My Bass Opener

[reefrunner]

Got up to Cana l La ke this long weekend and the bass fishing was spectacular. I used two baits all weekend, in what resulted to be over 50 largies of various size over three days. Fishing out of a 12 foot tinny, for the most part I was solo. My camera is still iin for repairs so I managed this one pic of an average bass on my blackberry.

I did get a nickle one evening that my neighbour who came for a fish captured, hopefully he'll remember to send me the photos and I'll post it.

If anyone has ever fished this particular lake, you'll know it's chalk full of weeds, everywhere; qwhich makes it a tough but respectable bass fishery. I concentrated on areas that had rock sholes and I would cast toward the inside weed edges near them. If deeper water was nearby all the better. Sunday evening I ventured into a lot with many stumps and was maybe 2 or three feet deep.

My arsenal: 7 foot medium casting setup, 20 pound power pro, Brown and green tipped Senko, rigged texas and weightless. 6'6" MH baitcast setup, 50 pound power pro, frog patterened zara spook.

Daytime fishing when the sun was high was slow. Inside weed edges dropping senkos. Get a lot of taps from perch nibbling at the worm, even hooked into some jumbos. Some smaller quarter pounder largies, two 3pounders and a four pounder with a huge head that will be 5 come fall.

Evening I was unstoppable. It was so easy it should've been illegal. I love bass evenings like that. Pretty much every cast i had a fish, some very respectable suize ones too. I was going back and forth between the spook and the senko, each were porducing. I love top water, so if i missed a big fish I would follow up with the senko.

Friday evening I went out with my neighbour, who is a young fella that was catching lots of pannies on worm under a float. I wanted to show him how exciting top water could be. The lake was perfectly calm, it was very humid, almost looked like rain was coming, I was sweating underneath a hood sweatshirt to keep the skeeters away. First cast to a stump that was in about a foot deep, walking the spook back to boat a boil behind the bait. Stop it, I ask my neighbour if he saw that, and then splash. It was a great fight that saw the brute most stay down and take some good runs. Got her to the net and it was ther biggest largie my neighbour had seen, weighed it a 5.3 lbs. And back into the drink.

Saturday was the best of all. I was lost in a stump field catching fish hand over fist. People were following me in there seeing all the success I was having, lol. It was hard for me to get off the water as I wanted to race into Orillia to catch the newest 3D Transformers flick. (Awesome, save Meagan Fox's abscence).

In all it was a great weekend with say fifty bass caught. Evenings were the greatest, calm waters, fish biting. Best basss weekend in a while.

Tight lines,
reefrunner

 

[RedSkullz]

Awesome man!! Sound like a spectacular weekend!! You have to love it when the weather produces those amazing calm dusk and dawn days where everything is perfect.

 

[FrankTheRabbit]

Nicely done man! Thanks for sharing the story.

 

[dvbis]

Nice post, thanks for all the details, you said your senkos were brown and green tipped usually how many inches are the senkos you purchase?

 

[PainInTheBass]

That sounds like an awesome weekend man! Hey, maybe next time I go up there, if you are around, maybe I can take you on my boat so you can show me the ropes lol.

 

[reefrunner]

Thanks for kind words gents. It's not always the case that the bassin' is so hot on the lake, it's just one of those things when everything comes together nicely and you get into a good pattern. Even though I fish this lake quite regularly, there are still days that I scratch my head pondering how to produce.

Dvbis - I usually stick with 6inch senkos [in fact the actual brand i was using were YUM Dingers], but this weekend was using 5 inchers as that's all they had in that colour pattern at LeBaron's before I left. The colour is brown throughout and maybe the last inch is bright green. Awesome bait. Offset hook weightless. Cast it out and let it fall. I watch my line as an indicator for strikes. Little guys make it twitch, bigger gals like to swim with the bait sideways I find. Most of the time you don't need a full blown earth shattering Bill Dance hookset, Just a good upward motion, keep your rod tip high and keep the pressure on the fish usually get 'em in the corner of the mouth. Braided line is essential I find. Never tried using senkos with mono mind you. Don't like using flouro with the bait as the line sinks.

PITB-Since you fished the lake, the hints on what type of structure I'm fishing is the key. As you know, lots of weeds in the lake. Find shoals, sometimes I drop a cast right on em' but find perch and gills to inhabit these grounds. The bass usually come from the weeds adjacent to the shoals looking to ambush prey. If you plan on heading up there again in the future and I'm fishin as well, I wont mind showin you a couple places, however, you'd be blindfolded and sworn to secrecy hahaha.

 

[dvbis]

Perfect! I was checking out LeBaron's store, Im thinking about purchasing the Cumberland Float Tube, switching up to braided and buying a few senkos. The problem with senkos is that there are so many colours and i dont know what colour to pick. Some are totally outrageous ie. Yellow and hot Pink? and as for salted baits vs unsalted. I do quite a bit of research but all they do is contradict themselves. What type of hooks do you use, i know you offset the hook with a texas rig or carolina rig for weedless action. Do you use HIGH VIS braid + tied to a INVIS Braid line as a leader?

