December 2024 ice fishing report

A decent cold front early in December finally allowed me to venture out looking for safe ice. By now, after 20+ seasons of ice fishing, I have an idea of where and when to look, but as always, safety is first. No fish is worth risking your life for, and going for a swim in a snowsuit is never part of my plans. As such, I brought along my trusty spud/wrecker bar to ensure my chances of staying topside on the ice.

For my first outing, I had a limited window of opportunity. A couple days before the outing, some rain and a warm front moved in, so I was was skeptical on whether or not I'd be able to access my spot of choice. I had a backup spot nearby, just in case. Not having fished in about 3 weeks since returning from Florida, I was itching to wet a line.

December 10th 2024:

Got to my spot about 1 hour after sunrise. Though the ice looked sort of safe where I planned to fish, the shorelines seemed sketchy. Sure enough, my spud bar went right through the ice close to shore just about everywhere, with the first 6-10 feet being dense slush. Without access to get on the ice, I switched plans and headed to my backup spot.

Being significantly shallower, this spot had a good 2.5 to 3 inches of solid ice, with another 2-3 inches of grey ice on top. Safe enough for 3-4 jabs with my bar, I ventured out, staying close to shore. Historically, I haven't done very well at the spot on ice, but I was just happy to get out and not having wasted my day.

I eventually figured out that all the fish were interested in were spoons, after jigging a lipless crankbait and Rapala jigging Rap for a while. Both a Swedish Pimple, and Kastmaster spoon, yielded some decent numbers of bass, bluegill, sunfish, perch and crappie, though nothing big. As you can see, the fish in this shallow muddy spot don't have much color in winter.

Decent multispecies catch, though sort of felt almost like micro fishing...

December 15th 2024:

A few days later, I venture back to the original spot I had planned to hit the previous week, after a deep freeze cold front moved in to solidify the ice. This time, I was able to access the spot, with 5 inches of solid ice all around. 

Seems like I picked the right time and right spot. I landed a crappie on my first drop, jigging a Kastmaster spoon.

On the next hole, my first drop landed small largemouth bass.

The next few holes were the most productive, landing a huge mess of mix species, mainly bluegills. Again, the majority came jigging the Kastmaster spoon.

While I don't normally harvest sunfish, my younger daughter loves them. Being that I was catching some really nice ones in the 8-10 inch range, I decided to keep a few, as well as a couple small bass.

Eventually ended up catching some perch, but none big enough worthwhile to keep.

My surprise came close to the end of the day, when a small pike inhaled my lipless Yozuri rattlenvibe crankbait. I wasn't using a leader, but somehow, my 6 lbs flourocarbon line held up against hundreds of razor sharp teeth despite getting pretty frayed.

Was hoping for a possible evening walleye, but unfortunately, that never happened. Still, I managed to land 59 fish, with 40 of them being Bluegills. I'd say I got my fair share of panfishing done for December.

December 24th 2024:

After a major deep freeze in another region I planned to fish, as well as some decent snow cover, I had big plans for a small lake I've iced fished in the past. This early in the season, decent ice cover with some snow is a bare minimum for a good bite, otherwise the bass and perch in that lake seemed spooked under thinner ice in very clear water. 

My hopes were good for finding them where I usually do this time of year. Namely, 22 to 28 feet for schools of small largemouth bass, and 28 to 35 feet for schools of jumbo perch with some smallmouth bass. Obviously, there is an overlap, and I've often landed all 3 species out of the same hole, but this is a general guideline.  

Despite finding 8 inches of solid ice, covered in 12-15 cm or so of snow, all I managed for the first 3 hours of my outing was 1 perch, despite having fished over 20 holes at depths from 20 to 40 feet.

At this point, I decided to try shallower on a different section of the lake. On my 23rd hole, I finally caught a nicer "8 bar" perch in 20 feet, about 10 feet shallower than where I normally find them. 

Unfortunately, they weren't schooled up at that depth, so I kept drilling. 3 holes later, I finally landed my first bass of the day, which came out of 12 feet of depth, a good 10-15 feet shallower than where I've had most of my success on that lake.

