The Urban Fisherman

Dad - Kid reports are always my favorite. Amazing work man - he's one lucky kid!

AMAZING...that is all. )

That's a darn good Idea... I'll be sure to throw one back as well. And I agree with Spiel regarding a burial at sea... and Lew's comment about razor blades... Thanks for serving Lew!

YES! It's simple. "A" and above should have checking at the appropriate age level. Period.

House League / Local League doesn't need it. It's a place for new kids to the sport to develop the skills they need to try out for competitive hockey. I know kids who are starting their first year hockey in Bantam - right now they need to concentrate on skating and handling a puck. That said, I think it's stupid for them to kill checking for any teams that require tryouts. We fall into the "rural" bracket and even though we have some kids that could easily play AA/AAA hockey in larger centers, we don't have the population to put together a full team of this caliber. It wouldn't be fair to get rid of body checking in Rep or "A" hockey across Ontario. Talented kids from rural areas won't be able to develop the skills needed to move on should they make it beyond minor hockey.

I'm not a huge ice angler but when I do get out it's usually for perch on a small lake... and quite often we still have open water into late december... Our small 80 acre lake is pretty deep for it's size so it takes some time to turn over and freeze. Like most of the folks here have said... Deep weed edges with noticeable green weed. If you don't have an aquavu or something of the sort don't be shy to drop a spoon down with a big trebble hook on it... if you're lucky enough to snag some green weed it's a good starting point. Better yet, next summer scout the lake from your boat late fall for big deep weed beds. On my lake winter green weeds are usually found from 15 to 25+ FOW. These perch are from last weekend..... They were thumping our drop-shots hard with 8lb leader material, but through the ice I've had days where it's 2lb test and you have to use one of those spring indicators to tell that something is pulling on the line... ( especially with 2lb mono 20 feet down ) Anyways - looks like you guys are already well on your way... Good luck and have fun! Cheers, Ryan

Thanks Cliff - coming from you it means a bunch. That said, I have a LONG way to go! ) Thanks Landry means a ton to hear feedback like this... Dave is a good employer and great friend... making him look good is just all in a days work... ( that's something he would say ) lol Well you're in luck because that show is Episode 2 so you won't have to wait very long to see it! It's was a fun show to shoot and edit... hope you like it! Get outta town.. you're making me turn all red over here brother... haha It's been far, far to long since we've shared a beer and I'm thinking Averie is getting old enough for her first custom rod so when things slow down in the office this spring I think a visit down your way is in order.... You're always welcome at our place as well! Thanks! Like I said, it's a group effort all around! Thank Bill! Thanks 'Bunk... the whole crew will appreciate the words.... I run the "A" cam along with a handful of GoPro's on the the boat with Dave and I'm also the lead editor on the show. That said, it's a huge group effort with ideas, the slow motion filming, aerials and support with editing as well.

Come on Chris!?!?!?! lol that's funny buddy...I can't believe we've never actually talked about it over the years! haha Thanks for the kid words bud! Looking forward to seeing again soon.. preferably on the water! Thanks Roy and no prob! lol Still nothing wrong with watching bass shows! There aren't any actic char around here but I'll watch a show about them any day! I'll dream of catching them you can dream about catching bass...deal? Thank Pigoen - we have a top notch crew... Some of you may know Nick Pujic... he's a master behind the Red Cam and a good chunk of this footage is his. Thanks Bud - it's a group effort all around! We film 13 episodes per season so if you catch it every week that'll be a new episode every week for a little over 3 months.....which is typical of pretty well any show out there. Maybe you have a fishing show watching addiction? )

Hey Gang! Some of the newer folks around here may not know me as my life has changed quite a bit since I started with OFC. Back before my oldest was born, nearly a decade ago, I was online constantly. Since then a lot has changed, 3 kids, several moves and 2 houses later I find myself a little overwhelmed and unable to get on here as much as I'd like! That said, I will always be thankful for the fishing advice, friends and in large part my current job that I acquired by meeting Dave through OFC. Every year I work with a solid group of guys, who together work hard to bring the best quality of production that we can to Facts of Fishing and I'd like to share a little teaser here if you haven't already seen it! Season 8 starts airing this weekend on Sportsnet 360 Saturday and Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. EST time! Hope you like it and thanks for the ongoing support!!! Cheers, Ryan FACTS OF FISHING 2015 - COMING SOON! from Facts of Fishing on Vimeo.

