steverowbotham

Well folks, thus far its been a pretty good season, I've gotta say. With the baby due in just over a month, I better get in as much fishing as I can, now. As usual, the season started off ice fishing some lakers, followed by steelhead, pike and now bass... finally! The first half has come to an end, and this is what I've got to show. I cant wait for the adventures that the second half brings and to watch my new fishing partner come into this world. Look out fish!

Got out with my dad for what will probably be the last pike trip of the season, as bass season opens up before my next day off work. Got a whole whack of fish, but only 2 really worth sharing. Got mine on a Shallow Believer on a deep tree over 17 feet of water, dad got his on an Imperium Ace on a shallower stretch on the same shoreline.

You're absolutely right... This was on Tuesday

Hey everyone, I live about an hour from Toronto and though bass are my passion, our season doesnt open until the end of June, so I always look forward to pike to fill the void from May-June. I've had a tough, but rewarding season so far, landing many fish over the 40 inch mark, including my new PB at 47 inches. Hot baits this year for me have been the Imperium Ace worked quickly through the shallow bays, a jerkbait in the deeper, more open water and a big swimbait on the deeper shorelines. Here's a bunch of my better fish so far this season. Enjoy.

Thanks guys, video now included

I got a good amount of video footage this season too, and I will be doing up a highlight video shortly.

I guess its about that time. The nights are freezing, the days are freezing. It's sadly about time for me to put the sticks away and maybe think about charging the flasher. Okay, maybe not quite, but I am certainly at the end of the road for my 2013 fishing season and I can't wait to review it. From start to finish, this was a fantastic season for me. I had some really tough streaks, some really hot streaks and that, ultimately, is what fishing is all about. It's what keeps me coming back. I caught some big fish, I caught some small fish and I had fun every step of the way. I lost small fish, I lost big fish and it only added to the experience. Recently, as many may have noticed, I havent spent much time doing tournaments outside of our club. There are a good number of reasons including budget that have prevented me from doing them, but most of all, I have really been enjoying fishing. I like the availability of going anywhere, anytime and fishing for anything. When the time is right, I will continue to fish more tournaments, but for now, I am enjoying the "freedom". Ice fishing season this year was a good one. As stated, we had some really tough days and some really good ones. A few days with over 20 lakers iced and a few with 0. Thats the way it goes. I spent a lot of time in the 110 foot range this year, and as shallow as 40 by the end of the season and managed to put a lot of good fish on the ice. One interesting note, even though I do not target them, I never landed a single whitefish this year. Not one. Weird. Ended the season off chasing slab perch at last ice. What a blast! Next up was crappie season, it was a short one, as I only got out a few times, but managed fish every time. Micro tubes under a float produced well for us this spring targeting fish in emergent vegetation. Steelhead season arrived and I actually went a few times this year, both east and north. No really special stories there. Caught a good number of fish on a mix of roe, beads and flies. Spring pike was up next, and as many of you know, it is a favourite for me. I booked a week off work to head north and chase gators. This season was by far the best I've had for giant pike, we fished 4 different lakes over 2 weeks and were able to boat big fish in every one. Fish were pretty awkward to pattern as they were in different stages on each lake, but once you learn their spring habits and routine, a pattern can be made and you will be able to find them. Our top producers were the Imperium Baits Ace, Imperium prototype grub and a Salmo Slider, fish in water as shallow as 3 feet to as deep as 35 feet. Early bass season in the Kawarthas was awesome this year, and I was mostly focused on bass from there on out. I spent a lot of time pitching this season, and the results showed, as I earned my 3rd Barrie Bassmasters AOY title. All in all, a great year, I also got addicted to musky fishing, a little late in the year, but next season, I'll be putting some time in! The biggest highlight of my year, was not even the AOY title. It was my fiancee, Kelli's 5th place showing in the second week of the Salmon Derby with a 32.74lbs tank.... her first time downrigging! Lots of fun! Thanks for reading, see you on the ice!

