I am finally settled in my new home in Alberta.

I snuck out for a 4hrs today for some Lakers and managed to go 12 for 14 biggest 8lbs 5oz!

What a day in 25′c heat, no clouds and no wind.  Doesn’t get any better then that!

I fished with Justin Hoffman for one last time this season before I make the big move out west in a week.

We fished one of his favourite Eastern Ontario Lakes fighting against 33km/h gusting winds and an approaching storm.

It was a great day out on the water landing 28 fish and one over 4lbs.  You can read all about it on his blog.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you just sit back and say to yourself “man… do I ever love my life!”  Well right now I am having one of those moments.

I had a week of work dedicated to go out and inspect my new house for my upcoming move to Alberta.  It was a long day of traveling taking two flights and then a 3hr rental car drive over to my new future home in Alberta.  Tuesday morning I wake up at 5am MT naturally, as I was still in EST mode, to go for a run,  After that I overheard some people in the hotel talking fishin… I am all ears! I chatted with this guy named Scott for 20mins all about the fishing in the area and got an invite to go out the next day.  Excited, I realized I still had a lot of things to do but I said I’ll make it happen.  I managed to book all my appointments that day leaving the next wide open.

We get on the water for 0800 which is right around the peak morning bite time (0800-0930)… literally minutes into it.. FISH ON!  They kindly hand the rod off to me first.  Of course right away we are doubled up!!!

(note the fish landed in the background)

Maybe 2mins later… another fish on!  We give it to the youngest and he fights it like a champ:

..and they just kept coming, none stop action pretty much until 9:30 getting close to 15 fish.  The biggest was just over 11lbs:

We got out of the “zone” and were picking up fish here and there. The next peak time was 1430-1630.

At this point I was just taking it all in, hearing stories of their backgrounds and getting some good tips of fishing in the area.

The peak bite did happen and we moved to a hump which had fish on but they were small.  Regardless, we all got a keeper (limit is 1 per min 65cm).

We finished the day fishing 0800-1530 going 27 for 30.  Biggest over 11lbs. Average around 5lbs.

Here’s some more pics.. :

Back at the hotel we cleaned them up and I booked a kitchenette so I enjoyed some fresh Alberta style Lake Trout

I could get used to this

 

 

I finally got together again with one of my favourite fishing partners, freeland outdoor writer Justin Hoffman on a day of flipping the slop for largies.

Although he had some great days out pre-fishin the week prior, the winds changes directions and a minor front moved in slowing down the action. Still a great day out in the heat sneaking in a quick swim and ending the day with an ice cold beer.

Read on at his blog.

 

With the plan to fish the Lowe Memorial Tournament with Tony on Sunday, we wanted to get into some good numbers just to shake the cobwebs off and set the hook into some fish.. and to spend a long time doing it.

The plan was to fish a favourite Eastern Ontario lake of Tony’s which he always fishes on opening day.  It is one of those small lakers that tend to have bass that want to hit almost anything. 

On the water by 0730hrs we started throwing spooks, swimbaits, flipping, cranks, senkos.. and really whatever we wanted just to get back at it.  It didn’t take too long to get into some fish either as in the first few hours we were averaging 10 fish an hr.

The rest of the day (until 1800hrs) we spanked 60+ largies.  Most were around the 2lbers range making the total weight of over 100lbs of bass.

 

Tournament Day:

Although not having a pre-fish we were confident we had an idea of where the fish would be hanging out.

Luckily the low clouds cleared right after blast off.

We worked our butts off flipping, throwing cranks, senkos and only really got into a mid morning pattern.  A typical day on this lake for us is low numbers but high average.  Unfortunately we couldn’t find the bigguns and culled only 3 fish for a total weight over 14lbs plus we had a fish die in the last 30mins.

We were a little disappointed but then again we had zero pre-fish and it is a challenge up against 60 boats of which a lot were pounding the same areas.  But that’s tourny fishing and shows we certainly are no pros.

Two biggest of the day were 3.9 and 3.4

A managed to sneak out with my good friend Justin Hoffman for some pike and walleye on the Mississippi.

