A quillback and #33

Good friend Cal and I went on the hunt for some trophy white bass, drum and carp and managed a few good ones including this nice drum. Also caught some nice MA white bass wading in Lake Winnipeg and carp up to 29.5" in Lake Manitoba. When he caught a quillback on a small jig and worm I ran for the fly rod in my car and started fishing. They were in the current in significant numbers and I eventually hooked one close enough to the mouth to call it a new fly caught species. This beauty fought as hard as any 20" trout I've ever caught.

Fish Cat Scout Review

 

 First things first. On this inaugural voyage of the Fish Cat Scout I did catch fish, if only barely. This 19 1/2" male brown graciously accepted my offering and turned a poor day of fishing into a slow day. As is evident, my fish photos need tuning but more on that later.

So what do I think of the Scout?  My experience started with trying to stuff a partially deflated frameless pontoon boat into a somewhat inflated (I lowered the back seats) Santa Fe SUV. After much wriggling, pushing and letting more air out, I was able to shoehorn the Scout into my vehicle for transport. 

Would I do this again? The jury is still out on that one. If I had a truck or larger vehicle where the scout would fit into the bed/trunk area without any fiddling...definitely!
Given the effort involved it might just be just as easy to carry the boat deflated and then inflate onsite. I do have an electric pump that will go much of the way and then only require a slight firming up by hand. Then again, carried the way it was, only a few hand pumps had it full.

I added a number of accessories I thought would prove useful and I wasn't disappointed in most of my choices. First up was a fish finder, using a float tube adapter commercially available. I found it a bit clunky because of the enclosed battery pack and wished I had gone a different route, perhaps with a Scotty adapter and remote battery pack.

Another addition was the Scotty anchor lock. I had used one on my previous fishing kayak and loved it. Easy to operate with one hand and with a vinyl covered 5 lb weight, perfect for lake fishing. I suspect for river fishing a larger weight would be required to hold the Scout in current. The Scotty mount is attached with two straps through the small hole at the front of the tube, behind the seat.

The rod holder is self explanatory and proved useful for several methods of presentation and temporary rod storage.

The Scout comes with a storage bag that includes a simple system to secure a spare rod. I almost always carry a second rod if only to avoid changing spools; something best left to on-shore breaks or larger boats. Having said that, I did change out a spool by just standing up in the Scout near shore to re-line the rod. It can be done.

And then the camera mount. I had bought the Scotty mount, intending to use it on the rod holder when required but ended up not liking that option. The camera angle was wrong and of course, I lost the use of the rod holder. The kit came with a tubing adapter which I attached to the cross tube at the front of the Scout. Not sure I like this setup either and other options will be explored.



With only one day on the water, I can say I really like the Fish Cat Scout so far. Some of the things I liked were:

1. Oars. Despite being fairly small, the oars bite enough water to make the boat very responsive, both in a straight line and when turning. The oars easily lock out of the way when not required and quickly engage when needed.With this boat I wouldn't be afraid to head out anywhere, knowing I could return even against a fairly stiff breeze. I don't have any experience in strong winds and can't comment on how it would handle those conditions.
2. Kayak seat. This boat is even more comfortable than my last fishing kayak which had a high-end seat. The seat is fully adjustable and combined with sitting on an air mattress, is one of the most comfortable seats I've found. I have a bit of a wonky back and by moving my legs around, both on and under the front bar I was able to maintain a high level of comfort all day.
3. Dry storage. The front of the scout, the area behind the seat, is dry and ample so storage of everything you bring along is easy and secure. The area is also easily accessed, unlike the smaller float tubes. I was easily able to rummage through my tackle bags and cooler to locate what I needed.
4. Electric motor possibility. I think it would be relatively straightforward to build a portable motor mount that could handle one of the small Minn Kotas. There is certainly room and enough support for a battery. For now I found the oars adequate but should an electric motor become advantageous, I wouldn't hesitate to try adding one.
5. Portability. This boat compresses to a package not much bigger than the much smaller float tubes. And its frame-less. Those of you with framed pontoon boats know what I mean.

As far as things I don't like, I can't really think of any right now. I hope the vinyl bladders hold up, and if not, will wish they had inserted urethane bladders instead. A bit more built-in storage would have been nice but was really not missed. Perhaps a nicer colour; I've never been that fond of our military colours. Oh yeah, I often took the stripping basket off...you couldn't rest your feet on the bar with it on. It was easy to throw it into the area behind the seat until required.

Fish Cat Scout

Fish Cat Scout

I've bought another fishing platform. I know, I've already got the Lund, the Skimmer 116 and the Fish Cat float tube, so why do I need another boat. Well here's my rational.

The Lund is great on bigger waters and when I have company it shines there. The Skimmer, well, it just didn't work out as planned and is really a poor substitute for my previous fishing kayak. When the age/weight of kayak ratio started approaching unity with my old yak I looked for a lighter one. The Skimmer is light, you can throw it around, carry it a mile, easily load it on a car rooftop but try to paddle it for more than 10 minutes and you end up with a sore posterior and lower back. And the Fish Cat is great on a small pond but get out on a larger lake and the knees start acting up, especially when the wind kicks up. I even bought a used 10' framed pontoon boat a couple of years ago but never could figure out a way to transport it on my vehicle without dismantling it. I sold it last year without ever having fished from it.

