The Urban Fisherman

awesome stuff man - He'll be tossing a flippin' stick in no time! haha Thanks for the report.

Some great pics there dude! Thanks for sharing!

I honestly don't know how anyone could come up with the proper words to describe this awesomeness! lol Thanks so much for hte write up and the awesome pics buddy... livin' the dream bro! haha

Last up, this weekend we had plans spanning from Saturday morning through to Sunday evening but I woke up at 4:30 am on Saturday and couldn't get back to sleep. So I rolled over and whispered into the wife's ear... "Do you care if Averie and I hit up some largemouth... promise we'll be back by 7:30".. She mumbles "I don't care"... BOOM.. I jump out of bed, run down the hall and flick on the kids light at 5:00 sharp... She wasn't impressed at first but when I told her we were going fishing she was up and dressed in minutes. By 5:30 we were idling out of the marina with coffee and hot chocolate in hand. The lake was flat calm and the sun hadn't even started come up over the horizon. As it turns out, the fishing completely sucked, or maybe it was just us, but you can't complain about any morning spent with your favorite fishing buddy only a stones throw away from your house. Averie tossed around a hollow body topwater bait most of the morning and though she didn't land anything on it, she did get her first ever big blow up right beside the boat. I happened to be snapping a picture of her at the time so I lucked into getting a great picture of her reaction! lol We did catch a few small fish, and Averie got her first ever pike so it wasn't a total loss. 7:50 rolls around and Mom texts us " 7:30 you guys " OOPS! haha Looking forward to spending some serious time in the shallows around Longpoint this summer! Have a great week folks.

Canada day my daughter Averie and I decided to spend a few hours in the afternoon chasing largemouth in the jungle. Even though we've lived in Port Rowan for nearly 2 years now, and it's only about 750m from our doorstep to the boat launch, we haven't spent much time in the shallows. Our goal for this summer is to figure out some shallow water largemouth patterns and spots. A good buddy was kind enough to point us in the right direction and give us a few starting points. The water was fiercely stained but some flashy spinnerbaits did the trick. It was an awesome afternoon spent with the kid! More to follow...

Thanks buddy! Post your opener pix when you have a minute... I'd love to see em. It was on fire man, but like I said, lots of small fish. Good times regardless! haha It's a sweet little jon boat... I'll see if I can dig up some more pics at some point. The wind storm was nuts... took down some big trees on Longpoint but as far as I know there wasn't any major damage to any houses / cottages etc. I love that little lake... it's a great spot to take the kids for panfish action.. I work for Dave Mercer and he wrapped the jon boat a few years back to shoot a backlake show. So yeah, it looks exactly like his previous bass boat wrap. I didn't hook myself.. I just have a bad habit of chewing on line after I bite the tag end off while tying knots. I took the pic because it was down-pouring rain on me and I had the phone out to take a fish pic...

3rd and 4th that from myself & Captain Canuck!

Every year I look forward to hitting Longpoint Bay with my old man, oldest daughter and a friend or two for the annual Longpoint Bay Bass Derby. This year the derby was shrouded on controversy because the local municipality decided it'd be a good idea to allow one of the the main access roads to marinas & bait shops to be closed for a marathon. Local marinas, bait shops and anglers alike were all pretty ornery about the situation. There would typically be as many as 5000 boats buying bait, paying launch fees and lining up to launch at the various marinas. This meant bass opener would be a backed up mess early Saturday morning on the Longpoint side, and businesses would miss out on a substantial amount of income along the other side of the bay. Well, as it turns out mother nature had a different plan anyways. We ended up with 80-90 KMH wind gusts and supposedly 9 foot waves on the main lake so they cancelled the derby. Some crazy dudes still went out and even complained about the cancellation. lol It was the first time they cancelled it in 35 years and I think it was the RIGHT call. Even the Bassmaster Classic would have been pushed back a day or so. SO, my friends who made the 6+ hour drive from Sudbury friday afternoon ended up leaving late Saturday to make the long drive home in the rain. I sat there, deflated and bummed out. Eventually, at around 5:45 pm I said screw it... I'm taking the jon boat and hitting up the local in-land lake for some largemouth despite the fact that it was literally down-pouring rain. We hadn't had lightning all day so I went for it. The wife needed me home for 8:30 pm so I had a little over 2 hours to pull off some bass fishing on opener. The reservoir is a small body of water, and is surrounded by hills and high trees, so the 50 - 80KMH winds can barely kick up a few ripples on the water... The long and short of it is, it was insane! I didn't catch anything over 2.5 to 3lbs and the average fish was only maybe 1.5 lbs but it was literally every single cast. Jig, jerkabit, spinnerbait, drop shot it didn't matter... It was the most incredible 2 hours of bass fishing I've ever experienced on this body of water. If I had cracked off a 5-6lber that would have been the icing on the cake, but I'll take it. Here's a few pics - would have taken more but if I destroyed my phone taking pictures of fish in the rain my wife would have killed me. hahaha You can tell by the stupid looks on my face how excited I was. Happy Canada Day Folks! Get out there and catch some fish! First cast!

