From Ice to Nice

  Last week my best friend and I travelled north, froze our butts off fishing atop 14 inches of rapidly deteriorating ice and caught hundreds of perch, one after another. That was last week...this week was a whole new ballgame and a start to a new season...OPEN WATER!!! Of course this is "conservative" Ontario and most predatory gamefish are out of season for the next five weeks, but there are still plenty of opportunities to be taken advantage of.

  In previous years we'd started open water fishing at the marina in Barrie for the plentiful schools of perch there, but... REALLY? We'd just finished catching thousands of perch in the last month of ice fishing. The reports of crappie being caught in the Holland River were somewhat exaggerated and we'd never really had much luck competing with the anxious fair weather crowds there. Most of the local rivers have steelhead runs right now, but again, the competition for elbow room on the river is a game I've no interest in playing. Also... between Tackle Shop and myself, I think we have one complete set of waterproof waders...both left feet! In an effort to protect the vulnerable musky population, the Kawartha Lakes zone created a year round open season to control the hordes of invading pike, but a 250 mile round trip this time of year is a longshot when we're uncertain of how much of a thaw has occurred in an area that could possibly still be iced over.

  So... these were the options we were facing on our first foray into the open water season. Or were they? Too often I find myself conditioned into following the same patterns and routines. As sport fishers we frequently protect our egos by going through the "tried and true" methodology without ever taking that step into the unknown for fear of looking foolish , or even worse...inept. I'm not talking crazy like fishing a puddle or going for salmon in the river in the springtime, more along the lines of exploring known areas during unknown times. After all... it is spring and my sense of adventure is bursting at the seams!

  Our destination for the day was to be a small estuary on the south shore of Lake Ontario called 15 Mile Pond, so called because of it's distance from the mouth of the Niagara River. In the past two summers this tiny body of water had given up to us an unbelievable variety of fish; white bass & perch, large & smallmouth bass, yellow perch, pike, channel & brown bullhead catfish, carp, sheephead, bowfin, crappie, rockbass, pumpkinseed & bluegill sunfish... well... you get the idea, all this in a 10 acre pond we'd never fished any earlier than late May.

  It's interesting (and a little disturbing) the differences between travelling north and southwest from Toronto. On the northbound trip, the city quickly falls away to be replaced by rolling farmland and eventually forests and lakes. Southwest is entirely different as 95% of the provinces population congregates in what is known as the Golden Horseshoe along the Lake Ontario shore. Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, Grimsby, all separate cities but in reality one continuous metropolis of 9 million people. Timothy Leary once said Toronto was an attempt to pave over Southern Ontario, and maybe he wasn't too far off the mark. Our trip along the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) took us through 60 miles of industrial and commercial wasteland and amazingly transported us to Ontario's "fruit basket", the Jordan Valley, several hundred square miles of vinyards, orchards, quaint small towns, and our final destination... 15 Mile Pond.

Hamilton Harbour from the Burlington Skyway

Jordan Harbour Tourist Attraction

15 Mile Pond from the QEW

Charles Daley Park, 15 & 16 Mile Ponds

  The one thing I hadn't counted on at this time of year was all the agricultural runoff muddying up the water. As you can see in the satellite image above, the large plume of sediment in the lake was coming from our intended destination. Standing in the parking lot overlooking the lake and pond, it was immediately clear that fishing lures in that "chocolate milk" was going to be a challenge.                                                                      

    I started out along the long narrow spit of land separating the lake and pond, casting a rooster tail spinner with my ultra lite, alternating between clear cold lake and muddy warm pond  until I reached the end of the spit and the pond's outflow. All this time a steady parade of boats trolled the shore line of the lake in hopes of salmon and trout. Tackle Shop eventually caught up with me( pulling a dolly loaded with 100lbs of equipment through the sand!) just  as I was assembling the new Pflueger rod and reel for a heavy metal assault on the surf. We fished the area for another hour, TS with worms and me with hardware, before we gave up and decided to try at the top of the pond by the highway. 

