

A couple of belated summer outings, ....a guess you could call this the "condensed" version.....

WED. Aug 16th
Damn!!!!! Doesn't anybody work around here anymore.....?

Joe and I met up at Bronte around 5:30, .....one boat going in, ....one boat followed us in, ....and the parking lot was mostly empty, ...........Cool!!!

We headed out of the harbour, ....and ran smack into, ....."the Spanish armada",


We knew this, ....cause we also saw the English fleet, ........coming over the eastern horizon, ......

It is "Wednesday", ....right?

Decided we didn't want any part of that, ......and headed west past the pier,....at least all that was out there, ....was the US seventh fleet....

But, .......It was a beauty morning out there.....!!!!!

We set up in around 100ft., .....where we had smacked them good last week, .....however, ....this time, ...no bait, ....no bites, ....no errors, .....

Unfortunately, .......that last part would change, ......ever had one of those days.......?

I think when you start off "hot", ....you usually stay "hot" all day, ......and when you don't, ......ya get burn't......
I think about these things when the rods aren't firing, ......(gettin' too friggin' old to just think about sex now....)

Finally, ......we got a nice rip, ....and lost it, ......

then we got beauty rip on the dipsey that Joe did an excellent job on, .....until it decided it wanted to keep the stinger hook off my favorite green fly....


Around about 10 oclock, ....we noticed that the english fleet had done their thing to the spanish armada and sailed off home, .....

Or, at least, ...there were "aaaaaaaa lot" less boats over that way anyways, ....

So we "mosied" on over to try our luck east of the harbour.....("mosied" means trolled, .....in horse latin, ....as opposed to pig latin, ...which would be "rolledta",..... and just doesn't sound right..... )


In desperation, .......I put this, .....about 5ft. behind my "fancy dressed ball"

and got this........

Kinda reminds me of the kalbossa thing,


We then took another beauty rip off the dipsey, .......it didn't even slow down, .......spooled the braid, ....and quite a bit of the mono backing, ........

Joe had enough time to clear both riggers and the other dipsey before it stopped literally peeling line, .....and then it was gone, ........again

Well, ....we did a quick release on a nice bow at the boat, ......lost a couple more, ...and finally ended the day with this one......

We had been running the cut bait/twinkie rig with a nice big frog flasher, ....."nothing", ....brought it in and put a green SD on with it, .....it wasn't 5 min. when it fired, .......I think SD's and twinkie's were made for each other.....

Unfortunately, ....Joe had some commitments, ......and after landing that fish, ...we cleaned up and headed home....
We ran into Bosc and Peiter at the launch, ....it's been awhile bud, ....and that youngster of yours is definitely "blossoming" , ........nice going out there guys.....
So, .....we went 2 for 7, .......a typical "Blue Jay" average I guess, ......

Hey, .....I'm a fan, ....just being realistic, .......and like the "Jays", ....I'm looking for a comeback, .....hopefully tomorrow, ......and with the same team, ......whatdya think Joe.......?


skooter
Thurs. Aug. 17th
Got back into 'er with Joe again this AM, .....

A little earlier start, .....but we still didn't quite poopie the bed .....


Anyways, ...the boat was wet and ready to roll when Joe arrived, .....

I wasn't sure what to expect upon leaving the harbour, .....but it wasn't too bad traffic wise,
.......so we decided to "skoot" east, ....and started to set up on the far side of the pack in about 60ft. of water......
I just threw a spoon on the one rigger so I could get the probe down quick, .....

And besides, .....the spoon box has a white lid, .....and is easy to find in the dark.......


I wanted to put some cut bait on the other rigger and knew it would take some time to set up, ....so I got a dipsey ready, ....with a SD and fly, .......sort of......
I got interrupted.......

This is cool, ......'cause it was beginning to look more like last thursday afternoon, ...than yesterday, .....except it was still dark of course.....

I got that rigger back down again and got the two dipsey's out, .....not near far enough as I would find out later, ....but we had some lines out anyways.....

