2014 Season Recap *pics*

[steverowbotham]

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.






 

 

[steverowbotham]

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.





 

[steverowbotham]

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.

 

[steverowbotham]

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.

 

[steverowbotham]

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. 

 

[steverowbotham]

[steverowbotham]

 

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.

 

[steverowbotham]

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 3^rd, 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.

[steverowbotham]

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.

 

[steverowbotham]

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 2^nd 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.

 

[steverowbotham]

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.

[Dwight Hottle]

You had a great season. Congrats. Your located in the sweet spot for some really nice fish.

[KritterGitter]

Some beautiful fish there!! Off subject, what kinda boat is that? I really like the setup from the looks of it.

[steverowbotham]

Some beautiful fish there!! Off subject, what kinda boat is that? I really like the setup from the looks of it.

it is a Legend Xcalibur 179. 17.5ft Deep V

[KritterGitter]

Awesome, Many thanks. Think I just found the boat Im looking for after a lil googling.... Oh and congrats on your boy! Just had our lil girl in September.

[DFrench97]

Sweet pics!  Hopefully next season will look like that for me!

[A-Jay]

Sweet recap of a most memorable season ~ Congrats.

 

Plenty of work went into both.

 

Thanks for sharing it.

 

A-Jay

[bassr95]

Wow, that is an impressive year! I would love to catch some of those giant pike, my biggest is only 33"!

[AK-Jax86]

Awesome year man! Congrats on the best catch your baby boy

[fishinfiend]

great job man!!

[Catch and Grease]

Wow, you had a great year. Those lake trout are just awesome...

[steverowbotham]

Wow, you had a great year. Those lake trout are just awesome...

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

[Catch and Grease]

Well I hope you catch plenty more soon!