2012 MCI Ottawa Outing

June 23, 2012 was the date of our Ottawa Muskies Canada Outing. Just like last year it was HOT.  Jerry and I teamed up once again and hit the Ottawa river in search of a big girl. We hit Duck island and ran into Tyler with his Petawawa buddies.

There were a couple of spots I knew we should hit, however I am experienced enough at fishing musky to know that I do not know how to fish these types of structure/landscape. I guess that’s a good thing.

It is not unusual for us to go out for a day and not catch a fish but that’s not a day killer.

We did see a wild cloud formation over the city (picture really doesn’t do it justice).

And a highlight for me was getting a fish, although not the species I wanted or even close to the size I wanted, on a new lure design I worked on this summer.

First time out 2012

Wednesday June 06, 2012.

Ken Taggart and I, after 3 years of saying we need to, finally got out for a fish together. Ken took me out in his new boat. Really nice ride. Ken took me to show me around the Madd.

We were on the water by 5:30 pm. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the shies sure didn’t look very favourable. We could see huge rain curtains off in the distance and dark thunder clouds that seemed to be following the Ottawa River.

We had hit a few spots without seeing a fish but we kept a positive musky attitude and I was just so happy to be out and for once letting someone else fight the electric to keep us on our spot.

It’s a good thing ken knows this body of water so well because many of the spots we casted I wouldn’t have even tried. We were on a spot for a short period of time and I was working the HellHound…twitch, twitch,pause…..twitch, twitch,pause….I had brought the lure all of the way back to the boat and as I always seem to do I stood there looking at the lure and wondering why it won’t catch me any fish when I saw her out of the corner of my left eye. I started to say “There’s one” and probably got out “ther” when she slammed the lure. I tell you a hook set with less than a foot of line out is sure like being  samurai.

It was game on. She took 4 or 5 feet of line off of the reel and I was so happy I had my gear setup properly. Ken then proceeded to make my musky experience just that much more heart attack material. I was standing on the folded over reach seat which was now holding on firmly to the handle of his net. I didn’t know which fight I should watch, the fish or Ken vs. the rear bench seat. I am pretty sure I heard “Chinese fire drill”

Ken finally got the net free and and we netted her. For my first fish of the year and not having got a single musky in 2011 she was as beautiful as a 50 inch fish.

 

We got so lucky that the bad weather was all around us but left us alone. Great day.

Josh’s first Musky

Aug 06, 2011

Once again the family did the 4 1/2 hour drive from Ottawa to Cameron Lake in Fenelon Falls for the annual MCI family outing. This year we booked a cabin so that I could take my boat.

Saturday morning I woke up Josh and we lugged the equipment down to the boat and headed to the far end and settled in for a troll.

I gave Josh the inside and had him chose the spinner bait. After about a half hour of no action I looked over at my tackle box and thought about this one lure I really liked and it has this story to it.

A few weekends before this we had the Arnprior outing and Mike was coming from Mississauga and posted on the MCI board that he was stopping along the way at Stacy’s for some lures and asked if anyone needed/wanted any. So I asked for 2 shallow raiders and 2 of whatever he chose for me. Funny but at the Motel he threw 4 lures on the table and asked me to pick the 2 that I wanted. Ironically the 2 that I didn’t pick were the ones he wanted to keep. One of these lures that I picked I really liked as a trolling lure. So when I took Josh out I put it on the end of his line. First time seeing water too.

At last year’s family outing Kert took Josh and I out for about an hour. Josh said he enjoyed trolling so all last summer I tried to get him to go out but at 10 years old video games and friends took more priority so we didn’t make it out even once in 2010. But Josh was very keen this year.

We had our lines in the water at about 8:15 and we settled back and enjoyed the scenery. I have to admit I wasn’t so sure how it was going to go when the rod went off but Josh was a real pro. In the video you can see that I have been preaching to Josh that the hook set is so important. Unfortunately I didn’t think to mention to him that when trolling the fish pretty much sets the hook on it’s own. Thank goodness he didn’t pull the lure out of the fish’s mouth. I also knew that he wasn’t going to be able to get the rod out of the holder under power so I had thrown the boat into neutral and thankfully we didn’t lose the fish because of the either. I had also added a lanyard to my net just for a moment like this.

