Way north bass guy

Found the mother lode of sunfish with the kid today, we both had a ball catching them. Sometimes it’s nice to go back to your fishing roots, it’s not always about a 25lb bag of bass.

I also never use a snell knot, and I don’t lose very many fish. I think some of the things we see online have been pounded into everyone’s head for so long that it’s now “ the only way it can be done”. I’ve tried just about every technique out there and sometimes it seems if you keep it simple, you’ll do just as well as if you use what everyone else thinks is the only way to do it. But if your confidence with a snell is great, I say go for it, it just doesn’t doesn’t improve my experience enough to worry about.

Chinook. Nice eater size and a good fighter too.

Maybe it’s a new side imaging skag!?

When your trolling for salmon and it’s a bit of a slow spell, might as well dig into a good book.

Took the kid out for a few hours trolling on the bay this evening, I literally just set the first rod in the holder and this guy smashed it. Got one other small laker that we released, this guy will go on the bbq tomorrow.

I can hardly play the stereo, never mind a guitar, but my wife can play darn near anything that makes music. Her entire family plays at least one or two instruments. The one in the middle is a Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean from the 60s, she’s been offered huge $$ for it, but it came from her dad so it’s not going anywhere.

In the middle of January when it’s -30 and there’s 3’ of snow on the ground, this is the only sight I’ll be thinking about.

Like Sam said, it’s abkut having confidence in it. I’ve been a huge fan of all things Berkley power bait for years, pretty much all the plastics I have are some sort of Berkley product ( and I have a few tubs worth ?). Obviously the unscented baits work as well, but if the scent even helps catch one more fish every trip, that’s all the confidence I need.

Up here in central Ontario, I’ve been seeing anywhere from 75 to about 80, which is about the warmest it usually gets here in the summer. 91 would be an extreme for very shallow or small lakes around here.

They’re defenitely trying to steal the others meal, that’s when you need your parnter to have a spinning rod with a tube or senko or something like that to drop under the boat as soon as possible, quite often you’ll get the second fish ( with a pretty violent strike I might add), and it’s often a larger one as well. Works pretty good in tournaments, especially when fishing smallies.

Looks to me like it was an injury when the fish was younger, perhaps a pike or turtle tried to grab it, or it could be a split from being in an old crappy nylon net.

After a week of super hot, humid temps, we finally got some relief. Of course the cold front came the night before I was taking the day off to fish. Tried some frogs, crankbaits and faster stuff for an hour in the morning but it wasn’t happening, so out came the pitching rods. Water was still very warm, and the fish were in the thick pads but suspended right under them. Was more of a reaction bite rather than feeding, as almost every fish bit as soon as the lure touched down. It was a real test of both boat control in the heavy north winds, and making sure I was paying attention at all times to not miss any hits. All fish came on a Berkley max scent creature hawg or General with a 3/8 or 1/2oz tungsten sinker and Trokar flippin book. It was a good day to have the Talon, without it I would’ve only caught maybe half the fish I did, just because I could lock down and pick apart every hole and point or irregularities in the pads. Managed about 12 bass and a couple small pike, not too bad for the conditions and the fact this was a fairly pressured lake that’s not well known for largemouth, of course the two big ones shook off right at the boat, both were over 4lbs, but I still managed a few nice fat ones. Average size Another

The view from my “office” this morning. Overlooking the open part of Georgian Bay from the Parry Sound area. And yes, it’s stupid hot up here right now as well ?.

Wife went to Scotland with a couple friends for ten days, it’s only been two days so far, and this guy really misses his mom ☹️.

A-Jay has the right idea for sure. I use jerkbaits behind inline planer boards for lake trout as soon as the ice goes out in spring, and we always catch huge smallies that are just coming shallow. Ive never trolled specifically for bass but im sure if you used a planer board, you could work baits over shoals and points etc and keep the boat off the structure so you don't spook them. Works great for spooky lakers in gin clear water.

Even without the quick release brackets, it only takes a second to remove it. I have a 12' on my boat and all you need is a 9/16 wrench and just loosen them a couple turns and lift it out of the bracket. I installed mine with a plug for the wiring, just like a trolling motor, that way, if im downrigging or parking the boat in a low garage it only takes a second to pop it off.

Living in Ontario, we have quite a few amazing fisheries that could easily make the top 100 list, but I’m with you on this. Kinda glad we don’t get much mention on there, some of the best waters can be changed a lot once the word gets out about great fishing.

I’ve seen muskies hit pretty good sized water snakes up here on Georgian Bay. I’m with A-Jay, gonna need some wire in front of that one next spring maybe ?.

I built these stone signposts a few weeks ago as a donation for a piece of property my sons school bought next to them. They put in a large trail and outdoor learning spaces for the kids so they can have more time to experience the outdoors, the project was kind of a memorial to a young boy that died a few years ago while playing in the forest with his parents. Rather than contribute money to the cause, as a fourth generation stonemason, my wife thought it’d be a good idea for me to do this instead. The neat thing for me is that all the stones used came from a large fireplace/chimney that my grandfather built over 60 years ago. I tore it down and salvaged about 10 tons of stone so it’s pretty cool to use the very same stones my grandfather shaped so long ago, and as he was a hardcore outdoorsman, I’m sure he’d really appreciate this gesture towards the cause.

After walking through the deer woods for several hours starting at daybreak, I find just the right spot to sit down and have lunch usually near a pond or beaver dam somewhere. Being a mostly solo hunter, on a huge tract of public land that no one else hunts, when your several miles off the road and there’s nothing at all to hear but the sounds of the November forest, that’s peace.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen guys ask the marshal to move to the other side when fighting a fish as well, I don’t see where this is a big deal compared to actually getting out of the boat to help ( which also shouldn’t be a punishable offence if it means the difference between getting back to the ramp or spending the night on a sandbar).

Our opener was today (finally), got a late start due to the weather, but hit the water about 9:00. Fished for about 4 hours, caught over 25 and lost another dozen or so. No big ones today but still a lot of action, almost all were on a topwater frog so it was pretty exciting. A great start to the season with my main fishing partner. Average size today. This made me laugh, anyone in a canoe better keep away from these beavers!

Our bass season opens this Saturday, I just spent about 2 hours rigging up rods, all ready to go for some brown and green guys ( finally!).

I picked up a Berkley series one rod last year, heavy action, I believe it’s about 7’3”. Super nice action, light weight rod for pitching. I’ve had a number of Berkley rods over the years and enjoyed them all. Still have a couple 7’ Hank Parker series lightning rods in the mix, great rods for burning heavy spinnerbaits for Great Lakes smallies.