Too Perfect...

This past weekend I noticed the weatherman (no, not Brick Tamland) was calling for Tuesday's high to be near 20C. I called on my trusty sidekick Hedrik to see if he could give me a hand, but unfortunately he was busy. Remembering one of our lab's new undergrads, Travis Raison, is an avid bass angler and has expressed interest to another labmate of mine in going muskie fishing, I shot him an email. He was free yesterday and we agreed to get an early-ish start to maximize our time on the water.

When we arrived at the launch the river was like glass. In hindsight I should have snapped a picture, but I was too stoked to hit the water to have that amount of foresight. If Tuesday morning had been three months earlier I would have rigged nothing but topwaters! Although one should never discount the power of surface presentations, I had a better idea of what might produce for us.

Apparently I was a little cocky because what had worked this past Friday and Saturday produced nothing for us (big surprise, eh?). The system we were fishing doesn't require the mental capacity of a rocket scientist (or a Master's degree for that matter...) and it's merely a matter of staying at the right depth (weed edge) and cover water.

Towards midday I turned to see local angler and Loomis rep Wally Robbins passing by headed toward an area that was going to be my next spot. We finished up our drift and ran down to have a chat. It turns out that Wally was fishing with local outdoor writer Tim Allard. Tim's writings are prominent fixtures in Ontario's largest outdoor magazine, Ontario Out of Doors. He's also just finished a new ice fishing book. I have a copy waiting for me back home in Illinois, but was able to check out a copy from a friend. If this book doesn't get you excited to ice fish then I'm not sure what will. The pictures are superb and capture the essence of ice fishing, from peering into an 8" hole to the thrill of pulling a lunker from the depths on a sunny winters day. Pictures aside, the content is what makes the book. Tim goes in-depth into everything from electronics to how to catch your favorite quarry, be it panfish or trout, and everything in between. Take a look at Tim's book online or see if your local tackle shop has copies or can order them in: Ice Fishing - The Ultimate Guide.

Tim also does photography and snapped a few (quite a few actually) photos while we were out there. Looking forward to seeing them and I'll be sure to post them here.

After parting ways, Travis and I went back to fishing. We casted a rock spot and then returned to fish weedlines. The wind picked up so I had to move the boat across the channel to the opposite side. As I slowly slid my Red October tube back to the boat I had a "Rideau Runt" grab it about 15' away, but the hooks never penetrated. Maybe 10 minutes later as my tube slid forward and then de-accelerated at the end of the rod's sweep (the slide-and-glide), a slightly bigger fish darted up and thumped the lure. This time the hooks found flesh and it wasn't long until the small 30.75" was in the net. The little female had a tummy full of something large and deep bodied, a panfish perhaps. Its blood was easy to get and she was soon on her way. We had one more sniff from some kind of esocid that swirled on a Top Raider at the boat, but aside from that we had barely any action all day. I guess the weather was too nice...