I've hooked myself one time and it was back when I was 16 years old. I went to a local river to do some salmon fishing during their fall migration. I was throwing a Canadian Wiggler plug into the deeper pools and I managed to hook a fish on my first cast. I didnt have a net with me and I beached the fish on the bank, maybe a 12 pounder. When I went to grab the hook (no pliers), the fish thrashed and put the hook right into my palm and continued to thrash. Eventually the hook ripped free and it was messy. Being 16, I patched it up and kept fishing haha. I still have a 2.5 inch long scar on my palm from that day. Sometimes I feel like I should have left and got stitches, sometimes though, I enjoy the battle wounds.

I hate estimating because pictures never do justice. Watch the video to get a real idea of the size. I put 7 fish in the boat over 40 inches last week. This fish I figure was around 42 inches. But the girth is what made it so special and you cant see the girth in the pics, but the video shows it. Fish had to have been 20+ lbs. This fish below, I weighed last week at 17lbs 2oz and my new PB that I'm guessing on, dwarfed it, just on girth alone.

As an avid angler, it is rare to go out and see something that genuinely surprises me. Every day of fishing has highs and lows, but after around 100 days a year on the water chasing multi species adventures, the highs never seem as high. Don't get me wrong, fish get my adrenaline pumping. The day that changes, is the day I quit fishing, and I forecast a long fishing future. I just fail to gain the overwhelming excitement that I used to. Luckily, it doesnt take much to change that. Yesterday was that day. Over the past week and a half, I have been lucky enough to spend time on 4 different bodies of water targeting water wolves, big gators. So yesterday, I got off work around 8am and decided to rock over to one of the better lakes I had launched on previously. Armed with a devastating lineup of Imperium soft plastics, we went to work. Initially we started off deep with no sniffs. So we moved shallow. We saw some fish but they were very inactive and unwilling to play. Made another move to a mid range spot. Fairly shallow water with some really deep water nearby. We found the honey hole. Tons of fish around, almost all good size and these fish wanted to play a little more. They werent super aggressive, and we did have to finesse them, but they were willing. Ace's fished on ballheads and weightless did most of the damage, and when the going was tough, I switched to a fat 4 inch grub that Imperium will be bringing out in the near future. That twister tail fired them up when nothing else would. In the end, I landed my biggest pike to date. I wanted her back in the water after photos, and didnt get a measurement or weight, but I know she was big. She also showed me her lunch and why she got so big! Check out the video to get a true perspective on her size.

Here's a video with some nice footage from my opener

It's different for everyone, it really comes down to a confidence thing. For me, I have 4 baits that I turn to early season (although our season doesnt open until the last Saturday in June). A craw (Imperium Minotauro or Chigger craw), a stick bait (Imperium Impact Stick), a tube (Imperium Prodigy) or a soft jerk shad (Imperium Ace)

For me I prefer a soft craw simply for hook penetration and flapping action. I'm a big fan of the Minotauro Craw by Imperium Baits

Some of the fish are just beat up from the spawn still.

I had a week's vacation starting on the long weekend and I decided that I would spend a good amount of it chasing slime! My plan was to split my time between two favourite bodies of water and that's exactly what I did. The water was chilly this year at just 49F when I first launched the boat on Saturday, though over the 4 days spent up there, I did find some water as high as 64F. I had some good water from the previous years spent up there, but I wanted to find some new water as well. Opening day, I wanted to catch fish, so I hit my usual spots with Kelli and we managed some good fish in the boat. Each other day, I spent some time on new areas of the lake looking for good water. I threw a swimbait to cover water, but once I got into good zones, I switched to the new ACE by Imperium Baits to turn followers into strikers. Over the 4 days, we put 7 fish over 40 inches in the boat and a good number of high 30's also. Great week spent! I'm back to work tomorrow night and hope to make a few more trips in the coming weeks! Enjoy the photos

Not sure on individual weights, I weighed a grocery bag with the 15 I brought home and it was a hair under 14 lbs