Brown & Blue Mixing at the Outflow

  As we walked back up pond, we stopped and briefly chatted with the only other anglers there, 3 guys reclined in lawn chairs casually paying attention to their expensive carp outfits. They'd been there since the crack of dawn without a single bite. Our friend The Russian has carp fished his whole life and maintains that early season fish prefer a little meat (worms) over the regular corn or boilies. We offered this info and some worms to boot and were met with resistance...after all, they were the ones with the specialized equipment! Do you now see why I prefer ice fishermen?

 

  Anyways, TS set up at the next picnic table and I continued on upstream under the highway with my ultralite where last May I'd hammered the pre-spawn bass in this area (don't tell the MNR) and was now interested to see what the water held at this time of year. Almost immediately I found a school of suckers at the top of a pool and started casting a #1 Panther Martin spinner in the hope of adding to our species list for this pond. The suckers seemed to be more repelled than attracted to my offering but on the fifth cast I did manage a 4" trout. At least I think it was a trout or maybe a salmon smolt, I'm not sure and the picture came out too blurry for me to tell. I tried a few more casts without any more action and then worked my way back downstream to where TS was.

  The first thing I noticed upon my return was the carp fishermen had been replaced by a couple other guys with family in tow. TS took great joy in retelling how after only 2 minutes of setting his lines he had a double header of 18 inch brown bullhead catfish. The carpers angrily packed up and left. WORMS INDEED! Don't go away mad, adapt! I took their departure as an opportunity to indulge and quickly assembled my fly rod, tied on a bucktail streamer and took advantage of 100 feet of empty grass behind me. The area is generally "bushy" and I don't enjoy roll casting still waters. After the first dozen casts of the season there was a weight on my line and a 5 pound carp rolled on the surface and then was gone! Another dozen casts and I'm into another one with the same results. I'm thinking that I might be "lining" the fish instead of them biting, but either way, that's the only action of the day with the fly and there's no way of telling.

Ryan

Ron

  Tackle Shop was putting on a catfish clinic for our new friends Ron and Ryan, a couple "local boys" from Beamsville who fish for fun whenever life allows. After a few more hours and a dozen catfish, we all decided to pack up and make the long trip home.   

  After packing the van, we both looked back down the hill at this tiny yet productive pond, knowing we'll be back many more times this year, never certain of what we're going to pull in next!

South Simcoe: Panfish Paradise

South Simcoe: Panfish Paradise

    It seems that spring has finally taken hold in this neck of the woods over the past few weeks with the trees and shrubs leafing out, birds nesting, fish moving into their spawning areas and the hardcore panfish afficionados hot on their tails.

  Imagine my surprise last week when on the way home from work during the morning rush hour, I see a wild turkey in the middle of a busy industrial intersection. Even more surprising was that all the passerbys never even gave it a second glance or thought. I guarrantee they'd never seen a wild turkey before... and the majority have likely never even eaten turkey! It seems the MNR`s reintroduction program is working better than expected.



        The weekend forecasts for the previous two weeks had called for cold temperatures and rain, so...against my "better judgement", both weeks I decided to head out after my final shift on Friday morning when the weather was predicted to be much more enjoyable. Our destination was the shallow, weedy south end of Cooks Bay, Lake Simcoe and our quarry was crappie.



schools in the shadows

   Isn't it funny how our meticulous planning can all go to sh*t and we end up catching everything but our targetted species. Tackle Shop and I started both Fridays on the west side of the bay at Cooks Bay Marina, mainly because of the plentiful minnows available in the drainage ditches nearby, but also because there seems to be fewer crowds due to the entry fee. Giant schools of bluegills could be seen everywhwere, just below the surface. Under the vacant boat slips were smaller groups of largemouth bass, holding tight to cover and easily spooked with just a slightest misstep on the dock. Occasionally TS would spot something larger in the shadows and at one point managed to hook a 40" pike, only to have it wrap itself around a piling and break his line. Yesterday I even managed to locate a school of rockbass (redeyes). All this and not a single crappie. So both weeks we packed up by mid day and travelled to the east side of the bay in Keswick.

