The Baron

Our two week rifle season is over (I’m in E. Ontario). We do drives and I saw a couple deer, but none offered a decent shot so I did not dent a single primer this season - first time in a few I haven’t accounted for one. But, our group hung 8 deer for 10 hunters so there’s fresh venison in my freezer. We're all a busy crew so we hunt the first few days, then just the Saturdays and cut all our own meat on the Sunday. The landscape sure changed from 1st week of December to the second though. These pics were taken in almost the same location, 10 days apart. For the gun guys I was using a Ruger RSI .308 the first week, then my Ruger American Compact Stainless 7mm-08 on the last Saturday in the snow. I was excited about the fresh tracking snow, but we only moved two does off the last drive and there were no other fresh tracks.

I drove by the launch point for one of my favourite back lakes and it's frozen in, so that's officially the end of 2022 bass season for me. ? It's time to pack up my gear, so I backed off the drags on all my reels (I've seen that recommended in a few places). Then I got thinking about cold weather storage. I assume it's beneficial to bring my reels into the house, rather than leave them in the garage? Our winter temperatures will typically get down to 0F some nights, but can swing fairly wildly through the season. Is storing reels indoors a must.. a good idea.. or don't bother kind of thing? What about tackle - specifically thinking about line and soft plastics? I assume rods are not really affected by cold?

Ontario is incredible. I live very close to where the St. Lawrence river flows out of Lake Ontario. 5lb+ smallmouth are common there, and catching a 6lb+ is a very real possibility on any outing. I'm within an hour drive of many dozens of lakes with great bass populations and light fishing pressure. Drive a little further and I can fish Lake Simcoe, or keep going and fish Lake St. Clair. If I want to really burn some gas and go to NW Ontario, the bass are an almost untouched resource and you'll be hard pressed to keep the pike and walleye of your line. Our largemouth top out at about 6# though, but numbers are good in many lakes. Great Lakes aside, I can't imagine living in a better place for canoe or kayak bass fishing with so many smaller bodies of water to choose from. Our Provincial record smallmouth is currently 9.8#. Surprisingly, it was caught on a small lake in central Ontario. I expect the next will come from Lake O. or the St. Lawrence. Our Provincial record largemouth is currently 10.43#, also caught on a small lake in central Ontario. (edit: after research where those records were caught, I may be looking for a cottage rental in the area. LOL)

Hear, hear!

That was a great read! Makes me want to load up my canoe and head NW next year. Not that far for me. ?

Not quit, but stopped for far too long. Up until I was about 15-16 I was crazy about fishing, mostly smallmouth bass and rockbass at the family cottage but also some trout, pike and walleye. At 16, I was able to get my gun license and started hunting with friends. That obsession took off, and expanded into skeet then sporting clays shooting, IDPA and IPSC pistol competition, CQB and even some long range rifle stuff. It wasn't until my kids were about 6-8yo. that fishing came back on the radar. I started taking my kids down to worm fish off the shore when they were little and, somewhere along the way, I got hooked again myself. The last few of years I've really moved back into fishing, leading up to this year when I can't seem to get enough and am doing much less hunting. If I consider 2018 as the year I really got back into fishing, that would be a break of over 30 years.

My canoe is a 17ft. Springbok aluminum. Broad beam, very stable, bomb proof and 75 pounds. So, about as good as a canoe gets… until it’s on my shoulders and I’m headed uphill. It’s stable enough I can stand to stretch my legs and even fish a little if it’s calm, but I can’t forget where I am on a hookset. As has been mentioned, banging anything hard on the canoe likely makes a loud enough noise to likely spook everything nearby. My canoe does also skate across the water like a hot curling stone on a windy day, but I’ve learned to manage that with an anchor. With some rod holders and a basic fish finder, I’ve got a pretty decent setup for smaller water. That said, I’ve also had a few great outings on Lake Ontario (calm day, and fishing close to where we put in). I went into this season cursing my situation of still only having a canoe, but I came around and learned to leverage its advantages. I have a growing list of places with limited access (and therefore no crowds), and are getting those spots dialled in pretty well. Unlike a kayak, I can take one of my kids or a friend and enjoy time on the water together. It’s great on gas, easy to winterize and we can pull ashore for a stretch or snooze whenever we like. Do I still want a bass boat? I sure do! But, the HMCS Poverty had been good to me and I’ve really come to realize I’m lucky to have it vs. being just a shore fisherman.

I'm looking to add another good baitcaster to my lineup and considering a 13 Fishing Concept C2. I recall seeing mention somewhere that the C2 has an audible drag, like a spinning reel but I can't find that detail again anywhere. Can anyone confirm this? And if you own one, how has the C2 been performing?

The Live Target frogs look good, but my hookup ratio increased significantly when I switched to Booyah and Spro frogs.

I’m a big fan of Suffix Advance mono/copoly. Using both 10# and 12# for cranks, jerkbaits, spook, ploppers and poppers. Terrible on spinning gear, but I’ve been very happy with it on a bait caster. So much so, I bought a bulk spool. This line floats, so great for the topwater and might cost a bit of depth when cranking.

