Nobody fishing?

[Outlw36]

Only got 1 keeper in the boat today. Got several to the boat, but they jumped outta the water and spit the hook as grabbing the net.

Jim Allen

 

[briangcc]

My son did at Scout Camp. I find that counselor, we're gonna have a teeny, tiny discussion about not cutting off swivels and using the crimp on weights I sent with my son. What character thinks a bare hook with a worm will cast properly?

Yeah he came home without catching any fish and a rats nest in his reel. Didn't use any of the lures he wanted to try. And I know he can catch fish, seen him do it several times over.

But I digress...will be fishing soon as youngest is out of his sling and OK'd by docs to go full tilt.

 

[jheydubya]

I appreciate everyone here for the info in keeping my new to me1989 force motor running. Been having a great year on texoma

 

[Hurtin Albertan]

The hot weather here lately in northern Alberta has turned the trout off so haven't caught any the last couple of trips but took my new drone with me and got some aerial pics from 500 meters up. Still not high enough to get both lakes fully in one pic but you can see most of both and the 6ft wide channel connecting them.

Had the whole place to myself so the perfect time to fly the drone.

This is the boat launch area with the 3 docks for people to fish from shore. They were just put in a couple years ago so fishing from shore was limited to the boat launch are before that. I launched the drone from the first dock after putting the boat in the water.



A close up of the boat launch. The black speck on the dock is me flying the drone. That red object is the sea-can they keep the aerator equipment in with my car and trailer just across the road from it. Boat in the water waiting for me.



Here you can see the whole lake and part of the western one with the narrow channel in between. With my trolling motor raised right up with the top of the prop breaking water and using lots of body english I can motor slowly thru which is a lot easier than trying to pole thru using an oar.



The western lake is larger than the east one but they don't aerate it during the winter so any fish that don't get over to the west are likely dead by spring. Not as many over there but from the rises I've seen they look to be larger.



So far all I've caught in there are Rainbow trout but there is supposed to be Brown and Tiger trout as well so I'm hoping to add those last two to my species list before winter freeze-up.

There's a beaver lodge with at least one resident beaver in there plus a pair of loons with one little one also hanging out.

 

[KJM]

The hot weather here lately in northern Alberta has turned the trout off so haven't caught any the last couple of trips but took my new drone with me and got some aerial pics from 500 meters up. Still not high enough to get both lakes fully in one pic but you can see most of both and the 6ft wide channel connecting them.

Had the whole place to myself so the perfect time to fly the drone.

This is the boat launch area with the 3 docks for people to fish from shore. They were just put in a couple years ago so fishing from shore was limited to the boat launch are before that. I launched the drone from the first dock after putting the boat in the water.

View attachment 384243

A close up of the boat launch. The black speck on the dock is me flying the drone. That red object is the sea-can they keep the aerator equipment in with my car and trailer just across the road from it. Boat in the water waiting for me.

View attachment 384245

Here you can see the whole lake and part of the western one with the narrow channel in between. With my trolling motor raised right up with the top of the prop breaking water and using lots of body english I can motor slowly thru which is a lot easier than trying to pole thru using an oar.

View attachment 384244

The western lake is larger than the east one but they don't aerate it during the winter so any fish that don't get over to the west are likely dead by spring. Not as many over there but from the rises I've seen they look to be larger.

View attachment 384248

So far all I've caught in there are Rainbow aerator but there is supposed to be Brown and Tiger trout as well so I'm hoping to add those last two to my species list before winter freeze-up.

There's a beaver lodge with at least one resident beaver in there plus a pair of loons with one little one also hanging out.

Why do you need an aerator for the lake? I've never heard of that before.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Why do you need an aerator for the lake? I've never heard of that before.

Can’t speak for huntin Alberta but right down the road from me is a body of water they call a lake. I call it a pond. It’s about 50 acres. They use a couple aerators in there to help curb the weed mats. It does have flow from a creek and a dam that runs pretty steady.

 

[KJM]

Can’t speak for huntin Alberta but right down the road from me is a body of water they call a lake. I call it a pond. It’s about 50 acres. They use a couple aerators in there to help curb the weed mats. It does have flow from a creek and a dam that runs pretty steady.

Yeah, around here nearly every body of water is called a "pond", even big ones. There used to be a joke around here: A main lander said to a local "you guys sure have a lot of lakes around here!" The local laughed, "those are ponds, not lakes." Main lander replies "well what do you call lakes?". Local replies "a hole in my rubbers!" So are all the weeds from agricultural run off?

 

[FLATHEAD]

So are all the weeds from agricultural run off?

The particular water I’m referring to is in a mostly wooded area. If anything, nitrogen or nutrients get in that water from run off from the surrounding homes septic systems, and the geese that plague the place. It’s not very built up so it’s very minimal from homes at best. Not much farm land up stream but I’m sure the agriculture that is present contributes.

 

[Hurtin Albertan]

Why do you need an aerator for the lake? I've never heard of that before.

They're using an aerator to prevent winter kill of the fish when the lake freezes over. A shallow lake like that runs out of oxygen real fast once it freezes over as all the rotting vegetation uses it up quickly.

Our average temp here for the winter is -20C/5 belowF but we get a lot colder than that and hit -39C here last winter which is almost exactly the same in F. -40C and -40F is the only place where the two scales match up and it's freakin cold! Touch something metal like a padlock with a bare hand and get a burn like from a red hot padlock. I worked in the oil patch up here and winter is when the action happens and the muskeg freezes up so we can build ice roads to move heavy vehicles on.

