Musky fishing Lake St Clare Ontario

My fishing guide, Andy Copland said "Well-I will take you out but you are going to get wet and the temperature has dropped a few degrees so its going to be cold." "Whats our chances of catching?"I said.
"Its early season so it ain't going to be easy,but put it this way-if we go out there is always a chance--if we don't? !  your the paymaster its your decision"Andy replied.
He opened up the throttle and out we went.
After travelling about 6 miles in 10 minutes we were ready to set up for our first drift.
Four rods in total- 2 on conventional drift method and 2-on boards attached to a mast.
Something like this http://www.fishweb.com/recreation/fishing/fishfacts/sideplane/index.html
After drifting for about half an hour--Bang!! first fish. a very small musky, but a success,I was happy.

Five minutes later in come another one,this time a bit bigger reaching 34"

I thought it was a big one,but the skipper said it was only a baby.
 The best of the 5 fish we caught,reaching 45"----- it was big enough for me.
We had been out for 4 hours now and it had started to rain.The skipper said "This weather is a welcome break for me,I,m usually out here in 90 degrees". Well I get enough of this in Scotland,lets get out of here, I can think of a more comfortable place to be" "Your the boss" he replied.


My 3 weeks holiday is now coming to an end, I have spent most of the time with my daughter and grandchildren (as one should), I have managed to escape twice and have fished Canadian style, both days were a success.Thanks again to my fishing guide Andy.
Ive had a great time in Canada.
I will be back.

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Cooking your catch

Brought some walleye home from my fishing trip to Lake Erie.
My daughter who is not a fish lover-that is- unless its out of the supermarket
(never could work that one out-"all my fish are too fishy" she says---very strange) Anyway she agreed to do something with it and her being a dab hand (excuse the pun) at cooking the results of her efforts were very tasty. http://www.slimmingeats.com/blog/pickerel-and-scallop-curry

Leamington,Essex County,Ontario

Arriving at the marina-this thing looks the business-hope it has seat belts as the skipper said we would be travelling across Lake Erie for 18 miles and it would take about 20 minutes-Wow!! that's fast  

  My skipper for the day-Andy Copland,a tournament fisher,good boatman and a really nice guy.
  www.justfishguideservice.ca

First fish on board was a freshwater Drum(sheep's head) not our target species but they gave a good account of themselves, 3 to 5lbs each and plenty of them throughout the day.Skip gave me an important lesson on clutch control- when these fish take a dive they can easily snap your 10lb leader.So get your reel settings right. We also had a few small perch and silver bass,with the Walleye (pickerel) thin on the ground. However we managed to land 6 of average size (no16lb monsters)

We were using four rods on the drift and to keep the lines apart we used these things called boards.
When I first saw them I thought they were a stupid contraption,but as they day went on I started to understand the principal behind them. You can set the board to keep your lines apart and control the depth of the terminal tackle (some boats use out-riggers for the same purpose) Andy set the drift at different speeds,he even used a drogue to slow us down and kept altering the depth to contact the fish.
The business end consisted of a trace with a pennel hook system,baited with a good size lob worm,spinner spoon,beads and weighted attractor.

Back on dry land after a lovely day on Lake Erie.Temperature in the upper 70s with a nice breeze to keep you cool (had to stick my hat on to look the part for this shot.
A brace of Walleye-- they are going to provide the family with a nice meal tonight and I will probably wash it down with a few pints of Canadian lager.

My little four year old grandson (Jack Sparrow) "I want to catch one this size" he says-"Perhaps next year when you are a bit older"