Guided carp fishing on the St. Lawrence River, Canada.

Channel catfish night fishing

2009-07-09T12:23:00.000-07:00

Headed out to a new spot in Montreal for some evening / night fishing for big channel cats. It's not something I get to do often, but as I was busy all day and the family is away visiting the in laws, I decided to give it a shot.

We picked up some big 7 inch minnows and headed out to our spot on the shores of the Lac St Louis portion of the St Lawrence River. I set up a sliding bottom rig with a 1 OZ egg sinker and 3/0 wide gap hook, my buddy setup up a 2 OZ bell sinker under a store bough striper rig which was basically 2 big hooks tied with fluorocarbon line.

Nothing much until 9:00 when the fishing suddenly turned on. I assumed that the big cats would have no problem taking down the big shiners, but was surprised that they were more interested at nipping pieces off little by little. I hooked my first one at about 9:15, landed it within a couple minutes, weighed about 8 or 9 lbs.

Over the next hour or so, my buddy lost about 6 whole minnows, I had one that had it's rear portion bitten off, then another that lost a chunk of it's backbone. I ended up catching my second one on a dead minnow around 10:30 PM, measured 28 inches, probably weighed close to 12 lbs, definitely my personal best to date.

The baitfeeder reel really helped, I avoided getting my bait stolen or having to keep fiddling with the drag system. Coupled with my 6.5 foot Rhino rod, I'm using the same outfit that I do for big carp, and handled the big catfish with ease.

I realized that we would have been better off with 4-5 inch minnows, probably would have caught a lot more fish. Regardless, it's a relatively new species that I have't targeted much in the past, as well as a new spot, so I'm glad with the results of the outing.

I returned the following night to try again using some store bought Atlantic smelt as cutbait. In 1.5 hours, not even one bite. So much for that plan, it's back to live minnows, looks like I'l have to get there early enough so the bait shop is still open.

I'm off to another week of fishing up North, I hope to target pike most of the week on a remote lake I tried last year. Will post results and hopefully some nice pics/videos when I return.

Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike and Walleye on Rapala CD-5

2009-07-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

Headed back to my boat for some bass fishing now that the season is officially opened in Ontario. Many of the spots where they were hitting in the a few weeks ago are overgrown, so we switched tactics for the most part. My buddy alternated between topwaters and Senkos, while my son stuck with Topwaters. They combined for about 20 bass, all under 2 lbs.

I did a bit of topwater fishing, but stuck with a mini Rapala CD-5 coundown. Lure proved great in the clearer parst of the river, I managed 4 largemout bass as well as a 14 inch walleye and 3 lb pike and big bluegill on it in about 5 hours of fishing. I find find that it really matched the color and size of the shiners you see jumping on the surface when being chased.

The slop isn't thick enough to force us into using weedless Spro frogs yet, but I have a feeling that it will be withing the next 2 weeks. Also plan to hit the big smallies on calmer days on St Francis, possibly attempt some sight fishing using Senkos around the islands.

Bass opener family trip

2009-06-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

Just got back from our yearly family for the bass opener on Giles lake in Zone 10. We ended up gong with 7 adults, 2 teens and 6 children, rented 3 separate cabins for the week of June 21st to 26th.

We arrived at about 1:00 PM on Sunday, I immediately proceeded to mount the 2 motors and sonar a brought up on a couple row boats. Mine is a 25 year old 7.5 HP Mercury I recently bought and had fixed, the other is a 40 year old Johnson / Evinrude hybrid that my brother has been using for years.

Started off cathcing a nice 3 lbs bass on my first cast, things couldn't be better. After about 1 hour, my motor goes on me, so that put a serious damper on my day, considering that it's the first time I used it since buying it and spending just as much to change the prop and water pump. The outfitter has motors for rent, I got a brand new 5 HP Mercury for $25 / day, so it wasn't the end of the world, but I was still quite frustrated at the situation.

Headed out for another outing after unloading our gear and clothing into the cabing, caught another decent 2 lb + bass.

Over the next 4 days, we ended up catching about 75 Largemouth bass, most over 2 lbs with about a dozen over 3 lbs and 3 over 4 lbs. In addition, the kids caught hundreds of sunfish as usual.

