The Urban Fisherman

Hey Guys, Dixie Tackle in St. Thomas said that anybody who show's up at the shop with a pledge sheet will get a guaranteed pledge from them! If you're looking for some pledges and a great place to check out some tackle pop by and see Laurie and she'll hook you up! She's always been a huge sponsor and a great friend to the Fish-A-Thon and everybody involved! Last year she provided every kid at the event with a tackle filled back-pack! 51 st. Catharine St. St. Thomas, ON Can't wait until the 21st! Cheers, Ryan

WHADDUP FOLKS?!?!?! I've been hybernating and by hybernating I mean I've been taking on more then I probably should right now but that's the way it goes. Thankfully the Fish-A-Thon has become a group effort, headed by Dan Bouck who has truly taken this to a whole new level. If it weren't for the efforts that all of you have put into this, both the folks who've publicly posted here and elsewhere, an those who've been in touch with Dan and I in the background this really wouldn't be able to happen. Helping with this event has really put into perspective how many people are directly affected by this horrible desease and I really believe that the efforts you guys are putting forth will make a difference. Like DanD said - it could be your loonie that makes the difference. We've got new and old sponsors stepping up to the plate and doing their part, and Dan has been doing an exceptional job with the website and getting people signed up. We've got posters up in a few local shops and are still taking participants and donation up until the event!!! So if you or somebody you know are on the fence about taking part in the event as a participant or a sponsor please go for it - I promise you a REALLY fun time with family and friends and the cause is the icing on the cake! It's never to late to take part - we had a man hear about it on the radio the morning of the Fish-A-Thon last year and he showed up with his son with whatever donations he could wrangle up that morning. This year they're joining us in full force! I think that he took the time to rush out and get pledges that morning, spend the day making memories with his son, and teaching his son the importance of helping others is just as noble as those who have the ability to go out and get a thousand dollars in pledges. Every penny truly counts, big or small, we want to see you out there! Updates to follow right up until the big day! Thanks Dan and everybody here for all you've done. OUR event has become something more then any of us ever imagined. Ciao for now, Ryan

Awesome stuff - love the reports with the kids! Some awesome lookin' pumpkin seeds there to! cheers, Ryan

Thanks Joey! THanks Juli! Appreciate it buddy - I'd trade in my bluegill lake for your front yard any day! haha Thanks bud - I've seen them other places to but never stacked up like they are here every year... Thanks dude! Thanks Frankie - I think I tossed my crankbait back at that fish like 20 times before I got him to commit! haha He followed it to the boat a half dozen times... Nadda problem - thanks for checkin them out! Thanks!

awesome lookin' 'fish! Some great pix to! cheers, Ryan

What do you think? Craters on the surface of the moon? I hit up the lake for a short fish tonight... I thought maybe some of you guys hadn't seen a field of bluegill beds before so I took a few minutes to grab some underwater pictures of them... guarding the nest... I also tried taking pictures of myself with the timer... what a pain in the butt.. lol It's easier to just have the kid take pictures when she's out with me.... Tossed around a small trout style crank and caught a few fish.. good relaxation therapy.. On a sad note... for some reason the Conservation Authority decided to cut down one of my favorite lay down trees... caught plenty of big fish off this tree and I'm gonna miss it! Hopefully they just let it sink and don't take it out completely.. Have a good week folks! cheers, Ryan

ditto And...Bass is obviously closed but the fish were biting tonight!

Seeing as this is a fishing forum I figured I'd post a few pics for you guys to drool over and to help keep interest in the thread! Species Available:

