Monster Buster Fishing '07

Igor Mychalczyszyn

Monster Buster Fishing Reports Aug '07

Robert Tremblay

George Kizlan

Steven Kizlan

Ste

July 28th

July 29th

ve Kizlan

aaa

Sean Kizlan

Steven Kizlan

Sean Kizlan

Finally got out to do some ice fishing. Made the annual Temagami run with Igor. A nice drive up, just over 5 hours. Not like last year when I was parked on the road on Hwy #11, 12 km away from Temagami for 2 hours due to an accident. Anyway, we arrived with some decent weather, around -10 C. This was our third year at Northland Paradise ( www.northland-paradise.com ) with our friendly hosts Doug and Marg Adams.

First night went out to the main section of Cassell Lake. Due to the semi-blizzard conditions, we parked near a hut to use it a as shelter. We fished for a couple of hours with only a couple of light hits.

Due to the lack of snow, we couldn't get out to the other lake as last year, so we went up Cassell, around the bend to the northeast. The temps were much cooler the 2nd day. We started around 1:00 pm. We set up in 26 ft and had two other lines in 40 ft and 60 ft with not one line moving all day and no fish on the graph or camera. As the pics show, we had a relaxing afternoon. We broke lines around 6:00 pm. It was a cool 5 mile ride back to the lodge. Next morning the truck had -26 C on the dash. Sunny and crisp.

(more pictures on Pictures 2007 pages)

Well, after two days of fishing, we came up empty handed but had a good relaxing weekend.

No news yet. Hopefully, there is a trip to Temagami at the end of January, or maybe Chooch if the ice sets up.

As of January 7th, Hamilton is at 5' C. No ice in the near future. Too bad the boat is out away.

Finally got out fishing. Robert, Sean and I were up at Issac Lake, just north west of Wiarton on recommendation of Ted Wilford from Outback Tackle ( www.spiritrock.net/OutbackTackle.htm ).

After chasing the mouse out of the boat, we commenced fishing around 12:30. We played around casting and drifting. Sean struck first with a small hammer handle pike. It was one of those "at the boat releases". Then, Robert hit a couple of small perch. While the boys cast or jigged, I tinkered. We went through the narrows to the other side, marking a deeper hole (8 feet) in the narrows. After trolling the other half of the lake, we returned to the narrows to the hole. First pass, I picked up the walleye. A couple of passes later, I picked up something that looked a bit larger than the walleye. While trying to keeping the nearby boat from seeing, it escaped just before I could see what it was. Both Robert and Sean had hits through the hole. Having a 21:30 commitment at home, we packed up at 18:00 and turned over the hole to a chap in a Princecraft. He said, in all his trips to Issac Lake, he had never seen an Eye caught.

(more pictures on Pictures 2007 pages)

I was a beautiful sunny warm day and the reason we had jackets on was not because of the cold but more due to the sun and no sunscreen - ouch!

Well, finally put the boat in the slip at St. Catharines Marina in Port Weller on Saturday. Took the boat around the bay to get the dust off. Went back today, did a little more to the boat, had some lunch and got some fishing in. A very late start to the LO (Lake Ontario) year.

A beautiful day, sunny sky and not too hot. Ran out and started fishing at 14:50 in 50 FOW off the Welland Canal. Trolled around and had one hit, a small Bow but it never made it to the boat. The second was a knock off. Started to think this was going to be one of those days. Finally, the dipsy went off and I landed a nice 10 lbs Bow. By now we were working our way to the Niagara Bar. Two more small fish with another two as we broke lines. Covered depths from 65 ft to 190 ft with surface temp of 71' and 43' at 50 ft down. In all, 5 of 7 in 3 hours. No size but all the equipment worked well so that was a plus for the day. We'll have to wait until next weekend for the next run.

(more pictures on Pictures 2007 pages)

July 25th

Well, No Thanks to both the US and Canadian Weather forecasters as the US said less than 2 feet and the Canadian didn't even post a marine forecast. With good 3 to 4 foot waves from the NE, we took an easy run to the US line. Started in 170 fow with 4 riggers set. We troll west. Missed the first 2 releases and then hooked into a 11 lbs king. Continuing west, we hit clear water and that was it for any marks. We trolled toward shore to hit the murky water and again had a couple of releases lnding a small king. We ended up in clear water so we trolled toward shore into less than 100 fow. Back in the murky water, Sean ended up with a nice 15 lbs king. As we were off the Welland Canal, we broke lines and came in. In the 3.5 hours of fishing, we ended up with 3 fish for 7 releases. It was denitely a strong stomach day. Still better than working.

June 8th

Sean was the early bird this weekend. He was up at 04:00. I thought I might get one more hour but got up and on the road by 05:30. We pulled in around 06:20 and start fishing around 07:00. The lake had some good waves - 3 footers even though it was supposed to be calm. We set up in 100 ft half way to the Niagara Bar. Worked within a couple miles of the US line from 225 ft into 80 ft. Riggers set at 40 to 55 most of the day. Most productive colour was watermelon. Surface was 71' and 52 ft down was 40' to 45'. We started hitting a small king and had a few missed releases. Then Sean grabbed the rod on a nice 17 lb. king. We threw that one back without a pic before we realized that I had a camera phone with us. It seemed like it was the day for small kings as we must of landed about 12. There were a few more missed releases with one of the dipsy that was just pulling the rod back. At 11:30 the rod went off and Sean had a chance to fight a nice 15 lb. that came in quite quickly so it was a some fancy rod handling as I didn't break any of the other 3 rods. By the time we packed up, the lake had settled All in all, it was another good day out on the lake.

