Esten

So, I finally made it out.

Recently, its either been the weather, or my banged up body, but I have only rarely made it out. When I did, the results weren't up to par. Things weren't a whole lot better tonight, but better it was.

It was pretty windy, much more than I prefer. Usually I would have passed on such a night. However, it had been a while and I was itching to play. I caught enough fish so that it was fairly steady action. None were great, and only one landed would qualify as 'good'. Most of the fish were caught on a popper, though the larger fish were all hooked subsurface.

Bottom banging.

I decided to take a full sinking line with me tonight. The fish have been hanging down deep. Today I found them in a little shallower water than the last few outings, but they were still hugging bottom. My floating line setup with a Clouser just wasn`t doing the trick.

In the few hours I was out, I managed a few bass. One was fairly decent. I tried the floating setup to no avail. All the fish were deep. The perch to. No interest in flies at the mid to high part of the water column. Down deep the flies would get a fair amount of attention. I managed a good number of perch. Also on the clouser.

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. 

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.

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.

MNR Zone 10 Smallmouth Bass season change.

As the title says. The season has now changed for smallmouth bass in my area. Zone 10.

It is now open  ALL YEAR. The vast majority of Zone 10 is affected, north of HWY 17, check regs for specifics. Here is a LINK. There seems to be some discrepancy between the provided map, and the wording provided under the heading "ADDITIONAL ZONE 10 FISHING OPPORTUNITIES " There it says "All waters north of Highway 17 and all waters west of where the east bank of the Serpent River crosses Highway 17. (See map)" When one references the map it shows the area to be bordered by the Sturgeon River, not the Serpent. Pretty safe to assume they meant the Sturgeon.

Not sure how I feel about this. I have been fishing under the previous restrictions as long as I can remember. Can't recall another place in Canada that has such a liberal season. I believe some places in the states may have a similarly open season, but I am very unsure of that, and can't find any quick verification.

Its no secret I am always pretty eager to get out and get my kicks with early season panfish. Hooking bass at those times is at times a pretty prevalent affair. Certainly I felt a sense of guilt when this happened, due to my previous programming under the old regs. Many, many times I have had to pack and move, or quit for the day, when OOS hook ups were too likely. Now at least I while feel a little less guilty when I do hook them while fishing pannies than I have in the past, if nothing else.

The regs up here are pretty liberal in general. Walleye are only closed for a couple of months in the spring. Brookies open Jan 1st. Close end of sept as in S.O. Pike all year. Rainbows all year.....etc. Lots of fishing opportunities in general.

I have no idea what the reasoning is behind this decision. I only learned about it when I was in the local gear shop. I would be curious to hear what prompted these changes if anyone happens to know.