Absolutely! If I had to pick one species of fish to target the rest of my life in Ontario waters, it could very likely be carp. Pure muscle. Thanks for the report dude - can't wait to get out after some of them myself.

Damn Bri... half way through I was trying to figure out why your title was so negative.. hah Honestly thought I'm hoping for the best for you man! Take care and best of luck all around!

WOW! I thought about posting my opener until I saw this thread! lol Good job all around!

Thanks for the kind comments guys! Pikeslayer - COOL shot! Have a great week folks!

Awesome fish.. great pics! Very jealous... good work guys!

Great job dude! I to have to catch myself a cat one of these days!

BINGO - hit the nail on the head buddy. I love how Walmart brags about donating money to charities every year yet most of it comes from the donations of their customers! lol

Hey guys, I hope you all had an awesome Mother's day spent with family yesterday! I was trying to come up with something creative and different for my Mom, Mom-in-Law and wife this year. Our entire little town was bombarded with an explosion of dandelions this week which reminded me of how I used to pick them for my mom as a kid. My kids have done it time and time again for my wife Ginny and I thought it might bring back some memories for a lot of people so I came up with this idea. Hope you all enjoy and have a great week! Cheers, Ryan & Claira

LOL Funny stuff and AWESOME fish man... I've got to catch myself one of those beauties someday! Thanks for the report.

What he said! Good stuff dude!

To everyone else who posted.... THANKS... Hope you all get out on the water this coming weekend!

Dude.. this is my new favorite pic... it's going up on the wall in my office for sure... ) Thanks man.. it's all about getting the kids out for me... Both of them started fishing as soon as they could hold a rod... Averie's first trip was in her stroller, casting for Pike from shore at Humber Bay Park...she was 7 days old.. lol Ah bummer.. would have been cool to bump into you Blaque... I'll be on Mike to take us again in the fall or next spring so maybe then... I'm going to spring for a hotel room though so we don't have to get up at 2:30a.m. Nooo problem... Actually it was my first ever steelhead as well.. prior to this trip I've only caught little shakers... and trolling out on the lake but I don't count those... Thank Joey.. glad to put a smile on your face! Thanks Brah... Hope all is well with you, the miss and the little one.

Hey guys! Sorry, I've just now been able to get back to the computer.... Thanks for all the kind responses... Glad you all enjoyed the report! That's funny Brian... There would certainly be some perks to having Brendan as a son-in-law... his old man has a nice cottage up north.... and hey access to a couple of fly-in's per year wouldn't be to hard to handle either. lol YES.. he keeps calling it a hack job... but I thought it was awesome. Mike inspired me to use one of my gopro's on a head mount and film more the things I do with the kids... I never want to film them as that's what I do for a living... I'd rather enjoy the moments with them rather then watch through the lens.. but with a head mount GoPro I can do both... Glad you liked it.. I had hoped at least one person would get a laugh out of it .. haha Glad to have made your day at work a better one! lol It sure was an awesome day. Don't worry Old Iron... they've both caught more then I have in my lifetime as well.. and bigger ones to boot.. lol It is an awesome spot Bill... The kids did you steelheaders proud...and yes... us old guys enjoyed it as well.. Right on bud!!! That's why we posted the report...

