A Wilder Day
When some very windy weather ended our plans of fishing in Owen Sound on Sunday, Darrell promised to take me to a little lake he knew that would be sheltered from the wind and provide us, he hoped, with some excellent bass action.
South of Durham, Ontario we turned off of Highway 6 and after enough turns to have me completely confused, we arrived at Wilder Lake. There’s only one spot where you can see the lake from the road and if you weren’t looking for it, you would never know such a beautiful little lake existed.
Having a small boat quickly showed its benefits when we reached the end of the road and had to drag everything over to the lake. I have to say that I’m quite glad Darrell insisted we buy a 12-footer instead of a 14-footer!
Our little boat! I can't believe we didn't buy one before (oh yeah, no money to buy one!). Having three bench seats comes in handy - we use the middle one as a workbench.
The water in Wilder Lake is crystal clear and finding structure proved to be a little difficult at first – there was nothing in the water! I was amazed at the different hues of green throughout the lake as the depth ranged from 2-feet to 20-feet. After spending at least an hour coming up empty, and not a single fish registering on our new Humminbird PiranhaMAX 160 PT fish finder, I was getting a little discouraged. Darrell decided it was time to try fishing the docks and, as I always do when getting discouraged, I started tossing out a small jig. All of a sudden there were rock bass everywhere, trying to beat each other to my jig and Darrell’s drop-shot. You have to admire rock bass, they have quite the fighting spirit.
All those little chunkers willingly biting our lures sure improved my spirits, but I had been promised big bass and I was still hoping to find one. We eventually came across a submerged logged and it didn’t take long for Darrell’s drop-shot to prove irresistible.
The first good fish of the day came on the drop-shot just off a log - the only piece of structure in the area.
We had gone awhile without marking a fish on the new fish finder and I was starting to think we’d just bought an expensive paperweight. It certainly isn’t a top-end fish finder but I’d hoped it would be somewhat useful. Then Darrell played with the sensitivity and boom – fish being marked on the screen. It actually proved to be fairly accurate and helped me land a nice bass. All-in-all it looks like it might have been a good purchase!
The fish finder. We chose the portable one in hopes that it will be useful for ice fishing. It's easy to use, seems fairly accurate, and the portability is a bonus.
We moved on to deeper water and located a few nice fish while both using a drop-shot. The drop-shot was a dynamite technique on this lake – nothing else seemed to interest the bass. Natural-colored baits were the trick, the water is too clear for anything else. Both the deep hole and the dock by the golf course proved to be the best areas to find big fish and good numbers. With both largemouth and smallmouth bass there are lots of fish to be caught.
The best one I managed to get to the boat. I had a big smallie on but she shook the hook and left me cursing.
Darrell's best bass of the day.
Ending up at Wilder Lake proved to be a stroke of luck. We had a nice day of fishing, fairly protected from the wind, and got a good chance to test the boat out. The boat and the motor are proving themselves to have been a great purchase. After sitting for over a year it seems that the motor was in need of the one good run we put it through on Belwood Lake – now it starts first pull every time and idles like a champ.
A great day of fishing in a beautiful, quiet setting…you couldn’t ask for more!
argosgirl
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I was searching for a good picture of Wilder Lake and came across your blog. I am writing a tourism piece for Southgate Township. I wonder if I could republish a couple of your pictures (holding fish) in my story with photo credit: agrosgirloutdoors.com?
Hi Ron, yes you can. Thank you for asking.