Haliburton Bass

On a Fall trip to the Haliburton Highlands in search of smallmouth this big pike was caught while dropshotting for bass sitting right on bottom. All the big deepwater smallies I have caught have bulldogged down deep and were reluctant to come to the surface. This pike which was at least a 10 pounder, had me convinced I had finally hooked up with a trophy smallmouth. I did get some big bass but they were of this variety........

Fishing was good and the Fall colours were spectacular. I will definitely be going back next season.

Smallmouth vs Largemouth

Floating the River In My Pontoon

Although in the same family these two members of the sunfish family are distinctively different. Length of the lower jaw and dorsal fin differences aside the two fish just look different, Smallies are brownish in colouration while largemouth are green in colouration. "Bronzeback" is a common name for smallmouth and the largemouth is oftened referred to as the "green bass". The largemouth above was caught in one of my favourite eddies on a local smallmouth river. The smallie on my plywood standing platform was caught while fishing a spot on the Rideau System where I normally catch only largemouth. These situations can often occur, but generally, smallies prefer rocky habitat, (Crayfish hide in those rocks!) whereas the largemouth likes the weeds and lily pads. (Frogs like to sun themselves on the pads and the largies lie in wait.)

The smallmouth also likes to dine on the four legged amphibians and largemouth share a liking for crayfish. Where the two species of bass co-exist you can often catch one type of bass in the other's preferred habitat.

Smallmouth bass are masters of camoflauge and will take on the colouration of their surroundings. Fish in tea stained waters will be true "bronzebacks" while Southern Ontario river bass tend to be olive coloured taking on the same hue as the river bottom.

My pontoon float partner and I have very different stles of fishing. He likes to anchor and stands on his seat to cast. I usually leave my "standing board" at home when I'm on the river as I use fins to help control my drift. I can slip out of the seat in water that's not to deep and wade to fish a good looking spot thoroughly.

Earlier this year I caught my first musky on this river. On this last trip, my friend observed several follows from toothy critters and managed to land a 10 pound pike. In a pontoon you are seated up fairly high, but the perspective he has while standing gives him an edge with the toothy critters who have a reputation for following lures right to the boat. Last time out with my friend, I used my flyrod most of the day. He caught all his fish baitcasting and spinning so on this outing I left the fly gear at home and did well on the regular gear. That blue Rapala crank accounted for all my fish on that float. When we return were going to toss some musky baits to see what happens.

Passing the Torch

My little grandaughter who has never fished before came out with me recently. I got down my old canoe from the rafters. I had been saving it for fishing with the grandkids and that time has come. After going through some timing issues on the release of her cast my darling grandaughter got it dialled in and was casting spinnerbaits and buzzbaits right into the pencil reeds. As the day progressed she was even casting Rapalas into the pockets in the reeds. I enjoyed myself immensely just teaching her how to fish. She handled her own weed removal and tip top tangles with almost total independence. Even though no fish were boated she kept telling me how much fun she was having. I was having a blast being her guide and discovered that old canoe when rowed is just as fast as my kayaks. Most of my grandaughter's casting was done standing near the bow. Quite the fishing craft! It's not going back in the rafters yet!

Combat Fishing

I kearned a long time ago that big fish like to hide where nobody will fish for them.
One of the ponds I fish has an inflow from another pond down at the far end where nobody goes because the water is shallow and covered in most areas by extensive "weed mat".

I'm about the only one who ventures deep into this heavily weeded area. When fishing this area from my float tube I have noticed a lot of light coloured circles on the bottom with no weed growth. This usually means there is a spring in that area. Sure enough as I kick into the weeds heading for one of the circles. I feel cooler water. I discovered that there are several springs in the weedy area. Cooler water and cover from the weedmat plus lots of minnows foraging the weeds make it a natural spot for big trout to hang out. The culvert offers shade and flowing water and makes for a perfect ambush station to snap up those forage fish that are constantly cruising by.

It's a bit of a challenge to quietly work through the weeds to get in range for a cast and present a fly to the culvert. The cast has to be perfect as there is pretty much the width of the culvert that is clear and the rest of the area is weed.

Well the Lord was with me. I made the perfect cast and plopped the beadhead right in front of the inflow and set the hook on the ensuing swirl. I never even felt a strike. After some interesting moments with the fish trying to wrap me in weeds, I brought this beautiful male rainbow to hand and snapped a couple of pics before releasing him back to his chosen environment. Made my day! Gotta love fly fishing!

This is the third big fish I've taken from the culvert.

Natives In Stocked Rainbow Ponds

This season I have caught a few really nice sized wild brookies from the ponds at my trout club. The club hasn't stocked anything but rainbows since the 70's so these fish are a pleasant unexpected bonus. Ironically two of the "specks" I have caught at the club were bigger than any I caught on my wilderness trip to Kwagama Lodge last spring.

First Musky

With bass season finally here. I got together with a friend to kayak fish my favourite smallmouth river. I gathered all my bass flies and got my six weight with a floating line and an extra spool lined with a "Streamer Express" line. When I got up at 4 a.m. it was pretty windy so I replaced the 6 weight with a 9 weight floater and an 8 weight fast sinker. Well even those weights were no match for the strong winds which pushed us back upriver as we tried to drift down. Fishing was tough under those windy conditions and all we had to show near the end of our float was a small smallmouth that my friend caught almost in sight of the takeout. I had missed one fish that struck right beside the yak and I was headed for a no fish day. However, I stopped flailing with the flyrod and started tossing a Storm "HotnTot" with my baitcaster. Just before the takeout my first ever musky nailed the lure and after an exciting battle, I brought him to the net. Thank the Lord that I had remembered my pliers. The fish slimed me pretty well but didn't do any damage. The debarbed hooks came free and I was able to get the fish back in the water to fight another day. This fish definitely made my day. Now I want to get one on the flyrod.

Bead Chain Bugger Scores at Dusk

After kayakfishing the local reservoir where I took a back seat to the fishing prowess of my friend, Peter, I decided to stop by my trout club on the way home. I wanted to fish the evening rise from shore. This magnificent brook trout took a wooly bugger with big bead chain eyes cast on my intermediate "camo" fly line. It was the last cast before calling it a day. What a fish! Thank You, Lord.

LOVING COUPLE

I came across these two while finning along the shore of one of my favourite stillwater trout ponds. Fishing has changed dramatically as a lot of yearling rainbows were stocked. They seem to beat the big rainbows to the fly. They are fast and energetic and give a good account of themselves. Last year I caught a lot of big rainbows and I am used to fishing big streamers. These little guys just nip the tails on my big flies and are frustratingly hard to hook. Whereas some of last years big boys made me start fishing my 8 weight flyrod, these energetic 12-14 inchers have got me thinking 3 weight with normal nymphs and wet flies.

I have hooked a couple of the big guys but two of them escaped by straightening my hook and the other one broke my leader at the fluoro to mono connecting knot. I have had a lot of problems with fluoro/mono connections and usually avoid them when I can.

This was my first outing in a while as it has rained a lot this May. Yesterday was pretty decent weather wise and today was insanely hot. I'm glad I chose yesterday rather than today.

BIG FLIES/BIG FISH

I got a couple of friends of mine to consider upsizing their flyrod offerings. The results are self evident. Now I have to show them that although the fish like "wooly buggers" there are lots of other effective streamers to try.