Fishing trip #6 ... Busted.

You will find them the next time you are out. Good luck Woodfarmer.

You just never know what you will see, out on the water.

Thanks Drew, the BBQ is waiting until I can get back up there. I always post the results of my nights of fishing. There is always a short story out on the water. Had a night similar to this one, last October. Tons of fish hitting my bait under the bobber and only one walleye caught in 7 hours or so. Very lucky it was fat enough to keep. I always anticipate a great night of fishing. Every time is a great night, no matter what happens. Your laker story is like the twilight Zone or dead zone as you said. Sometimes no fish turns into tons of fish. Sometimes the fish just stop feeding or swim away. Some strange days/nights on the water, make interesting fishing stories.

Yesterday was the first time in 15-20 years that I boated around Balsam lake to check out some of the old trolling spots where we used to catch lots of walleye. I was shocked to see how many of the traditional weed beds are now gone, and so are the fish. These were all dense deep beds (what many call cabbage) that were in 9-15 fow. Large-leafed pondweed, curly leafed pondweed, Oakes, leafy, floating- leafed, variable pondweeds, bladderwort and northern naiad. These were key musky spots as well. I never made it up the Coby arm but everything else I checked were toast. When I used to do fisheries work we noticed the same thing on Scugog, Sturgeon, Buckhorn, Pigeon, Lower Buckhorn. We figured the culprit was zebra mussels. Although they are supposed to colonize hard substrate, the young mussels are attached to the stems of the plants and once the plant gets enough of them they collapse the plant due to the weight. The pondweed species with the largest, most robust leaves seem to be the last to go.

There has definitely been a bit of a change with respect to weeds and mussels in many lakes. Invasive plants brought in through water currents and boats, boat trailers, bait buckets etc. People need to clean their equipment before entering a new water body. Pollution plays a big role in weed growth as well. The water run off adds too much chemical content which helps the bad weeds grow faster. This chokes out the native weeds and the cycle begins. Then there is algae. Algae is good, but when it grows too fast like the bad weeds it can be dangerous. Sucking all the oxygen away from fish, aquatic life and fragile plant life. On a positive note... As for the weed beds in Balsam, it was a very cold spring this year. Balsam is always a bit behind on weed growth, being the last lake with ice on it, in the area. The cold spring slowed the weed growth even more this year. We have been fishing some deeper lures this spring as I posted pictures with my stories. Many casts picking up fresh green weed growth, these weeds will get thicker in time. I have said this quite a few times on my posts. I have noticed an increase in the walleye population going back over a decade now, in the Kawartha Lakes. I have had many anglers disagree with me on this fact. The lakes have changed here and there, therefore we must change with them. The fish are still there, the geography is still the same, the fish have just slightly changed where they like to hang out. The introduction of Pike, Bluegill, Crappie etc. other invasive species (mussels) and invasive plant life, have definitely changed the lakes a bit. But only a bit...My friends and I are still catching more walleye every year on our favourite Kawartha Lakes. These past years have seen more baby, medium, large and monster walleye caught than I have ever caught each season. The slot size could use some tweaking, but seems to be working. I still think they should drop the limit to only two walleye in zone 17. When you were out fishing the other day, you may have been fishing a bit too fast and a bit too high in the water. Those shallow baits you were using were not deep enough and maybe moving a bit too quick for the walleye on Monday. Hopefully you have better luck next time. Maybe go to the river or lake, where you caught all those walleye last year. Balsam is the enigma of the Kawartha Lakes, that's why I fish it. Less people fishing for walleye there...even less people catching walleye there.