# Bass Gone Wild.......



## DocEsox (May 12, 2008)

Had a couple of very different fishing trips the last 4 weeks&#8230;..the last of 2008. End of October I went to Montreal, Quebec to do some musky fishing&#8230;..have been trying to do this trip for several years and finally got it to happen. And, as earlier in the year, the one thing you can never control, the weather, reared its ugly head. Nice flight to Montreal from Alaska&#8230;.about 14 hours each way, with transfers&#8230;.lots of TB (= tired butt). Had a full day before musky fishing so I went out with a guide for smallmouth bass, something I have always wanted to do. The day was cool and windy but the fishing was great. Caught 30-40 smallies from 2 to nearly 6 lbs.





































Due to a water temp of about 52 degrees most of our morning fishing was done dragging tube jigs slowly along the bottom. In the early afternoon, with the sun bright, the shallows warmed up a bit and I switched to a spinnerbait&#8230;which produced some arm jarring strikes for the next 3 hours:














































I considered it a fantastic day. I apologize for all the "expanded", arms out photos but the guide just refused to take them any other way.

During the night the cold front arrived with rain and winds the first day of musky fishing&#8230;.10 hours on the water, trolling with the big skunk stripe. Temp dropped below freezing, we got 6 inches of snow and by the next morning the wind was howling a steady 25-40 with gusts to 60mph. Too much for even the hardy musky angler and I spent a good part of the day sleeping. With the weather so cool and the wind having muddied up the water something fierce there was little chance for anything the 3rd day also. So I quickly switched gears and called the bass guide who was happy to take me out again that third day. It was dang chilly, the water temp had dropped several degrees but the water on the St. Lawrence River was still pretty clear. With the wind blowing hard it was tough to keep the hands warm. It was much harder finding smallmouth with the weather changes&#8230;.but after several hours of an occasional fish we found the pattern slow bouncing our tube jigs in 15-25 feet of water. The guide scored with a beautiful 5 lbs. fish early:










But he soon had me on a good bunch of bronzebacks:























































We tried the afternoon spinnerbait thing again but their were no smallies we could find anywhere but deep water. We headed out to the deeper water and slow trolled up some more till nearly dark:




























Another absolutely amazing day fishing smallmouth.

The next two days were spent endlessly trolling musky water which was off-colored and very cold. Despite the guides heroic efforts we only managed a 30 inch ski the 4th day and a 40" one the last day. As musky guides are embarrassed to photograph anything under about 45 inches there were no pictures due to the shame involved&#8230;hehe. Although I had gone after muskies, which didn't pan out, the trip was a great success with the smallmouth fishing&#8230;.helps to be versatile on a trip. The last day I tried to convince the guide, they were always dressed in survival suits&#8230;.waaaayyy too warm&#8230;that I had just come "down" to Montreal to suntan&#8230;..45 degrees is great for that:










After the loooooonnnnnngggggg flight home I was forced into working for two whole weeks before heading to Florida for a week with the wife and midget (our 12 year old&#8230;the older daughter is off to college). My wife "forced" me to take her there due to the lack of any sun this summer in Alaska. I did my fatherly duty and spent the first 4 days doing the Kennedy Space Center, two full days at DisneyWorld (including all 4 Disney parks the 2nd day)and a full day at Universal Studios&#8230;..my feet may never work the same again. Here's out little happy troupe at the Magic Kingdom:










The second day on the Disney complex we spotted a big gator sunning himself by one of the ponds&#8230;..and I had to pull over for some pics. My wife and daughter kept rooting for the gator to eat me:










Having performed my fatherly duties so well for the first 4 days my wife rewarded me with one day off to fish. I took a 3 hour drive south toward Miami and met up with a guide I love to fish with for pea**** bass. He took me to his "personal" spot so don't ask me where it was&#8230;.I don't think I could tell you anyway. Due to the continuing "cold" spell (translated to temps under 70 in south Florida) he wasn't sure how well the fish would be biting but we were still determined to fish only with lures. He asked me how many fish would make me happy before we started&#8230;..trying not to be too optimistic I said around 20. We hit the canals from this beautiful launch site:










We started with some topwater topedos&#8230;.which are worked faster then for largemouth as pea****s like things moving pretty fast. Managed several small largemouth in the first hour or so, then we happened upon the presentation for the day&#8230;.3 1/2 inch suspending jerkbaits worked close to the shore. It wasn't long before the pea****s started to show:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j32/DocEsox/Pea****1.jpg




























As the soon got higher the fishing got really good with many double hook-ups. There were many small bass but also many in the 2-4 lbs range:




























During the day we had several bass wedge the lures in their mouth&#8230;.this largemouth wasn't even hooked but couldn't get the darn thing out of his face:



















Anywhere there was cover there were bass. Points in the canals systems held several in many cases&#8230;.and of course, I lost the biggest fish&#8230;.a pea**** probably in the 6 lbs range who unbuttoned me when he dove under the boat. But the numbers were absolutely unbelievable throughout the day:




























When we shut it down to head in my personal total was hard to believe&#8230;&#8230;1 needlefish, 2 mayan cichilids, 36 largemouth bass and 70 pea****s. 109 total fish&#8230;..off those 103 came on the same lure which now has no eyes, is missing much of the paint, and the hooks had to be replaced 4 times during the day. I asked the guide how many 100 bass days he had had in his 20 years of guiding&#8230;.he said this was the first. The scenery over the canals was gorgeous on the way in:










The next day my wife and kid were supposed to go fishing with me on the flats for redfish but the winds blew the trip off&#8230;.just as well&#8230;.my arm was sore (sorry for the gloating). So my last trip of the year was great&#8230;..2008 was a pretty good year.

Everyone have a Merry Christmas,

Brian


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Great *FISH* pics. :lol:

Glad your season ended well.


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## rapalahunter (Oct 13, 2007)

Great post man. Great post.


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## Christopher30 (Nov 9, 2007)

I can honestly say i'm jealous of your lifestyle, state to state, big fish after big fish. Sign me up! Those smallies are ridiculous, what a great day!


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## kastmaster (Nov 20, 2007)

Awesome pics! Talk about bass porn.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

You my friend, are a bad a! Wow unbelievable pics and great stories. You ever been to south america? If so you should post some pics!! Thats my dream place. Looking tan also :wink:


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## shotgunwill (May 16, 2008)

Yes, very nice bass pics my friend. I would like to catch a pea**** bass too. I got back from a bass fishing trip to Mexico a couple of weeks ago, and had a similar experience. I can definitely vouch for the sore arms!! Your hat is a riot! Where'd you get it?


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Awesome bass dude. Those are definitely some monsters. 

Glad to see you worked on that tan as well, or lack thereof. That picture is simply blinding! :wink: :lol:


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Nice report! Those were some impressive smallies. They sure make most of the bass I caught this year seem..................................................inadequate  .


What was the length on the best of those toads?


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## utcat (Jan 15, 2008)

awesome, good to see all had fun


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## Jitterbug (Sep 10, 2007)

Holy crap that was an awesome report! I still can't believe you landed that bass that got the lure wedged in it's jaw -- that was killer!


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

God I miss Florida....  I need to go visit my brother and his family before they get moved out here. Those Pea****s are gorgeous fish man.... and yes, the hat is AWESOME!! The smallies.... good lord.... thats what dreams are made of right there. That cracks me up about the guide. He had to get something he could put on the lodge wall ya know?? :lol:


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## 1morecast (Dec 6, 2007)

Im not jealous! Im not jealous! Im not Jealous! Okay i'm fine now, nice pix!!!


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