Birthday Bass.

G.F.C.

I had taken the last couple of nights to clean up my shop. I'm about to start turning out lures and needed to get it into shape. Today, being my birthday, I decided to take it easy, away from workish type endeavours.

I enjoyed a perch feast for my dinner that was just amazing. The recipe we have rivals anything that Fish and Chip joints serve. Better actually. I far prefer our fare. I headed down to the lake around 7:30pm. Mom was with me, but we ended fishing different sections of the lake. She was looking for perch, and I was hitting bass. She ended up finding a school and bagged us some table fare.To my delight, the bass were happy to take topwater patterns, and I did very well on the GFC. The weren't huge bass, but decent. One was looking like he was close to deserving the title of big, but was just shy. The bass are in close. I watched one chase a rock bass around a log before given up, and saw the evidence of bass slamming minnows in the shallow. The largest fish of the night I saw smash some minnows along the shore from 50 yards ( or so ) away. I worked my way into casting position and found he was still hanging around.

You'll see in the video,  that most of the fish sucked the fly in, as opposed to smashing it. Its always a surprise as to how they hit it. Often those small sips hide the nature of the leviathans hidden just beneath the surface. You get some very pleasant surprises. 

Just when you think you've got it.....................

So yeah, wanted to find some perch............found a few, but not near enough to be happy about. Tried the usual spots to no avail. There were a few, but that was it, a few. The search was not a total loss. During my foray around the lake I hooked up with a pike. Didn't put it to scales, but I would guesstimate above 3, under 4. Smallish for the area by my standards, but a decent enough tussle to make me smile. I hooked into something else large but lost  that rather quickly. The pike was caught on a small spoon I had painted up a while back and forgot about. When I came across them today, I figured I would see if the perch liked them. Will have to try again, but at least I know Pike will chomp them.

Shopping.

With the perch accessible from shore now, you can bet thats where I'll be setting my sights. At least for the short term.

I had my mother with me tonight. She has been itching to catch some fish lately. She's also been bugging me to bring home more fish............so this killed two birds with one stone. My initial choice to start the night was devoid of perch. I did find chub, and a small bass. But that wasn't on the menu for the evening. We were looking to take care of the menu for tomorrows dinner.

Our second stop on the lake was the ticket. I set mom up on a point that allowed her a free backcast. The fish pool up there frequently. She spent the rest of the night catching perch at a steady pace, and bagged us enough for a nice feast tomorrow. One of the perch she landed was likely the biggest we have caught to date.

My night saw a lot less perch. I was content to let my mother have the prime spots. I kind of just hovered around. I did hit a second bass. Bigger than the first, but still small by the lakes standards. However, the bass were incidental catches as they weren't our prime quarry.

All in all, not bad for two hours of fishing. Dinner is taken care of for tomorrow, the first perch fry of the season. Looking forward to that. Its likely that I'll be looking for more perch tomorrow as well.

For beginners, there are 2 parts of the video you might want to take notes on. The first is the 'figure 8' retreive. I use this method............alot. If you keep your rod tip low to the water ( if not in ), you will be in constant contact with your fly. If fish are taken flies subtly, this will help detect hits. Its slow, steady pace is often a better choice to mimic the movement patterns of insects than a strip. Its definitely something to put on your list of things to learn. The second comes with the second bass. As I as am picking up the slack line to the reel, I am also backing up physically. These helps keep tension on the fish. Fish can be lost easily if tension is not kept, and this can easily happen when your trying to get a fish on the reel. In this case, the fish was coming straight towards me.

Fish never cease to surprise me. Surprise of the night was that Black and Olive Wooly Buggers were of very little interest to the perch. The little olive jig flies my buddy had sent were received with much more enthusiasm.

Perching.

Took them long enough. We are like 2 weeks behind schedule here. Glad I am not setting a clock by these guys.

Where there was one caught yesterday, there were many caught today. The overnight change is welcome. Mind you, I did not run across the larger perch I was hoping to hit, but hey, it makes for a fun evening of catching......with  a little fishing too. For those new to the sport, it can provide a great opportunity to work on skills while also being rewarded for their effort. Other species can be less unforgiving to a beginners foibles.

