Fishing Season 2017 (Part III) - Summer & Fall

Summer:

The separation of these "parts" of my season summary really goes to show how unevenly distributed my fishing time is haha! My summers are basically a whole lot of work with relatively little fishing; I have to make enough cash to pay for all the crazy expenses from spring. That being said, I am lucky enough to work on Lake Massawippi so I often steal a couple hours fishing time after work :) My coworker and good friend Brendan and I had some good times fly fishing for Smallmouth Bass in the local river. We developed a really simple, relaxing pattern: simply let the current pull us downriver while we each cast to a different shore. No need for pictures here, we were just enjoying our time on the water relaxing after work. Also did a bit of trout fishing in local streams and brought the kids from work fishing. It was a real treat to see some of them catch their first fish or biggest fish :)

Now over this summer, I did have one concrete fishing goal despite my lack of time. Over the past 5 years living on the lake, I had noticed a very small population of Common Carp slowly growing in localized areas. I wanted to be the first person to ever catch a carp properly on the lake! I knew it would be a difficult goal to achieve considering the lake is about 13km long and the population of carp was very small. But, after about 2 weeks of baiting every day and fishing for a few hours every night, I finally hooked into a large fish on my hair rig that could only be a carp! Unfortunately it pulled me into a snag and broke me off :( Fortunately, I had another chance the following night and managed to land this one! The next few nights were equally successful:

This is by no means a trophy specimen, but it is very special to me as it's the first of its kind that I have ever heard of being caught from the lake :) Caught some other fish this summer as well but let's leave it at that!

Fall:

Fall 2017 is a season I will always remember because it is when I learned that I wasn't the only fisherman interested in catching as many different species as possible. In fact, I quickly learned that there was a whole community of like-minded anglers and this has inspired me to travel around the continent in search of interesting species of fish that often get ignored by most anglers. A huge shout-out to my then new-found friend Ken; who helped ID the many new species I was targeting and  pointed me towards the above-mentioned community. Much of the rest of the season consisted of me travelling to various streams and shorelines in the search of new "micro" species. I have to say I was quite successful and ended the year with an impressive total of 27 fish! Here are a few of my favourites:

Goldfish

Stonecat

Central Mudminnow

Finescale Dace

Tench

I'd also like to give special thanks to another new friend, Francois, who invited me down to Quebec City so he could help me catch some more new fish! The trip was my first ever "species hunting" trip and it was a success. I caught my first Sculpin, Stickleback, Longnose Dace, and Trout-perch!

However, my fall wasn't only spent fishing for minnows. In fact, it kind of ended up being a season of extremes; I caught both my smallest and biggest fish! These "biggest" fish are the end to season 2017 and what a way to end! I caught my biggest fish ever! An estimated 80lb Lake Sturgeon :o

That pretty much sums up season 2017 for me! I wish I could include everything and all of the awesome people I met this year; I know I left out a whole lot :s Alex's first sturgeon, salmon fishing with Kevin, tons of new species, new friends, and lots of just generally fun times :) Right now I just can't wait to get 3-4" of ice, and especially next spring; when I have some very special travelling planned ;)