Fishing on a camping trip has its particular challenges: you're carrying fewer rods, your tackle is limited, you're fishing out of a canoe or kayak, and often times you're on an unfamiliar body of water.
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| Guess where we stayed? And yes, I downloaded Pure Disco.. |
You may also be limited by time. It can be a struggle to put together a pattern when you're in the bush. But if you go prepared and with the right attitude, it can be extremely rewarding.
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| I found a skull in the woods...so there's that |
Let's start with the gear. When you're out camping, you're not going to bring your entire arsenal of rods. Heck, you probably don't even want to take any of your nice ones with you since there's a good chance they're going to get beat up.
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| First "good" fish of the weekend, caught on a weighted senko close to shore. Good is relative. Good for Vixen Lake, not-so-good for Lake Simcoe or the Thousand Islands |
But when you're on a lake for the first time, you don't necessarily know what species you're going to be chasing, and what techniques you'll be using.
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| Second decent fish of the trip. It was hiding in very shallow water under some lily pads. It smashed my Jackall Cover Craw as soon as it touched the water. |
If you can only bring one rod, bring a medium heavy with a fast action and a spinning reel. Use 15 lb. braid and a 10-15 lb. fluorocarbon leader.
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| First fish caught from the "bass hotel" - a large submerged tree. I caught three "good" fish on the cover craw in the span of about five minutes on only 4 or 5 casts, all from the same tree. Watch your line carefully. If and when I saw my line swimming towards me, I'd set the hook. |
It won't be perfect for anything, but it'll let you do a bit of everything: you can tie on
a three way swivel and troll for lake trout; you can put on a metal leader and
catch some pike; it's light enough to throw something like a
weightless wacky-rigged senko, but heavy enough to let you do some pseudo pitching and flipping.
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| Second fish from the bass hotel, and likely the biggest one of the trip. |
In terms of baits, bring
one small stowaway tackle box. Pack one top-water lure (I prefer a
black and white popper), a
deep-diving crankbait, a
square bill crankbait, a
jerkbait, a
small spinner, and some soft plastics.
Bring a number of different hooks.
Drop-shot hooks can be used for a number of different techniques, like fishing senkos weightless.
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| #3 from the bass hotel. I should point out that Vixen Lake is FULL of fish. But most of them are in the 6-8" range, which you would expect for a lake this size. |
You can also bring
weighted wacky hooks and some
straight shanks. Use a
snell knot when fishing the latter.
When you get to the lake, cover water quickly by using fast-moving lures like top-waters and crankbaits. Particularly with smaller lakes, there's usually one species which grows larger than the others (relatively speaking). Covering water quickly will help you find out as soon as possible which one you should target.
If the largemouth you're catching tend to be bigger than the smallmouth, focus on those - and vice versa. You have to adapt to what's available. Beggars can't be choosers when it comes to fishing on a camping trip.
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| Double bass |
Once you've settled on a species and covered some water, you can really start honing in on particular areas. Since you'll be a canoe or kayak, you can't fish the same way you would in a bass boat - especially in terms of your ability to cover water.
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| I don't usually keep my catch. But at the request of my friends we had a fish fry. |
So when you do see a good spot, make sure to
work it patiently. If there's a submerged tree, make multiple casts, even if you catch a fish. There may be more!
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| View from our campsite, #442 |
And when you're done for the day, take a moment to enjoy the view of an unadulterated shoreline: unabashed and ineffable standing naked in front of you.
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| I caught this little guy on a popper. Then he threw up one of my senkos... |
You'll become well acquainted with success and failure on your trip. But your surroundings will instill you with a sense of serenity.
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| Pads-a-plenty...would've been nice to have a baitcaster and a frog |
And when that calm and a burning passion attain equilibrium, your rewards will be in your hands, chafing the skin beneath your thumbs.
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