Nitro Boat vs Whiney Girlfriend

A Tracker Marine Group company, Nitro offers nine fibreglass models from seventeen to almost twenty-one feet in two series, bass and sport. Make no mistake about it, Nitro builds boats for the serious fisherman. The newly designed for 2010 mid-size Z-7 comes standard as a side console model but a removable dual-console is optionally available.

As with all Nitro boats, the Z-7 bristles with fishing amenities. The helm features three-across upholstered bucket-type seating with storage areas below, drink holders beside, and stepping areas for easier aft-deck access. The modular starboard-side console with a molded, tinted plexiglass windscreen has sport gauges with chrome-bezel instrumentation including tachometer, speedometer, voltmeter, fuel, water pressure, and trim gauges. Central in the dash display is a flush-mounted Lowrance® X96 TX 320-pixel fish finder with surface temperature readout. Rod holders are found on the port side.

Moving forward, a hinged-lid step-up to the bow deck contains a cooler and a trash receptacle. There is a central in-floor storage locker flanked by two, 8-foot long rod lockers with power lid assists. Center forward is a bow bicycle seat with a foot pedal control recess for the standard MotorGuide® 24-volt, 70-lb. thrust, 45” shaft foot-controlled trolling motor. A bow panel contains the trolling motor receptacle, anchor light and trim switches and is wired for either 12 or 24-volt motor harnesses.

The center of the aft deck houses a 34-gallon divided, aerated livewell with recirculator, timer, and pump-out system. To port and starboard are lift-out, molded storage boxes that will accept Plano 3700 tackle boxes. Between the livewell and the motor is a fold-down fishing seat and off the port transom, an integrated fold-down reboarding ladder. A single-axle, powder-coated, welded tubular frame, custom bunk trailer with swing-away tongue is standard equipment.

Notable available options include a custom canvas boat cover, upgraded electronics, hydraulic or mechanical tilt steering, various battery charging upgrades, different choice of trolling motors, plus a jack plate and SmartCraft® gauges. Even a hydraulic pedestal seat! Power your Z-7 SC or DC with up to 200 horsepower and get out to the fishing hot spots in a hurry.

Fishing during the New Moon

Click on this picture to see the teeth

Tonight was noted as a good time to fish, the Solunar Scale was giving 5 stars, the weather was warm and balmy.... and the Fishing Trio were out to get some fish.  The venue was to be Cross Coulee Reservoir and we were aiming to be set up and have the lines in the water before 7 PM.

Well I have to say that the Solunar Scale was completely correct because we pulled out 5 fish between us in an hour and a half, three Walleye and 2 Pike.

I was first off the starting blocks with a young Walleye.  He was a feisty little beggar and I had to wear the gloves.  I normally stick the gloves on with Walleye because they can be like handling broken glass.  He almost got me with the spikey dorsal.  Even with the grippy gloves on he managed to wriggle free and fell down a rat hole.  i reached in and grabbed him, pulling him out by his tail before some rodent started taking chunks out of him and released him back into the lake.  This was a clean hook with two of the treble hooks going straight through his lower lip.

John got the next strike with about a 14 inch Pike, this one had tried to swallow the lure but luckily it had not gone in too deep.  Doctor John whipped out the hook with little bother and the fish did not seem too fazed by his capture.

Alfie made the third capture with about the same size Pike and the fish was kind enough to hang around for a little photo shoot.  this again was a clean hook straight through the lip..... nice catch Alfie.

I caught the last 2 fish and they were both about 12 - 14 inch Walleye.  John had some good pictures of straight down the fish's mouth.  Yep I know that sounds a little disgusting but very educational because a Walleye has sharp bits at the end of the gill plates which can cut fingers if you are not carefull... this is why I normally wear the grippy gloves for this fish.  With the razor sharp teeth, spiny dorsal and those sharp edges on the gill plates, sometimes it can be like trying to hold a wriggly piece of broken glass.

My hypothesis is that the Solunar tables work.... or they worked tonight anyway.  If this is something that might interest you then check out our Solunar Tab near the top of this screen... although please bear in mind they are set for the Raymond area so if you are somewhere else in Alberta they might be out by up to 10 minutes.  Bear in mind you can download the table for your own are by following the links on the page.

Pothole Creek Fishing

Today we were meant to be fishing Jensen Reservoir.  We..... being John, Alfie and myself,  also met up with another British lad called Paul and his 2 sons.  We all met up at Pothole Coulee which is part of the irrigation system and is actually fed by the reservoir.

We decided on a spot where the canal forked and went under a bridge.  First catch went to one of Paul's sons who winched in a 43cm Walleye, closely followed by Alfie who reeled in a nice sized Pike.  I was next off the mark with a pretty ordinary looking Pike (about 30 cm) and John pulled in the last fish of the day which was a whopper of a Pike.

All in all I think we found a nice "hotspot" and I am pretty sure we will be returning there again

Jensen Reservoir Fishing Recce

We took a drive down to Jensen Reservoir last night to see if was going to  be suitable for today's fishing trip.  It is actually classed as a recreation area however it has been subject to a certain amount of vandalism which has resulted in the toilet block and picnic tables being removed.  It's a shame because this could be a really nice (local) day use area and the lake it's self is huge.

While we were there there were a few boats scooting around, one doing some water skiing and the other pulling a huge inflatable.  Damn I really need to get a boat !

Click Here For Lake Bathymetry

2 and a half pikes out of Raymond

Pretty decent evening out at Raymond corner lake, John and Alfie both caught big Pike and I caught a tiddler of a Pike  8-(

26 Inch Pike From Raymond Corner Lake

John, Alfie and myself had planned to fish one of my favorite spots down on Cross Coulee reservoir this Sunday afternoon.  The temperature outside was above 30 and I have to admit I was pretty tired as I had been doing yard work most of the day.

Anyway we headed off to the water and unfortunately someone was already in my favorite spot so we had to fish the far side of the sluice.  We fished for about an hour with no strikes, at this point the other anglers left so we moved round to the other side.

After an hour none of us had any bites so we decided to pack up and try our luck on Raymond Corner lake.  There were kids playing in the water on the far shore (campsite side) and a 12 foot boat with about 6 people in it using a small trolling motor.  Apparently they managed to take 2 pike.

I was still not having any luck so I moved about 200 yd along the shore.  This was when I got my strike, a large pike took my lure and I set the hook.  I was using my new Shimano Spirex reel so I was still getting used to it.  In the excitement I completely forgot to use the Fightin' Drag.

Lure used was the Canadian Wiggler

Midweek fishing on Milk River Ridge Reservoir

Tonight was nice and warm with just a hint of a breeze so I decided to head off to the Reservoir.  The tackle was already loaded in the truck so off we went.  We left the house at just after 7 pm and arrived about a quarter after.

I was hoping we would have the place to ourselves but there was a truck down in the best spot and 2 lads were fishing using Pickerel Rigs. I will be doing a write up on that particular setup as it is really popular round here.  i went down to see how they were doing and apparently they had arrived about 10 minutes before us and had already pulled out 2 decent sized Walleye.

I fished for an hour with a Canadian Wiggler (yellow with red diamonds) and managed to land a young Pike.  He was petty feisty but there was no way he was getting away despite me always using barbless hooks.  He was double hooked on the tail treble of the wiggler, one hook through the top lip and 1 hook through his bottom lip which made it a little tricky getting the hook out.