It’s hard not to envy this familiar occurrence in Huntsville. I was driving back from work and noticed this angler staring intently at a recently augured hole in Mary lake’s icy surface. He was a good 150 yards from shore and he must have been wondering what this guy in a dress shirt and pants was doing walking his way. At least I was obviously not a game warden.
What I appreciated, as I was approaching his location, was that he did not scurry for his tackle box and hide his lures and bait. Not that I would not understand if he did, but at least I knew he may be open to some questions about how the fishing was going.
I was right.
He indicated that the fishing today was not good but that it had been better last week. A friend of his caught a large laker in this area. Pike and lake trout were being caught now but the angler figured that the lake trout fishing would be even better in the next week and a half.
His set-up was simple. Some minnow tipped spoons (exact colors to be kept confidential) were being used for jigging while his tip-up sat idly nearby with a minnow in toe. Lines were set in 25 – 15 feet (I think) of water.
On my trip back to the are I was wondering if he would remember the the url of Muskoka Outdoors. I would like to offer A BIG thanks to our guest angler.
I also pondered if ‘us’ anglers were, at times, to secretive about how and where we are catching our fish. Are we sometimes to ‘cloak and dagger’ about our tactics? Should we not want to share our resources with other anglers? Today’s example would prove otherwise but I know anglers whose standard answer to how the fishing was is… “LOUSY”. Meanwhile, I can see an active stringer over the side of their canoe.
What do you guys think?
Bill Anderson – Muskoka Outdoors
