Oh Canada, how I love you. This year, like last year, I spent my Canada Day in the outdoors doing what I love...fly fishing.

With the warm temps upon us here in Manitoba I called it quits for trout for the summer. With great opportunities for bass and warmwater species, it's not exactly a heartbreaker to give trout a break for a couple months. This weekend my friend Alyssa and I decided to head to Black Sturgeon Lake, just north of Kenora, Ontario. This gem has been great for me over the past few years and I've had some memorable days on the water. With opportunities for seismic smallies and toad largies, it is bass fishing paradise and perfect for the float tube fly fisherman.

On the Thursday before the long weekend, mother nature turned on the afterburners and roasted us with 32ºC heat. This combined with an 80% humidity made it feel like 42ºC! I can't tolerate heat very well and I decided to not leave for the lake until late Friday morning. This proved to be a smart decision, as it would have meant for a very uncomfortable sleep in the truck!

Friday morning I was able to catch up on sleep and still get on the road at a decent time. We started fishing just before 3pm on Friday. The sun was still pretty intense but it was manageable. Water temps were still cool to the touch so it was safe to assume the fish wouldn't be too deep just yet.

I started with a modified deceiver pattern I had tied and had good success with on previous trips. On my second cast I had a bass smash at my fly. And two casts later I landed a small 1lb smallie. A good sign at least that the fish are around. We worked the shorelines and cast to structure. My friend is a newbie fly fisher and I wanted to make sure I was close by if she had any questions. When a question came up I often let my fly sink until I finished my instruction. On one occasion, my fly line jolted and I immediately felt the weight of a big fish when I set into it. When the fish surfaced my assumption become reality as I had one of the biggest smallies I'd ever had on! I managed to fight it out and get it to the net. What a fish! I didn't get a proper measurement but according to the measuring ruler on my tube (goes up to 18-inches) it was 2-inches longer than the measuring tape. So the fish was pushing 20-inches or roughly 4.5lbs.

I was stoked! We continued to fish the day and we soon realized that a small yellow popper was the fly the fish wanted. Unfortunately I only had one and I ended up giving it to my friend to use.

All in all it was a decent weekend with good weather, good fishing, amazing scenery and wildlife! We ended up with a number of quality fish and lots of great photos to remember the weekend by.

Here's some pics!









Nick

Fantastic pics Nick

Would love to catch something like that all i get is wee brown trout.

Graham

__________________
Rod: Hardy Demon 9ft6 6#
Reel: Airflo switch superlite 4/6#

Some sweet, sweet Smallies on there Nick and you have my condolences on the humidity! If there is one fish I really miss from the States it has to be Small Mouth and if there's one thing I don't miss it's the humidity in the summer! Funny thing is that I do miss the winters in New England although I never got into ice fishing.

Take care

Terry

__________________
"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his desserts are small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all!"