..........not even a fish stick. Back he goes to grow.

A buddy of mine, Dan Heculuck, makes up these jig flies which account for a lot of fish. They are like crack to panfish, but I have also taken bass and carp on them. Perch make themselves stupid over these flies. As fortune would have it, a care package of these little gems arrived they other day. Had I not forgotten them ( and all my other flies ) they would have seen action yesterday. They certainly were welcome today.

Anyone remember the video on Crappie I posted way back? Maybe? Maybe not? Anyways, I talked about, and showed, that when those fish are spawning, they can be had on pretty much every cast. You can catch them until your bored. Perch can be very much the same. It will probably not be to long before I am of hunting something else, though I will chase perch throughout the season for their fabulous table fare.

Here is a short exemplifying the type of hook up rate that one can encounter when doing the early season perch thing. No edits, just one straight shot.

Plastic fantastic.

I know I have mentioned it before, but plastics can be used on a fly rod. I reminded myself of this once again this evening.


I had wandered down to the lake before I realized I had left my flies in the van. There was pretty much no way I was going back to the car.......just way to painful an experience to have to do that walk anymore than I have to..........I don't move too well.

I figured I would be careful...........not put my only fly in jeopardy. That didn't last long and it was soon hung up in a tree. I did have access to a rubber worm, and associated hook, so on it went. Being bulkier and heavier than most ( not all ) flies, it requires a bit more thought to cast, though you approach it in pretty much the same manner as a heavy fly. A great, big, open loop cast. I cast it the same as I would a sinking line. Not the most fun one can have casting, but it is what it is. Back in the day when chucking plastics with a fly rod  was more fashionable, folks would chop down the tip of their (fibreglass) rods to aid in throwing the bait.

Its not just plastics that have fallen out of favor with todays fly anglers. If you pick up books old enough you will see that spinners, plugs, spoons, jigs, etc, used to be part of a fly anglers arsenal. Occassionally you will still see this pop up in the boxes of some anglers.

Such as things are, I was rewarded for my perseverance with a bass. Not a big bass, but a bass all the same.

I don't throw plastics alot. Well, at least not with the fly rod. If I am fishing spin gear for bass its a mainstay. Mainly I like to throw plastics because few others do, and I like to point out that it is an effective method......though far from my favorite. It maybe something you want to give a try. In a pinch like I did tonight, or on an outing when the fish just aren't responding to your usual flies. Plastics work.

Still slow.

......decent fish, until compared to the next one.

I did go out yesterday for a wee bit. Long enough to ascertain that yes, cold fronts still fuck up the fishing. Not sure why I had to reassure myself of this, and venture out into the shitty weather, but I did. My 'you never know until you go' philosophy doesn't always work. Especially in a case were I pretty much could have won a bet on the outcome.

Pig.

Today was slightly warmer, and definitely not as cold. Heck, the sun even poked its head thought the clouds at times. It was pretty much a repeat of a couple days ago. A few fish in an hour. Two piggies and one that was decent enough. Would have loved to get some more video, however I arrived at the lake and discovered my battery wasn't charged. Me being me, was sure the battery was charged, and decided I didn't need a spare as I was walking out the door. Somehow, I managed to coax it into taking a couple of stills. Oh yeah, I'll post the lengthy vid I did get it to capture.

I found the fish in a bout 10' of water, about 20' of shore. One fish was caught on an Olive Wooly Bugger, the other two on a Beadhead rabbabou.

Here is the entirety of video I managed. All 3 secs. ;)

Getting started.

So, things are starting to get rolling for me now. Still haven't connected with the perch, who are taking there sweet time coming in, but the bass are certainly around. Last year I was cursing this situation. This year, not so much. I fished for an hour, landed two fish, lost a couple of others. All nice fish.

Makes the rod look like a kids toy. Could fit the reel in
that 'small' mouth.

All of the action came for me on the fly rod, fishing that Rabbabou streamer of mine. Both  fish were landed in the first 20 minutes I arrived. After that, I didn't hook up on anything.

Rabbabou Streamer.