Decent little fish that I kept for the table, as I always make it a point to try to harvest my bag limits of largemouth bass from this lake. In addition to making more room and reducing competition to the native smallmouth bass in the lake, culling small largemouth bass makes for bigger sizes in the future. Over the few seasons since I first started fishing this lake, my sons and I have landed many hundreds of these smaller bass there, and likely harvested well over 100 bass by now. Subsequently, I've managed to catch some more decent sized ones, as time goes on.

Moving along, I decided to spend the rest of the day targeting shallower water in the 12 to 20 feet range. I had a few followers show up on my flasher every now and then, but they seemed very finicky, and really needed to be worked. I had been alternating from jigging a lipless crankbait to using the Kastmaster spoon for 5 successive holes each. When I did manage a follow with no bites, I'd switch it up, but that tactic didn't do any better.

Finally, on my 36th hole, I noticed a nice mark come up after the Kastmaster spoon. I was jigging suspended at around 10 over 15 feet, while this fish remained in the 12-13 foot mark. It took a few attempts, but after a couple minutes of "working" the fish, it finally nailed my lure.

I new right away that it was a better quality fish, as it would dart straight back down every time it neared the surface. After a few good runs, I finally had tired it enough to ease it's big head up the ice hole, as I was using a 6 inch diameter auger. I was surprised to see it's size when I lifted it out of the hole.

At 18.5 inches and weighing around 3.5 lbs, this is by far the biggest bass I have landed there,  or ever seen come out of this given lake. At this size, despite being a major threat to the smallmouth bass fishery in the lake, I decided to release it, as I hate killing trophy sized fish, and to be honest, the smaller 12-15 inchers taste a lot better. The big bass looked liked it barely fit through the ice hole, though I've landed even bigger ones from 6 inch holes in the past.

I kept fishing hard, run and gunning holes until sunset, with a few more small chasers on my flasher, but no hookups. Finally, on my last hole, while working my way back towards the car, in 26 feet of water, I landed another small keeper sized bass. I didn't bother with a pic of the fish, but got this nice sunset pic instead.

Beautiful end to an epic outing. It was one of those days where I had resolved to simply enjoying the workout of hand drilling 52 holes, and trekking a good 4-5 kilometers on foot. to and from my spots, while hauling my sled/gear. Definitely beats a day at the gym, anytime.

December 26th 2024:

My last outing of 2024 due to lots of incoming rain, I planned to fish multiple flag lines for the pike for the first time this winter. Being that Quebec winter rules which allow for up to 10 lines and the use of dead baitfish, kicked in last weekend, I figured I'd try a new spot I hoped to hit last season. That never happened, as spot didn't freeze up properly with the warm winter we had. With all the recent cold, I had my hopes up, but when I got there, I only found about 2.5 inches of ice under 6-8 inches of fresh snow near shore. Further out looked even thinner, so I was forced to hit my backup spot, a smaller waterway on my way back home, as I won't fish sketchy ice.

As I've caught pike at that backup spot in the past, I set up 9 flag lines, keeping my last legal line for jigging spoons. Used a mix of headless smelt, and thawed mackerels as bait.

Sure enough, I hit the jackpot on my first jigging hole with the Kastmaster spoon, landing 5 keeper sized perch in a row, when most of the perch I usually catch at this spot are significantly smaller.

I fished a few more holes in the general vicinity, but perch only decreased in size, with 1 more keeper sized perch in the 9 inch range. Then, returning to the first hole I started at, I hooked a small pike on the Kastmaster spoon. Lucky it was hooked in the tip of the snout, which gave it little to no chance of cutting the line. Fish had a large tumor / infection on both sides, and was also bloody at the tail, mouth and gill plate.

Moving to the other side of my flag line spread didn't yield any interesting results, so after a while, I returned to the general area of where I started jigging. Sure enough, the 13th hole yielded another pike, this one smaller than the first.

Just after releasing it, I landed another keeper sized perch from the same hole, as well as a smaller one.

The flag lines didn't produce a single bite all day.

By this point, I started having issues with my auger, I believe the battery may need to be replaced after 4 seasons of heavy usage. Will wait for Ion tech support to confirm. 

