Saturday Sept. 19th 2009
Finally getting around to my blog on my first enchantment of Hamilton Harbour!!!
Well, we arrived at the launch and it was cold... had to put everything extra I brought
including socks. Everyone headed to blast off in the open area, but I had asked if I could
just hang on the dock and start fishing after everyone had blasted off and our T Directors
said no problem.
Received the call to start fishing and on my first cast with a pink senko, wham, I was
thinking you have to be kidding me right? Well, yea, it turned out to be an 8 pound pike,
darn. continued on and had no luck. Started to work out along one side and Sy was coming
in on the other, we met up and fished a shoreline together which came up fruitless for
both boats. We worked to a point than I left him to fish what looked like an awesome area,
just to find nothing, but i know there will be fish in this area at some point in the season.
Continued on to some docks, fished them hard, fished some shallow slop/weeds, even real shallow
before pondering my next move. Sy was just finishing up some docks while i was meandering out
from the docks so he told me to follow him and he would show me some deeper water for these
so far, elusive buckets. We ended up on a point and it was sure deep, 30 feet. We worked it
together with no luck. Sy disappeared up the shoreline and I soon found him but there was
another boat fishing as well. It happened to be Scotty/Sandie and they caught one fish and
I commented, "there are fish in here". I was so relieved to actually see a fish, it kind of
motivated me. After leaving this area I was really chucking a spinnerbait and covering water
extremely fast looking for anything that might hold some fish. I covered water for 15 minutes
on high zigging in and out of a 5 to 8 foot weedline and never saw a fish in the crystal clear
water.
Sat down contemplating next move at around 10:30 am or a little after.I paid up front as I
had no sleep the night before and told the T directors if I am struggling I might just head
home early. After thinking about going home I remembered Mark telling me about trees... so
I started up the engine and started searching for "trees". Saw some on the shoreline and
went in but these can't be the trees guys are fishing? One foot maybe 2 of water, crystal
clear etc...well, there definitely wasn't any fish on these trees, but there was a couple
more several hundred yards up the shoreline so i beelined it for them.
First cast upon the tree a 3 pound bucket comes out of nowhere and inhales my senko, I go
to set the hook and whooosh, no hook left. WOW!! I was ticked but also excited. I quickly
grabbed my second rod loaded with 8 pound line and fished the tree but couldn't get that
fish. There was one more tree several feet from that one and I finally nailed my first fish,
just under 2 pounds. Threw it in the well excitedly and cast to the same tree, bang, this
time a 3 pounder. I looked at my watch and said, man 11:30 , I have 2 fish, still lots of
time.I worked down the shoreline with a lot more enthusiasm now (no sleep, no problem now)
Came across 2 trees beside each other and picked off 2 more 3 lb plus fish. Wow, to see
these fish just appear out of nowhere and inhale your bait is the coolest thing in fishing!!
Well, there were no more trees to fish on that shoreline ( So I headed off in search of similar
areas. I noticed an area but thought, this place must get pounded day in and day out. The water
was much more cloudy here, actually, you could not see the bottom as wherein the last trees the
water was crystal clear.I started skipping my bait and after about an hour I plucked around 5
fish from here including a couple four pounders, as well I missed one or two. The biggest one
was a fiascal in the making. I skipped under the tree but my bait had jumped over a small branch
on the second skip, I yoyo'd it and sure enough get the hawg, he is thrashing on the one side of
the tree as I am motoring in with my net in one hand and trying to keep just enough tension on
the rod in my other rod meanwhile dodging the branches with my head, fearing that I am either
going to snap off or lose this fish or fall in the water or any combo of the above. Well, I
landed it, whew.... I figured i had around 15 pounds give or take for my 5 fish but still had
2 fish under 3 pounds. One more good one I thought, but where? I figured, well, I lost that
first one on that set of trees, maybe some new fish have moved in. I really had no other
options so I beelined it there and passed Scotty slowly working his way down that shoreline
in that direction. I didn't want to cut Scotty off and thankfully the trees I was heading to
were at least 500 yards or so and around a point from Scotty. Well I threw my bait at the tree
and lo and behold, mama largemouth was waiting, she went around four pounds.
What a day!!! From almost calling it quits to sacking 17 plus pounds and 12 fish in 3-4 hours
off of basically , 8-10 trees. I am now longing for my next trip to the Hammer!!!