Averie is 8, and is allowed to operate a boat under 40HP with me, and under 10HP alone...

Yep...she's quickly becoming better then me at everything. lol Only if they're un-supervised. Pasted from the BOATsmart website: Age Power Restrictions Under 12 years of age, and not directly supervised Can operate vessels with under 10 hp Between 12 years and under 16 years of age,and not directly supervised Can operate vessels with under 40 hp Under 16 years of age Not allowed to operate a PWC 16 years of age and over No power restrictions

Well it seems like hockey has taken over my life, which is one of the main reason you haven’t seen any reports from me lately! All three of the kids are playing this year, and I’m coaching the beginners, which means 6-7 ice times per week! Oh yeah, and we live 35 minutes from the arena.. Claira was pumped to finally start at the ripe old age of 3. haha She’s far and away the smallest kid on the ice but is doing well and having a ton of fun. Lukes finally had a chance to play some real games and is pumped about that. And Averie is rocking’ it… she started 3 years late but is quickly catching up to the rest of the players. She’s the only girl on her team and has no trouble keeping up with the boys. We’ve even had a chance to catch some OHL action… Onto some fishing. Averie and I tried to sneak in some late season action on the bay, but had some engine troubles and ended up stranded on the lake. Lucky for us my wife’s cousins were just around the corner hunting and were able to tow us back to the marina. After that we decided to pack up the boat and call it a soft water season. Take it as a sign that it was over for the year. After all, the marina had already started to freeze over shortly after. Faster forward past far to many trips to the arena and it had now become Spring in December, with no ice to be seen for miles.… It was going to be a green Christmas in Port Rowan. Averie and I took this as another sign… we should dig out the boat and hit up some late, late season perch. After going back and forth on the idea of re-rigging the graph on the boat we finally opted to take the time to do it. ( we had taken it off and set it up for some ice fishing lol ) It’s a good thing we did because we ended up fishing schools of perch in 22-32 FOW. We’d literally zig-zag around with the electric, with our baits out of the water until we found the school sitting right on bottom. Then we’d quickly drop our baits right on their heads and BAM… fish on! We even managed a couple of double headers. It was a bit breezy so by the time we’d reel the fish up, take it off and re-rig we’d have blown 15-20 yards and have to start the process all over again. It was like playing a video game, but worked well and was a heck of a fun way to cap off our 2014 soft water season. The boat is officially put away until spring! We wish you all the best in 2015!!!! Cheers, Ryan & family. ps. GO CANADA GO! ( World Juniors )

That's what I was thinkin'! lol Amazing as always buddy! THanks for the pics and report - I look forward to it every year! Cheers, Ryan

This was at the mouth of big creek a week ago... the local reservoir was 70... fish slowwwwwww!!!!!

Thanks Beans - very much appreciated! Yeah I love the lake - and I don't mind the campsites... I mean they're far from private but it's hand down my favorite park out of the LPRCA parks. And yeah man - Averie is growing up far to fast. Thanks Mike Pike - My buddy is a complete amateur with catching and holding fish... we just fluked into that hold and I think I'll be using it again in the future... ( the ones with the tail forward ) Have a good one! Thanks bud - Same to you! Thanks buddy - Family is good, just busy as can be. Luke's motion sickness is only in the boat, only when there's big rollers... never in the car or even with a mild chop on the lake.. just big rollers coming in off the main lake. He's thrown up all over the boat twice and once he cried to go home but fell asleep and was fine when he woke up. He still never hesitates to go out in the boat though which is good... Enjoy the rest of your week and have a great weekend!