As 2024 winds down to it's end, I'll take the opportunity to wish everyone happy holidays, and much success in the upcoming year. 

Thanks again for reading/following my blog, looking to add many more posts and pics in 2025!

Shore fishing Miami canals

After having spent a weekend visiting my eldest son in Phoenix, I flew to Miami overnight, in order to spend 8 days with my eldest daughter, and her growing family.

I landed in Fort Lauderdale around 11 am, after flying overnight via Chicago. First order of the day was to make a quick pit stop at Outdoor World / Bass Pro shops, which is a few minutes drive from the airport, and also happens to be on our way back to her place in North Miami Beach.

Again, I hadn't bothered renting a carp, as the C9 canal, also known as the Royal Glades canal / Snake creek, is within walking distance from where I was was staying. Being that I'd be shore fishing during working hours for the next few days, the most important items outside my fishing gear were a very comfortable pair of hiking shoes (Columbia Peakfreak), and a back pack large enough for my gear, with enough drinking water to stay hydrated all day trekking in the Miami heat / humidity. 

I brought along a few lures that I've had some success with on that water system in the past, and I have a rod in my daughters house, in addition to the spare travel rod/reel in my backpack. I knew that the C9 canal has miles and miles of endless shore fishing, but the fish in there are quite finicky. Bites are usually far and few in between, at least when it comes to it's freshwater predators, largemouth bass and peacock bass. There are also some saltwater species in the canal, due to the North Miami segments of the canal being close to saltwater, and I had encountered both juvenile tarpons and jack crevalles in the past, but hadn't been able to catch any. As well, there is a huge population of striped mullet in the canal, and they tend to jump and go airborne quite often, but they aren't considered much of a game fish by most anglers.

Day 1:

I got started after seeing my grandkids off to school, choosing to start fishing where the C9 canal turns into Sky Lake. Directly across the snake creek trail, is a small development, with tiny lake in middle, I believe Pickwick lake is the correct name, based on the realty sign at it's entrance.

I tied on a Berkely Choppo, which has been my most productive topwater lure in Florida to date, and sure enough, I landed my first bass of the trip from Pickwick lake within minutes of getting started.

Great start to my day, and about 1 hour later, further down the canal, I hooked a nice peacock bass that exploded on the Choppo. I fought it to shore, where it ran into the dense weeds growing all along it's shores, I managed to get it out once, only to have it run back into the weedbed again, and when I tried to lift it out of the weeds up the steep shoreline, it came off. I was bummed about not getting my hands on it, but I got a close look at the peacock bass a few times, I'd estimate it was in the 3 lbs range, possibly a bit bigger.

I spent the next 4 to 5 hours casting endlessly, using a variety of spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, spinners and topwaters. It wasn't until mid afternoon, on my way back, when I hooked a small largemouth bass again, which hit my PopR, but ended up spitting the lure when it jumped. Called it a day around 4 pm. Close to 8 hours of fishing, 1 of 3 fish landed, after having trekked about 18 kilometers. Nothing outstanding, but I gave it my best shot.

Day 2:

I decided to work the same stretch of waterway, concentrating more effort on areas where I've seen or hooked fish in the past. Morning started with another small Pickwick lake bass within my first 5 minutes or so.

I then worked my way down the Glades canal along snake creek trail, but nothing I threw was working. With the wind gusting over 40 km/h straight at me, I tried to make my way to the other side of the canal, but taller grass was filled with sharp burrs that got all over my socks. Being that I was in shorts, and that the grass was only getting higher, I know the chances of running into poisonous snakes such as cottonmouths and coral snakes would increase. A bit too much for my nerves, I decided to head back to fish other areas of the canal closer to the trail, where the grass is maintained and cut quite short. Casting my way back, I spotted 2 big manatees near shore. Always cool to encounter them, which has happened to me there in the past as well.

On my way back, I decided to get to the other side of Pickwick lake, passing through the small community. There was a grassy area of waterfront that possibly seemed wadable from where I was, so I had my hopes up.