Enter the Fish Cat Scout which at first glance could solve a lot of my fishing issues. The boat is frameless, so can be transported in your mother's VW and may even fit into my Santa Fe partially deflated...we'll see. The boat has oars, so can be rowed over some decent distances. The boat is 7' long so it can handle some minor white water and should prove suitable for fishing rivers and windier, larger lakes. A possible downside is the vinyl bladder, I wished they had used urethane. For those who consider this a deal breaker, look at the Outcast Stealth Pro. So this quasi-toon might replace two platforms; my yak and the float tube. For now I'm going to mount a Scotty rod holder, Scotty anchor lock and Humminbird fish finder on it and head out for a test on the first stocked trout lake with open water. More later.

Fishing on the ice

Not about fly fishing or new species on the fly, not even open water...this last post of the 2015/16 fishing season merely serves to document the close of another great year of fishing. Cal and I were after big fish, lake trout, burbot or pike, but no giants were caught though Cal came close with this 39" pike.

We also caught lakers, walleye and whitefish but most were of the "eater" variety. It was still a great trip with good company, 2 days of beautiful weather and enough action to make me eager about the upcoming open water season.

Season finale in the Ducks

All good things must come to an end and the summer fishing season is no different. This year's finale took place in the Duck Mountains area with good friend Cal who wore many hats on this trip from chef's cap to guide toque. First up was a beautiful tiger hen that measured up at a respectful 23 3/4 inches. These fish, although a hybrid of two fall spawners, the brown and brookie, didn't seem to exhibit any spawning behavior and readily took my offerings. Cal took a video of the release with his GoPro and I grabbed a screen shot.

We fished for splake on Laurie Lake for 2 1/2
days but only managed 3 fairly nice fish; Cal caught a 20" and a 21" and I managed a 21" fish only minutes before the rods were to be stowed for the trip back to the launch on our last day on this water. Sometime luck does trump ability. It appears these fish go through a false spawn period for a week or two during which time they are shallow but not necessarily feeding.

Each day we fished, the numbers of splake in the shallows declined until the last day when we only saw a few fish. Fly pattern or colour didn't seem to make much difference as each fish was caught on a totally different fly.




Our last day was spent on West Blue lake, hoping to latch into a large brook trout. The fish are concentrated in small areas where they are going through a false spawn and are not actively feeding. I caught a few on a egg pattern and foul hooked a couple on streamer patterns. I suspect spawn bags would work well but shooting fish in a barrel doesn't really appeal. The largest fish I caught on the egg pattern was a nice 18" male.

Lake trout on a fly

 ...or the tale of two trout. One, my first lake trout on a fly and two, my first master angler lake trout, a 35 1/2" beauty posing in the image to the right. A huge thrill and the biggest lake trout of my life...to date.



Of course with every story of success are blended many that fail to meet expectations, some even emitting the acrid stink of skunk. Tuesday's trip started with me catching only one tiger trout out of Twin Lakes and that one was painfully small. I fished the lake from 9:30 to 1:00 and by then I had had enough. I packed up my gear and headed off to the head of the trail to Black Beaver Lake to meet up with buddy Cal. After a short walk into the lake we launched our float tubes and began casting to the shorelines; but all our presentations were to no avail. Cal announced he had several tugs but I suspect he was only day-dreaming of better days. The walk out was more sober than the trek in but as hard-core fishermen we had experienced this many times before. After libations and a good night's sleep we were off to Gull Lake to see if we could rouse any whitefish but after a couple of hours of inaction we were grateful for the attentions of a few perch. Perhaps "grateful" is too strong a word. Next up was Twin Lake again and the fishing there was sporadic until nightfall, when a number of nice tigers fell to Cal's top-water offering. Again, that magic 20" eluded us both. We had planned to head up to Clearwater Lake that day but the late hour, and lack of any real success on Twin Lake, coerced us back to the cabin to prepare for another onslaught on the tiger population the next day. The liberal libations with the soothing heat of a hot tub prepped us for a good sleep and an optimistic outlook for the next day.



Cal fished top-water while I fished  wet and results were less than stellar. Early on Cal opted to try for
brookies in Persse Lake while I stayed in the hunt for tigers. By 1:30 I had managed 17 tigers, biggest 19.5" and 4 over 18" but none that eclipsed the 20" mark.






Next it was off to Clearwater Lake and the real goal of the trip; a lake trout on the fly. The next
 morning found us in float tubes casting or trolling in the shallow waters off the boy scout camp. And
this time we weren't disappointed. Although the fishing was somewhat slow, the action was exciting and we caught about a dozen; the largest of which was a chunky 28 inches long.

The trout were all caught on 3" streamers that were aggressively attacked. Cal took a video of one of my trout with his GoPro, both above and sub surface. https://youtu.be/dcb--89I9Qo







 

The winds shifted to the north and Clearwater lake became too rough to fish for lake trout so we moved onto Barbe Lake with the hope of catching a nice brook trout or large rainbow. Our success was varied and although we caught a number of rainbows from 20 to 22.5 inches, our largest brook trout came in at 17". None-the-less it was a beautiful fish and the only one in full fall regalia. The dozen or so smaller brookies we caught were still in their somewhat drab summer colours.

Most of the rainbows we caught went into a full aerial fight with several jumping up to 5 times. And all of the larger ones had at least one sizzling run left when they spied the net.

We rounded off the adventure with a side-trip to a local stream that has a brook trout population but were unable to tempt any to take our flies. All in all, a wonderful trip; the kind that leave a lasting impression and provide ample fodder for future day dreams.

Just more of the same...

Went back to my favorite river today, hoping to catch some rock bass but there were none to be found. What I did find were walleye, sauger, pike, crappie, channel cats and many suckers. The channel cat in the picture measured in at an even 30 inches, a new PB on the 2 wt. I have a new understanding , and respect, for this light weight rod. In the past, I've often scoffed at the assertion that light weight rods can land fish usually targeted with 4, 5, or 6 wt rods. But no more.