lol Thanks man - Very much appreciated... Thanks Sauce - She's just learning to use a baitcaster this year... she's pretty good with it but still has a long way to go when it comes to getting distance on her casts... Thanks for the sea sickness tip as well... I'm willing to try anything... Luke's puked all over the boat a couple of times now.. I'm surprised he still comes out with us. Bigugli you've been around here since Averie was born... she sure has grown in the past 8 years... time flies man! Thanks and have a good one! Thanks porkpie - We love it here... wouldn't move for anything... except maybe to a house on the lake.. that is if I ever win the lottery

bahaha I hear you on the disowned deal... better to teach them as young as possible or you'll never get to fish yourself. Everyone has given great advice here - Good luck and be sure to post some pics! ps. In case it hasn't been mentioned... my kids started off with ice fishing rods.. spinning reels. When it was time to move up to a full sized rod they already knew how to handle a spinning reel and didn't have to make the transition from a push button reel. pss. saw the pics... awesome work Uncle!

lol I'd say Yellowstone takes precedent over Deer Creek... Have fun!

Hey buddy - We did over $10,000 but Ginny is still trying to track down some folks who didn't show up and we're working on an online auction.. keep you posted for sure! We're doing a "boys weekend" on the weekend of the 15th. Myself and my boy Luke along with Dan and his kids, my cousin and his son and a few others will be at the lake all weekend if you can manage a trip down!

lol this is funny.... and this one tops it off! hahaha Chris - awesome fish buddy! It was great to see you at the Fish-a-Thon as well! Hopefully we're able to connect before long and get out on the water! Thanks for the report bud! Cheers, Ryan

