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What's a good way to find pike in a lake? Heading to the in-laws cottage next weekend and bass doesn't open til end of June. This is in central Ontario. I've only fished up there a couple times (only started fishing last summer) and caught nothing but bass.
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May 12, 2018 05:24
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 14:52 |
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hot cocoa on the couch posted:Yeah no targeting or taking until 4th weekend in June. You’re “supposed” to release without even taking pictures and change your tactics/spot to avoid catching them if you do. It’s not realistically enforceable but I know for me I try not to fish in a place/manner which is gonna land me bass until July. For pike tho yeah literally just boat around a lake with the biggest fuckin spoon/spinner you can get your hands on and go up and down in the water and you’ll catch pike. I make my own spinners and have always found any colour blade and beads with a black and red buck tail really slays. Should I just not be fishing at all then? It's a small lake with not a lot of fishing going on. My FIL and his friend (an avid fisherman) always fish on the may long weekend so I was surprised to hear there were C&R seasons at all, but I also know there are lakes closer to the city that get fished like crazy. My guess is that this rule just goes largely ignored by small lake cottage fishermen.
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May 12, 2018 23:26
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I actually have no idea what's in the lake nor do I have any idea how to find out. I just know I've only caught SMB.
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May 13, 2018 03:08
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Turns out there's not actually any pike in this lake. Went out this morning and trolled for lake trout for about 90 minutes in the rain but didn't get a bite. The water is still under 50F so the working theory is they shouldn't be too deep yet. I'm up here with a couple of veteran fishermen so hopefully we can catch something at some point. Wish bass was in season because I'm itching to just cast off the dock at sunset. 
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May 19, 2018 20:12
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Skunked again this morning but one guy managed to haul about 100 ft of steel line off the bottom of the lake. Think I might try dock fishing later on, the water is still really cold and there's even some ice left on a couple shore spots so maybe there's some lake trout hanging out close to shore.
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May 20, 2018 17:03
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LingcodKilla posted:Steel line in a lake? Someone trying to snag sturgeon? Trying to catch lake trout 90-100 feet down I guess.
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May 20, 2018 20:32
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Yeah I dunno, I'm not gonna tell an 80 year old who's been fishing this lake longer than I've been alive how he should fish. I'll give your way a try when the weather warms up though!
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May 20, 2018 21:44
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Skunked x3! Nice night on the lake though.  We're back up here in two weeks and bass still won't be open. Hopefully I can get a lake trout but it seems like they're pretty elusive.
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May 21, 2018 04:44
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Had to look up where that is, holy poo poo that's out there. Bring bug spray.
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May 23, 2018 21:02
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What's a good starter kayak for small guys? I'm only 145 or so, I assume that opens my options a bit. I'm also short so something that's easy to get on top of a car would be good.
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May 25, 2018 17:45
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Cool, thanks! Not sure if it would be worthwhile since we have a pretty short season up here and my inlaws cottage already has more appropriate boats, but there are a couple of spots close to home that I'd love to fish.
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May 25, 2018 22:37
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We're back at the lake again this weekend. The water is 70 now which makes me think the lake trout are probably close to the bottom. We don't have much in the way of vertical jigging gear so I'm not sure it's worth fishing at all. Bass opens in 3 weeks though. Is it worth trolling for lake trout once the water warms up? Or trying to vertical jig with just a regular rod and reel set?
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Jun 1, 2018 19:18
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Went out and trolled with a Williams but got skunked. A couple guys were fishing the same area but with live bait and caught a few. Good to know there's at least fish to be had. Don't have any live bait but we'll try again tomorrow. Feel like I should wacky rig a senko based on how the thread's been going this season.
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Jun 3, 2018 05:33
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prom candy posted:Went out and trolled with a Williams but got skunked. A couple guys were fishing the same area but with live bait and caught a few. Good to know there's at least fish to be had. Don't have any live bait but we'll try again tomorrow. Feel like I should wacky rig a senko based on how the thread's been going this season. Caught one today! It shook the hook right at the boat but whatever, good enough for me. Caught it trolling a bright green crankbait which was against my understanding of what these fish are interested in, but I figured I should switch up the tactics.
