Mary Lake

After an entire day of teaching kids how to fish and almost a bad afternoon fishing, The Vintage Japan Flatfish Crankbait (yes, literally brought it from a Japanese Thrift Store in Japan back at 2024) saved my late-afternoon/semi evening chance. Long story short, after that beautiful smallie in the morning, the fishing was nearly horrible. Lost 3 dropshot rigs from many fatal mistakes (almost 4) which also included entire leader lines. And the traffic of kayakers and boaters in the river mouth was far too much, which is pretty annoying. Tried dropshot, Ned rigs, spinners and even YUM Dinger Senkos to see if any luck. Only thing that entertained me is teaching the kids how to fish. After hours of fishing, got out of there and did the lakeside instead (the rocky pool by the beach). After dipping my feet into the water, just wanting to relax after horrible experience of snagging and multiple traffic interruptions, manage to catch yet another beautiful smallie (10-11 inches) on the Japanese Crankbait/Square Bill. Yet again, the slow suspension (let alone, extremely slow suspension), put up the higher stakes for an unexpected catch. Safely released after measured to fight for another day. Overall, the trip was nearly a miss, but thanks to certain strategies away from traffic, manage to land beautiful smallies in a beautiful fishing spot. Tight lines everyone. No promises for Round 3 tomorrow.

Finally started my Muskoka Trip strong. Yes, it was only a few days later after my previous trip on Tuesday (a day trip at Pres’Quile). Just today in a Friday morning (as making of this post), the scenery did not fail to disappoint. Basically, Muskoka is a Walmart version of Alberta’s nature sceneries like Banff or Kananakis (in a good way for Ontario standards, no offence). Jokes aside, it was slow at first. Tried the minnow color flatnose worm (dropshot) like last time, no luck. Then about 40 minutes to an hour later, at the dock, caught a really beautiful 11 incher on a dropshot rig (bait: Berkeley Maxscent Flatnose Worm: Green Pumpkin). Fought a bit weird, which I thought I didn’t had anything. Although slightly small, nonetheless happy to get a beautiful specimen in an otherwise very beautiful spot (at a campsite). Thankfully he was safely released afterwards with care. Still not finish on the trip yet, so keep you posted for any biggens or even other species like northern pike or the occasional walleye (hopefully). Stay tuned and tight lines.

Some fun night time catches