The new fishing season kicks of with a HUGE bang.
The water has cleared and it’s the beginning of a brand new fishing season. New licences for the 2017 season were issued today! I had to make a quick pit stop at Canadian Tire to acquire my new licence before heading south to launch my jet boat on a solo mission. I make the mad dash for the licence and then launched the boat at Policeman’s Flats at around 11:15 AM. Upon arriving in the parking lot at Police, I saw a few boats with trailers parked and several cars and trucks in the lot. Those vehicles are usually anglers who park there and walk either up or down the river to the prime holes located close to Policeman`s Flats parking lot. I rolled up slowly and angled the boat towards the awaiting water. I could see the nice blue coloration as I exited my truck, quickly getting my waders on and tying up my lures before backing the boat into the water. I parked the truck and locked the door, and as I was walking down towards the boat, a fly fisherman had stopped to chat with me. He rolled down his window and stated “the fishing was awesome today, they were hitting on bead headed nymphs“. I politely said “that’s rad, thanks for the heads up“ as I swiftly made my way to the awaiting boat.
I jumped into the boat and decided to head down river instead of up. I warmed the jet up for a few minutes before gunning it and blasting a short distance down river into a back channel that usually holds some monster trout. I had tied up a Live Target smelt and decided it was time to launch it out in to slow deep pocket of water in the back pool. On my first cast I got action. My rod tip dove over but this fish never hit like a trout. I caught a quick glimpse of the fish as it rolled and came to the surface; a monster Pike had taken my offering. The new regulations came into effect today, and as stated, all fish must be released including Pike. The fish was hooked deep and I think I may have accidently killed the fish trying to remove the hook for the back of his gills. I took as much care as possible to release the fish as per the new regulations, but I will say I never cried over killing the Pike. I stayed in the back pool for a few minutes and came up empty, so I opted to fire up the motor and keep trucking downstream. Not far down, say three hundred yards, there is another deep run I like to fish. In the summer it usually holds some big fish, but when the water is cold like it is now, it`s always hit and miss. I lifted the motor to try my luck. After one pass I came up empty and kept moving down river to more prime locations. Continue reading