My teeneage son was guiding the boat with my dad and his friend, I took the boat with my younger two sons who's main pastime is fighting each other. I started off trying to have the cast and fish with worms on bobbers and sinker lines, but the tangles and subsequent fights were just to much. Fishing is supposed to be fun and relaxing, not stressfull.

At that point in the trip, I completely switched tactics. I started casting a Pop-R and let the kids take turns fighting the fish. It was relaxng for me, and kept them on edge with each cast waiting for those thrilling top water hits. Over the next couple days, I ended up catching about 25 or 30 bass on the Pop-R, biggest was a 3 lbs beauty that took the lures all the way down it's hatch.

The lake has a small, dwindling, pike population, some of them up to 20 lbs. We tried chasing the pike using different tactics, all we managed were some small ones under 2 lbs trolling rogues.

We couldn't have asked for better weather, sunny skies all week, the temperature stayed at about 30 but felt more like 40 with the humidity. We fished mornings and evenings, spent the rest of the days swimming, snorkeling, making BBQ's and sipping cold beer. Night were for stronger alcohol and bonfires, as well as the yearly fireworks for La fete Nationale.

Hope to head back to the region for some pike fishing in a couple weeks.

Fishing spawning carp

2009-06-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

Took out David and Mike Evnas for a guided carping trip. When we got to our spot, spawning carp swirling all around the surface, must have seen a couple hundred over the first few hours.

Though the weather and water conditions were perfect for carp fishing (light rain, stained, warming water), the bite was non existant as long as they we're swirling around the surface.

As the day moved on, the swirls died down and the fishing picked up. We managed 3 carp between 8-16 lbs, all came on boilies set up on hair rigs. Though we chummed a lot of soaked corn, the hook baited corn lines remained untouched, another vary rare occurence.

View some footage from the outing by clicking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnXsCXiyUhg

Fishing shorelines

2009-06-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

Went out for a few hours on Wednesday. Trolling was extremely slow, so we decided to hit the shorlines with a variety of lures. Best producers for the day were the Rapala J-11 and Zara spook. All we caught were largemouth bass up to 2.5 lbs.

After a while I decided to trekk out to a distant spot on St Francis where we had success with big pike last year at this time. Still not one in sight once we got there, spent time trolling and casting a variety of lures uselessly.

Slow day northern pike fishing

2009-06-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

Headed out with my dad and 6 year old Levi for an afternoon of pike / panfish. I after hooking up some bass on the troll, I headed to my usual hot spots which are starting to get overgrown with weeds. Did manage a small pike, and Levi caught his first crappie, a nice 10 incher. The Largemouth bass really slowed down since last week, so did the Jumbo Bluegills.

Later that afternoon, I hit some of my mid summer hot spots as the lilies are now big enough to provide cover. Started off throwing a Spro frog. As I noticed follows 3 times in a row through the lilies, I followed up with a new CD-5 Rapala Countdown. As I cast it to the outer edge of the pads, I got an instant hit. The pike took off in a fury with the lure in it's throat. It somewhow didn't managed to cut my line, even though I hade no leader. I needed jaw spreaders to retrieve my lure, by which time the pike was bleeding out all over the boat from it's gills. Another one for the livewell, weighed in at 4.5 lbs, perfect eating size.

Managed a few more bass on topwater lures, uncluding the Spro Frog, Weedless Jitterbug, Zara Spook and Heddon Baby Torpedo.

Hope to attempt some bigger pike over the next 2 weeks.

My biggest largemouth bass

2009-06-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I caught my biggest largemouth bass to date. As I was guiding my dad and son, I wasn't getting too much fishing done myself. I was casting one of my favorite lures, a Rapala J-11, when the bass hit it like a ton of bricks in about 1 foot of water, right off the shore. Though I knew it was big, it wasn't until I saw it jump that I realized it was a beauty.

As it took it's first run by the boat, I noticed the huge girth on the fish, which was just about 20 inches long. After a couple more runs, I had it subdued next to the boat. I lipped it carefully, as I do with all bass this time of the year. I was gladly surprised when it weight in in a 5.25 lbs, shattering my personal largemouth bass record by 1 lb.

After a couple quick pics, I released it. Still full of energy, it took off as soon as I put it in the water.

Fishing multi species

2009-06-07T08:33:00.000-07:00

Took my dad and Avi out for another 3 generation outing. It's the 3rd one we've done this spring, I'm enjoying the quality time and great fishing spent with family.