rockbass

   We found a popular spot in the south end of Keswick called Beeg Park, where a shallow canal winds it`s way inland and supports a large population of assorted panfish and predators. Right from the start last week, TS and I were landing equal numbers of bluegill, pumpkinseed and crappies, TS with his minnows and me with the fly rod.

   By mid afternoon both weeks I was running out of steam, having been up for twenty hours or so, and started to take frequent breaks from the action. During these breaks I`d check out the other fishermen and chat with the locals. We ran into Johnny Boy from last year, see; A Crappie Day . His bass fishing skills have progressed immensly in the past year.

   Yesterday the bite was slow so Tackle Shop broke down and started pitching hardware, specifically a #2 orange Panther Martin spinner. Throughout the afternoon he managed over 20 largemouth, the largest tipping the scales at just over two pounds.

  By early evening yesterday I`d packed up my gear and called it quits for the day, happy with the sunfish, rockbass and several small bass and crappies I`d landed. I was just sitting there, content watching TS playing with the bass, when I was approached by a young family and asked how things were going. I told Vin the bite was slow and my chances were limited by the flies I`d brought. Like so many others I`ve talked to, Vin expressed a long time interest in picking up a fly rod and giving it a try. So... seeing as I was just waiting for TS to get his fill, I re-assembled my rod and gave Vin an introduction to casting. After a few tries he was able to roll cast 25 feet out and while he commented on how the line didn`t quite go where he wanted there was a sudden tug and he landed a scrappy bass.

Vin & Vanessa

   I think we have a new convert to fly fishing!

Fear of Flying?

  One day at work my boss, John, approached me saying he'd heard that I frequently went fishing, and would I mind if he tagged along to learn a few things. John's company was well established and no longer needed his daily input so he was interested in finding new ways to occupy his increasing free time. Hmm... lets see... a newbie fisherman with a vehicle and unlimited finances... Challenge Accepted! Over the next few months we explored dozens of new areas and styles of fishing.

 I guess it really didn't surprise me too much when John suggested we learn to fly fish. From the very beginning I was resistant to the idea, being the die hard tackle junkie that I am, but John was adamant. Having just viewed "A River Runs Through It", he'd envisioned himself wading a quiet pastoral brook, gracefully casting to unsuspecting trout with the accuracy of a marksman and the technique of an artist.

Murray's Fly Fishing School



So we booked a day at Murray's Fly Fishing School  just north of the city in Shelburne. Here we both received a half days classroom instruction on basic set ups, knots and fly selections followed by a half day practical casting instruction on stocked trout ponds. Within a week of that day we were both totally hooked on the concept and purchased the first of many complete fly set ups.


John on The Credit River

 

 That was 7 years ago. Unfortunately John and I have parted ways professionally and socially since then, me finding other employment and him finding other interests. The one thing I will always thank him for was pressuring me into doing something I had no previous interest in.

 In my first year, after catching a few largemouth bass and a 24" carp in a local reservoir, I started to realize that with proper research, equipment and a little luck, you could catch almost any fish on a fly.

These days a fly rod is my first weapon of choice except during the winter, when I'm either out on the frozen lakes or replenishing my depleted fly boxes at the tying bench. I love the subtleties of casting. There have been many fishless days on the water where I'd spend countless hours playing with the line and the flies, working on distance, accuracy and presentation, rarely accepting my limitations, only the limitations of the water I'm fishing. I have to say at this point that I consider a fly rod, for the most part, to be no better or worse than spinning gear, just different.


