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.

Fishing With My Boys On The Rideau

I guess it's every dad's dream to spend time doing what he loves with his children. Thanks to the kindness of my wife's cousins, my boys and I have been able to spend time together fishing on the Rideau. The cousins have a place just north of Kingston and they have graciously offered us the use of it for a while the past two summers. My older boy is a very serious university student and has many years of study behind him and still ahead. He really appreciates the chance to unwind and fish alongside his younger brother and his dad. We catch a few bass and a few pike but we really have a blast fishing for bluegills and crappies from the kayaks and float tubes.

I really enjoy watching my sons catch fish and supplying them with my hand tied jigs. They are impressed at how well they can catch fish with dad's " fur and feather stuff"


There was even a new personal best bluegill for Dad on our visit in July of this year.

Solo Kayak/Camping /Fishing Trip

I was all set to go out with a fellow yakfisher and had my Tarpon on the car and all my gear packed when my friend suddenly had to cancel. Since I was ready I decided to go to another lake closer to home where I have soloed in the past. This lake has big smallmouth in it but the shoreline is swampy almost every where. There is only one good place to camp. I set up right at the water's edge. Kayak paddled a little easier with the two coolers on shore. It's rather amazing to find this one grassy piece of solid ground in a place where the shore line is a boggy mess of Labrador Brush and drowned cedar trees. Anyway this would be my bed and breakfast for this excursion.


I was able to pitch my tent right at the water's edge and my kayak slid right up on the grass in front of it. One of the most convenient pitches I've ever made. I was able to organize a nice cooking area with some logs and an old piece of plywood. After cooking lunch I inflated my backpackable float tube by mouth. It rolls up small enough to lash onto the bow of the yak. Got my flyrod and a couple of boxes of flies and kicked around in the tube for a couple of hours with nothing to show for it except a couple of rock bass.

The day was too windy for the flyrod and the float tube so I explored a bit with my spinning rod in the kayak. After a couple of hours of casting practice I paddled back to camp and pulled up the yak for the night. After supper when the winds had subsided I planned to go out in the tube again and cast surface poppers with the flyrod. It took quite a while for the wind to die down and the results of my efforts with the flyrod were again a couple of rock bass. I decided to call it a night and get up at dawn.

In the early light of morning I made coffee and enjoyed a breakfast of bacon and eggs. I'm a surviving heart patient who underwent quintuple bypass 10 years ago so I hardly ever eat bacon anymore. Boy was it good!
With little to show for my efforts with the flyrod and the spinning rod I decided to give my baitcaster a workout. That proved to be a wise choice as you can see below.

That is a big net and that is one of the biggest smallies I've ever caught. It was just shy of 23" long and with the girth I estimate this fish was easily 6 pounds. It fought hard for quite a while and went on several reel screaming runs. Tried to throw the hooks on a couple of spectacular leaps but for once, I was able to land the big one. With bass I usually just "lip" them but too many fish lost at the last minute have made me wise and I now carry a net for the big ones.

The fish took a white "lipless" crankbait trolled slowly from the kayak. So as you can see although I love to catch my fish with flies I am definitely not a purist and will try a number of different presentations before admitting defeat. Twice now I have camped on this lake and almost been "skunked" but both times I caught a very significant fish to save the trip. Last years fish was almost a clone of this one and it too was caught on a crankbait. Unfortunately I had "stowed" the camera as I was on my way out. That fish took on the "proverbial last cast". It's picture is permanently etched in my mind and the "last cast" aspect will help me remember it for a long time.

River Smallmouth From the Pontoon

Last outing was for river smallmouth, floating and fishing from my pontoon boat. I took along the whole arsenal. Baitcaster, ultra-lite spinning and of course the flyrod with a zillion flies. I even added some nice new crayfish patterns that I had tied up the night before. As things go I started out with a jig and twistertail and the fish wouldn't let me put it down. I missed a huge bass on a Zoom Fluke with the baitcaster. With results like this the flyrod didn't get exercised the way it should have. My buddy was doing okay with his flyrod crayfish but he wasn't hitting fish the way I was on the jig. So to make a long story short. I had my small tackle box full of Rapalas, cranks and spinnerbaits, a big carry bag of plastics and my usual arsenal of flies. I got all my fish on that one jig and twistertail. I keep telling myself that one of these days I'm going to go minimalist and fish out of my shirt pockets but it hasn't happened yet. You never know when you might need something that wouldn't fit in the shirt pocket.
Here's the first fish to grace my new landing net.

Yarn Flies

I enjoy fishing streamer type flies. For several years now I have incorporated various craft store yarns in my tying. They have been very effective. Some of the poorest quality "Dollar Store" yarns have great mobility in the water. Try it you might like it!

Personal Best Crappie

Got this "binder-sized" crappie on a tiny chartreuse and white jig fished with an indicator on my 5 weight flyrod. Bluegill and crappie are a blast on the fly. So too are their beautifully coloured cousins, the pumpkinseeds. These panfish give a good account of themselves on a light rod. (3 weight is even better) I'm hoping my next post will include lots of panfish caught on my upcoming trip to the Rideau River north of Kingston, Ontario.