When I got there, first thing I noticed was this sign:

And right next to it, some telltale activity of a large aquatic bird that had been devoured:

While the alligator may or may not have been the culprit, I definitely wasn't taking any chances of wading out onto Pickwick lake's reefs to cast anything that would attract attention. I did get a few small chasers in shallow water casting from shore, but left after 10 minutes or so.

Getting closer to my daughter's home, I decided to fish one last stretch of canal, where I had caught some smaller bass and peacocks in the past. I tied on a brand new gold Rapala Husky Jerk I had just picked up at Basspro a couple days earlier. Within a few casts, I had a small bass take my lure, but it came off right away.

Casting my way along the canal using the same lure, I got the surprise of my trip about 15 minutes later. Right next to a weedbed near shore at the end of my retrieve, and big head popped out, inhaled my lure, and turned to swim off. The big fish cut my lure off clean, just as I was about to set the hook. I had a pretty good idea that it was a big snook, as they are the only species in the canal with razor sharp gill plates, which must have cut the slack line in a freak occurrence. Nothing else in there has any teeth sharp enough to cut line, except for possibly barracuda, but this was definitely not a barracuda. It's mouth was much wider, and it had a thicker head and shoulders. I felt sickened by what occurred for the first couple minutes, almost in disbelief, as that was definitely a very nice sized fish, by far bigger than any other fish had ever seen in that canal, let alone manage to hook.

That ended my second day on the canal, after a good 7 hours of fishing, and probably a good 15 - 16 kilometers walked. Only one small landed fish, but at least I managed to hook a bigger saltwater species.

Day 3:

After hooking the what I was pretty sure was a big snook the previous day, I decided to follow the C9 canal along snake creek trail in the other direction. I had been fishing moving towards the inland section over the past couple days, so I decided to head towards saltwater, hoping to encounter some possible saltwater species if the canal turned brackish at some point.

I mapped Biscayne blvd / US1 close to the end of the canal on Google maps, after which there is some sort of dam where the canal drains into a saltwater bay name Maul lake. 4 miles on foot from my daughters house, figure it would be a good start. I made my way along the canal casting lures as usual. At some point close to my destination, I encountered a group of older men, still fishing for mullets. 

Growing up, my late father had told me of fishing in the Mediterranean sea for mullets with hook and line using bread balls as bait. From my experiences, the only mullets I have seen caught, were by people throwing cast nets at them from piers or boats in saltwater.

These guys seem to be having some success, so I stopped to talk to one of them. They were using a system similar to float fishing for carp, Namely, a slip bobber with a bobber stop set about 10-11 feet up the line, and 2 hooks fished 1-3 feet of the bottom, anchored by a sinker. They used a mix of either small balls of bread, or tiny pieces of white rubber bait to fool the mullets, and were chumming heavily with flavored / prepared oatmeal or seasoned bread crumbs. Judging by the coolers they planned to fill, I figured they must know what they were doing.

I kept working my way down casting for predatory species, all the way to Byscayne blvd. I hoped to get across the highway to the dam, but was stopped by and unpassable train track and the highway next to it. With no way around, I spend a bit of time casting the spot, and managed get a nice jack crevalle in the 7-8 lbs range follow another husky jerk. Too bad it didn't hit, that would have made for a crazy fight on my medium light rod.

Working my way back on the other side of the canal, I managed to land small peacock bass:

Heading back towards my starting point, I passed by the group of mullet fishermen again, and saw them land a couple, which now had me intrigued, I checked out the gear they were using, just in case I decided to try on my own, and kept working my way back inland. Nearly 4 miles later, close to where I  lost the bigger peacock bass a couple days earlier, I managed to catch 2 more small peacock bass within a couple casts of each other. At least all that trekking paid off a bit. Working my way toward the shallower end of that segment of canal, I spotted a big fish cruising the shallow shoreline, looked almost musky like from where I was standing. I got closer, and realized it was a giant snook, probably in the 40 inch range, well above the top end of the slot size, which is 32 inches. Thick girth too, probably weighed 25 lbs or so. I tried casting a couple lures at it, as well as heading it off, but nothing doing, it just kept swimming. About 10 minutes later, and came up on another big snook up shallow in a weedbed, that darted as soon as it saw me. Slightly smaller, but still likely 36 inches or so.

