Way north bass guy

Wasn’t too bad other than the stink. We got about 19lbs of smallmouth, good enough to get in the money that day.

I’ve hit deer, but not with the boat on. Years ago I was heading to a tournament about 4 in the morning, and managed to hit a skunk with the left side truck and trailer wheels. Managed to get some “skunk juice” all along the side of the boat too ?. Good lord did that ever stink! Didn’t realize the smell at all until we got to the ramp to launch, sure didn’t have to worry about anyone else fishing too close to us in that tournament.

I haven’t fished it in over 15 years, but used to fish tournaments all through the kawarthas. Smallies we’re often out deeper on any rock or sand areas, and the best largemouth we’re often caught by us fishing docks and/or shallow, thick slop weeds. Jigs, Texas rigs and punching were the best for largemouth, and smallmouth often hit crankbaits, spinnerbaits or tubes dragged in the deeper areas.

One of my favourite local places to go is “the bay” as we call it. Better known as Georgian Bay, and more specifically the area known as the 30 000 islands region. Not so much of a secret spot as much as that there’s so darn many “spots”. Between all the islands, and countless other underwater shoals, I could fish this place every day for the rest of my life and not likely hit the same spot twice. It’s pretty easy to find a “spot”, that will be pretty close to a secret, mostly because everyone else has a billion of their own just like it all up and down the entire eastern shore of the bay.

Came across this guy sunning himself on the driveway coming out from work yesterday. Massasauga rattler, the only venomous snake we have around here. Got a cool video of his rattle really buzzing. About the only place we ever see them around here is along the shore or on islands of Georgian Bay.

Got out for a couple hours after work tonight. Hammered about 30 of these guys, most on a popper, and a few on a Tokyo rigged Maxscent creature hawg.

Pretty decent show in my back yard tonight.

With a ridiculously busy work schedule this year, and moving to a new house in June, I’ve had almost no time to get out for a proper bass fish this year. I finally got out first thing this morning, headed out to the big water of eastern Georgian Bay, where I’ve had some pretty good success with the smallmouth the last few years. First area of the day was a new area to me, a group of offshore shoals and islands that are surrounded by deep, open water. Found a few that absolutely hammered my spinnerbait burned across some shoals, and boy did I need to feel that! I then found one shoal about the size of a house, that topped off at about 10’ deep and dropped off the one side to very deep water ( basically the open part of Georgian Bay). On pretty much every cast along the side of this shoal, for a good half hour or more, I caught bass after bass, and they were all pretty much the exact same size, right about 4lbs. Such a great fight on a long drop shot rod and 6lb line. After a while, the wind picked up to the point where it was getting hard to hold the boat in position, and the school finally seemed to shut down the bite, so I headed to some other spots and caught a few more in the 3-4lb range. Got off the water right before noon, just before the ramp gets loony. I sure needed a day like this, and hopefully I can find the time to get out again for more soon.

It’s not prime big lake real estate, but I own the land on both sides of this river in these pics. Just spent an hour walking around it and caught a couple small bass on a frog. Couldn’t ask for a better place to have a bit of quiet time after a long days work. Country life. I plan to watch the sun go down over this barn for the rest of my days.

When I fished tournaments with my partner, we had a 17’ triton. We almost always fished together in the front deck. Never had an issue. I find if we’re closer together, there’s less chance of hooking someone in a back cast. We just always knew how to sidearm or cast at different times so we didn’t hook each other or each others rods. Same with my son and I when we’re out. I’d rather have him up beside me than at the back of the boat flailing a rod around right at my eye level.

Pretty much the only time I don’t have a jerkbait rod in the boat is when the lake is froze over and the boat is hibernating. I’ve caught everything on them, from big lake trout right as the ice goes in spring, to big bass and pike right up until it freezes over in fall. On some lakes, they are my number one bait to start with, even in the heat of summer. There’s no wrong time or place to throw it, with the exception of super thick weeds ( and frozen lakes, can’t forget that ?). Fish don’t need to be suspending at all, I’ve caught them over hundreds of feet of water, but also in 12” of water around docks and weed edges. Just go ahead and give them a try, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what you find.

As a fourth generation stonemason, I’ve worked on quite a few properties over the years where my dad, grandfather and great grandfather have done stonework in the past. I got this pic the other day from a contractor I do a lot of work for. It’s a fireplace that my grandfather built 60 years ago. Definitely one of a kind. It’s round, with four openings at North, South, East and West. Apparently it works quite well and doesn’t smoke at all, which is pretty impressive considering the amount of openings it has. I’ve built many double sided fireplaces before, but never any more than that.

