Welcome to Week CVX of ‘Fishing Parkland Shorelines’. Like most of us I am a novice fisherman, loving to fish, but far from an expert. In the following weeks I’ll attempt to give those anglers who love to fish but just don’t have access to a boat, a look at some of the options in the Yorkton area where you can fish from shore, and hopefully catch some fish.
Last week you may recall I was writing about fussy pike at Stoney Lake, just south of Margo, SK.
On days when pike are being finicky eaters I revert to a lesson my Dad taught me a few decades ago, that is to change lures often. He reasoned with each change you might find something an otherwise disinterested pike takes a run at. It is often an approach which yields results. That night at Stoney six pike were caught off five different lures. The only one to double up was the Len Thompson hammered perch which brought in a pike each for my son and I.
The lure changes did afford the opportunity to pull out a PomPom Fish Bomb, a new addition to the tackle box, and one which I will say holds special interest for me, as it is a Saskatchewan creation. It is also fun to be able to support what are basically local entrepreneurs trying to carve a niche in the varied and competitive world of fishing lures.
The PomPom Fish Bomb is a hand-tied creation. It has a weight jig head at its heart, onto which brightly coloured feathers have been tied. If you are thinking a big fishing fly with a weighted head, you have the right general idea.
Since the PomPom Fish Bomb is made at Naicam, I had to contact the company for some background.
“My wife Lorna designed the PomPom Fish Bomb in mid July 2014,” said Cameron MacNeal. “And, we started selling our flies and jigs around the same time.”
The idea to sell the lures evolved rather naturally.
“We were showing off our huge assortment of fly fishing flies that we had made to a friend when the topic of selling flies came about,” said MacNeal. “Our friend suggested we take them to a farmers market and ‘see what happens’. My wife and I are always looking for something new and exciting to do, so we decided to give it a shot.
“Our first market was in Wakaw and it was a huge success. Soon after we expanded the markets we would attend to five, Wakaw, Melfort, Tisdale, Nipawin, and Archerwill. Not long after we decided to register for tradeshows that would eventually lead us to the Saskatoon Sports and Leisure Show March 2015.
“After Saskatoon we planned a tour of Saskatchewan. We went to places like Creighton/Flin Flon, Davidson, Melville and Yorkton.”
MacNeal said interest in the lures has been excellent.
“The response to the PPFB has been overwhelming and in all my years fishing I have never seen a response to a hook like this,” he offered. “We’ve had people stop dead 100-feet away, walk directly to us, get 10-feet away, and say they thought it was a real fish in the jar of water we use to demonstrate the movement of the PPFB. A gentleman in Davidson said he hasn’t been fishing in 10-years, bought a hook and said ‘I’m going fishing!’
“Children line up five deep, anxiously waiting for their turn at swimming ‘Chum Chum’ in the jar. We have had big name Saskatchewan anglers and television personalities approach us and they love the PomPom Fish Bomb. There is a very good possibility people will be seeing the PPFB on T.V. 2016.”
Not surprisingly, with the ability to tie the great lures and try a range of colours, the MacNeals have done just that in developing the current range.
“We tie a lot of different patterns and we are always going out to the lake to try them out,” said MacNeal, adding his wife’s idea dovetailed with his own interest in tying flies. “Lorna had set aside a fish head jig hook for something new and put together a lot of different tying techniques to create ‘Chum Chum’ the PomPom Fish Bomb. I have been tying fly fishing flies for 20-years, and most times I have difficulty seeing outside the box, but with Lorna, she made it look easy.”
MacNeal said his wife has long held an interest in fishing.
“Lorna spent a lot of time fishing with her dad, growing up in Naicam,” he said, adding he too has long loved the sport. “I have caught a lot of different species of fish using many different techniques and tackle from coast to coast. From capelin fishing in Newfoundland with my Uncles, salmon fishing in Lake Ontario with my Grandfather, and sturgeon fishing in the Fraser river B.C just to name a few.”
In terms of fishing, the PomPom Fish Bomb definitely targets local predator species.
“So far the PPFB has been big with pike and walleye, but it has caught other species of fish like lake trout, burbot, and steelhead trout,” said MacNeal.
“We do have other patterns like the ‘FishRocket’ and ‘MacMealworm’ which are good for perch but our claim to fame is all PomPom Fish Bomb.”
