Flipping the pads for giants!

August 24th, 2008

I was on a local lake today with my girlfriend hoping she would finally catch her fish largemouth. We had a light SW wind again and water temperature was about 74 in most places. We went directly to a spot where I've caught quality largemouth before and I told her where to cast but I think the lack of clouds and the direct sunlight made them very hard to target. We tried the frog and got few attacks but couldn't get one in the boat as usual.... I figured we should've been looking for shade and as soon as we found some the action started right away. My friend Marc came to meet me on the water and he caught a bass that I had missed twice this month right in my face!!! I knew that fish was big when I missed it and when he landed it I was more then happy for him!! He nearly lost it in his trolling motor but he finally managed to bring it in the boat. I continued to fish this spot and hooked one just a bit bigger about 5 minutes later. Those largemouths were 18.5" and 19" but they were FAT. I didn't weigh them but I'm pretty sure they would've been very close to 5lbs. We took a few pictures and back in the water they went! My girlfriend was a bit disappointed she didn't catch her first largemouth but the season is still young and they'll be many other occasion to catch one.

Deep water Smallies - Part 2

August 23rd, 2008

I was fishing with Dave today for some smallmouth action on one of my favorite lakes. We had a very light SW wind and water temp were surprisingly warmer then usual for this lake. We started in the morning by casting moving baits around an island hoping to catch some early active smallmouth but ended up catching a 2lbs largemouth instead. We decided to try another area where my friend had seen giant smallmouth before and it paid off right away. We got a few hit on the frogs but didn't hook one (those damn frogs.. ). We moved just a bit and fished close to a river and we saw SO MANY smallmouths I thought I was hallucinating.... Small ones and huge ones all together on a sand bank in about 15-20 feet of water. We drifted over them with tubes and gobees but we were only catching small ones of about 2-2.5lbs. We were catching most of our fish in 20 to 40 feet of water. I am taking my uncle fishing next week and we'll definitely be trying this spot again but I'll rig a few drop shot rods this time and try to tempt those finicky smallies!

Largemouth First timers!

August 22nd, 2008

I was on the lake with Jack Friday evening on his new boat hoping to catch his first largemouth. The weather was very promising, we had a cloudy sky with a little wind and I had a good feeling he was going to catch his first largemouth. I wanted to try a nearby spot for smallmouth before we headed for my largemouth spot but the boat traffic was completely insane and it was too dangerous to stay there so we packed up and headed for largemouth.
I was throwing a frog hoping to get a top water bite but I only got a few unsuccesful attacks.... Jack missed a few bites with the worm before we decided to try another spot. It was getting dark but I we couldn't leave before he caught his first largemouth and this spot had never disappointed me in the past so we stuck around and he finally got one in! It wasn't real big but it was a largemouth nonetheless! All in all we had a lot of fun and I got to see a Humminbird 997 in action! By far the best Sonar/GPS I've seen!

Bass Boat Extreme!

We went directly for largemouth today with my friend Marc-André considering the success we had the day before. It was a bit more cloudy then yesterday with even stronger wind from the SW again. Water temperature was a bit warmer where we fished so I had a good feeling.... we had all the ingredients for a great day. I hooked and lost (AGAIN) a big largemouth on my 3rd cast of the day..... I really thought I had her on my flipping jig but she wrapped her self in lily pads and managed to get off. I had my tension set real tight and I'm flipping with 50lbs power pro line.... This fish could of easily been 5lbs but I guess we'll never know! We tried a nearby area that produced a 3lbs bass almost immediately. I think I might have found my favorite flipping jig... I've been catching largemouth consistently with this jig and had several others following it to the boat.

We tried another spot where Marc caught a near 6lbs bass the day before but we got almost nothing.... Marc got the only bass out of a patch of pads but that was it.... I missed one on the jig. I think the were really tight on cover and with the intense wind we had a hard time getting to them. I tried a spinner bait to see if I could at least catch a few active fish but the result was the same...

The wind was blowing pretty hard on us at this point so we decided to try a nearby area where the wind wouldn't be as bad. The ride there was completely nuts! We were going full speed in 3-4 footers with his new boat! The wind was in our favor for some nice smallmouth drifting but we only caught small ones doing so. We stayed there a bit and caught plenty of tiny fish but nothing worth taking pictures... In all it was a tough day and we didn't really catch any quality fish but it's always a blast fishing on a bass boat.

Oups!

Our local tournament was cancelled today but we decided to see if we would've had a good day anyways...

Water temperature dropped a little with all the cool nights we had recently but it's still about 72-73 in most places we went. We had a good 10-12 km/h SW wind today and we should've taken advantage of it a bit more. We started a little later then we should've and the smallmouth weren't active at all so we decided to go for largemouth instead. The first area paid off immediatly as I hooked into a giant but I lost it in the pads.... I decided to try another stretch of lily pads that looked promising and it paid off right away as I hooked a nice 3lbs + largemouth on a flipping jig. I had caro tossing a frog but she didn't get one hit.... After a while we decided to give the smallmouths another shot. We tried an area where had success in the past but we only caught small ones. I was on the way to the dock but I decided to stop by a spot where we always catch a big one in the evening and it was the right choice. I hooked and lost what was going to be my biggest bass of the season. I thought I was hung up in weeds but I saw my line move all of a sudden and I set the hook at the same time she jumped and pull my wacky worm right out of her mouth. She had to be close to 6lbs.... it was a true giant! You learn from your mistake I guess.... never again!!

