWaQUfAhdJGL0wN2OHQ/s550/pike0816231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="550" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbgD4_LX1bGlC1f7JJavhhk91hDpQ2gTYGH4FhSSib98EIFRhKcdFAh1z4NZpTLBIlUMHnj72AJpGPot7BjHPEn7tHbYq-GMeIo0BC9RmhtGmEChqDD4XmAnxavT4PxGK0nmkLLTf6Xywl6QgSLLPzuFDCZ_ZYrEN_2y8xehUhQvWaQUfAhdJGL0wN2OHQ/s320/pike0816231.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhauVMEOgu9TN68xgW5DPkSMXDiLYr6rBlrfL3cPAY9OI2FLn_JX4E6N82LPQxiUz6yO-EhuiKyV9RBlUrZ2k1kryu-A_wzLIvl_9WIS3zlOeH_9Egf9u8VgSWDb9FHJ30BEvYg2-CwsXlQ1B8fJlTGnv4pwVX9-Gw0tj_AQwV9YOVZfYfKs8DzuwJYshCk/s550/pike0816232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="550" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhauVMEOgu9TN68xgW5DPkSMXDiLYr6rBlrfL3cPAY9OI2FLn_JX4E6N82LPQxiUz6yO-EhuiKyV9RBlUrZ2k1kryu-A_wzLIvl_9WIS3zlOeH_9Egf9u8VgSWDb9FHJ30BEvYg2-CwsXlQ1B8fJlTGnv4pwVX9-Gw0tj_AQwV9YOVZfYfKs8DzuwJYshCk/s320/pike0816232.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hYSkCBZx6paGGu3TgJybQoUmQ0LzTeyvojpb7sC3g0Ga4mvLpqQaRQUBnGKpRmANpiBowyPRRm-kpD8QxrnrvdAjcdAFAevJf7uAJcgl_z6zgnbpeQ_v-3FbtRQQQvE1BOkLHKGkqyiZDSQFY5hpPFIUPFkJsaxnw6tkL9PXfx-4TEy05Zs94JrrLJ_0/s598/philsmbass0529232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hYSkCBZx6paGGu3TgJybQoUmQ0LzTeyvojpb7sC3g0Ga4mvLpqQaRQUBnGKpRmANpiBowyPRRm-kpD8QxrnrvdAjcdAFAevJf7uAJcgl_z6zgnbpeQ_v-3FbtRQQQvE1BOkLHKGkqyiZDSQFY5hpPFIUPFkJsaxnw6tkL9PXfx-4TEy05Zs94JrrLJ_0/s320/philsmbass0529232.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><p>Already looking forward to 2024!</p><p> </p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-60812170536606630722023-07-18T13:33:00.004-07:002023-07-18T13:38:43.651-07:00Shore fishing in Bermuda<p>Back from my first ever cruise, courtesy of my in laws, who set up a mega family event for their 50th wedding anniversary. Basically, 35 of us boarded a cruise ship in New York, then sailed to Bermuda, where we docked for a few days, before sailing back to New York.</p><p>While various family members of various ages has all sort of outing planned on the island, I simply brought along a telescopic bass rod with a few lures and some terminal tackle. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudafishing20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="271" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudafishing20232.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>My plan was to give shore fishing in Bermuda a decent shot, and at worse case possibly going out on a mixed or private charter, in case the shore fishing was tough or non existent.</p><p>Turns out that I didn't have much to worry about. I had access to deep water in walking distance of our ship, which is where I ended up spending the entirety of my off board time.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudafishing20234.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="295" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudafishing20234.jpg" width="393" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Day 1:</p><p>We docked at the naval dockyard, which is a tiny strip on the Northwest side of the island. Getting off the ship, I noticed some areas near the tour boats where fishing was not allowed, so I ventured a bit further away. I tied on a a small jig and rubber grub, much like I'd use for walleye or bass, and within a few casts, I landed my first fish. Turned out to be a Red Hind, apparently a member of the grouper family. Nothing big, but a very welcome start to my Bermuda fishing adventure.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/redhind20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="400" height="333" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/redhind20231.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br />A couple casts later, I hooked into another fish, this one ended being a snakefish, also known as lizardfish.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/snakefish20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/snakefish20231.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br />Check the set on teeth on these critters<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/snakefish20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="500" height="222" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/snakefish20232.jpg" width="393" /></a></div><br /><p>After catching some more red hinds, I caught a squirrelfish. Giant eyes on these.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/squirrelfish20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="500" height="327" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/squirrelfish20231.jpg" width="310" /></a></div><br /><p>After seeing some small bar jacks swimming by near surface in deeper water, I tried fishing for them without any success. Eventually, I decided to cast back to the shallower rocks where I started, and caught some more red hinds.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/redhind20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="450" height="297" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/redhind20232.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/redhind20233.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="400" height="353" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/redhind20233.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>At this point, I decided to make my way to the other side of the dockyard, after a pit stop on the ship for some food and water. I found a small shop on pier 41 that sold frozen bait, and picked up a small box of frozen squid. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/dockshop20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="224" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/dockshop20232.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Working my way along the industrial section of the dockyard area, I stopped to fish off the sides of the concrete structure. The water off the wall is a straight drop into a good 25-30 feet of water, which is clear enough to be able to see at least 20 feet below the surface. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudafishing20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="550" height="248" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudafishing20231.jpg" width="330" /></a></div><br /><p>I baited a jighead with some squid, and on the first drop, clouds of colorful fish of all sizes swarmed my jig. Didn't take long too hook up, and I landed a species of wrasse the locals named "slippery dick", due to it's extremely slimy texture secreted when trying to escape being held. </p><p>Good fight, and super colorful fish.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/slipperydickwrasse20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="400" height="328" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/slipperydickwrasse20232.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Next drop off the wall caught me a blue striped grunt, which turned out to end up being the majority of what was biting over the next couple days. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/blustripedgrunt20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="350" height="332" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/blustripedgrunt20232.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>As it was small enough and legal to use as bait, I tossed it out to deeper water, and within a minute or so, I got a nice hit form something bigger that cut through my 25 lbs flouro leader within a couple seconds. Most likely a barracuda, as apparently, there aren't any sharks in the area I was fishing.</p><p>Caught many more bluestriped grunt off that spot, as well as some more red hinds, wrasse, squirrelfish, and a small barred hamlet.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/blustripedgrunt20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="400" height="303" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/blustripedgrunt20231.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/slipperydickwrasse20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="400" height="298" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/slipperydickwrasse20231.jpg" width="202" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/squirrelfish20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="500" height="239" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/squirrelfish20232.jpg" width="292" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/barredhamlet2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="450" height="309" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/barredhamlet2023.jpg" width="273" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Eventually, I made my way around the deep water structure, and found a old decaying wooden wharf. Again, giant schools of fish schooled up under it, mainly blue striped grunts, as well as some decent lane snappers.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/lanesnapper2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="450" height="338" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/lanesnapper2023.jpg" width="254" /></a></div><br /><p>Again, I decided to use some of the smaller grunt for bait. I managed to catch 1 needlenose fish and small barracuda, but was unable to land them due to being about 7 feet higher than the water. Both fish came off when I tried to lift them from that height, so no pictures, but I did enjoy a decent fight with the barracuda.</p><p>After a while decided to cast some lures, managing some follows form various jacks, but unfortunately, no takers. No topwater action, all interest came while twitching jerkbaits at moderate to high speeds.</p><p>Eventually, I decided to work my way back towards the ship, stopping at the spot where I had most of my success earlier on. Some bigger fish had moved in, I managed to lane a nice Bermuda bream.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudabream2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="431" data-original-width="500" height="259" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudabream2023.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>After a more of a mixed bag of smaller fish of the species I was getting used to, I hooked into something bigger near bottom. After a good fight, I landed a nice sized triggerfish.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/triggerfish20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="500" height="311" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/triggerfish20231.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/triggerfish20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="500" height="364" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/triggerfish20232.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Released it after a couple quick pics, as the ship would not allow us to bring any fish on board.</p><p>That ended my first day of fishing in Bermuda...</p><p>Day 2:</p><p>After my success on the first day, I planned to hit the same areas using more grunts as bait in hope of possibly catching some bigger fish. This time, I started at the dock shop to pick up some more squid, as well as some bigger saltwater hooks to rig on heavier fluorocarbon leaders. </p><p>I then headed for the wharf, where I had caught the barracuda and needlenose fish the previous day. Unfortunately, the few jacks I saw weren't interested in eating anything bigger than the tiny minnows busting surface every now and then. </p><p>Eventually, I got bored of catching mainly smaller grunts there, and headed under the road bridge along a small stream, and came out onto the surf. Climbing some treacherous coral rocks, I was able to find some spots to cast jerkbaits into the crashing waves for the first time during my trip. Fish had other plans though, and all I managed was some more follows from small schools of jacks.</p><p>Decided to work my way back towards the other side of the dockyard. Stopped at my deepwater hotspot, landed some more red hinds, and another nice Bermuda bream. A few more shots at jack resulted in one missed hit a few more follows.</p><p>After stocking up on some more water and cold beer at the dock shop, I headed back to where I had started fishing on Day 1. This time, I opted to cast a perch pattern Rapala xrap for the first time during the trip. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudafishing20233.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="450" height="327" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/bermudafishing20233.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I fished a wide deepwater pass, where all the boat and yachts pass through to get from the dockyard to the big water and rest of the island. </p><p>Twitching and ripping the lure at a fast pace, I hooked up within a few casts. The fish made one of the most blistering runs I have ever experienced on light tackle, I'd say similar to bonefish. After turning around and running towards me, the fish then ran real fast again, I was starting to question if I had enough line with 400+ feet of braid on my spool. I thought I had hooked into a big jack or possibly a bonefish, but after finally managing to subdue and land the fish, I was surprised to see it was Little Tunny, also know as False Albacore or "Alby".</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/littletunny20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="371" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/littletunny20231.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><br /><p>I had no clue these fish had that much power, apparently, they run at over 65 km/h! Unfortunately, the fish had a treble hook embedded deep into it's gill, as wasn't going to survive. I kept it, unsure of whether or not it was edible, but hoping it was going to be similar to blackfin Tuna, as it looked sort of similar and they are a related species.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/littletunny20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="633" data-original-width="400" height="386" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/littletunny20232.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><br /><p>After about 10 to 15 minutes of casting the area hoping for another one, I decided to make my way back towards the ship, hoping I could get some more more insight from one of the locals.</p><p>Sure enough, as I passed the first tugboat, the two workers on board saw me carrying the Alby, and came over to talk. Turns out that very few people eat them, and only if they are immediately bled and iced. As it had been about 20 minutes in the heat, the Alby was basically good for bait now. I offered it to one of them, who happily accepted it to use for bait after work.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/treryan.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="650" height="240" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/treryan.jpg" width="367" /></a></div><br /><p>Both Trey and Ryan grew up fishing in Bermuda, and were able to identify most of the fish I caught from my pictures, better so than some of the others I had asked about them up until that point. We made small talk about fishing, and honestly, I could have kept talking, but they were in middle of work, their boss passed by a couple times, and I was running out of daylight to keep fishing. </p><p>Managed one more snakefish on the xrap, and made my way back toward our ship. Just before getting there, I noticed a small crowd had gathered around a shallow pool near a ship, and one of them called me over seeing my rod. There was a big school of small bar jacks swimming in circles, and I hooked up immediately as I cast into it.</p><p>Shortly after, I was finally holding my first Bermuda jack, though it was a lot smaller than what I had hoped for...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/barjack2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="450" height="370" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/barjack2023.jpg" width="278" /></a></div><br /><p>I assumed that was it for the day, and boarded the ship. </p><p>My room was located on the port side of the ship over deep water, and later that night, my younger son and I were sitting out on our small balcony while everyone else was out enjoying the ships various entertainment venues. </p><p>I looked down and noticed that they had turned on the deck light, about 50 feet above the surface of the ocean. In the kight, we saw hundreds of jacks busting the surface, chasing tiny minnows. I got the crazy idea of making out way down to the deck, and trying to hook a jack off the side of the ship. Easier said than done, but I did manage to cast to a good hundred or so fish, that kept circling or chasing my lure. Unfortunately, not one hit!</p><p>At least I have a good story to tell...</p><p>Day 3:</p><p>I originally planned to spend the last day at the beach with my younger son, while the rest of the group went on a sightseeing / shopping excursion to Hamilton. However, their plans changed, and they all opted to take a private shuttle to the beach. Being that it was my last day, and I hadn't stepped foot onto the main island, I did consider going with them... for a few minutes. </p><p>Then my fisherman instinct kicked in, and headed out to try a half day of exclusive casting. LOL</p><p>I started off casting the area where I had caught the Alby, only to get a few more snakefish and a couple red hinds on the xrap.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/snakefish20233.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="400" height="385" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/snakefish20233.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br /><p>I then made my way over to some other spots, just waiting to sight fish big schools of jack busting the surface for minnows. I did get plenty of good opportunities at them casting from various angles, but again, all I got were lots of follows and swirls, but no hits.</p><p>Made another stop at the docks shop for some beer and rum.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/dockshop20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="326" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/dockshop20231.jpg" width="435" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Finally, I decided to avoid the crowds and board the ship early, as we were sailing back to New York by mid afternoon.</p><p>All in all, I'd say my Bermuda shore fishing experience was one of my better DIY saltwater fishing trips. I landed 53 fish of 13 species, and missed countless others. I managed to outfish most of the locals that I ran into by far, only downside was that I didn't get to experience fishing anywhere else on the island, let alone anything else Bermuda had to offer.</p><p>On the flip side, that would have meant renting a scooter and devoting more time to exploring than fishing, and being that we were in Bermuda for a total of 2.5 days, I was sort of shot on time.</p><p>Oh well, the Bermuda beaches and exploring will have to wait for next time, if ever that happens. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-9548868761483150732023-07-18T13:10:00.003-07:002023-07-18T13:41:56.591-07:00Mijocama bass fishing - June 2023<p> After a surprisingly good pike fishing trip to Mijocama a couple weeks earlier, I headed back to Mijocama hoping to target largemouth bass with my family. Late June has been our set date for our yearly Mijocama trip for over 20 years now, and over those years, we've landed many hundreds of largemouth bass, and some really big ones at that.</p><p>With forest fires still raging strong throughout Quebec, not only were we facing a strict no fire ban, but we were driving up through thick haze and smoke to get there. An eerie haze covered most of the Southern portion of the province, and we were also facing a week of forecast heavy rain.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/mijohaze2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="550" height="218" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/mijohaze2023.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I paired up with my son Avi, while 2 of my other sons shared a boat, along with their girlfriends. My youngest son opted to stay on shore to fish for sunfish from our dock, and chase turtles.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/zevmijodock2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="400" height="354" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/zevmijodock2023.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Day 1: </p><p>We arrived at Mijocama around noon, got out boats set up and broke camp. While unloading, I realized that I had left a good potion of our planned meals at home, namly all the chicken I had prepared for 8 of us. This meant that we would be substituting the chicken with fresh caught fish. Sure enough, I landed our first bass at my first spot, noce topwater hit in middle of the day was a welcome surprise, and we had some protein lined up too.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijobass20233.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="500" height="301" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijobass20233.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>After landing another keeper size bass, I followed up with a small pike as well.</p><p>Day 2: </p><p>Tough morning with nothing interesting to show for. By mid afternoon, Avi caught his first bass of the trip, which ended up being the biggest one for the week.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijobass2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="450" height="297" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijobass2023.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I also spent some time targeting sunfish with my younger son Zev. Seem like he didn't have much patience sight fishing for the giant pumpkinseed sunfish guarding their nests, optin to rather fish big schools of small fish for non stop action.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/zevmijosunfish2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="500" height="254" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/zevmijosunfish2023.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Evening bite yielded a few more largemouth for me, amid the pretty nasty horsefly and mosquitoes. Luckily I was dressed for the occasion.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijobass20234.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="400" height="336" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijobass20234.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Rain rolled in just around dark, so we called it a day.</p><p>Day 3:</p><p>Rain cleared up early enough for us to get back out on the water mid morning, but I was solo. With strong wind and nt much bass action, I headed to one of out better pike spots. First cast hooked into a surprise bass, which turned out to be the last one of the trip for any of us.