steverowbotham

thanks. With this weather, we're not far off from more of them.

it is a Legend Xcalibur 179. 17.5ft Deep V

October 2014 I had a much busier month than I did the previous. We started with our annual fall musky hunt. We camped for 3 nights in cold, miserable weather and had a slow trip. We managed to boat a few nice fish and each break our PB’s. I don’t musky fish much, but I plan on doing more and visiting lakes known for bigger fish. After this trip, I spent the rest of my time fishing Simcoe smallies and had a blast. November 2014 I got out just once on Remembrance Day and boated some good fish. It turned out to be my last day of the season. I was hoping for more, but mother nature had other plans. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed.

September 2014 This is usually one of my favourite months of the year. The smallies start staging and schooling up towards their fall haunts. The boat traffic dwindles. The blistering heat gives way to jeans and hoody season. This year, I wasn’t able to get out near as much as I would like. I got out for some late season rigging with good friend and Lake O guide, Greg Amiel. We hammered on some rainbows and had one good bonus salmon to go with it. Aside from that, I had one day out on Simcoe to practice for the Imperium Baits open tournament and the tournament itself. The tournament was a fun one. Callum and I ended up placing 2nd with 25.45lbs of smallies. The day was a grind, but we made good decisions and put good fish in the boat. We caught fish as deep as 45 and as shallow as 6. We certainly weren’t locked onto any specific pattern. Our big fish at 6.20lbs came on a stick in 6 feet of water.

August 2014 My first trip of August, and first since Henry was born, I headed to my favourite largemouth lake with a long-time friend who I haven’t spent enough fishing time with as of late. We absolutely blasted the largies throwing a mix of Minotauro Craws and Impact Sticks. Had some fish over 5lbs and enough 3 pounders to last the rest of the season. We did some more trips up north fishing smallies including a day of filming on a small Muskoka lake, crushing smallies on soft jerkbaits. Threw in one more largie day on my way home from that trip, and that was the end of my largemouth season.

July 2014 Started off the month fishing the Imperium Baits Pro Staff tournament on Simcoe/Cooch. It was a really windy day, and I really didn’t want to run far, so we stuck around fairly close to the ramp. After 4 hours and only small fish to show for our efforts, we decided to make a run. We only had an hour and a half to fish and got good bites. We needed one more good one, but still managed a 20+ lbs stringer good enough for 3rd, less than a pound back of leaders. After this tourney, I spent a bit of time fishing north and sticking around on Simcoe as well. Got into some good bites and then on July 25, our son, Henry was born. We spent the first week in hospital with him, but he came home with us and is doing great. I thought my season would be pretty shortened, but I was still able to get out a whole bunch.

June 2014 Pike fishing was still in full swing to start off the month of June and we fished them hard until Fathers Day. By the time June rolled around, the fish had vacated the shallows and were found over deeper water. Shoals and emergent weed growth were hot targets throwing swimbaits, invaders and slow rolling grubs on slower days. I landed my personal best 47.5 incher on an Imperium Ace in early June. The fish followed an invader but wouldn’t commit. We ran back later and got her to eat the ace on the same waypoint. Definitely my highlight of the month. Took a couple weeks off then got out for a few hours on Kawartha bass opener. Hit a couple lakes and put some fish in the boat, but nothing crazy, mostly throwing Minotauro Craws and Impact Sticks. Simcoe opener was tougher than expected, but we still landed some good fish and targeted a mix of smallies and largies. My wife, even at 8 months pregnant, still put some good fish in the boat.

May 2014 I started the month off doing some steelheading. I stayed local, fishing Georgian Bay. Water cleared pretty good, but really light line helped pick up a bunch more fish. Broke off a bit too frequently, though. Once the steelhead slowed, we spent some fun nights with friends fishing off the piers on Lake Simcoe catching feeds of jumbo perch. Had some good meals and made some good memories. I take fishing pretty seriously; I’ve always been very passionate about it. But some of my favourite trips are shore fishing with groups of friends. Pike opener is mid-May, and I look forward to it all year. I usually book some vacation and head north, targeting big pike. The pike were a little behind this year so the first week or so, we were fishing slowly over some deeper water and were able to put some good fish in the boat. As the days passed, some fish moved shallower and we were able to sight fish them throwing plastics.

April 2014 Not too much to write about in here. I got out once for trout and headed East. It was the Monday after opening weekend, so I wasn’t expecting much. Fishing was decent, but not amazing. Hit fish on a mix of beads, roe and micro tubes. I think I landed 7 or 8 over the course of the day.

