Frenchman's Bay Bassin' & Bowfins

July 23, 2018

With a new baby brought home and life getting that much busier I decided to take a break (was allowed to leave for a bit 😄) and head out for a quick fish. I didn’t want to be away for the entire day and didn’t want to go far, so I headed to Frenchman’s Bay which is only 20 minutes away from my house. A lot of people think that because the bay is in Pickering, it must be “contaminated” or doesn’t have fish in it. Well, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In the spring it’s full of pike just finishing their spawn in the shallow water. They will usually stick around until the water warms up before heading out to the lake for the summer. Once the pike leave and the bass season opens, it's game on, which bring us to today’s adventure.

Map of where you can launch if you want to  fish Frenchman's Bay

The water in the great lakes is much lower than normal this year which presented an issue in finding bass. I usually flip the reed edges along the outside north end of the bay but because of the low water there was maybe 6” of water in that area. The other main cover type is boat docks and when the reeds didn’t produce any fish it didn’t take me long to figure out that’s where the bass were hiding.

The bait of the day was a pretty standard largemouth bass bait, A half-oz black and blue punch skirt paired with a Strike King Rage Tail Rage Lobster and a Trokar Flippin’ hook.
Rod - 7’ Med Hvy action Carrot Stix wild wild orange series.
Reel – Abu Garcia Orra
Line – Suffix 832 40 Lb test

Bait that Matthew Randall used to fish Frenchman's Bay on July 23, 2018, sitting on a lilypad.

All of the bass came from under a dock of some type. They were spread out but aggressive and smashed the jig when you finally put it in front of one.

Matthew Randall holding a largemouth bass he caught at Frenchman's Bay.

Matthew Randall holding another largemouth bass he caught at Frenchman's Bay.

Matthew Randall holding his third largemouth bass he caught at Frenchman's Bay.

Matthew Randall holding his fourth largemouth bass he caught at Frenchman's Bay.

Matthew Randall holding his fifth largemouth bass he caught at Frenchman's Bay.

Over the past few years I’ve had the opportunity to hook into several Bowfin while fishing Frenchman's but hadn’t landed one yet. Their mouths are extremely hard and it’s a bit tricky getting a real solid hook set from a seated position sometimes. Today was my lucky day though. I was backing up from fishing a dock when I spotted this guy sitting on the bottom just waiting for a tasty jig to come its way. One flip in his direction and he smashed it. These things are crazy fighters and I wish I hooked into more of them.

Side angle of the large bowfin that Matthew Randall caught at Frenchman's Bay.

Front view of the large bowfin that Matthew Randall caught at Frenchman's Bay.

And here's the video of the day:



If you’re looking for more information on Frenchman's Bay, access points or any of my gear used please feel free to contact me.

- Randaller