Crappie on a Streamer

 

First Carp Ever

  



Bullhead Catfish

 A few years ago in mid May, a group of us made the rounds east of Lake Simcoe and I had decided before hand to only bring the 4 piece Sage.  Where bait had failed, a subtly presented fly proved highly effective in culling a school of skittish crappies hiding amongst the emerging  weeds.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Later in the afternoon we had worked our way down to Pefferlaw, where on the first five casts of a full sized tube jig, my friend pulled out over 10 Lbs. of spawning bullheads. I figured this was a good opportunity to try something completely different and it took nearly half an hour of trial and error before I'd gotten the fly, weight and drift just right. What traditional flyfisher would ever believe you could consistently hook into a bottom feeder like a catfish one drift after another? The really crazy thing is that in between the catfish, suckers and occasional rockbass, I was also catching gobies!  



Round Gobie

  Anyone who knows me is aware that I'm a little obsessive compulsive in some ways. I like to keep lists. To date I figure I've caught 24 species of fish with a fly rod with at least another 50 native species on my hit list. Some of the more common, and yet elusive species on my list are: gar, musky and walleye.

 Over the last four years salmon have been a great source of entertainment during the fall. Getting them to bite isn't difficult at all, it's getting them to shore using a reel that is little more than a spool for your line!

 I've come to the conclusion that trout are basically smarter than me, and the few that I've caught must have had something wrong with them. One of my biggest problems with trout is that I don't know anyone who regularly fishes them and there aren't any concentrations in my backyard. All the same I will keep plugging on.

Dry Flies



 As mentioned earlier, I also enjoy fly tying. Just like the fishing, when I started out, I mostly concerned myself with learning the basic tying practices and patterns. Since then I've basically "thrown out" the books of fly patterns, and now prefer to tie what I call free style.  

 

Assorted 3" Hairwing Streamers





7" Pike Flies

For more info, check out: http://www.murraysflyfishing.com/
                                       http://www.danica.com/flytier/index.html

The Don is Dead ? 1970-2010

 

Don River Estuary

  I remember back in the late 60's and early 70's the public outcry that Lake Erie was officially declared "dead". No surprise there considering more than a century of unrestricted industrial dumping, near non-existent controls on agricultural runoff and free flowing sewage. Closer to home, the story was the same with the Don River. Even today, a drive along the Don Valley Parkway south of Bloor St. shows a tired old river beaten into submission with controlled banks and an industrialised estuary. But things are not what they seem.

 Last month on an outing just north of the Toronto city limits, my friend and I noticed several youths on a resdential street carying fly rods. Having grown up in the general area, I assumed they were in pursuit of the "mighty" Don River chub. On our return trip, out of habit, it was decided to check out the water to see if there was anything interesting going on. What a surprise, the dirty old Don had a full blown run of salmon!

 As with boyscouts and most fishing fanatics, we were prepared for all possible situations. The back of the vehicle contained just about any type of tackle you would ever need. So within minutes of our discovery we were actively trying to outwit these migratory visitors with a variety of baits ranging from spinners and spoons to roe bags and flies. 

Chinook Salmon

 So.. who says the Don River is dead? Not me!

What other commonly held beliefs are full of crap? Carp are a garbage fish, sunfish and catfish aren't worth eating, pike and musky lose their teeth during the summer. 

  I learned these "fish tales" as a youngster from my "enlightened" peers and it's taken half a lifetime to re-educate myself on the pure joy of angling. No longer will I be victim to good-old-boy fish snobbery. Any fish is a worthy fish, they can't all be trophies. I'll take my opportunities as they come and keep an open mind when it comes to my expectations.

Coho Salmon

 The main reason for this posting is for you the reader to keep an open mind. The most common fishing myth is that you have to travel great distances to find productive water (unfortunately, most people don't know what's in their own back yard). In recent years my most valuable fishing equipment has been my collection of Backroad Mapbooks, Google Earth, and the MNR's Guide to Eating Gamefish. These publications have allowed me to find hidden hotspots in my area and given me an idea of what can be caught there.   