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijobass20235.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="375" height="337" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijobass20235.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Next cast landed me a small pike</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijopike20234.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="450" height="262" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijopike20234.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>After not much to show for during the afternoon, we started actively targeting pike during the evening. Avi landed the biggest one of the day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijopike20231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="350" height="310" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijopike20231.jpg" width="181" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Day 4: </p><p>After a night of heavy rain and wind, Avi got a late start to the morning bite, but we were immediately rewarded with a double header, landing 2 pike simultaneously. Again, Avi managed the bigger of the two.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijopike20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="350" height="366" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijopike20232.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>A few more smaller pike, and we headed in for brunch. As my other kids were leaving, we helped pack and see them off, leaving Avi and I| alone to fish together for the rest of the trip. </p><p>Just as were were going to head out to chase some more pike, my son Levi came back to report some car trouble. Luckily, it was still driveable, and after a couple hours ordeal, we manage to resolve the issue by driving to a mechanic in Gracefield. Once that was done, and he was finally on his way, Avi and I headed out for some more pike fishing.</p><p>Again, he managed the biggest of the evening, and of the trip up to that point.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijopike20233.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="350" height="365" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijopike20233.jpg" width="202" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>That was it for the day.</p><p>Day 5:</p><p>We finally woke up to a nice sunny/calm day. Again, no bass to show for, we just decided to stick with pike for the rest of the day. We managed a few more eater sized pike, and then, mid afternoon, Avi hooked into our biggest of the trip, measuring 33/34 inches.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijopike20234.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="375" height="338" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/avimijopike20234.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>After that, the bite died down completely, but lucky for us, they had finally lifted the fire ban. |We fished until sunset.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/mijosunset20232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="550" height="270" src="https://www.freshwaterphil.com/images/mijosunset20232.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Later that night, we enjoyed and big bonfire with a large group of my friends that had rented some of the other chalets, along with good drinks and some spectacular fireworks, which were long overdue. We packed it up and left early the following morning.</p><p>It seems that the largemouth bass fishery that once made Mijocama has started to fade out over the last few years. Drastically less bass, and not as many big ones since 2021. However, the pike have taken their place, with numbers we have never seen before, in a large variety of sizes / year classes. I was lucky enough to harvest 6 bass of 5 pike to make up for the chicken meals I accidentally left behind, but bass numbers and sizes were significantly weaker than what I have become used to catching at Mijocama.</p><p>As well, the outfitter has been put of for sale, and with the possibility of real estate builders buying it, we'll have to wait and see whether or not we will be able to keep on fishing Mijocama in years to come.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-15122123101898790032023-06-15T18:48:00.002-07:002023-06-15T18:48:22.523-07:00Mijocama pike fishing, June 2023<p>A few weeks ago, my friend Jimmy and I planned a pike fishing trip to Le domaine Shannon. Unfortunately, a few days before the trip, the entire region was evacuated due to the forest fire situation throughout most of Quebec. Figuring our week was lost, I called Mijocama hoping they were still open and had room for us. Luckily, they did.</p><p>I have been fishing Mijocama since 2002, and throughout the years, Giles lake has been great for bass. However, bass season was closed for the week, opening only on Thursday morning, at which time we were leaving for home.</p><p>The pike fishery at Mijocama has fluctuated throughout the years. It went from being OK , to almost non existent, and then has rebounded again over the last few seasons. I don't typically spend much time targeting pike at Mijocama, many of the pike I have caught there were mixed in with bass. This time, out plan was to target prime pike spots throughout the 4 day fishing trip, and for me, there is no one I'd rather go at it than my friend Jimmy.</p><p>With dreadful weather forecast for most of the trip, I wasn't too hopeful. On the drive up, I jokingly mentioned imagining leaving both of our bag limits of pike...</p><p>Day 1:</p><p>We got to Mijocama and started fishing mid afternoon. With the lake flat calm, I tied on a topwater walking mullet than had produced dozens of pike during my previous trip to le Domaine Shannon during July 2022. First spot we hit produced a follow from from a big pike on Jimmy's line. A couple cast later, I got the first hit, turned out to be a nice sized bass, promptly released after unhooking it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijobass20231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="400" height="332" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijobass20231.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br /><p>Moving onto out next spot, I hooked the first pike of the trip casting a spinner. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijopike20231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="300" height="391" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijopike20231.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><br /><p>Jimmy followed up with a couple more pike before sunset, and just like than, we already had three keeper pike for the fillet table.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmymijopike20231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="400" height="287" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmymijopike20231.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Day 2:<div><br /></div><div>The following morning started off with light, intermittent drizzle. After casting deeper for pike without any success, we decided to try casting topwater lures shallower, near fallen trees and timber. No pike, but I caught a jumbo pumpkinseed sunfish, and Jimmy landed a hefty bass. Again, both released after a quick picture.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijosunfish2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="500" height="308" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijosunfish2023.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmymijobass2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="350" height="346" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmymijobass2023.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p>The rain intensified, and forced us back to the cabin. The two person cabin we rented for the trip (the Marina), is built on piling in the lake. Perfect for fishing from our porch. I landed another pike from the porch, and got to work filleting our catches.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijopike20232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="400" height="344" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijopike20232.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><br /><p>After a tasty shore lunch of battered pike pan fried in butter, the rain dies down, and was replaced by strong wind. Figuring we would get a good drift, we headed back to our prime pike spot on the lake. After a few passes, we figured out their strange pattern of hitting near surface over deeper water than normal.</p><p>Jimmy was on fire, catching pike on his spinnerbait nearly on every pass. This bigger pike ended up being the biggest pike of the trip, and we released it in good condition, as I prefer to harvest smaller ones.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmymijopike20232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="300" height="371" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmymijopike20232.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /><p>The evening bite produced some more keeper sized pike, mixed in with the occasional bass as well.</p><p>Day 3: </p><p>Jimmy and i spent much of the day fan casting pike spots, and intermittent trolling. The casting bit eventually picked up, and I started catching more pike using a Rapala Husky jerk fished with a "twitch and pause" cadence. Mainly keeper sized fish for both of us. </p><p>Once the wind died down and the black flies came out close to sunset, wen landed some smaller pike on topwater lures, including the smallest on of the trip. Not much bigger than my lure!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijopike20233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="400" height="357" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philmijopike20233.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><p>Luckily for us, the forecast was totally off, and we enjoyed a splendid Mijocama sunset.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/mijosunset2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="224" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/mijosunset2023.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><br /><p>Day 4:</p><p>By far the best weather, but toughest fishing conditions. After managing a couple small pike mid morning, Jimmy landed another nice pike after noon. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmymijopike20233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="350" height="389" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmymijopike20233.jpg" width="245" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>That turned out to be our last fish of the trip, despite us fishing hard for another 6 hours or so.</p><p>All in all, this fishing trip was all about surprises. From Mijocama being open when much of the rest of Quebec was shut down, to the weather forecast being infinitely better than forecast, to the virtually non existent mosquitoes we were dreading that never showed up, and to not getting one trolling bite all trip.</p><p>Biggest surprise of all was leaving Mijocama with 2 bag limits of deboned pike fillets (12 pike), for the first time in over 20 years. From trips with amazing success, to others that have been dismal, Giles lake never ceases to surprise us with new adventure. Hoping to be back there very soon for our family trip later this month.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-67753711323084248782023-06-02T10:11:00.001-07:002023-06-02T10:11:31.011-07:00Montreal-tench-invasion<p>Apparently, tench were illegally brought into Quebec, with the intent of eventually farming them commercially. After lack of interest in the species, the ponds were drained and tench got into the Richelieu river system in the mid 1990's or so.</p><p>Close to 15 years ago, I remember seeing the first pictures of tench caught in the Montreal region. Back then, it was quite rare, with very few catches, mainly caught using live worms on the Eastern part of the island of Montreal, as well as the Richelieu river.</p><p>Since then, the tench population has exploded in southern Quebec. I've increasingly been running into them, either sighting them swimming/spawning in the waterways around Montreal, or seeing other people catch them.</p><p>Up until this point, I had never hooked into any tench. That all changed this morning. After having pre-baited one of my carp spots, I decided to fish it for a few hours this morning, along with my son Zev. I was hoping to put him on to a nice carp, using a mix of home made boilies and popups.</p><p>A couple hours into the outing, one of my lines barely moved a bit closer to us. I didn't think much of it, but over the next few minutes, it happened twice. Figuring it was probably a redhorse sucker, I set the hook and passed the rod over to Zev. Not much of a fight on gear suited to handle monster carp, but a very nice surprise, with a new species in the net.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtench060223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="500" height="230" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevtench060223.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>About 10 minutes later, the other line started doing the same thing. Slight movement, stop, start, etc. Rinse, repeat, I set and passed the rod to Zev, who reeled in another tench, this one slightly bigger at 4 lbs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtench0623231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="350" height="413" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtench0623231.jpg" width="255" /></a></div><br /><p>Not exactly what I had planned for our short morning outing, but having caught the vast majority of available freshwater species in the area over the years, I'm always thrilled to add another species to my list.</p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-43733952010111017912023-05-11T10:59:00.007-07:002023-05-18T18:14:22.726-07:00Filleting, deboning and cooking carp<p>Having fished carp for nearly two decades now, I can't tell you how many times I've been asked by onlookers whether or not I eat them, how they taste, etc. For the most part, I don't keep carp, let alone eat them. With the exception of some neighbors that occasionally ask for a carp, they are all released in good condition, especially the bigger ones.</p><p>I had tried baked carp, smoked carp, and carp soup many years ago, none of which were even close to being edible, at least by my palate's standards. Add the fact that they contain two sets of double y bones, they quickly turn into a nightmare for anyone that hates bones in fish as much as I do.</p><p>This season, I made it one of my goals to debone a carp, and find at least one way to cook it that would warrant at least a second bite, if not finish the entire portion (dare I say like it?).</p><p>During my first outing of the season to a waterway cleaner than where I fish around Montreal, I harvested a small carp in the 9 lbs range. After keeping it alive in cool water in my keepnet, I bled it out at the end of the day, and remove both fillets from the backbone.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/carpfillets041623.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="550" height="329" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/carpfillets041623.jpg" width="389" /></a></div><br /><p>Not too appealing so far, I then proceeded to remove the thick rib bones, after which I separated the fillet vertically along the lateral line. From the I skinned them, followed by trimming the reminder of boneless belly meat from behind the ribs. I then remove thin strips of flesh from around both side of the four sets of remaining y bones, yielding about 1 lb of boneless carp flesh.</p><p>After freezing it for a couple weeks, I decided to cook the carp on my outdoor log fire bbq. I thawed out the carp meat, trimmed off some of the remaining darker portions of fishier / unappealing flesh, and tried 2 recipes:</p><p>First came the thicker, fattier pieces of carp. Seasoned them in blackened seasoning, and barbecued them over a log fire. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/logfire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="600" height="247" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/logfire.jpg" width="330" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Cooked version wasn't as bad as I thought. The BBQ version with spice ended up similar color to steak, texture slightly softer/fattier. Fish aftertaste still there, but not as bad as I thought, being that I cooked it over log fire, with lot's of blackened spice. </p><p>Next came the thinner parts. After dipping them into a beaten egg, I coated them in Italian style seasoned bread crumbs. I then fried them in oil over the fire until golden/brown. Basically an improvised schnitzel style with seasoned bread crumbs. Flesh was similar in color to veal schnitzel, maybe a touch darker. Texture was noticeably less fatty than the bbq version. Taste was also better than bbq version, and agreed upon by my son and his fiancee as well</p><p>Overall, both versions were edible, especially if one was really hungry. I may have actually finished a full serving of the fried carp / schnitzel version, but we were having burgers and assorted grilled sausages, which I much prefer, and the carp was just a test / entree. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/cookedcarp2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="600" height="364" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/cookedcarp2023.jpg" width="339" /></a></div><br /><p>All in all, I'm glad to have finally turned a carp into something palatable. However, not a fish I'd harvest again for myself, simply too much waste, for flesh like likely has more pollutants than I'm used to ingesting from fish I typically harvest.</p><div><br /></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-49959657623661614502023-03-23T07:18:00.003-07:002023-03-23T07:22:11.046-07:002023 ice fishing season review<p>My 2023 ice fishing season was the slowest in years, due to the extremely mild and snowy winter we had this season. Not just here, but pretty much most across he Eastern portion of North America, anglers living in the ice belt were faced with similar challenges.</p><p>To start off, many of the waterways in the Southern part of Quebec didn't freeze safe until late January or early February, when they are typically frozen solid by the opening date of winter regulations on December 20th. Though some smaller lakes further North and at elevation froze earlier, they were hit with a record snowfall in December, and then again with more snow than normal throughout January, making access to my spots impossible.</p><p>Luckily, I got away to Florida for the last week in February, and enjoyed some good fishing there. By the time I got back, another storm hit most of the spots I planned to fish, which made access that much harder.</p><p>That being said, I'm not the type to whine or complain about things that are out of my control. Before the start of winter, I set some goals of where and when I planned to ice fish, and for the most part, I was able to get out and check each one of the spots off my list, despite challenging conditions.</p><p>As usual, I hoped to start my season well before winter fishing rules kick in on December 20th. This means that I'm limited to the use of only one rod per person, and baitfish live or dead are prohibited. My first target is a small waterbody that freezes up long before most others in the region I fish. Unfortunately, that lake closes for fishing on December 1st every year, so I'm limited to fishing it in mid to late November. </p><p>The lake in question was only safe by November 29th 2022, and even then I only found about 3 to 3.5 inches of safe ice. This meant that ice fishing would be tough, as the fish spooked when I walked and drilled over them, in shallow, clear water.</p><p>Sure enough, my prediction was right, and all I caught was one decent perch.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch1129221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="400" height="309" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch1129221.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p>Next, I had planned to hit a better lake further late in December, but a record snowstorm made access impossible, as it's a good kilometer or so of trekking with my sled/gear to get to the spot. While this is doable if the snow cover is minimal, it's brutal once you have to deal with 20 cm of snow, let alone the 60+ cm that fell a couple days before I planned to go.</p><p>Instead, I switched destinations, and hit a couple small water bodies in another region, with easier access. The tradeoff was the reduced chances of catching any decent fish. Sure enough, all I landed over those outings were some panfish and very small bass.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbluegill121822.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="425" height="276" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbluegill121822.jpg" width="233" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecrappie121822.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="500" height="195" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecrappie121822.jpg" width="296" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icebass121822.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="500" height="149" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icebass121822.jpg" width="373" /></a></div><br /><p>Late in December, I was able to fish a new spot for the first time. This time, the target species was musky, using frozen mackerels as bait. The hotspot is quite popular early in the season, due to it freezing earlier than most other areas, and due to the big muskies that tend to winter there under ice.</p><p>With a good 30 to 40 people taking advantage of the 10 lines per person rules, there were a good 300-400 lines out when I arrived. Only 2 muskies caught that day, none by myself. I did catch a bunch of perch jigging a small lure while waiting, but didn't bother with any pics.</p><p>For my first outing in 2023, I was debating which of two lakes I was going to ice fish. One was the spot difficult access I had planned to fish earlier in December. I knew I would likely be able to get into good number of smaller bass there. The second was a much bigger and deeper lake, which has some huge smallmouth bass. Access is easier, but getting to the spots I planned to fish is nearly impossible once snow cover is heavy. I opted for the second lake, as recent rain followed by a cold front had turn to surface solid, with only a couple centimeters of fresh snow.</p><p>Though I've caught many trophy smallmouth on that lake in the summer, finding them one ice was just about impossible, despite me fishing 40 of the 80 holes I drilled that day, at various depths. I did catch a few perch, but they were quite small. On the bright side, I was able to map all the areas I typically fish from my float tube, so I now have a much better idea of the depths I'm casting to in the summer.