PS, THERE ARE FISH IN HAMILTON HARBOUR !!!!!
Bass Wishes!!
Scholly
Team Tournament #6 Lake Erie (Weat only)
Saturday Sept. 19th 2009
This tourny is one that I always look forward to fishing because It is usually
no TUBES. This time of year it makes the guy's think a bit because it takes
them out of the norm of fishing with tubes.There are so many differant baits
out there you choice is from a tackle bag full of baits or a few select baits.
My choice is a few select baits and thats it but this time we said tubes could
be used and that made everyone happy.Ok now down to the fishing.My partner for
the day was Andrew Sokolowski,Drew is hard to fish with because you never hear
him all day HaHa.We had 11 anglers fishing this day and we all blasted off in
the same direction WEST of Port Colborne.Drew and I had our first spot in sight
but fighting the 3 to 4 foot rollers took a bit to get there,we hit a few that
were close to coming over the bow but we stayed dry I think because Drew just
laughed at me each time we hit one. We pulled up on our 1st spot and fished the
12 to 15 foot range and we found nothing. I said this could be a tough day and
again he just laughed.We moved in a bit shallower and started to see bottom and
this made me happy.I put on my chigger craw on a ball head jig and started
working the bottom, It didn't take long and we had 2 fish in the boat I think 1
each.The water was a bit cloudy so I decided to move to my second spot just in a
bit shallower on a ledge with 12 foot on the back side and before we knew it we
seen alot of good sized fish.We stayed on the shallow side casting in to the 12'
bring the fish up to the shallow and just as they got up there they smoked our baits.
We moved around just to see how many fish were in the area and it didn't matter they
were there.We changed up our baits to see if it mattered what they wanted and it
didn't.I don't think I threw a tube all day because my secret bait was working well.
Drew did a great job adding to the livewell and that was the only time you heard him
I think the comment each fish he got was Ok you can add to the well any time now. I
think at the end of the day we were pretty even so it really didn't matter because
there is no I in TEAM. We made our way back to the check-in area and most of the
guy's said that it was a tough day fishing, when we heard that I looked at Drew and
he had a big smile on his face.By the time we got to weigh we had a good idea that
we did have a good bag of fish good enough to take first with 18.85lb for 5 fish.
We also had 1 that was pushing close to 5lb thanks to Drews hot hand. Well thats it
for the Port Col West only Tourny for this year I can't wait for next year when I go
back to saying NO TUBES.
St. Catharines Bassmasters (Tourny Dir.)
Rob McIntosh (aka Catfish)
Individual Tournament #7 Upper Niagara River (Only)
Sunday October 4th 2009
Here we go back to the Upper river with bad conditons again.Dirty water, cloudy
with a chance of rain.What a great day for fishing. We had 10 members for this
one with 2 of us fishing alone (John Proc , and my self. We blasted off at
Chippawa ramp and guess who stayed in the creek thats right Mr.Scholl so that
made my desision to head to the river and fight it out for the smallies. I knew
that it would be a tough bit because of the dirty water and the cold front coming
in.I started out on the back side of Navy Island with 2 drifts in and no fish It
was time to move. I went across to the usa side and got 1 there but that was it.
Now what do I do, I sat for a bit then went to an area when sometimes everything
can be muddy but this area.I got set up and made my first cast,nothing 2nd nothing
3rd nothing, ok now what to do. Well this area was not as clear as I thought and
was using a brown tube so I changed up to another colour and BANG first fish, Oh
did I say what colour I changed to (I didn't think so) I stayed in this spot for
the rest of the day when I seen Scott and his partner fly by me coming from up
river knowing if there were fish up there I would not have seen Scott till later
in the day. With moving around just to see how big of an area it was and I found
out that there were 3 spots that they hung out at. You had to almost make a perfect
pitch or you could be off by 10 feet. The upper river can be a tough bite with the
conditions we had you just have to try and find a good drift with a differant colour
of water and change up your baits till you find what they can see and want. After I
got my 5 fish I tried about 10 other baits in the same area and found out that out
of the 10 only 2 worked.So remember even if you are fishing an area you got fish
before and are not getting any thing at the time CHANGE up your bait try different
approaches to your target, try tossing a marker so you know where you are casting
to and cast away, you will be surprised at what you learn.Remember time and patience
on the water will gain you more knowledge each time you go out and it will pay off
when you come across weather conditions of all kinds. This day payed off for me
again 1st place with 12.90lb in smallmouth.Now the next tourny will be back on Lake
Ontario and this lake has always been good to me,It's kind of like fishing the Upper
with no current,Erie with 4' waves and Chippawa with out the dirt.I hope that we get
no wind and clear water instead of the flash rain and wind storm that we got on the
last one on Ontario.