I got the twinkie rig ready and out, ....then sat down for a coffee and a chat with Simon on the radio, ....that didn't work, ...so I called him instead......
He was killing them in even shallower than we were, and we had just started heading in, ....when the same spoon fires......
Joe likes driving, ....so I took this one too....(I'm sure the constant reel peel had nothing to do with it....)

This puppy wanted nothing to do with paying us a visit, ....so it took the better part of a leap year to get him to the boat, ........(well three good runs anyways, ....I thought these things got lazy when they turned colour)

Things quieted down for awhile, ...we were marking hooks and bait, ....but no takers, .....
I wasn't happy with the way the twinkie rig was running, ....and the probe decided it needed new batteries, ...
So it was change up time, ..........pulled the probe and sent the rigger back down with my mag bullfrog spoon and put on the 28 as a slider......

I pulled the other rigger and trimmed a little of the excess off the homemade herring that Joe had brought again, ....
it looked better in the water now, ....so I sent it back down and started work on the probe.....
One of the riggers fired, ......I grabbed it to make sure it was still there, .....the reel told the story, ...and I gave 'er to Joe to bring in

It fought the same as the one I had on, ......so, ....."awhile" later.....

I decided to put the twinkie on the dipsey, ....just to see if it would work, .....
we didn't get anything for awhile and actually, ....my mind was really on repairing the probe,
So this gave me a chance,

....a wire was off internally so I had to do a mickey mouse/Red Green, ....er, ....(minus the duct tape) repair.
After finally getting the probe "semi fixed" and back down on the rigger, ......I noticed that the twinkie dipsey appeared to have released, .....
I reeled it in, ....adjusted the tension screw, .....three times I think, .....
that's after letting it 200ft. back out and watching it trip....

(if anyone wants some new curse words, ....email me, .....I just invented some)

It wasn't 5 min. after that, ...it fired, ....but didn't get to it fast enough .....DAMN!!!!

Put it back out again, ........
Oh man!!!, ......But do I love that sound of a "screaming" dipsey, ......this time I got 'er .......

......or she had me, .......wasn't sure which at the time.......
I have never fought a fish this long, ....and this hard, ......finally get it to 100ft. and away it would go back to 200,
....("C'mon bitch, ....you're mine")
I got it to 75 ft. .......and away it went again, ........back out to 200 plus
("C'mon bitch, ....you're mine, .....sort of")
Got it to the point where I could see the dipsey, .......back out again, .....to 200 plus this time, ....not even a hesitation......
("C'mon bitch, ....You're mine, .....sort of, ......PLEASE!!!!!")
Get it back in our time zone once more, .........as soon as it saw the boat, ........only took 150 or so feet this time, .....

("C'mon bitch, ........you're mine, .......sort of, ....PLEASE!!!! ....with sugar on it?")
She must have decided we were harmless, .....I guess, ....cause I actually saw 'er, ..........about the same time she saw me,

.....I suppose I wasn't her type, .......and she let me know it,

But!!!! ....I must have made an impression, ......I was keeping her under 100 ft now.....
("C'mon bitch, ....(phew), .....you're mine, ....(phew)")
Joe's coaching me all the time too, ........"No problem Bud, ....you're under a mile now"
"Thanks, ...... (insert other word for an erect doodad) "
Well, .....eventually I did manage to convince her to pay us a visit, ........thanks to Joe's job on the net.....

I put her on the scale and it dropped right to the bottom without hesitation, ........suprisingly it wasn't that long, ....not quite 40 in. (PS. .....ignore the white shoulders, ........I've been sick ya know

Anyways, .......we let 'er go to fight another day .......
But that fish will live in my memory for a long time .....
Back to the story, ............
I got all the lines back out again eventually, .......and decided to take a break.......
That dipsey fired again.........
"Joe, .....ya wanna get that, .........Please!!!!!"

This puppy took a few nice runs too, ........However, ......all "my" coaching, .......was positive.....