We started off by trolling up the river as usual, caught a 12 inch walleye and a perch on an X rap.
We started casting lures once we hit my first hot spot, caught some really big bass, the largest being a 5.25 lb beast, my personal best for largemouth bass. As the season is still closed, we moved on to another good spot I know, set my dad and son up still fishing with worms.

The technique was phenomenal for my son, he couldn't stop catching fish every 30 seconds or so. Most were giant bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish, the he also caught bass, bullhead catfish and his first crappie, a fat 12 incher. My dad did well too, caught a rare white perch.

On occasion, I would cast a lure, caught some more nice bass, a 4 and a 3.5 lb both took my Jitterbug within a couple minutes of each other.

My son ended the day catching a rock bass on a Heddon dying flutter.

Fishing Montreal shad run

2009-05-28T08:31:00.001-07:00

Strong winds and rain in the forecast, we decided to hit the Pie IX dam hoping that the crowd wouldn't be too big. Of course, the rain never came, the sun actually squeaked out. The wall next to the dam was elbow to elbow all the way across. I ended up right next to the dam, which I quickly figured out was the urinal, as it stank pretty bad.

The guys in the middle were catching shad on every few casts, but they were so tight that they almost had to fish sideways. I refused to join under such fishing conditions, so I tried staying at the ends hoping to get a good drift. Had one old guy that must have been half blind next to me, he kept catching my line.

I did notice that most of the guys fishing shad from the wall seem to be doing it for the food rather than for the sport. They might as well, from what I hear shad are good to eat, and they are extremely abundant. I guess that's why they don't mind the sickening fishing conditions they have to put up with to get their fish. Everybody kept all the fish, guys had buckets, stringers and garbage bags full.

Though I didn't have waders, I attempted to fish the shoreline as the dam's wall was pure frustration, not enjoyable in the least bit. Didn't do any better, not did most of the guys in waders. At least they had room to breathe.

Anyway, I very highly doubt I'll be heading back there without waders, I can't take fishing under crowded conditions with the constant tangles which are almost inevitable. And, as my waders have a slow leak, looks like it will likely be the end of that idea for this season.

Pike and walleye fishing in Montreal

2009-05-28T08:27:00.001-07:00

Headed out for a few hours on Tuesday, decided to stay local. Shore fished lac St Louis from the Pointe Claire shoreline. Action was slow, but we managed a pike in the 4 lb range, as well as a nice 14-15 inch walleye. We had the same results on a similar outing to the same spot last season, walleye even hit the same lure, a blue xr-10 x-rap.

Fishing big bass on topwater lures

2009-05-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

Took my dad and 6 year old son out fishing for the day. Started of kind of cold with a North wind blowing right down the Raisin River as we trolled upstream. First troll landed my dad a decent walleye on a small spinnerbait, was about 14 inches in length. Kept that one for the table. Hok a couple smallies on the troll, nowhere near the sizes I've seen in there in the past, still great fighters.

Headed back to my pike / largemouth bass hotspot. Started off catching lots of bass on a Rapala J-11. My son was using a bobber and worm combination, after catching a couple sunfish, he started slamming the bass one after the other. They got so agressive that they started hitting his bobber as well.

I decided to tie on a large Jitterbug, it really drove them nuts. They were on fire, hitting it one after the other, even swallowing it at times.

Still no pike in sight, I decided upsize to a 5 inch Zara Spook. Now that bass were going beserk on the spook but it was too big for them to take down. After a couple of casts I hooked a really nice one, tuned out to weigh 4 lbs even, measured 18 inches. By far the biggest Largemouth I've ever caught on a lure, all other hawgs I caught usually hit live bait. Just seeing my big Spook in it's bucket mouth brought us some mandatory laughs. I released it in good health after a couple quick pics.

Decided to troll the rest of the afternoon for pike / walleye, all we caught was another bass, and some perch and rock bass.

Strangely enough the big pike are nowhere to be found so far this season, all we've managed were some "dinks" in the 1-3 lb range. After the success we've had with them in both the Raisin and St Lawrence rivers over the past couple years, I was really hoping to hook into a few big ones. By contrast, the largemouth bass are on fire this year, even though we're not specifically targeting them. I'm already pushing the 100 bass mark and the season doesn't open for another month or so. Talk about incidental luck.

