The Urban Fisherman

I videotape fish for a living and I can tell you that a 3 pound bass looks like a 1.5 pounder on TV. It's near impossible to make a fish look it's actual size on film....and I consider myself to be a good videographer! lol As for shooting it on a flat surface...... If you don't have anything to reference the subjects size to in the shot you'll never be able to distinguish how big it is. I could shoot a 2 inch senko on a white background by itself, then shoot a 5 inch senko by itself and if it was shot right you'd think they were the same size bait. Best bet is to take the photo with the fish in your hand using the camera's "timer" like GCD said. Dollarama has pocket sized tripods that fit perfect in your tackle box. And who cares how you hold the fish. In my opinion, the focal point of the photo should be the fish anyways, not the fisherman. Nobody is looking at the photo to see my ugly mug, they want to see the fish. Take a measurement for your record and shoot away. You know how big the fish was, and don't need to explain anything to anybody! Cheers, Ryan ps. look at my Avatar. I wasn't holding those bass way out, but the photo was taken by a professional photographer who knew what he was doing, so those two 6 pounders actually look like 6 pounders.

STATS SO FAR: OFC Pledge Donations: 1) John F 2) T.J. 3) TDUNN OFC Participants "Fish-a-Thoner's" 1) The Urban Fisherman 2) Rich Sims 3) Dan Bouck 4) Bassaholic 5) Splashopper Non OFC Participants: "Fish-a-Thoner's" 1) Jason Meester 2) Joe Meester 3) Shawn Beaumont Prizes for: 1) 1 Pledger (draw) 2) Fish-a-Thoner with most Pledges 3) Fish-a-Thoner with biggest fish FREE MINNOWS FOR PARTICIPANTS C'mon guys - I know we can get more than 3 OFC pledges! Cheers and thanks again, Ryan

Bump.....

Well thanks to the generosity of some OFNER's I was able to line up a few prizes for the event. A ) Prize for most pledges B ) Draw for a prize to be given to one of the "Pledgers" C ) Prize for Biggest fish for participants Thanks again OFC. Cheers, Ryan

Some info that might get you guys interested in joining in - There's a species and structure type for everyone...even if you only have a canoe or Yak. THE LAKE: 80 Acre Reservoir 45+ Foot of Water STRUCTURE: Trees, Weed beds, Slop, Rip Rap, Sand Flats, Points, Creek Mouths, Docks, Bays, Damn Etc. Deep Clear Water THE FISH: Here's a few from the past couple of weeks: Recent Catches posted on a local board... My Recent Catches And earlier outings from the same lake: Here's a link to the Conservation Area's Website. It's $10.00 Per car for the day. That includes your launch, parking and use of the park. http://www.lprca.on.ca/dcca.html There's a beach, swings for the kids, pinic area's, trails, and more. Cheers, Ryan

Sorry to hear dude, but glad to see you're looking out for what's in the best interest for your family. The good carma will reward you with great days on the water, and a bigger badder rig some day! Cheers, Ryan

Color HANDS DOWN guys! I used a color Humminbird GPS combo all season last year and got used to reading structure, fish etc. with the color graph, then got a better boat last fall and put a Black and White graph on the bow by my electric motor and am completely frustrated with it. It still works, but going back to reading a black / white graph is very frustrating. I find myself pivoting my color graph around and looking back at it from the bow of the boat while fishing. My black/white graph is going to be converted into an ice fishing unit this season, and I'm going to put a color graph on the bow next spring. Short and sweet, Humminbird is my brand, but everyone will argue that their preferred brand is better.....just like anything else.... Just do some research on price point vs. quality and come up with your own conclusion. I say get a Bird. Cheers, Ryan

UPDATE: We've got 4 OFNER Participants in the Fish-a-Thon and a few more Pledges guys! Thanks to those who've PM'd me. Keep them comin' folks! Skip your Timmies and pledge a buck or two..... ok maybe that was a little overboard, can't skp timmies, but gather what you can, if you can! Cheers, Ryan

No worries brother! I'll e-mail you a pledge form this morning. I'm sure if you hit the lake hard for 12 hours you're bound to hook into a 5+ pounder! haha The 2 recent hogs I know of were both caught on Waky Rigs in the trees... Get ahold of me later so we can sort out some details. I need an OFC wingman to take care of sending forms and such while I'm in Vegas with Ginny this weekend! Cheers, Ryan

Sorry to hear that cancer has had such a stong impact on your family dude! PM me your email and ill send you a pledge form in the morning! Thanks for participating! Cheers, Ryan

Awesome! Beats the heck out of my first rig! Congratulations once again!

