You got my ear wet! 6/26/2014

Last week, Kenny V. from Reel River Adventures extended an invite to fish the main stem of the Susquehanna River.  Kenny had some clients coming up the following day and wanted to pre-fish the river.  After thinking it over for about 2 seconds, I accepted the offer and spent the days leading up to 6/26 excited like a fat kid in a candy store.  Whenever the opportunity to fish the "main stem" presents itself, the words "NO" and "CAN'T" disappear from my vocabulary.

So, on 6/25, I met up with Kenny and we headed to the main stem.  Our plan was to pre-fish that night for a few hours before spending an entire day chasing bronzebacks.   Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate.  Thunder and lightning engulfed the mountains and we played it safe.  When the skies finally cleared we were able to get out and fish a few areas for about an hour.  We successfully boated 7 fish and knew the smallies would be "juiced up" the following day.  Before we decided to hit the sack for the night, we were joined by Dr. Chris Smith from "everything smallmouth."

Friday - 6/26:  We hit the water around 5:00AM.  It didn't take long to find a few fish.  Water temperatures hovered around 75 degrees.  Both the east and west sides of the river were chocolate milk.  However, the middle of the river produced some "slightly stained" water.  I almost started my very own WWE version of "yes, yes, yes ..."  Here are just a few of the fish from our day:

Most of today's fish came on various spinnerbaits and tubes.  Color didn't seem to matter much! 

     

Today was an OUTSTANDING day of fishing.  We landed 90 smallmouth bass and 1 walleye today.  At least 20 of our fish were 18 or 19 inches.  It's even better when you spend it with good company.  Thanks to Kenny V. from Reel River Adventures for taking Dr. Chris Smith and I out on the Susquehanna River.  If you are ever looking for someone to put you on the fish just check out his website: 

 http://reelriveradventures.com/

There were some great times during this trip.  One in particular was when Kenny had to use the bathroom.  Too bad we were on the river and there were no facilities available.  Sometimes you have to pull out your "portable purse" and handled your "business" like Yogi Bear.  Hey Boo Boo ... :)  Yep, that's a toilet seat in Kenny's right hand there.  Notice he's all smiles after unloading the canister of excrement.  

Or there was the close call when Chris inadvertently casted about an inch away from Kenny's ear.  All I heard was Kenny say "you got my ear wet!"  I had to double check these guys were keeping it "G" rated. 

Dr. Chris Smith's 20 inch walleye was a chunky gal!  Just the way many of us fishermen like em.  By the way, if you enjoy fishing for smallmouth bass please check out Dr. Smith out on Facebook at "everything smallmouth."  I'm sure you will enjoy his site and stories.  I've been checking them out since Friday.  

You always have to show the best "photo-bomb" of the trip and here it is:

Great day on the water with some even better company!  A special thanks goes out to my lovely wifey for baking us some cookies.  We had a few while stretching our backs during the hottest part of the day.  Man, life sure is tough when your catching nearly 100 fish in a day.  I'm almost embarrassed to say my forearms were cramping up at one point while I was backhanding an 18 inch smallie into the boat.  Haha!  Thanks for viewing my blog.  I hope you enjoyed this latest adventure of steeler fishin'

Canada Pike Fishing Trip - May 30 to June 2, 2014

It's been way too long since we visited Lake Singleton Campground in Ontario, Canada (3 years to be exact) but we finally ended that drought in 2014!  Yeah baby!  Unfortunately, two of our buddies were unable to make the journey north.  However, Steve and I made it a family affair and kept our plans to chase a few Canadian Pike. 

 

As you can see, the weather was OUTSTANDING!  It was beautiful out there.  It did slow the fishing down somewhat but no complaints from either of us.  All four days of fishing produced air temperatures in the low to mid 80's.  Water temperatures ranged from 69 to 73 degrees. 

Now, the numbers and size of the pike weren't the same as our last trip.  We caught numerous "cookie cutter" pike.  I did have one monster come from the deep depths and nail one of my Husky Jerks.  This thing had to be close to 40 inches.  I almost shat myself the way it appeared out of nowhere as I was pulling my lure from the water.  My heart pumped rapidly for quite some time.  Truth be told ... I had no chance of landing that thing.  I set a hook in it's mouth and the big guy looked at me, laughed, shook the hook, and wandered back into the darkness with this smug look on his face.  We've all been there! Not to be deterred, we continued fishing and found lots of these:

 

Don't get me wrong - we did catch some pike!  Haha!  It's just fun catching "accidental" bass these BIG.  Two or three of these big guys were pushing 8lbs. 

We even had one "Double!"  Steve caught the front end of it and gets the picture with both fish!  Those are the rules, right?

Did I mention there are some NICE smallies in Canada?  I kept saying "if only we could throw tubes at these fish!"  One of these years, we are heading up there during bass season.  Heck, maybe this summer if time permits. 

 

We even had some good eats while in the Great North!  Doesn't get much better than this ....

See that little rock over my left shoulder?  Yep, that's where she was sitting.  This picture doesn't do this fish justice.  She was an 8lb bass.  I should zoom in and edit this picture at some point.  Just look at my hand.  This is a BIG one! 

This was the view from our cabin.  Life was good for a short 4 days.  I want to go back ....

Little pike here but had to show off my "tourist" t-shirt!  Thank you for allowing us to fish your waters Canada.  It was much appreciated, eh!

I have more pictures on my I-Phone and will add them soon.  Be right back folks!  Okay, that didn't take long.  Here is another picture of dinner.  Again .. it doesn't get any better than this!

Catching pike NEVER gets old!  I wonder how these guys bite in July and August?  Anyone?  I'm definitely considering making a return trip this summer. 

Nothing like fishing with the cows!  We took a similar picture last trip.  This time we were a little more creative though. 

Gorgeous scenery in Canada!  This is about 2 minutes before I lost my sunglasses. 

This raccoon followed us around for about 20 minutes.  I'm guessing this guy may have rabies. 

Another year and another slab crappie!  Geez, these things are as big as the stripers in Beltzville. 

Remember how I lost my sunglasses?  I jumped in and couldn't find them.  Oh well ... this was a relaxing dip in the water.  I was ready to catch some fish again. 

Steve was a little envious I looked so cool and relaxed.  Besides, it made for great pictures. 

These little guys landed a nice bowfin (or as they called it ... "dogfish") right at the ramp and 100 feet from our cabin.  We ran over and offered a net and the boga grips so they could successfully land it. 

Good bye C-A-N-A-D-A!  Until next time ...

Thanks for reading my blog!  Hope you enjoyed our adventure to Ontario, Canada.  It was a trip we will never forget.