I mostly drove water trucks for road building or working on rigs hauling drilling water. Was working a seismic job hauling water in the bush to feed the drill trucks and one morning filled my truck up at -51C but none of the 7 trucks could get their drills to spin so we got 2 days off with pay. Ran propane and fuel as well. My last job before retiring was driving Super-B oil tankers in the bush. Pounding down ice roads at 60mph with a couple loaded trailers behind you is lots of fun.

I just put in a new air diffuser in my dugout last winter. Borrowed the neighbour's boat to get out there on the ice and git-er-done. Had bought a new 2 cyl air pump the year before but needed a good airstone to get clean water all winter. Goes all grey and stinks like bog water without it. Fill the bathtub and have to add a couple oz of 35% hydrogen peroxide to clear it up before getting in. Now it stays so clean and odour free you'd think we had town water. Have a reverse osmosis system for drinking water.

Took sick right after and the hole expanded almost enough to sink the boat but it doesn't sink. Got it out of there OK.



This is the $400 air pump. Really cranks out the air but probably adds $50 to my electric bill every month at 30+¢/kwh.



12" diffuser was another $175 but man it works great. The fitting goes thru the hole in the weight under it to hold it down. Hi-tech stuff.

 

[KJM]

Yeah, a woman I used to work with had a husband that was on those ice roads. She said there was one lake they called "2 movie lake" because thats how long it took driving on it!

 

[redneck joe]

We have Normandy Lake here in TN that has about a mile of bubbles. We dont freeze cant remember what i read about the why.

 

[MRS]

I appreciate everyone here for the info in keeping my new to me1989 force motor running. Been having a great year on texoma

Wow nice fish keep photos coming!

 

[BWR1953]

Well, I got my personal best Largemouth Bass last week. It was 24 inches long and had a 15 inch girth. That calculates out to 7.2 pounds. We took some pix and released the big momma to spawn again!

My prior best was a 6.1 pound bass taken in Clear Lake back in 1987. Got my pic in the paper for that one.

It was a ball to catch and my wife and the boy were tremendously excited.

My wife wanted a pic of her holding the bass...

 

[redneck joe]

dock fishing no less!!

My best was a hair over 5lbs in a central missouri lake.

 

[briangcc]

Wrapped up our vaca. Oldest son picked up right where he left off - can cast and catch sunfish, bluegill, crappie, perch, sunfish, rockbass, and largemouth bass. Won't bait a hook on his own...yet.

Middle son decided to start baiting his own hook and switching lures on his own. Gotta work on closing the swivel though... Same fish as oldest was catching. Luckily he dropped the skill of hooking me, the boat, and his brothers

Youngest son got tired of waiting on Mom and Dad to cast his pole so he said the heck with it all and started casting on his own. Caught his own fish too!

Nothing size wise for the record books. Good trip though and kids already asking to go out again.

Wife is already talking about a larger boat as fishing 5 from our current one can be challenging. Explained not at our price point and more likely to end up with an adult boat and a kid boat. So half heartedly looking for an aluminum rig down the road a bit - oldest has to be 16 to operate a boat on his own according to the state.

 

[KJM]

Took a ride on my ATV this afternoon and brought my fly rod along. Managed to get 8 brook trout and lost about 4 more. Not the biggest trout in the world by any means but guess what I’m having for breakfast tomorrow!

 

[MRS]

Well, I got my personal best Largemouth Bass last week. It was 24 inches long and had a 15 inch girth. That calculates out to 7.2 pounds. We took some pix and released the big momma to spawn again!

My prior best was a 6.1 pound bass taken in Clear Lake back in 1987. Got my pic in the paper for that one.

It was a ball to catch and my wife and the boy were tremendously excited.

My wife wanted a pic of her holding the bass...
View attachment 386388

Sweet nice fish!

 

[BWR1953]

Well, we hooked into a monster last night. In the darkness, no less!

And yes, it's the one that got away.

We went back to that same fishing hole (from Post 193) about 45 minutes before sundown and started fishing, in hopes of getting something like we did last time.

We fished well after dark. It was 9 o'clock and the boy and I had already quit and were getting ready to walk to the truck... when my wife got a giant bite! It sounded like somebody threw a brick in the water.

She normally fishes for bluegill, so she was using her light action rod with either 6 or 8 pound test line with a bobber and small weight with the hook and bait about 18" behind. As she started reeling it in fast, she saw something big sort of jump up and then down onto her bait. It was quite dark by then, so when it started pulling hard, she fought it for 30 seconds or so, then hollered for me to help. She handed me the rod and whatever monster was on the other end started pulling hard, making the drag sing as it headed away. I got the drag tightened down and the fight was on!

I fought that animal for a few minutes while trying to keep it from getting into the bushes on the side or tangled up in underwater trees. It did get under some limbs for a bit, but I got it out and into open water. I was trying to tire it out, but it didn't get tired at all! I was fighting it when all of a sudden it put on a huge burst of speed and broke the line. Whew!

We never got a clear look at it, even though it came to the surface a few times while far off in the darkness. It might have been a big catfish because it pulled like a tractor, but I've never seen a catfish attack a bait like that. And it never jumped like a bass. It may have been an alligator, but I don't have any experience with a big one. All of the little ones I've tangled with came to the surface fairly quickly. So we just don't know.

But we do know that we're going back to hunt that monster!

 

[Outlw36]

Trolling for trout but not a one biting. The bass however are another story.

 

[jimmbo]

I haven't fished since the moment I was told I had to clean what I caught. That was in 1974.
I will go to the Supermarket, give someone there a package of frozen Fish, and tell them to toss it to me, that way I can honestly say that I caught it