Right on buddy! You don't have to lie though, we know you can cacth bass bro, we all have bad days! Lol that little guy is nothing to be ashamed of! Glad to see you had a chance to hit the water! Peace

Awesome Dan! PM me your e-mail and I'll send you over a pledge form so you can hit up some friends and family for pledges! Boat size doesn't matter, no gas motors allowed though. I know some people who work there and might be able to have them allow our Participants at least leave their motors bolted on but turned off. Worst case scenario I can get my hands on a couple of tinny's for people who can't get their bigger rigs in. I chose Deer Creek because it won't leave out those who only have canoes or kayaks. I have a 15 footer and have had to miss out on days on Long Point due to weather. There's been several 6+ pound Largies caught on Deer Creek in the past couple of weeks. I figure it's all in fun so we can get on the cell phones and share info on catching fish so everybody has a stellar day. Species: Largemouth Bass Rainbow Trout Brown Trout Big Bluegill Crappie Big Carp Rock Bass Perch I'll get some pics up of recent catches tomorrow! Gotta put the kids to bed! Cheers, Ryan

Dude when are you going to post pics of your new rig??? haha congrats! good luck with the towing question! cant help ya cheers, Ryan

HEY OFNER'S!! I GOT MY FIRST OFC PLEDGE, AND IT'S A BIG ONE!!! A very special thanks goes out to a stand up OFNER, JohnF, for stepping up to the plate and getting the ball rolling! I know time's are tough for many of us right now, but as I said, every penny counts, so please help out if you can. Anyone who's from Southwestern Ontario, and needs a good excuse to get out fishing for the day, this is your ticket for a full day on the water! PM me for detail about the location or anything else. Keep 'em comin! Thanks again for your time guys! Ryan

Hey Guys, I don't believe there's a need for me to explain why doing a Fish-a-Thon for Cancer is a good cause, as unfortunately, I'm sure most of you have felt the effects of this vicious diseases in some way or another in your life. I for one have lost to many family members to Cancer over the years, and now, it has struck our family once again. Ginny's (my wife for those who are new around here) Grandmother has just been diagnosed with terminal Cancer. The doctors can't do anything to help her, and have given her only a couple of months, at most to live. She's a VERY talented artist, and a loving grandmother to say the least. It's a shame that my children won't have the pleasure of even remembering her, as they're just to young. Myself and Grandma Anderson partying it up last weekend. Grandma with my kids and their cousins. Although I can't do anything to help her out directly, this has kick-started me into organizing an event that I've wanted to do for some time. Here's the deal. The First Annual South Western Ontario Fish-a-Thon for Cancer. Date: August 15th, 2009 Time: 6 A.M to 6 P.M. Location: Deer Creek Conservation Area (Norfolk, County) Rules for Participants: Print off Pledge Form, get pledges from family and friends, fish for 12 hours strait, no break except for food (on the water) and washroom breaks. (if you arrive late, we can bend the rules, after all, it is a charity event, not the Bassmaster Classic) Minimum Pledge: 1 cent (because every penny counts) The funds raised will be donated to Dave Mercer's Casting for a Cure, which will in turn be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society. This whole thing is happening very fast because I'd like to see it become a reality before Ginny's grandmother passes away. Hopefully we can work out the kinks this year, generate some decent donations for a good cause, and lay out the ground work for a great annual fishing event. I'm also looking into setting up a BBQ and bonfire for a post fishing get together for the participants. Any other ideas are welcome and PLEASE try to participate in some way if you're able to. If you live to far away to participate as a "Fish-a-Thoner" and are willing and able to make a pledge to myself, please PM me, and I will be glad to ship you a pledge form to fill out along with a return shipping envelope and stamp. Tax receipts can be issued for $20.00 pledges or more, but any pledge is top notch. I'll leave it at that for now, ask questions, give me some pointers, make pledges, just keep this topic going because I'd like this to be more than just a few fishing bums on the water for the day. It's a simple event, that gives us anglers a chance to help out and have fun at the same time. I hope, if you can, you decide to participate in any way possible. Cheers, Ryan Bonin

right on Cudz! Congrats on getting out and catching some nice smallies, and most of all for getting the young guy involved! Cheers, Ryan