</p><p>A few days later, I hit another spot closer to home, this time hoping to catch my first pike of the winter on my tip ups. this spot is tough, and chances of catching anything are slim, but without much safe ice around, I didn't have much of a choice. Sure enough, no flags during the outing, just some more small perch while jigging while waiting for flags to pop.</p><p>The following week, I was finally able to make it to a better spot. Though I normally fish that spot for bass one ice, I know there are some smaller pike there as well, so I brought along my tip ups. sure enough, I caught one pretty quickly. nothing big, but it felt nice to have my first flag of the winter.</p><p>Seems like my camera setting was off that day, pics all ended up blurrier than normal.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0117232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="400" height="343" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike0117232.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><br /><p>Also managed to jig up and land 8 of 9 largemouth bass, though no big ones.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0117231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="349" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0117231.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0117232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="450" height="303" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0117232.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><br /><p>The big surprise of the outing was some giant pumpkinseed sunfish that hit my crankbait, with a couple in the 9 inch range.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsunfish0117231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="450" height="316" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsunfish0117231.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsunfish0117232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="450" height="321" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsunfish0117232.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><p>My next ice outing wasn't until a couple weeks later, early in February. I returned to the same spot, but left the tip ups at home, focusing my efforts on bass, in hopes of landing one of the giants that I know live there. I did manage a few decent ones, but again, no lunkers.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0205231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="450" height="307" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0205231.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0205232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="400" height="360" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0205232.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><p>A few days later, I took my youngest son out for his first ice fishing outing of the winter. With mild weather, and knowing that there was no snow cover on the lake we planned to fish, I figured he'd last a few hours out there.</p><p>First spot we hit produced a nice surprise. I marked a school of small fish on my flasher, suspended more than halfway up. within a couple drops, I hooked up and handed my son the rod. He landed the first ciscoe I've ever run into. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevcisco020823.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="450" height="329" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevcisco020823.jpg" width="276" /></a></div><br /><p>We managed to land another ciscoe just before the school simply vanished. We kept both of them for the table, they tasted better than I imagined they might.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zev2ciscoes020823.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="350" height="389" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zev2ciscoes020823.jpg" width="254" /></a></div><br /><p>Eventually, we switched spots and found some good perch. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch0208232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="500" height="300" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch0208232.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><br /><p>As well, a surprise lake trout we caught while jigging for perch in 12 feet of water. Zev got to enjoy the battle on a medium light rod, and as the season is closed for lake trout in winter here in quebec, we released it after a quick pic.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevlaker0208232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="350" height="436" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevlaker0208232.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br /><p>We ended up keeping some of the fish we caught for a tasty lunch the following day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecatch020823.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="300" height="429" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icecatch020823.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>A few days later, I took Zev out for an outing closer to home, setting out some tip ups for pike. Fishing was slower than I hoped for, but we avoided the skunk and acquired the target species.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevpike021223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="300" height="416" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/zevpike021223.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br /><p>The following week, I headed South to Florida for an 8 day trip. Enjoyed some great weather and amazing fishing, both fresh and saltwater. You can read more about that trip at:</p><p><a href="https://www.montreal-fishing.com/2023/02/midwinter-fishing-in-miami-florida.html" target="_blank">https://www.montreal-fishing.com/2023/02/midwinter-fishing-in-miami-florida.html</a><br /></p><p>After returning from Florida, I had two spots left on my list to complete my goal. First spot was the lake I had originally planned to hit in December, and then again in January. Both were snowed out. This time, I was determined to get out, hoping the snow would be too bad. Sure enough, there were a good 20-25 cm of heavy snow to trek though to get to my target area. Luckily, I try to stay in good physical shape, and was able to haul my sled there by pacing myself during this intense cardio workout. </p><p>To my big surprise, the bass and perch that are abundant on that lake were nowhere near my usual hot spots. I took my 3-4 hours of drilling and trekking to finally find some bass, but instead of being schooled up under ice as they normally are on that lake, they were scattered at various depths. Managed to land a mix of both smallmouth and largemouth bass, a few bigger than average for that lake.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="350" height="321" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308231.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308232.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="350" height="317" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308232.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308235.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="350" height="302" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308235.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0308231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="400" height="268" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0308231.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0308233.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="400" height="281" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0308233.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Surprisingly, almost no perch, only manage a few, with a couple decent ones.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch030823.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="350" height="299" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch030823.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br /><p>For my second outing in March, I hit the final spot on my season's bucket list. I was hoping to possibly get into some big largemouth bass, or some jumbo yellow or white perch at that spot. They key to fishing this spot, is to keep moving and drilling every few minutes until you find a fish or two, as it's more of a trophy spot than numbers. </p><p>When I got to the lake, I found very heavy snow cover, which put a big dent in my plans. Trekking was murderous, so I wasn't able to cover the spots I wanted to hit, nor fish nearly as many ice holes. I did manage to land some keeper size perch, and the big surprise of the day was this crazy bullhead catfish that chased a big lipless crankbait halfway up the water column before crushing my lure. Needless to say, I was very surprised when it came up the icehole.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbullhead031423.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="610" data-original-width="350" height="377" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbullhead031423.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><br /><p>Finally, to kick off spring with my last outing for the season, I only had a couple options available. Being that I had fished all my bucket list spots, and that much of the ice around Montreal wasn't safe anymore, I opted to try another lake at higher elevation for trophy pike.The lake in questions doesn't really have much pike as far as numbers og, but there are some absolute giants in there, few pushing 4 feet in length. </p><p>I got to the lake to find perfect conditions, solid ice with no snow cover, warm, sunny and no wind., to the point where I was down to my undershirt by noon.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philicefishing032223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="600" height="226" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philicefishing032223.jpg" width="298" /></a></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p></blockquote><p>Unfortunately, ice fishing for pike in that lake is easier said than done, and I wasn't able to get any to take the bait and trip my tip ups. I did manage a small lake trout jigging while waiting for flags, didn't bother with any pics.</p><p>With a tight schedule, warm weather with rain in forecast, and the season closing on April 1st, I'm done with ice fishing until next fall/winter.</p><p>Looking back on my ice fishing season, the weather threw all of us ice anglers a major curveball this year, to say the least. I normally put in a good 20 to 25 outings during ice fishing season, but I was only able to do half of that this year, due to poor weather. Still, I was able to hit every target lake I had planned, and managed to catch some decent numbers bass and perch, which were my primary targets.</p><p>Looking forward to some open water fishing over the next few weeks.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br />Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-5413681158062449412023-02-27T17:09:00.001-08:002023-02-27T17:09:56.382-08:00Midwinter fishing in Miami, Florida<p>Took my younger daughter for her first trip to Florida during her week off school for spring break. Between visiting my older daughter and her family in Miami, and driving up to Orlando to visit Universal studios with my younger one, I made sure to schedule a day of saltwater fishing, as well as a bit of freshwater fishing around the corner from my older daughter's apartment.</p><p>Being late February, I knew I had a decent shot at hopefully landing my first tarpon. Having done a variety of big game species in both saltwater and freshwater in the past, big tarpons were the last Florida big game species on my bucket list. As well, my younger daughter who's never fished saltwater or been to the ocean, was interested in trying her hand at shark fishing.</p><p>After having fished with Captain Carl Ball from Awol fishing last winter, I booked him as our guide for the outing. We met up just before sunrise South of Miami, and headed straight for his first tarpon spot. As we were on our way, we ran into a few schools of some big tarpon rolling near the surface.</p><p>We pulled up, both Carl and I cast, and he immediately hooked up to out first fish on his first cast. Talk about a pro... He handed me the rod, and as expected, the big tarpon went ballistic.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="500" height="293" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022301.jpg" width="374" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="600" height="283" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022302.jpg" width="383" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="350" height="447" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022303.jpg" width="246" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="350" height="409" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022304.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><br /><p>Though I eventually brought the big tarpon boatside, it made a good bunch of blistering runs back out again. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="600" height="257" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022305.jpg" width="399" /></a></div><br /><p>I managed to get the tarpon back to the leader a number of times throughout the battle, deeming it a caught fish. Still, I was praying to get my hands on it for a full / proper release.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="600" height="206" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022306.jpg" width="406" /></a></div><br /><p>Time and time again, I almost had it under control, only to have it start running every time I got it to the leader.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="500" height="338" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022307.jpg" width="339" /></a></div><br /><p>Finally, the magic moment I have been waiting for since a couple decades or so.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022308.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="600" height="252" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022308.jpg" width="405" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="600" height="241" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022311.jpg" width="408" /></a></div><br /><p>What a feeling of relief! Knowing that a good tarpon landing percentage is in the 20% to 25% range, I was very happy to have landed my first one, which was estimated at 125 lbs by captain Carl, slightly over the 80 lbs to 100 lbs range for most tarpons in the area.</p><p>Unbelievably, within a few more casts, we hooked into another tarpon, even bigger than the first one. Luckily, this fished was a bit more subdued after the first few initial jumps, but in deep water, it kept dogging down to the bottom.</p><p>I was able to get the giant tarpon to the leader boatside about 3 or 4 times. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="450" height="401" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022312.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022313.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="600" height="311" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022313.jpg" width="362" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022314.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="600" height="223" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philtarpon022314.jpg" width="434" /></a></div><br /><p>By this point, both the tarpon and I were pretty exhausted. Just as I thought the battle was over, it started on another run and broke the leader by chaffing through it.</p><p>Again, another fish deemed landed, but unfortunately, no victory shot on this one. Captain estimated it in the 175 lbs to 180 lbs range, close to double the average for the region we were fishing.</p><p>Just to give you an idea of what their teeth can do to fluorocarbon leaders...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/tarponthumb2023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="302" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/tarponthumb2023.jpg" width="402" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I compiled a bit of video footage of the tarpon fishing:<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/szLZ996_RlA" width="320" youtube-src-id="szLZ996_RlA"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /><p>By this point, I was both sore and exhausted from nearly 2 hours of intense battle with big tarpons in the Florida sun. I was more than happy to head to our next spot to start fishing for fresh shark bait.</p><p>Chaya enjoyed the refreshing run:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/chayafishing022302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="600" height="253" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/chayafishing022302.jpg" width="415" /></a></div><br /><p>We pulled up to our first spot to try catching some ladyfish to be used for bait. Seems like the sharks had other plans. I got "sharked" on my first hookup, and again on my next cast with another jig. More sharks around than bait, and with a light bass style rod with thin braid, I figured we wouldn't have much chance at landing even a small sized blacktip shark.</p><p>Eventually I managed to get a ladyfish on board, and lose another one boat side. On my next cast, I hooked another blacktip, but this one didn't cut the line like the others did. I handed the light action rod to my daughter, I she experienced her first shark runs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/chayafishing022303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="388" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/chayafishing022303.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><br /><p>When we finally got our first closeup glimpse at the blacktip shark, I noticed that it had hooked itself in the pectoral fin, which would explain why the line hadn't been cut off.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="500" height="338" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022301.jpg" width="343" /></a></div><br /><p>I eventually took the rod, got the shark boatside, and tired to muscle it up for the captain to remove the hook, by thumbing down on the spool. The line snapped, and shark swam off with the jig.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="474" data-original-width="600" height="321" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022302.jpg" width="406" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Now that we had bait, we set up the proper shark rod, which made fighting and landing the sharks a lot easier. Chaya and I did battle with a few of these feisty blacktip sharks, also referred to as spinner sharks, due to their tendency to jump and spin once they realize they are hooked.</p><p>Here are a few shots we took of the shark fishing action:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="600" height="308" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022303.jpg" width="427" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="600" height="330" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022305.jpg" width="407" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="600" height="330" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/blacktipshark022306.jpg" width="417" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>All in all, we more than accomplished our mission with the sharks as well, and here are a couple short video clips of the shark action:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AaS6zyYljs8" width="320" youtube-src-id="AaS6zyYljs8"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xPYBBO25m3o" width="320" youtube-src-id="xPYBBO25m3o"></iframe></div><br /><p>Bonus of the day was a surprise barracuda. Captain Carl had spotted a couple lemon sharks, and while they came to inspect the bait a couple times, they turned away. Then, the bobber just took off unexpectedly, and next thing I know, a big cuda is tail dancing on the surface at the end of my line.</p><p>At least we were able to get this one on board for a nice pic.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcuda022301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="600" height="215" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcuda022301.jpg" width="408" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>All in all, an amazing 6 hour outing, that resulted in both of our goals being more than accomplished. </p><p>Again, my sincere thanks to Captain Carl Ball / <a href="https://www.awolfishingguide.com/" target="_blank">Awol fishing</a>. I highly recommend fishing with him if ever you find yourself looking to fish the Miami area, and the calmer water around Biscayne bay. Srom spin casting, to sight and fly fishing, Carl does it all, and then some...</p><p>After returning from a two day trip to Orlando, I returned the car I had rented, due to the exorbitant prices being charged these days. Only fishing option left was to fish the South Glades canal in North Miami beach, a short walk from where I was staying with my older daughter's in laws.</p><p>Having fished there last winter, I had an idea of what to expect. Namely, tough sight fishing conditions, with a shot at small bass, and possibly peacock bass or Mayan cichilds.</p><p>I headed out for a short 2-3 hour Friday morning outing from shore. Armed with two rods, I was able to alternate between a variety of lures. Eventually, I spotted a big cichild, and teased it into eating a mini tube jig. My first ever of that species.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcichild022301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="500" height="415" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcichild022301.jpg" width="322" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>A bit later on, I was throwing a heavy spinnerbait, and noticed some follows from nice sized peacock bass. As they wouldn't commit, I switched it up to a #4 Mepps spinner, and landed this nice peacock bass, about the upper size of what I've seen in that canal.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass02232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="450" height="338" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass02232.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><p>Not bad for a short couple hours of morning fishing, and as a bonus, I spotted a decent size grass carp in the 15 lbs range along the shore. Now that I know they are in there, I've set a goal to give them a shot next time I'm there for long enough to do some pre-baiting, and maybe night fishing as well.</p><p>As we were leaving sunday night, I got up early enough to hit the canal at sunrise one last time before heading back to Montreal. