Pigeon Lake - July 8, 2007

[Ace]

Had a GREAT day out a Pigeon on Sunday. My wife and I headed out to the provincial park and trolled around in the canoe. Trolled with a bottom bouncer all day with minnows. I can't believe how many strikes bit short and left just the head of the minnow on the hook. We switched from a single hook/spinner to a double hook (worm harness) and didn't lose nearly as many. Minnow were the hot ticket of the day for us.

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/9991/pigeonminnowheadtz3.th.jpg (http://img443.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pigeonminnowheadtz3.jpg)

For some reason I couldn't find my tags (over 50 cm) as I would have easily filled them both. Quite a few decent sized guys.

Here's my best of the day at 55 cm and thick.

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/7321/pigeonadambigfishme9.th.jpg (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pigeonadambigfishme9.jpg)

The picture doesn't do it justice but this guy measured 59 cm. My wife caught this one.

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/511/tamarapigeonlakejf8.th.jpg (http://img369.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tamarapigeonlakejf8.jpg)

The waves picked up pretty early, and it was getting a bit nerve racking out on the water when the wind picked up so we got off the water around 1:00.

See ya
Ace

[SNAPFisher]

Hey Ace!

Great report with pics. That is definately a nice, healthy wallie.

I also find the short bite issue sometimes. The simple fix without changing rigs is to hook the minnow through the middle instead of the head. The change in presentation will not slow down the bite. In fact I have noticed that the bite sometimes picks up even with the change. The walleye really do not mind :)

Cheers!

[Bushmaster]

Add a stinger to solve the short bite problem....loks like you had a great day .

[-NDN-]

great report. How i solve the short bite is i rip the head right off, and then thread the whole body down the hook, but along the side so it curls around the bend, then last minute straighten it out .

[FisherPotch]

Thanks for posting. That is a good eye, too bad it curled its tail. Would have been nice in the fryer, hopefully you find your tags. I typicaly go with a trailer hook of sum sort when they come back with no body's. I hook my minnows the same way ndn described but i dont rip off the heads. Through the mouth and around the bend sideways, the tough part is twisting the minnow at the last second to get the hook out the top of the minnow without messing the minnow up too bad. Thanks for the report.