Well, it has been a few weeks since we last filed a fishing article, so before I leave for a few days of pre fishing up to Petawawa and the Ottawa River, I thought I would fill you in on all the great fishing that has been going on.
Lake Simcoe: As many Fish On Line Canada readers know, Lake Simcoe is very near and dear to me and I probably fish it twice as much as all the other lakes I fish combined. Our first Aurora Bassmasters club tournament of the year there was held out of Cooks Bay.
My gameplan was to head to the northwest section of the lake and try to get a limit of big smallmouth bass. I made it about as far as Innisfil when the 5- 6 foot rollers began to get on my nerves. Even though my trusty Nitro had been in worse conditions, I just couldn't justify the wear and tear on the boat and its two anglers. Even if I reached my destination ok, I had to admit that the northeast winds would offer zero respite from their intense fury; so, I headed back south reluctantly falling back to plan b - deepwater largemouth in Cooks Bay. After a few hours of fishing I only managed three relatively small largemouth - and only one came from somewhat deep water - 14' on a deep diving crankbait. With only a few minutes left, I raced for the east shore and fished a ledge that dropped off to 17 feet and managed to whack my first decent largemouth of the day - a beautiful 4 pounder on a crank. But as they say, it was too little, too late and was only able to manage four bass weighing 8.52 pounds. Cam Mitchell, the winner of our little event did much better and fished 12-14 feet of water with a whacky worm very slowly and weighed in an awesome20.15 lb bag of largemouth followed by Marc Coratti with 19.23 pounds of largemouth. Paul Bassi came close in third with just four bass weighing 17.21 lbs and ran the only boat that did make it north for smallies. He was much smarter than I however and went to the big two Islands on the east side of the lake - and fished the protected west shore of ‘one of them' … I think it was the one starting with a T … or was it a G - I forget! His non boater Vince Salese caught a gorgeous 5 pound smallie as well
This was the first tournament that would participate in the club's CFWIP project (see related press release) where bass would be tagged and released.
Wil with a couple of average size deep water
largemouth he caught crankin' during
the Simcoe tournament with a Rapala DT 16.
Lake Couchiching: This used to be one of my favorite lakes but up until last year, it was beginning to loose some of its luster. What changed is the way I fish it … namely instead of focusing primarily on the lake's more abundant smallmouth I have switched to more of a largemouth pattern. This paid off for us big time last year when Bassmania tournament partner Gerry Heels and I placed 3rd there catching big largies from deep weedlines. In pre fish this year, my intent was to do the same thing and located some nice largemouth relating to the lakes deepest weedlines. Come tournament day however we found the areas equally occupied by both largemouth and smallmouth - and to top it off they both came from Rapala Skitter Pops and Rapala DT 16's deep diving crankbaits - so top water in the morning and the deep divers to reach bottom in the afternoon. After catching several bass in the two pound range it was good to anchor our bag with a nice 4 pound smallmouth that came from a fire tiger pattern DT 16 that I was pounding on bottom in just 12 feet of water. This unconventional approach is a trick I sometime use in desperation when we really need a big fish in a hurry. With only 5 minutes left until weigh-in time, we were in just such a position. The big lip on this bait normally pulls it down to 16 feet or more and you can be sure it was pounding bottom big time in the 12 feet of water - getting any big ol bass mad as heck as the noisy in-your-face crank was swimming along. We didn't have a huge bag (13+ pounds) but did cash a cheque which is always nice.
Six Mile Lake: Lou Christakakos is a friend of mine who took the bass course I teach way back in the early 1990's and although we lost touch for a few years we met up again at "The Last Cull" - that TV Fishing Reality Show hosted by the Fishing Canada Crew a couple of years ago. That was quite an experience participating in that one of a kind extravaganza up on the rugged bass-rich waters of Lake Nipissing in North Bay. Lou also fished the recent amBASSadors Cup Tournament that I host for alumni and present day bass students - and placed 2nd. We planned to go out fishin' again in mid August to one of his favorite lakes - Six Mile near Port Severn. Seeing as how I had a tournament there the following weekend the fun outing would serve double duty. We fished areas that looked primarily like ideal largemouth waters - weed flats, docks, and some weed rock transition. At the end of the day however of the 20 or so bass that we caught and released - about half were smallmouth - proving once again that in these southern based Canadian Shield lakes where there is weed, a mixed bag of largies and smallies is the norm not the exception. We also couldn't stay away from the copious pike population in the lake and I even managed my first ever Six Mile Lake walleye - a nice 4.40 pounder that ran into my Rapala DT 10 crankbait.