Well, yesterday was a beautiful weather day. We caught a few largemouth (including a 5lb. 10oz - which is BIG for up here) on jig and dropshot in one spot with some rock/sand transition in 16-18ft. of water. But, zero smallmouth. I did see several fish on my cheap fishfinder that I believe were smallmouth, most were suspended at 20-25ft. in 30-35ft of water. We also saw a couple surface so sat over that spot (we're in a canoe) and when not moving saw lots of streaking up and down on the ff which I actually think were smallmouth feeding. Dropshot, jig and topwater spook turned up nothing. I need to learn how to fish the middle of the water column - I should have tied on a lipless crank or maybe a deep crank but I was into my last 15 min of fishing to make it home for Sunday dinner. I learned a lot yesterday - such as, get better electronics and learn how to catch suspended fish. lol

Update: I had a decent outing on a small lake in late September, but I’ve been out 3x in October with extremely little success. I’ve tried every depth, top to bottom in as deep as 40ft. of water. Caught a few small ones second last trip, for several hours or trying. Yesterday I fished for 4 hours and caught one small pike on a lipless crankbait. Toward evening, I saw a couple fish surface and paddles over. Threw a popper, fluke and jerkbait with no bites. Surface temp is 54 here now. I came home and watched a few more YouTube videos about how awesome the fall bite is - I’m starting to think it’s all a lie. lol I’m trying a different small-ish lake today with a buddy. Unless it’s a good day, I’m going to pack my gear away for the year and accept that I just don’t get fall fishing. ?

You just hear them thump when they hit the underside of the ice. lol

Was fishing yesterday and tying up a new dropshot leader. Seaguar Blue Label 10#. Tied, tested my knot and it broke. Maybe missed a loop - retied and it broke. So just look the length of line and pulled it by hand and it broke. Same for another run off the spool. I’ve bought a couple spools in the spring and they’ve been stored either indoors when not out on the water. Is it normal for fluoro leader line to degrade so fast?

Depends on the year. On back lakes and smaller bays, that's certainly possible. Famous places like the Bay of Quinte and other larger lakes it might not be safe until January. I'm hoping to try for bass a few more times, maybe even into November to see if I've been missing out by quitting earlier.

I woke up excited for a great day of topwater action and double fluke epicness. Caught zero on either. ?. The double fluke does look awesome though. Only 4 bites for me today - 2 pike (1st snipped my braid on the hookset) and 2 lmb. All came on a single SK KVD Caffeine Shad, rigged on a KVD Grip Pin 5/0 and fished just on/off the edge of some slightly greener weeds. All my bites came after the bait has been falling “dead” for a couple seconds and my partner caught all his on a drop shot with a small wacky rigged worm, in the same areas. So, it seemed the lmb were backed into the weeds on the sunny side of the lake and wanted a slow bait. A tough fishing day, but good company and great scenery made up for it. As for my epic day of open water smallmouth off the cliff faces, the lake was very calm and we never saw a single blow-up. I tried, but couldn't find any smb bites.

That was my experience today. It was a slow day though - very few bites and we never found the open water smallmouth I was after, so can't blame the presentation (didn't catch them on anything). I’ll definitely try throwing the double fluke again - if I can ever find some of these schooling bass like I see on YouTube. lol

Absolutely - hit me up if you're coming again. September has been very tough though, with fish scattered at every depth. I've caught most of my smallmouth on a spook the last few outings, partly because I enjoy fishing a spook so much that I'll just do that when things are slow so the odds are in it's favour. That said, dropshotting is always productive.

I’ve got a donkey rig tied up for tomorrow. Canoe fishing, so we’ll see if casting it is a struggle or not. I’ll report back on how it goes. ??

You’re very close to my neck of the woods - I fish the Rideau system between Kingston and Seeley’s Bay fairly regularly. Lots of great water around here. ?

I like the higher speed for dropshooting. The hooksets are just a sweep and quick line pickup helps with keeping tight on them in that critical first couple of seconds. It's also handy when throwing something like a wacky senko into a specific strike zone - either to get an ignored bait in/back out quicker, or to help get a fish out from cover (like from under a dock) before they can get me wrapped up.

My son holds the record in our house - 5#7oz. caught dropshotting a Berkley MaxScent Flatnose Minnow... from shore in Lake Ontario. I've not broken 5#, but have caught solid 4's both with a 3.3" Keitech and 3/8oz. head, as well as a spook (a few times). My best largemouth also came on a spook - needless to say, I've become a huge fan.

What's your main line type/weight? We did a lot of drop shotting from the shore last year, along a rocky shore of Lake Ontario. Nothing special for the gear - either a 6'6" or 7' M/F spinning rod with a 2500 reel (Shimano Stradic, Abu Garcia Black Max and Diawa Fuego - no clear winner on casting distance). I did consider getting a longer rod (7'+) which should add a little distance, but never did. Line is either 15# or 20# brain mainline and 10# Seaguar Blue Label and a #1 or 1/0 dropshot hook - only smallmouth where we were fishing. We did use heavier weights for casting distance, usually 1/4oz - 3/8oz. For tossing larger baits, I've used a "bubba shot" rig - 2/0 or 3/0 hook and 1/2oz. weight on a 7' MH/F baitcaster setup with 40# braid to a 12# Blue Label leader. I used this to fish along deep weed edges for largemouth, but never tested the casting distance.

No fishing neighbours near me. But we only really know the few neighbours immediately next to or across from us. There is a guy somewhere in the neighbourhood with a nice bass boat - if I knew when he was driving by my place, maybe I could stand at the end of my driveway with my gear and hold my thumb up. lol Yes - there's a "u" in neighbour up here, eh. ?

… aka the double fluke rig. Is it 2x as good (or more) than a single fluke? I fished a fluke for the first time last weekend and enjoyed some success. I’m planning to hit a good little dual species lake (smallmouth and largemouth) on the weekend. It’s a deep, clear water lake and I’m expecting good results with topwater, hard jerkbaits and flukes. My Q is… should I just fish a single fluke, or is a donkey rig so great that I should tie that up?