Thriller's 2005 Open Water Adventures

[Thriller]

Opening weekend finally arrived here in southern Manitoba.  Yesterday was a bit hectic with errands and the weather wasn't very nice (cloudy, windy, hovering just above freezing), so it wasn't going to be a family fishing day.

We went to a small reservoir called Stephenfield to make sure the boat was OK and everything working properly.  It was, except for marker lights on the trailer (we were travelling in daylight, so it wasn't a real big deal).  Anyway, the family went fishing on Mom's birthday and we didn't get skunked.  I caught this 20" pike trolling with a lipless crankbait I got for my birthday (first time it got wet)...it swallowed it and was bleeding pretty badly, so he came home and is now filleted - supper tomorrow.



I can't have a post here with just one photo, so I had my wife take a photo of the rig as we were loading up to come back home.



I have a couple reels to re-spool now too...I am far too good at procrastinating, but they proved themselves to have too much memory and the one almost seems rotted - it broke every time I was trying to tighten a knot.

[vancouvercanuck]

I saw a few of those legend boats on the weekend. They are pretty nice boats. What does one of those set a guy back?

[troutbum]

how did ya cook that pike?

[camo_fish]

nice set-up.  WTG

[Thriller]

That outfit is the V-151 All-Sport with a 40 4 stroke...got it last year...price was about $15...$19k after taxes - check out http://www.legendboats.com/.  It's a year old and I haven't got too many hours on it yet.  It has the canopy and full cover.  My wife was the one who decided we needed a full console for comfort's sake.

Troutbum - after doing the boneless fillets (first time I attempted removing the Y bones), we just dipped in a beaten egg, then Italian Style Fish Crisp, and fried them up in olive oil.  With my cholesterol levels, I should probably learn to bake / broil / grill fish better so that I can make it a bit healthier.

[ginnz]

dang thriller, that is a fine boat...... you were fishin right close to me last weekend...... you going out on the long weekend?   drop me an e-mail. [email protected]

[Thriller]

ginnz,

Not that I am going to remember, which boat were you in?  There was a couple (older than us) that we briefly chatted with as we passed each other.

[Thriller]

Today we spent about 2 hours on the LaSalle River - a small tributary of the Red - we were just outside the city and had a bit of fun.

Well, things started off slowly, but eventually we got a few.  First fish was a rock bass, my very first.



After that, the order gets a bit confusing.  Suzanne landed her first rock bass.



Somewhere in there, she lost a sauger, I had a small sauger hit my coloured weights as they were coming out of the water.  I caught a small sauger and then a larger one (maybe 14").  Then the joy came, and Suzanne caught her first MA.



It came in at about 10.5"



Final tally - Suzanne landed 3 rockies, including an MA.  Derek landed 2 sauger and 2 rockies and had a number of other hits, but tried to set the hook too quickly.

Except for the first fish, they were all in close to shore (a rod length out)...I was releasing my second sauger, my jig went into the water, and I had a rocky on while I still had a sauger in my hand...needless to say, that one got off.

Anyway, it was our first time there, we generally had a good time, and Suzanne's name is going to be in print.

[Mikepike]

That is a big rockbass! I remember when i fished for them in Sault Ste. Marie. With a little rod and some cheese on a little hook, most where 4-7" But nothing that biG!

[Pasquatch]

Odd colored rockbass, the one's I get are brown with red eyes.

Nice fish!

[Thriller]

The smaller ones were darker...I've seen enough colour variations not to count on that for identification.  I can't speak for the big one with any certainty, but the fish we caught today did generally have orange / red eyes.  I did notice on at least one that they were kind of blotchy with some parts of the iris red and other parts darker.  I don't know.

It has to be a rocky - the only other possibilities for the watershed are bluegill, white bass, and black crappie - white bass have separated dorsal fins, I've seen enough crappie to know the shape is wrong and it would be a monster bluegill if it weren't a rock bass.

[Pasquatch]

They're definately rock bass, just that big one looks different to me. Very interesting!

[Reelmaster]

Nice rock bass. Way to go. Hopefully your summer keeps going as well as it is starting.

[Skiff]

Good to see that Suzanne got her first Master Angler!  I hope you have a whole wall available for all of the certificates that your family is going to get in the next few years.  Congratulations to her for the nice sized rock bass!

[Thriller]

Nice rock bass. Way to go. Hopefully your summer keeps going as well as it is starting.

And here I thought we were off to a poor start...two trips out in the boat and one fish boated...2 shore trips (I think) so far and the first was one sauger and a few stonecats...it took us two weeks into the regular season to have a half decent time...funny thing was with the number of other folks around, we saw only one other fish caught while we were there.

Let's hope Sunday afternoon was the start of a better season 

Monophil, I'm thinking the certificates will primarily go into a binder in protective sleeves.  I'll make sure to pass along your congrats.