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Jun 4, 2018 00:58
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Bass will be open next time I'm up there and I'm going to spend the rest of the summer chasing them but I'll try the vertical jig approach next spring. Pretty sure my FIL has a depth finder or fish finder kicking around. Bought my first rod and reel yesterday, looking forward to finding some spots closer to home.
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Jun 8, 2018 05:55
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Postess with the Mostest posted:You can vertical lake trout all summer with a fishfinder and a 1/2oz paddletail or tube ideally on a calm morning where you can stay right over your bait and chase it away from the trout. You need the fishfinder so you can see them come to the lure, they hardly ever hit it just jigging, you need to reel away from them so they chase. Looks pretty fun! No idea what the state of the fish finder at the lake is but probably worth checking out. Thanks
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Jun 8, 2018 19:22
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Went fishing at the grand river in Cayuga, ON today. Mostly fished senkos, Texas and wacky. Totally skunked. Got to break in the new rod and reel finally though and it was a super nice day.
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Jun 26, 2018 03:20
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Catching a bunch of small small mouths on a mepps spinner just casting towards cover near shore from our boat. Would like to catch some bigger ones but also happy to be catching at all! Having absolutely no luck with a wacky rigged Senko surprisingly. Not sure if I'm putting it in the wrong place or presenting it wrong or if it's just too big for the little fish. Also, semi-serious question: I have a cheap small sit-in kayak and a shed full of miscellaneous tools. What's the bare minimum I would need to fish from it and not have a terrible time? I'm thinking at minimum I need a rod holder and a paddle holder. Tackle box can probably go between my legs. I was thinking of trying to macgyver something since right now we're using a pontoon boat and it's pretty dicey to get close to structure.
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Jun 30, 2018 22:22
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Oh that's a cool idea! My wife really likes to sit on the boat and read while I fish so bringing the kayak along would be perfect. The part about the wind might be an issue though, we were getting blown around like crazy even on the pontoon yesterday, it's a pretty windy lake.
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Jul 1, 2018 16:03
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A Pack of Kobolds posted:
There are MORE fishing threads?!
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Jul 8, 2018 22:11
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Why is it like that?
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Jul 9, 2018 03:47
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yeah i'm sure germany wants to take advice from florida
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Jul 9, 2018 19:49
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Back at the lake again this weekend with some more questions: 1. It's been really hot, the water by our dock is up to 78. Should I be fishing deeper for smallmouth? 2. The water is like a foot lower than it was two weeks ago. There's a dam on the lake so I'm guessing they've lowered the level on purpose. Any idea if/how this might affect bass in the lake? Hoping to catch some good ones this weekend!
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Jul 13, 2018 05:04
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Argh I had a huge bass on the hook earlier and lost it! I know who I'm looking for for the rest of the weekend
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Jul 13, 2018 22:11
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Hooked on to another big boy today and lost him again, this time either the line broke or the knot did. Finally figured out where to throw the wacky rig off the dock to get some good bites though. We're back at the lake in two weeks, hopefully they'll be even bigger then. I've got a $50 gift card to an outdoors store, what should I buy? I mostly fish for small mouth on a small lake. I have a bunch of weights, hooks, soft plastics, etc. but not much else for lures. What are some must-haves?
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Jul 16, 2018 04:59
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I've been throwing a mepps #3 at the lake and it does get a ton of bites, but always from tiny bass. I'll definitely get a couple more because I really like fishing them. There's a lot of places to get snagged so having something that doesn't sink too deep and still gets bites is nice.
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Jul 16, 2018 14:49
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Do you find certain retrieve speeds/styles work better than others? I was also thinking of getting a straight topwater lure, is the whopper plopper worth the money?
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Jul 16, 2018 17:08
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I've cut one of the hooks off of a couple of my trebles, I don't like keeping the fish out of the water for too long if I can avoid it. I'd rather lose a good fish than accidentally kill it. At least if I lose it someone else can catch it.
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Jul 16, 2018 17:56
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Very stupid question but any tips for unhooking fish? I feel like I struggle with it more often than not. When I watch fishing vids it seems like guys rarely have an issue, but any googling just turns up results on getting hooks out of your hand.
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Jul 27, 2018 17:03
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Barbless is working well. Somehow caught a bass on a Texas rig through the outside of the side of its head today, no idea how that happened since I had the hook buried in the worm but anyway the hook came out easily. Also lost my favourite mepps to a tree 
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Jul 28, 2018 16:56
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You guys like any top water lures for smallmouth? Maybe something cheaper than a whopper plopper?