Things died after that, .....it wasn't till we were clearing the lines that I noticed we had picked up a few "mussels" on the hook of that dipsey, .......
Oh well, ......we were both a little tired anyways, .....and, ........it was getting hot.....
We were off the water by 1:30 and ended up 5 for 6, ......all quality fish, ....except the first one, ....but we needed that one, ....to get "hot"
The one we lost was actually a double header on Joe's last fish, ......not sure if it was the same fish that took the stinger hook off my green fly yesterday, ....But this time however, ..... and after about 2 min., .....he decided he wanted the whole damn thing, ......just reeled in what was left of the flouro leader behind the SD.......

So, .....after yesterday, ......I think today could be considered a comeback, ........maybe not "world Series" yet, ....but we're only novices, ........and it takes a little time to build a championship team.......
I mentioned that we talked with Simon, .......we also seen Bosc and Pieter again, ....a few times, ....the last time, .....Peiter was actually imitating Simon, .....working on the "nap" part of successful fishing......
Joe kept me confused, ....befuddled, .....or laughing, ....all day, .......


Anytime Bud......

skoots....
Sat. Sept. 10th
Please excuse any typing discaboobalations, .....my head is still sorta rocking back and forth, ...with the odd forward "snap" thrown in, ....and it's kinda hard to focus.....
I was fortunate enough to team up with Squigy, Joe, and his friend Jimmy on Hoover's boat for the "Off The Wall" tournament today....
It was an early start as we had permission to go out from Bronte where Geoff's boat is berthed, ....but someone had to drive up to Port Credit to pay the entry fee, ....I volunteered and managed to arrive back at Bronte just in time to start the fishing....
We headed out into a nice walleye chop, ....about an 8ft. high walleye chop....
We started setting up pretty much outside the harbour.....

Yeah, ....I know it's blurry......
So's this one

It took a couple of practices to get the arm moving the opposite way I was....

It was a slow start and didn't move a rod till it was well past daylight....
Squigy grabbed the first one and it proved to be our biggest today, at the weigh in 19.2lbs

Geoff reeled in the next one, ....though Chris is holding it(wanted a true approximation of it's size)


My turn....

Jimmy fighting the next one.....

and his fish....

Finally Joe got ahold of one....

We ended up 5 for 7, ....one didn't release the rigger and was gone when we popped it, ...the other snapped the flouro on the wire dipsey, ....it was only 20lb test, so we "upgraded" to 50lb
All fish came near the bottom, ...around 85 to 90 down over 95 to 120 ft of water.....meat and large flasher, ....spindoc and fly were the hot presentations.....
We pulled lines around 10:30 to leave lot's of time to motor up to Port Credit for the weigh in.....
Unfortunately the day was marred by tragedy, ......we had just docked when we noticed a flurry of activity, ....the original rumor was that a boat had sunk....


Without going into the details, ....the rescue boats came in with two boaters alive thankfully, ....but one deceased, ....apparently from a heart attack.....
Jimmy and I stayed with the fish while Joe, Squigy and Geoff headed back to Bronte with the boat and then they'd drive back up....


The police completely shut down the launch while they were investigating, .....leaving a channel full of boats stranded.....
Everyone managed to make the best of a bad situation by pulling their boats at the prominade launch up the lake a bit.....
The BBQ afterwards went well inspite of everything, ....and it looked like everyone was enjoying themselves....
It was a major "rock" & "roll" extraveganza out there today, ....(except for about maybe about 10 min. of
country & western moaning, ....which was quickly vetoed)
I haven't had the chance to fish much with Geoff this year, and hadn't seen Squigy all summer, ....throw in the polack, ....and it made for an all around fun time, .....Thanks for the great day guys.....
Congrats to the winners, ....well done, .....I think we took 4th, 5th, and 6th, .......figures

Finally, .....Gotta thank Joe (Grouper Trooper) for a well setup and run tourney, ....I believe the number of teams just about doubled this year, ......despite the conditions, .....I think this "doo" will be an institution before long, .....kudo's BUD....

skooter.....