He wrote a great write up on how the trip went and you can check it out on his blog:

 

http://justinhoffmanoutdoors.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/a-day-on-the-mississippi/

 

 

I’ve decided I do not know any other sport where you stay up until midnight or later catching up with old friends, but still set the alarm for 0345hrs to be on the water before sunrise.  Only a few could understand this true passion.

Over the weekend I participated at the 4th annual Salmon Slammin’ Event in St. Catharines, Ontario.  Run by a group of buddies, we had 13 boats participate in the tournament.

This was my first outing this year on the big water and I was excited to get into some reel peel.  Not without a few fun games of poker beforehand catching up with some old friends.

Driving down to the launch early the next morning you wouldn’t even know we collectively had less then 8hrs of sleep as we were pumped to chase after some salmon.

Fishing by 0600hrs Our first fish came around 0900 hrs where I landed my personal best Chinook at 20lbs:

Our next fish came shortly after but then the next couple of hours were dead quiet.  Gavin was still feeling confident as he calls the hours of 1200-1300 POWER HOUR, as he finds a lot of spring salmon are caught during this time period.

He was right as down to the wire (we had quite the ride back and the weigh in was at 1400) we landed our limit and pulled the lines out for the long ride back.

Here is a shot of Tony’s last minute salmon next to mine from before:

We were feeling confident at the weigh in but considering the quality of anglers out there, we didn’t know how much of a chance we had.  Well except for Gavin, he had a good feeling….. and he was right as we finished first taking home the trophy and monetary prize!!

What an amazing day catching up with old friends and just experiencing some reel peel.  Can’t beat getting out on Lake Ontario when the water is flat and the sun is shining.

Part 2 chasing pike, smallies, largies and the odd walleye with Aaron Shirley and Ontario Out of Doors editor Lonnie King:

 

 

Is it spring yet?

Last year I had the privilege of fishing with Aaron Shirley at one of my favourite lakes chasing pike and bass.  It was two days of crazy hot temperatures which made the fishing a bit tough but it was just such an amazing experience and one that I will never forget.  Thanks Aaron!

Here is Part I fishing with Aaron Shirley from Surely Fishing TV, http://surelyfishing.com and Lonnie King, Walleye Editor from Ontario Out of Doors.

Enjoy:

I apologize for the limited posts as the last year has been busy with career training.  I am on my final 5 months of training until I get posted somewhere and can begin to settle in, fishing wise.

I hooked up with a buddy of mine and the goal was to get me on my first ever steelhead.  I have never targeted trout this way due to the limited tributaries. I am enjoying doing a 5 months course; however, close to some awesome waters!

We scouted out our first spot on the shores of Georgian Bay….  considering the conditions i started thinking maybe we are a little crazy.

I was able to try out different types of fishing though, trying float fishing for the first time… a little frustrating at first. But bottom bouncing with a baitcaster was a lot more manageable. Moving to our second spot, the conditions maintained its gusting winds and was just a bitter damp cold.  I’ve ice fished and skiied in -30 but this type of damp cold just goes right to the bones.  We were toughing it up though and stuck with bottom bouncing as you were able to keep the mitts on.

I really started thinking this is the craziest fishing I’ve done… winds from the W probably pushing 30km/h blowing right on you… breaking the shelf ice to make it more accessible.. I admit at first I wasn’t confident I would actually feel a fish with my frozen fingers, but after about two hours of drifts, Eric was a little down river working a drift and I feel a bounce that felt just a little different then the others…. and since hooksets were free I went for it and immediately said “FISH!!”

My first time fighting a steelhead on a long rod, it goes right under the shelf ice so it took a few minutes to get it out from under there when landing seemed it may be a challenge, Eric realized the water wasn’t too high (but still up to the waist) and help land it onto the ice.

Having taken my gloves off my fingers were ROCK hard but the adrenaline was keeping me warm.

Not a monster, a 5lbs male but I was just happy to land my first steelhead.  And took one picture with my camera, and it died from the cold.. then one pic on his.. and it died. That was a sign… lets get the heck out of the cold!

I bet if we were crazy to stick it out, the sun was starting the poke out and we figured the fish were moving in.. but the cold was too brutal to take and I’m here until June so there will be another day.

Mission, accomplished!