No Fish

Believe it or not, I haven't done much fishing. Got out maybe two or three times, caught some bass, but since I was alone, no photo's! I did manage to fall into Lake Simcoe, missed a rock, and went right it! I fished a tournament with Dave Chong on Rice Lake....which means I didn't bring a fish to the scale, since he caught 5 hogs!! He is one hell of an angler.

I spent about 20 minutes salmon fishing, or should I say walking along the river with my gear in hand! I missed the salmon run while I was in NYC. Hopefully the temperature keeps dropping and the chromers come up the river, other wise, I'm not going to be doing much fishing till April!!! By that point, I'll forget how to cast my centre pin!

Civic holiday week-end

The past few days I have done a lot of fishing! On Thursday I fished a twilight tourney on Scugog, Friday I spent the day taking my younger cousins fishing, than on Saturday, I fished a tourney on G-Pool.

On Scugog, I got partnered up with Russ Watkins from Simax again. This was a lake he was familiar with, which really helped! We spent the afternoon throwing frogs and Strike King Rodents, and hooked some very nice fish. We finished 3rd, just 5 oz out of a pay spot.

On friday with my cousins, we spent the day running and gunning fishing from shore, I decided to give them a lot of different fishing scenarios. We started off fishing the Holland Canal, and ended up in Muskoka, on the way fishing vegetation crowded shorelines, boat docks, under bridges, causeways, and dams with mixed results. My cousins caught a bunch of panners, and I landed a few big smallies.

The smallies were hitting Strike King Perfect Plastics, and my favourite bait to throw, X-Raps!

Than on Saturday, I fished a Canadian Bass Anglers Federation tournament on G-Pool. We spent the morning fishing a back bay that was holding some bug buckets all week, we got one good hit, but the fish moved on. We made a decision to fish some current, and on the way, we hit some boat houses and weeds near the main channel. Running and gunning paid off again, skipping Trigger X tubes under docks we started to hook into some decent sized fish. Unfortunately, time ran out on us, just as we honed in on the pattern, we had to head back for weigh in. We managed just over 10 lbs for 7th place.

Overall, it was a really good week end, spent some time on the hammock at the cottage, spent a good bit of time on the water, and caught a lot of fish!

First Tournament, Take a Kid Fishing

A lot has happened in the last month, I have joined the CBAF, and fished my first tournament. Bass season has opened, and I have done quite a bit of fishing, with some catching thrown in for good measure.

I started bass season helping out at the Catch a Dream event. Its a big brothers and sisters event, where with their "littles", they get to go on a tournament boat with the angler to do some fishing. They have a full blown weigh in, food, raffles, and have great prizes for everyone. Even the volunteers get prizes, I won a Simax rod! It really was a nice way to spend the opener, even though I didn't make a single cast, I spent the day doing my 2nd favourite thing....BBQ'ing! I got to meet some great people, talk to kids about there first angling experience, and got an awesome fishing rod!

A week later, I fished my first tournament, and it was a blast! I caught some of the biggest buckets I have ever caught, and I was in the fastest boat I've ever been in! We placed 3rd, with just over 11 lbs all largemouth. We fished the bank of the Holland river, with all the big guys coming off flipping jigs.

The following week end, I took my girlfriends cousin fishing. It was her first time ever, so to start I brought her out for some panners. She had a blast, and by the end of the first day, she was fishing with out a float, unhooking her own fish, and even giving them a kiss before she released them. On day 2, she was setting the hook like a pro, got almost no line tangles, and even started using some lures! She's a natural, but I think she had help from a good teacher! lol.

 Here are some pics from day 2 spent on Simcoe.

She managed to get her bait under the dock, and landed this smallie..she decided to keep this one for the table.

Her first bass!

We spotted a feeding bowfin! Wish I had my flipping stick!

She ended up with BASS thumb!

Needless to say, she's already asking when we are going to go fishing again! I've been out a couple times on my own, hooked into some smaller bass, and spotted some nice sized smallies cruising the shallows, but couldn't convince them to hit anything! I have an itch to hit some summer pike, hopefully I get out for them soon, I have a few tournaments coming up in the next 2 weeks and don't think I'll have time to fish too much in between.

