The Urban Fisherman

My buddies and I tried spring run suckers from the Thames River in Downtown London during college! haha They tasted fine, but the meat was mushy and it was near impossible to get all the bones out. I'm sure if you follow the the guide you're dad will be a-ok with eating them. But yeah, the Credit River is just down the road, and is easy pickings for the spring run suckers as well! Good luck! Ryan

Well I don't use your run of the mill set up for carp, but it works perfect for me. 7'6" heavy action Shimano Crucial paired up with a Shimano Chronarch and 50lb Braid. As for line, I like that idea about the swivel with the lighter line, but I've always just used an egg sinker. I've never gotten the sinker snagged, just the hook, which will straiten out before you break 50lb braid. I fish carp in stumpy, muddy, tree filled water and haven't had a break off on the braid. That being said, if you're fishing them around zebra mussels you might want to use some good Fluorocarbon as those things will shear right though braided line! Never fished the kitties myself, but would like to at some point. For carp, I just fill the hook right up with canned corn. Good Luck, Ryan

Oh my god look at the guts on those things - they look like they're about to pop! Good job! Cheers, Ryan

I used to use a personal pontoon boat and loved everything about it... hard to beat if you're going out solo. But if you want something small and light, I'd go with your original idea of a Jon Boat... check out this link below - the 9 footer is only 76lbs and the 12 footer only 86lbs... two guys can easily toss that onto the roof of any car, and you'll be hard pressed to find a car that can't handle at least 86lbs! haha I have the 15 foot Duck Boat version (bass boat to me haha) and I love it! I just realized that the 12 footer is only rated for 315lbs... hope you and your buddy aren't very big dudes! http://www.g3boats.com/JonBoats/#welded Cheers, Ryan

I've tried canned corn (whole kernels), boiling and mixing my own cows corn, corn cut strait from the cob, boilies and worms... for me worms are a last choice, not because they don't work, but because gobies and panfish usually pick it of your hook right away.... My first, and only choice is good old canned corn. It's cheap, readily available, I use half the can as chum, and I haven't found a carp that isn't willing to eat it. just my opinion! Cheers, Ryan

WOW! North Bay didn't get very much snow this year! haha Yeah dude, that's been around the block and back again. Cheers, Ryan

Well then you better not tell her the puppy would have been free! Lol

Some of you might remember my report a little less than 8 weeks ago about our Black Lab, Sheba having puppies. Well they went from this... To this...in just 7.5 weeks And now that the 3 we aren't keeping have left the "nest" and are gone to their new homes, we can devote all our time to our newest family member, Princess. (Averie named her) Wait t'il i'm at the launch callin' her into the boat...Here Princess! lol ah well. She's an awesome dog, and is learning the ropes real quick from Sheba. Now I've got 3 fishing partners, and am looking forward to getting out in the boat! Have a good week @ the office! Cheers Ryan