Skipping rocks... They weren't all giants... lol Here's the man himself with a good one.. Thanks again buddy!!! AMAZING DAY!... please post your pics & video to when you have as sec...

Legendary steelheader, writer extraordinaire, the foremost authority on fly-in fishing adventures and THE worlds greatest dad...These are just a few ways I've heard people describe Mike Borger... But I sure as heck wouldn't call him any of those! lol He is an awesome friend though, who has on several occasions offered to take me out steelheading for the better part of a decade. Unfortunately, each and every year it seems as though the prime steel conditions coincide with me having a crap ton of stuff to do… Be it kids, the house or work I’ve just never been able to squeeze out a day or two. This spring Mike and I had talked about finally getting out, and though I was hopeful, I had this gut feeling that once again the stars wouldn’t align. Early last week it was my son’s 6th birthday. I had just finished what was likely my 8th or 9th beer… ( because who doesn’t get hammered at their son’s 6th birthday dinner lol ) and my phone went off. It was Mike, and the coming Friday was going to be PRIME for steelheading on the US side of the border. Mike not only offered to take me out, but also suggested I bring Averie along so we could both catch our first steelhead. Time passes, and all of our guests leave. Typically, I ease into asking the wife if I can sneak out for a day of fishing… BUT thanks to the 12 or so beers I’d already thrown back that evening, I piped up and said “ Hun, I’m pulling Averie from school on Friday and we’re going steelheading in the US”… To my complete surprise she said “Sure, Averie would love that”. I froze for a moment… slightly confused as to what had just transpired. Was it the beer, or was this actually going to happen? lol Anyway, after dealing with a few things and ironing out most of the plans with Mike it was a go! Late Thursday after getting in from 3 soccer practices, I give Mike one last call and he lays a doozie on me… we’re leaving early he says. Ok no problem I’ve gotten up early to go fishing my entire life. The plan, was to meet near Grimsby at 4:30 a.m. I live 1.5 hours away from Grimsby. lol Mike realizes how far away I am from where we’re to meet and suggests 5 a.m. instead. So we’re shooting for 5 a.m. but I still wanted to get there as early as we could so the alarm was set for 2:30 a.m. I wake up and load the car, am pretty well ready to go, then wake Averie up at 2:55 a.m. We’re out the door and ready to hit the road a few minutes after 3 a.m. and Averie is taking the early morning like a champ. Honestly, the entire day was amazing. Mike took care of everything. Rods, reels, tackle, bait, he drove, put us on fish, took pictures, filmed Averie catching her first ever steelhead, coached her the whole way through - you name it. I could write up a complete breakdown of the day but it wouldn’t do it justice. Writing is Mike’s area of expertise, not mine, so I’ll let the pictures tell the story. I can't believe it took us this long to do it, and I'm %100 certain it won't take that long again. Averie and I both can't thank Mike and his son Brendan enough for the day trip. It's something we will remember for a long, long time. She won't stop talking about it, and is so stoked to have made a new friend in Brendan. He's a great kid, and lucky to have a dad who's happy to bring him along on so many fishing adventures. We owe you one brother! It really was just about the kids, but Mike and I managed some nice fish as well. Hope you guys enjoy the pics! The trail walking in.... Mike's son Brendan... great kid - Him and Averie were both a little shy at first but eventually hit it off and had a great day together. Averie ready to rock.. And to the fish!!!! FIRST EVER STEELHEAD! We didn't get pics of all of our fish... some we just released ( sometimes unintentionally lol ) or Mike was up-stream with Brendan. Here's Brendan with one of those ones that escaped as we were getting the camera out... Poor kid was all ready for a photo and I was to slow with the camera... We caught some of these guys to... Averie's PERSONAL BEST sucker! lol one of mine.. The fight is on again... Averie's second personal best for the day.... More pics to follow.....

These are awesome! Very cool stuff...

Bahaha " I did all the work" - Good stuff! Glad you guys had fun!