Fish-Hawk.Net

Hello All,

Hit a small Quebec lake today with Christine, arriving at the launch at 10am. Light to moderate winds and sunny skies greeted us as we motored to our first stop, and the water temperature was a constant 45 degrees throughout the entire day.

Fish were beyond finicky today. Like previous outings, the bass were barely registering a bite on our plastic offerings, and for seven hours of fishing, we only managed to put eight fish in the boat. Fish were extremely scattered today, leading us to believe that the front and high winds from the day before put the fish in a fairly neutral mood today.

All fish were caught on various plastic offerings (BPS craws and creatures, Berkley craws, etc.) doubled up with Fin-tech Football Jigs. One decent largie did fall for a Bagley's crank, and hit aggressively from six feet of water:



All other fish came from water between 12 and 21 feet deep. Here is Christine's big smallie of the day - barely registering on the rod tip when it struck:







This largie was the big fish of the day (3lb 8oz) and smoked a jig on the fall in 12 feet of water. This, other than the crankbait fish, were the only two to hit with any sort of aggression:



Although the fish were few and far between, sharing the boat with some laughter and fun is always a sign of a good day out...







Did get pulled over by the Ministry on Highway 5 for a "gun" check on the way home. Thought it was the police and a "ride" check at first, but realized quickly it wasn't. Super friendly officer - asked if we had any guns, then proceeded to talk fishing for a quick bit. Nice to see it out, and quite a few hunting rigs pulled over for inspection while we were on the shoulder...


I'll be back, French Bass, at least one more time before my season comes to an end...

Good Fishing,

Justin

Hi Justin,

Sound like awesome trip with large fish.
nice report and thank you for sharing.

ASK

Christine ... it was nice of ya to put Justin on to some Bass like that ...



BTW ..
Some Gorgeous Smallies right there...................

Thanks Justin, excellent report as always!

PS. Also, thanks for rubbing in the fact you get to go fishing and I don't! lol

congrats on a great day on the water guy and gal.

awesome smallie and largie .

Great fishing the both of ya. Snags bass looks like it has wings! Wicked looking fish.

Best of luck the remainder of the season Justin. Might have whip out the crankbait rod for a few hours this week.

Thanks for the report

Tip-up wrote:Snags bass looks like it has wings! Wicked looking fish.

I thought the same thing, Tip-up. Funny...! But "wings" aside, that is one hefty, wickedly marked smallie. Very nice, Snag.

And Justin -- WTG on the big largie.

Looks like you two had your work cut out for you, but it was a good kind of "work" and great company I'm sure.

Nice report, Justin...looks like a beautiful lake and surroundings.

W.

The smallie was just waving hello!

It was a super fun day for sure, even though the fishing was slow. It's always a bonus to get a beautiful looking smallie when I normally just chase largies.

Nice smally you got there Christine . Nice largy also.

Nic fish and report. I notice you seem to prefer fishing with quite a bit of lead on those jig heads. In an attempt to tempt finicky fish I think I am often going too light on the jig head.

I fished heavier heads last time out and noticed that the increase in sensitivity from less slack line helped me detect bites quicker.

Anyway, great report as always!

Hey bl8ant,

The heavier jig heads (I generally use 3/8oz football jigs) help with working the deeper water, and maintaining direct contact with the bottom structure. Anything lighter, and detecting bites and being able to drag the rocks and sand would be compromised.

Braid also helps out a tonne with this technique - definitely recommend it over mono.

Heavier jigs also come in handy when the wind picks up...

Good Fishing,

Justin

For sure Justin,
I typically fish a high visibility braid with a fluorocarbon leader. Going to go with a heavier head on my jig rod this Sunday! I am praying the fish are where I left 'em

Nice late fall Bassin !

Seems that every fall Justin has reports of hammering the quebec bass later and later into the season.

As a side question (and maybe to Tip-up and th JigHead as well) - I notice that the late fall reports seem to be about the smaller lakes on the PQ side. Is this just because there are better quality bass lakes on the other side of the river, or just that the Ontario lakes (and rivers) are harder to work once the cold weather is here . The Ontario lakes around here seem to be mostly be 'sandy bowl' type lakes that dont really have any obvious spots to hit once the weed death starts setting in. Just curious if I should start thinking seriously about crossing the river for next fall.

Thanks for the report and tips

Fox

What a fine day you guys had out there to be sure! My fun this morning is having you share these splendid photos and your excellent story, right here for us All to drool over. You and Snag, sure do good work, as a Fishing/Photography/Writing team! I Love yer style, so please keep on sharing what y'all seem to be best at, with your Fish-Hawk friends!

Tight lines,
LarryB