I don't use jigs at all. Although I'm usually targetting gills, with crappie catches being incidentals. Here's a pasted report I did last year on some ice out panfish techniques... Cheers, Ryan Hit the reservoir one last time this morning, and decided to do a more in depth report than "went out with the kid and smashed them" So, as most of you have seen, these past few weekends I've taken my daughter out to fish early season Panfish from shore. I've been landlocked seeing as our second child is due anytime. Anyways, the panfish trips, albeit from shore, are a nice way to get into the swing of things, and to get some good eatin' fish early on in the season. This fishing is probably one of the easiest ways to get kids into the sport, but can also be a ton of fun for the seasoned angler as well. It's not all dew worms and red bobbers. Quick and simple, look for warm water, with submerged cover, that has easy access to deeper water and you should find fish. Creek mouths, with early growth vegetation and submersed brush or fallen tree's are good places to start as well. Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for beaver huts, as they've been very productive for us this season. The crappie will be looking to start their spawn, and although bluegill don't spawn until a little later in the season, they'll be holding in similar areas. And hey, you may even catch the odd bonus fish, like Averie's first encounter with a rainbow trout. Technique #1: One of the best ways to quickly find these tasty, and feisty little fish, is to cast or slowly troll micro crank baits. Most people prefer tiny spinner baits, but I just find that cranks have out-performed spinners for me in the past, and tend to get more hook-ups. Well today, one of my first casts out, I snag a tree, and lose the only micro crank I packed. If I was in my boat I could just head on over and get my bait back, but oh well. In the past I've used Mini Rapapla's, as well as BPS brand micro cranks. Dumbass Tip #1: Always pack more than one crankbait, even when you're hauling everything in by foot....even with a 2 year old on your shoulders. So much for plan "A". When the fish are on, there's no better way to catch Them. Also, the plus side of crankbait fishing for panfish, is it's a big fish technique. You spend more time fishing for keepers, and less time taking tiny fish off your line. Which brings me to technique #2. The good old Berkley Powerbait pink trout worm under a slip float. This bait is hard to beat for spring panfish, the only down-side is you better be willing to weed out the small ones. After about an hour of fishing I must have caught 50+ fish and only had 4 keepers. As soon as your bait hits the water the little 3"ers hammer it. If you're out to get your kids into fishing, this is the way to do it, but if you're out to bring home some eaters, you better have patience. We forgot our pliers this morning, which was BRUTAL. Try getting a #10 or so hook out of a 3" sunfish's mouth. Not an easy feat. So Dumbass tip #2: always bring your needle nose pliers. Once the kids are satisfied that they've caught enough fish themselves, and are busy playing with the fish you've put into a livewell, or cooler filled with water, you can go back to fishing a crankbait, or throwing some larger soft plastics. Technique #3: Something I stumbled upon this year was wacky rigging tiny senko type worms. Fishing them weightless, with NO FLOAT gives you one major advantage, you're always going to end up in the strike zone at some point during the cast. With spring gills and especially crappie, If you're bait isn't at the right depth, they often won't hit. It might be just under the fish, or a little to high to bring them up. With this rig, you just toss it out and let it slowly sink to the bottom. This way, no matter what the magical depth is, your bait will eventually be in their strike zone. When you're float fishing you have to constantly move your bobber stop. Maybe you set it to shallow, then to deep the next cast. With this set up, if there's fish in the area, you're going to get a bite. Another advantage is that, because you're using a bigger bait, with a bigger hook, you tend to zero in on the bigger fish. Anyways, we've taken home a few dozen panfish over the course of the last few weeks, learned a few things and made some solid memories. So do yourself a favor and take a kid out panfishing this season, I guarantee you'll have a lot of fun, and you might just find a new early season species to target. That wraps up my "haresting" for the season. I'm having a baby (hopefully soon or my wife is going to snap) and once that settles it'll be pike action on the bay until bass opener. I know this stuff is all pretty run of the mill info for most of you guys, but my intention is to help out some of the younger, or less experienced members of the board. Or maybe even to get some of you guys to try something new. As usual, have fun, and be safe. Cheers, UF

Give me a couple weeks and I'll give you a bleugill report that'll make you sick to your stomach!

Here's a couple shot's from my old WP Z33 - I don't have any samples from the XP 10 as of yet. Something with color My first brown Release Under Water Nice Carp Shot Sunset Playing in the pool after dark - no worries about it getting wet

I may or may not have a prototype of the camera in my office as we speak.... It's freakin awesome! haha I was so happy when the Z33 came out because as much as I love my job, the last thing I want to do when I'm out on the water fun fishing is lug around a big camera and camera bag. (Not complaining Dave lol) Couple that up with the fact that I have 2 young kids who love to play with the camera while we're fishing and these are a perfect fit! The new features on the XP are exactly what I was hoping for when I heard they were coming out with a new one! It's so simple to use my 3 year old can take pictures of my fish while we're out, but has advanced enough features for me to get creative with it when I want to. You won't be disappointed! Cheers, Ryan

Ketchenany - Congrats to you as a proud father and to your daughter for her hard work paying off! I love hearing stories like this and look forward to a lifetime of creating my own with my little ones.... For instance - my boy Luke has just started standing up! haha with some help from his big sister.