Fishing The Opener

The Pike and Walley opener was a fantastic week. We spent the first bit of it camping, but the majority of the trip, we were at our usual May 24 spot.....Waterfalls Lodge in Espanola On. Even though Bass were not open, we couldn't keep them off our baits, they were swimming with the Pike, and just as aggressive.

Day 1

On day 1, we were only on the water for half the day. We got to the lodge and on the water as fast as we could, and the fish greeted us with one unforgettable appetite.

23" Pike

The first 2 days, were unbelievable, it was like TV fishing. We were throwing X-Raps and slashing them as hard as we could, and the fish were reciprocating, by hitting them as hard as they could!

21" Pike

20" Pike

Day 2

Forgot to turn the Auto-Focus on

The next morning, we had to bundle up. It wasn't brutal, but at 5am, a moving boat creates a wind that is a little harsh. Still throwing the X-Raps before breakfast, we targeted some new weed growth near 14 feet of water in a small cove. Perch and White seemed to be the magic colours fishing near a fallen tree. During one retrieve I sneezed causing an extended pause, and a fish hit that turned out to be the fish of a lifetime. I brought in what looked to be a regular Walley, until I realized that it matched my windbreaker. I've been reading quite a bit about Blue Walley, and was so excited to catch on, that I threw my brand new glasses overboard as I removed them for a second photo.

The Blue Walley

After landing the Blue, and a few smaller Pike, we went for breakfast at the lodge. Day 2 turned out to be one of the most entertaining days we had all trip. After getting some tips from a regular, we rigged up some rods with pink tubes, on weedless/weightless hooks and spinner baits. I know it sounds like Bass bait, but it was supposed to be dynamite for Pike in these waters.

After a couple nice Bass, and some smaller Pike, we decided to head to a point that has produced larger fish for us in the past.

But we ran out of gas on the way, and had to get towed back to camp....wasting about 2 hrs of the day. When we were back at the camp, I decided to cast around with a spinner bait, and on 3 casts, I landed 2 Pike, one just shy of 20, the other hit 26 inches. Not bad for heading out with the trolling motor. I was alone in the boat, and I learned quite quickly how valuable the landing cradle is. I was able to keep the fish in the water while I worked on them. The larger fish had the main hook, and the stinger in him, and did not want to let go. Keeping him in the water saved his life.






We finally made it back on the water with both engines running, and head to that point we wanted to fish. About my second cast, I had a follow with on the spinner, and quickly went into a figure eight right at the boat, and the pike slammed my bait. After a good fight, I guided the Pike into the cradle, got a quick measurement, some photos, and put the 31 inch Pike back.

31" Pike

The chartreuse spinner bait with a sliver colorado blade seemed to be ticket on day 2. I managed to hook a few smaller pike, and a few pike over 20 inch's through out the day. After dinner, as night started to fall on us, I hooked a few more pike, and a nice Walley. 

27 " Walley

Coming across a point, I remembered hearing one of the regulars saying that spinnerbaits were lethal for Walley when the evening bite started. So I decided to tip my spinner with a Gulp Leech, and worked it slowly along the point. Throwing the spinner up to the shallows, and dragging it close to bottom was the plan, but the Walley hit much closer to shore that I would have expected her to be. It hit in about a foot of water, just as I started my retrieve. With the lack of weeds this year, and no typical spawning areas, its was tough to find Walley in the top lakes.

Day 3

Day 3 brought some tough conditions. We woke up to the worst thing possible.....a cold front. The temperature dropped to a brisk 7C and we thought our day was gone for sure. We decided to slow our presentation down. Longer pauses with the X-Raps, and some Gulp Jerk Shads fished weightless on a 2/0 hook rigged Tex-Posed got us into some fish. We decided to head into the top lake on the chain, and Moe caught what is probably the smallest Pike I've ever seen. Just under 10 inch's.

