My co-worker Christina was born in Scotland. When her family moved over here she was 2 years old, but many of her relatives remain in Scotland. She mentioned to me that her uncle Keith was coming to visit from Scotland for a few weeks, and that he is a very avid angler. She passed along my website to him and he was very thrilled to try some fishing here in Canada during his visit. I offered to take him out and show him the ropes for a Canadian fishing adventure!
Keith, (and Christina’s father and brother) John and Graham along with myself set out on Friday for a day on Gold Lake near Catchacoma, Ontario. They had rented the cottage for a week, and Graham brought his boat. I was able to fish for the morning and early afternoon, but had to head home a bit early due to plans the following morning. It was my first time on the lake, and it was a gorgeous, low traffic spot! Here is a letter I just received from John after our fishing excursion:
Hi Ashley,
            I must thank you sincerly, firstly for taking the time to visit us. Secondly for the great days fishing you enabled us to have. With your expertise and knowledge we were able to hook into larger fish more consistently than ever before. I must also say that we were all impressed by your enthusiasm for the sport and the selfless way you shared your knowledge.
The fishing spots you chose proved to be abundant with fish. I’m sorry you had to leave us when you did. We returned to the last site that you chose and were able to improve on the number of fish, and the days catch size, as you will see from the photos, and I’m sure the ‘grandma’ of the fish was there for your taking:-)  (I think Keith caught the daddy).
Lastly, thank you for the lures and materials you shared with us that allowed to us to land bigger and better fish. We will be using them as major part of our fishing arsenal from now on.
We hope we can arrange get together before long and do this again.
Until then, Happy fishing and many thanks again.
John, Keith, & Graham.
Graham
Myself and John
My catch of the day – a nice smallmouth
A photo before I left the cottage
Keith, myself, John and Graham
Keith and his huge largemouth! Wow!!!!!
Another shot of the giant bucket
I have such a huge smile on my face after reading this e-mail, but probably not as big as the smile on Keith’s face! What a great experience! I am so happy to see that he was able to catch that giant during his visit to Canada!Â
We were using drop shots with Shimano spinning rods/reels with Power Pro braided line, octopus hooks, Frostbite finesse drop shot weights and X Zone Slammers – and that is what we used all day. I usually switch up technique throughout the day, but in the time I was on the water we caught 50-60 bass (mostly all smallmouth), so why change the presentation if it’s working that well? (Did I mention I LOVE smallies?)
A big thanks to Christina for setting up the trip, to John, Keith and Graham for a great day of fishing!! I look forward to our next outing!
Ashley
This is Keiths boat partner in Scotland, I'm glad he finally caught a big fish. I fish with him all year and I'm sure I'm going to hear the story for another year. well done Keith!