A Wilder Day

When some very windy weather ended our plans of fishing in Owen Sound on Sunday, Darrell promised to take me to a little lake he knew that would be sheltered from the wind and provide us, he hoped, with some excellent bass action.

South of Durham, Ontario we turned off of Highway 6 and after enough turns to have me completely confused, we arrived at Wilder Lake. There’s only one spot where you can see the lake from the road and if you weren’t looking for it, you would never know such a beautiful little lake existed.

Having a small boat quickly showed its benefits when we reached the end of the road and had to drag everything over to the lake. I have to say that I’m quite glad Darrell insisted we buy a 12-footer instead of a 14-footer!

Our little boat! I can't believe we didn't buy one before (oh yeah, no money to buy one!). Having three bench seats comes in handy - we use the middle one as a workbench.

The water in Wilder Lake is crystal clear and finding structure proved to be a little difficult at first – there was nothing in the water! I was amazed at the different hues of green throughout the lake as the depth ranged from 2-feet to 20-feet. After spending at least an hour coming up empty, and not a single fish registering on our new Humminbird PiranhaMAX 160 PT fish finder, I was getting a little discouraged. Darrell decided it was time to try fishing the docks and, as I always do when getting discouraged, I started tossing out a small jig. All of a sudden there were rock bass everywhere, trying to beat each other to my jig and Darrell’s drop-shot.  You have to admire rock bass, they have quite the fighting spirit.

All those little chunkers willingly biting our lures sure improved my spirits, but I had been promised big bass and I was still hoping to find one. We eventually came across a submerged logged and it didn’t take long for Darrell’s drop-shot to prove irresistible.

The first good fish of the day came on the drop-shot just off a log - the only piece of structure in the area.

We had gone awhile without marking a fish on the new fish finder and I was starting to think we’d just bought an expensive paperweight. It certainly isn’t a top-end fish finder but I’d hoped it would be somewhat useful. Then Darrell played with the sensitivity and boom – fish being marked on the screen. It actually proved to be fairly accurate and helped me land a nice bass. All-in-all it looks like it might have been a good purchase!

The fish finder. We chose the portable one in hopes that it will be useful for ice fishing. It's easy to use, seems fairly accurate, and the portability is a bonus.

We moved on to deeper water and located a few nice fish while both using a drop-shot. The drop-shot was a dynamite technique on this lake – nothing else seemed to interest the bass. Natural-colored baits were the trick, the water is too clear for anything else. Both the deep hole and the dock by the golf course proved to be the best areas to find big fish and good numbers. With both largemouth and smallmouth bass there are lots of fish to be caught.

The best one I managed to get to the boat. I had a big smallie on but she shook the hook and left me cursing.

Darrell's best bass of the day.

Ending up at Wilder Lake proved to be a stroke of luck. We had a nice day of fishing, fairly protected from the wind, and got a good chance to test the boat out. The boat and the motor are proving themselves to have been a great purchase. After sitting for over a year it seems that the motor was in need of the one good run we put it through on Belwood Lake – now it starts first pull every time and idles like a champ.

A great day of fishing in a beautiful, quiet setting…you couldn’t ask for more!

 

Don’t Forget To Check The Knot, Especially On Vacation

With the first half of our vacation drifting into the memory banks, Darrell turned the truck towards Killarney and our last stop, Tyson Lake.

While Sturgeon Bay is full of campsites and cottages, there are relatively few cottages at Tyson Lake and the feeling of being in the wilderness cannot be avoided. At Tyson, and its adjoining lake, Spoon Lake, it is quite normal to spend an entire day on the water without seeing anyone. And that is how we spent the last two days of our vacation – seeing only a handful of people and boats, having much of that wild beauty to ourselves.

Rock faces and trees - the predominant sight up north. My pictures fail to do the scenery justice as it was absolutely breathtaking.

The launch at Tyson is actually quite nice and easy to use. The main problem is that the parking lot is not big enough to turn around in if there are other vehicles parked there. It was easy to tell first-timers from those that had launched there before by the tight spots they got themselves into.