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Jul 29, 2018 04:36
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Bought another frog and a spook today, and also a replacement mepps for the one my nephew lodged into a tree. I also ordered a couple of paddle leashes and a phone tether off Amazon so if I tether my rod and my paddle I can do some super low budget kayak fishing on a calm day. Spending all next week at the lake, hopefully gonna have some big bass pics to post here!
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Aug 2, 2018 04:58
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Can't remember if I posted about it but I was having trouble earlier this year with my improved clinch knots coming undone. Lost a decent crankbait and a good fish in two separate incidents because I was tying them wrong. Anyways my wife and I went out in a little motor boat today and I grabbed 3 rods from the shed: my good one, one of her dad's good ones for her, and then one of her dad's beater ones as an extra for me. I had a spinner on my good rod and then a jighead with a wacky rigged senko on the beater rod. I've been fishing like crazy since Friday and caught a bunch of little bass, but nothing of any size. Finally hooked into a decent size one today on the senko, got it up to the boat, and then the loving knot came undone and the fish swam off with the hook in its mouth! I must've tied the jighead on earlier this year with my lovely technique and haven't used that rod since. Ah well. Anyway, these beater rods are fine but the reels are pretty lovely, we're heading into town on Wednesday and I was thinking of maybe buying a $20-30 reel and some fresh line for one of them. I think my FIL said he paid $25 for the rod/reel combo originally. Would a cheap reel be an upgrade? If so any recommendations for something I can find at Wal-Mart? And should I just get like 10lb mono?
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Aug 7, 2018 03:50
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I've switched to the palomar for tying hooks and small lures on but for big lures it's too much of a pain. The two mistakes I think I was making with the improved clinch were not tightening it by holding the lure and the main line, and trimming the tag end too short. I have a semi cheap shimano reel on my main rig, I'll look for one more that's maybe a bit cheaper, thanks!
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Aug 7, 2018 13:07
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A Pack of Kobolds posted:Same here. I like the uniknot for things too unruly for the palomar to be practical. You can also do a double uniknot instead of a blood knot for joining lines. It's a good one to know. Nice, I'll give that a try, thanks! Had a really fun one today although I ultimately ended up losing it before I could get a pic. We were swimming off the dock and I had some goggles on, just goofing around and looking for lures or sneaky spots for fish or whatever (nephew found a mepps #4 in pretty good shape the other day just off our dock) when I saw a pretty chunky bass swimming around. I got out, grabbed the rod, waded back in, and casted over where he was. He bit my neon green wacky worm on the first cast and I hauled him up. He shook off the hook before I could get a handle on him but it was really wild to see this fish under water and then catch him while standing in the lake with the water up to my knees. Really don't know why I didn't touch a fishing pole between age like 12 and 31 because it's all I wanna do now.
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Aug 8, 2018 02:40
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Wal-Mart was pretty picked over when I went yesterday so I ended up buying some knock off senkos and skipping out on the new reel. I'll check out what's on clearance at my local fishing shop when I get back home and see what I can find. I might also just save my money and buy a whole baitcasting setup later on. Or put it towards a kayak. I've been fishing in the cheapo Costco kayak my in laws have up here and it is a ton of fun. I can only imagine how great it is when you're in a stable and comfortable boat that has advanced things like storage and rod holders.
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Aug 9, 2018 04:41
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Improved clinch knot has been working well for me since I started tying them right. Still using palomar for hooks and small lures though, it's easy and seems strong. Went out on the lake with my wife and her dad tonight. She caught about 7 dinks and he caught 4-5 on worms. I fished my senkos and caught two nice fat ones. After I hauled in the second one my FIL goes "what'd you say those things are called again?"
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Aug 12, 2018 04:27
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How does the palomar kill the action?
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Aug 13, 2018 17:51
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That's pretty interesting. I need to get some kind of knot tying desk toy I think.
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Aug 13, 2018 18:54
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 14:52 |
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Dumping a few pics from the past week: First fish on the kayak, nearly tipped me over  Slightly bigger  The dog, now realizing that there are animals that you can pull out of the water, has become obsessed  Decent smallie  Better smallie  The only topwater catch I had all week 
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Aug 13, 2018 23:13
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