I have to admit while we were trolling how the picture taking was going to happen. We got lucky, there were several people on their decks enjoying the morning coffee and a couple of guys came down to their docks to watch the action. As well there were several people at the cottage next door that watched and asked if we could give them the fish for their breakfast. So this picture was taken by the guys who came to watch. Lucky!

 

On Saturday evening Brian and Jason climbed aboard the boat in search of our own toothy critter and all I got all weekend was this guy on a 9 inch BullDawg.

The best part of this story? The MCI Family outing had a Swan trophy to the kid who gets the biggest musky. Another kid had a 43 and josh wanted to beat that. Sunday morning he gets up on his own and says “lets go fishing” So off we went. On our trolling run we did hit a couple of weed patches that made our lures peel off the rod. After the second false peel Josh looked at me and told me he wanted to go back home.  When I asked him why he told me “My heart can’t take it anymore, I get too excited when I hear the line peeling off” We now have a hooked musky fisherman in our family.

I Hate Musky Fishing

I just don’t understand why I choose to fish fro musky! Most times I don’t even get to see a fish let alone catch one.

Jerry Paolo and I hit the Rideau thinking that most boaters had packed it in after the September long weekend and boy were we wrong. It was a zoo out there and I hated it. So off to a spot I knew we would be relatively left alone.

So after some time I looked into my box to see what to throw next and I grabbed this new yellow jerk bait I bought. I offered it up to Jerry and he declined so I was really thrilled when I got a fish on it. The little guy did 2 amazing fully out of the water tail dances but then the fish went right and my lure went right.

Did I mention I hate musky fishing?

Some time later I was throwing my super top raider when I had a swing and a miss and we could clearly see the massive wake behind the lure as I reeled in. I suck so bad at figure 8’s that I didn’t have a chance to get this fish and she was a big one too.

After this event Jerry put on and threw out a creeper lure. These 2 seagulls showed way too much interest in his creeper lure and I didn’t think about grabbing my video camera quickly enough to get most of the best action but I got some.

Aug 6-8 MCI Family Outing

Muskie’s Canada had a family outing on Cameron Lake in Fenelon Falls in the Kawarthas.

They had booked 6 camp sites and we packed  in 18 pop up tents, 3 pop up trailer and 3 pickup trucks with campers. It was awesome and a really well run event with games and activities for the kids. Each kid won a prize and Josh got a new reel and a Swamp Donkey and Devyn got a new rod and reel.

Because we took the camper I wasn’t able to bring my boat but I was fortunate enough to have met Mike Parker for the first time and he offered to take me out fishing.

Saturday morning at 5:30 am we met up and headed out. Mike was a great guy not only to fish with but to know. He offered up the bow deck for me to fish from. On my 5th cast I got a small guy on one of my lures. Poor guy must have just swept at the lure because the hook was right thru his head. I tried but the fish was dying right in front of me. Mike was really understanding and did his best to make me fell better about it.

We cast for a while then headed out trolling. I know what it is like to run the boat and do everything else so I let my instincts kick in and organised the boat to suit the troll. I was tickled pink when Mike said “You make a good bitch”. I felt like I made a friend.

Later that day Kurt offered up to take Josh and me out for a troll and to see if we could get Josh into his first musky. I really have to thank Jerry for making this go so well. Jerry always takes care of the rods and lures while we troll and I really appreciate it so I took care of the 3 rods we had out when Kurt took us out and I could tell Kurt was really impressed and I think I scored some brownie points. josh was blown away with the size of the lures and how short lined we ran everything. Kurt’s lure was running pretty much right next to his motor. No fish but a great experience plus Kurt had the tunes cranked up and I really enjoyed that.