To fish a PomPom Fish Bomb, MacNeal said it needs to be presented to look as real as possible.
“‘Give it life!’ is the term we like to use to describe the way you should use Chum Chum the PomPom Fish Bomb. It’s a puppet on a string. Cast it, troll it, jig it,” he suggested. “We have even caught fish ice fishing with the PPFB. Never use bait, it doesn’t work as well and gets it wet before your first cast. When your done fishing for the day, let the PPFB air dry, work the feathers out and pop it back into its protective tube.”
While testing numerous patterns, only certain ones are in production.
“We have narrowed down to six different colour combinations of the PPFB that work the best based on feedback and our own time fishing,” said MacNeal.
“Our number one seller is definitely the red and yellow ‘Billy Bomb’ it is unusually successful with fish.
The ‘Tobin Tickler’ a red, black and white colour combo caught a 10-pound walleye in Tobin Lake.
“A green, chartreuse, and white colour combo we call the ‘Pride Bomb’, caught a eight pound walleye.
“The “Lake Lenore Special’ is special with the colours of orange, purple and blue.
The ‘Shanny Bomb’ which is pink, black and white.
And then there is the “‘Chum Chum’ the PomPom Fish Bomb that started it all is orange, olive and yellow.”
MacNeal of course favours one of the lone most.
“My personal favourite has to be the ‘Shanny Bomb’ it has great UV reflect,” he said. “When we place it under a UV light it glows like you plugged it in, giving it an advantage in murky water.”
More designs could emerge for the line too.
“Lately we haven’t been spending a lot of time in researching and designing new patterns,” said MacNeal. “The PomPom Fish Bomb has consumed most of our time.
“Sorting and preparing the materials takes a lot of time. Have you ever seen what five pounds of strung turkey marabou looks like? It’s a large green garbage bag full and we have to separate and clean each feather.
“Then there is the grizzly hackle feathers we use for the sides which come attached to the hide. We pull them off and size each feather. We comb and prepare Icelandic sheep for the tail and add a little flashabou.
“We also have to make the most important part, the dubbing brush that we use for the body.
“We take two twenty eight gauge wires and sandwich three different layers of marabou feathers between and spin it up tight like a rope. To make one thousand PPFB’s it takes five hundred feet of Marabou dubbing brush. Tie all the materials to the hook and then pop it in to its protective tube.
“Then it’s off to the market.”
Interested in the Saskatchewan made lures? Check them out on Facebook where people can connect with the MacNeals and check out what they have to offer. The address is www.facebook.com/freshfliesandjigs or people can call (306) 921-0409.
And finally this week I want to pass on some information from Nature Saskatchewan regarding a shorebird fisherfolk may run into and be aware of.
Be on the lookout at this time of year as this is the time when the endangered Piping Plover shorebird will be on shorelines to nest.
The Piping Plover was designated as endangered in 1985, and remains listed as endangered due to low population numbers; ~764 plovers were seen in Saskatchewan during the 2011 international census, down from 1,435 in the previous 2006 census. “There are a number of factors contributing to their low numbers”, explained Rebecca Magnus, Plovers on Shore coordinator in a prepared delease, “and one of those is human activity along shorelines”.
In mid-May the female Piping Plover lays four, well-camouflaged eggs along many of our Saskatchewan shorelines such as Lake Diefenbaker. The eggs are speckled, and blend in with the surrounding gravel and sand. Both parents incubate the eggs over ~28 days. The peak hatching occurs in mid-June. “Since Piping Plover eggs are very difficult to see and easy to accidentally trample, we are asking the public to watch carefully as they enjoy the sunshine along our shorelines during this critical time”, says Magnus.
You may also see the Piping Plover adult first, before you see any eggs. They have distinctive black markings - a single black neck band, a black band on the forehead, and a short black-tipped orange bill. “While similar, they can easily be distinguished from Killdeer based on their smaller size, the single neck band versus the two bands found on Killdeer, and their lighter colour”, adds Magnus.
Additionally, you may hear a Piping Plover calling for your attention and when you look over you may observe it running away, faking a broken wing. The Piping Plover is one of the few shorebirds to display this action, which it uses to distract predators away from its nests in order to protect it.
If you come across a nest site or think you may have seen a Piping Plover, please call our toll free Hot Line at: 1-800-667-HOOT (4668).