Hey Guys! I'm going to keep it short this morning and maybe let a few of our amazing participants step in and post as well! We'll add a whole bunch of photos, info and sponsorship links as this thread and planning of this years event unfolds. First and foremost, I really have to mention something here. I started this Fish-A-Thon with short notice and amazing support from many folks here on OFC and the first year exceeded my expectations. Fish-A-Thon 2.0 almost didn't happen because of my schedule that summer and just my general lack of being able to balance everything going on my life. Lucky for me a few good friends stepped in and gave me the shove I needed to make it happen - once again, thanks to everybody it was a great success. After that a really good dude decided to step up to the plate and really take charge of this whole thing. Sure he doesn't always catch the biggest fish in the world, but he does know how to take an idea and turn it into something HUGE. I really want everybody to know that without Dan Bouck this event wouldn't be half of what it has become. He's donated many hours of his personal time, worked selflessly on this and really deserves a big round of applause from everybody! There's a ton of amazing people involved in this event, members here, sponsors, the list goes on and it just wouldn't happen without the amazing support with get from all of you! This years event is scheduled for July 21st 2012 @ the Deer Creek Conservation Area near Langton, ON. Pledges can be as small or large as people are willing to donate - every penny counts towards finding a cure for Cancer. We've all lost to many friends and family members to this and it's about time we put cancer where it belongs... in the history books! We've raised over $20,000 with your help and support and with any luck we'll be over $30,000 by July 21st 2012! Please if you're interested in being a "Fish-A-Thoner", sponsoring the event or if you're just looking for more info, hop on over to the website that Dan has built and fire us an e-mail! Thanks again to EVERYBODY - I can't wait for this years event - it's going to be an amazing time, with big fish, tons of prizes, great memories and we'll be FISHING for a cure.... it doesn't get any better then that! Just to give you an idea of what goes on - I dug up Frank and Juli's photo journal from last year... you can see it via this link : http://ontariofishingcommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=55621&st=0&p=605806&hl=cancer&fromsearch=1entry605806 Ciao for now, Ryan ps. For those who've participated in the past, feel free to post any pics or info here. We're just a big group of friends putting on an amazing event. You're all part of it and are more then welcome to take part here in this thread!

ya... to say I'm jealous would be the understatement of the century! lol awesome! congrats!

Thanks dude! Here's the kicker Frank - It was a male perch and he was "peeing" all over...I thought I had him pinned real well so I put him over the side of the boat for a second and he came unbuttoned...

It was such an awesome day today that I decided we had no choice but hammer back supper and run down to the lake for the evening bite before bed! We tried the trout thing for a few minutes but the kids weren't patient enough so off we went in search of panfish! We caught a whole slew of fish and the kids had a great evening out on the lake... we made it home 1hr and 15 minutes past bedtime... oops ... the kids got off easy but me not so much haha ah well... it was worth it! Averie was first to put a fish on the board Luke followed up with a little rockie... he's just now starting to hold fish! Averie's got the rockbass hold down pat Personal best largie doesn't count because it's Out of season... she's 5 and wanted a pic so close your eyes if you don't want to see it Fearless and focused lol I lost a personal best perch boatside and the kids caught a bunch of decent ones as well The kids didn't think I'd jump in so I had to prove them wrong... water was in the low 50's talk about refreshing Anyways - we had a great few hours on the lake. Looking forward to doing it with them again soon! Cheers, Ryan, Averie and Luke

Thanks for all the great reply's guys - I've been busy but will get to them shortly... This is a small part of why I'm busy and the reason Will and I didn't get much sleep saturday night.. lol

no way, I say it was pushing 50! you guys don't know a big pike when you hear about one...

Good job man! Better then my second trout opener was a few years back.. come to think of it I think it's probably better then my third and fourth to! haha Cheers, Ryan

Bonus pictures - Averie introducing the next generation... her baby sister!