Seeing those 2 big snook a good mile or more inland of where I had hooked one the previous day, gave me some hope, and made me realize that they will be just about anywhere in the canal I planned to fish. For some reason, they were much bigger than any snook I've ever seen or hooked in saltwater.

It was getting close to sunset, I headed home, and got a couple sunset shots at Pickwick lake:

Another 18-20 kilometeres of trekking over about 8 hours of fishing, with 3 of 4 small peacock bass landed. Not exactly crazy action, but at least I got confirmations of both the quality of snook that are in the canal, as well as some good pointers on how to target striped mullet.

Celebrated all my efforts when I got home:

Day 4:

This was likely going to be my last day fishing the c9 / Glades canal at Snake Creek, being that I had other potential destinations early the following week. Having had trekked and fished, casting on foot for over 50 kilometers over the past 3 days, and having landed a grand total of 5 out of 10 hooked fish, with no big ones to show for, I decided to switch thing up, and try still fishing for mullet for a change.

I had seen some good schools of them in different locations, but I figured that my best bet would be to hit the spot where I had seen the group the previous day, hoping that they may be back again. I figured I'd ask them to join, and show me the ropes, in exchange for them getting to keep all my fish. Being that these guys were both eating and selling the mullets, I didn't see why they should refuse.

Stopped by Walmart on my way, to pick up some terminal tackle and bait, namely white Wonderbread, which is what most of them swear by. Made my way over to the spot, and sure enough, there was an older guy fishing for mullet at the spot. I introduced myself, and asked him for permission to fish nearby, he was super nice of offered to show me the ropes. After having my first setup stuck in the rocks, another one of his group retied my rig properly.

 

We began fishing again. Tony and I hit it off quite well, despite our cultural differences, with him being an elderly pastor in the black community, and me being a practicing orthodox Jew. Though we found some common grounds in religious philosophy, one of the beauties of fishing is that it transcends, race, age, color, financial / social status, and then some. We're both there trying to catch the same fish, using the same tactics, and the fish aren't discriminating or differentiating between us.

Didn't take too long, and I landed my first ever striped mullet:

Decent size, and promising start to my day. Into Tony's cooler it went, and shortly after I added this sand bream as well.

As the day went on, we caught some more mullet, and missed many more hits, which are typically very subtle. I managed to land some bigger ones too.

Unfortunately, I had to call it quits by 2 pm, as it was Friday, and I still had a good 3 mile walk back to my daughters home. We said our goodbyes, and I got a selfie with my new friend Tony.

Casting along the canal on my way back home, I didn't catch anything else, but encountered another big snook, close to where I had lost my first one a couple days earlier. Again, I got many good casts at it, but it showed no interest in my lure, as it was just cruising along the edges of the canal.

With a total of 7 of 9 mullet and 1 bream landed, I was very happy with my short day's success, especially since I learned how to successfully target a new species. As they say, the wise man is he who learns something from everyone.

I don't fish on Saturday's, and took Sunday off from fishing to spend time with my daughter's family. Ih I packed a rod in the car along with a Sabiki rig in case we made it to the Sunny Isles pier to show my grandchildren some easy fishing. We couldn't find any parking there, so ended up at Haulover beach, we did some kiting after playing in the sand. I also took them to the marina where the fishing charter boats operate out of, so they got to see some fresh caught kingfish, as well as  a big school of mid sized tarpons swimming near the docks, waiting for carcasses of fresh filleted fish.

Day 5:

This was my last day of fishing on this trip, as I was flying home the following morning. I decided to rent a car and drive up to fish the Everglades canal near the Sawgrass trailhead at Atlantic. I had fished the spot a few years before, and managed to land some largemouth bass, Florida gars, and lost the first and only snakehead I had ever hooked. I was hoping for redemption, and being that I had a entire day to fish there instead of just a couple hours I had last time around, I was optimistic about my chances.

Unfortunately, when I got to the parking area, I noticed that instead of finding a neatly groomed trail along the canal I was planning to fish, the grass was very high. A couple locals confirmed that the park stopped maintaining / cutting it, and being next to a snake and alligator filled canal, in waist to chest high grass in the Everglades, the only thing sure to get bit, would be me. 

