The Baron

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?

I've ended up preferring a 6-something for crankbaits, 8-something for frogs and buzzbaits. 7-something for most everything else.

Welcome! Always great to hear about father and son/daughter fishing time. ?

After hating the thought of being “stuck” with just a canoe, I decided to make lemonade as the saying goes. My first few outings, drifting and blowing in the wind, fumbling with tangled rods, I would curse the elements and swear a trolling motor and casting deck would change my luck. But, with each outing I came to realize that I’m on the water… I’m healthy… sometimes the fish bite… and life is good. Slowly the upgrades happened - first a cheap fish finder (Hummingbird 535 - $100 with a battery on a local used fishing gear site). Setup as a portable unit, I ended up with the transducer attached to a short piece of PVC conduit. Trimmed just right, it attaches to the gunnel in seconds with a small C-clamp. When the old school lead-acid battery failed, I bought a LiOn battery from Amazon for $60. So much lighter, easily lasts all day and charges quickly - very happy with that. No side imaging or watching wolf packs on live scope, but knowing the depth, bottom structure and water temp. is a whole lot better than fishing blind. I’ve been able to work some deep weed edges and drop offs with this setup, and put some good ones in the net. Next, I opened up a lot of space by adding a 3 rod holder ($25 on Amazon) behind me. It works great when I’m alone and sitting forward of the rear seat, but (as I learned) bait covers are essential when I have a partner and have to sit on the rear seat with treble hooks rubbing my back. The next upgrade was Spotlock… aka a small anchor. On days where the wind just won’t do what I tell it to, I can hold while I work some cover or structure. If fishing along the shore, I can just pull the anchor up a few feet while the wind drifts me another 2 cast lengths alone the shore then drop again and work the new area for as little or long as needed. Fishing alone, I’ve now got a great setup. My canoe is a 17ft. aluminum and stable enough to stand in for fishing when I need to stretch my legs. With my tackle bag and rods behind me, net laid across the thwart/seat in front of me ready to go, fish finder just ahead of the yoke I now have a very efficient setup.?? With a partner, a canoe is still functional but that’s where I still really want a boat. However, with acceptance of my situation I purposely went looking for spots better suited for a canoe and I will say I’ve found some good ones. Sometimes a short carry but often that means I’m on a small lake by myself. After changing my outlook from dwelling on what I don’t have, I’ve had a great season in the HMCS Poverty. I think my next upgrade will be a better fish finder - but I’m in no big hurry. So, there’s my story. Does anyone else have a canoe setup or ideas to share?