Yes..i'm still fishing....

Thought I'd do a quick post since it's been almost a month and I've had a few people ask if I'm still fishing (since I haven't been posting). The answer is absolutely YES!! Actually I would have to say I'm fishing at least 5 days a week at least and had some AWESOME catches that I'll share when I update in the next day or two. We just returned from a week long trip to visit family and have some family fun (and it was 7 long days of now fishing...started twitching by the end and must have made a comment at every lake and river we passed).

Summer has just been so busy with outing with the kids (that I somehow always manage to make into semi fishing trips.....tricky mom) that by the end of the day I'm done and vegging (but I'm going to put an effort forward to bring the laptop on the couch with me and get this done everyday).

I received my 2 Newest Avid Angler Awards yesterday in the mail - one for my 21.5" bass (I'll post pictures and tell the story next post) and one for a Yellow perch. So....thus far I'm up to 5 awards this season...and and itching to get a Walleye and Small Mouth awards as well.

In prep of getting back out tonight for a couple casts (heck we haven't even been home 24 hours) I had to go out and get a new rod today. I was ready to go all expensive...and get a really good rod ...but honestly...after I tested and tried them all...I still wanted my simple orange EB Ellipse 19.99 rod....(I'm not good with change....lol). Ended up splurging on polarized fishing sunglasses instead :) I figure is something is working (like my pretty orange rod) don't change it...

Off for dinner so we can get out there after and catch SOMETHING!

Plastic lures....trying something new..

Earlier this week while I was helping hubby get his boat out of the water there was the cutest elderly man getting ready to fish. Now I was a bit surprised because this location has never given me "that feeling" of a good fishing spot for various reasons (mainly it's right beside a swimming area and it's quite shallow in spots). So I was flabbergasted when this adorable man pulled in a HUGE large mouth in on his first cast (he was so excited..said it was the biggest fish he'd ever caught). After he got the fish landed...(he seemed delighted that there were some other people there to see his BIG catch) he started showing us what he caught it with....a PINK plastic worm lure (appropriately called BUBBLEGUM). This older gentleman said he'd seen another younger gentleman using these lures a couple nights before and catching stuff (and this other fisherman apparently swore it's all he ever used to catch large mouth). Got me thinking!

I'm not a huge fan of plastics...maybe cause I'm old school...maybe cause they just seem SOOOO fake (let me say thou for quite awhile when I started fishing I was convinced that lures couldn't possibly work either....fish couldn't be that stupid....worm and bobber was the only way to go..until I tried my first jointed lure and caught some big stuff and I was converted). My tackle box has a few packets of various plastics...but they frankly never get used....but watching this man catch this fish with them renewed my interest...so out I went to Canadian Tire to purchase some BUBBLEGUM Pink Plastic Worm Lures (which by chance were on SALE this week..yippie). Took these new pink worms out for a test run the following night with no avail (but I think this had more to do with location....as the side of the river I was on is more known for small mouth then large mouth bass). I did however have quite a few people comment on the colour and that they'd never seen such PINK lures :) Then came today when I ventured out to the Mississippi River split off by my house for some late afternoon fishing. After trudging through the MUCK of mud and water to get to my spot..I open up my container of worms from the previous day to realize that there are only 2 worms in there (I think my youngest had a little too much fun on the dock the night before with his worm friends and may have let some go :)...so I used those 2 worms up quick and decide to cut one of my Pink Plastic Worm Lure in half and play worm make believe. Shockingly, it worked....the small mouth started biting at my bright pink "worm" and I had a quite a few landed Small Mouth bass. The only thing that I found frustrating was that there were a lot of fish that got on the line that I couldn't land....not sure why that was....but I'll have to do some more research on it...most likely they were bitting the lure and not getting the hook (I was using a wacky rig)! All in all....long story short...I'll be using plastics a bit more often...not 100% converted though...that may take some time!

Ontario Angler Awards - First 3 are in my hands :)

I've been waiting awhile for these awards to come in! The first 3 of my Ontario Federation of Hunters and Anglers - Angler Awards came in this week (postal strike delayed them a bit)
and they are awesome! So far I've received one for Bluegill, Black Crappie and Pumpkinseed. I'm still waiting on my large mouth bass certificate...should be here soon too! They come with a nice decal as well stating the year...think i'll put them on my tackle box.

Speaking of tackle boxes....I finally went out this week and upgraded to a LARGE one..as I just have to many lures and other things in my old one to keep it neat and tidy and find what I want when I need it. Loving the new one...it'll take some time to get use to...but far more organized (which with me and my OCD tendencies is so necessary).