Once again we used drop-shotting as our go-to technique. On Tyson it worked well close to shore to land us some decent smallies during the day. The numbers weren’t there and neither were the trophy fish, but with such a relaxing setting it was hard to be upset.

The night bite proved to be best as the smallies hit frequently on top water lures. Again I used my Rapala DT Fat 1 and boated quite a few smallmouth. I don’t do much night fishing and found it difficult to remove trebles with limited light without hooking myself!

I think we finally managed to make Jack tired. He insisted on crawling into Darrell's lap and refused to get back down.

We ran through the narrow and obstacle-ridden channel that joins Tyson to Spoon and spent some time fishing there. In Tyson we targeted smallies but in Spoon it was all about largemouth bass.

Look at all the wonderful weeds and slop! Prime location for largies.

Again, Scum Frogs ruled the day and the fish had fun teasing us before finally biting. It took some work and we had to get through a lot of small fish, but we finally caught a few decent ones.

There is something about the air up that way – it’s so much cleaner and refreshing, with just the right scents mixed in to make me want to bottle it up and bring it home. It’s no wonder that sleep comes easily after spending the day enjoying the beauty of the wilderness and inhaling that air. Eventually you drift into a world where only you exist, almost like it’s a separate planet. It really is amazing up there.

Of course, our trip would not have been complete without another ‘mishap’ and this caused us to reconsider moving on to another lake. We pulled into a bay to anchor and have some lunch. Darrell lifted up the anchor and was about to toss it over when the knot came undone and the anchor fell to the bottom of the lake. *sigh* Now we had to spend more money on the way home to pick up another anchor. But more than that, the incident left us feeling a little snake-bit. On this trip we had already enountered:

• a bent-up boat trailer,
• a broken fishing rod,
• a burnt up bilge pump,
• and now we had lost an anchor.

Our original plans called for moving on to a more remote lake with a difficult launch but after the latest incident we felt something more dire may happen if we tried that launch. Images of a sinking boat and a very stuck truck came to mind and we both agreed that we did not need to tempt fate. We spent a little more time at Tyson before packing up for the drive home.

An early morning on Spoon

Our last morning enjoying both Tyson and Spoon. It was a beautiful way to end our vacation.

It was an amazing trip and only strengthened my desire to move north. I know it’s a longer winter but to be surrounded by something this special would make it all worthwhile.  And despite all the mishaps I can’t help but think our week away was perfect – I got to spend it with my family, in the boat, catching fish, in a beautiful setting.  I could not have asked for more.

 

Sturgeon Bay Delights – The Fish And The Sights

As I mentioned in my last post, day two of our vacation began with pouring rain. We spent the morning at our campsite in Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park and did our best to stay dry, a very difficult task considering that Jack had gotten soaked between the tent and the truck and, like any good dog, felt the need to share the dampness with Darrell and I.

Darrell's pike from day one. I was eager to get back on the water and catch one for myself.

When the rain slowed to a drizzle we packed up camp and headed for the boat – with all fourteen fishing rods and an uncounted number of tackle boxes. I think the other campers wondered about the sheer amount of equipment we took with us, but most of them were fellow anglers and understood our reasons.

The launch at Sturgeon Bay. While our boat took on a fair bit of water during the morning rains, Darrell was quick to run the bilge pump and empty it out. Other boats weren't so lucky. One boat in particular had quite a tilt to it for the next day as it waited for its owner to remove over 6 inches of water.

Out on the water once more I was all ready to find another musky. Watching Darrell reel his musky in the day before made me even more anxious to hook into one of those monsters and I started the day tossing big lures on my heavy rod. Of course, they’re not called ‘the fish of a thousand casts’ for nothing and I didn’t so much as get a follow.

Fellow anglers know what happens then – you spend time targeting a fish only to have absolutely no luck finding one. You start to feel a little blue and wonder why the heck you can’t catch anything. I started to let it get me down – as down as a person can get when out on Georgian Bay on a beautiful day with spectacular surroundings and great company. I needed a change and got out the bass gear.

