RedSkullz
Well-Known Member
We have friends that have a family cottage a few km out from the mouth of the Magnetewan river on Georgian Bay. I have fished the area close to the cottage fiercely for about a week a summer for almost 10 years now and have had a very tough time locating fish consistantly. As i talk with more people that fish close to our friends cottage i find out more and more that the fish just dont seem to hold there for some reason, even though there is steep rocky points with nice smaller isolated cabbage beds. Anyways i tried for years and came up with very few fish considering my efforts. SO last year i thought i would try trolling in some areas that were a good few km from our friends cottage and i came across some thick shallow weedbeds surrounded by some 7 fow sparcer weed weedbeds. I hit a bunch of nice pike in this spot last year and i found some very interesting areas close to his weedbed. One is a sunken island thatbrings the water up from 7 feet to 4-5 and has some isolated thick clumps of cabbage. Last year i hit the bass good...and this year....so the tale begins.
We started by arriving at the cottage at about 11 am on saturday. We were supposed to leave friday night but our friends had some car problems are werent able to make it before dusk on friday.(and driving the boat to the island cottage in that area of georgian bay with no electronics at night is insane) Everyone knew i was itchin to fish bigtime so after helping unloading the boat, and putting the groceries away and all that, i was off for fishing. I started by going to my favorite sunken island(30 min drive with the 25hp) and i almost instantly hit a bass on soft plastics that measured out to 16". I fished around that area for a while longer and i came up empty so i went to the 4ft thick cabbage bed and i got hit hard on a 4.5" cotton cordell jerkbait. Reefing the fish out of the weeds i got it lipped and in the boat and it measured 17". I did another drift through the weedbed and ended up with nothing else, so i decided to try another area i located at the end of last years trip. It is a huge expanded weed flat that the water clarity is tannin tea stained and most of the huge bay is only 3.5-4.5 feet and cluttered with weed. However last year i noticed that there was a channel that ran 6 feet around one edge of the weedbed. The 6' section comes up to 5 feet around some rocks. I went and drifted by the first rock and whipped my 3/8oz spinnerbait along the edge and let it sink down a couple of seconds before starting the retrieve. Almost instantly i had a hard hit. After battling the brute, i got her in the boat and measured out a 19" smallie. A few more drifts produced nothing in that area so i tried following the 6 foot channel around the corner through the narrows. I had my portable marcum showdown running for depths and the 6 foot channel dropped to 7, then 8, then 9, then 4...there was a rock shelf running through the narrows and i couldnt believe i caught nothing off it. After the shallower shelf the narrows opened up into a bay and instantly the water dropped to 9 feet! Still no fish there though...on one side of the bay there is a thich clump of cabbage and while i was casting long the deeper edge bang! Another nice bass that measured 18". By that time it was getting close to dinner so i called it day after 4 hours of fishing i ended up with 4 nice bass, a great start for sure! Unfortunately day 1 i forgot the camera, which was quite unfortunate, as the 19 was a hog.
Day 2
morning - sigh...the gas tanks on the little boat needing refilling so i had to run into the magnetewan to refuel. I trolled the river and did a bit of casting, hoping for a muskie or any fish but no luck.
afternoon - I went back to the cottage and hung out with my wife and friends and had some lunch, and got back at the fishing holes around 2. The little bass were on like crazy and i ended up getting 14 bass in four hours with the biggest being 17". Forgot the camera again...oh well no fish really pic worthy.
Day 3
Day 3 was the day i should not have left the camera at home. I got up at 6am and burned full speed to the fishing hole....in four hours i got a total of 13 bass landed, highlights were one 17", one 18", one 19" and one huge 20 1/2" with a 16" girth. Almost my biggest smallie ever!
Afternoon - i was so pumped to get out again so i burned back to the cottage for some food and drinks and i headed back out again in such a hurry i left the danged camera again...lol
Since the morning was so awesome i decided to staty out for longer, so i stayed out for 6 hours. In total i got 20 smaler bass, with the biggest being 16". I also picked up my first pike of the trip which might have measured 20"...lol
I saw an older gentleman fishing with live bait and sure enough he pulled up a nice 20"+ eye which got me realllllllllllly excited as they were of the species i had to go for. As he pulled up his stringer he had another small one on there! Woo-hoo was exactly what i said!
I trolled the line out of the bay hoping for one myself for the pan but no dice.
Day 4
morning - gas run...man is that newer Johnston a fuel burner!! I didnt fish the river as the weather was looking very nastly and i just wanted to get gas and get across the 2 km stretch of open water before the swells rolled in.
afternoon
the weather cleared a bit and i went out for some fish...in 5 hours i got only 6 bass with the biggest being 17"
Day 5
morning - went out for 5 hours at 6am and got 10 bass with the biggest being 17"...the weather started to look nasty once again, but i had to try again!
afternoon - with the potentially stormy weather i decided to dedicate the day to catching a fish for the pan. I went amed with worms and a harness and i started drifting. Hit after hit i lost worms and pulled up tiny perch, but not eyes. After the 1.5 dozen worms i brought were gone i tried trolling the 10ft deep channel with a shad rap type bait that runs 8.5feet. 10 minutes into it bang, fish on! I force it to the top and it skates all the way to the boat without even thrashing...sure enough its a nice little eye that measured just undered the slot at 15.5"...sweet!! One for the pan! I had my pan fish so i went back to some fun bass. Got 8 smaller smallies with the biggest being 17". I also got one small 24" pike in the shallow cabbage bed. The rain really started coming and i was a good bunch of km from the cottage(across potentially dangerous water for 1km if the swells come up) so i packed it in. Got back to the cottage and i had my wife take this pic of wally.