And since were talking about small fish, this smallie was caught on that X-Rap. It came in with the belly hook in its mouth, and the tail hook in its tail.

Evening brought some more nice Bass and Pike. We had 2 Pike in the 20 inch range come out of one one bay, and that beautiful smallie come off of a beach just minutes from out cottage.

Day 4

After a week like that, we had no idea what Day 4 had in store for us. The cold front was still lingering, and some morning drizzle kept us off the water until after breakfast. 

We managed some smaller Pike, and a few nice smallies. The wind was pushing hard from the North, I thought that fishing finesse would be the only way to go, but as the wind picked up, keeping control of my line, and the boat became a bit of work. We decided to take it easy, work our way back to the camp with X-raps and jigs. We managed a few more fish, and called it a night. Packing our gear was a little sad, but we new we are only 360 days away from being back!

Finally..FISH and a line dilemma.

Ok, I finally got the chance to hit the water, it was a learning experience to say the least!

To start, I've recently found some major flaws in the line I used to use on my light, and medium light rigs. It was a copolymer that did not hold up well, so I went on the search for some new line. Im going back to a trusted brand, Treline.

On my ultralight rigs I'm loading up with 2lb Treline Sensation, and 4 lb Treline Trans-optic.

On my walley jiggin rig, I'm going to use 8lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon, Red Label, I prefer the low stretch when I'm tossing jigs.

I was using a line that kept shredding on me after one day on the water, so I'm pretty much done with that. I have to spool up 2 Larger rigs, and I'm going to be testing out some of the new Treline and Seaguar lines with those as well.

After loosing a few fish to the poor line quality, I pulled out my fly gear, and fished one of my favourite streams. I managed to land 2 Brook Trout before I had to leave for mothers day festivities.

Was fishing alone, and light, so excuse the poor image quality, this is from my phone. I love Brook Trout, they are so scrappy, and always bring you to the prettiest places when you are looking for them.

Still waiting, and reflecting.

Despite the great weather we had last week end, I didn't get a chance to hit the water before the rain. I was working on Saturday, and that pretty much killed my Sunday. I got to go through some more photos that I want to share.

 Lets start with what I am missing most this year! About 5 years ago, I found a creek that had a very small run of rainbows. 2 years ago, I found poachers before open season, and shoulder to shoulder fisherman on opening day! Needless to say, I'm upset, more about the poachers, and the ignorance of the people who fish this river when it finally does open. The first year I caught a rainbow in this river, I was using a 4 wt fly rod, going for resident trout. The migratory steelhead really surprised me. For 3 years, I was very happy to see the steelhead returning in better numbers

each year, than 2 years ago, the run was huge, but there must have been a mass mail out about it! I was mortified to see poachers fishing before opening season, and to see people keeping the limit (its still 6 on Lake Ontario waters/trib's) once the season opened. Last year, there were fights on the river, and not between anglers and fish! I guess everyone and their cousin decided to fish the spot, it was shoulder to shoulder before the sun came up. I fishing for 1 hr, and got fed up with the people on the river arguing. Spent the rest of the day on "fly only" rivers.

Not to long ago, I was turned onto carp fishing by a friend who owned a small tackle shop. Since Bass Pro opened, he has gone out of business. I am forever grateful to him.

 I caught this bruiser one evening after work. I drove 10 min from my house, used my salmon rod, and a spinning reel, and rigged up a hair rig with some corn. When I set the hook into this fish, it took off like a freight train! Thats a 9 foot rod its beside! To date, its my biggest carp, and second longest fish. Since I've been put onto it, I make a few trips a year. I don't always catch, but at the very least, its a nice way to watch the sun set after being in the office all day.

This was funny, we were behind it on our way to a fishing lodge, for at least 3 hrs on the highway.

Fishing for crappie, you never know what you are gonna catch! I pulled in about 3 of these guys, all about the same size, on an ultralight with 2 lb. test line. Sad to say, the last 3 muskies I've landed, were on 2 lb. test line, and put together, don't way 1 lb.! These guys were smashing red and white micro tubes.

