COLUMN: Recent <b>fishing</b> trip almost too easy

It was like throwing a chunk of meat into a school of hungry piranhas. Never in my life had I witnessed such a feeding frenzy among freshwater fish ? not bass, not bream nor crappie, and certainly not catfish.

Once, as I reeled in my bait, a bass struck the lure with only about eight feet of line out. That sorta shocked me, so I set the hook a little too hard (well, actually a LOT too hard), which in turn caused the bait to fly out of the fish?s mouth and back into the water on the opposite side of the boat. In short, it was only a nip of the lip.

But before I could reel the in the lure, a 2-pound bass had swallowed it. And this one didn?t get away. It was like that almost the entire time my son, Daniel, our friend, Dalton Hudson, and I fished. We only fished a couple of hours and caught over 80 bass, averaging two pounds. The largest tipped the scales at over seven.

What?s crazy about the whole trip is how it came about. Daniel has a 22-foot saltwater rig that he needed to check out ? bilge pump, outboard motor, trolling motor, etc. ? before he took it to the salty waters off the coast of Mississippi or Louisiana. Dalton has access to a large lake, so the two of them took the boat to check it out.

While there, Dalton couldn?t help but notice Daniel had his spinning reels rigged with saltwater baits, namely plastic cocahoe (hope that?s the correct spelling) minnows. Didn?t matter to him, though, so while Daniel tinkered with his boat, Dalton commenced to cast out the cocahoe minnow. If I recall from what they told me, he caught a bass on his first cast. And it was like that for the rest of the trip.

Daniel began fishing, too, and in less than a couple of hours, the pair had caught over 80 bass, averaging around two pounds. The outing was so successful that they decided to try again the next day, and they bowed to pressure and even invited me. Using the traditionally saltwater baits again, the three of us caught 83 bass.

That seemed too good to be true, so Dalton and Daniel decided to go a third day in a row. This time they invited brothers B.J. and Justin Bailey, and that quartet again boated over 80 bass. Again, we?re not talking about yearling bass, but fish averaging about two pounds.

Therefore, if you?re not having much success with your saltwater fishing trips, you might want to hit the fresh water and use saltwater baits. Of course I?m sure there are freshwater plastic baits similar to cocahoe minnows but, as some folks say, ?If it ain?t broke, don?t fix it.?

The family and I took a whirlwind vacation to Colorado and got caught up in some of the devastating wildfires. In fact, it seemed that every time we left an area, or tried to leave, another wildfire erupted, and I?m truly surprised that Federal Fire Marshalls have not come around to question me!

May relate that story in a future column, but I have bored you enough for now. Until then, be safe outdoors, obey the laws, have fun ? and take a kid with you every time you can.

View the original article here

Ashley Rae And The One That Almost Got Away!

Ashley Rae of SheLovesToFish.com was kind enough to let me repost this amazing report she made of the massive brown trout she caught in Cobourg, right near where I caught my first steelhead. When you’re done reading this report please head over to She Loves To Fish and read more!

There are moments where blogs seem to write themselves in my mind while an experience is taking place. The sun shines a little brighter, the cool water swirls around my wading boots.. ducks taking off just downstream and flying feet overhead. It sounds to be straight from a book, but no – it’s fly fishing. This weekend was truly one of those times, and as I am writing this I am smiling while reliving it all over again.

Usually my blogs start off as a story and I save the best photo for last… but this time I am going to lay it on you right away. CHECK OUT THIS FISH:

My first ever brown trout caught yesterday here in Ontario, Canada. (Yes, mud on my nose! haha)

Brown trout are officially the most beautiful fish I’ve seen here in Canada. This one was spotted during a steelhead mission on a Lake Ontario tributary with my usual fly fishing partner, Mikey Fitzgerald. We made quite a trek down stream towards the big lake and began fishing when we spotted a couple trout.

Mikey:

“The area we found the two brown trout holding is what I would classify as a classic holding location. It was a deeply cut pool with wood on the steepest bank very close to an undercut bank. Migratory brown trout are literally suckers for areas like these. Two or three fish will stack up under the wood, and spawn at night at the tailout. We struck out with finding a spot like that.”

I stood on a high bank and casted down to the log that the trout were holding under. I was out of sight for the fish, and Mikey stood back enough to see what was going on. I could see my fly, but he had a better view of the fish. They were down low and tucked under a small log sticking out from the bank. The log was at the edge so the current swirled by the log, which was a perfect path for a “Pink Crystal Meth” fly. The fly caught the current and drifted right in their face. A few practice casts and tips from Mikey to get in the right spot and I was set. Now cast… cast… cast… and FLASH, SPLASH, FISH ON!

“Ashley, that is a HUGE brown!”

His words made me panic.. in a good way. Never had I been hooked into a brown trout! The battle lasted a few minutes and then the fish freed itself. A good story always has some heartbreak. I was really let down… but somehow I felt it wasn’t over yet. The fish moved into the stream and held beside another brown facing upstream. Mikey suggested letting the fish rest before trying for it again, and trying a different fly.

The next item on the menu - a "Fresh Fly".

This fly was larger and imitates rotting salmon skin… tasty eh? The smaller brown went at the fly first but missed and then after a few more casts…it happened. That big brown inhaled it… and the real battle began! I immediately backed off my drag and jumped in the stream and made my way across to a larger flatter area where it would be easier to land the fish if I had that opportunity.

“The fish generally tried to keep itself buried in the submerged logs, really bulldogging it and staying on bottom. It made a couple of really desperate runs to the back of the pool then back up to the head of the pool. What they love to do is try to wrap around anything they can find first thing and that’s exactly what it was looking to do. If Ashley’s flyrod had of been one weight lighter, she might have been in trouble, but she wrestled him really well.”

(I use a 7 weight G Loomis Eastfork with a Venture reel, by the way). As you will notice in the pictures, there is a walking bridge in the background. As I was fighting the fish, a small group of people that were walking the trail stopped to watch. I noticed a couple at first but I became so focused on landing the fish that I couldn’t hear anything except the fish splashing, the line peeling out and Mikey talking me through it. When the fish finally gave up the group of about 6-8 people were cheering and clapping. I asked if one of them could come down and take our picture. (Thanks hiker-man!) We didn’t have a scale on us, or a tape measure, but I am all about catch-photo-release anyway. It was THIS big!

Mikey, myself and the most beautiful fish I've had the chance to meet.

After a few photos on my iPhone and Mikey's camera, the fish was back in the water to be released.

After this incredible moment, we climbed back up on the bank and just sat there to take the whole experience in. The trout layed low in the stream for awhile, and finally took off which felt really good to see. We stuck around for a bit and Mikey landed the other brown! After that we made our way upstream and searched for steelhead. I definitely smiled the rest of the day.. even after hooking steelhead and losing them!!!! The mission for my first steelhead continues… but the adventure has been worth it so far. Hopefully next time. Thanks Mikey!

This post was written by Ashley Rae of SheLovesToFish.com

December 4, 2011 by Jonathon Marshall

Filed Under: Canada, Cobourg, Features, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Reports, Trout
Tagged: Ashley Rae, Brown Trout, fly, Lake Ontario, mud, ontario canada, she loves to fish, shelovestofish, steelhead, suckers, tributary, undercut bank, wading boots

View the original article here