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/gladessunrise0223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="255" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/gladessunrise0223.jpg" width="340" /></a></div><br /><p>Again, sight fishing was the ticket, I managed to land a largemouth bass on a topwater lure I presented, after spotting it from a raised bank.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass022302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="380" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass022302.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br /><p>All in all, it was a beautiful and memorable father / daughter trip, great weather, amazing fishing, and all around good times spent with family. Couldn't have asked for a better outcome to our trip.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-11912377952879220012022-11-10T13:58:00.001-08:002022-11-10T13:58:28.416-08:002022 carp fishing - The season that wasn't<p>Over the past couple decades of fishing, I've come to realize that the mental aspect of the game and my focus on a given target species or style, will vary greatly from year to year. After finally smashing my PB with a monster 41 lbs carp in the spring 2021, then finding a new remote lake with monster smallmouth bass later that summer, I found myself just about neglecting carp for most of the 2022 peak season, namely spring and summer. As such, I just about stopped guiding for carp, putting most of my efforts into float tube fishing for bass until late summer, when I finally put a bit more effort into chumming some local spots. </p><p>That being said, I still did manage to get out to fish for carp every now and then, and caught a surprising number of channel cats, along with a few suckers, while doing so as well. Here is a rundown of my 2022 carp season.</p><p>April 6 2022:</p><p>My season started right at ice out as usual. With most game species being closed in April, I hit my "go to" spot with my friend Warren. Unfortunately, I found another friend of mine set up on the spot by the time we arrived, along with a couple people. I was forced to settle for my backup spot, knowing that the carp fishing may be a bit tougher. It did take a while for us to get bit, but Warren and I both managed to land a couple carp to usher in the 2022 season.</p><p>This one hit my fireball popup pegged with fake corn:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/warrencarp040622.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="550" height="242" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/warrencarp040622.jpg" width="386" /></a></div><br /><p>This one fell for a sweet and spicy, caffeine boosted tigernut, another bait creation I was tinkering with over the past couple years. Notice the large sheet of ice in the background...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp040622.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="550" height="282" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp040622.jpg" width="397" /></a></div><br /><p>May 15 2022:</p><p>After over a month of not fishing for carp, I was back at it with my friend Yohann and his daughter Miriam, who were visiting from the USA. Yohann and I fished together as teenager, back when he lived here in Montreal. We reconnected a few years back, and have fished together again a number of times since then, often for carp over the past couple years.</p><p>Unfortunately, the carp bite was slower than expected, but we still managed to land some carp.</p><p>Miriam caught this small carp on one of my sweet dream boilies.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/miriamcaro051522.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="550" height="241" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/miriamcaro051522.jpg" width="386" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>Yohann landed a bigger carp one one of my black magic boilies.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/yohanncarp051522.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="550" height="290" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/yohanncarp051522.jpg" width="387" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span>May 22 2022:</span><br /></p><p>Headed out for a day of carp fishing with Joel and his family. Action was slightly better, they managed to land a couple and miss some more. Both carp were landed on my sweet dream boilies.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/xaviercarp052222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="550" height="294" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/xaviercarp052222.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /><p>July 20 2022:</p><p>Back at carp fishing after a 2 month break, probably the longest stretch of carp fishing I missed over the past decade, including both pre-spawn and post-spawn peaks. </p><p>I chummed a spot closer to home for a few days before fishing. Again, fishing was slower than I hoped for, but I managed to squeak out a win with this nice carp hitting my black magic popup boilie just as I was getting ready to leave.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp072022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="600" height="256" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp072022.jpg" width="388" /></a></div><br /><p>August 2 2022:</p><p>After chumming another spot intermittently over the previous week, I headed out for an evening of carp fishing my well baited spot. This time, action was almost immediate, with my first carp being the biggest fish of the outing at 27 lbs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp080222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="600" height="259" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp080222.jpg" width="407" /></a></div><br /><p>Followed up with 2 smaller channel catfish, and missed another carp. Fireball and sweet dream boilies did the trick.</p><p>August 3 2022:</p><p>Knowing that I left more carp at my spot the previous evening, I headed back to the same spot for another shot at landing some more carp. Sure enough, they were still there, 2 carp and 1 sucker came to play, black magic and sweet dream boilies were the hot bait for the evening.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp080322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="600" height="272" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp080322.jpg" width="423" /></a></div><br /><p>August 29 2022:</p><p>After taking a few weeks off from carp fishing, I decided to try chumming with some cheaper, store bought boilies. I picked up a few bags of Wellmix boilies from Decathlon for this trial, which also happened to be the first time I've bought boilies in a store in 10 years. Got a mix of tutti fruity, scopex and monster crab flavors, and used equal amounts of them during my prebaiting campaign, which ran 4 out of 5 days prior to fishing.</p><p>Ended up landing 1 carp and 2 channel cats on the scopex flavor, didn't bother with any pics, as they weren't anything too sizeable.</p><p>September 1 2022:</p><p>Headed back to my pre-baited spot with the Decathlon Wellmix boilies, managed another small carp and channel catfish, this time on monster crab flavor. Again, didn't bother with any pics due to the carp being in the 10 lbs range, and the catfish even smaller.</p><p>September 2 2022:</p><p>Headed out with Alex and Anis, to a spot where I had taken Alex and some friends in the past. The given spot is sort of hit and miss fishing, but the carp there tend to be good sized, with most carp there going well over 20 lbs. More of a trophy spot to say the least.</p><p>Got set up bright and early, and morning bite was steady, with 3 carp all hitting within 80-90 minutes of each other. Carp were all caught on a mix of my sweet dream popups and black magic boilies. </p><p>Alex started the day with the biggest of the outing at 28 lbs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/alexcarp0902222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="430" data-original-width="600" height="312" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/alexcarp0902222.jpg" width="436" /></a></div><br /><p>Anis followed up with his first ever carp, and biggest fish landed to date, with this carp in the mid twenties range.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/aniscarp0902221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="600" height="329" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/aniscarp0902221.jpg" width="438" /></a></div><br /><p>Alex ended the short outing with another low twenties class carp.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/alexcarp0902224.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="600" height="307" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/alexcarp0902224.jpg" width="431" /></a></div><br /><p><span>September 5 2022:</span><br /></p><p><span>After the successful outing with Alex on the previous Friday, I returned to the spot with my son Levi on Monday, as he was off school for Labour day. A cold front had come in, and Levi was getting impatient due to a non existing bite. He squeaked by with a decent redhorse sucker, landed shortly before leaving after a few hours.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levisucker0905221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="350" height="412" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levisucker0905221.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br /><span>September 13 2022:</span><p></p><p><span>After getting skunked a couple nights in a row fishing a spot I had pre-baited with Decathlon boilies, I headed to Portneuf, to help my older son Ari with some roof work on his house. Portneuf has Quebec's longest pier on the St Lawrence river, and it's a short drive from where my son lives. As such, I had him prebait a spot where we found some deeper water, and would still be able to fish out of our car in case of bad weather.</span></p><p><span>What I didn't count on, was the tides, which are surprisingly strong and high for a spot this far inland. We got to the pier during the incoming tide, the current was ripping, and bringing in huge beds of floating weeds. This made still fishing for carp from high above the water just about impossible, high winds, heavy rain and the incoming rising water prevented us from fishing closer to the water, down the steep rocks.</span></p><p><span>Somehow, we still managed to get a few bites,3 smaller channel catfish that hit a variety of the Decathlon boilies we were testing, over 2 hours or so of fishing. Luckily, I managed to get down the steep, wet cliff to land them without injury. Another adventure, to say the least.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcatfish091322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="500" height="282" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcatfish091322.jpg" width="371" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/aricatfish0913221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="550" height="275" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/aricatfish0913221.jpg" width="383" /></a></div><br /><span><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/aricatfish0913222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="600" height="238" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/aricatfish0913222.jpg" width="385" /></a></div><br /><p>September 21 2022:</p><p>Another friend of mine named Warren (not the same Warren from earlier in this post) finally decided to try carp fishing for the first time. After prebaiting a spot where I've had success in the past, we headed out for an evening bite. As I had pre-baited with a mix of Decathlon boilies, we started off using them as bait. One redhorse sucker came to play, so after a while, we switched to my boilies. Sure enough, a sweet dream boilie did the job, and Warren had landed his first ever carp.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/warrencarp092122.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="550" height="324" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/warrencarp092122.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><br /><p>September 22 2022:</p><p>Was hoping to take Warren back to the spot for another shot at carp fishing the following night, but he couldn't make it. Ended up going solo. No carp action, but did manage a good sized channel cat, my biggest of the season up until that point at 11 lbs. Those things do chomp down on fingers harder than you would think...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcatfish092222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="400" height="426" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcatfish092222.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><br /><p>October 2 2022:</p><p>After chumming a newly scouted spot for a few days in a row, I headed out for some night fishing with my 10 year old son Zev. He still isn't very comfortable hauling big fish with my heavier carp rods, so he was content being net man.</p><p>Action was almost immediate, I had my first run within 5 minutes of my first cast. Big head shakes and less drag ripping, I got the feeling that I had a big catfish on the line. Sure enough, I landed this obese 14 lbs channel cat, besting my season's best from the previous outing by 3 lbs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcatfish100222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="550" height="220" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcatfish100222.jpg" width="395" /></a></div><br /><p>About 1 hour later, I finally hooked into my first carp of the evening, and first one from the new spot. As with the big catfish, this carp was caught using one of my fireball popups.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp100222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="550" height="261" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp100222.jpg" width="411" /></a></div><br /><p>October 3 2022:</p><p>Another follow up outing to the same spot, I ended up landing 1 of 2 carp on a sweet dream boilie. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp100322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="550" height="295" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcarp100322.jpg" width="401" /></a></div><br /><p>Again, another fish in the mid teens, not sure this spot is going to have the potential I hoped for in the future. However, convenient access with a shot at fishing form the car in bad weather may have me returning again next season.</p><p>October 26 2022:</p><p>After a reduced fishing schedule over the past few weeks due to holiday schedule and family duties, I finally got back on the water for a day of carp fishing. Due to cooling water temps this time of the year, I had a choice of two non baited spots to fish:</p><p>1) My standard pre-winter spot. Being in Quebec, I'd be allowed to use 1 rod, as I was fishing solo. Typically smaller carp under 5 lbs, with a slight chance at one over 20 lbs. Weather forecast had 60% chance of rain there.</p><p>2) My spring / summer spot. Fishing there this time of year is very tough, but I've caught carp there up until mid October during warm fronts like we've had over the past few days. Average carp is bigger than spot #1, and chances of catching carp over 20 lbs are better there as well. As this carp spot is in Ontario, I'd be able to take advantage of the 3 rod per person rule, and a low bridge nearby would provide shelter in case of rain.</p><p>I decided on spot #2. Part of the appeal, was wondering how I would deal with fighting a potential carp running through my other lines, or possibly dealing with a double header, which would be mayhem.</p><p>Unfortunately, rising water and current was bringing in large amounts of floating weeds. Despite my burying rods under water to avoid them, I still ran into some issues with fouled up presentations.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/rodpod102622.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="550" height="324" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/rodpod102622.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><br /><p>While I did notice quite a few carp surfacing throughout the day, I didn't manage any bites in about 6 hours of fishing. A brief storm blew in just before I called it a day, leaving a nice double rainbow in it's wake.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/rainbow102622.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="302" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/rainbow102622.jpg" width="402" /></a></div><br /><p>Safe to say that I'm done carp fishing in that area until 2023.</p><p><br /></p><p>November 2022:</p><p>After a few short carping sessions at various spots in Quebec with nothing to show for, I'm calling it quits until next spring as far as carp fishing goes. Between me neglecting carp through most of the prime part of the season, and quite a tough fall bite in comparison to previous seasons, I'm starting to dream of first ice.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-29616886628496146402022-09-09T07:04:00.000-07:002022-09-09T07:04:38.231-07:00Float tube bass fishing summer 2022<p> After a few spectacular float tube fishing outings for smallmouth bass over the last few weeks of spring, I planned to spend most of my summer's day trips to continue on the float tube, and just about ignore most other species I would normally fish for. Aside from being a quest to see what would happen when I focused most of my efforts to one style and just about one target species, namely, the smallmouth bass. </p><p>Multiple reasons why I chose to do so:</p><p>1) Pound for pound, the smallmouth bass is one of the best fights of any fish species in out region.</p><p>2) Smallmouth bass are extremely prone to hit topwater lures such as the PopR, which is likely my favorite topwater lure for smallmouth bass, and by far the most enjoyable technique, with explosive visual attacks.</p><p>3) The lakes I chose to fish on are far from Montreal, and have no inhabitants. As such, the calm, relaxing conditions, immersed in nature with little to no human interference, make up much of what draws me to keep returning for more.</p><p>4) Float tube fishing for 5 to 6 hours at a time, provides for a great, low impact cardio and leg workout. Staying fit is important as I inch closer to the 50 year mark, and I much prefer combining exercise with fishing. Simply way more enjoyable than a stationary workout in my home gym.</p><p>With the course being set, I timed my float tube fishing to coincide with proper weather, namely, the least windy days that fit into my schedule of available days. Here are the results of what was achieved.</p><p>June 24 2022:</p><p>With not enough time to hit my smallmouth bass lakes which are further from Montreal, I opted to fish some smaller backwater areas a bit closer to home, for a mix of largemouth bass, pike, and possibly longnose gar. After spending some time using a mix of walk the dog and popper type lures, I eventually connect with a few smaller largemouth bass that were buried deep in weeds. A weedless frog did the trick.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0624221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="375" height="347" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0624221.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><br /><p>Couldn't find any pike or longnose gar at that spot, so eventually, I decided to check another spot on foot, armed with a modified Rapala J9 (treble hooks laced with braid and yarn). Only managed to spot one gar, but thankfully, I was able to make it count!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philgar0624221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="350" height="357" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philgar0624221.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><p>July 6 2022:</p><p>After a short trip to visit my daughter and her family in Florida, I was finally able to get back to my target smallmouth bass lake. Unfortunately, they wind was much stronger than forecast, so topwater bite was non existent, despite my trying for a good hour or so, before switching to a #3 spinner.</p><p>Move paid off, I landed some good smallmouth bass, during a short morning bite that lasted only about 1 hour or so. Low numbers, but good sizes, with the trophy lunker of the day at 19 inches, and over 4 lbs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0706221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="400" height="326" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0706221.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br /><p>July 26 2022:</p><p>After spending a week up le Domaine Shannon fishing for pike with my son, followed by a few days of carp fishing, I had a few hours to hit a lake a bit closer to home, I managed to put in 3 hours of float tube fishing. After having some topwater success early on, the wind picked up, and I switched to a deeper running Mepps spinner. Didn't take more than a few casts for me to hook and land this nice 18 inch smallmouth bass, one of the bigger ones that I've caught in this tiny lake.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0726222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="400" height="353" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0726222.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><div><br /></div>August 9 2022:<div><br /></div><div>Back to my trophy smallmouth bass lake, again, the forecast was off, with cloud and intermittent rain instead of a sun/cloud mix they were calling for. Luckily, the wind was very calm, and the bass were on fire. Topwater bite was excellent for this time of year, I managed to land 20 of 26 smallmouth bass, with a good number over 3 lbs, and biggest 4.25 lbs, at 20 inches.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0809221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="450" height="380" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0809221.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0809223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="450" height="339" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0809223.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0809224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="450" height="365" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0809224.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0809225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="450" height="354" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0809225.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><br /><p>Truly off the charts, turned out to be my best bass day of the summer!</p><p>August 15 2022:</p><p>After my planned trip to Le Domaine Shannon for walleye was cancelled at the last minute, I went back to my trophy bass lake in hopes of some more crazy action. With perfect weather when I arrived, my hopes were high, given the smashing success of my previous outing. </p><p>Unfortunately, the fish had other plans. Instead of the aggressive bite, they were hitting the topwater lures instead of biting or inhaling them. This resulted in a few lost fish that were face hooked, until I was lucky enough to land this face hooked, 21 inch / 5 lbs giant!