Hunting in the Big Brown in Canada

[Erik]

Young Jimmy and I went out to Twin Lake, entered at the East entrance. It was a beautiful day @ 22C and raining a little as we pulled up, but I knew it would blow over qickly. We went in as the sun came out and immediately were surrounded by hundreds of perch in 1 to 5 metres water with 4 metres of murky vis. Water temp down to 5 metres was around 17 C, 6 C below that. I was wearing the new 3mm vest from MEC plus my 3mm Henderson Goldcore and an extra hood plus my 3mm MEC shorts all over top of the 3mm Elios. I was sick of being cold, especially at depth, so the 35$ vest did the trick. Now I have about 9mm on my chest, 9mm on my head, and 6mm on my groin, plus the dry glove setup. 16 lbs on the weight harness I built last year. I was on a mission today for big fish (for our fresh water lakes) and wanted to hunt some Burbot (Freshwater Ling Cod). I had just read that they do not hunt in the day, but instead go out into the cold water to sleep. At night they come into the shallows to hunt perch and small Pike.
Anyway, Jimmy had my OMER for 30 minutes and shot a few perch, amazed at the accuracy of the aim. I actually attempted a shot with my old JBL Explorer 22 and missed as I didn't remember how damn hard you have to pull the trigger compared to the OMER. From that I learned that I tend to jerk the gun forward slightly just before I shoot, which inevitabely spooks the fish. Good lesson.
I got my gun back and started swimming south. I saw a big Pike and stalked him for a while, but he figured me out despite my best efforts to appear uninterested in him. I shot a few perch and saw a few more smaller Pike, then came upon a 6 or 7 lb Pike swimming at 4 metres deep. I dove at a 90 degree angle away from him, dove down to 5 metres and came up underneath and to the side, took the shot right behind the gill plate but too low for a stone shot. He fought like crazy and was the biggest Pike yet for me. I brained him as fast as possible and strung him up.
I ended up on the south side of the lake and got 1 more Pike, even bigger than the last! A thunderstorm was brewing so I decided to work my way back, cutting across the deeper part of the lake rather than skirting the shallows. I dove to 13 metres, looked around, ascended, breathed up, and dove again. Diving into Twin Lake at these depths takes some practice as you basically dive into the void, waiting for the floor to show up. It gets dark enough that you even lose the visual cues that you are moving, with just the compression and cold to tell you that you are still sinking. Eventually the bottom appeared and I swam horizontally, looking for the heavily camouflaged Burbot. I spotted a good-sized one, shot him from above and brought him up to the surface. I tried to brain him in 5 or 6 attempts, but he kept fighting. I positioned the knife much farther back on the head and that seemed to do the trick. Their brains are not at an equilateral triangle from the eyes like most fish, which I found frustrating as I don't like the fish to suffer.
I dove again to 11 metres and spotted another, pinned him to the dirt from above, and brought him up.
Now I had 4 of the biggest fish I ever shot, and all on one stringer. The thunderstorm returned and I was seeing the flashes while I was 5 metres down, so figured it was time to make my way back to shore and head home.
All in all I was in the water for 3+ hours and did not ever get cold! Jimmy got a Pike and some perch too.
Definitely one of the best days spearing ever!
Erik

[Alison]

Very cool
Somewhat better than my disaster of a morning; pulled up at the car park at 08:10 sea looked OK but poor vis so kitted up grabbed the medium gun and in we went at 08:30. Swam around the headland and out of the protection of the bay, it was abit rough, so found one of the gullies and dived down about 4m to get underneath the bubbles from the waves and do an aspetto but just as I hit the bottom I got pulled back as my float got caught on a rock; so up I come and got hit by a wave and dumped on a rock (ouch) wondering where the hell that wave came from. I looked at my gun to see the thing was discharged, not only that but the line on the boingie had snapped and the spear was gone
Adding insult to injury on the swim back in with the bad viz and waves I got sea sick and lost my breakfast as well 09:15 Im back at the car, totally P.....ed off feeling like poo and glad no one saw me. The only good point of the day was we went back at low tide and found the spear in about a metre of water
Roll on tomorrow to see if I can get it right

[Erik]

Ahh, the things we'll put ourselves through just to have a good time!
Peace,
Erik Y.
ps, I'll post a pic of the catch soon

[Pocoshower]

Yeah we like pics

It sound like you had a pretty good day. Nice catch Erik.

Salud

ps to cold for me,

[feign]

Nice job, my friend. Sounds like a great day.

[andrsn]

Just one of those days when everything just comes together. Not you Alison, Erik.

One of these days I'll have to venture up there to pay you a visit. Can't wait to see the pics!

Sorry to hear of your adventure gone sour, Alison.

Later,
Anderson

[Alison]

Well it happens to everyone once in a while, just off to try again the sea looks calmer today

[SurfnSpear]

Originally Posted by Alison

Very cool
Adding insult to injury on the swim back in with the bad viz and waves I got sea sick and lost my breakfast as well

Uh oh...deja vu' from our choppy Dorset chumming session on Saturday morning!! Happens to the best of us...

Sympathies

[SurfnSpear]

Originally Posted by Erik

then came upon a 6 or 7 lb Pike swimming at 4 metres deep. I dove at a 90 degree angle away from him, dove down to 5 metres and came up underneath and to the side, took the shot right behind the gill plate but too low for a stone shot. He fought like crazy and was the biggest Pike yet for me. I brained him as fast as possible and strung him up.
Definitely one of the best days spearing ever!
Erik

Nice Erik

[Alison]

Well a better day today I still have my breakfast and a nice Bass for tea not a pb by a long shot but 2.5Kg's is fine by me
Oh and it is nice to know I'm not the only one to feed the fishes

[Erik]

Originally Posted by andrsn

One of these days I'll have to venture up there to pay you a visit. Can't wait to see the pics!

Elvis

Rumahku, rumah kamu teman.
Mi casa es su casa amigo.
My house is your house my friend.
We don't have the ocean, but it is beautiful up here nevertheless.
Peace,
Erik Y.

[Arob]

I'm not sure if, and it probably doesn't matter but was that TWIN LAKE as in East and West Twin lake near Havelock Ontario. Well there is a crown owned lake called Blue Lake that is just south of East Twin Lake that is amazing for fish - its where my buds go to fish Bass.
In fact its the one place in the world where I really enjoy fishing as its exciting - so many hits
in such short time - I can't imagine what it would be like to dive and use a spear gun there - it would be incredible as that small freshwater lake with no surrounding cottages is simply teaming with big fish.

Thanks for your story - I really enjoyed reading about your adventures below the surface...

[Erik]

Cheers Arob.
It's not the same spot, only about 4 or 5000km away heehee.
But good fun all the same.