Way north bass guy

Just yesterday I was out in Georgian Bay with my son pike fishing. Bass season is not open here yet so we weren’t targeting them, but they’re always in the same areas we get pike in the spring. Any warm, dark bottom bay ( ours were about 50-53 deg yesterday), had smallmouth all over them. We also always run into big smallmouths anywhere a creek or river runs into the bays. Yesterday we caught about 15 smallmouths, most were between 4 and 5 lbs. It’s hard to keep your lure away from them sometimes while pike fishing, especially if it’s windy or the water is a bit stained and you can’t see them attack your lure. I will say, a Berkley Powerbait Powerbait Swimmer on an Owner ballhead jig slowly running along the shallows will get hammered just as hard by a smallmouth as a big pike.

Man, do I ever feel lucky to live where I do, especially after reading this. Where I am, we just for the first time this spring had our ramps officially open this Saturday, which also happens to be the first major long weekend of the year up here in Canada. I thought things might be a bit busy at the ramps, especially this year with everyone stuck indoors and not being able to use their boat yet this season, but I was at two different lakes ( one a good sized heavily populated cottage lake, and the other a major town on Georgian Bay). I saw two other trucks and trailers parked at the ramp Saturday, and about 5 trucks/trailers at the ramp this afternoon, and neither time was there actually another person anywhere near the ramp when we launched. And between both trips out, I could count on one hand the number of fishing boats we saw all day.

This winter I picked up several packs of Berkley powerbait power swimmers, as I was getting low on the strike king rage swimmers I’ve been using the last few years and needed some more. I’ve been a huge fan of all things Powerbait for years, son I thought I’d get these to test them out and see if I liked them as much as the rage swimmers. Well, I now have a new favourite swimbait for the season. This weekend, I was out on two different occasions for pike ( our bass season isn’t open yet so any we catch have to be immediately released, so no pics of them), and my son and I caught a bunch of pike, quite a few big smallmouths and even a few rainbow trout on them and I’m impressed. I was using the 4.3” size in Sungill colour, and my son had a 3.8” size in Tennessee Shad, we both had them threaded on Owner ball head jigs in 1/4 and 3/8 oz. I used the same bait all weekend on that rod, and I got 10 pike, at least 15 decent smallmouth and a rainbow all in that one bait, with barely even any tooth rash around the head end of the bait. They are VERY durable, didn’t even once have to adjust the bait on the jig ( I find the rage swimmers need to be adjusted often, as they start to slip off once you catch a fish or two on them), and the action in my opinion was almost exactly like the rage swimmers. There’s also the added advantage of Powerbait scent in them, which I believe may help, even if it means one more fish a day holds on to the bait just a hair longer for you to get a hookset in. If anyone’s looking for a good, durable boot tail swimbait, I’d definitely say these are worth a try.

Took the kid back out for a pike fish on Georgian Bay this afternoon. Luckily we were on the calm side of the bay today, cause it was pretty breezy. In 3 hours we managed 6 pike up to about 32” long, about 15 huge smallmouth up to 5lbs and a nice rainbow. The kid lost another rainbow about 6lbs or so that jumped like a rocket right beside the boat. You never know what your gonna catch on “the bay”.

I agree with this ^. Today was the first day I got to try the power swimmer on an Owner ball head jig, I caught a half dozen pike and probably about 10 bass up to 4 lbs on the same bait, and hardly even had any tooth rash on the plastic. I am VERY impressed with the durability and action of these baits, and I’ve been using rage swimmers for the last few years. Pretty sure this is gonna be my new #1 swimbait from here on out.

Our local ramps finally opened this morning,So I took the kid out for a pike fish. The water is still pretty cold, and no real monsters today, but we still got a 1/2 dozen pike and a bunch of big bass. Biggest pike was about 32” and biggest bass was about 4lbs or so.

Nothing like a big ole “W” to make you forget about an empty tank, good job fellas. And yes, I’ve been there too ( although not with a tournament win at the same time ?).

You just did all that so you could make the fish look bigger didn’t you ?

I used to have one exactly like that when I was a kid, but it was silver. Can’t remember if I ever caught anything on it, but it sure was a neat looking bait.

I live about a 20 min boat ride away from the exact spot where Ken O’Brien caught that fish, and have fished the same area before. There are some giants on Georgian Bay, and a LOT of water out there that gets zero fishing pressure. I also know of a few lakes around here where natural tigers are fairly common. I’ve caught about a dozen out of the one lake over the years, biggest is on my wall, a 41”er. They are one of the most beautifully coloured fresh water fish we have.