We pulled into a sheltered bay with slop patches around the edges and started casting scum frogs. Since our regular go-to color wasn’t getting a bite Darrell switched it up and tossed out a black frog with some yellow in the tail…fish on!

A bucket-mouth pulled from the slop.

The first largemouth I had managed to land on the Rapala DT Fat 1 - I love that lure! I used it to fish the edges of the slop.

It wasn’t a strong bite but landing a few largemouth made for a great afternoon. There was plenty of activity in that slop but we couldn’t key on exactly what was causing the ruckus. We counted at least four different species of fish in there.

Sturgeon Bay takes you into the Pointe-Au-Baril inlet, which leads you out into the open water of Georgian Bay. It’s absolutely breathtaking out there. And rocky…very, very rocky. There are islands everywhere – some big enough to host a few cottages, some big enough for a bird to take a rest and little else. Be careful where you drive your boat because there are rock shoals everywhere – one minute you are over 40 feet of water, the next it’s only 3 feet of water.

And the sights! Aside from the wonderful fishing, incredible cottages and awesome boats to drool over, there is no shortage of places to visit and observe.

This boiler belonged to a ship seeking refuge from a storm. It ran onto one of the many rock shoals in the area. There is excellent smallie fishing in the area though, thanks to that very rock shoal (and the additional structure). We caught quite a few smallies on the drop-shot here.

This barrel is on the site of the original barrel that welcomed sailors and signified 'a safe passage through turbulent waters.'

The lighthouse, with the barrel just visible on the point in the background.

At the Hole in the Wall. Big expanse of water on either side, one little opening through the rocks.

Going through the Hole in the Wall.

Of course, the main attraction was the fishing and we certainly had our share of fun in that respect. The smallmouth bass were wonderful little performers, leaping in the air and then diving deep, only to leap out of the water once more. Drop-shotting was the most productive technique, especially with Gulp minnows on the hook. Crankbaits around rocky points also proved quite effective.

One of Darrell's catches. Notice Jack in the background, keeping an eye on the fish. He loves to be in on the action when we're bringing in a fish.

Not the biggest one I've caught, but every single fish is a thrill!

Not everything went as smoothly as we had hoped. On our way back to the dock for a quick break, we both noticed a burning smell. It wasn’t a pleasant, campfire burning smell, it was more of an electrical and plastic burning smell. It was a few moments before Darrell realized the smell was coming from the bilge pump. I had left the boat for a moment and returned to find Darrell’s feet up in the air as he wrestled to get the connectors loose and free the bilge pump before the whole boat went up in flames. It was fortunate he got it out so quickly. When he dunked it in the lake it was pretty obvious the inside of the pump was on fire! *sigh* First stop the next morning was to a marina for a new bilge pump.

Leaving Sturgeon Bay after a morning of fishing on day three was surprisingly sad. I was really going to miss the bathrooms – real plumbing and soap for me to wash my hands! Such luxury I am not used to when camping!

But more so, I was going to miss the water and the fish living within it. All I could do was promise myself we would return at some point. Then I climbed into the truck and we hit the road once more, heading further north for the next lake.

And Now It Has A Reel…

I’m just leaving Bass Pro Shops in Vaughan with my new Shimano Stradic C14 2500.

The new Stradic will be going on the G. Loomis GLX rod I won in the Bass Parade giveaway.

I wasn’t absolutely certain about what reel I wanted when I arrived at the store but after picking up a few (in a price range I never thought I’d be buying) I felt the Stradic was the lightest and best option to fit my current fishing needs. I have to admit that the staff member I was dealing with was very little help. His response to my questions left a lot to be desired. Maybe if I’d gone during the week I could have spoken to the person that was recommended to me. But I think in the end I’ve gotten a reel that will serve me well and I can’t wait to try out the combo!

As a side note – Scum Frogs were 20% off so I couldn’t resist adding a couple to the collection. These are my absolute favorite frogs to throw. They caught us a lot of big fish last year and you can’t beat the price.

One more week until trout opener!