March 2014 Last ice is my favourite time of the year to target lake trout. As it gets warmer, the days get longer and the fish start to feed. I often begin targeting the upper half of the water column at this time of year, especially on sunny days. The trout chase down schools of smelts and herring and will often rise 80 feet off bottom to investigate a bait. I was only able to get out a couple times during march, as I started a new position at work and picked up a new truck in the process. When I did get out, we got into some good fish, but a lot of smaller sized fish. These fish were taken mostly on swimbaits and crankbaits.

February 2014 I always seem to struggle in February. I am a walker, and it hurts me sometimes. Not that I can’t get to where I want to, as I often can. Though often on cold, windy days when the hike through snow gets difficult, I don’t move often enough. Lake trout roam the lake and follow bait. Moving can be the single best decision an angler can make. 50 feet can make a difference in your success, but I am not a fan of the cold. I still had some decent days through February, but not the days I had hoped for. I was able to entice a lot of fish in the lower 10 feet of the water column through February, on a mix of tubes, aces and jigging raps.

Well folks, it’s that time of the year again. The boat is going away and I’ll be taking a month or so off from fishing to catch up on some family time and put in some extra hours at work, the joys of retail management at Christmas. This year was one of the best in recent memory, with lots of highlights I can’t wait to share. I haven’t been posting much as of late, but with the newest addition to our family, I haven’t had as much time to do so. I always enjoy recapping my season as it allows me to share information and knowledge, but also look back and relive the moments for myself. In any sport, studying and practice is what makes you better. I truly believe that in fishing, there is no substitute for time on the water. You can read as much as you want, but the more time you put in, the more you will learn. The subtleties that come with fishing are things that you can’t read about, you need to learn them and experience them to understand. Every fish caught is a piece of data, and by recapping a season or even a daily trip, you can pick up on those small things that may get overlooked. So let’s get started. January 2014 This was the first year since I’ve been ice fishing seriously, that we had ice on the lake trout grounds of Simcoe on opening day. I missed the new year’s celebration, as I was already in bed dreaming of big greasers. It was a chilly morning and we had already walked and spudded 3km by the time the sun came up. It was still pretty dark when the propane was rocking and the vexilars were flashing. I was expecting the bite to be on fire, but its not always what you expect. We landed a decent number of fish, but nothing crazy, and certainly nothing of any size. Still great to be out nonetheless. Over the rest of the month, we dialed into some really good fish and really put a clinic on them for a while. Our best day, despite frigid -30 temps and howling winds, saw us put 3 fish in the 15+ pound range on the ice, including one giant over 20. The schools that we were on in January were mainly suspended fish and we were really targeting the 40-50 foot depth range, though often over 80-110 feet of water. Some days, the fish were very aggressive and eating lipless crankbaits. Most days, we were a bit more finesse, targeting them with Imperium ice tubes and aces (soft jerkbait). I almost always rig my plastic on 3/8oz heads. If the current is strong, I will go to 1/2oz.

He all, With a promotion at work and the baby born this year, I haven't had much opportunity to get out and do some tournaments. I've been out fishing when possible, but it's been difficult to coordinate prefish and tournament days. I fished a small 30 man field tournament earlier in the year and placed 3rd. I was happy with that. Yesterday, Imperium Baits hosted an open tournament on Lake Simcoe. It's my favourite lake, and despite the fact that I had no time to pre-fish, I had to do this tourney. There was an itch that needed to be scratched. There was some good sticks that showed up and I had butterflies. I had done so many tournaments in previous years that it became all too routine. I never felt those nervous, anxious feelings anymore. This time was different, and I felt reinvigorated. We headed out to a sand flat with a small weedline that has produced well for us in the past. I was slow rolling a spinnerbait in about 15 feet and put a small keeper in the box on my second cast. Had another fish bump the blades, but no hook up. We decided to move deeper into 35 feet and slow roll swimbaits. I hooked up to a 4 pounder pretty quick and in the box she went. It slowed right down. Over the course of the day we were faced with flat calm water and high sun. Fish were spooky at best, and we had to work very hard for our bites. We only lost one fish all day, and it likely wouldnt have made a difference. Ended up weighing 25.45lbs of smallies for a 2nd place finish, anchored by a 6.20lbs smallie. Winners had a hair over 27lbs. Fun day out, cashed a cheque and scratched the itch!