St. Catharines Bassmasters (Tourny Dir.)
Rob McIntosh (aka Catfish)
2009 Open Tournament
Saturyday July 25th
Well here I go with my first of many reports on our club Tourny's.This was our first club
Open tourny that any one could fish.We had 11 boats show up to register and enjoy a great
day of fishing. We got every one launched in no time at all and started up the river to the
mouth of the Niagara. Everyone was in single file by their blast off number and kept their
speed to a crawl (both John and I were very impressed and pleased with the club ethics and
manners that were used) Oh, did I forget to say that I was partnered up with our club Pres.
that I will call (Johnny get you wet) HaHa. We got out to the lake in no time at all, after
a short stop to check on one of the boats that had motor problems and give them a cell number
if help was required. They said that they didn't want to ruin our day of fishing and would
just fish their way back and call if they needed help.
It didn't take long to get the first few fish in the boat or should I say it didn't take John
to long to put the first few in the boat. We made a few different drift's untill we found what
we were looking for and just stayed on that spot all day ( location a secret ) unless you were
out ther watching us slay the fish. John made a few comments to me about" " you know we are
fishing right" . So I thought I had better start putting fish in the boat.Our Best depth was
22' on rock with sand around the edge, it seemed that they were holding in both rock and sand
because we caught them in both.John was drop shotting and I was (finessing) a tube, BANG John
this is a good fish get the net and before he even moved he came out of the water got scared
by the guy on the front of the boat spit the hook to be caught another day, The comment from
the front was"THAT WAS A BIG BIG FISH" , ya rub it in some more John. We continued on and it
wasn't long before I got the chance to rub it in as John lost two pigs along with 1 more for me.
Now I think we are even on the losses.The bite shut off around 11:00 till about 1:00 then we
started to hit more fish but nothing to cull our small fish out. We decided to do 1 more drift
then head into fish Navy and all of a sudden tic, I set the hook and the fight was on. It pulled
and pulled dug & dug then we saw it and it was in the boat, now there is a look that you like to
see from your partner when the fish is one that will cull it's a smile from ear to ear and then
you get that comment quit looking at it get it in the livewell and lets boogie.I tossed out the
small one and off we went. We got all the boats out and just started the weigh in and the clouds
opened up and just pounded us with rain but we all stood there till it was over and John and I
collected the win with 20.35lb.Oh and I should mention that the last fish did also get us the BIG
FISH ( 4.75 lb.) for the day so the comment from the front of the boat early in the day was well
forgotten but the soaked undies all day will not. HaHa. I would like to thank every one that came
out to our 1st Open and to Gerrard that came out at 6:00 just to help with the registration
(thanksbud). I hope that the guest anglers enjoyed the day and may consider joining Niagara or
St. Catharines Bassmaster to gain knowledge from some of the best anglers in the Peninsula, we
alway have a great time and fun.
