Lake Scugog 'close to shore' report

[frozenfire]

Time: 5:00-7:00 PM
Location: Port Perry of Lake Scugog (Hwy 7A causeway)
Wind: NW wind about 10-15 kpm
Temperature: ~14 C
Equipment used: 6'6" medium spinning setup spooled with 8 lb mono
Lure used: Rapala J-7
Map of Location: it's Port Perry, if you haven't been there, I would honestly be surprised. We fished right at the causeway away from the shore people's casting distance hahaha

Launched out of Port Perry Hwy 7A where all the cars park for the causeway fishing. After inflating the boat and getting setup and ready to go, we were fishing by about 5:30 or so. Second cast I get a nice topwater hit on the J-7. Nice 1 lb bass. Nothing for about 1/2 hr to 45 min when I get a nice hit again. 2.5 lber. Really good jumps and nice fight! Few casts later, I see my J-7 wobbling it's way back and behind it is this wave following it. It gets closer. It splashes and my lure disappears. What do I do? Set the hook. Solid hookset and the fight is on. It feels heavy and it never clears the water or comes close to the surface. As I bring it closer, I see the side swirl and it seems long shaped. I'm thinking that this may be my first musky ever! It dives deeper and gets into a bundle of weeds. I'm thinking 'oh no' am I going to lose this thing? I put pressure on it and eventually it gets free and a big clump of weeds with a huge fish comes up. I see a huge head and realize it's a huge ass largemouth. Kinda disappointed it wasn't a musky, but damn, this thing was big for a largie. Took pics. It still swims in the lake to caught by me again next year when it grows. :roll:

 

[chibi]

BIG MOUTH BASS!
if i came i would've caught a 7lb'er
j/k =)

 

[disspatcher]

Nice scogog Hog!

 

[MikeyMikey]

All I want to know is how you inflated that boat?

I bet you that you forgot to bring a pump and you had to blow it yourselves with the mouth?


btw... not a bad looking fish 8)

You should have stopped by my super duper uber secret spot for few cast before going on the water.

 

[frozenfire]

yes, we blew it with our lungs haha.

mikeymikey.
it turns out that all the spots are now considered trespassing. There are a whole bunch of brand new signs... maybe a hundred or so, all posted around the marshy canal areas.
We were quite disappointed as access is so limited now on scugog.
Just a heads up before you head up anytime.

 

[halleb]

Super nice bass frozenfire - Bravo, good catch!!

Hey, I did not know you got yourself an inflatable boat? So it means you left our ranks now, you are no longer fisherman fishing from the shore, you got motorized man 8)

How did this work from you, fishing from inflatable boat comparing to fishing from the shore ?

 

[frozenfire]

Halleb, the inflatable is not mine, but a friends. We have taken it out twice. Once at a local pond and then to Scugog! It felt really good!!!! Was quite easy to paddle because it was so light, but once the winds picked up, it was soooo tiring. We paddled so hard against the wind to get back to our launch spot.
We didn't bring the small motor, but next time we will have to.

By the way, Halleb, have you checked out the shore spots at Port Perry recently? The walleye and crappie are starting to return to their spring spots, feeding on minnows, packing up weight for winter.
Landed a couple nice crappie and a decent walleye at the boat launch.

I know you enjoy the river trout action, so you are probably going to be hitting up the bowmanville river soon huh? 8) Hope to see you out there. You need to teach me to fish rivers!

 

[halleb]

frozenfire , I did not go to Port Perry for some time now, probably more then 3 months. Funny thing is - I was thinking to check it out on the weekend maybe, so your info about walleye comes handy.

No salmon action for me yet this year. but you are right, I am planing to go to Bowmanville very soon, I think I will go tomorrow afternoon and/or Thursday morning. If this works for you, let me know & we can go together

 

[openfire]

Awesome bass.

After reading this, I think I may be trying the good old jointed Rapala for bass next time. I haven't used a Rapala for bass in years. In fact the only Rapala I've used in the last 7 or so years has been J 13's for salmon.

Were you specifically targeting bass?

BTW, sorry for the late reply. lol

 

[frozenfire]

Good to hear from you openfire!

Yeah, we were specifically targetting bass.
It was quite the surprise to pull that huge bass up out of the water hahaa. I was screaming for a few minutes. This is a bass that I don't think i'll ever top... unless I go to the southern states.
I am still very upset that I didn't have a measuring tape or scale with me. And I was too excited to think about taking a pic of it measured up against something so i can get a measurement afterwards.

The J-7 has been hot for me this past summer for topwater largies... lost count of how many that smashed it! Nothing beats the sweeet sound of water exploding when a big fish takes your lure right off the surface of calm water!