Bassfest '17

[Tim Kelly]

I've been very lucky over the past 10 years to have a trip to the US and Canada every other year by the kind invitation of friends. The last two trips I managed to fit in a stop in Syracuse to fish with Jim Husnay Jr and Snr and John Franchot for a couple of days before meeting Tim Johnson for a trip up to the Rideau lakes in Ontario. This year I couldn't work in the Syracuse stop, so I didn't get to see the guys there, or fish my favorite Oneida lake, but flew straight to Ottawa where it was easy for Tim to meet me for the start of the much anticipated "Bassfest '17"

 

Tim has had a cottage on Newboro lake for the last 4 or 5 years, and before that we stayed at Sterling Lodge on Newboro. It really is a slice of heaven and an absolutely other worldly experience when you're used to fishing the River Thames in London, UK! Like a lot of southern canadian lakes it's a weedy aquarium with beautifully clear water and willing, tourist friendly, bass.

 

 

 

Days start well on Newboro.

 

We certainly had a week of mixed weather this year and had a few days where I didn't seem to have packed enough clothes (space is always at a premium in the suitcase as there's much more important tackle to bring over!) and was double fleeced and under my rainsuit all day, but we had enough good days to give a nice contrast in conditions. It upset the bass a bit some days, but overall we did very well. The last couple of times we've been counting all the bass we caught and the weight of the best five, which involved them spending a lot of the day in the boat's jacuzzi, but this year we went MLF style and weighed them as we caught them and Tim kept track of our best five. This system seemed much better and allowed the fish to be returned quickly and saved me from a severe case of bass thumb chasing them round in the livewell every day. Last year our best bag was 15.04 and our days varied between low twenties to seventy odd bass total. This year we beat our previous best bag on a number of occasions and as we only counted legal bass this time, the numbers were pretty good too. Between mid twenties and mid fifties. We had two bags over 16lb, which we were pleased with, mostly from punching baits through the weed mats that had blown up in a few areas. 

 

 

A few of them going over 4lb and a good number of 3lb+ fish.

 

I love that mat fishing. Punching 1oz weights with creature baits through the floating canopy on heavy rods and strong braid is just flat out fun. Makes a mess of the boat, but the scene of devastation on the decks just shows you've had a good day! Probably our best day was a 51 fish day weighing 16.08. Around half of those fish came out of one huge grass mat. Bruised ribs and big grins everywhere!

 

The first afternoon was interesting as it was a bright day and we started fishing shallow in the shady pockets. Tim was throwing a senko and I was skipping a jig behind him. The jig seemed to be preferred by the fish and I caught the bigger fish With a 4.02 and 3.10 being the big fish of the afternoon (15 fish for 15lb exactly). That pattern didn't last though of course and the following day was cooler and windy and we only managed 31 fish for 11.03. The third day was even more awkward. The wind howled and so we slept in until 6am to give the first storm of the morning a chance to blow through. We found fish on jerkbaits, ned and brush hogs mainly and unusually very few fish seemed to be using the deep weed, where we would expect to find them, but more open areas, which gave ned a chance to shine, and pads, which gave the platform to the brush hogs. 25 fish for 13.12. 

 

 

Dr Johnson with a nice punched fish.

 

 

Senko under a very smart dock

 

 

Nice one up shallow, hiding from the wind.

 

 

On the 18th we had a day on the St Lawrence with guide Dean Meckes. What a nice guy he is. It was the first day of practise for the elites and we saw Adrian Avena's boat and Justin Lucas' fishing the area we were in near Clayton. Really fascinating way to fish and we learnt a lot from dean. I couldn't buy a bite with the drop shot until the very end, I think my 3/8 weight wasn't working as well as when I swapped to a 1/2 later for some reason, but it's a learning curve in that current and depths. Would love to go back there now having had the day with Dean and watched the bassmaster live coverage. I definitely feel like I could fish it far better a second time. Tim had some nice ones to about 3.08

 

 

My most fun fish was one that followed a jerkbait over shallow water . I saw the fish as the jerkbait was a good way out from the boat and I dropped the jerkbait rod and picked up a senko and fired it out there while the fish was still looking at the jerkbait. Very satisfying when it sucked it in and gave a great ariel battle as it was so annoyed with itself for being so dumb!

 

 

Dean caught a fish that looked like it had been messing with Mike Tyson.

 

 

 

After that we had a day and a half to fish back at the cottage. We had a few punching sessions that were only moderately successful, after our huge success earlier in the week, as far as numbers go, but it still produced a couple of better quality fish and we found fish in various places on various methods. For the last half day we went through to the original big mat place to see how that was doing and the wind had shifted it around. It wasn't very productive, but produced a four pounder. Tim put on a clinic with a brush hog in deeper water for a while too. We bumped into some young guys while we were waiting for the lock who told us they had been catching smallmouth in a place we've never really had any luck, so the last hour of the trip was spent there. Tim had 3 small smallies and I had a proper one follow to the boat, which was a very tantalizing way to finish the trip. Unfinished business there!

 

 

"Weather" provides stunning sunsets in Canada

 

 

Coming to the end of another 5am to 9pm shift in paradise. Give me a week to recover and I'm up for it again!

 

[A-Jay]

Nice Read, Cool Pics & Several Sweet Bass,

Congrats and thank you for sharing your awesome trip.

A-Jay

 

[BassNJake]

Thank you for sharing !!

Looks like an amazing trip !!

[UPSmallie]

Beautiful pictures!

[Will Wetline]

What a well written report. Thanks, Tim!