Normally, I post the weekend results ASAP, but, this year, I had to sort thru 70 pictures of our new Grandson before I could get to the fishing pictures.
Then sizing and uploading and having to spend some time a the part-time position - well you can guess how occupied we are.
To get to the weekend - what GREAT WEATHER------ made us forget about last years' snow fall.
First I would like to thank Kevin and Jennifer for their hospitality and for saving me a dockspace on Saturday night.
Thanks also to Dan Elliott for the Quintefishing.com and to ALL the attendees at this years get together. It just continnues to get better and better.
On the fishing aspect, we didn't do as well as some and perhaps a little better than some others.
We got out to fish on Friday at 1300 and headed for the cement plant and the deep trench towards the ferry. Trolled many lures as we had time limit set for each trial lure. Laker John finally hit a favourable lure and hit a nice 9.75 lber late in the afternoon.
He got this beauty on a Bagley Monster Shad - it should have been a clue to the size they were wanting.
We fished into the darkness Friday evening and boy - did it cool off after the sun set. The inside of the canvas and windscreen got all fogged up. Thankfully we were close to the dock and were able to dock the boat. When I saw the boat the next morning, I wondered how I was able to wedge into the llittle space we had.
Saturday morning saw the boats all frosted up with the chilly night air.
Thankfully Ken had his Coleman heater and we were able to defrost the inside and outside windows to get out fishing.
We tried the same area for a couple hours and headed over to Hay Bay for looksee over there, back to the West Shore, but the weeds were too thick and we headed east of the ferry around noon.
We began close to the north shore on a huge flat and I hit an 8 lb pike on a Bagleys Monster Shad- Those salt water hooks sure did a good job. The pike was released sans photos.
We continued to troll around the Keith Shoal area with no results, although we saw three nets over the sides in other boats. Considering the number of lines in the water, the fish certainly weren't on the bite.
We headed back to Merland Park for the afternoon fish fry and met many anglers from previous years and some new ones too.
We headed back out at 1600 hrs and set the linesand we had a strike at 1615. Ken landed this nice eye and we thought we were off to the races solving the bite problem.
Needless to say we never had another hit, fishing until 2000 hrs.
One again, thanks Kevin for the dockspace as we came ashore.
Everyone gathered around the campfire for the prizes and the big winner. Next year I must write the names of people down, as my senior memory leaves me sometimes - Pardon the lack of names.
His biggest was a shade under 13 lbs - nice fish......
The crowd gathered closer to the prize table as Jennifer called the names and pile disappeared real quick. Great prizes.
Glad to see the former winner was back and although he didn't do as well as previous trips, Shane enjoyed the trip to Quinte. See you next year.
We were able to get out on Sunday morning for a couple of hours, marked a lot of fish, but couldn't attract any strikes.
Back to Merland and cleaned the cottage, loaded the boat and headed back to Hay Bay. Here's the trio who fished on ' Superdad ' last weekend. Laker John, Ken Tam and Superdad.
It's always a lot of fun to meet people who are generally known by their board names in person and to share tales and techniques. The fall gathering is a highlight in my yearly calendar.
See you all next year and perhaps sometime on the water before Fall 2007.
Best wishes to everyone for the holiday season and for the 2007 fishing season.