Sturgeon Report - July 21

[npetersen]

Well, hubby's back was sore so looking at Friday's wind forecast of 20km we decided to skip Friday and go on Saturday instead. Checked winds twice before leaving on Saturday and 10km was forecast and only 4km at the time. We got up to the boat and it seemed quite breezy. First tried dropshotting on a hump out in the middle of the lake and were only able to do 2 passes because the waves were crazy. Not boat traffic, wind. Decided to head into Fenelon as we know we can get out of the wind there. Tried the honey hole we were at last weekend and managed a few rock bass and 2 crappie about 9". They went back in and we moved on. Travelled up to the falls to maybe get an ice cream but docks/locks were crazy busy with no dockage available. Good thing we brought lunch and snacks on the boat. We later found out Fenelon was having a Jubilee celebration and about 20 boats drove by decked out with British flags, one boat had a mannequin dressed like the Queen on the bow and a few other boats had people dressed like the royal family.

Continued drifting downstream, casting dropshots and new jika rig with a few rockbass caught. Then get to this one spot and bam, fish on. It was a 17" walleye on the jika rig with a craw plastic which fell out as soon as hubby netted it. Into the livewell it goes. Next cast to same area caught a 1.5 lb smallmouth as well on the jika. He took the rig so deep he ended up getting gut hooked and I figured he would not make it so he also went into the livewell. Last week I also gut hooked a smallie and had it in the livewell for 2 hours and he seemed fine swimming around so I let it go but this one was sideways in 1/2 hour. If I didn't need to keep that bass, I probably would have let the walleye go but did keep it. We decided 5.5 hrs was enough for hubby's back and headed back to the dock, again in crazy waves with at least 25km winds. Will give his back a rest for a few days and hopefully head out again on Friday.

Not a great picture of the walleye but here it is.

[FSHN FRK]

Nice! Hope your hubby gets better.
Cheers!

[sniperlee]

Nice fish. I had the same problem with winds today on Rice Lake. Forecast was for 17 km winds, it had to be at least 25. All day long with gusts to boot. My plan was to use the Jika rig also but couldn't see or hold on to the weed lines cause of the whitecap conditions. I did get a personal record pickerel though..... Smallest one. Hope your hubby feels better soon. Tc.

[Fishsniffer]

Great Looking fish Nicole


I Couldn't get on any Wall-eye on Sunday . Just Small Mouth and 1 Muskie .


Winds were also high but I managed to fish in and around some islands on the river .



Dan

[admin]

Nice walleye.
Good to hear those Jika rigs are working.. I guess when the fish see something different, they bite..

Wind can really be a problem out on Sturgeon, due to the lake's shape, i hide in the protected canal area as well, but never really had much luck in there, besides the falls area, but it is usually too busy to fish, as you explained.. A Jubilee celebration, lol.. must of been quite the sight..

I hope your hubby feels better soon..
Glad you got out and had a nice weekend.

I did not fish this past weekend.

Cheers,
Jerry

[npetersen]

When I fileted the bass I was surprised to see two crayfish in its stomach and then he wolfed down the jika rig so it must have looked really good to eat. Picked up some more craw plastics to try this weekend.

We have tried the channel toward Lindsay and have not had much luck this year and know we can always get fish by the falls so a little bouncing to get there and back is almost worth it. Our boat can handle the waves but sometimes our bodies don't like it too much.

Thanks all for your concern for hubby's back. He said it actually felt much better on Sunday so maybe a bit of bouncing put something back in place. Lets hope it stays good.

[Brooktrout]

Nice fish! Glad to hear you are having success with the jika's, and also your hubby's back is feeling better. A sore back is definitely a "pain".

[Longshank]

great read as usual.

also know of back pain, so hopefully he;s up and around soon.