Being a bit disappointed at the situation, I figured I'd make the best of my day, and fish nearby in the C14 canal, also known as the Stranahan river. I had fished it once before with out catching anything for hours, so I didn't have high hopes, but at this point, I was still hopeful that I may get real lucky and catch something, possibly even a snakehead. After casting the first segment over a few miles using a variety of lures, I headed to another spot on the same canal. After seeing a few fish chase my spinnerbait without hitting, I tied on a Rapala X rap. Sure enough, I landed my biggest peacock bass of the trip within minutes.

A few casts later, I landed a small largemouth bass.

Working my way up the other side of the canal after not catching anything else at this spot, I managed to hook a couple more small largemouth bass to end the day. Nothing crazy, but at least I got some more pics, and more importantly, managed to stay safe and salvage my day.

All in all, I did confirm that canal fishing in South Florida is much tougher than what I'm generally used to here, although a couple of our local canals around Montreal can be very tough at times as well. Still, I was very satisfied with the amount of time and effort I was able to put in, really "beating up" the waterways I fished to my fullest capabilities.

As was extremely lucky to have perfect weather in both Arizona and Florida during my trip, and that my plans to put in good time DIY fishing on foot ended up working out in the end. Better yet, I got to spend time with my kids, grandkids and in laws, lot's of good times and good memories.

Not sure I'll get any more open water fishing up here before the start of my ice fishing season, which is fine by me, as I think I got my fill for now.

Shore fishing in Arizona

My eldest son Ari moved to Phoenix a few months ago, after getting married to a woman from Scottsdale. Though I was there for a few days around the wedding ceremony, I was too busy to try fishing in Arizona at the time.

For this trip, my plan was to spend a few days in Phoenix visiting my son and daughter in law, then head over to Miami, to visit my daughter and her family. I was only spending a few days in Phoenix, and being that my son works at Sky Harbor airport, I didn't bother renting a car. I planed to fish solo, on the SRP canal near his home on foot on the Friday, and left Sunday's fishing plans with my son, open.

I had watched a few videos on some canal fishing in the area, and had an idea that I may encounter a mix of common and grass carp, catfish, bass, bluegills and tilapia. I brought along a small tacklebox with a few lures and some terminal tackle, and my telescopic rod, paired with a 30 series Penn reel, as usual.

Day 1:

I was up well before sunrise, but with the cooler nights, I figured I'd let the sun come up and warm the surface a bit before getting started.

I got to my spot on the SRP (Salt River project) about an hour later. The SRP is a series of drainage canals that flow around parts of Phoenix and it's suburbs. They get stocked with grass carp to control vegetation, so any of those caught, must be released. The other species are included in the ones I mentioned above. Current, water levels, and clarity, all vary seasonally.

The sections of canal that I tried fishing were all quite shallow, probably 2 to 4 feet deep. Water was crystal clear, and the current flowing quite quickly. I started spotting fish right away, mainly a mix of smaller grass carp and common carp, with the odd catfish mixed in. The number of fish in the canal is mindboggling. With basically no food sources, I figured they'd be hungry, but didn't have any bait to present to them, except for a slice of bread. After about 5 minutes of  trying to cast breadballs, I realized it would be useless, as the current kept taking the bait off my hook.

Walking towards the next intersection, I was lucky to find a grocery store, where I was able to pick up some frozen corn.

Now, armed with what normally would be premium bait for both carp species, I was confident that I should have a rather easy time hooking some carp. I set up about 30-40 feet upstream of a large school of carp, and drifted my corn as hookbait to where they were. I also tried chumming some corn, but the current was too strong for them to remain in place long enough to get them feeding.

To my surprise, not only did all the carp avoid my bait, they actually spooked any time any corn or even slack line came anywhere close to them.  I eventually set up slightly further upstream, but same story, just a bunch of carp fleeing from my setup. At least the scenery was nice, and temperature warming enough for me to remove my hoodie.