Top water action!

I was out on the water this afternoon with my friends Marc-André and Félix. We had a nice quiet evening to try out my friend's new bassboat! It's now official..... Fiberglass or nothing! It is so much more stable then my aluminum boat it's not even funny... so i'm on the market for a new boat!

We almost had no wind most of the time we were on the water but a light NO wind showed up just before we left. Water temperature is still 73 in most places and apparently it's warm enough for top water action! We started by fishing a point in deep water and we only caught small ones, Felix even got a perfect eating size walleye which he kept for diner. Since we weren't catching what we were looking for I decided to try a nearby area for some shallow feeding smallmouth and it paid off. It took about 5 minutes before we started to catch them... Considering the light wind and the approaching storm I decided to try a pop'R. It took about 10 casts before a small one decided she couldn't resist. Not long after I was catching a good 2.5lbs+ the same way. In all, we caught about 10 smallies and I broke a rod but I got to fish in a bassboat! I have a feeling this boat is going to see lots of action for the rest of the season and probably some monster fall smallies!

Deep water smallies!

I took a "little" break from fishing because of a bad case of food poisoning... but I am back in shape now and if the weather lets me, I will be on the water almost everyday!

I was on the lake today with my dad and Caro hoping to find more spots for the upcoming local tourney. We tried fishing a point that looked very promising but ended up catching only small ones... I knew there was a good largemouth spot nearby so I decided to give it a try but with the lack of wind and intense sun it made things complicated, let alone the fact that there was about a million boats on the water... We had a light W wind and water temp was still about the same as usual. After having no success at catching largemouth we decided to head back for that point before going home and it ended up being the right choice! Caro hooked a nice smallmouth about an once shy of 3lbs and missed 2 more and my dad caught a tiny one at the same time. I missed 2 decent sized smallmouth trying new lures... I let my dad and Caro use the lure of choice today which was again... the tube today! Different color though!

Sonar 101

I was out on the water today with Crash and Caro for a little practice. We decided to participate in a local bass tournament held by a tackle store nearby in about 2 weeks. They are expecting about 50 teams so the competition should be interesting.

I bought an expensive sonar 2 years ago and I mainly use it for depts and water temperature but today I thought I would try to locate deep water bass with it and it worked! After reading up on sonars quite a bit over the last few days I decided to put it to the test. Water temperature today was around 75 in most places and we had a light N wind. The first spot wasn't a success but we were looking on the sonar for a hard bottom more then actual fish. Using the sonar again for the 2nd spot we found a nice underwater structure in 17 feet of water. I caught a small bass with a tube on the first cast and Caro lost one that bent her rod in half! We stayed there for another 10 minutes and Caro caught a small walleye that was a bit too small to keep. Seeing as we were now getting a stronger W wind and I had a feeling they were starting to feed I decided to try shallower water with a rocky bottom that was receiving the wind. It didn't take 3 cast with my worm before I hooked a nice smallmouth of almost 3lbs. She jumped higher then any other smallmouth before and a few times too!

We fished for another 15 mins and then we headed home since a small storm was coming our way. No pictures today... I decided the bass would have to be at least 3lbs to be on this blog! We should be back on the water tomorrow for more tournament practice!

Numbers > Size

August 3rd, 2008

Guess what? Rain again!
My brother Raph and I decided to try the same lake today but we went for a different area. After 6 casts, we already had 2 bass in the boat but they were only smalls ones so we continued casting hoping the size would eventually get better.

We had a light W wind and it made drifting a little harder then usual. The water is still around the same temrature at 73-74. Worms and Tubes got most of the fish in the boat today.... we must of caught at least 15 bass but we weren't able to find the big mamas.. I'm going to have to find a way to adapt my fishing when the weather is like this!!

I lost a pike and Raph caught a respectable sized walleye which we should've kept for supper instead of releasing.. Overall we had a good day but I hope this weather gets better so I can have more time on the water. A storm seemed to be coming our way and we didn't want to take any chances to so we headed back home a little earlier then expected.. No fish worthy pictures today!

Damn weather!

August 2nd, 2008

The weather this summer is awfull!! Nearly everytime I was on the water it rained... I don't mind wind... but rain gets annoying.

I went for a quick 3 hour trip today with my good friend Mat and Mr Crash. We were on the water a little pass noon just before a semi storm. Water was a bit warmer today as it almost reached 77. We had light wind from NO that kept switching with intense gusts that probably reached 50km/h at one point! We caught a few fish with the biggest being a good 18" but it gave me one HELL of a fight.. I don't know if it was the storm approaching but this fish didn't want to come in the boat!! We lost a few and decided it was time to go home because of this DAMN WEATHER! I should be on the water again tomorrow for more smallies!!