Annual Trout Fishing trip

Dad's Gift, Panther Martin's Deadly Dozen

Well, we were able to get in our annual October trout fishing trip to an old mine pit that we have been going to for a number of years.  With Bill Lundeen as my guide we met at his house last Thursday and he was ready to go.  My father died in 2011 however he knew how much I loved fishing and a few years before he passed away he gave me a box of Panther Martin trout spinners called the Deadly Dozen.  Knowing my dad he probably ordered them from a Field and Stream or Outdoor Life magazine but wherever, he presented me with this kit of 12 spinners for trout fishing.  He had that look on his face when he gave them to me that I would never forget, that look of....Geez, I finally got something you don't have!  He was correct and I put them away for safe keeping.  Well last year I told Bill I am going to catch a trout with the spinners my Dad gave me but after 8 or so years, I simply didn't remember where they were.  I had a Mepps Spinner and decided to use that but it wasn't the same and I only caught one fish.  Sort of a stubborn streak in me but I was bound and determined.  Well 6 months went buy and one day I found the box of the Deadly Dozen, probably right where I left them earlier.  Not to be shut out again putting them in an obvious place where they would not be forgotten, when Bill set the date last week, it was the first thing I packed!  Our strategy was simple, launch the canoe, attach the trolling motor, fire up the electronics and troll down anywhere from 10 - 30 feet with a small spinner rig, or in my case a Panther Martin.  Although I was determined last year, this time I was serious!! We headed up the shore in 30 to 40 feet of water as the fish marks were numerous on the depthfinder.  With a small trailer of a nightcrawler,  I was getting bumped but Bill caught the first trout.  Trust me, sitting in the front of a canoe has it's limitations, luckily this year I had settled down somewhat and got my sea legs quite quickly.  Having the bucket

Beatiful Day, Beautiful Lake

up front, Bill threw the trout under my seat, not the greatest idea with my limited ability to bend over these days! Finally getting the nice trout in the bucket, Bill was  getting hit quite a bit and had a number of them get away, I was getting nice hit but not hooking any.  Finally deciding to switch to a spinner with a larger hook, it paid off as my first trout came to the surface.  In the meantime Bill and I worked out a better system for moving the caught fish from back to front, use the nets each of us had.  With that problem solved there was another one on the line. Admittedly Bill caught more fish however my goal had been accomplished and Dad's Deadly Dozen proved to be a winner.   I wish he was here to be able to brag about the fish we had caught, he would have liked that, never the less I guess in the grand scheme of things, he wanted me to enjoy these baits and we finally got a chance to prove they worked pretty well.  Next time the strategy will to go to the next larger size as one upping Bill is now the goal!

A Pan Full of Trout.

We cleaned the trout like we used to back home in Eleva, cut the heads off, slit the belly and pull out the entrails then finally removing the blood line under the backbone.  These fish are all about 10 - 12 inches after being cleaned.   They are excellent on the grill, smoked, or delicious pickled by my good friend Mark Applen.  I have plenty to try all these methods for sure.  We know these trout are planted into the lake, similar to what the trout back in the Eleva pond were.  Planted trout usually have a pale white color to their flesh but as they feed on more natural food their flesh becomes more pinkish orange in color, which these all exhibited. They taste a lot better as well this way.  This is one of my favorite trips of the year and of course as you see in the above picture, it is also one of the most beautiful times of the year.  Trout fishing ends on October 31st and although it would be nice to get out again, the weather appears to be heading for a cold and wet period so we'll have to see.

I have been working on my Ranger boat, dressing it up a bit seeings how it wasn't used much this year.  One of the first things was to put some disc brake caliper covers on to dress up the wheels.  In the process of doing this by taking the tires off, the front axle, inner tire was wore down to the point of having no tread left.  Last year the front tire exhibited some wear while the back tire was almost perfect, I discounted it to the fact that dual axle trailers create some drag and wear on the tires and rotated front to back.  Well the limited amount of mile since the rotation put almost double the wear in about a year verses the previous 4 seasons.  Well, maybe Ontario Hwy 502 finally got it's revenge as the axle may need replacing and using the recommendation that trailer tires should be replaced every 5 years as well as the wear, it will be getting a new set of tires as well.  My appointment with the alignment shop is on October 31st, here;s hoping we skip the Halloween Blizzard this year.  There are also a few minor issues to clean up so the plan is to get these taken care of before the boat is put away for the winter.