Agreed, I get perfect readings on my 595c @ 27 MPH, and have seen perfect readings on several bass boats using 1197's going 70 + MPH. Cheers, UF

wow - awesome bass report Jacques! Some hogs there for sure. Way better average than what I'm used to catching in my local reservoir. Maybe you've just got them more dialed in than I do! Cheers, Ryan

haha yeah I was thinking the same thing! Had to read it over a couple of times to see if I was missing out on something! Lunker777 - it's friday today, let's call that pig a 4 pounder and enjoy the weekend! Cheers, Ryan

That's awesome Jacques! Hope you don't mind but I'm going to totally rip off your idea and give my own lures a go! Keep us posted as per your results!

lol That's awesome TJ! Congrats to her for schoolin' the old man - and grandpa

lol AWESOME DUDE! Congrats. Thanks for the shout-out, although I never did repeat my success before moving away from the big smoke. ...and once you're able to consult with Misfish hook me up - I've put on a solid 25lbs in the last year even if it doesn't look like it. Nice to hear from you. Cheers

My daughter Averie was bugging my wife about fishing all day yesterday, so when I got off work Ginny says " Ryan, take Averie fishing tonight she's been driving me nuts all day"... God I love that kid! Anyways, we didn't have much time, so I decided to take her to the "nursery", a creek down the road that holds loads of small fish. Averie's a pro when it comes to crackin' off bluegills, and she wasted no time in catching a handful right away. After she had her fix it was Daddy's turn to toss around some baits. Today's a choice, a white spinnerbait.....and first cast produces a little gator... When Averie tell's the story, it was a HUUUUUGGGEEEE pike! Second cast, same spot - a decent little largie, actually a big bass for this spot. And the release... Now that Averie know's there's bass around, she want's a to finally catch her first one... First she warms up with a few more bluegill, and finally a BIG HIT (for her - she's little) a short battle ensues, and finally her first bass EVER emerges from the slop! And her first lip hold. After catching her prized bass she had no interest in fishing anymore and wanted to go home to tell mommy, but I was able to sneak in a couple more casts before leaving and managed another little gator, and a tiny bass on the spinnerbait. Even though our fish weren't much to brag about, I know the memory of Averie's first bass will stay vivid in our minds for life. On the way home we enjoyed a nice sunset. Once arriving home we found out that our well pump was broken, and we had no water, but who cares. Let's hop in the little pool for a few minutes to clean off the fish slime and end the day on a high note reguardless. After a long day in the office, it was a great night with the kid. Cheers, Ryan

Hey, no worries I appreciate your input! I'm completely aware of just how tall an 80 foot tower is. I live in the country, in the middle of nowhere, and have a large enough property to put up a tower of that height without worrying about it falling into my neighbors yard. I've also already contacted the township and have met all requirements needed in order to legally put a tower of this height on my property. Believe me, I don't want to put a tower on my property, but at this point my only other option is to pack up and move. And in today's economy I would almost certainly lose money on my house. I work from my home office and rely on the internet (heavy uploads and downloads) on a daily basis, and had I known that it'd be this difficult to get a decent connection out here I never would have purchased this house. I was told that I could get fixed wireless before purchasing the house, but wasn't told I'd have to put up a huge tower. Live and learn I suppose. On the flip side, we do love the house and property. I'm actually in a little pod of houses called Frogmore, ON. Also known as the Internet Twilight Zone of Ontario. 20 minutes north from the lake. There's no Cable Internet, no Bell High Speed, or bell portable service, The rogers stick doesn't work out here, neither does Telus' stick. Even if they did work, I upload and download way to large of files, and would constantly run up my bills to hundreds of dollars per month. My current monthly satellite bill is $115 per month, for speeds that are well under 1 meg, (6 to 700 k on a good day) and when I go over my daily limit, they crank me down to 1/2 the speed of dial up.