The Baron

Well, I had a great day. Picked up 2 Booyah buzzbaits - 1 black and 1 white. All the store had were 3/8oz. which was disappointing, but once we were fishing I was glad because these were plenty heavy enough for me. I had some blue/black toads so added a trailer to the black one, but fished the white without for comparison. The bass had no clear preference and I caught about 8-10 on each in the afternoon. I did find the black casted further (extra weight of the trailer) and also rose up quicker/could be retrieved slower due to the trailer holding it up (although, that could just be my perception as the black was on a much higher speed reel). I’ll be buying some white trailers - probably a paddle tail (any recommendations on size/brand?). I’ve got no baseline, but hookup and landing percentage was very high and it felt like the MH/F rod was a good fit. The 8.3:1 reel on my St. Croix BassX was my preference over the 6.8:1 we had on our Duckett rod. The mention of wind and and backlash is true. While we had no serious issues, there was some tuning and casting with or into the wind were different experiences. Unfortunately, none of the fish caught were over maybe 1.5#. I kept waiting for a “decent” one for a photo opp to share, but then we were done and I realized I hadn’t taken any fish pics - I was just having too much fun.? Thank you all for the input and advice - it was a big help.

We’re hitting a small (est. 50 acre) lake tomorrow for largemouth (no smallmouth in this lake, which is unusual up here in SE Ontario). The lake is more or less oval, with a creek in/out at opposite ends. I think the max depth is 12-15 feet, but that’s a guesstimate. I’m planning to just cover the whole lake to find them, expecting that near the creeks will be the spot. I’m planning to grab a couple Booyah buzzbaits in the morning on our way out (selection is limited up here and I know the local store stocks some Booyah). I’ve never fished a buzzbait, so have many questions…. - what weight should I buy? - is a trailer “required”? What trailer? - is 40# braid ok? Do I need a leader? - I’ve got option of a couple 7’-7’1” MH/F rods or a 7’ MH/moderate Okuma EVX crankbait rod - is one a much better choice over the other? - colours… black or white, I presume? Thanks to YouTube, I’m comfortable with how to fish the buzzbait, I just want to show up with the right tools.

Welcome!

Green Pumpkin and Junebug seem to work well here for me. I’ve tried Bubblegum with no luck, which confuses a couple buddies who told me it’s a color I need to have/use. ?‍♂️

Good to hear! Every great day of fishing starts with a clean butt. ?

I prefer how I feel at the end of the day, when I’ve been outdoors and active. The challenge of fishing is a great reason to do so. I’m a gear/tackle junky too - I need to overdue everything… and bass fishing is very fertile ground for someone like me. lol Beyond all that, the feeling of a fish (especially a good one) on the line is hard to beat.?

This was going to be my general comment. I found a reel/line/rod/bait combo on the weekend that I love. It’s a good feeling.

Dropshot with a MaxScent flatworm or flat nose minnow. I’m coming back in after a very long break in fishing, so only learned about drop shot a few years ago. I sure wish I knew about it when I was a kid (although, that was 30+ years ago, so no one did. lol). It’s produced so well for us, I need to force myself to use/learn other stuff. I’m getting there, but I’m always ready to grab the dropshot if I need to feel a fish.?

That’s very interesting to read. My son landed a beauty 5lb. 7oz. smallie from shore this summer in Lake Ontario. His drag was a bit light and the fish was very played out by the time we landed it. It was super dark. A buddy said that’s from eating gobies, but most smallies on Lake O./the St. Lawrence are gorging on gobies but still pretty light. Now I’m wondering if the fish was dark from being played out. We did carefully revived the fish and it swam off fine, albeit slowly, after a couple minutes.

Welcome! Thank you for your service. I’ve re-entered the sport myself, after a nearly 30-year hiatus. “Tackle… more tackle… and more tackle” and skunked outings is something I can definitely relate to. ? It’s a lot of fun to keep making progress though.

Our frog setup is a 7’ MH/F Duckett, with 40# braid. We throw around pads and grass - no really heavy mat up here to drag them out of. I’m quite happy with our setup at MH so I’m setting up another with a St. Croix BassX 7’ MH so my son and I don’t have to fight over the one when we’re on a good frog spot. lol

Not that I’m aware of. We’re in central/eastern Ontario, Canada. Thankfully, your delicious bourbon does make its way up here. But I’ve never even heard of a Kentucky bass.

Have you ever seen a smallmouth this orange? This was my last cast of the afternoon and he came up off a shallow rock shoal to smack a walking bait. Neither my buddy nor I recall ever seeing one this orange, but we did notice looking down that the rocks were a similar color, maybe due to high iron in the water. This is from a small, somewhat remote lake in Ontario. The photo has not been altered and he was every bit as orange in hand.