Bass and pike fishing in the Raisin River

2009-05-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hottest day of 2009 so far, we headed out to the Raisin River to attempt some pike fishing. With high wind warnings in effect, we knew the ride from Mac's Marina on St Francis would be treacherous, we decided to see what would happen.

Ride there wasn't bad, the the winds were from SouthWest, and hadn't realy picked up in the morning. The Raisin River itself is surrounded mainly by big trees, so the fishing was enjoyable, wind wasn't too much of a factor.

Though were were attempting to catch pike, we caught mainly bass, both largemouth and smallmouth. The largemouth seemed to "grow" since last outing, biggest was 3 lbs with about 5 or 6 over 2 lbs too. Smallies were more numerous than last outing but all smaller at about 1 - 1.5 lbs each. We ended up catching 1 pike.

Way back was absolutely nuts. As we near the mouth of the Raisin River , we realized that we might have to leave the boat the Raisin River Marina and walk back to Mac's, as the waves were 3-4 feet whitecaps and the wind was now gusting over 40 KM / hour. We decided to attempt the treachous ride back as it's only about 1 KM or less. Needless to say, we got completely soaked, as the flat bottom boat bounced up and down. We kept the bilge pump on all the way back, as we were taking in buckets of water every time the bow dipped under the waves. We were lucky to make it back without capsizing, also lucky that it was about 30 degrees celcius, so getting soaked wasn't too bad. Once on dry ground, we made the mandatory trip to the LCBO to enjoy a nice cold one and laugh about our adventure.

In retrospect, I should have shot some footage of the ride back, but I was too busy hanging on for dear life.

Fishing Parc Jean Drapeau

2009-05-19T13:49:00.001-07:00

Decided to go out to fish Parc Jean Drapeau in downtown Montreal for a few hours, hoping to hit some more walleye. We really had a very limited schedule, got there at about 11:00 AM. Walleye were nowhere to be found, though I did catch 6 smallmouth bass. Incredibly, they hit on the 3/4 OZ and 1 OZ jigs I was retriving, despite being in the 12 to 14 inch range. All were live released in good health, bass season is still closed for another month.

Fishing with my dad and son

2009-05-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Took my dad and one of my sons out on the boat on their first outings of the season. Still no pike in sight on Lake St Francis, so it was back up the Raisin river as usual.

My son managed to hook a pike and smallmouth bass on the initial troll up the river, seems like I wasn't the only one with that idea. There were 3 other boats trolling a small strect of river were the spawning smallies were congregating. I moved on to some spots that usually have walleye, but being around noon with bright sunshine, we didn't stand much of a chance.

Finally found a calm area that had tons of minnows jumping out of the water, which meant one thing: Pike.

Caught one on my second cast, probably about 3 lbs or so. Then we started slamming largemouth bass. Must have hit about 30 in the 1 to 2 lbs range, kept my dad and son busy all afternoon.

Towards the end of the day, while my son was bringing in a small bass, this big pike tried to hit the bass right next to the boat. It came out of nowhere and was gone in a flash. Must have been about 7-8 lbs, one of the biggest I've ever seen in the Raisin river.

Tried trolling worms harnesses aroung 5:30, still no walleye to be found.

All in all, I had a great time doing some 3 generation fishing, as did my dad and son. Hope to head back there next week with my dad and another one of my boys.

Fishing walleye downtown Montreal

2009-05-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

A friend took me out to a new spot near downtown Montreal. The idea of catching lots of walleye within a few minutes drive sounded great. Unfortunately, I came unprepared to deal with the strong current at the spot we were fishing. Jigging was all that worked, but the largest jigs I had were 1/4 ounce. As they fluttered in the current, my buddy was slamming them with 1 OZ jigs. He ended up cathcing about a dozen walleye and saugers.

I tried casting a wally diver, managed a nice smallmouth bass in the 3 lb range. When I switched to a heavy sinker and worm setup, I manged to hook a couple sturgeons, landed a small one in the 7 lb range, my first ever.

Place started getting crowded around noon. What really pissed me off was the inconsiderate people that came to fish right next to me. When fishing a spot with current, it is ridiculous to try fishing next to others, especially when trying to still fish. Constant tangles are inevitable and ruin everyone's day.

I realize I don't own any particular spot, but I personally think it's extremely rude and against fishing etiquette to try and hog someone else's spot if they were there first.

