The Land Down Under

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I had the pleasure of fishing with a couple of Sheila’s from down under today. Magali & her friend Amy were in Montreal and wanted to catch some Canadian fish. I was about to make their wish come true!

We headed out shortly after 7:00 in a NE wind that was still hanging around, causing me headaches. My usual drifts were upset by the opposite movements but I was still managing to make it work. Amy was the first to lock up on a fish and she soon had a walleye in the net. It was also a keeper and went into the livewell for them to take home for dinner. I later found out that it was also her birthday and hoped to make this a day to remember! We made a bunch of passes over the fish, marking all kinds of them, but bites were few & far between. I kept at it for a while and although they did have several more hits, they just kept coming off. Time to move!

Our next spot wasn’t loaded but on the first drift, Magali locked up on a nice smallmouth bass. She had never seen one before and was amazed at how hard they fought. Soon enough she was holding it for her first Canadian, fish pic! Too bad this was the last fish from here and after about a half hour of dodging mats of floating weeds, we headed elsewhere.

I was now on a spot that required more casting in a current and drop shotting would be the way to go. Magali was up front with me as I held the boat in the current and instructed her on what to do. It didn’t take long before she was tight lined on another smallie. Although not really what we were looking for, it was nice to see! We were on a quest for more walleye for them to bring back to eat tonight. Several more smallies were also caught before Amy switched spots, coming up front to try her luck. Although the back of the boat is a good place to get bit, the front gives you much better control. She was beginning to realize this as she landed a number of good fish. One of them was even a walleye and it accompanied it’s buddy in the tank! Eventually we stopped getting bit and I relocated once again.

The next place was a shallow bite and Amy had a big bass engulf her soft plastic lure. It was great, because it was all visual! She had seen the entire strike as the bait disappeared. This was definitely her birthday fish! A few pics later she was releasing her catch for someone else to enjoy. We covered a bunch of water and only landed a few more fish with Magali bringing a couple of really good ones to net. More pics and releases and we made another run to a distant area to continue our quest.

This place was definitely holding some good fish as Amy hooked into a nice big, rock fish! She thought she was stuck before I instructed her to set the hook and hang on! Rocks don’t move and this one was definitely going crazy. It also brought a small pod of other bass out of the shadows and hopes of a double header was on my mind. Unfortunately we had to settle with just one, but it was another good one! We fished the entire area after and only managed to get one other bass in the process. I didn’t even see many cruising which caused me to believe that they just weren’t here! Off to another place again!

I had wanted to get them a few more walleye and decided to return to a place that should be holding them. I think that Magali hooked up on her very first cast and this one turned out to be a Walter that went straight into the box, after a quick pic. It was her first decent eye after catching a much smaller one this morning and deserved a photo. We went right back it and managed to bring one more walleye and several more bass into the boat afterwards. One of the smallies turned out to be Amy’s largest of the day and a well deserved pic was taken once again. Once this area stopped producing, I decided to try one last spot before we ended the day.

I headed back to where we began to see if the fish were more cooperative. The winds had diminished considerably and we were actually able to get a partial drift, almost in the right direction. I also set them up with jigs instead of the earlier drop shot rigs and gave instructions on how to fish them. Not long after, Magali hooked into a nice big eye and definitely her best one of the day. I had to get a better pic and showed her how to hold it properly. It was way over the slot and we released it quickly afterwards. I think she hooked up again on her very next cast and this one was acting even bigger. We soon realized why as she had a musky on the end of her line. As it got closer to the boat, it jumped and soaked both of us when it hit the water. Sizzling runs on light tackle and a great fight soon ended when I netted her catch. I didn’t want to stress it out more so I kept it in my grip for the pics. She was perfectly fine with that when she saw the teeth on it! The release was instant and it bolted away unharmed. One more walleye was landed afterwards but several more strikes were also missed. We ended the day shortly after and definitely on a high!

It’s not often that I have the pleasure of fishing with only women and it definitely makes for a relaxing day on the water. Today was just that as we fished many areas and caught in each & every one. According to them, this was by far the best fishing day they ever had! They landed several species and ended with a bang. The bonus of the day was that they were going to be able to eat their catch and I couldn’t wait for their review. It may be winter down under in Australia right now, but it’s definitely summertime up north. Along with the great fishing, they got to experience some unseasonably warm temperatures for this time of year. Definitely a win, win kind of day!