 

[reefrunner]

It's true, there are many colours to choose from. Generally, I stick to earthy natural colours - greens, watermelon flake, brown with the green tip. I was talking to a tourney bass fisher about the pink, he likes it for the visibility so that he can watch his bait fall. I just use my line as a strike indicator. I like the salted baits but admittedly, haven't done the research between those and unsalted. I use a Mustad 3/0 wide gap, offset shank hook. As for line, I use 20lbs power pro in moss green. I did, at one point, use a flourocarbon leader but found in took away from the falling action of the bait as flouro sinks. Moreover, when it comes to senkos the fish aren't line shy; now I tie the hook directly to the power pro as I find having a leader doesn't make much difference.

 

[RedSkullz]

I use mostly the same colours of bigger plastics as reefrunner....i do also use white in addition to the natural colours. For salted vs unsalted i dont think it matters too much....though i have found that the YUM LPT ones seem to produce best for me. Hooks i use are the same as reefrunner (3/0 offset wide gap gamagatzu, mustad or matzuo). The only difference reefrunner and i have is line choice. I am still using mono line. I generally use 12 pound trilene big game for fishing large plastics, though in thick weed i really should switch to a no stretch braid.

 

[dvbis]

Im currently in the Hamilton area was looking around their conservation areas and ended up at fifty point conservation, their stock pond has rainbow trout and bass. Didnt get a chance to go to the bait shop to pick up a few coloured senkos but i had a bit of jigs + twister tails in my box. Surprisingly nothing attacked my line but then again it was mid day sun was on full blast. I seen a few big fish swimming around wasnt interested in the food. I also have Gulp lychees and minnow fake bait but nothing wanted that for action.
Biggest question, Do any of you own Bass Spray (the scent spray as added flavouring for the fish to hold on longer) I heard when using tubes its a good idea to spray inside the tube as it holds scents longer.
Im going to pick up a few senkos later today and try that spot again hopefully with more success, Should i fish off the shore line on lake ontario or their "stocked pond" for practice. Need to be able to sense their pickup and how to present my bait best i can.

 

[reefrunner]

I've used the bait spray, for tubes exactly how you mention. Haven't used it since it exploded in the trunk of my car one trip and had that stench on everything lol.

Pond or Lake O? Unless you know there are good bass haunts along the stretch of shorline or a marina that you can acess to fish docks, I would practice out on the pond.

It would be useful to some if I made a note about how to present your senko. I've been using this technique for a number of years now and it is probably my best producer for bass.

Many different ways to rig the worm, two to mention: Wacky- just hook it in the middle; Texas- hooked from one end, exit the bait with the hook tip about 1 inch down, bring that inch up so it's threaded on the shank of the hook that has the eye and aligns with the point, thread the hook point so it sits just under the skin of the bait so the worm sits straight from the shank down to the hook.

Casting, doesnt really matter distance wise. With braid you can feel/see hits from way out. Keep you rod tip high. Let the worm slowly sink to the bottom, this takes some time but that's when the fish hit, on the drop. As mentioned, i use my line as a strike indicator. Watch where the line enters the water. you'll note the line gradually going under the water, this being the worm sinking. Nibbles are indicated by your line starting to twitch - these are usually little guys, perch, gills, sunnies, you can catch them with a 3/0 hook I dont set the hook hard per say, just lift you rod tip high until you feel the pressure of the fish and keep it on. Big fish tend to inhale the bait and swim along, this is indicated by the line moving direction on the water. Perhaps in deeper water you'll notice the line sinking faster than normal. Set the hook and keep the pressure in the fish keeping your rod tip high. On windy days I like to have a little bow in my line and I watch that as a stike indicator because it gets difficult to follow where you line enters the water in rougher seas. After my targetted cast, I let it drop for say about 30 seconds, if I dont get any bites, I reel it in about 10 feet and let iot drop again. Hope that helps ya out a bit. once you got this mastered, it'll be your go to, just the same as it is mine.

 

[RedSkullz]

SOuds like a good technique reefrunner! I always seem to use tubes and sluggos....i havent used senkos much at alll, but i'll have to give them a go sometime! As for the bait sprays i have used them a few times and done well, but i find you dont really need it when using tubes.

 

[donsjuand]

Im currently in the Hamilton area was looking around their conservation areas and ended up at fifty point conservation, their stock pond has rainbow trout and bass. Didnt get a chance to go to the bait shop to pick up a few coloured senkos but i had a bit of jigs + twister tails in my box. Surprisingly nothing attacked my line but then again it was mid day sun was on full blast. I seen a few big fish swimming around wasnt interested in the food. I also have Gulp lychees and minnow fake bait but nothing wanted that for action.
Biggest question, Do any of you own Bass Spray (the scent spray as added flavouring for the fish to hold on longer) I heard when using tubes its a good idea to spray inside the tube as it holds scents longer.
Im going to pick up a few senkos later today and try that spot again hopefully with more success, Should i fish off the shore line on lake ontario or their "stocked pond" for practice. Need to be able to sense their pickup and how to present my bait best i can.

I've used BANG scent and caught fish with peppered white tube jigs as mentioned. It's in a squeeze bottle with Anise extract (a seed that smells like licorice) as well as minnow and craw oils and glitter. It can help if you miss a strike, to get a second hit. Other than that, scent is hype unless you're in a situation where you KNOW there are fish and they aren't biting and decide to retrieve identically with the scent and they bite....my 2 cents. My fave time to use tubes is on schooled smallies under baitfish in mid summer.