After about an hour with nothing but a small line bump, I figured I'd try sight fishing for them instead. With more visibility now that were were mid morning, every fish I saw and snuck up on, was super finicky. The slightest splash sent them darting, and when I managed to drift bait up close to them, they spooked and darted as soon as they noticed my line. 

Getting frustrated with the situation, I made my way up to a small dam on the canal that I had marked on my Google map. The current below the dam was a bit stronger, and I noticed that the grass carp were just about gone, mainly common carp with a few small catfish at that spot. When I got above the dam, I found the largest concentration of grass carp I have ever seen. Most were under 10 lbs, though I did notice a couple that were definitely over 20 lbs.

I spent another 2 or so hours trying to have them take my bait. As they were trapped with the dam behind them, I was able to present the corn right in middle of a school of 10 to 20 carp. Still, they just about avoided the corn, despite having it lying inches away from them.

At one point, I noticed a good sized koi in the 15 lbs range hovering around my line, that came within 3-4 inches, but never took the bait.

Eventually, I called it a day after nearly 5 hours of fishing / trekking the SRP canal, without hooking anything. Sort of frustrating, as I thought I'd have a very high chance of catching my first grass carp, but at least I had eliminated the spot for the planned Sunday outing with my son.

Over the weekend, we discussed potential spots to try fishing. As most of the area surround Phoenix is the Sonoran desert, rivers and creeks tend to vary greatly by the season. Often, a Google map with show a river, and all that's actually there is a bone dry riverbed. As such, we decided on trying to fish a reservoir instead, as they aren't any natural lakes in the area. While I'm not the biggest fan of fishing reservoirs from shore, I figured we'd at least find enough water to cast into, which would be a good start.

We decided on fishing Pleasant Lake, which is about 40 minutes drive from my son's place in Phoenix. While the lake is currently above what is considered full pool, it's still about 25-30 feet lower than seasonal highs. Water is quite clear, and significantly cooled off since it's summer peak in extreme heat, and significantly less boat traffic on it now, even for a warm Sunday afternoon.

As the lake sits in middle of the Sonoran desert, we had to look out for rattlesnakes. In addition, even more dangerous, are wild boars, and wild burros, which are remnants of donkey's abandoned by silver miners long ago. They have since taken to the desert, and are extremely territorial, attacking humans that get too close to them. Their droppings all all around the lake, as it's their main water source, and there are quite a few signs posted as well.

We entered the state park, which cost $7 per day, and parked not too far from the main boat ramp. Time to start trekking and fishing along the rocky shorelines.

Ari was happy to finally get some father and son fishing time with me. I think the last time we fished together was in September 2022, back when he lived in Portneuf, Quebec.

Immediately, we started seeing schools of gizzard shad swimming near the shorelines. We tried throwing a variety of smaller lures at them without any success. We even tried snagging some (which is legal in Arizona for non game species), but weren't really equipped to do so, and they were both very finicky, and slightly too deep.

After a while, we decided to just trek along miles of shoreline, while casting a variety of lures. As I came around the first bend, I encountered a decent dropoff, and on my second cast, I hooked a decent largemouth bass, casting a spinnerbait. 

I was thrilled to have landed my first fish of the day so quickly, which was also my first Arizona fish ever, caught in a spectacular desert setting.

A few casts later, Ari missed another bass while casting a topwater lure. We stuck around the spot for a while, hoping for more fish, but it didn't happen. We spent the next few hours trekking a couple miles of shoreline without much success. Eventually, we headed back to our first spot, but didn't manage to hook any more fish.

On the way out, we decided to get a few desert pictures together, as we don't get to spend enough time with each other any more. Various species of cactus made for some interesting backgrounds.

And sure enough, as we were just about done taking our picture, we noticed some of the wild burros starting to congregate in the valley below. They were quite far down to where we were safe, but I wasn't going to attempt getting any closer for some clearer pictures, without an escape route.

All in all, fishing in Arizona was tougher than I expected. After all, we were smack in middle of the desert. Still, fishing with my eldest son again was very memorable, as over the years, he and I have been though many adventures togethers. I was just happy to get the chance to do it again.

I flew out to Miami later that night, to begin my next phase of the trip.