Thanks all

first two trips were simcoe, second was parry sound

Hey folks, it's been a couple weeks since I've posted anything here, and I've been a little inactive. A couple weeks ago, I got out to my home water of Lake Simcoe in search of some mid summer smalljaws. Fishing was tough with blue sky, post frontal conditions but time on the water prevailed and I managed the figure them out by early afternoon and put some decent fish in the boat throwing prodigy tubes and dropkick worms. On July 25, I got my new PB !!! Got him at 6:14 pm and weighed in at a whopping 9lbs3oz. Welcome my first son, Henry James Rowbotham. He'll be pounding smallies with me in no time. Mommy and baby are doing great and within a week, she's already let me out fishing twice. I picked the right one, thats for sure!! Here's some pics from the last couple days.

Last week I spent a day fishing Georgian Bay. I was very impressed with the number and caliber of fish I found, and being close by, I naturally wanted to try again. I launched at around 730am yesterday and despite the low winds, there were still 4 foot rollers out there. We had strong winds the previous day and being such a large body of water, it needs that extra time to calm down. Ended up in a whole new area, tucked behind some islands. We struggled all morning, landing just 3 fish in about 6 hours, very good fish mind you, all on prodigy tubes. At about 2pm, I found a small stretch that was absolutely loaded with big smallies. We beat up on them throwing blades and then the wind died and we switched to drop shots and sticks. Amazing day, I'm quickly falling in love with this lake!

I tried a bunch of different things to no avail. Finally, after some thinking I remember watching a show where guys were fly fishing for them. I dont own many flies, and certainly had none on the boat so I pulled a pink custom feathered treble off the back of a topwater bait. I added a single split shot for castability and twitched it like a jerkbait. I dont know if it was the feathers, or the smaller profile in general, but they were all over it.

Headed out to Georgian Bay the other day. It's only about a 40 minute haul but for some reason, I've never given it much attention. I decided to go up and give it a shot. It's known more for smallies, but I needed to scratch my flippin itch. Found a stretch of docks about 3 or 4 miles away from the ramp that looked promising. Picked up a craw and went to work. I am not lying when I said I landed over 50 fish that day. Just insane numbers of fish. Nothing overly big, but so many 2.5 - 3 pounders it was ridiculous. A few bigger than that thrown in the mix. At one point I flipped to a dock, and a fish shot from another dock, 20 feet away to eat the bait. Decided to go look for some smallies. Found a shallow flat that looked good, but it was littered with Gar. I dont see gar in any of the local lakes around, so that was neat. Spent some time on them, man are they hard to catch. Landed 4 but must have lost 20 of them. Ended finding some good post spawn smallies by the end. I'll be heading back out tomorrow to expand on the area. Cant wait!

All depends on season for me. Bass, smallies in particular are my favourite, but we have a short season for them here. I love ice fishing for lakers, fishing ice out crappies, river run steelhead and giant pike and salmon before bass opens up again. If we're being honest .... If it swims, I like catching it!!

Can't find a pic of my biggest right now, I think it's on another hard drive. But this one took big fish in our club classic a few years ago. We lost by 0.05 lbs. Great fish!

nice buckets!

Thursday, I finally fished my first tourney of the season, the 2nd annual Imperium Cup. Blasted off in a pretty small field of 28 with cloudy, windy conditions. Temperature had dropped from 32C(89F) to 13C(55F) overnight and reached a daytime high of 17C (62F). Being a tournament that relies on big smallies to win, I was nervous about the weather change. Started out fishing a largie bay skipping sticks under docks and casting tubes out into deeper, sparse weed growth. We put together a quick limit, but nothing better than 2 lbs. Headed to a shoal nearby thats known for bedding smallies. Saw 5 beds, caught 5 fish all on a flick shake dropkick minnow. The smallies from here were all smaller males, females were nowhere to be found. Headed to a reef about 5 miles away and the wind was blowing pretty good. Chucked some spinnerbaits around to no avail. Hit another key area of mine and again, didnt even see a fish. Decided to brave the weather and make a 14 mile run to an area I know had good fish. I cracked my hull a couple years ago and being in the same boat in bad weather on big water still makes me nervous. Arrived at our spot and after a couple minutes, I cast to a boulder on a sand flat and set the hook on a 4 pounder, good choice to come here. Probed my way around the area and managed 3 more bites before it was time to leave, all good 4+ fish including a 5-10 smallie. Needed to get rid of one more fish but wasnt able to. Weigh in was tight, with the winners weighing 21-6 including a 6-1 largie they got 5 mins before weigh in. 2nd place was 21-5 including a 6-4 smallie they got on their second cast of the day. We placed 3rd with 20-11. Lots of people in the 14-15 lbs range. Heres some pics of the top 3 teams. Had a lot of fun that day!