We had one that was the same. I had one room in our last house that I used to store all my rods on the wall in holders. If I didn’t cut the line and reel it into the reel, he’d come through there like a machete and bite off every single line right above the reel. Finally I just moved them out to the garage, cause it was a pain to have to retie all the time.

He’s not dead, but he sure does play the part of a dead cat well.

With work being ridiculously busy, as well as moving to our now house last month, I haven’t had time to even think about getting out on the boat for a fish. Today I finally got out with the kid for a while. We headed out on Georgian Bay to try some downrigging for salmon/trout. Got this guy right off the bat, then lost a big rainbow right at the net. After that it slowed down a bit so we headed in towards the shoals closer to shore, and I caught a bunch of smallmouth while the kid snorkelled around the boat watching them hit my drop shot. Sure was nice to finally get out on the water again.

I’ve done that too, on steel roofs. They’re no fun to work on, I need it to be dry to fix the chimneys ( usually why I’m up on the roof), but that means the sun is out and they’re basically one big sloped frying pan. And if by chance they are a bit wet, then you basically have a big slip and slide that ends abruptly, and often quite a bit off the ground ?.

Took the boat out today, and at one point I noticed a bit of water on the rear deck. I hit the bilge switch, and all it did was pump more water onto the deck ( that is not what the bilge pump is supposed to do ?). Once I got back on the trailer, I had a closer look under the back compartment, and found that a temporary passenger decided to have a snack on some boat parts. The little bugger chewed right through the speedo tube, which made it pump water into the boat while underway. On top of that, he chewed right through the bilge hose, effectively making it completely useless. To top it all off, he chewed off some of the cover for the main wiring harness, luckily it did factually chew any wires, so I was able to fix that up fairly easily. I don’t need the speedo, as I use the gps speed on the Helix, so I just removed the line from the outboard completely, and I was able to Mcguyver the bilge hose back together so we’re back in business. I’ve never had mice issues in this boat, but a couple weeks ago I parked it at my brothers for a week just to get it out of the way while we moved to our new house. I’m pretty sure that’s where the damage was done. Dodged a pretty big bullet, but it still is amazing how much damage one of those little buggers can do in such a short time.

Didn’t get fishing today, but I did get out with the kid for our first paddle on our new river. Saw some nice largemouth in the weeds, a big doe sleeping alongside the river, and checked out a 120 year old family gravesite that’s about 50’ over the other side of our property line on the other side of the river.

Love a good taco salad. We always use ranch on ours.

They are in my opinion just as good as the flatworm for a drop shot. In fact, I only use those two baits now, and it’s just about a 50/50 split for which one gets dropped down to the big Georgian Bay smallies on any outing.

I can’t say much about the 50hp, but my 140hp Suzuki is the best motor I’ve ever run, and I’ve run many different brands over the years. Trust me, if you get that boat, you’ll be one happy camper ( actually fisherman ?).

I haven’t been on here much the last little bit. Been extremely busy at work and with our move. We just moved into our new place two days ago and it’s been a whirlwind of things to do. It’s all worth it though, as my wife, son and I couldn’t be more happy with where we are now. Here’s my view from the back deck every evening, and there’s a good sized river on our property just behind the barn and willows ( someday when I get a chance I’ll head down there with the kid and a couple rods to see what we can find).

I’m working on an island right now that’s about 100yds from the landing where I park my truck. Been using my 12’ tinny to get back and forth to work every day. This morning as I’m trolling over to the job, I see something swimming towards me from the island, thought it was a snake till it got closer. Turns out it was a red squirrel, just absolutely giving it all he had to get to shore. This is in a shallow back bay of a lake that has monster size pike in it. I stopped the boat to watch and see if he made it, thought for sure there’d be a pike under that boathouse just waiting to hammer him when he got close, but I guess it was his lucky day as he made it safe and sound.

As a stonemason, I’ve come across a few little “treasures” buried inside old fireplaces and chimneys I’ve torn apart over the years. Nothing of any real value, but it’s still neat to see. My great grandfather used to smoke a pipe, and I’ve rebuilt a few chimneys that he built many years ago. I can always tell if he laid the bricks on them because about every 4 rows or so there’s a match in the mortar joint where he relit his pipe.

With the weather, a crazy busy work schedule, and in the middle of selling and buying a new house, we haven’t had much time this year to get out for a float. Finally got out this morning with the kid for a pike fish. In three hours we caught ten pike, saw at least that many more that followed and didn’t hit, and a few out of season bass. No monsters today, but it sure was nice to get the string stretched.