7th Annual Boys Trip: Jacks Lake

This past weekend I got to play a little hooky from work to get in a 3-day fishing trip on jacks lake with some buddies. The group I will affectionately call.. 3 men and an old guy.. The 4 of us have been planning and taking bi-annual fishing trips for the past 7 years. We get out once on the ice and once on the water, this year we rented  a place at Jacks Lake Lodge on Jacks lake in Apsley Ontario. I have been fishing the lake for a couple years now but the other 3 had yet to wet a line.

Day 1:

After getting all our gear packed into the cottage we took to the water in teams of two looking for angling supremacy (standard tournament rules apply). It was not 5 minutes in that I received the first message that team Brad/Ken had boated their first fish, right off the end of the dock we launched from.. Damn you Kenny!

Already behind Aaron and hit bay after bay only to be disappointed by how low the water had dropped, making many of my spots almost unfishable. We did spy some Musky sunning themselves  and Aaron added a new species to his life list. Throwing a spinnerbait into the timber Aaron hooked and landed a nice 5-6lb Musky. Unfortunately his tiny net was no match for the fish, and just moments after I netted the fish, and handed the net to Aaron, the fish flipped out, leaving the hook behind and landing right back in the water.. no pic of Aaron's first musky.

(check out the Musky scare.. very common on Jacks)

All in all It was a pretty quiet day, we boated many fish, but very few keepers. Team Brad/Ken were awfully quiet and knowing those two I knew something was up. When time ran out Aaron and I found them waiting for us on the dock with smirks on their face and a 4.6lb fish in the livewell.. good job boys

(Brad showing off his dads fish)

Day 2:

Morning came a early on Sunday, a few drinks, some cards and a few more drinks the night  before so a 6am wake up was not how I wanted to wake see the world on Sunday morning. Day 2 the teams were switched up and I headed out with Ken so that left Brad and Aaron to team up.

Ken and I had a pretty good day, we fought off dozens of small small mouth bass and hooked into some good fish. Kenny landed the first fish of the day with this chunk throwing a spinnerbait around a one of the many Islands

Later in the day it was my turn for spinnerbait success, I upgraded our catch in back to back bays, one on a spinner bait and the other on a zoom ultravibe craw.

Brad needed to kick back a bit and only fished the morning leaving his partner Aaron to fend for himself on Sunday afternoon (in some heavy winds). He did just that landing the days largest fish a 4+ lb smallie.. look at this beast!

Day3:

The final switch-up saw Brad and I partnered up on day 3 and the pressure squarely on my shoulders. If I wanted to win the weekend, Brad and I would have to win and I would have to land a fish larger then Kennys 4.6lber.. this would not be done... damn you Kenny

We did have some fun though, and battled a few muskies in the process (this lake is infested with them). On Kenny's advice I decided to break out the buzzbait, and right off the bat I had a large musky attempt to kill it, I hooked him, but as we battled a stump he came off.. the splash alone had my heart racing and made my day. In bay #2 another musky showed up, and we could actually sight fish for him and watch as he chased out baits out. In the 3rd stop of the day Brad finally hooked into one, his first, on a drop-shot if you can believe it. This one stayed in the net (a net we broke on day 1) and we got a nice pic.

My best fish on Day 3 came off the buzz bait over a very windblown rock shoal. This little smallie killed it, and fought like a champ. This was my first and only  top water bite of the weekend.

In early afternoon on Day 3 it was time to pack it in, have one last meal and hit the road back to civilization. We had a great time, and made the best of some low water, and very windy conditions. Kenny was the overall winner, as he was a member of the winning team on Day 1 and Day 3, and he landed the largest fish of the weekend. With age comes wisdom I guess, Congrats Kenny

now it is time to plan our 2013 ice fishing trip.. Ottawa here we come

Scenery & Fish Pics:

here are some pics taken around the lake during our stay. Jacks Lake in a beautiful lake with small to medium amounts of pressure. The wilderness around is breathtaking and the fishing is great for Bass, Musky, Crappie and Walleye