@Kellss I’m in the same boat… a borrowed one. ? Only get to boat fish when we’re at a buddy’s cottage or my Dads place, where we have use of a tinner. A fishing boat is top of our wish list here. Hopefully COVID pricing will settle down and we can find something modest. Fishing has been generally tough here too, with poor results with hard baits. Topwater and frogs have been decent. For any water over 8-10ft, try a dropshot and slow things right down around any structure. A MaxScent minnow or flatworm (if you can find them) for smallmouth or drop shot/wacky rig a senko for largemouth. If fishing shallow, a 5” wacky rigged weightless senko is usually a good bet.

Had a great day yesterday. Did a dawn-dusk canoe/portage trip into a back lake with a buddy. He showed me how to fish structure, incl. hauling a 5# largemouth off a downed tree. We thoroughly worked a big log that ran down a steep slope 20+ft of water and he broke off what he guesstimated was 6#+ at the boat (8# fluoro, working a drop shot). It did a wallowing jump right at the canoe and it was massive - visibly bigger than his 5#. He needed a moment after that but laughed it off. lol I caught quite a few small bass and a handful of decent ones including my PB largemouth off that big log that we estimated at 3# and some change. I grew up catching smallmouth and have really only started targeting largemouth this year, and what I learned yesterday will really help me on future trips. As the sun was going down I tied on a brand new 100mm Yo Zuri 3D Pencil Popper that I really wanted to try, and tossed it out over a hard rock shoal. Time was running out as we didn’t want to be walking the 3/4 mile out in the dark, so I said “OK, last cast” and cranked it out. I walked it maybe 10ft. and it got whacked at but missed, then 10ft. later hooked up the orange-est smallmouth I’ve ever seen. I have not done any adjustment to the photo attached, but would say he was even more orange in person. It was certainly a great day!

Kellss… how’s you do on Pigeon Lake?

I’m looking for a higher gear ratio baitcaster and a local fella has an Abu Garcia Revo Ike 8:1 for sale at a decent price. Is this a good reel? The fancy purple makes me worry it’s just a premium price for flashy looks.

Nice grouper in that first pic.??

We added a couple more spots to our shore fishing menu this weekend. Finally got a hook into one on a hollow body frog, then went for a short walk-in at a small lake and my son hooked and landed his first ever on a spinnerbait. After catching a few on a TR worm, I decided to toss a dropshot out into a bit deeper water and caught a decent one - my son did the honors of landing it for me and holding it for a photo. Gotta start somewhere size-wise and sharing these “firsts” together is a lot of fun. ?

Thank you for posting this and to all for the great replies. I was fishing a TR worm today, which is pretty new to me, and got to wondering if I was fishing it “correctly”. Sounds like I need to slow it down quite a bit.

One trip to Brennan’s in New Orleans for turtle soup with a glass of wine, and you’ll change your mind. ?

Well, that’s a crappy way for a working man to (late) start his year.☹️

So, my son and I spent a couple days at a friends cottage on the weekend. We’ve been there a few times this summer and done some fishing. I’m trying to figure out the lake in a 14ft. tinner with no electronics and no trolling motor, just contour maps and my best guesses. So far, it’s been hit and miss. We’ve tried frogging and other surface lures, wacky rigged senkos, Texas rigged worms for largemouth and crankbaits, surface plugs and mostly drop-shotting for smallies. Most times we go out (a couple hours at a time, usually) we catch a handful of small bass - most less than a pound. We have caught some better fish including a +/- 2.5lb. largemouth. My friend is not a fisherman at all and has gotten to teasing me with pictures of local kids catching some nice bass and an old book full of b&w photos of big bass. Every time we come back he wants to know how we did and laughs when we give about the same answer. It’s actually started to get annoying. This weekend, their nieces boyfriend (probably about in his late 20’s) was there. He enjoys fishing and his lady had bought him a Walmart spinning combo and a box of assorted hooks and carnival coloured grubs. Literally a kids fishing outfit. He was fishing off the dock so I said hey, let’s go out in the boat. Super nice guy, but he had no idea what he was doing. He routinely forgot to open his bail to cast and was fishing with a plastic grub on a hook with a couple small split shot on the line about 2” above. He could only cast about 15ft. and his line looked like probably 15# mono with lots of coils going out into the water. I caught several of my usual tiny smallmouth, he caught a couple rock bass. But a very nice guy and we had fun chatting. Anyway… my son and I left Sunday night. My buddy texted me a picture of their guest holding about a 3# smallmouth last night, laughing and saying there are big bass in the lake so next time we come up his nieces boyfriend will take me out and show me how to catch them. I know it’s hilarious. And I’m really happy for his exciting catch. But, holy cow it’s annoying! ?

Yes. The MaxScent Flat Nose minnow has met or exceeded our flat worm results on Lake Ontario and consistently out fishes similar non MaxScent stuff. I’ve not tried the hit worm.

He’s got some good girth. Probably weighs up more than you think. ?