The day left me with mixed feelings about the area. On the one hand, fishing is great. On the other, you have tons of inconsedirate idiots.

To make matters worse, jigging 1 OZ jigs in current with a rock bottom gets expensive. With jig heads at $1 a piece and power grubs at about $.50 each, losing 15 to 20 jigs makes for an expensive outing. Then again, it beats burning extra $$$ in gas.

Pike and walleye opener in Ontario

2009-05-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Haven't blogged to much about my trips lately, been too busy fishing and entertaining my in laws that came to visit for a week. Got the boat launched in time for the opener.

The pike haven't showed up at my usual hot spots in Zone 20, the wind and waves have kept us mainly in the Raisin River. I've managed a few small pike and a nice walleye in the 3.5 lb range. Incidentally, we've also managed about 100 bass, both largemouth and smallmouth, in 3 outings, many over 3 lbs. I guess that will happen whenever you're targeting pike early in May.

Best producing lure for me so far this season is a floating Rapala J-9.

Fishing perch near Montreal

2009-04-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

Went out for another half day, prepared for different types of fishing. Took along my waders, some light spinning tackle, as well as some terminal tackle and a small bag of worms I picked the previous night.

Started off at Pointe Des Cascades. The pier and boat ramp had some significant traffic again, my buddy and I put on our waders and headed out below the spillway for the first time, in an attempt to look for some "lost" trout.

No luck, noting biting, water was very cold, figured anything in there or anywhere would be lethargic.

After about an hour, we headed off to drive along the Soulanges Canal, ended up in Les Coteaux. Fished the "digue" area unsuccessfuly for a while using small minnow baits and live worms, nothing doing there either. I did find a place that rents boats, I'll be back there to give it a try once the pike season opens.

Stopped at the Soulanges canal for a few casts on the way back, and with nothing happening there either, we hit a spot I know near Dorion. Again, nithing doing there either, so we ended up at the 32nd St pier on Ile Perrot.

Caught about 6 or 7 perch one after the other. As nothing else interesting was biting, we called it a day and headed home.

My new carp record

2009-04-20T13:43:00.001-07:00

Went out for my first carping trip of the season, as most species are still closed. I wasn't expecting to catch too many with the sunny skies in the forecast and the water temp barely over 40 degrees, but was hoping to land at least one or two decent fish.

Fishing was very slow. After having some dough balls eaten off by panfish, I switched to corn nibblets that I was using for chum, set up as hook bait.

After about 3 hours of nothing, I finally got a hit about 15 minutes before we were scheduled to leave for another spot. I let the fish run with it, then set the hook after about 20 seconds of so. The carp ran straight out then seemed to stop in it's tracks. I saw it surface from afar and it seemed like a decent fish. It was tangled in the line for a couple minutes, but eventually came untangled and started running as expected.

As it ran by me near the shore, I finally got a glimpse and realized it was by far the biggest carp I had ever hooked. I estimated it to weigh about 30 lbs and yelled for my buddy to get the net and camcorder. As soon as it saw him approaching it ran like crazy. Luckily, I had a good hookset and after a few more runs we had it in the net.

Though it was truly a giant, it didn't fight as hard or fast as a smaller 12 or 15 pound fish would. It simply decided where it felt like going and just did so at will, though it didn't seem to be in any hurry to do so. Kind of like comparing horsepower to torque.

It was definitely my biggest carp so far, so after after freeing it from the net, we snapped some shots. When I finally weighed it, it showed between 39 and 40 lbs on my hand held scale. I realized that I just broke the official Ontario carp record which still stands at 38 lbs, although I know people that have caught carp over 40 lbs in the same waters of the St Lawrence River and never bothered registering them.

I was determined to register the fish, but wasn't about to ruin my buddie's upholstery by hauling it to the nearest certified scale in his car. I decided to leave it with him, and headed down the road to Ingleside to get advice from Mark Jarvis who runs Carpins (http://www.carpins.ca/), a family owned tackle shop near the Long Sault national park. When I got there, I mentioned what happened, and how I was considering submitting the fish as a record, as I have no clue how to proceed. He immediately agreed to come out to my spot with a real scale.

He got there shortly after I did, the fish was still alive and well. He set up a tripod with a sling to weight it in, and set the tare to zero. The "moment for truth"... The fish weighed in at a mere 32.5 lbs. A great big fish yes, but nowhere near the record.

