After our visit to Finkles Park on Saturday, Laker John and I were ready to go on Sunday. Picked up the boat at Hay Bay and headed for Bath and the ramp. Arr'd to see one boat setting off westward!!!!
We launched and headed west also, the NW wind wasn't a problem, we motored past the duck hunters on the point and began to troll, just west of the lighthouse. We set four lures at different depths and headed towards the ferry. There wasn't the ice that we had seen on Saturday. On Saturday, the ice stretched to nearly the lighthouse and the fishing was east of that.
We trolled several miles marking some fish. We met the boat that we had seen at the launch and they were circling the area just west of Keith Shoal, speaking of which, here's a shot of Keith Shoal.
I took some pictures to show that we had fished on Jan 8th, 2012. This was better than the 6th of Jan in 2007 when we fought some really severe winds. This picture shows the water and winds looking toward the ferry.
As we trolled by the ice at Keith Shoal green buoy, we noticed the water temp was 32.6 degs F. We were marking fish in the 60-70-80 foot depths and weren't seeing anything above that depth. Made us think that the fish were at their comfort level, temperature wise and didn't appear to be ready to move up and grab our lures.
We took off and headed east and began to fish just east of the lighthouse in a little shallower water, we ran some small lures towards the shore and larger lures in the deep water direction. Suddenly, the insode board fired and we had a fish on, as I reeled in there was a huge swirl in the water where the lure would be and then nothing............In fact the CC Shad was cut off----Probably MR Pike.
We set up the back up rod and got the lure out, Trolled further and decided that we weren't doing the right thing and felt we should fish closer to the Gap. As I was reeling the outer inside board, the rod bent and board disappeared under water, FISH ON!!!!!!!!!!! Laker John got the board off and grabbed the net as I reeled in the fish. Suddenly,we could see the white of its belly - Mr Pike again. This time he was hooked to a Fingerling with two BIG trebles. John scooped and the fish was ours. A really nice sized fish.
The first fish of 2012................
We headed east and began to fish closer to the gap with some smaller lures, CC Shads and Flicker Shads. With the wind changing direction,we had a real quiet period and it was almost like fishing in early spring or late fall. It was really nice with the sun beating down on us.
Out of the blue one of the boards in the deeper water fired and Laker John was into a fish, still a 100 feet to go after the board was off and the fish fought like crazy. John skillfully brought the fish up and into the net, she was ours....
The first walleye of 2012....................
We weren't skunked after two fish landed. Trolling along after resetting the line with the fire-tiger Flicker Shad, we were both satisfied with the results, when that board fired again and this time the board went sideways and under water............. I reeled the fish closer to the boat and John slipped the net under a really nice Lake Trout.............
We weighed the fish and it tipped the scales at 9.0lbs. That's the biggest Lake Trout I've ever caught - Hey a Personl Best - Great Stuff!!!!!
Our confidence was high and spirits bright, when a board fired again, this time the fish let go before we got the board off. That makes us 3 for 5 - not a bad average for the first fishing of 2012.
We decided to call it it a day at 1445 and headed back to ramp and the shore.
Laker John has caught fish in that area in the past and was keen to fish there, I had only fished deep water with down-riggers and never saw a fish. His confidence in the area has rubbed off on me and now I'm a believer of that area.
I hope everyone enjoys my story about soft-water fishing in January in South-eastern Ontario.
Stay Tuned - the weather is showing temps still in the plus levels - never can tell when we'll hit the water again.
David aka Superdad
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