They made fun of me fro bringing up so many rods and reels! Guess who they went to when this happened to their rod! Moral of the story....be nice to the guy who is over prepared, karma does have a sense of humour!

You never know what the weather is going to bring, but be prepared when it is not good! On Rice Lake on year, 8 am brought the sun, it was nice and warm, and we were hooking some brightly coloured perch. By noon, the temperature dropped, clouds rolled in, and the rain was eminent. We decided to hit an area where the lake bottlenecks, creating a bit of a current. We started drifting and bouncing jigs and grubs on bottom as we went. We had some success with a couple nice walley, after all, that was what we were trying to catch.

Another lucky bass

 Than, this smallie hit! Considering I am not really a bass guy, I've hooked some pretty nice smallies in my lifetime, and I really do enjoy catching them. It seems like the less I try to catch smallies, the bigger they get.  This one hit a chartreuse grub on bottom.

Salmon on your rod!

 Sometimes, being my fishing partner is frustrating, the fish above has an interesting story.

My Zio Mario is the person who really got me into fishing, he put it into me as a young kid. He was the person who would always take me out, and really taught me the basics of fishing. If it wasn't for him, I definitely would not have had as much experience as a kid fishing. Over the years, I've learned from a lot of different people, TV shows, and magazines, and really started to put together my own values, and become my own angler.

A few years ago, I decided to take him to one of my favourite salmon rivers when the run was on. The fish were jumping and rolling all morning, but we couldn't buy a hit! Around noon, he decided to stop fishing to eat something, and I asked if i could try out his new rod. He was throwing an inline spinner, and I was drifting with a centre pin all day, I felt like a little change. I took a few casts, and hooked one. I was hot-shotting the spinner through the tail of the pool. I spent the rest of the day teaching him this "new" technique. It was nice to be able to finally return the favour, I gave him the fish, and cooked some for him that night. Beerbutter Salmon Fillet's on the BBQ is one of my favourites!

A couple nice close ups to close the blog.

Both fish were caught on exploratory trips. The panner was in a pond I saw as I was driving from one trout spot to another. Every so often when I'm fishing alone, I will deviate from the plan, and fish any body of water I see. Best day was when I found a beaver pond that was full of hungry brookies.

Details of a great day

The steelhead, well, I am always looking for new rivers to fish steelhead in peace. I really cant wait for trout to open. I'm almost done refilling my fly boxes, and I have a few spots that I am dying to try out. Going straight to the residents this year.

Not always about the fish

A lot of the reason I love going fishing, is to get outside and experience what nature really has to offer. I take the time to stop, and appreciate my surroundings, and I am often surprised by what I see. Nature has a lot to offer, regardless of where you are appreciating it, and when I take the time to step back and take it in, it resonates with me for a long time.

I spent some time on the Humber river last fall, just minutes from the downtown core, and I ran into a professional photographer. As we were talking, 3 deer came to the river to drink I didn't have a camera on me, and he didn't have a lens long enough. Deer in the city is not something I usually see, but not having the right gear on me when I do see deer is something that happens often.

Walking to one of my favourite spots on the Notty, I spotted a dew covered grape vine. This is really what started making me "look around" when I'm out.

Sometimes, you spot something that just doesn't look right at the side of the road. On our way to one of our Brook Trout creeks, we spotted this deer in the trees, about 5 feet from the road. This is the closest picture I could get before I spooked her. Wish I had my telephoto lens that day.

Its not always what you see, some times a sound gives it away. Again, one of those times I wish I had the tele photo.

One of my favourite ponds, not to far from my home. It was nice to see this family enjoying the pond as well.

The snake actually found me. I was wading through the flats for bass, and I noticed the water moving funny beside me. Very cool to see the way it moved in the water, my camera at the time didn't have video capabilities. 

Im very excited to head out on the water, and road this year. Over the winter I got a new digital SLR, and I am planning on using it. But, it will probably be at home, or in the car when the deer show up!