SIGH....pic limit here and i cant post more pics...if you want to see the mega pics version go to:
http://forums.oodmag.com/showthread.php?p=383051#post383051
We started by arriving at the cottage at about 11 am on saturday. We were supposed to leave friday night but our friends had some car problems are werent able to make it before dusk on friday.(and driving the boat to the island cottage in that area of georgian bay with no electronics at night is insane) Everyone knew i was itchin to fish bigtime so after helping unloading the boat, and putting the groceries away and all that, i was off for fishing. I started by going to my favorite sunken island(30 min drive with the 25hp) and i almost instantly hit a bass on soft plastics that measured out to 16". I fished around that area for a while longer and i came up empty so i went to the 4ft thick cabbage bed and i got hit hard on a 4.5" cotton cordell jerkbait. Reefing the fish out of the weeds i got it lipped and in the boat and it measured 17". I did another drift through the weedbed and ended up with nothing else, so i decided to try another area i located at the end of last years trip. It is a huge expanded weed flat that the water clarity is tannin tea stained and most of the huge bay is only 3.5-4.5 feet and cluttered with weed. However last year i noticed that there was a channel that ran 6 feet around one edge of the weedbed. The 6' section comes up to 5 feet around some rocks. I went and drifted by the first rock and whipped my 3/8oz spinnerbait along the edge and let it sink down a couple of seconds before starting the retrieve. Almost instantly i had a hard hit. After battling the brute, i got her in the boat and measured out a 19" smallie. A few more drifts produced nothing in that area so i tried following the 6 foot channel around the corner through the narrows. I had my portable marcum showdown running for depths and the 6 foot channel dropped to 7, then 8, then 9, then 4...there was a rock shelf running through the narrows and i couldnt believe i caught nothing off it. After the shallower shelf the narrows opened up into a bay and instantly the water dropped to 9 feet! Still no fish there though...on one side of the bay there is a thich clump of cabbage and while i was casting long the deeper edge bang! Another nice bass that measured 18". By that time it was getting close to dinner so i called it day after 4 hours of fishing i ended up with 4 nice bass, a great start for sure! Unfortunately day 1 i forgot the camera, which was quite unfortunate, as the 19 was a hog.
Day 2
morning - sigh...the gas tanks on the little boat needing refilling so i had to run into the magnetewan to refuel. I trolled the river and did a bit of casting, hoping for a muskie or any fish but no luck.
afternoon - I went back to the cottage and hung out with my wife and friends and had some lunch, and got back at the fishing holes around 2. The little bass were on like crazy and i ended up getting 14 bass in four hours with the biggest being 17". Forgot the camera again...oh well no fish really pic worthy.
Day 3
Day 3 was the day i should not have left the camera at home. I got up at 6am and burned full speed to the fishing hole....in four hours i got a total of 13 bass landed, highlights were one 17", one 18", one 19" and one huge 20 1/2" with a 16" girth. Almost my biggest smallie ever!
Afternoon - i was so pumped to get out again so i burned back to the cottage for some food and drinks and i headed back out again in such a hurry i left the danged camera again...lol
Since the morning was so awesome i decided to staty out for longer, so i stayed out for 6 hours. In total i got 20 smaler bass, with the biggest being 16". I also picked up my first pike of the trip which might have measured 20"...lol
I saw an older gentleman fishing with live bait and sure enough he pulled up a nice 20"+ eye which got me realllllllllllly excited as they were of the species i had to go for. As he pulled up his stringer he had another small one on there! Woo-hoo was exactly what i said!
I trolled the line out of the bay hoping for one myself for the pan but no dice. Day 4
morning - gas run...man is that newer Johnston a fuel burner!! I didnt fish the river as the weather was looking very nastly and i just wanted to get gas and get across the 2 km stretch of open water before the swells rolled in.
afternoon
the weather cleared a bit and i went out for some fish...in 5 hours i got only 6 bass with the biggest being 17"
Day 5
morning - went out for 5 hours at 6am and got 10 bass with the biggest being 17"...the weather started to look nasty once again, but i had to try again!
afternoon - with the potentially stormy weather i decided to dedicate the day to catching a fish for the pan. I went amed with worms and a harness and i started drifting. Hit after hit i lost worms and pulled up tiny perch, but not eyes. After the 1.5 dozen worms i brought were gone i tried trolling the 10ft deep channel with a shad rap type bait that runs 8.5feet. 10 minutes into it bang, fish on! I force it to the top and it skates all the way to the boat without even thrashing...sure enough its a nice little eye that measured just undered the slot at 15.5"...sweet!! One for the pan! I had my pan fish so i went back to some fun bass. Got 8 smaller smallies with the biggest being 17". I also got one small 24" pike in the shallow cabbage bed. The rain really started coming and i was a good bunch of km from the cottage(across potentially dangerous water for 1km if the swells come up) so i packed it in. Got back to the cottage and i had my wife take this pic of wally.
SIGH....pic limit here and i cant post more pics...if you want to see the mega pics version go to:
http://forums.oodmag.com/showthread.php?p=383051#post383051