Well I decided to call it quits until the softwater after my last day of laker fishing, but this hard stuff didnt seem to be going anywhere, so I had to make one last trip out. The prospect of a perch fry was enticing, so a couple buddies and I headed out to a late season perch spot and made the march out. We're targetting sand/rock transitions getting closer to their spawning bays now. We set up along the ridge, I was the shallowest at 19 feet and they set up in 23 and 32 feet. I started off with a small jigging rap to look for some aggressive fish, and though the showed interest, they wouldnt commit to it. Switched to a pan slammer and knocked off a couple of decent dinner fish, but still wasnt getting the reactions I was looking for. When you're targetting these jumbo perch, they dont school in the same way that the little guys do. A lot of them are solitary or swim in small groups of 2-4 fish. A lot of moving is neccessary for success, or you can opt to be patient and wait for them. We moved around a bunch until we found a more consistent area in 18 feet. There was still a lot of blank screen but when the fish came through, they were the right ones. With the high sun and picky fish, I dropped down to 2lbs fluoro and a pan slammer on a 1/16 oz jighead. They needed enticing, but I managed to ice a good number of solid fish and I should be good for a couple meals while I wait for some open water crappie!!

For me a 14" is a big crappie. They always get the blood flowing

I'd say it all depends on the body of water you're fishing. Some lakes, I find smallies and largies doing a lot of the same things, but most lakes they can be vastly different. Smallies, I usually look for in clearer, deeper water with hard bottom transitions and some current if possible, even if only caused by wind. Largies, can be anywhere from 8 inches to 30 feet depending on the body of water, but cover is the key. Weather it be good thick weeds, trees, roadbeds, docks ... they need cover.

Well folks, I cracked the hull of my boat at the beginning of last month and finally have her up and running again. Still got out quite a bit and have been on some good smallies this season. Still no absolute dukers this season, but that season hasnt even hit yet. Can't wait for fall!!! Most of the fish so far have come in the 8-15 foot range, dropshotting X-Zone Slammers. Enjoy the pics! A 20.30 pound bag in forst tourney of the season, unfortunately had 2 croak in the heat but my neighbour made quick work of them! A fun day out with a friend! Winning bag for first clubbie of the season! My new "home" lake, 5 mins up the road! Slobs! Lots more to come as the prime season is fast approaching!

Hey everyone, today is moving day as I keep creeping north to the small town of Elmvale. The trucks are packed for load number 1 and the wife is still sound asleep, so I'll write up about June before I pack this thing away. May saw some slab crappies and slob pike, but June is always my favourite month! BASS OPENER! Before bass opener, I still had 3+ weeks to kill. Back up to Muskoka I went to chase down some big gators again. We had a few successful outings, but with the move coming up, I didnt get out as much as I would have liked, and took until bass opener to pack and prepare for the move. Our pike success came targeting deep breaking shorelines close to spawning bays, the more undeveloped, the better. We caught them on a variety of baits but once again, the X-Zone Mega Swammer accounted for the vast majority of our fish. My buddy Darryl was able to land his new PB pike as well! Then came bass opener, my favourite. I didnt enter the Casey Cup this year, so I took the opportunity to join a Junior Bassmasters mentor tournament. I had two members of the barrie junior bassmasters join me on the boat for a 5 hour tournament. We had a blast catching smallies on crankbaits, topwaters and swammers. Unfortunately, I knocked the switch for my back livewell recirculation and had 2 fish die in the heat without the recirc running. That 1 lb penalty knocked us down from 20.30lbs to 19.30lbs, but it was still enough for first place and we all had a blast. Later that afternoon, since the tournament ended early, I had a friend meet me up at Simcoe. We went out and fished some new water for a few hours and got into some gooduns. Wouldnt be my go-to spots, but good ones to know in the future. Wednesday we had our first club tournament of the year on Simcoe, and what a tough day it was. The wind was howling and the water in my zones had dropped all the way to 58F. I had to make some switches but still managed some quality bites and was able to pull out another win, plus big fish at 5.80lbs. Great start to the season, can't wait to get settled in Elmvale and get July started!