Good Fishin
Rob McIntosh (aka Catfish)
St.Catharines Bassmasters
Chippawa
Saturday July 11th
The day started with all of us discussing what the weather gods had in store for us since the forecast looked pretty dim. The day indeed was one of those bizarre weather days that makes us wonder why we enjoy this sport so much. Sometimes I think we are all just plain nuts ( for fishing that is ). It was a pleasant 5 minute ride first thing to check out some shallow water largemouth. Senkos were tied on and I managed to entice a little 14 incher to the boat on the very first few casts. I worked the bank further and didn't really like what I saw. The weeds were not healthy enough and no fish were cruising the area. I told Kevin I'd put the trolling motor on high and work our way to do some dock fishing. We managed a few fish and saw some more cruising around but nothing big. At the end of the stretch I had what I thought was a little green fish tap me twice and I missed him both times. Now I'm ticked 'cause no matter large or small I hate missing the strike. I skipped in a third time and got him. Or should I say her and she was 3.95 pounds. You never now what that slight tick has in store for you. I then decided to make the run for smallmouth. Kevin picked up the 4.0 lber on pretty much the first drift and we both continued to catch fish although not that quality. At about 10:30 we heard the thunder and figured it was time to put on the raingear. Shortly after it started to rain and then it rained harder. We litterly could see walls off water coming at us and just stood there and kept fishing hoping the rods buzzing in our hands weren't going to attract any unwanted electricity. To top it off , the wind changed directions 180 degrees 3 or 4 times which made repeating drifts almost impossible. We caught a lot of fish in the 8 - 10 foot drifts around Strawberry Island. They were not the size I was hoping for but did allow me to cull a number of times. When the rain let up I decided it was time to chance the run back to Navy Island for a few drifts which were uneventful but at least the sun was coming out again. In the end I managed a 1st while my non-boater Kevin (Big Fish) MacDonald managed a 2nd place finish plus narrowly beating me out of big fish to claim his second Big fish prize in as many tournaments. Who ever draws him on the next tournament has the pressure on as I'm sure he will go for a three-peat ! Well it's off to Orillia for 10 days for the OBF Eastern Divisional. I'll see all of you August 9th on Lake Ontario. Let's get a big turnout for this one. It's going to be an exciting year !
Scott Huffman
Crystal Beach
Saturday June 27th
We were all chomping at the bit to get the season going over here and it showed with 20 guys showing up for the first tournament in Canadian waters. The weather was great and I think everyone knew it was going to be a good day on the water. Mine however, turned out to be (with lot's of luck and a great guy and boater in John Prokator putting me on the fish) one of the best days I have had to date. To my surprise, I not only won for the biggest fish but I was also able to take first place. I knew going into the weigh in I had a good weight but I never thought it would hold against some of the best guys around. I thought I had around 13lbs and didn't see what my weight on the scale was so I thought to myself, "I hope I make top ten". When Rob McIntosh announced the third place winner with 10lbs+ it hit me that I had placed top two. Rob then announced second place at 13lbs+, I remember leaning towards walking up to receive second place, then he said Scott Huffmam. I was now confused. A second later my heart started beating out of my chest, Rob looked at me and said "Yea, you won it". I had to pinch myself! I just won the whole thing. It's all a blur after that, it took awhile to rap my head around what just happened. The Big fish award was just the icing on the cake to cap off my first tournament win.
I look forward to fishing with everybody this year. See you on the water.
Kevin MacDonald.
First tournament of the season on Lake Erie
Saturday May 2, 2009
I watched the weather carefully the day before, afraid that the tournament might get cancelled due to SW winds of 30km/hr. But we were in luck, the winds were not as strong as predicted, and we were on for Saturday morning ! We started off the morning bright and early and headed over the river around 6am. The launch at the Small Boat Harbour was full of excitement, since we all had anxiously awaited this day, for the last six months. First thing in the morning the ride out was good, the water was choppy but easy to navigate through. We got to our first area just to check, at a depth of 32ft. We stayed here for about 10 minutes, without any bites, and decided to move to shallower water. Then we arrived at our second area, approx. 25ft deep, and started working a ledge. My partner Bill Henry got a couple quick bites, decent size fish, so we knew we were in the right area. We kept on working the areas in that same depth along the breaks with tube baits and drop shots. By one o’clock, we had caught numerous fish and had our two 20” limit. There was a little lull in the middle of the day, just before the wind picked up and that seemed to turn the bite back on. We moved to even shallower water just to see if we could find any females looking towards spawning, found nothing big. So back out to 24 foot water. We continued to catch heavy but short fish ( footballs) but couldn’t up our weight anymore. It was heart breaking to throw back 5 1/2 and 6 pounders that didnt measure 20".......but fun to catch! At ten after three, we decided to head back to shore for check in at 3:30. The ride back in was a little rougher, but we managed to stay dry. A good thing on a chilly day! We finished the day in 2nd place with 10.10lbs and our biggest fish weighing 5.55lbs.
Caught lots of fish and had a GREAT day!
Waiting for the next tourney.See you out there!
John Stathakos