African Slams

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July 25th 2018

 

Cameron & Andy had the pleasure today of fishing for something new. Being from Africa, they were use to saltwater fish and were looking forward to catching a few new species. I knew they wouldn’t be disappointed!

We hooked up at the usual 7:00 time and headed out in a big SE wind. It was also blowing three footers directly on the ramp, making for a tricky launch! The run to our fishing area wasn’t too bad, even with the big waves. This Ranger really makes for a great ride!

I set the lines and gave the usual orientation on rod removal and began the troll. Within 3 minutes they both had landed their first northern and they were well on their way to another freshwater slam! Andy had flown all the way from Africa to visit his friend Cameron that now lived close to Toronto. They were staying in Montreal for a few more days and then heading back to Ontario to where Cameron lived for a couple more weeks. I wanted to make sure they landed as many fish as they could and trolled through all kinds of great looking water to do it.

Although they had now landed many northerns, I was still searching for some quality walleye for them to catch. The waves were pretty good with these big winds and I thought this would make it even better. I finally hit on an area that began producing fish and some pretty good ones at that. In no time they both managed to bring several nice over eyes in the boat but all were released due to their size. I had hoped to get couple of keepers for them to bring home but continued to hook up on only larger fish. Not a bad problem to have!

After countless fish throughout the morning, the overcast skies finally gave way to some sunshine in the afternoon. This also helped the fishing somewhat as they were finally able to put a couple of keeper walleye in the livewell for their dinner tonight. Along with these walleye, they still continued catching much bigger ones too and Cameron completed his slam by landing a huge largemouth bass as well. He had never seen one other than in magazines and on TV and was really happy to finally catch one this size. While trying to take pics of his fish, we had a little fire drill with multiple rods going off. So much so that I had to put the largie in the livewell, just to net all the fish they were catching. Each time I managed to get the lines back in, another reel fired and I had to wait again. Nobody seemed to mind as they caught 6 more fish in about 5 minutes time! Eventually I was finally able to take a few pics and he released the bass afterwards.

Andy had wanted to try for some smallies late in the afternoon and after many more pike & walleye, we switched it up. I headed closer to shore where I knew they would be able to get into some decent fish and they weren’t disappointed. Despite the overcast that had returned, I was able to find what I was looking for and they threw soft plastics for the fish in this area.

Cameron was the first to hook up but unfortunately the fish had all the control. After a couple of jumps it finally bounced off the big engine and was gone. He realized at that moment that these things were out of control! They weren’t like trolling pike & walleye, they were just mean! Andy had similar results up front when a big one took his bait twice and both times he missed it due to a light hookset. Things could only get better!

We didn’t really have much time left in the day and I wanted both of them to land some of these smallies that they were losing. I instructed them on what to do a little better and made them aware of a solid hookset. Next time the bass hit, they would hopefully keep them pinned!

By covering the water slowly they were both able to get into several of these bronze beauties but still managed to lose more than they hooked. Fortunately some of the better sized ones made their way into the boat before we had to go. Andy landed a couple of really nice ones and Cameron did as well. He even caught another walleye from the same area as an added surprise fish!

Right about 4:00 we called the day and I packed everything up for the run back. It would be a lot more pleasant than this morning as the lake flattened out almost completely. We had a little rain fall earlier and the winds just died afterwards. Smooth riding all the way back to the dock now!

This day was another great one filled with lots of fish and these guys enjoyed themselves immensely! They had caught loads of pike & walleye and slammed on bass in the end. Andy even managed to land a huge perch casting for smallies that gave him another species as well. Overall, they couldn’t have asked for anything more!!