Well we started out of Port Weller and set up around 9:30 in 80 fow. It wasn't very choppy yet. Water was 70' and we set the riggers at 35 to 60 ft and the dipsys around 80 - 90 ft. We headed toward the Niagara Bar. There were a few boats out there. The wind started to pick up coming out of the W. We had a about 3 knock offs then the top bottom rigger fired. Robert had his first Monster Buster fish on the line. The fish ran right toward the boat. He did a go job to take up the slack. The fish was up at the boat before we knew. Still full of spunk, the fish ran up the starboard side, looped around the side rigger cable, came back to loop around the back rigger cable. I was trying to throw the net under just as it snapped. I thought there was another NK gone but the boys spotted fish on the surface. I snapped of the last line on so we could chase and of course, there was a small king on that rod. I threw the king on the floor and managed to steer the boat back to the escapee. Steve was able to net it and retrieve the NK. End result, not a picture perfect process but Robert had his first king in the box.

(more pictures on Pictures 2007 pages)

We trolled around for a bit with a couple of more knock offs. I hope this isn't a sign of what this year is going to like. The waves were rolling fairly well by now so we broke lines and ran into the waves for a couple of miles. We re-set and trolled down. The dipsy went off and it felt like a good fish, then the dreaded snap, dipsy, lure and all!! By now it was blowing quite nice, so we broke lines and started out 9 mph run back through the waves. We were about 8 miles down so it was going to take a bit of time. In all, another fun day. I'm sure glad Robert had sea legs as the water was not what I wanted for a first timer's outing.

I've added the fist video to the picture page.

A beautiful sunny morning with a slight north breeze. With started around 08:30 in 60 fow. We trolled straight out and then toward the US line. We hit 3 lakers, a small king then a nice 17 lb. king in the first 1.5 hours. There was a pack of boats at the US line. Apparently, there was a club derby on from the US side. The water had cooled down during the week. We started with 65' on the surface and 41' down 50' feet. The riggers were worked between 30 feet and 68 feet, and the dipsys were worked between 75 feet and 97 feet. As we near the US line the temp was jumping around. There were pockets of cloudy water from the Welland Canal and Niagara runoff. As the morning went on, the sun was bright and the wind calmed down. In all, we boated 8 of the 11 releases. We had one that was taking some nice line off the dipsy but the sea god took it back. Anyway, it was a good half day on LO.

(more pictures and video on Pictures 2007 pages)

Another gorgeous day on LO. Started fishing at 10:20 in 110 fow setting the rigger at 38 to 58 feet. The surface temp was 68' and 41 at 50 feet down. Worked toward the US line. First fish was on for only a short time. Sean had the next fish and while he was fighting that fish, Steve grab the next release and quickly landed a nice bow. Sean landed a nice 20 lb fish. We continued to work from 200 fow into 80 fow with most of the action from the 140 - 160 fow. Hot colours were glow tip pink \ white ladder back and black \ purple. All were NK lures. In all, 3.5 hours of fishing with 9 of 10 in the boat. Beats working!

(more pictures and video on Pictures 2007 pages)

July 26th

What can I say, another beautiful day on the lake. (Calling for rain on the weekend) Well, it was a later start, only Steve and myself. We started around noon, half way between Weller and Niagara in 80 fow and working outward. Riggers set at 30 - 50 due to the info from the Lowrance charting I reviewed last night. Water temp was slowing increasing an was at 68' on the surface and 42' at 46 feet. Started with the same hot colours from yesterday as we were only running 4 rods. The first release was a knock off and the second was almost at the boat. Made sure the hooks were extra sharp from that point on. The third fish on was a nice 20 lb king for Steve. And the fish kept firing from there. We did make some colour changes and notice that the black and green was back, especially the small NK lure. We kept busy for about 3.25 hours with a total of 11 of 13 in the boat with the heaviest king coming in at 25 lbs. You'll notice Steve had both large fish but what you don't know, he orchestrated a rotation change earlier. Just kidding Steve. As long as we land them, I'm happy. We did get quite a mixture of fish from salmon, lakers and bows. A good day!

(more pictures and video on Pictures 2007 pages)

Nearing the end of the week and still good weather. Only Sean and myself as Steve wasn't feeling well - a summer cold. Start around 9:15 on half way to the US line in 80 fow. Two riggers and two dipsys. The same settings as the day before. Lost the first 3 in a row. Then Sean started fighting what we believed was a big fish. It took out half the spool and wasn't coming in easily. It surfaced quite a ways from the boat, then went down. We hooked it in 170 fow and continued to troll right along the US line into 43 fow. It continued to stay down so it had me wondering. As it finally neared the boat, I could see the hook was in the back between the head and dorsal fin. I was surprised that Sean was able to keep it on the line this long due to where it was hooked. It was just far enough below the surface that we couldn't get the net under it. Then, as I thought might happen, the hook pulled out but I managed to see it was a good 20+ lb king. The clip holding the silver with green NK lure was totally twisted and open. After the 45 minute fight, Sean was done. He didn't want any more rods. At least we had a chance to see the fsih. After a 15 minute troll with the kicker back to deeper water, we continued fishing. A couple of releases later, I had a good king on the dipsy. I saw a fish surface across the surface a ways out then felt slack line. When I reeled in the line, the split ring and hook were gone. In the end we had a total of 5 fish for 11 releases. Not the best day, but not bad for 3.25 hours of fishing including 1 hour for Sean's fish.