Though I was a bit let down by the handheld scale, I was was still very happy with the trophy. I decided to attempt reviving it, and to my surprise, it was fully revived within a couple minutes, and swam off like so many other carp I've released. I guess carp are pretty tough suckers.

Ok, I didn't beat the official record, but I I topped my P.B. by a whopping 6.5 lbs. Exact measurements we 40 x 25 inches, 32.5 lbs.

I will post the pics once they are developped.

Chatted with Mark Jarvis for a while. The guy's a carp fishing legend and runs the only fishing store I know of in Canada that specializes in carp fishing gear. He's been fishing the Long Sault area for over 40 years, and has been targeting exclusively carp for the past 12 years. Anyone with that sort of experience makes for an interesting carpers conversation, not to mention that he's an all around great guy. I thank him again for taking the time to come out to weigh the fish.

Footnotes to this story:

1) I checked my scale against some dumbell weights at home and it's accurate to within 1/2 a lb for 35 lbs of weight. I also checked some length x girth online fish calculators that show my fish with an approximate weight of 28 - 33 lbs, which concur with the reading on Mark's scale. How my scale showed between 39-40 lbs will remain a mystery (possibly the fish flapping or it not being set properly at the time)...

2) Being the total moron that I sometimes am, I loaded the camcorder clips onto my home PC, but forgot to save them when I was distracted by the kids aroung dinner / homework time. Later, I deleted them from the camcorder, and when I came back to edit them on the PC, I realized my error. Anyway, the footage was really bad, the only decent shot I got was of the "official" weigh in, so I'm not too mad at myself.

First outings of the fishing season

2009-04-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

Kids have been off school for a couple weeks, bad weather prevented us from going out much. Earlier this week, I finally made it out for 2 half day outings.

Monday afternoon, I took my 2 youngest boys along with my oldest and decided to check out my usual spots around town.

The water levels surrounding Montreal are very high, though still not as bad as they got around this time last year. The first spot we hit near Dorion was completely blown out. Next, I visited the Pointe Des Cascades area. I was very surprised to see the sort of traffic I did. The boat launch was jam packed and there was also a traffic jam on the pier itself.

Considering that the season is still closed for most species, I found it weird. What's worse, is that all the people there were fishing for giant "incidental" sturgeons, which are known to frequent that area this time of the year in big numbers. They were all using extra heavy / long catfish type rods with bells, braving 35 KM winds that had 3-4 foot whitecaps hitting the wall and sending spray onto the pier.

Needless to say, with a 3 year old and 6 year old, I didn't even bother fishing. We simply made a U turn, and headed for the Soulanges Canal. The panfish weren't hitting, so after about an hour of braving high wind, we headed back towards town.

Stopped at the Pointe Claire Marina and found much calmer conditions. I got my 6 year old to practice casting with a spinning reel, as his push button spiderman reel isn't functional any more. Sure enough, after a few casts, we got a nice hit, an the small piece of worm he was casting, strangely enough it turned out to be a small pike, about 2 lbs or so. We called it a day shortly after.

Tuesday had us going to the Marina at Lancaster to make arrangements for the boat to be summerized and launched. I brought my 2 older sons to attempt some shore fishing for panfish on the Raisin River. We trekked through the brush and swamp using backpacks, finally got to our spot and set up some bobber lines baited with worms. In addition to catching about a dozen decent sized sunfish, the kids caught a total of 8 largemouth bass, the largest a nice 3 - 3.5 lbs beauty that spit the hook right on the river bank. All were released in good health.

Needless to say the kids were thrilled with their outing. I hope to head out for my first carp fishing trip of the season next week.

Passover fishing

2009-04-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

That time of the year again, Pesach is the Jewish passover being celebrated from sunset on April 8th 2009 until Nightfall April 16th 2009. Observant Jews thouroughly clean their homes, cars and other areas belonging to them trying to rid them of any "Chametz" - leavened items such as bread, cookies, cakes and crumbs.

Here are some personal insights I compiled as an observant Jew, bear in mind that I am not a Rabbi, so you might want to confirm any of the following thoughts with your local Rabbi.

Fishing is not allowed on days of Yom Tov, April 9th through 11 and again on April 15 and 16. Fishing is permitted on Chol Hamoed (April 12-14).

