Ontario Women Anglers Gals & Pals 2022

A spinnerbait bass bite, amazing fall colours, and a return to fishing in Luma made for a fantastic 2nd Annual Gals & Pals BIG Bass Tournament put on by Ontario Women Anglers (OWA).

Darrell and I take any excuse we can find to hit the water, so when I got the email that registration was open for OWA’s Gals & Pals tourney, I immediately signed us up. We debated on making a weekend of it and heading up north somewhere to camp and fish. That would have been awesome, but we’re at the time of year when there’s a lot to get done at home before winter, so we changed our minds and headed for the same local lake we fished in last year’s tournament.

Since our favourite bass lakes around here are smaller waterbodies, we chose to fish out of Luma, our 12-foot tinny. Luma used to be our everything boat. Downrigging on the Great Lakes, bushwacking into smaller lakes, bass fishing, crappie fishing, you name it. We took her everywhere. She hasn’t been used nearly as much lately so it was fun to take her out today.

The beginning of October is the best time to be on lakes in Southern Ontario, since you get to enjoy the fall colours. As soon as we launched today I was pulling out my phone and trying to capture the red, orange, and gold trees mixed among the green. What a beautiful sight.

Our plan was to go deep, figuring the bass would be hunkered down after all the cold weather we’ve had lately. I had a dropshot tied on and Darrell started with a swimbait, which had worked quite well for us last year.

One thing about fishing a small lake you know decently well is that you have favourite spots. And when someone else is in your favourite spot, it’s a a bummer. That happened to us to start the day, so we headed to an area that isn’t as great in the fall but does well in the summer. Have to start somewhere.

So much of our fishing has involved trolling this year, and it was nice to be in a boat that only had an electric motor on it and was super quiet.

Despite having years of experience being on lakes, I somehow failed to dress appropriately and quickly got cold. In my defense, it hadn’t looked like it would be so windy according to the forecast. At some point we decided to head for a bay that’s usually more protected than the main lake in hopes that the wind would be less.

The wind wasn’t any better, but the fishing picked up. Darrell was casting a spinnerbait when he hooked into a smallmouth bass. It wasn’t big but we took a quick measurement in case it was the only thing we caught for the day. More importantly, it looked like we might be on a spinnerbait bite! I LOVE when fish bite a spinnerbait. It’s my absolute favourite way to fish.

As time went on, we sure enough were on the spinnerbait bite. There weren’t a ton of fish, but despite us cycling through a bunch of baits, spinnerbaits were what they wanted. We each caught some smallies and largies. I hooked into a perch. One single perch. Those little buggers didn’t want any of the small baits I threw at them. They just wanted to chase spinnerbait blades.

The bass in that bay were holding in deeper water with veg. Knowing that, I cast ahead of us where there was some weed and BOOM! I had a fish on and she bent my heavy rod with ease. It has to be a really decent bass to do that. And then, after a few more cranks, the weight disappeared. She was gone. I wanted to cry. I swore a lot instead. This spot was right near where I caught probably my best smallie to date a few summers ago, and I can’t help but feel like she had come back to play.

We took a break from casting for a few minutes to send the drone up and try to get some video and pictures of the boat and where we were fishing. Launching a drone off a boat for the first time wasn’t too bad. The breeze had picked up and I couldn’t go too high or the drone really started to wobble. We had our fun and then it was time to land it. On the middle seat of the boat. While the wind was blowing us and the drone around. That was nerve-wracking!

Eventually, we headed back into the main part of the lake, hoping the sun would have warmed up the water. This time, our favourite spot was free and Darrell pointed the boat for it.

The sun was shining on the shallows and when Darrell cast into it, a nice smallie that was sunning herself beelined it for his spinnerbait. I was casting out the other side of the boat and dropped my rod to grab the net. As I watched his fish come in, I was surprised to see another one, almost as big, swimming in right alongside it. That was so cool!

Darrell’s fish measured 17-3/4 inches and would be the biggest one caught by either of us today. She was our entry for the tournament.

We spent the rest of the afternoon casting around the lake, drifting wherever the wind chose to take us.

This year hasn’t been a typical one for us and we’ve missed a lot of the small lake fishing we normally do. We haven’t fished near enough. Both of us just enjoyed a beautiful day on the water and getting back into the groove of casting. I almost forget we were taking part in a tournament.

Just before the timer on my phone was due to go off to signal the 3pm end of the tournament, we packed up our rods. It was time to go home and warm up after an amazing day on the water.

One of the best parts about this tournament is seeing the pictures posted in the Facebook group throughout the day. Lots of smiles, plenty of fish, and a great time had by all. Days like this are all about having fun on the water, and I’m very grateful to Ontario Women Anglers for organizing this awesome event! Congratulations to the winning team of Kristin Sturgis and Carol McIver with a bass measuring in at 20-1/8″. A beautiful fish!

If you’re a female angler and not part of Ontario Women Anglers, you really should join! It’s a great community of anglers to learn from and connect with, and OWA runs all sorts of amazing events, just like this one.

I’ll sleep well tonight after all that fresh air and those bass biting on a spinnerbait! I love fishing.