Saugeen River, Ontario, Canada

[Phranchise1213]

Made it out to the saugeen river on Saturday. First impressions were great. Will be headed back soon. Left my place in London at 4 30 am and arrived at launch at 630 am, armed with a few different rods and presentations to chase some smallies for the day. 

 

A foggy cold morning. 

 

 

Sun decided to come out and fog began to break up around 9. Was a slow day to start. Didn't get a bite until late morning when a largie took my jig in some submerged brush. (The stretch I fished had so much submerged timber, it was difficult to figure out what style of laydowns was the predominant pattern)

 

 

Had to get out of the yak only once to walk the boat across a shallow rock flat. Was fun fishing the riffles while standing in the river, no takers though. 

 

 

On the paddle back upstream, had several hits on my spinnerbait, unfortunately, all 3 shook loose at the boat, all of them in the 2-3 pound class. Finally hooked up with a 20" saugeen smallmouth, well worth the persistence.

 

 

 

Will be headed back later this month to fish a different stretch. Very impressive river. Saw lots of 3-4 pound smallies staging behind rocks in the river and a few muskies to boot. Might have to contact an outfitters next time and have them drop me off upstream. 

 

Tight lines all

 

Phil

[roadwarrior]

Sounds great.

 

Nice pics, too!

 

 

 

[EvanT123]

RW said it best^^^

[Tuckahoe Joe]

Good looking smallie!

[lmbfisherman]

Always wanted to try the Saugeen, looks like a great day!  I haven't taken out my Kayak for 4 weeks, been nursing a hand soreness..but I don't think I can wait anymore.  Thanks for the motivation!

[bighed]

I'd be in hog heaven just fishing in such a beautiful place!  Can you give the specs on the yakas far as what you've added and options?  Thinking about getting one myself.

[Phranchise1213]

bighead, its a Tarpon 120, with not many modifications. I wanted to utilize the slidetrax system on it, so I purchased the sideboard and transducer deployment arm from Mad Frog Gear to mount my humminbird. This way you don't have to drill into the yak to mount one. It slides off and on with ease and is powered with 8 AA batteries inside of a watertight tupperware container. Other than that, I just have a milk crate with some PVC rod holders and some rod stagers on the front hatch to hold the rods I am using most. Kayak fishing is a lot of fun, but can be frustrating battling wind and current while trying to fish... until you get the hang of one arm paddling that is. Good luck. The new Old Town Predators look awesome if you are in the market. 

 

http://www.oldtowncanoe.com/kayaks/predator_family/

[bighed]

Thanks for the feedback!