Not sure if I mentioned it last year or not, but I have noticed something with smallies and the fly rod. Despite their determination, fish 3lbs and under are not likely to present much problems on a 5 or 6 wt. As soon as the fish gets over 4lbs, things are not so cut and dry. Not the difference in two fish in the video. The first one is a decent enough fist, but could be bullied pretty easily. The second fish was much larger, and could not be pushed around at my whim. Given the wood in the water surrounding me, the fishes fight, suddenly things are not so cut and dried. Also worth noting is the effort the first fish put into getting hooked up. Its not until the third or so time it picks it up that I get the hookset.

Lure testing.

About the only thing fishing related I did today revolved around lures. Painting, assembling, testing, etc. While productive, I would have rather been fishing. The weather was once again less than thrilling, so I decided against venturing outside for long. I did go out to test out a Zara Spook I had fashioned. Never fished one before, let alone made one. Was pleasantly surprised that both my construction and technique were spot on. I'll certainly be turning a few of those out of the shop. The weather isn't looking good for the next bit. Lets hope it doesn't follow the forecast.

First fish!

So, yeah.

t

No justice done to the fish by the photo. It weighed in at 3.25lbs

Things are certainly behind last year. A week is about right on. I did not see a fish on the 6th. I have heard of fish getting caught, but not what I was looking for. That being perch.

I am pretty sure that last year started of the same as this year did. With bass. Difference being, last year they were not in season right now. That being the case, there could be no real discussion of the fish, and definitely no pictures. Catching bass early season has historically always been an inconvenience for me while panfishing. That they are now far game for me all year will take some getting used to.

This year is obviously difference. Smallmouth are open all season. The reasoning apparently is the bass are having a negative impact on other fisheries. Something I surmised when I originally heard or the plan. That more smallmouth would be culled is a no brainer. My thinking was that since that was the case, than culling would have to be part of the revised plan.

This year the first fish came on a diving plug of my own design and manufacturing. Its pretty much a defective prototype. It does work ( obviously ), just not as intended, and its a finicky plug. Gotta rework the design to iron out the kinks. Maybe. Maybe I just need a better source of diving lips. Dunno. The lure does extremely well if worked very slow. It has a great wobble, and runs true. If worked to fast? It will veer off to the left and/or corkscrew. Its boons outweigh its banes by far. It's action and quirks may just be inherent to the design. More testing will tell I'm sure.

Calendar Day.

So, last year, as previously noted, May 6th was the first day I caught a fish for the season.

Today, I did not fish. I had other things to attend to. Besides, it was another shitty and cold day. Had enough of those this............ummm.............'spring'. The calendar date marking its arrival has come and gone but there has been little of it to enjoy.

Ice is melting away at an incredible pace. Once it starts to go, it goes fast. Elliot Lake in particular lost a lot of its ice over night. Lots of lakes ice free.

So, tomorrow is the 6th. Do I expect to catch a fish? I am a little leery at my prospects. I suspect I may be a couple of days off before the perch show up in droves. Not going to stop me from trying. I have a philosophy of 'you don't know till you go' that has served me well over the years. I'll put it to the test again tomorrow. And if things don't pan out, I can think of much worse things to do than walk the lake shore for an hour or so.

Another day.

2 Lakes. One covered in ice, one open.

So, I suppose I can't complain to much. When I look back at my blog at this time last year, I was pretty

much in the same boat. Looking for fish. I know it won't be long, but I'm still anxious. Today was the first day I didn't see any Pike cruising in the hour or so I put in. I put in a little more effort than usual, actually changing lures. To no avail.

I chose the open lake.

Liking this GoPro 3+ Silver. I had an original go pro and hated it. Maybe it was a lemon. Dunno. All I know is that one was in my hands for less than a day before it went back. This one, is marvelous so far. Another little toy I am testing out is a Magic Flight Launch Box.

Something else I am very impressed with. I am not going to go into specifics about it due to the nature of the product. Suffice it to say, I would recommend it to any who would ask me about it.

A day off probably would not hurt to take a day or two off.............................but I'll probably still have a look see tomorrow.

Melt

Enough ice is off a couple of lakes enough to find some space to throw some line at. It was cold, it was raining, but it was good to get out. No hits, but I did spy a pike cruising the shallows a few feet of shore just as I was packing it in. So, that was something positive at least.