It is a great activity for the kids as they are likely to be off from school. A good time to score points with the wife by taking them all and letting her have the day off after all the cleaning and cooking she's done.

I suggest cleaning your tacklebox by emptying it, vacuuming it, then windexing it. This will get rid of any crumbs or other Chametz, the windex will nullify anything you miss. Also a good time to re-organize it for the upcoming season.

Beer is Chametz, so are most hard alcohols. As drinking is often part of an enjoyable fishing trip, I suggest wine. If you need something stronger, some of the liquor stores / SAQ / LCBO outlets carry Arak, 777, and Slivovitz this time of the year. Make sure they have proper passover certification.

Although most fish are closed, a few species are open. If you plan to keep any, it is preferable to use a new knife to fillet them, although this is not mandatory. You may use your standard knife, simply rinse it well before, then rinse the cleaned fish properly when done. Throughout the process, be sure that the knife and fish remain cold.

For those of you that enjoy carping (one of the only open species around here) :

Doughballs are definitely Chametz and may NOT be used, or possessed on Pesach. If you have a stash like I do, put it away where you won't see it, together with the other chametz you own. These can be "sold" for passover, contact me if you need any additional info about selling your chametz at phil@freshwaterphil.com .

Matzah balls (gebrokts!) may be an alternative if you can find those classic hard / golf ball like ones, otherwise you'll have a really hard time baiting them. Probably work best with hair rigs.

Corn can be used as bait, even though it may not be eaten by Ashkenazic Jews on Pesach as it is considered Kitniyot. We can still derive benefit from it, feed it to animals, use it for bait, etc. Be sure the niblets don't have any chametz additives, they usually don't.

In general, fishing is halachically permitted by all authorities when at least some of the fish are being kept for food, their skin or any other useful purposes. Some authorities permit fishing for sport only (catch and release), reasoning that the pleasure one derives is enough of a reason to justify the suffering and stress caused to the fish when fighting it, others forbid it. Again, check with your local Rabbi if this is of concern to you.

New fishing season in Quebec

2009-04-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

April is here, fishing for most species is closed, time for those last minute preparations before the season re-opens in May. Made the mandatory trip to pick up my new license, turns out Quebec decided to gouge us this time around by hiking the fee up to $19.25. Still not too bad considering the amount of days I put in...

I also picked up a small 7.5 HP Mercury outboard for those trips up North, where I have been renting them for a few years. Paid $350 from a private owner, it runs nicely and seems to be in good condition, guy threw in the mount/stand and the gas tank. I'm hoping it pays itself off after 2 trips or so (10 fishing days).

Getting ready to launch the boat early, though fishing for most spcies including perch are closed on St Fancis until May, so is the Raisin River. Maybe a crappie / catfish outing...

Kids are off school next week, hope to take them out for their first outing of the season to the other side of the Cornwall dam, where perch and carp are now open.

2009 Ice fishing season ends

2009-03-30T18:02:00.001-07:00

Ice fishing season finally ends tomorrow. After the dismal season I had this year, I say good riddance. Not that I was ever a big ice fisherman to begin with, but I had bigger plans for this season.

From catching big pike, to targeting trapped carp, I hoped to finally get some big boys through the ice. Instead, the best I did all season was a 9 inch perch.

Yes, I only went out 4 or 5 times, and most of those outing were 1/2 days only, and no, there aren't too many monster pike swimming around the Island, but many of my fishing buddies experienced less than desirable results, at least when it came to catching pike.

I'll be happy to start wetting my lines for real, hopefully sooner than later. With the warmer than usual weather we've been having, I imagine I'll be able to get out by mid April if were lucky. Last season, I went out on March 31st and the ice was close to 3 feet thick (ended up catching a decent pike too). My yard still had about 3 feet of snow in it as well.

This season, the ice is covered in a good 12 inches of water, and the plants in the yard are already sprouting, worms slithering on the ground on rainy nights.

Might even get the boat launched early this year, as Ontario zones 18 and 20 have opened perch year round. Finally have a valid excuse to be out on a boat in April.

With the kids off school for 2 week, I hope to get out for a trip or 2 once the ice melts, they've been itching to get out since last October.

Ice fishing Montreal in spring 2009

2009-03-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous day in the forecast had me taking off a full day to head out for what is probably my last ice fishing outing this season, as it ends next week.