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0815221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="450" height="391" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0815221.jpg" width="282" /></a></div><br /><p>This beast of a trophy smallmouth was the heaviest bass I I've landed on my float tube to date. Definitely made my day, and my quest to beat the 5 lbs mark on my trophy bass lake had finally been achieved.</p><p>August 24 2022:</p><p>Another trip up to my trophy smallmouth bass lake, hoping to land at least one more big bass before my kids returned to school, and water tempos started cooling off the possibilities of a decent topwater bite. Fishing was even slower than previous outing despite high heat and flat calm conditions, but I managed one solid bass over 4 lbs / 20 inches.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0824221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="400" height="375" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0824221.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>That capped off what was likely to be my last trip of the season up to this gem of a lake. With no homes or motorboat access, and where lunker smallmouth bass in the over 4 lbs are a possibility at every cast, it's truly a float tube bass angler's dream. </p><p>August 28 2022:</p><p>Having some errands to run in the given area, I brought along the float tube in hopes of one last shot at finding some longnose gar before the water started cooling off. Was not able to sight or locate any, ut managed another small largemouth bass burning a Choppo.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass082822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="400" height="377" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass082822.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br /><p>That was all she wrote for the day, and likely the final float tube outing of the 2022 summer season. I thank God for giving me the health, means, and time to have put in all these float tube outings over the spring and summer, and for having provided me with some spectacular catches, which keep me going back for more.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-25751417777936443862022-08-19T12:12:00.007-07:002022-08-19T12:38:48.845-07:00Salmon and steelhead fishing on Lake Ontario<p>After my planned trip to Le Domaine shannon was cancelled, my wife and i decided to visit family in Toronto for a few days. Being that I have never fished on Lake Ontario, I booked a day of salmon and steelhead trout fishing on Lake Ontario, with Fishing4tails charters, run by the legendary Greg Amiel. Although we never met in person, Greg has been a long time social media acquaintance / friend, and came highly recommended by some of the mutual friends we've both fished with over the years.</p><p>Knowing that I had booked a day of fishing on Lake Ontario, my 20 year old son happily Levi joined me for this new fishing adventure.</p><p>We met Greg bright and early at the Harbour Marina, in order to get on the water at first light. Within minutes, we were at out first spot, ready to start trolling for Chinook salmon, our largest target species for the day.</p><p>Snapped a quick pic of quintessential Levi at sunrise over Toronto.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levilakeontario2022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="286" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levilakeontario2022.jpg" width="382" /></a></div><br /><p>Greg started setting up the lines, mostly baited with strips of herring fished behind big flasher type attractant spoons. The lines were set at various depths, using a mix of downriggers, dipsy divers, and long line copper wire behind planer boards.</p><p>Within a matter of minutes, Levi was on to his first chinook salmon of the day, with Greg coaching him.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levilakeontario20222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="600" height="236" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levilakeontario20222.jpg" width="419" /></a></div><br /><p>A few minutes later, we boated the first chinook salmon of the day, a decent fish in the upper teens. </p><p>Snapped a couple quick pics before getting the salmon in the livewell, as we were planning on keeping our bag limits during this fishing trip.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levichinook20222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="600" height="295" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levichinook20222.jpg" width="431" /></a></div><br /><p>Note the lamprey damage, unfortunately, Lake Ontario is infested with them.</p><p>Minutes later, I boated my first chinook salmon of the outing, much smaller than Levi's, but at least I was on the board. Shortly after, a third Chinook came to play, and Levi did a great job fighting the big salmon. </p><p>We netted it, turned out to be the biggest one of the outing, over 3 feet long. Got a couple nice pics.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levichinook20223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="350" height="463" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levichinook20223.jpg" width="234" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levichinook20225.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="600" height="269" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levichinook20225.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>The Chinook bite started slowing down after that, we missed a couple fish. As we kept trolling, Greg mounted his fillet board onto the boat, and proceeded to fillet out catch to get them on ice as quick as possible. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/gregfillet2022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="600" height="255" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/gregfillet2022.jpg" width="348" /></a></div><br /><p>Quite frankly, I was amazed by Greg's multitasking ability to simultaneously fillet our catch, run 6 lines, and keep the boat running along a drop off, all at the same time, while fighting waves and current on Lake Ontario.</p><p>Weather warmed up, sun was shining bright, we knew we'd be heading further offshore soon to chase some coho salmon and big steelheads. Despite the slowed down action, I hooked into a decent chinook salmon, ended up being my biggest chinook of the day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philchinook2022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="600" height="298" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philchinook2022.jpg" width="389" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>With Levi and both having landed decent chinook salmons, we were now ready to chase some smaller, but tastier, cohos and steelheads in deeper water. We ran nearly halfway across the lake, and started getting hit just as Greg set up the downrigger lines to troll multiple spoons on a slider/cheater rig, which I've never seen up until that point.</p><p>Technique was effective, to say the least. Within minutes, Levi had his first steelhead of the day. As opposed to Chinooks that mainly pull down during the fight this time of the year, steelheads jump straight out multiple time during the fight. Levi managed to keep the big trout pinned, and shortly after, we had or first one of the day on board.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levisteelhead20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="400" height="398" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levisteelhead20221.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br /><p>After landing some smaller chinook salmon, I eventually got my first steelhead trout of the day on the line. Beauty of a fish that put up another good fight.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsteelhead20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="400" height="400" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsteelhead20221.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><br /><p>Using the same setup, we eventually got onto some good coho salmon fishing to complete out target species slam. These are supposed to be the tastiest of our target species, nd fight with constant head shakes. Levi drew first blood.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levicoho20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="400" height="357" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levicoho20221.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br /><p>As you'll note, coho salmon are quite girthy for their length, almost football shaped at times.</p><p>Levi and I hooked into a double header, with him landing another good steelhead trout, and myself with my first coho salmon of the day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levisteelhead20223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="600" height="263" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levisteelhead20223.jpg" width="385" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcoho20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="600" height="255" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcoho20221.jpg" width="387" /></a></div><br /><p>The bite kept getting better, Levi and I landed more chinook and coho salmon, this coho was the biggest of the day. What a fatty!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcoho20225.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="600" height="290" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philcoho20225.jpg" width="397" /></a></div><br /><p>Just a Greg was removing the lines to end the outing, we hit one last double header with the remaining two lines. Unfortunately, mine snapped the line, but Levi landed this deep blue colored steelhead to end the outing.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levisteelhead20225.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="600" height="311" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levisteelhead20225.jpg" width="382" /></a></div><br /><p>Greg finished filleting our catch before making the rough ride back to shore in pounding waves.</p><p>All in all, this fishing trip was one of our better outings to date. We both managed to land a slam of target species, kept out bag limits of both fresh caught salmon and steelhead trout, and learned a lot about some new species we had not targeted or fished for up until that point.</p><p>Out of all the guides I've ever fished with in my life, Greg Amiel ranks among the top. Aside from being a a lifelong multispecies angler with vast experience, his knowledge of lake Ontario and its salmonids species is unparalleled. Using a vast array of techniques and electronics at the same time, comes to him as second nature, as we made good casual conversation why he was able to fillet out catch and put us onto spectacular fishing at the same time. Truly a legend in my book.</p><p>To get in tough with Greg about a guided fishing trip on Lake Ontario, or any of the other water bodies he fishes, visit his web site at: <a href="http://www.fishing4tails.com/" target="_blank">http://www.fishing4tails.com/</a> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-86727410418328356772022-08-01T17:29:00.001-07:002022-08-01T17:29:24.493-07:00Multispecies fishing on Lac St Louis<p>Finally got back out onto the river with my friend and top notch multispecies fishing guide, Mark Currie. Brought along my son Levi, and his girlfriend Lindsey, who hadn't been fishing since she was a few years old. Goal was to get everyone onto some good walleye and bass fishing, with a decent shot at some of the other predatory species in the St Lawrence river system, such as pike, or perhaps a musky.</p><p>As Mark has been running Advanced Bassin plus charters for many decades now, I can confidently say that you'd be hard pressed to find anyone around Montreal with better fishing knowledge / experience of the Lac St Louis portion of the St Lawrence river. Despite being flat, calm, and midday temperatures going above 30C, I knew we'd be in for some great fishing due to Mark's expertise.</p><p>Getting to out first spot, drop shotting was an instant success. Levi drew first blood, with this nice walleye, slightly above the maximum slot size.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/leviwalleye0801221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="350" height="419" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/leviwalleye0801221.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><br /> Levi and I followed up with some keeper sized walleye, and eventually, Lindsey got in on the action as well, thanks to Mark's constant coaching.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseywalleye0801221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="400" height="340" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseywalleye0801221.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><br /><p>After some more keeper sized walleye in the livewell, Lindsey hooked into her first pike, which out up a nice battle, before we landed it. By far the biggest fish she's ever caught. Not wanting to shred her fingers, Levi stepped in to hold it for the picture.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseypike0801221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="400" height="410" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseypike0801221.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><br /><p>Lindsey managed another nice walleye.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseywalleye0801222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="400" height="374" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseywalleye0801222.jpg" width="243" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I ended up with the biggest walleye of the morning, a nice 24-25 incher.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwalleye0801221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="400" height="434" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwalleye0801221.jpg" width="265" /></a></div><br /><div>Levi followed up with a nice pike of his own.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levipike080122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="350" height="447" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levipike080122.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br /><div>Lindsey managed a nice perch, and we ended of getting a triple header of walleye, though we forgot to take the pic of 3 of us with our fish caught simultaneously. </div><div><br /></div><div>Last fish of the spot was a decent smallmouth bass I hooked into, first of the day up to that point.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0801221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="400" height="326" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0801221.jpg" width="255" /></a></div><br /><div>Next area we headed off to, was a shallower spot. We Mark, Levi and Lindsey sticking to texposed rubber worms, I opted to try getting some topwater action. Luckily, Mark had a PopR on board, so I fished it, despite strong current, and increasing wind.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mark managed to land a good dozen or so smallmouth bass on the worm, and after a few missed hits on the Pop R, I managed to land a couple topwater smallmouth bass. Levi and Lindsey to a break to get in the river to cool off, and when Levi got back on board to start fishing, it didn't take long for him to complete his slam with a nice bass.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levibass0801221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="400" height="302" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levibass0801221.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><div>Eventually, the bite there died down, and we headed off to our last spot of the day. Drifting drop shot rigs, Lindsey caught her first bass, completing her multispecies slam as well. . Again, Levi stepped in to hold the fish, as she was still apprehensive about holding them.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseybass0801221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="550" height="280" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseybass0801221.jpg" width="329" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Lindsey start outfishing us by far, landing bass after bass, while Levi and I watched in amazement. She eventually agreed to hold one using a glove.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseybass0801222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="400" height="347" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/lindseybass0801222.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br /><div>Levi and I eventually caught some as well, and finally Levi and Lindsey landed a double header.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levilindseybass080122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="550" height="333" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/levilindseybass080122.jpg" width="351" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>With not much time left in the outing, I finally hooked into the day's lunker, this nice bass in the 4 lbs range put up a good battle before we were able to net it. Snapped a couple pics with the day's trophy.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0801222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="450" height="373" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0801222.jpg" width="289" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass08012223jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="550" height="346" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass08012223jpg.jpg" width="351" /></a></div><br /><div>Between Lindsey's smashing success at her first fishing trip out on Lac St Louis, to her and Levi both managing the multispecies slam, and myself landing both the linker bass and walleye of the day, we couldn't have asked for better results. Pleasantly warm weather, and the usual trash talking followed by good laughs, enhanced the experience.</div><div><br /></div><div>Many thanks again to my friend Mark for taking us out. As usual, his second to none experience came through big time, and a day where many other likely struggled to find any fish at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mark offers guided outing from his 21 foot fully equipped Ranger, a top of the line vessel built to handle the roughest of conditions in comfort.</div><div><br /></div><div>Contact Mark about a guided fishing trip by clicking:</div><div><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/contactmark.cfm" target="_blank">http://freshwaterphil.com/contactmark.cfm</a> <br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-8454836502687763472022-07-15T07:11:00.003-07:002022-07-15T11:10:13.229-07:00Amazing pike fishing trip at Domaine Shannon<p>First fishing trip of the summer, my 16 year old son Eli joined me for a 5 day trip up to Lac Wahoo, my favorite lake for pike at Le domaine Shannon outfitter. Those of you familiar with my blog know that I've been there a number of times over the past decade, and my kids and I have all enjoyed catching some trophy pike and walleye on Lac Wahoo, as well as huge numbers of smaller fish at times.</p><p>As the camp was available on Sunday, I drove through Saturday night, hoping to get there for an early morning bite on Sunday. The temperature kept dropping through the Laurentians, and by the time I was driving through on the main road at Le Domaine Shannon around 5 am, we had near freezing temperature at 2C.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoospeedometer2022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="278" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoospeedometer2022.jpg" width="371" /></a></div><br /><p>Just before the turn of onto the secondary dirt road, my tire pressure light came on. I stopped to investigate, and to my dismay, I had a flat tire. Thankfully, I had the right equipment on board to put on the spare tire and pump it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahooflat2022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="272" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahooflat2022.jpg" width="362" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Drove back 15 km to the main camp at Le Domaine Shannon, where they promptly patched 2 holes in the tire. Was lucky that it wasn't cracked or completely blown. Once done, I headed back up the road to Lac Wahoo.</p><p>After arriving 3 hours later than planned, we broke camp, ate, got the boat setup with my portable sonar, rod holders, and electric motor, in addition to the 15 hp 4 stroke provided by Le Domaine Shannon.</p><p>We found an area out of the wind for some casting. Eli opted for a one knocker spook, while I tied on a new lure I got at Basspro in the USA, called "walking mullet" made by Offshore Angler. Priced at $2.69 usd each, I figured I couldn't go wrong. At 4 inches of length, and with a slimmer profile than most of the Zara Spooks I use, I was curious to see how it would perform.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walkingmullet2022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="500" height="372" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walkingmullet2022.jpg" width="361" /></a></div><br /> Sure enough, I landed this nice pike within a couple casts.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwahoopike20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="350" height="339" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwahoopike20221.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><p>As customary, we harvested the keeper sized pike for the trip's first shore lunch.</p><p>After a bit more casting fighting increasing wind, we decided to do some trolling. Trolling patterns on Lac Wahoo tend to be extremely specific for some reason. On a given day, they all seem to biting at one depth, and dead zone everywhere else. As soon as I got our first hit at 11 feet, I tried to keep us in the 9 to 13 foot range. Easier said than done with an extremely rudimentary sonar with no lake map. Eli was more than happy trolling, as I offered to let him catch all fish we hooked trolling throughout the trip.</p><p>Sure enough, we ended up landing 4 pike on our first pass of the lake, all hit exactly at 11 feet. Mostly on a hj14 Rapala Husky Jerk, and 1 on a Smithwick Rogue. Biggest of them was a nice 30 inch pike with a thick girth. Snapped a few quick pics before releasing her in good condition.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="600" height="287" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202201.