My favourite time of the year.
Bass Opener
Not only is the fishing fun, the company is even better. A group of friends, including my father, head up north for our annual opener.
We fish largies, largies, and only largies...of course pesky smallies and walleye seem to find their way in the boat. This years opener was one of our best yet. The most numbers of quality 2.5lbs to 4lbs bass we've seen, with a number of fours and one big girl thrown in the mix.
Weather was fantastic. Low(er) winds and very little rain. Water temps fluctuated from 66 degrees to 71 degrees throughout the day.
Senko's, spinner baits, flippin tubes, and poppers/frogs were the best baits...but just about everything we tried worked at various times.
Opener Morning: Day 1
Often the best part of opener is the sunrise. The anticipation is unmatched. It is like every single sunrise during salmon season combined into one momentous morning. Up before 5am I started the coffee and waited for the others to awake. Weather was supposed to be clear in the morning, clouding over for the afternoon, with chance of showers. Perfect! Took this opportunity to snap a beauty shot of the sunrise.
Dad, Bryan and I would be on my boat, while my buddy George was in his smaller 14' boat. We headed out to our favourite opener spot on the lake and dropped the motor. I wish I could just hit *pause* and enjoy that exact moment for hours.
My buddy Bryan noticed over by the waterline a couple of big deer. I just caught the back of them when they leaped back into the bush..they were really big!!!
I started with the same lure I've started my opener with since I bought my boat in 2004 - A Zell Rowland Pop R. I caught a largie on my very first cast. I knew that was a good sign. However, it was dad yielding his trusty Senko that produced the first good bass of 2015. Good job dad!
Water was cold at 66 degree's, and after the initial flurry of smaller fish, things started to slow. As the early morning turned into later morning, the sun started to warm up the shallows, allowing us to move in a little tighter. Dad kept with his productive ways, catching the next good bass of the morning.
We found some active smaller fish, but locating the bigger girls was a challenge. The spawn was definitely over, so I figured the bigger girls would be out in the deeper water. Didn't stop dad from finding another good bass. Bryan and I were getting taken to the cleaners by dad. What else is new.
Dad wasn't the only one finding the good bass. Bryan hit this big post spawn female on a flippin tube in some dispersed reeds.
I did manage to salvage one decent fish in the pads, after noticing her shadow under the heat of the sun. The morning was turning into afternoon and the air temps were really starting to heat up.
I'm not sure if it was the butt kicking dad was dishing out, the heat, or if it was the growls coming from my stomach, but either way, it was lunch time. We headed in and found George had a tougher morning, as he mainly was dealing with a leaky boat (his first time out this year). Dad was content with his morning and went down for a nap. This allowed me to sneak out for an afternoon fish.
Thankfully the clouds had started to build, cooling down the temps, making for a very nice afternoon. I picked up two nice largies on senko's (I'll cheat and throw them when the old man isn't around - as I always tell him they are "cheater" baits, lol). My buddy George was out for a boat ride, checking for leaks, and quickly snapped these two pics.
I headed back, grabbed Dad and Bryan, and we headed out for our evening fish.
Here's an ultra rare shot of dad working the casting deck...he hates it up there, lol.
Surprisingly, the evening fish was slower than expected, with only a dozen or so smaller bass being caught between the three of us. Dad did find one of these prehistoric beasts eager to inhale his offering.
With that closed day one of our trip. Tired we quickly resorted to bed. Getting back to the cottage after 10pm, then cooking dinner, makes for late nights.
Day 2 was very similar to the previous. Very little wind. Mainly sunny skies with a few cloudy periods. With the still air and heat, the fishing was tougher than day one. Heading back to the spot that we started the previous day, I hit my biggest bass of the trip.
Dad wasn't about to be outdone.
Bryan hit this nice girl as the morning heat started pumping.
And I picked up this beauty on a flippin tube working a break from 3' to 7' of water.
We took opportunity in early afternoon to catch a quick nap and made dinner before the evening fish. Unfortunately the evening fish was similar to the day before, with mainly small bass coming across the gunnels. However, Dad pulled this beauty out, his biggest of the trip!
Day 3 morning I found myself waiting for others to awake. A beauty sunrise again.
I continued to wait....guess it was going to be a solo morning, lol. The first morning with lots of cloud cover. I headed to a new section of the lake that I hadn't hit yet. It wasn't 6am. Lake was so peaceful and quiet.
As dad wasn't around, I pulled out the trusty senko's. Hit some fallen wood in 6' of water and BAM! Big girl. Net is wrapped up under crap. Didn't want to sling her in the boat. Got down on the knee and hauled her in. Yes.