Beans I'll take the fight and the meat from a big bluegill over big crappies any day. Bluegill out-fight crappie 2 to 1 easy and the big ones aren't as skinny as them crappies..... they have a little more mean on their shoulders. mmmmmmmm only a couple weeks away for me!

I see where you're coming from EC1 - I've just seen first hand what it's like down here in port rowan, when 3 guys go out in their boat for perch, keep their limit of 150 perch... clean them, give half of them away, eat some then go back for several consecutive weekends or even days and keep another 150, then 150 more.... They don't even care how small they are.... I don't care what anybody says, that can't be good for the fishery. And in my opinion, this is likely a contributing factor as to why the perch fishing in the bay has been terrible the past few winters. The problem with a high limit isn't from guys like you, who will harvest their limit, put some in the freezer, then maybe target another species, or leave the crappies be until you need to restock the freezer. It's the people who abuse the limits, keeping fish even though they've got a full freezer, or even selling them illegally... it happens down here! At the end of the day it's just personal preference though right. I know if I kept 30 crappie it'd likely last me a whole year. But for somebody like yourself, that clearly isn't the case, and who can blame you, they are tasty little critters. If there was a 15 fish limit, it wouldn't bother me, that's 30 fillets. But I live 8 minutes away from amazing panfish water.... so maybe I'm just spoiled! As much as we anglers love to knock the biologists who come up with these limits, we have to put some faith in that they know what they're doing, and that it's what's best for our fishery. So get out there and get you're 30 fish limit, but make sure to post pictures for us all....or it'll just be another fish tale! haha Good luck out there guys, and be safe. The water is still pretty damn cold after ice-out. Cheers, Ryan

Thanks for the bedtime read mjl! Great detailed report! Looking forward to some of your seasonal steelie and carp reports... Cheers, Ryan

Good Point Beans... I still thing 30 per person is a little high anyways! haha I took home 12 big bluegill, combined them with fries and salad and fed 6 adults... Then I was able to go out and catch some more the next weekend! Just my opinion though... Cheers, Ryan

Sounds like a man-date to me buddy! I'm in! Cheers, Ryan

I have yet to catch decent numbers of ice out Crappie. So far I've got the big bluegill dialed in, but the big schools of crappie have evaded me. I have had some great success catching them on micro crank baits in late summer and early fall. Late in the season I find they tend to group up on the larger weed clumps that are still around once the cover starts dying off. They're easy targets, and are feeding heavy before they start their annoying suspending winter patterns. Cheers, Ryan

I always knew there was something good about that guy... even if he does always type IN CAPS LOCK! haha I'm glad to hear you girl is going to be ok! take care of her. Cheers, Ryan

UflyFish, Just make sure you listen to Captain Art and follow his rules for not getting sea sick. I DIDN'T and had a few wobbly pops the night before which resulted in this right at the end of our day out on the ocean...

Hey OFC, I don't post about Facts of Fishing The Show often.....being a long time member of OFC the last thing I want is to be pegged as a spammer but I had so much fun shooting and working as a co-editor on this show and it was killing me waiting for it to go to air so you guys could see it. I had no idea we had such a wicked fishery (sharkery?) right here in Canada and I can tell you I'm going back again for sure.... With or without Dave! Enjoy the rest of your week guys - Hopefully this weather holds out for the weekend! Cheers, Ryan

awesome stuff Lew.... I thought you said you weren't going to be able to post often as you'd be enjoying your new home and property...and I think you've treated us with 2 reports nad pictures since! haha Keep' em comin. cheers, RYan

my wife just washed a fuji sd card that was in my jean pocket... found it in the dryer and the photos were still all there! lol id go for it... worst thing that can happen is you get to spend some time on (in) the water and get a gps shaped paper weight! cheers, Ryan

are you right in the city Rob? or on the outskirts? I wen to school in london and fished hte downtown section pretty hard... Shoot me a PM if you think you'll ever be fishing the downtown stretch of the river... cheers, Ryan