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="350" height="426" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202203.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><p>A few more small fish casting later in the day, and our first day ended up successful, despite the crazy amount of black flies that were swarming around us.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoobugproof20222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="374" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoobugproof20222.jpg" width="281" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Day 2:</p><p>After a short night sleep, we headed out early in hopes of trying to get some more pike casting. Unfortunately, the wind was way too strong, so we spent a most of the day trolling. After not being able to find any more fish at 11 feet, we tried deeper passes up to 20-25 feet. Nothing doing, we eventually went shallow, and ended up catching a lot of smaller pike trolling spinnerbaits in shallow 5 to 7 feet of water, just at the edges of the weedbeds. Released them all, as they were quite small.</p><p>Highlight of the day was our shore fishing / wading excursion. Knowing the atrocious black fly situation, we came prepared. Trick to these buggers, is leaving no skin exposed.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoobugproof20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="600" height="357" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoobugproof20221.jpg" width="356" /></a></div><br /> We eventually added bug nets over our heads once the bug got really bad...<p></p><p>Sure enough, the spot paid off with a couple more keeper sized pike I caught on my walking mullet lure.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwahoopike20222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="350" height="331" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwahoopike20222.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoofillettable20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="500" height="266" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoofillettable20221.jpg" width="346" /></a></div><br /><p>More chances to hone my boneless fillet skills and fill up an empty freezer back home with some delicious, pristine pike fillets.</p><p>Day 3:</p><p>We woke up shortly after sunrise with a heavy storm moving in. After only one short night of broken sleep over the past couple days, Eli and I decided to sleep and lazy around the cabin while waiting out the storm. After sleeping in for a few more hours, followed by a late brunch, the storm broke around noon. We gave it another hour, and with no more rain and the clouds starting to thin out in the heavy winds, we head back out for some more trolling. </p><p>Rainy days with heavy cloud are the best chance to catch walleyes on Lac Wahoo. The lakes walleye population is not what some of the other nearby lakes boast, but there are still many fish in the 37 to 53 cm slot size to be had.</p><p>Sure enough, first hit of the day was our first walleye of the trip, about 1 inch over the minimum slot size.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoowalleye20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="352" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoowalleye20221.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><p>After a few more smaller pike caught trolling, we headed back to shore, where I filetted the walleye before heading out for some more shore fishing with Eli.</p><p>The shore bite was on, we landed a bunch of pike, managing 3 more keepers, and Eli catching another decent walleye in the 16 inch range.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoowalleye20222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="500" height="376" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoowalleye20222.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><br /><p>We now had a delicious breakfast planned for the next day, after having enjoyed a pike shore lunch the previous day.</p><p>Fillet table was very buggy, head net and mosquito coils were a must.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoofillettable20222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="261" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoofillettable20222.jpg" width="348" /></a></div><br /><p>The sky finally cleared, but still too windy for casting, Eli caught another nice pike while trolling, to end the day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202205.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="365" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202205.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><br /><p>Day 4:</p><p>We woke up to one of those beautiful sunny summer mornings, not a cloud in the sky, and the entire surface of the lake was like a mirror. This gave us the option of casting some topwater lures in areas of the lake that are normally windy.</p><p>I chose to head out to an area where we have caught some big pike while trolling in the past. On our way, Eli said he had a feeling at was going to be a good day. From his mouth, to God's ears, he couldn't have been more right.</p><p>First spot we tried had a big set of lily pads growing near deeper water. Within a couple casts, Eli got a nice topwater explosion on his Zara spook. I kept working my walking mullet back to the boat while he was fighting the pike, and sure enough, just when I was ready to pull it in, another huge explosion right beside the boat, and we were into our first double header of the trip.</p><p>As we were in a good 12 feet of water or so, my big pike ran deep under the boat a couple times. Eli managed to haul his fish on board without the net, and a few seconds, I netted a Lac Wahoo giant!</p><p>It pays to come equipped to properly release bigger fish, meaning the use of a big, rubber net to avoid destroying the scales and skin, as well as the landing mat I use while carp fishing, for added protection and cushioning.</p><p>The immediate difference in sizes was noticeable, the smaller of these to fish being a decent 5 lbs pike.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoodoubleheader2022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="600" height="232" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoodoubleheader2022.jpg" width="399" /></a></div><br /><p>I was lucky to land the giant pike without using a leader, my 4 inch topwater lure was engulfed horizontally across it's mouth, which likely prevented it from clamping down on my line. The big pike measured 40 inches, and new personal best for me, and on a $2.69 topwater lure, no less!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwahoopike20223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="600" height="259" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwahoopike20223.jpg" width="431" /></a></div><br /><p>After fishing Lac Wahoo for a decade in hopes of landing a 40 inch pike on a topwater lure, the pursuit of my dream finally materialized. Having one of my sons on board with me at the time was the icing on the cake. I soaked in the moment while reviving the big pike, and finally released her when she was strong enough to kick down to the bottom on her own.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoopikerelease20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="299" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoopikerelease20221.jpg" width="399" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Eli's pike paled in comparison.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202206.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="350" height="383" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202206.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br /><div>After a bit more casting and a few smaller pike landed, we headed back to shore for a celebratory walleye breakfast. I'm not one to normally post pictures of our food, but we'll make an exception in this case.</div><div><br /></div><div>First off, I washed off the 4 walleye fillets that I had prepared the previous evening. Letting them sit overnight in the fridge actually makes for better cooking, as they are past the rigor mortis stage, meaning no curling up in the frying pan as fresh caught fish often do.</div><div><br /></div><div>Dipped in egg and coated with seasoned breadcrumbs.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="290" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20221.jpg" width="387" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Pan seared on medium heat in butter, and drizzled with fresh squeezed lemon juice.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="289" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20222.jpg" width="385" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="600" height="349" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20223.jpg" width="362" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div>Eli anticipating chowing down on his catch.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20224.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="350" height="456" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20224.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><div>After blessing God for creating these tasty creatures (shehakol) and for living the experience (shehecheyanu), the moment of truth.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20225.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="600" height="290" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20225.jpg" width="336" /></a></div><br /><div>I'd say Eli approved.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20226.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="600" height="295" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/walleyebreakfast20226.jpg" width="332" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Another one of the priceless little moments in life you learn to appreciate as you get older.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p>Later on that day, I decided to try a trick I had stumbled across while ice fishing. Being that we are not permitted the use of live of dead baitfish in Quebec during the summer, I quick strike rigged a couple sausages, in hopes of landing a big pike.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahooquickstrikehotdog.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="500" height="257" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahooquickstrikehotdog.jpg" width="362" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I then set the lines with extra loose drag in the bank sticks and bite alarm rod holders I use for carp fishing.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoobanksticks2022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="350" height="392" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoobanksticks2022.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br /><p>We then set up a fire, barbecued some steak and chicken while waiting, but unfortunately, nothing came to play for a few hours. Oh well, always fun trying new tactics.</p><p>Eventually, we head back out for the evening bite. With the lake still pretty calm, and bright sunny skies, we opted to do some more casting. Nothing much for an hour or so, and Eli's wrist started getting sore from all the lure twitching he had done over the past few days. I suggested we troll again, and left the method, depth and lure choice up to him. Being adventurous, he picked trolling with topwater lures, a method we still hadn't tried on this trip yet. While I've caught a few pike trolling topwater on Lac Wahoo over the years, the were typically very small fish, and only super aggressive ones, as you need to troll at higher speeds in order to keep the lures working and above the surface when using buzzbaits.</p><p>I rigged the inside line with a Booyah buzzbait, and alternated the outside deeper line between a 3d bat, Berkely Choppo, and spinnerbait. I had the inside line just about on the shore, trolling at high speed in 1 to 3 feet of water. Sure enough, we caught a couple smaller pike, while covering the lake in much less time than a standard troll.</p><p>Eventually, we came around a shallow point, The buzzbait line started screaming straight out. I was sure I had hooked the shoal or an overhanging branch, so I flipped the motor into reverse, to back down on the lure to retrieve it. Eli had taken the rod out of the rod holder, and was reeling down the slack, when he started feeling big headshakes on the line. Next thing I know, there is a big pike on the line ripping drag of the reel. After a good fight, I netted Eli's big pike. Instantly, he knew he beat his pike record, with his first ever double digit 10 lb fish.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202208.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="600" height="268" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/eliwahoopike202208.jpg" width="386" /></a></div><br />Again, another totally unexpected topwater catch resulting in another new personal best, and both on the same day! <p></p><p>The odds of both of us hitting our biggest pike on topwater lures on the same day in that lake are staggeringly low. Based on past years experiences on Lac Wahoo, these giants are roughly one out of every 100 or so fish hooked when casting or trolling lures.</p><p>Eli words early that morning of feeling it was going to be a good day were prophetic. This day was likely the best I've ever had on Lac Wahoo in since I started fishing there in 2012.</p><p>Day 5:</p><p>Although we had originally planned on leaving the following day, Eli and I felt the trip was already a smashing success, so we opted to take it easy and leave after noon. Morning casting produced a few more small pike, as did the troll back to the cabin. I beached our boat for the final time of the trip before 9 am, removed all our gear, and took another moment to soak in the many years of amazing memories Lac Wahoo has provided me and my family over the years.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoo2022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="276" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/wahoo2022.jpg" width="368" /></a></div><br /><p>This was one of our better pike fishing trips to Le Domaine Shannon. Being able to both break our personal pike records on topwater lures, harvesting and bringing home a generous 10 pike bag limit of fish in the 3 lbs to 5 lbs range, having a couple tasty fresh caught meals of both pike and walleye, and releasing a good 50 or so smaller pike, are what it's all about. The unseasonably cool weather we enjoyed was a bonus, as was the surprisingly scarce amount of mosquitoes in comparison to previous July trips to Le Domaine Shannon.</p><p>As usual, I highly recommend le Domaine Shannon as an outfitter. From the choice of many lakes filled with pike and walleye, to always working and well maintained quality of their remote camp equipment and appliances, to the friendly service of the Danis family that has owned the place for over 50 years, Le Domaine Shannon is truly one the the gems of the upper Outaouais region of Quebec.</p><p>For more information and blog posts about our trips to Le Domaine Shannon, click: <a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/ledomaineshannon.cfm" target="_blank">http://freshwaterphil.com/ledomaineshannon.cfm</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-13987335982021764692022-06-20T15:18:00.004-07:002022-06-20T15:19:41.762-07:00Topwater bass bite to end spring<p> Last day of spring, sunny skies and moderate winds. Was hoping to head back to the lake where I caught some giant smallmouth bass last week, but didn't have enough time. Instead, I opted for a shorter half day outing closer to Montreal. This smaller lake still offers some decent smallmouth bass fishing, and was hoping to see if I could top my biggest smallie on that lake since starting to have fished it last summer, which stood at 17 inches.</p><p>Launched the float tube shortly after 10 am, and started off throwing the only topwater lure I had on board, namely, the Pop R. Didn't take long for me to land my first smallmouth bass of the day, I nice 16 incher.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouthbass0620221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="369" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouthbass0620221.jpg" width="277" /></a></div><br /><p>Turned out that the first fish of the morning a few minutes into the outing, was my second biggest on that lake up to that point.</p><p>A few casts later, another good bass exploded on my lure. Another nice fight, and smallmouth bass landed.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouthbass0620222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="337" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouthbass0620222.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><br /><p>At 17 inches, this one tied my previous best for the lake, and with sizes increasing, we seemed to be in the right direction.</p><p>After another smaller bass, I hooked into another big smallie. Probably the best fight of the day, this slender 19 inch bass only weighed 3.25 lbs, as most of the bass on this lake seem a bit leaner than normal. Probably spawned out females.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouthbass0620223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="400" height="361" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouthbass0620223.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br /><p>No matter, a new personal lake record for me is always more than welcome! </p><p>The next bass was a bit smaller, but as I was bringing it in, I noticed a small school of bass chasing it around during the fight, possibly waiting for it to spit it's "meal".</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouthbass0620224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="333" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouthbass0620224.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><p>Wasn't able to get them to hit on subsequent casts after releasing this bass. After a few more missed hits further down the bank, I ended up losing my Pop R in a tree, due to bad cast caught by a wind gust. Being the only topwater lure I had with me, I was forced to switch things up. A small spinner didn't produce anything, so I eventually went with a small jointed floating Rapala, which dives shallow on retrieve. The bite was still kind of slow, until I eventually headed back to where I had seen the school off bass chasing one of my previous fish.</p><p>A couple casts, and another solid bass in the 16 inch range hit the Rapala. Decided to get some shots of the fight, ended up catching the tail end of a couple jumps on camera.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/smallmouthbass0620221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="550" height="278" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/smallmouthbass0620221.jpg" width="406" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/smallmouthbass0620222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="550" height="334" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/smallmouthbass0620222.jpg" width="401" /></a></div><br /><p>Last pass of the day produced a couple more smallmouth bass, and a few small rock bass.</p><p>All in all, another great day on the water, with 10 of 13 smallmouth bass landed from the float tube in about 5 hours of fishing. Great way to the end of spring 2022, as summer rolls in tonight. Looking forward to exploring a couple new lakes on my radar over the next month or so. Stay tuned...</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-86275030518960390382022-06-15T18:00:00.002-07:002022-06-15T18:11:51.078-07:00Quebec bass season opener 2022<p>June 15th, bass season in much of Southern Quebec opened today. I had been eyeing the weather forecast for a few days, and luckily, today's weather held up for my first bass outing of the 2022 season.Headed up North with my float tube, and was very happy to find the entire lake to myself for most of the day. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/floattube0622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="550" height="275" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/floattube0622.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>After tinkering with a new spybait, and trying a topwater lure without much success, I switched up to casting a #3 spinner I found while wading last season. With no name or markings, I assume it was a generic brand, just touched up the hook and it was good to go.</p><p>Didn't take long for me to start catching some decent smallies, and then, less than an hour into the outing and my season, I hooked into the day's first lunker. As I was fishing with a light rod in deep water, I had the luxury of playing the fish without looser drag, so less chances of losing them. </p><p>I must say, this big bass put up and endless fight, likely the best I've experienced from a float tube, and pretty far up there in general as well.</p><p>Too a couple nice shots.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0615221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="500" height="357" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0615221.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0615222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="500" height="371" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0615222.jpg" width="302" /></a></div><br /><p>Measuring a nearly 22 inches, it is likely the longest bass I've caught. Surprisingly, it only weighed 4.5 lbs. Released it in god condition, to hopefully grow bigger until the next time we meet.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/smallmouthbass0615221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="291" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/smallmouthbass0615221.jpg" width="388" /></a></div><br /><p>Next fish was another whopper, though it didn't put up nearly as much of a fight as the previous bass. Slightly shorter than the other fish, it weighed slightly more at 4.75 lbs, due to thick girth.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0615223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="326" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth0615223.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><br /><p>And another successful release.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/smallmouthbass0615222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="550" height="289" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/smallmouthbass0615222.jpg" width="337" /></a></div><br /><p>Those were the two biggest bass of the day, most of the other dozen I caught were in the 1.5 to 2.5 lbs range.</p><p>Super thrilled to have landed these 2 giants only 1 hour into my season, and being on my float tube, alone on a small, remote lake, made the experience even more memorable.