An Aussie’s Great Day

Sean saw a whole different kind of fishing today than he was used to. Being originally from Australia, he had fished mostly for Barramundi, but today he was targeting pike, walleye & smallmouth bass. Three fish he had never caught or ever seen before!

After yesterday’s success, I decided to start where I had ended and headed to the area immediately. The conditions were a little different with a big NE wind pushing against the current. We were running in two & three footers for most of the time but I knew it would be calmer when we arrived.

I set the lines and began the troll looking for a bite and it didn’t take long, Sean landed his first ever northern and was happy to see the pike. Soon after we were into another and this time it was much larger. I told him that it was just the beginning and that he would be catching plenty more!

We covered the water and I focussed in spots that produced, until they didn’t. Fish after fish came aboard and we even saw a few double headers too! Unfortunately all I could find were northerns in these places and decided to move along in search of some walleye.

After catching many more pike, we finally hit a small area where he landed his first walleye. It was definitely a keeper and went directly into the livewell with hopes of more to come. After several more fish, another larger walleye joined his friend in the well and Sean was well on his way to a great dinner.

We spent a lot of time trying to get more walleye and managed to hook into many more pike in the process. Fortunately he did manage another Walter and now there were three! This would definitely be enough for his family, with two young children and his wife!

I had been battling an opposing wind the entire morning and fended well under these conditions. Somewhere around 1:00 I decided to pull the plug and head somewhere else to see if I could get Sean into some bass. He had fished for largemouth before but never smallies and I needed to complete his slam!

We made a long run and stopped on a shallow water spot that I hoped held fish. To my pleasant surprise, it held the mother lode! On back to back demonstration casts, I hooked into smallies and it was game on! I quickly passed the rod for Sean to fight the bass and soon after had him casting the baits to others nearby. He caught on fast and was locked up on his very first cast, but unfortunately the fish threw the hook on a spectacular jump. Slack line was the cause but he would have plenty more chances to come!

For more than an hour we remained in this area and he picked up many more bass. No real giants but all good fish! There were however a few monsters swimming around that just seemed to refuse the plastics we were throwing. Even with a few changes, they still ignored our offerings!

I had hoped to put a few more walleye in the box for Sean to bring home and after fishing for bass, decided to give it another try. We slid out to deeper water and casted an area that held some fish. With limited time remaining in the day we were able to add three more walleye to complete his limit. Now he even had fish to spare!

Today was a great day to be on the water and Sean completed his slam with a bang! He managed to capture the three species we were targeting, many times over. Not only did he learn about our freshwater fish but he was about to taste probably the finest eating one as well. This was definitely a great way for him to end his first experience fishing in Canada!