I started off wanting to do a winter recap of our family fishing adventures, which eventually turned into winter/spring and has now become a winter/spring/early summer recap! Time is limited to say the least but I have made many good friends here on OFC over the years and though I'm unable to post as often as I'd like, I still consider this place be my fishing home on the web. This past fall we moved from a little hamlet out in the country to the thriving metropolis of Port Rowan, ON... ok well I suppose with a year around population of give or take 1000 permanent residents and zero stop lights, it can't really be considered a metropolis BUT we now have HIGH SPEED internet, and all the amenities that one would expect with living in town. The kids can walk to school, the wife can walk to the grocery store and most importantly, I can walk to the boat launch!!! lol Seeing as our front door is 750m to the marina I had visions of grandeur going through my mind all winter of the nightly fishing adventures we'd go on. Well, then life struck and I realized that we'd be equally as busy as we had been before, only I'd have to look at the lake EVERY day without having the opportunity to actually fish most days... That being said, we have managed to put in some time on Longpoing as well as inland. Here's a photo journey of our fishing trips over the past 6 months! We were quite busy chasing the kids around the arena's all winter, however the ice held on long enough for us to enjoy some ice fishing in March! It was little Claira's first time out fishing on the ice and she had a great time. We borrowed a hut from my wife's cousin and I have to say, I don't think I'll be ice fishing longpoint any other way moving forward! A nice warm wood stove heated hut is the only way to perch fish on the bay! Even though the bite was tough it was arguably one of the best days we've spent together fishing as a family. The kids had so much fun they bugged me to take them out the very next day - this time on an inland body of water. We fished hard, moving all over drilling probably 30 holes but could only manage a handful of OOS largemouth and Averie's nice little brown... Next up was a quick inland trip for spring panfish with my girls... Doesn't every 3 year old girl fish with a Stella / Cumulous combo? Averie put on quite the clinic... And Claira caught a few as well... We even managed a decent snack out of our trip... We've done a bunch of short trips walking down to fish from the docks at the marina... Usually the payoff is an assortment of panfish but occasionally we get into some bigger bites. One evening, after the two big kids were sleeping Claira, Grandpa and I snuck down for the evening dock bite. Claira pounded on the panfish AND managed a surprise largemouth which absolutely made her night! This largemouth had her wrapped around the dock and her 2lb ice line actually held on for us to land her big catch. We haven't gotten out on the bay as much as we'd like - partially because gramps is building a house and just because we have a ton on the go... The few time we've gotten out have been a ton of fun - with the kids catching an assortment of bass and sheepies.. Luke Doesn't do so well on the big lake... lol we're working on his sea sickness issues... Sometimes all it takes is a good nap, then he's all set for some fishing... When the fishing slows down we head out to Pottahawk for a swim... And Claira has a tendency to pass out on the ride back in... The Fish-a-Thon For a Cure has grown over the years, thanks greatly in part to OFC and all of our volunteers. It has however grown to the point where we don't often get to fish very much ourselves over the course of the weekend. We did slip out a couple of times for a short fish this year though and managed a few decent fish! Claira showing off our catch the night before - when launching the boat we fished for about 10 minutes and managed a few small largies for our efforts... The next morning Dan and I set out for our annual pre Fish-a-Thon largemouth smashfest.. we caught quite a few fish in about 45 minutes, but only took pictures of the one that counted... the one that Dan will argue should have been his... lol Next weekend I'll fish at the back of the boat buddy! The Sunday after we wrapped up the Fish-a-Thon I promised the kids I'd take them out for a bit of fishing. Unfortunately Claira and Luke didn't make it past swimming.. So Averie and I picked up Grandpa and we hit the lake for a couple of hours.. I managed this decent crappie on a Jackall Spinnerbait ( wicked spinnerbaits by the way ) And we caught a mixed bag of panfish and little largemouth. Lastly, this past weekend my longtime childhood friend Jamie, who's only fished a hand full of times and hasn't caught a fish over 2 or 3 pounds before came down to visit... One of his goals on this trip was to catch a big fish.. So, we decided to hit my trophy carp spot. It usually only gives up one or two bites per morning but the bites are typically good fish. After catching up Friday night over several... ok WAY to many drinks it was a slow start Saturday morning. Not so much for Jamie, but he had to wait a few minutes for his guide to pound some water and wait for the Advil to kick in. Two hours late we chummed the water, had 2 rods out and waited... and waited for 1.5 hours. I spotted a decent bass swimming the bank so I had Jamie pick up our waky rig rod.... Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted a line bump. Was he ever confused when I told him to put the dang bass rod down seconds after I told him to pick it up and cast... Before he was able to grab the carp rod from the holder it was peeling line and the fight was on. By the time we got the anchor in and our second rod clear Jamie was just about spooled - so we chased after his catch with the electric motor. His fish had us going in circles, it ran to depths of 30+ feet and buried itself in thick week... Eventually Jamie got the hang of it and did a great job of batting his beast of a fish to the boat... We only have 3 weeks until hockey kicks in again. With all three kids playing in different age groups this year... it's going to be a busy winter. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a few more trips, and reports before then! Have a great week! Ryan

Hey guys! Sorry I'm just getting back to this today it's been a super busy weekend. Yeah I live on Longpoint Bay - The Kawartha's for the most part are just as far as driving to Belleville for me so I'd be better off just going to a spot I'm familiar with. I'm just hoping to find something local if at all possible. I might take the Jon boat out one afternoon this week and just run the cat-tail banks to see if I can find something. Chris - Great Idea man - I was thinking the same thing... it's just been pounding rain every night for the past week so I have to wait for the creek to clear up... I can get up the lower stretches of big creek pretty far with the Jon boat to. Have a good one guys and thanks for the ideas! Cheers, Ryan

haven't had a chance yet to try it but htey make some awesome baits!!!!!

unreal report! boy you guys were roughin' it at that hotel! lol Great pics to!

yeah the sick sticks fall to slow IMO to fish them weightless... good call on the weighted hooks.. Senkos, Bass Pro's Rip off version, and my favorites which are the berkley heavyweight worms all work great weightless... but if you want a quicker fall a weighted hook is a great idea