Around here, there’s some fantastic pike and musky fishing. When I used to fish tournaments, I won way more money in the spring fishing pike tournaments than for bass. I used to fish for musky a lot more seriously, but don’t get the chance to do it as much nowadays, but I do still get out quite a bit for pike, especially in the spring, and again later in the fall. When a big ole gator smashes your bait right at the boat, if that doesn’t get your heart moving, you better quit fishing.

Gonna break in that new smoker with that fish? ?

It’s super deep, down to over 300’. We do jig for them in the winter through the ice, as well as in summer if we’re not downrigging, but this time of year they are often super shallow due to the cold water temps that allow them to cruise wherever they want to. I find it’s easier to cover more water and I enjoy fighting them up shallow rather than deeper jigging, and the biggest ones always seem to be the shallowest right now.

Oh I know all about having fun ruining grass. Lived on a 124 acre farm and had dirt bikes from about 10 yrs old on. There were lots of spots where grass never had a chance to grow, ever, but we sure had fun, and didn’t get into much trouble either. If he did take a hard right, guess that’s one way to wash it off ?

Well, there goes all that nice grass ?

The last time I fished in the boat was late October, and with all the launches closed here due to the virus, I was starting to get a bit antsy ?. Well we finally got an open launch not too far from our house, so my son and I took advantage of the nice weather and away we went. Bass season doesn’t open here for quite a while yet, but we have some good lake trout fisheries. We spent about 3 hours flatline trolling with inline planner boards and jerkbaits. A KVD 300 shallow runner was all we needed, as it’s a perfect match for the smelt and herring the trout are eating. We managed to land 3 nice lakers, and 9 out of season smallies, that were quickly released. Couple of the bass were right at 5lbs, big prespawn females just coming up shallow to feed. Kept two smaller lakers for dinner. It was pretty breezy, and we had some good sized rollers to deal with coming back in, but man did it ever feel great to finally get out again after a way too long winter/virus layup.

Finally got to an open boat launch! Haven’t floated the boat since late October. Sure was a beauty day to start the season off with some nice lake trout and bass.

Went down to the lake by our house the other day to skip some rocks and check out whatever nature we could see. We took some “turbo charged rock skippers” with us though. If you get right down low, you can launch a rock that seems to just skip along forever this way ?.

Got home from work today and a nice box from Minnkota was sitting against the door. Finally got a tilt bracket for the Talon, now I don’t have to keep removing it to put it in the garage, and I can easily tilt it to give it a wash/lube every now and again. Only took about 30 min and some help from my ten year old to hold bolts while I tightened from the inside, and were all good to go.

Looking good. Are you installing padding on the front deck as well or just straight carpet?

You could also rig them on a ball head jig and run them like a jigworm in sparse weedbeds. Ripping jigworms through cabbage has caught a ton of bass for me over the years, and a craw like that would work well in that circumstance.

This is always such a varying subject with boaters. I will often pick a smaller lake to fish if it’s really blowing, but I also fish on Georgian Bay, on the east side, and our predominant winds are from the west, so you can imagine the water I’ve seen. I honestly have no issues at all with large waves/rollers, and have a ton of experience boating in them, but usually will not travel long distances in big waves just because of the extra pounding the equipment takes. That said, there’s been some fantastic days on “the bay”, catching salmon in rollers so large that when your in the bottom of the trough, all you can see is a bowl of water all around you. They are usually a good 40-50yds apart though, so they’re actually a fairly gentle swell, kind of like open ocean fishing. But I have also stood at the trolling motor casting for smallmouth in 4 footers, and it can make for a tiring day. Think “ bronco riding”, but much wetter ?. Oh yeah, I’m in a 19’ Smokercraft deep-v and used to run a Lund Pro-V 1900.

Got the boat out of winter storage at my shop about a month ago and brought it down to my house garage to get all set up for the “early” open water this spring. Well we’ve had all our public and marina launches closed here do to Covid for some time and looks like their gonna be that way till at least May 12 I believe. I’ve had plenty of time to stack a couple coats on the hull and motor. In 5 years since I bought this particular boat, it has never been so polished and shiny. Every time I go out into the garage to get something, I can’t help but run my hand along the side and feel the slickness if it! One day I’ll get some fish slime plastered all over it again ?.

Ah, the “joys” of spring in the North. At least we’re starting to get a splash of colour here and there.

I started out using the spin shot hooks, but found I was getting the dropper line tangled up in the swivel part of the hook quite a bit, especially when I was fighting a smallmouth. I changed to Gamakatsu Split shot/drop shot hooks, which don't have a swivel attached, and I’ve had almost no tangles at all now. They’re great hooks and I don’t lose many smallmouth, from little guys up to 6lbs, they hold well.