 By the way, salmon are not the only species available in the Don River. It has healthy populations of carp, shiners, bullhead catfish, chub, suckers, rockbass, sunfish, the occasional largemouth bass, pike in the lower stretches, and rainbow and brown trout.The Don is dead... don't you believe it!

For more info try:https://trca.ca/app/uploads/2017/09/Urban-Fishing-Opportunities-in-Toronto-Surrounding-Areas.pdf

by for now

John

Inner City Fly Slinging

  So... it's been about 6 weeks since my last post, and speaking with complete modesty, the fishing results from this time period have been mediocre. The long awaited trout season opener was on the third Saturday of April. and an hour after sunrise saw me casting to low, clear water that seemed devoid of life. After five visits over a two week period all I managed were a few "bugle trout" aka white suckers. The last day on the river I witnessed a large caddis hatch and in an hour of patient observation didn't see a single rise! It was refreshing to spend a few days witnessing the spring greening in that urban valley without  a single human encounter. The other benefit was that my local ponds were a short ride away.

 My quest for a carp on the fly was accomplished under bizarre circumstances that left me satisfied less than you might think. Much of the best carp water is surrounded by rushes and low trees, so casting to likely lies was achieved with rollcasts. After the retrieve I'd shake the rod tip to strip out the line for the next cast while the fly sat on the bottom by my feet. On this particular cast the line shot out but it appeared the fly was snagged on bottom. With a few choice words I resigned myself to the repeated task of disturbing the area by retrieving a muck encrusted stick, but after stripping in all the line the muck encrusted stick turned out to be a 20 something inch carp! I'd been wanting a good bend in the rod for a while but I've had better battles with muck encrusted sticks. That was the one and only carp so far this spring.

  The crappie bonanza from the last post seems to be a one time, chance occurrence. I can count on a few palm sized fish every trip, but numbers of larger crappie seem to elude me. One particular day I couldn't catch anything other than out of season largemouth. The regulations state incidental catches are to be returned immediately and if the fish continue to bite then you have to move on. Intentionally targeting them is prohibited. Oh well...bass season opens in 3 weeks from now and I'm confident in the flies I've tied and the capabilities of the rod and reel.

 Over the years I've been slowly gravitating toward ultra lite fishing and that's the reason for the 3wt rod I picked up over the winter. Everything I'd read on line and talking to the few fly fishers I'd met suggested a 3wt was only appropriate for small trout and panfish, but after battling a few 3-4 lb largemouth on a long line (40 to 50 feet) I'm truly interested in pushing the limits of what it'll handle. Amusingly, 3 months ago I traded a pocket full of flies to a local shop owner for a 5' ultra lite Lightning Rod which has yet to see water.

  Two weeks ago I was out on an errand and, as is my long standing habit, had to stop when crossing a bridge to check out the water. The downstream side had a series of pools that, from a distance, appeared to be full of fish up to a foot in length. The next day I returned, determined to find what secrets that tiny, urban creek held. I spent a half hour casting the first pool, to the amusement of the urbanite drones at the nearby intersection, cycling through the small selection of flies before finding the right pattern, a #12 bead headed nymph with pronounced red ribbing. Every other cast brought in a creek chub from 4 to 10 inches.

  I continued bushwhacking down the narrow ravine, highrises on one side, a community college on another and not a soul in sight. Every pool produced numbers of feisty chub but nothing else. A mile in and the creek merged with another I was more familiar with, easier to access and full of students smoking crack or whatever. The 90 degree temperatures, bushwhacking with a mountain bike and crackheads galore had taken a toll and the day out was over for me.

  So...in a 6 week period I've been out around 20 times, fished 6 ponds,a river and a creek and managed to catch 6 species of fish on the "new" rod, all without leaving the city limits. I really need to get out of town!