Lake Simcoe in July is always beautiful and when we were offered the use of a cottage on the island for a few days, we couldn't say no. It was a great few days. the weather was in our favor almost the entire time.

This is the Cottage we stayed in. There is a great view of the lake through those large picture windows

And a great fire pit right by the water to relax in front of after a hard day fishing

This giant Crestliner was our fishing boat for the trip. I wasn't sure my old johnson would move this thing very fast, but it did the job just fine.

I decided to bring the '53 Johnson for the trip. I had been using it all summer and it proved to be quite reliable. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck on an island in the middle of a huge lake with no motor.

Doesn't she look so happy in her element. I'm sure that she appreciated all this time to get out an play in the water.

(Click on them, they get bigger)

We were marking fish all around the island. Usually in 10-18 FOW. Getting them to bite on the other hand is a different story.

A typical setup for the trip was a good bass crank bait on a 7' middle action rod. At the right speed we were bouncing the lip right off the rocky bottom. This generated a few hits, but nothing we tried really drove them crazy.

This was the closest that we came to getting one of these legendary Large Mouth in the boat.

This guy was huge. The picture doesn't do it justice. Of course if I had remembered the net, I would surely have some better shots to share.

Although we didn't land any trophies to brag about, the great weather, pristine view and excellent hosts made the trip a memorable one (after all this was our first anniversary).