Hey Guys! Mike & Danna Parker put on an amazing facebook auction to help raise money for our Fish-A-Thon for a cure and it turned out to be a complete success! I donated a modest prize which was an exclusive day out on my local lake fishing trout for opener. The cool thing is that the park isn't open yet, so aside from a couple of shore anglers and 2 people who dragged little boats in from shore we pretty well had the entire lake to ourselves. My good buddy Will ( fishnsled ) from here on OFC bid A HUNDRED BUCKS to fish opener with me.. poor guy haha We've been trying to hit the water for over 5 years, as we used to work together when I was back in Toronto. This was long overdue and we had an awesome time! Will came by Saturday night, we drank a few cold ones, talked fishing, and barely got any sleep at all due to the fact that my Dog had puppies! lol In the end I couldn't have asked for a better trout opener Onto the fishing - We struggled all morning (could have slept in haha) but with some help from the graph we located some fish and after changing up the game plan a few times we finally laid a pretty good beat down on them. It turned out to be a great trout opener and multi species day! Thanks again for everything Will - I had a ton of fun and look forward to doing it again.... and it better not take 5 years this time! Feel free to fill in the blanks as I had to rush this report through! Frozen blueberry bushes on our way to the lake... I thought I was supposed to be the guide? lol Will was the rock bass master today.. he hammered a bunch! lol heres a couple bigger ones.. Check this out... this guy was full of shiners and had a big goby in him and he still ate my bait! lol Last nights snack... Have a good week folks! Cheers, Ryan

Has anybody tried using it on their Ipad?

wow - awesome fish! Good job!

lol in a way I feel your pain Raf - I live in the country and originally tried Xplornet's satellite which was complete garbage, then I dropped 8 grand on a 90 foot tower so I could get their direct line of sight internet. It's FAR from cable or DSL but for $60 a month I get a good connection and unlimited internet. We got rid of our TV dish and just use a combination of Netflix and Apple TV now... and I upload and download gigs upon gigs of footage for my job every week. My only other option would be that internet hub which would cost me hundreds of dollars per month with the amount of Data I use.

Here's the deal - we did a "custom kitchen" basically designed it with software from our local hardware store and had them put together and trucked into the store.. real wood doors etc... and it was 14 grand NOT INSTALLED... we installed them ourselves... My in-laws waited until there was a truckload sale at home depot and they did their entire kitchen for under 2 grand lol mind you they have half as many but even at 4 or 5 grand they would have done way better then me! lol my kitchen is pretty bass-ass but man 14 grand is a lot of money... wait for a truckload sale or something IMO. Cheers, Ryan

dude I'd get torn to pieces if I posted steelhead spots lol But there isn't exactly a huge population of folks surfing the net for prime carp locations downtown london! Most of the time when people saw me fishing there they thought I was nuts... until we pulled in a 20lb carp! lol We even tried cooking up some suckers one time.. not one of my proudest moments haha Anyways, it is what it is...I felt like it was ok to post a few carp spots and if somebody doesn't like it I don't really care... I'm just tryin' to help you out and I really hope it pays off for you! We caught fish as small as 3lbs and as big as 25 to 30...I'd say the average size carp at the forks was probably between 10 and 20 though.... We usually leaned our rods up on slingshot shaped stick stuck in the sand... but loosen your drag or keep an eye on your rod because we had to run into the river after our rods on more then one occasion! lol Good Luck!

There's even some decent gator fishing in the river to. I've done well for pike below the oxford st. bridge... I lived on Mill St. in a Fraternity house and got most of my buddies into fishing while living there.... We used to fish mostly from the Oxford st. bridge down to the forks of the river... A good spot for carp is below the Blackfriars bridge, just fishing from the cement wall literally underneath the bridge..... and you can walk downstream from there and fish the pools for smallies in the summer. But my fav. spot for big carp is at the forks of the river... At the corner where King turns into Thames st. there's a walking bridge ...cross the bridge and head down the bike path on your right for literally 1 minute and walk down to the sandy beach area.... toss out a bunch of chum and get ready! Throw your chum out as far as you can and try to get your bait in the same general area. We spent many evenings chillin' down there with a few cold beers and slammed the carp... Canned corn and a standard slip sinker set up always did the trick! You might have to wait a few days after all this rain... it usually blows out the river pretty bad when we get rain like this, but just keep an eye on the clarity... it's been pretty dry so it might not be to bad. I've actually been meaning to get my kids out there at some point so you never know... u might just bump into us! Good Luck!

Nice going dude! We used to hammer them pretty good downtown London - we laid a good beating on the carp to at this time of year when I was in school... what part of the Thames are you fishing?

great pic buddy! Congrats!