I headed out to the St Lawrence River near Montreal with 3 friends in search of some pre spawn pike on the feed, as we had some success at that spot around this time last year.

We started off fishing in shallow near some feeder creeks, not much biting after a couple hours except for 1 missed pike that pecked at one of my frozen sardines.

We moved a bit further out, to a point where the water drops from 1 to 6 feet, set up about 20 lines there. Live minnows finally roduced, as we managed a couple pike, although they were very small.

We also hooked into some perch, and although they were less numerous than expected, on topped 11 inches so I guess it qualifies as a "jumbo", especially as it had that big telltale hump on it's back.

I shot some footage and compiled a couple videos for Youtube.

Pike: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2dTowfSCYU

Perch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ouUxJ27Oa4

Spring cleaning the tacklebox

2009-03-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

With some above freezing weather and the snow mostly melted, spring is in the air, a few more days and it will be official. Not sure if I'll attempt another shot at ice fishing this season, maybe an outing for some Northern pike.

Either way, my tacklebox is squeaky clean and loaded with my favorite lures, all sharpened to perfection with mean intentions. My tacklebox is set up for "all purpose" fishing, as I'm fishing waters that contain most freshwater species. As I have way too many lures to git into a tackle box, I narrowed it down to my spring favorites.

Here is a quick rundown:

Dardevle and Williams Wabbler spoons ranging from 2 to 5 inches.
Mepps and other in line spinners ranging from size 1 to 15.
A few Rapala X rap, shad rap, countdown and jointed floating.
Bomber Long A shallow and deep diver.
Smithwick rogues, 4 and 5 inches.
Storm Thunderstick, straight and jointed floating.
Some Arbogast Jitterbugs, frog, weedless and musky size.
Zara Spook.
Storm Chug Bug.
Rebel Pop R.
Brush Baby deep diver.
A couple Cotton Cordell wally divers.
Cotton Cordell Red fin, floating jointed.
Little joe worm harnesses.
Earie Deary.

The regular terminal tackle, hooks ranging from #14 to 3/0, split shot, egg and bell sinkers, jigs ranging from 1/32 oz to 3/4 oz, steel leaders, flouro carbon trolling leaders, snap swivels, pre-tied live bait rigs , bobber, popping corks, etc.

The the mandatory blade, knife, measuring tape, scale sunscreen, bugspray, camera and video recorder and were about ready to go.

Ice fishing walleye in downtown Montreal

2009-03-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

One of my fishing buddies managed to convince me to attempt ice fishing for walleye near Downtown Montreal, just East of the Jacques Cartier Bridge and La Ronde. I was skeptical going out there, as I knew it had to be a day trip and I woudn't be able to stick around for the evening bite, but he told me that they hit throughout the day as well at his spot.

We picked up some minnows at B L Sport, crossed the Jacques Cartier Bridge into Longeuil and parked near a spot where we saw plenty of people out the ice. The surface was solid ice, so drilling holes through the 30 + inches of ice with my 8" diameter hand auger was tough, as I kept sliding around. When I fianlly drilled my first hole, we were in about 6 feet of water, so we went further out where more people were fishing. I found a spot with a bit of snow which would make the drilling easier, drilled 2 holes just to figure out that we were right on top of a shoal, water was about 1 foot deep under the ice.

At that point, one of my buddies asked a guy with a gas auger to drill some holes for us about 50 feet away, where the water dropped to 40 feet. Between the four of us, we only set up 6 lines, as the guy that brought us out had mentioned that we would be able to catch dozens of walleyes jigging minnows. Turns out, we got skunked, not even 1 bite. The guys fishing tip ups all around us caught some small walleyes, one of them caught a nice 15 inch sauger. Current was strong too, I had to use a 3 ounce sinker to keep my still line in place.

Needless to say, I won't be heading back to ice fish there any time soon. The fishing pressure is insane compared to what I'm used to, and I'm sure the water is way more polluted than the areas I fish West of the Island, as the St Lawrence river flows Eastwards through Montreal, picking up all sorts of pollutants. Furthermore, the port of Montreal is directly across the water.

One the bright side, I think the spot might make for some decent carp fishing in the summer, provided I can find a break in the current in one of the bays. The area definitely has some big carp, I've seen them while walking on the boardwalk at Laronde.