First two weekend of Bass :)

This year I decided to buck tradition and start the year off by exploring new water that I never seem to be able to make time for before hunting season.

For the Sat of opener it was a toss up between two lakes in the Parry Sound- Muskoka area; decided to go with lake A.

We made a B line for the first weedy bay we could find and it wasn't long before my wife had the first fish of the season on a spit-n-image.

Nice little largie :)

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...55cd24d3e1.jpg

We thought we were off to a good start but that was the only action that sparsely pad covered bay produced.
This is when I start to realize that all I really want to do is throw hollow frogs in the weeds/ junk for largies. More specifically in the spot I traditionally go for opener....

Well it's still nice to see new water so we keep exploring and all I can bring myself to do is to look for weedy bays to feed my frogdiction but the P S/M area does not have the same amount of junky shoreline as the Bancroft area and this lake is not exception to the rule.
We do find one more nice looking bay but my frogs go happily walking through the pads totally unharassed :sad: As we start moving closer I see a good sized largie slowly cruising the pad edge. I flip a beaver off to it's side and with a little coaxing I get him to suck it in. Then it turns right towards me and my hook set pops the bait right out of it's mouth :madman:.... in the next 10 minutes the exact same thing happens two more times with two different fish :madman::madman: all about 10ft from the boat and all sucked in the bait, turned right at me and pop... I was not happy.
Even two decent smallies hitting the super spook off a near by shoal weren't enough to wipe the mope off of my face lol

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...627_110826.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...g?t=1436836182
That was it for lake A no more froggy water and the brown bass was just not doing it for me. So we headed back to me dad's place for some lunch and a little bit of Paddle Board Froggin. On the way I decided to take a look at the launch for lake B. When we got there there were three guys pulling their boat out after their opener. We chatted and they were really nice and they told me that the fish had been "on fire" all day and that they had boated about 35 largies.... looks like I picked the wrong lake....:sad:

Well after a late lunch and a bevy it was time to hop on the paddle board frog stick in hand. First cast and the morning's troubles were swept away as my Purple Kush was sucked off the surface by a respectable bucket. Luckily I was close enough to the dock to be able to get a shot of her.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...c395e07055.jpg

We did the board thing for the rest of the afternoon and picked up a few more decent bass but nothing over 3.5# but no camera aboard.

The next day I hit lake B nice and early but was by myself due to constant rain in the forecast. I looked at it as a good opportunity to test my new Frog Toggs.

Well the fish had managed to extinguish themselves by sunday morning. Buddy who had fished it the day before returned and after a little over an hour we crossed paths and he said that it was totally dead compared to the day before.... figures... I did manage to hook 2 and land one decent bass on the frog. The other managed to shake the hook by pinning one hook to the bottom of my boat... never had that happen before :whacked:
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...g?t=1436838405
Learned that not only can I operate my phone while it's in a ziplock bag but it takes ok pictures too.

The next weekend we were up in the Bancroft area and apparently I had not learned my lesson, so Sat morning we headed out to new water.... similar results. We got some smallies, wife got the biggest one on a modified gambler flappin shad, topwater
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...04_104836a.jpg

Then we chatted with a cottager who told us there were no largies in the lake :( so we spent a little while unsuccessfully trying for eyes and went off to do some chores.

That was it! The next morning I got up early and headed to my traditional opener water. Once I arrived and my frog hit the water crammed with pickerel weed, Labrador tea and lilly pads all was right in the world.... for a little while. I spent the next 3 hours flogging the frog :ninja: with little to show for it but a bunch of 10" bass (never caught so many on the frog??) and the place seemed to be littered with hammer handles.
Then I got lucky, a fish charges out of the pickerel weeds and hammers my frog. In the blur of action I only see it's length and think damn, another slimer. As I'm trying to shake it off without tearing up my frog I get a look at it broadside as she starts to head for the thick stuff.
Good thing the frog was well pinned to the back of her throat!
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...g?t=1436839232
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...g?t=1436839372
Photobomb Deer Fly!!! LOL:fish:

After this fish I moved into an area with better fish, nothing really photo worthy until this 3.5ish
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Later in the week I met up with a buddy to explore some more new water on lake Ont in the Toronto area out of his kayak. We found bass and landed about 10 small largies with this being the first and weirdest one... hit the frog hard and fought pretty well but...
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o...g?t=1436840250
No tail!
Through the ziplock again.

beautiful pictures and Sounds like fun so far, first couple weeks have been tough on our lake for Bass but landed and released a 5 lber and off to the Maitland River for my Smallmouth fix.

Wife managed her first 2 walleye of the year , think they have been in post spawn mode as well which hasn't helped.

Great pics and great story- a very enjoyable read.
Nice fish

Ya Big Mac, I don't know if it's the fact that the spawn was late last year and earlier this year but I've heard both reports of great fishing or tough times. I was surprised to see fish quite inactive in lake A and then hear that they were killing them in lake B which is just down the road.

Thanks Habs, glad you like it :)

Had a horrible time with photobucket this time, it kept rotating my pics 90deg one way or the other, going to the edit function to turn them takes so long... and then as soon as I would save it it would flip back over. Anyone have suggestions for a better place to store/upload pics?

The main thing is your getting out and having fun, and the fact the wife joins in now and then is a bonus, wife and I are back out again this weekend, at least on Saturday, :) get Sunday to myself.

21st wedding anniversary today and for our honeymoon we went on a fly-in fishing trip for the week so I have a KEEPER. :) :)

U must have some good balance to land fish off a paddle board cause I would be arse over tea kettle trying to do that. Nice fish.

I've always had decent balance but those boards are more stable than I expected. I've been fishing on them for about 2 seasons and I've only fallen in once while fishing. Still there is a reason for the cord tying my rod to the boat and why I don't take a camera or phone with me. I also did a little noodle chair fishing, that was a little more unnerving. Having a spiky bass with a sharp hook in it's mouth tear around you from the waist down is somewhat unsettling lol, got a decent scratch once and I think that was the last time I tried that.

Great write up and account of your bassin this summer. Seems like you are on the right track for a great season thanks for taking the time to share

I love reading the stories of fishing adventures… especially the days I'm stuck behind a desk and can't get out myself. Nice fish man. And I agree with some of the others here… good on you for not falling in on that board! Thanks for sharing.

Great fishing report Rugger. Some very nice bass in there but like the last one with no tail, you cut off your bride's face in pic # 1 :)

LOL. Ya and not just the first one; I actually cropped it out. She caught a spot of the paranoia and cancelled herself from FB and doesn't want pictures of herself online... It's a nice bass so I thought I'd find a compromise and she didn't complain.... not that I told her what I did heeheehee.

Great Looking fisH