Lou Showing the claws of the big crayfish his smallmouth bass just spat up.
Some anglers think only smallmouth prefer the delicious crayfish but largemouth
too find them hard to resist. This particular crayfish was a very bright orange
and Lou's crème colored Berkley Power Worm matched the hatch perfectly.
Lou with one of the many average sized Six Mile Lake Bass he caught that day
Lake Muskoka: A couple of weeks ago during the long weekend, we had our club tournament out of Lake Muskoka near Gravenhurst. Being paired up with Herb Quan is always fun and although our club format dictates boaters vs non boaters (so you actually fish against the person you are in the boat with - and each try to get your own five bass limit), both of us are always happy when the other catches a nice fish. Before we arrived that morning however we had a little adventure that sort of dictated the rest of the day. On our way up for the 7am blast off, I had just remarked to Herb that "we should be there with at least ½ hour to spare", when all of a sudden a lady pulled up beside us on Hwy 11, rolled down her window and yelled …"Your trailer wheel is on fire!" Well sure enough there was a fair bit of smoke billowing from the drivers side wheel so I quickly pulled over. "Hmm … bearings I guess - and I just greased them too." What to do! We chose to cool the wheel and bearings down with some cold water and slowly worked our way north. On to the next gas station which was closed, so we borrowed some of their water from the window cleaning receptacles and cooled the wheels down yet again. Long story short - over an hour later we pull up to the launch and slid the boat off into the water. 35 minutes late but at least we were here and ready to go. We quickly let another contestant know that we arrived and that "yes we want in to greedy bucks" This is an option we started a few years ago for those who want to earn more than the standard $40 entry fee will allow. For those who enter, it means they win the greedy bucks pot as well as whatever else they earn from their top three placing. I ran up the main lake to a weed bed that had been productive each and every time I had visited the lake this year and was not disappointed to find the bass there active and ready to take our baits. We did have to switch it up though and caught them on a Rapala X Rap, tube jig and Skitter Pops. Herb though managed to nail the biggest bass - just shy of 5 pounds; a gorgeous smallmouth that nailed his fire tiger pattern Rattlin bait. At the end of the fishing day … it really couldn't have come together much better. Herb came 2nd and won Big Fish pot with the largest smallmouth I have seen yet this year from Lake Muskoka and I placed first and took home greedy bucks. Little did I know that my little earnings would only make a dent in the repair bill to have the bearings, hubs and seals replaced on my boat trailer!
Gloucester Pool: Sunday August 20th 2006 and our last Bassmania Qualifier tournament of the season. The day before on Six Mile we caught a lot of bass but just had a very tough time upgrading to anything much over two pounds. Unfortunately at Gloucester the same scenario would prevail and at the end of the day I did not think we would qualify for the Bassmania Classic to be held Labor Day weekend on Rice Lake out of Hastings. Only the top 25 teams would make it and although we were 15th or so going in before the weekend - our small fish would cost us big time I was sure. My tournament partner Gerry Heels was not so pessimistic however and thought we just might squeak in. As tournament host Andy Polatta read down the list of qualifiers we anxiously awaited to hear our names … and thankfully we did and placed 16th overall for the course of the regular season! Yee hah - we are classic bound!
For now though, it's off to Petawawa in a couple of hours for the long 6 hour drive to the Ottawa River near Pembroke. This will be the site of the annual Hank Gibson Ontario BASS Federation Nation Qualifier Tournament where the top 12 individuals from across the province will qualify to become part of Team Ontario - and represent this federation at the Northern Divisional Championship in the US next year. I will be sure to fill all Fish On Line Canada readers in about this event and the Bassmania Classic when I return in a couple of weeks.
Until then - tight lines and keep fishin'
Wil Wegman