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-49926555388331149112022-05-19T11:29:00.004-07:002022-05-20T05:03:34.627-07:00My biggest perchFor this outing, I decided to brave winds gusting at 30+ km/h from my float tube. Knowing that the area I was going to fish had many rocky shoals in shallow water, I wasn't worried about getting stranded, and figured I'd be able to land the tube on any shoal once my legs needed a break from the non stop power I needed for propulsion.<div><br /></div><div>Being that pike, perch and walleye are open, and that I've caught some rough fish like freshwater drum, longnose gar, and bowfin in that area, I was hoping for some good multi species action, with the ever present surprise catch being a definite possibility. One thing I was certain about, was getting a great workout no matter what the fishing conditions would be.</div><div><br /></div><div>Got a late start, was shortly after noon when I launch at my spot. Didn't take long for me to hook a few smallmouth bass in the shallow rocks. As They are still out of season, I moved off to a deeper area, after doing some trekking while hauling my gear.</div><div><br /></div><div>The move paid off, as I landed a small pike after a few casts. Eventually got into a few more smallmouth bass, until I moved offshore, finding a remote reef with some exposed rocks. Took me over an hour to make my way there in the wind, all while fishing a mix of spinners and crankbaits. Every fish I fought on the way, took me back downwind, making the trip more fun and more intense.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the time I got to the near the reef, I hooked into a couple more pike in deeper water. Again, I didn't bother with pics on the float tube, to avoid losing all the ground I was making. I eventually landed my float tube on the exposed rocks, and after a few more casts, I coaxed this nice pike into hitting my spinner after a couple missed tries.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike051822.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="400" height="347" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpike051822.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><div>After fishing the shallows by wading around the reef for a while, Eventually I made my way back downwind, hitting small pods of roaming bass every now and then. </div><div><br /></div><div>Third spot I trekked to produced another pike, after a couple very small bass. After half hour or so, I landed the float tube on a weedy shoreline, and spent some time wading the shallow weeds looking for bowfin. Unfortunately, no bowfin in sight, so I trekked back to my first spot and hopped back on the float tube to fish my way back to where I had parked.</div><div><br /></div><div>A few smallmouth bass, and then, yet another fairy tale ending. On one of my last casts before getting off the water near my parking spots, I got a decent hit from what I thought was a small bass. To my surprise, this jumbo perch was one the line, after it hit my spinner.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch0518222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="350" height="402" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch0518222.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><br /><div>Though not very fat as she had recently spawned, she seemed quite long. I measured her, and to my surprise, she was just over 14 inches, beating my previous best of 13 inches.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch0518224.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="400" height="342" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch0518224.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><br /><div>Had I been fishing in cleaner water, she would have made it to my frying pan. Instead, I released her in good shape after a few quick pics. </div><div><br /></div><div>Beating your personal best of a surprise catch on the last cast, was the icing on the cake to end another great float tube outing. Another great workout on the float tube in the wind, and I couldn't have asked for a better end to the day. Hope to try the spot again in the near future.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-54399364881957738612022-05-03T19:34:00.002-07:002022-05-03T19:34:58.101-07:00Fishing brown trout Adirondacks New York<p> Made it back to New York again for the second time in a week, this time to fish for brown trout, in the Adirondacks, with my friend Jimmy. For this trip, we would be wading one of the many rivers in the Adirondack region of upstate New York, that get annually stocked with brown or rainbow trout, sometimes both. </p><p>After checking the stocking dates and weather for a couple weeks, we settled on a spot that had a good quantity of both 8 to 11 and 12 to 16 inch brown trout stocked last week. The spot is also downstream of another similar stocking on the same river, that took place 2 weeks ago, further upstream. We were hoping that the stocked trout would have washed down to a couple spot with some decent wading in moderate current.</p><p>After getting our New York state fishing licenses online, we crossed into the USA and headed to our first target spot. Jimmy and I both started with spinners, and sure enough, Jimmy started landing fish after fish, mainly in the 9 to 10 inch range. I followed suit, and landed my first brown trout of the day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbrowntrout0503221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="300" height="358" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbrowntrout0503221.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br /><p>Jimmy then caught a solid 13 incher, first one of that size class. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmybrowntrout0503221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="400" height="302" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmybrowntrout0503221.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p>I caught one in that size range as well, shortly after.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbrowntrout0503223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="450" height="313" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbrowntrout0503223.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><br /><p>I eventually tied on a Jointed Rapala (j9) lure, and caught some more trout on it. Was hoping for something bigger, and was surprised by this feisty 15 inch fallfish.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philfallfish050322.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="350" height="352" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philfallfish050322.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br /><p>It had me excited for a bit, as I thought I had a big brown until I got it out of the strong current...</p><p>Jimmy then landed the biggest fish of the day, a superb 16 inch brown trout, just about the upper size limit that they stock.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmybrowntrout0503222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="537" data-original-width="350" height="344" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jimmybrowntrout0503222.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><br /><p>The big surprises of the day, were not only a whopping 50+ brown trout landed, but the number of brown trout in the 12 to 13 inch range, which are stocked in much lower numbers. I guess we timed the trip perfectly.</p><p>Seems the rules have also changed as far as keeping trout from that river. The bag limit is 3 trout per person, with only 1 exceeding 12 inches. As we kept out limits, I'm looking forward to enjoying some of the brown trout over the next couple days.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-27327466564714296572022-04-26T20:27:00.004-07:002022-04-26T20:27:50.668-07:00Amazing lake trout fishing on Lake Champlain<p>Finally made it back to Lake Champlain to fish for lake trout for the first time in 8 years. Felt real nice to be able to cross the land border in New York state without needing any covid tests, as well as return to Canada without testing or quarantine. </p><p>Having fished Lake Champlain for lake trout with my friend Mike in the past, I knew it could be hit or miss, depending on a variety of factors, water temp and clarity being important ones. Plan was to to hopefully land 2 bag limits of 3 fish each (6 total), as I have a variety of new recipes to try with lake trout, hopefully making them more palatable, as they tend to be fishier and fattier than most other trout and char species.</p><p>We got to our first spot shortly after 10 am, right in middle of the mid morning major. With the water temp in the 45F range and stained, everything lined up perfectly. We set up 4 rods with a variety of crankbaits and started trolling. Within less than 5 minutes, I landed my first lake trout of the day, a 31 inch beauty, my biggest lake trout to date!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/phillaketrout0426221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="277" height="408" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/phillaketrout0426221.jpg" width="245" /></a></div><br /><p>What followed, was by far the best lake trout bite I've ever experienced. We managed to land our 6 fish bag limit in less than 1 hour, and whopping 15 lake trout in about 3 hours of fishing! A couple double headers, and lost a few more as well.</p><p>Both Mike and I landed some respectable fish in the 30 to 31 inch range.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/phillaketrout0426222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="264" height="362" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/phillaketrout0426222.jpg" width="264" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/mikelaketrout042622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="263" height="366" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/mikelaketrout042622.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><br /><p>When the bite slowed down, we tried a couple more spots, I ended up landing 1 more lake trout to put our total for the day at 16 landed. We called it a day when rain started coming down after 3 pm.</p><p>By fay my best outing on Lake Champlain ever, glad to see that the lake can still produce this sort of quality of fishing.</p><p>I cleaned the days catch once I arrive back home, and tried 2 recipes on one of the smaller fish. Both ended up better than I thought, so freezer is well stocked with fish again :) </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-18880099722635064322022-03-30T20:00:00.003-07:002022-03-30T20:06:59.152-07:00Last ice bass and perch frenzy<p>After having put away my ice gear for the season, wasn't able to catch anything over a couple short open water outings. Following the recent cold front, I decided to go for one final ice outing of the season, took my ice gear back out, and headed North to find safe ice up at altitude.</p><p>My plan for the ice outing, was to harvest my bag limit of 6 largemouth bass, as well as any jumbo perch that were not infested with worms. Being that largemouth are not native to this lake, and have decimated the native smallmouth bass over the years, my son and I have culled nearly 100 largemouth bass from there over the past few seasons, mainly in the 12 to 15 inch range.</p><p>Having fished this particular lake on ice a few times in the past, I had a good idea of where to get started. After a good 20 minute trekk to my spot, the first hole I drilled had a depth of 24 feet under nearly 2 feet of ice. </p><p>I got bit on the first drop of the day, felt like a decent bass, but id came off a few feet under the hole. With the transducer still in the hole, I watched the fish hover around in suspension. As I dropped my rattlebait back down, I was surprised that it came back and bit again. This time, it was well hooked, and I landed this nice 3 lbs largemouth.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0330221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="400" height="325" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0330221.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><p>Both my biggest of the winter, and biggest largemouth I've caught on this lake to date, what a way to start the day!</p><p>Followed up with another chunky largemouth bass, I was happy to catch some in that size range back to back, as bass in this lake are normally smaller. Guessing some of the culling both by locals in open water and by us in the winter may have started to show some benefits.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0330223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="400" height="314" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0330223.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><br /><p>As I drilled and fished for more active largemouth bass, I had my 6 fish bag limit within less than 2 hours, as well as a bunch of smaller ones released. </p><p><br /></p><p>Once I had harvested my limit of largies, I decided to fish a bit deeper hoping for some big perch. I was surprised by a couple back to back smallmouth bass, fishing in a depth of 30 feet under the ice. The first one was the bigger of the two, was happy to catch my first smallmouth bass of the year.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth033022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="384" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philsmallmouth033022.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Staying at that depth, I drilled a few more holes. Eventually hit the motherload of big perch on adjacent holes, I landed a whopping 23 perch in the 9 to 11 inch range. Unfortunately, 21 of them were <div>extremely infested with worms, so I only kept 2 perch.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch033022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="350" height="333" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philperch033022.jpg" width="197" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>In between the perch, I was landing a lot of bass in the 9-12 inch range as well. In fact, I ended up smashing my previous records by nearly double, landing a whopping 30 largemouth bass, as well as 4 smallmouth bass. They were mainly schooled up, an extremely aggressive, rushing up 10 feet off bottom to smash my lure.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icebass0330221.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="450" height="265" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icebass0330221.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icebass0330222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="350" height="328" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/icebass0330222.jpg" width="245" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I shot some video footage of the action, which I hope to post here shortly.</p><p>All in all, one of my most productive days on ice ever, as far as numbers go. I beat both my bas and big perch records on the same outing, landing a total of 67 fish in about 8 hours. Weather was perfect as well, with temps reaching above freezing afternoon, and almost no wind. </p><p>Just one of those days any ice angler dreams about, and another fairy tale ending to an ice season that's been tougher than most other in recent years. Couldn't have scripted a crazier end to it!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-72756656235991306352022-03-15T19:45:00.000-07:002022-03-15T19:45:17.699-07:00Ice fishing white perch and largemouth bass<p>Finally got out on the ice again, after 3 weeks of no ice fishing. Plan for the day was to hit a spot that has good sizes of perch, largemouth bass and white perch, as opposed to numbers. Some pike and chain pickerel in there as well. </p><p>I was expecting the spot to be quite crowded, but to my surprise, I had the entire lake to myself. Quite strange, considering perfect weather condition of slightly above freezing, no wind, and mainly sunny skies. May have had something to do with this open feeder creek near the launch.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/opencreek031522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="600" height="172" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/opencreek031522.jpg" width="380" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I trekked out to where I have had god success in the past, and started drilling ice holes just in time for the morning major. After hitting a perch and pumpkinseed sunfish, I hooked into something considerably bigger while jigging a small rattlebait, turned out to be my first white perch of the year.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwhiteperch031522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="450" height="350" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philwhiteperch031522.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br /><p>I was on the phone with my son Ari who currently lives out of town, and being the only one of my boys that enjoys ice fishing, we shared the moment on speaker phone. Guess that would be the next best thing with him not being there.</p><p>Next fish from the same hole was a decent pumpkinseed sunfish.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/pumpkinseed031522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="500" height="254" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/pumpkinseed031522.jpg" width="272" /></a></div><br /><p>Next hole I drilled paid off as well, landed my biggest bass of the season (so far). The big bass hit a W3 Rapala Jigging Rap.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass031522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="450" height="331" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass031522.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><br /><p>Too big for my liking to keep for the table, I prefer to release bigger fish in good condition.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/bassrelease031522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="550" height="227" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/bassrelease031522.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><br /><p>Bite slowed down after that, only a few more smaller perch landed throughout the rest of the day.</p><p>Enjoyed a nice sunset on the drive home.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/sunset031522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="550" height="237" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/sunset031522.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><br /><p>This may have been my last ice outing, if weather is warm enough, I hope to hit open water on my float tube for a shot at pike, bass, bowfin and crappie before the season closes on April 1st. </p><p>Stay tuned...</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638057204126621755.post-45347785422852619062022-03-12T16:17:00.009-08:002022-03-12T18:35:07.523-08:00Fishing South Florida in March<p>An unplanned to South Florida just came along with short notice. To those of you on my mailing list, or those that follow my social media, you'll know that the trip was based around me joining the 305 marathon as part of the run for Yitzi team. Again, many thanks to those of you that stepped up to help my cause, thank God, the campaign goal was reach within a few days, and we went well beyond our goal, with extra cash donations coming in as well.</p><p>In my book, it would be a sin, possibly even a crime, for me to visit Florida without fishing. As well, I now have my daughter and her growing family living in North Miami beach. Accordingly, I planned a 7 day trip around the marathon, with evenings reserved for family time, and daytime during the week all being dedicated to fishing, being that everyone else was at work or school.</p><p>For the first time ever, I opted to try my hand at freshwater fishing in Florida, and instead of hiring guides, I just set a few goals before leaving, and scouted a few potential shore fishing spots online. I did also book one full day on Biscayne Bay for some saltwater action with one of the best guides, but more on that later... </p><p>I purchased a Florida freshwater fishing license before going, brought along a reel, some lures and end tackle, and planned to get a rod at Basspro to leave down there at my daughter's house for future visits. My goals for the trip were to attempt to catch 3 freshwater species, namely largemouth bass, peacock bass, and invasive snakeheads. All freshwater fishing was planned on various canals in South Florida, that had both parking options, and access to lots of fishable water on foot.</p><p>After landing at Fort Lauderdale International airport, my daughter drove to pick me up along with my grand daughter. One the way home, we were joined by my son in law, and we met up at Basspro to get myself a rod. I opted for a 6 foot medium light Ugly stik gx2, with paired nicely with my Penn Pursuit 30 series spinning reel. Here's a shot of my grand daughter Shaina getting her first glimpse at the Basspro fish tank, with a sizeable redfish making it's appearance for the pic.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/shaynabasspro030322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="550" height="263" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/shaynabasspro030322.jpg" width="350" /></a></div><br /><p>Day 1 - Friday March 4th:</p><p>Got out for a few hours onto the Royal Glades canal in North Miami beach. Not having any car at my disposal yet, this canal is a convenient 5 minute walk for where I was staying. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/royalgladescanal0322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="550" height="282" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/royalgladescanal0322.jpg" width="376" /></a></div><br /><p>Shoreline trails lined with joggers, people walking, few on bikes, tons of birds species, and an infestation of iguanas.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/iguana0322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="550" height="240" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/iguana0322.jpg" width="350" /></a></div><br /><p>I immediately started seeing a mix of cichlids along the shore, mixed in with some very small peacock bass. Having seen some largemouth bass in the canal in December, I knew that 2 of my target species for the trip will next door to where I was staying. Now, the challenge was to see if I would be able to catch any.</p><p>Unfortunately, winds were gusting at 50 k/m per hours, which made any hope for finesse topwater fishing, obsolete. I did manage a hit from a good 12-13 inch peacock bass at a Mepps #3 spinner, but it didn't get hooked. Later on, while burning a buzzbait at high speed, another half hearted hit from a small largemouth bass, but again no hookup. I made my way over to the other side of the canal, where I was a bit more sheltered from the wind. Surprisingly, I managed to get follows from 2 baby tarpons, and 3 small jacks. No hookups, but good to know that there are saltwater species in the canal as well.