Sorry I have no pics but I thought some of you would get a kick out of this report.
With 2 little ones at home my fishing time has been greatly reduced. I was able to seek out Saturday afternoon during nap time for an hour and a half. I live just down the road from Tayolor park so hitting the water for this amount of time is possible.
I got to the launch and found not one trailer in the parking lot. Upon backing down the launch I could see the white caps, yes white caps on the Rideau river. I should have gone home at this point but I was bound and determined to get on the water. As I was getting the boat ready, the launch fee collector got out of her car. I have a season pass so no problem but I found it funny she was still at launch with the cold windy weather. I got the trailer in the water and as soon as the boat lifted off the trailer it was immediately push off by the wind. The boat was still hooked to the trailer (as I have rollers) but neverless it caused me some grief. I decided to start the main motor instead of using the electric as I normal do. I jump in the boat and started the engine...click click. No juice. Damn the starter battery was dead. Well I again thought I should just go home. No way, I disconnected the deep cycle and hooked it up to the main motor. No problems starting now. After some difficultly getting the boat tied to the dock, I parked the truck and off I went.
Now becuase I used the deep cycle on the main motor I didn't have use of my trolling motor unless I switched the batteries again. I opted to not use the trolling motor and just drift fish even with the high winds. Well I needed to fish a place out of the wind. After a short boat ride I started fishing the channel by James Island (I think that is what is it called). I was throwing a spinnerbait and some jigs tipped with power leeches. Had a coupld of hits on the spinnerbait but they were small. Tose the jig out and sure enough, rock bass. Boat a few rock bass and continued on.
I hit a weed bed and was hoping for some pike or even a muskie. No luck. Just a bass. I moved on. Finally I found a small nook on the shoreline out of the wind. It looked prime for bass but I was thinking there has to be some pike here too. A few casts later produced another bass. After quickly releasing the bass I made another cast and had another fish on. Great another bass...nope! Got it to the side of the boat and it was a 3 lb pike. Yes, got my target species for the day. I fired up the main motor and hit the same nook. Three casts later hit another pike. This time just a hammer handle.
Now the wind is started to get to me and nap time is getting close to being over. Headed back to the launch where the wind was just pounding the shoreline. After some passes I finally got the boat on the dock and the truck in the water. Trailering the boat proved difficult and but I managed. I did damage one of the guides on the trailer. Turn out it was really rotted anyways. I quickly replaced it with a new piece of 2x4 after I got home.
It was an interesting day fishing without the trolling motor. Really made me appreciate having one.
Well it is always good to get out on the water no matter what the weather. Till next Saturday during nap time
Cheers,
Mike
