New toys.

So, as I mentioned, I picked up a new rod the other day. I ordered it online from Amazon, sold by Fishwest.com. The reason for the Echo? Easy. The company has a great reputation. So when I was searching around for rods that would fit my low end budget, it was hard to pass up the Solo for 99$. Well, thats what I paid. When I ordered, I was contacted by Fishwest to say they had recently run out of stock. No biggie, I wasn`t in a hurry and I was very interested in the rod. I noticed that after my purchase, the price of the rods went up a few bucks. When it shipped  it became a debacle. No fault on the seller. USPS managed to somehow hold onto the parcel for almost 2 weeks before it even entered their system. Incredible. Even better, when it did finally arrive, one end have the tube had been completely removed. The rod ( in its protective case ) was free to slid in and out of the shipping container at will. In the end, it is a wonder that USPS an CanadaPost managed to get it here at all.

So, whats the Echo Solo like? Well, I had the same reaction to it that I did with the White River Hobbs Creek reel from Basspro. I was shocked that such a nicely made, and appointed rod could be had for so cheap. The low end entry level gear has come along way since I first started in this sport.  I have paid a lot more, for a lot less. I`ll likely do an in depth review of it some time in the future.

The second two is a Classic Accessories Roanoke Pontoon boat. This is also an entry level model from the manufacturer. I had it out for a bit this evening. Impressed with it so far, though there are a couple of minor complaints I maybe able to make. It was fairly easy to assemble. Again, a more in depth review will be forthcoming when I have used it more.

Vid Clip

I took out an Echo Solo 8wt I had recently purchased. Here's the first fish.

Well........

....................as much as I profess the whole " you don't know till you go." bit, its like this. Cold front. Fuck it. Been waiting for a positive change in the weather.

Some times you win........

..........and sometimes you lose.

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. 

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.

Olive Wooly Bugger

The first fly I ever tied was an Olive Wooly Bugger. Can`t remember where I got the tools and materials. Think it may have been a shop called Hookers that had a small fly tying section. I was working nights at the time, in a job that afforded a lot of free time. I filled that time tying up Buggers. For just a few bucks in materials, I ended up wrapping up a couple of hundred flies. From the first one to the last, I am sure there was an improvement in my technique. Seeing the odd survivors now, it would be impossible for me to tell you which was tied first. All were pretty awful ties. All worked. I also suspect all the best ties were the first to be fished, and eventually lost. Leaving me with the also-rans.

........a fat bass.

Like most neophytes attempts, the flies were far from perfect. But they caught fish. I had so many of them tied, that for decades afterwards, until this day, I still come across them in my boxes on occassion. I call them Ànorexic Buggers`, as unlike most beginners, I did not add to much material. In fact, the opposite was true. Perhaps to little. The thing is, those decades later, those Olive Buggers will catch fish on days other patterns, much newer and more ably tied, will not.

I rarely tie up colours of buggers other than Olive. I would say 90% of the time I throw a bugger, its Olive. I have my reasoning as to why this colour is so productive, and one doesn`t need to look past the food fare of fish to figure out why. A lot of food stuffs for fishie`s come in this colour.

Today was another very productive day on Horne. Perch are going crazy. Very aggressive, nailing everything. There also pretty fat and pretty feisty. Also managed a few nice bass. There was the constant threat of a downpour that kept me close to the launch. As a result I only fished a couple of hours before deciding to pack it in. Just before pulling out, mere feet from my launch, a managed a very respectable 11`` perch.

Stormy on Horne.

Heheh........got caught by a thunderstorm while I was in the middle of the lake in my toon. Something I do not want to experience again anytime soon.

Before the evil little storm snuck up on me, I was having an odd time. In a couple of hours, I only caught 2 fish. This was unusual. More odd was the fact they were both big bass. Usually, panfish are all about and ready to play. Not today. Nary did I see a single one.

Today was the first day the temps had started to climb back up to at least the seasonal averages. I had previously mentioned I figured a spike in the temps would do my fishing some good. Did seem to work that way, for at least the bass.

Sky looks alright, and this is minutes from the deluge.
Came fast from the other direction.

I caught both bass in 12 -13 feet of water on Clousers. The first fish came shortly after starting. The second just before the rain two hours later. The first fish measured 16 inches and weighed 2 1/2lbs. Second fish saw no measurement device. It was however, considerably larger than the first, and larger than the 4lb fish I caught earlier this season, making it my biggest bass to date. That fish gave me a great fight. I could see under water foliage on my finder, and caught this fish above it. He immediately dove down into it and made things a lot more difficult for me. My wrist is still sore from the scrap.

Hands down the fly rod was the better option for me today. Could not even get a panfish to hit my spin gear. The bass were both caught on sparsely tied Clousers. Predominately yellow, with red and green crystal flash highlights.

The weather quickly turned to shit tonight. A very dark line of storm clouds snuck up on me. I could not see their approach from where I was in the lake. When I noticed it suddenly get dark, I looked up and it was on top of me. I managed to get two thirds of the way back to the launch before I was caught in a vicious downpour. The waves were kicked up pretty high by a fierce wind, and it was all I could do to get to the nearest landfall. Hauled my toon and gear through some pretty intense foliage. I will assess the damage latter.

SW.

Shitty weather. Still cold, still raining. Will be like this for days. Did not even bother tonight.  Was actually raining pretty hard and it would not even be possible.

Doesn't look like its going to warm up in the next couple of days. If it doesn't, I have an idea to get at some bass, but it would require more effort than I am apt to put into the endeavor. I'm kind of not relishing Horne or Depot. I'm looking to try elsewhere in the near future. Should probably get on the property and do Dunlop. Canoe about and see whats up. Maybe go hunting something new, somewhere else. Who knows.

I'm spending a fair amount of time in my shop, working on lures. Working on different painting schemes, and improving technique mostly. My poppers and chuggers are pretty solid in design and function. I am going to try to start incorporating more intricate design elements now. There are also other lure types I am going to have to make in order to give the fish some different looks.

Horne Lake.

The last couple of nights have seen me on Horne Lake. I have not been there for the Bass. It has been for the perch. They are a regular staple of my diet currently an I was running low, so time to stock the freezer. The bass have not been good to me recently on Horne. All I am landing are smaller fish. I do better in an hour from shore on Depot than I do in 4 on Horne lately. Anyways, the goal was perch, so perch it would be.

Horne sunset.

Perch are generally pretty eager to hit a fly. The one thing I have noted about fly selection, is to avoid tails. A Wooly Worm will serve better than a Wooly Bugger for example. Perch, more than any other fish I can recall, have an annoying trait of grabbing the trailing part of a fly. There have been times I have near hauled them into the boat this way. They do they same thing with plastics. A fly I used to tonight, and one that has served me well with panfish, is a tiny jig fly. A friend of mine, Dan Heculuk tied me up a few dozen of these a while back, and they get put to good use. I also got some bass, biggest maybe a pound. These were incidental catches as they were not the target.

I have spent more time in the shop lately than on the water. I finally setup the rest of my tools for lure making. One very positive change I have made is to go from Basswood to pine. I am finding it much nicer to work with, and it lends to a nicer finished product. I am awaiting some new parts that I am hoping to integrate into some new designs. Still working on the paints and clear finish. Very happy with where I am at. The lures were looking good before, but now they are even better.