</p><p>All in all, and informative outing despite not hooking any fish in 3 hours of fishing. I did manage to spot the biggest largemouth bass I had ever seen, I'm quite sure it was over 10 lbs. Only had 2 shots at it, but she wasn't playing along with my plans.</p><p>After and enjoyable Shabbat with the family fueled by good drink, I joined the marathon early Sunday morning. Again, not having any training, I opted for the easier 5k option. Pics can be viewed online at: </p><p><a href="https://marathonphotos.live/Event/Sports%2FMPUS%2F2022%2F305%20Half%20Marathon%20and%205K/5125" target="_blank">https://marathonphotos.live/Event/Sports%2FMPUS%2F2022%2F305%20Half%20Marathon%20and%205K/5125</a><br /></p><p>Day 2 for fishing:</p><p>Monday's weather still had persisting high windS, though gusts were down to about 40 km/h. Having rented a car the previous night, I made my way North West, planning to fish the c14 canal in Tamarac, as well as Big Cypress creek in the everglades at Coral springs. Both waterways were confirmed to contain largemouth bass and snakeheads, and I was hoping to land at least one of each species.</p><p>I started off fishing 2 spots on the c14 canal. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/veteranspark0322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="400" height="351" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/veteranspark0322.jpg" width="233" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/c14canal0322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="550" height="245" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/c14canal0322.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><br /><p>Unfortunately, nothing biting in the high winds, but did manage to SEE a bunch of protected burrowing owls all over the place.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/burrowingowl0322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="400" height="332" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/burrowingowl0322.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><br /><p>Also spotted this big cool looking bird eating a huge beetle or caterpillar. I believe it may be called anhinga.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/anhinga0322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="500" height="329" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/anhinga0322.jpg" width="292" /></a></div><br /><p>Eventually, after not getting any bites, I made my way to a small canal where I had spotted some spawning peacock bass during a trip to the area in December 2021. All I managed was to spot a small grass carp in the 6-7 lbs range. Wasn't going to bother with it, so I made my was West to the Sawgrass trailhead. This is a park on the border of the everglades that runs along hwy 75 , aka "alligator alley". </p><p>I was warned by one of the locals to be very weary of spooking alligators on the bank, being that most of the shore is line with 4-5 foot tall grass. Last thing I'd want was to startle a gator, copperhead, or rattlesnake, while trekking alone in the swamp.</p><p>I got to the park around 1 PM.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/sawgrasstrailhead0307222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="400" height="398" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/sawgrasstrailhead0307222.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/sawgrasstrailhead0307221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="349" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/sawgrasstrailhead0307221.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br /><p>I believe the canal is named Big Cypress cReek, thought I'm not 100% sure, as there weren't any signs up. Regardless, I again began throwing a variety of lures, and eventually, my Berkely Choppo topwater lure paid off with my first largemouth bass of the day, and first target species acquired.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0307221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="337" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0307221.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><br /><p>Sticking with the Choppo, I started getting chased by many small gar. I believe they were Florida gar, or perhaps spotted gar, which are very similar. Regardless, they were all quite small, extremely aggressive, and very tough to hook. Eventually, I hooked into a small snakehead, a good 15 - 16 inches or so in length. Not having any landing net, I wasn't able to heave it up onto the shore, as I was about 4 feet above the water level, which was quite low for the canal. My heart sank as I saw it spit the hook and swim off, but I was happy to have had a decent fight, and hopeful of getting another one.</p><p>Working my way down the canal, I started seeing less and less activity. After a couple hours and few Kilometers fished, I made my way back to where most of the action occurred. Sure enough, the fishing was much better as evening rolled in, starting off with another largemouth bass.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0307222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="569" data-original-width="400" height="365" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0307222.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><br /><p>After getting an explosion from a huge snakehead and another follow from it, I ended up teasing a gar ENOUGH into biting, and then followed up with a second one as well.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philfloridagar030722.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="400" height="311" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philfloridagar030722.jpg" width="233" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Not exactly the new species I was looking for, but more than welcome...<div><br /></div><div>While I didn't manage to hook any more fish after that, I spotted a huge tarpon sunning itself along the shore just as I came up on it. It must have measured 6+ feet, and likely weighed well over 100 lbs, possibly 150 lbs. I wouldn't have stood a chance on my light freshwater gear, but cast at it hopefully a couple time just because. </div><div><br /></div><div>Shortly after that, I spotted my first alligator of the day. Luckily it was cruising around a good 120 feet away from me across the canal.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/alligator030722.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="500" height="303" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/alligator030722.jpg" width="278" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div>That was the end of my outing, headED back South with new plans for the following day.</div><div><br /></div><div>Day 3:</div><div><br /></div><div>Another sunny day with brutal winds, I started off fishing the Royal Glades canal again. Nothing doing for an hour or so, I decided to try some saltwater fishing off the pier at Pompano beach. Having seen a ton of snook and caught a few filefish off the pier in December, I was hopeful. Unfortunately, I learned that those fish were seasonal, and the hot bite at the pier now were pompano. Not having the proper rigs or bait for them, I simply baited up some squid hoping for the best. While some of the locals hooked a few pompano fishing 5 hooks per line baited with sand fleas over heavy pyramid sinker, a couple people manage jack crevalles using fresh bait caught off the pier. </div><div><br /></div><div>I manage to catch one of the baitfish they were using.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/pierbaitfish030822.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="505" data-original-width="400" height="314" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/pierbaitfish030822.jpg" width="249" /></a></div><br /><div>It eventually died on the line while I waited for a hit, and I ended up feeding it to one of the many pelicans hanging around the pier.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/pelican030822.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="550" height="191" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/pelican030822.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><br /><div>Also spotted a Portuguese man o war or perhaps some sort of jellyfish swimming to shore next to the pier. Luckily, not many swimmers in the water with the high wind and waves, just a couple surfers.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jellyfish030822.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="500" height="232" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/jellyfish030822.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><br /><div>After a good 3 hours or so fishing the pier without much to show for, I headed back South to North Miami beach, to spend the rest of the afternoon back at the Royal Glades canal. With the high winds, I decided to go unconventional, and throw a big HJ14 Rapala Husky Jerk. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sure enough, I landed this decent largemouth bass on my first cast!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="500" height="335" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308221.jpg" width="297" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="562" data-original-width="400" height="421" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308222.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>A good 2.5 + lbs, possibly close to 3 lbs. Turned out to be the biggest bass of 4 bass through the afternoon, they surprisingly got smaller with every catch.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308223.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="450" height="369" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308223.jpg" width="305" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308224.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="400" height="407" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308224.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308225.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="350" height="441" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbass0308225.jpg" width="293" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Eventually, my grand daughter Shaina joined me for a few pics, and her first attempt at handling a rod.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philshainafishing0308221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="600" height="262" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philshainafishing0308221.jpg" width="313" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philshainafishing0308222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="500" height="349" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philshainafishing0308222.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Perfect way to end my day, really looking forward to teaching her the ropes as she gets older.</div><div><br /></div><div>Day 4:</div><div><br /></div><div>This was my big day planned on Biscayne bay. I hired Captain Carl Ball, who runs<a href="https://www.awolfishingguide.com/" target="_blank"> Awol fishing guide service.</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>Having fished Biscayne bay in December with some less experienced family members, I was looking forward to fishing alone with Carl. Plan was to target tarpons, bonefish and permit, none of which I had ever caught before. Using a variety of tactics, with his favorite being sight fishing, I was curious to see how the day would turn out.</div><div><br /></div><div>Captain Carl suggest we start with tarpons, which are in high season this time of the year. Unfortunately, he'd been having a tough time finding good concentrations of them. We did find a school of tarpons under a bridge, and threw a variety of slow rolled swim baits at them, as well as live crabs. I managed one hookup, but unfortunately it came of within seconds after a couple powerful head shakes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Next item on the menu was sight fishing for tarpons. Poling around in shallow water, Carl has the ability to spot tarpons when all the seems like are dark blobs in the distance. While I've done quite well casting topwater lures into tight cover on calm evening, sight casting very light swimbaits on heavy tackle in strong wind was simply too much for me. Out of a good 12-15 fish we spotted, I only managed to present a few good casts, resulting in 1 or 2 follows, but no hits. All the other tarpons spooked.</div><div><br /></div><div>Carl tried his best to correct my method, but with the lack of more opportunities from the scarce tarpons, he eventually decided to go for bonefish. The experience was quite humbling, but luckily for me, I wasn't hellbent on getting a tarpon...</div><div><br /></div><div>Next spot we tried was a shallow flat, famous for it's bonefish. We fished cut shrimps on bottom, and within minutes, I landed a small puffer fish, followed by a bonnethead shark.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbonnetshark0309221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="600" height="197" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbonnetshark0309221.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbonnetshark0309222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="600" height="253" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbonnetshark0309222.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Decent fight on light tackle. Wondered how much stronger the famed bonefish would be. Sure enough, within a few minutes, I managed to land my first ever bonefish. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbonefish030922.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="600" height="216" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbonefish030922.jpg" width="302" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbonefish0309222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbonefish0309222.jpg" width="304" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>First target species of the day acquired. Fight per pound was stronger than the bonnethead shark, with the initial rund being insane for a fish that small. However, I'd say the shark had more stamina.</div><div><br /></div><div>You'd think we'd stick around with the bite being hot, but Captain Carl is unconventional to say the least. He suggested we sight fish for bigger and stronger permit, using live crabs behind small bobbers. </div><div><br /></div><div>He wasn't spotting much permits, and then out of nowhere, he point out a school of fish. Instinctively, I cast right at the school much to his chagrin. Just when he thought I'd have spooked the, one of the fish grabbed my line and tore off on one of the craziest initial runs I ever got from a fish in that size class.</div><div><br /></div><div>Turns out that I had hooked into a decent sized Jack Crevalle, renowned for their speed and power. Sure enough, I tightened the drag a bit and settled in for what turned out be be one of my better light tackle battles in salt water. Eventually manage to tire the big jack, and Carl hoisted the decent 20 pounder on board for some quick pics.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philjackcrevalle0309221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="600" height="262" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philjackcrevalle0309221.jpg" width="307" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philjackcrevalle0309222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="600" height="255" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philjackcrevalle0309222.jpg" width="304" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Once released, we went searching for more permit. We didn't managed to see any more, but the variety of other species swimming around us, was astounding. When I mentioned that I was just as happy trying for some of those, Carl handed my a rod rigged with a pink top dog topwater lure.</div><div><br /></div><div>As I worked the walk the dog action lure at high speed, we started getting chased by blacktip sharks. After a few missed hits, I eventually hooked into a shark that exploded on my topwater lure. Unfortunately, it came off within 30 seconds or so after a few blisteringly quick jumps during the initial run. </div><div><br /></div><div>After catching a small bluefish, I landed a blue runner.</div><div> </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbluerunner030922.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="553" data-original-width="550" height="292" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbluerunner030922.jpg" width="290" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div>I suggested to Carl that we use it as bait for sharks. Carl obliged, and started working on a shark rig, as it wasn't part of our original plan. While he did that, I managed to land a colorful yellow jack.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philyellowjack030922.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="600" height="254" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philyellowjack030922.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Once the blue runner was cut up for bait and rigged under a bobber, it didn't take long for the sharks swimming downstream in the incoming tide to start circling. For anglers like my self that enjoy soaking bait for big predators, the shear anticipation of what is inevitably about to happen, was getting me pumped. Sure enough, one of the sharks made a high speed run at my line, grabbed the bait and made a strong run up into the tide. It then turned, ran straight at us, all while making somersaults at high speed.</div><div><br /></div><div>I can't really describe the quick chaos, but the shark ended up wrapping in the leader, straightening out, bending open the big circle hook, thereby breaking free.</div><div><br /></div><div>Second shark lost, but with more bait and many sharks in the vicinity, we weren't giving up that quick. Baiting up another chunk of blue runner, didn't take long for the next shark to hit. This one didn't jump much, and I had it under control after a few powerful runs.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philblacktipshark0309221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="600" height="301" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philblacktipshark0309221.jpg" width="302" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Nice, in-water, boatside release too.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philblacktipshark0309222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="600" height="190" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philblacktipshark0309222.jpg" width="292" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>That ended the outing, 8 hours goes by real quick when you're having that much fun.</div><div><br /></div><div>I must add, that Carl is outstanding fisherman, and one of the better guides I've had the pleasure to fish with. His drill sergeant like manner when it comes to shouting instructions, were coming from a good place. They were constructive attempts to correct whatever observations he had as to my technique flaws. His tremendous knowledge of saltwater species and Biscayne bay, his eagle eye vision able to spot and identify target species from hundreds of feet away, are things that need to be experienced first hand. Though he tends to project his preferences for sight fishing or fly fishing for tarpon, bonefish and permit, with a little convincing, he'll put you on some crazy saltwater multi species fishing, using all sorts of techniques, if you so choose.</div><div><br /></div><div>Check out his web site at: <a href="https://www.awolfishingguide.com/" target="_blank">https://www.awolfishingguide.com/</a>, Please be sure to give him my best regards if you do ever end up on his boat.</div><div><br /></div><div>Note: The "Run for Yitzi" shirt I was wearing, was what we were given for the marathon a few days earlier. Being made of breathable, sweat wicking material, I figured it would work well out on a hot day with temps reaching to 90F.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/thermometer030922.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="400" height="158" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/thermometer030922.jpg" width="263" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>It also put things a bit into perspective, thinking of a childhood buddy that I probably fished with as a teen, who is now virtually imprisoned in his body to to severe ALS. Everyday of good health is a blessing, and again, having the ability both physically and monetarily, to be able to fish as much as I do, are all gifts from God.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbiscaynebay030922.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="550" height="187" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philbiscaynebay030922.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Day 5:</div><div><br /></div><div>This was my last day of the trip. With my flight home scheduled for the evening, I took a few hours to shore fish the Royal Glades canal again, hoping for one last shot at landing one of the peacock bass that had eluded me up to this point so far.</div><div><br /></div><div>Armed with the HJ14 husky jerk, I managed another small largemouth bass that popped off at the shore. Shortly after, I finally raised a very nice peacock bass using the same lure, Probably a good 15-16 inch fish, it circle my lure around shore a few times, before swimming off without a hit. Not much more I could have done to get the peacock to hit, I had it's attention for a good 20 seconds or so. It was the biggest peacock bass I spotted all week.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once I finished working my way down the shore with the husky jerk, I tied on a Mepps #4 spoons, just one size larger than the #3 that got hit by a peacock bass on the first day out. About halfway back to my starting point, at the final hour, I finally hooked and landed my first peacock bass!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass031022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="450" height="328" src="http://freshwaterphil.com/images/philpeacockbass031022.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>Nothing big, maybe 10 inches or so, but the yet another target species acquired, and a fairy tale ending to my South Florida fishing adventure.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now that I have a rod there, and being that my license is valid for 12 months, I hope to get back after some of these freshwater species, armed with more experience than last trip. Hopefully, the work I did will pay off bigger and better next time around.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Freshwater Philhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05214539605710658200noreply@blogger.com0