Sunday morning Mike took me and Jason (who organised the MCI event) out for a fish. I got into another small one using my lures and Jason hooked into a real fighter that I didn’t get to see because it was lost at the side of the boat. Too bad because it was great to fish with these guys. I hope I never forget when Jason looked over at my rod and asked about the lure I had on it.

This was one of the best weekends I had in a long time and I hope I get to see Mike again one day. He was a solid guy.

Sunday July 11, 2010

Hit the Ottawa River with Jerry.

In a word it was HOT.

We hit Duck Island close to shore. We found the bait fish (with some aggressive perch attacking our lures) but not toothy critters to speak of.

With the heat we decided to troll.

“Lets hit Joe’s hump” was the obvious choice. Even the trolling was tough. There were boats everywhere and we even found ourselves being buzzed by seaplanes landing and taking off.

Thru half way in the day we got an eye full. Jerry said she was totally nude but all I could make out was a set of tits. Regardless it was pleasing to the eyes.

We headed around the west point of Duck Island when my rod went off. When I pulled it from the rod holder no one was home. I must have snagged bottom.

Around the point we went and headed over to Joe’s hump. As we were going from 25+ FOW and the rise to 13 FOW my rod went off and this time we knew for sure it was a fish.

She was a scrappy mid 30’s fish. It just wouldn’t calm down a tiny bit so I was very concerned about getting gill raked I put on a glove. The water temp was 80+ deg and the release was not a good one.

Father’s Day 2010

Not sure how to express how thrilled I am to publish this but Jerry called me out of the blue in the afternoon of Father’s Day and said let’s go out for a few hours.

Ho-hum I agreed. We hit one spot, nothing then with the electric we dropped into Mr. Bojangles home to see if he was till around but he wasn’t.

Jerry and I found this one spot on a big flat that we both agreed should hold fish but had yet produced.

I was working one of my lures and Jerry was working a glide bait. I am always so impressed when i fish with Jerry. He puts in so much effort and time to learn a lure and will often use a new lure much longer than I ever would without getting a fish.

I let out a long bomb and just as I heard the splash of my lure I heard commotion behind me and turned in time to see the swirl and the hook set.

Jerry said it hit about 15 feet away but from where I was standing it seemed so much closer. I remember reeling in as fast as I could, I so wanted to net this fish for Jerry more than I wanted to catch my own fish. Half way thru my reeling I could see Jerry already had the fish at the boat. For a second I thought about putting down my rod and reel but I paid $475 for the combo and wasn’t going to chance it.

I finally got my line in and like a Chinese fire drill I got the net ready. Jerry worked at getting the fish to the net and it just didn’t want to get it’s picture taken. I am pretty sure my heart was racing as much as Jerry’s was.

Then I pulled the bone head move and did what I tell everyone in my NOT TO DO. I reach for the fish, I so wanted to net her that I knocker her in the head. A real amateur move and worthy of being thrown overboard for. Thank god I didn’t knock her off. I really felt like shit but that passed once I scooped her up.

Jerry’s personal best casting at 36 1/2 inches.

What really makes this cool is we had talked just a bit earlier about how cool it would be to get a tagged fish. Well wouldn’t you know it, this fish was tagged. I must of had stupid for lunch because I couldn’t read the tag so I thought it was the best thing to do so I cut it off. More to follow.

Geez if it wasn’t 20 minutes later, same style lure, me with a full cast and Jerry hooks his second fish. I clearly remember giving Jerry heck for waiting until I was at a full cast before getting a fish.

This time I was a bit better at netting and not only was this also another tagged fish but it had a transmitter on it. I remember Sean telling us to remove the transmitters but I was still digesting my stupid lunch and removed the wrong transmitter. He wanted the ones with an antenna not without….DUH!

Another personal best at 39 inches.

Sean came by my place and picked up the tags and transmitter. He said the 36 1/2 was measured at 34 but his measuring is by tape and may not have been accurate. The 39 was measured at 39 and he told me the dates and locations of where they were tagged.

I have to say this was one of my top days fishing and I just couldn’t have been happier.