Part of our trip is we hold a big bass derby pot. Biggest bass takes it. Usually the pot is big enough to pay your cottage fee for the week. I wanted to drop the scale on her, but I just put her in the livewell for a future weigh. I wanted to get my senko back in.
I moved off the wood, as there was a good amount of disruption during the battle on the last fish. I headed over to a weedline and threw my spinnerbait for a minute or two. Caught a few scrappy pike so I moved slowly back to the sunken wood. Out goes my senko to the same fallen timber and again my line goes tight. I do a very poor hookset and note a huge shadow doggin' directly at me!!! I barely picked up my line when she shot under my boat and around my trolling motor.
Damn! Got my motor lifted up, and the fish was still on. Huge luck on my side. You would have thought I would have got the net ready after bumbling the last fish but nope, I did not. This time I thought I was going to pay for it. The huge mouth came up to the surface and wallowed, exposing the barely hooked owner. I just prayed, reached down, and caught the lip with my thumb. I lifted her up and the hook fell out. Seriously. This pig was bigger than the last. As she was already unhooked, I just threw her in the well.....
Sitting on the floor of my boat, half in shock, half breathless, I tried to take in the moment. What to do next? Weigh my girls? Fish the timber more? Instead I did none of these. I just sat there taking it all in.
I knew I had to go back to the cottage. We all have to witness the biggest fish of the trip on the official scale (Berkley TEC). I couldn't wait any longer to find out the weights myself. The anticipation was killing me.
I took out the first girl, the one photo'd above. She went just a hair under 5lbs. I thought it was bigger. Oh well. Still a nice fish. Let her go. But my second fish looked so much bigger in the live well. I took her out for two quick timer shot photo's.
I figured I'd keep my anticipation high, and head in without weighing the bigger fish. My rushing back to the cottage at full speed peaked a few sleepheads interest. At the cottage dock we weighed the big girl. Not quite 6lbs, but very close. And our biggest opener fish to date. Awesome!!
A few more photo's at the dock and back she went.
I whipped up a huge breakfast for everyone. I was a happy camper .
We went out for an afternoon / evening fish. I tried working some deep spinnerbaits off the weeds, thinking some of the bigger girls like I found earlier in the morning would be hanging out there. I did find one good post spawn female, but like so many post spawn girls, the belly wasn't filling yet. They need to get back in shallow and feed up on the abundant shiners soaking in the warm sun.
We decided with the high sun and blue skies to head in tight to cover to see if we could find something hanging around the shallows. Dad found a nice girl feeding up.
But like the previous two nights, the evening fish was slower. Took a great shot of dad working his senko magic in the sunset.
We partied hard into the night. We all celebrated the good fishing, great weather, and life long friendships. This of course meant a slow start in the morning. I still managed to jump out of bed, still high on excitement from the day before.
Snapped this beauty shot.
However, the cottage remained quiet. No souls dared awake this AM. I decided I was going back to bed. Yep. It felt great.
We all slept in, and cooked up a huge feast for lunch, as it was our last day, and no point bringing home food. French Toast, Eggs, Bacon, Ham, Sausages, Hamburgers, literally, everything we had, lol.
As great as our success had been, my buddy George was having less success. His boat was giving him frustrations. Popped rivets kept him on shore for many hours. I decided we were all piling into my boat for the last night of the trip. Never fished with four on my 17' boat before (next to trolling). We made a decision to limit everyone to two rods per person. That meant we ALL brought a single senko rod, and a single frog rod, lol.
We headed to one spot on the lake that you can essentially cast 360 degrees on big weed flats, that way we could all just fish without worrying about hitting specific structure. Boat was cleaned out and I decided to basically relax at the tiller and watch the guys go at 'er.
As mentioned above, the evening fishing had been poor. But on this night things were different. The fish were on fire!!! I couldn't have asked for a better ending to our trip. My dad and two of my closest friends smashing bass left and right...and simply throwing senko's and frogs. Fishing does not get any better than that!!!
Here's a bunch of photo's I snapped from our final evening.
Bryan was the first to get on board with a big evening fish.
The boat had enough room for all of us.
I was just snapping shots as everyone around me was into fish.
But I just had to get in on some of the action.
Even with some nice double header fun.
I managed these last two photo "successions" ... I was having the time of my life.
George in action.
dad in action under the moon.
Just as we were getting ready to call it a night a silly walleye inhaled my senko. Silly Senko Walleye, lol.
A fun cap to a great opener!!!
I guess the only shot left is the best shot --- $$$$
Yep - I like bass fishing
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