Just got back from a week in Ontario with some buddies and some of our sons, including my own. Stayed on a chain of three lakes and towed our boats to two other pike lakes. Also took my kayak to some smaller nearby water.
Going into this trip, I had 3 fishing related wishes… bring home our allotment of walleye, catch a 40 inch pike and find good smallie action.
Meatloaf sang… two out of three ain’t bad.
Fishing was excellent for walleye. Have some in the freezer.
As always, there were a billion pike around. The vast majority were 18-22 inches and became progressively more annoying as the week went on as they destroyed plastics, slimed the boat and at times, were difficult to unhook. Feels like we caught over a hundred, but I doubt it was quite that many.
I caught no big pike but did get some just below the slot (28 inches) to bring home as well as one just over 28. My son got a 31 incher on our last day and he was pleased with that as it was his largest fish ever caught.
What I really wanted most from this trip though was consistent, quality smallie fishing and the lake we were on was excellent in that regard. It featured sections of rocky shoreline that dropped off rapidly, isolated boulder piles and a large shallow flat right near our camp that was strewn with boulders and reeds.
This last spot was dicey for a boat and my kayak got me on fish that no one else could reach. I hooked a bunch in 12-18 inches of water.
Anyway… I realize that smallies tend to look alike, but here are a bunch from the week including some of the largest...
I need an editor.
The size structure of the smallies was really incredible and I'd have been happy with a week of largies of this caliber. They're still pre-spawn, so are aggressive right now and the little ones are probably elsewhere for the most part.
You haven’t lived until you’ve tangled with these in a yak and at least half of what I caught were in my yak. Such a glorious shitshow with getting splashed by fish, towed around and rod bends as they dove under me.
Came in one night after a dusk outing and the boys asked me if I had flipped my yak coz my shirt was so wet.
Poppers were king and I’d say that 80% of the smallies I got were on poppers. Many of those were struck upon landing – didn’t even have to “pop” them. Also used an X-Rap (rainbow trout pattern for some reason) when I was sure there was a bass present, but it wouldn’t hit a popper. Got a few on bass jigs with a twister tail as well.
This one (above^) was an anomaly and I only caught two all week that were small like this.
A few other trip photos…
My son's pike (31 inches)…
My best (28+ inches)…
A moment of tranquility...
On the final day I was riding a 5 snake-pike streak when I returned my rental boat and declared that those couldn't be the last fish of the trip and went out to get one more bass…
…and then called it a trip.
We're already booked again for next year and can't wait!
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Edited by user Tuesday, June 25, 2019 12:39:56 AM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
