The Urban Fisherman

Sweet - congrats buddy.. I'm at the arena with my boy all day today at his season ender hockey tournament... Let me know if you need little boy stuff as we have 9 girls and 1 boy between myself, my brother and two first cousins. So all of lukes stuff usually goes to goodwill. Keep in touch! Thanks! Thanks a bunch Bunk! The wife looks young and is a bit difficult from time to time but I'd still say she's more help than the kids are! lol I only have 3 little ones, and yeah man.. they're a handful for sure. Before you know it your little girl will be slammin trophies just like her old man. Talk soon dude!

awesome stuff regardless of the lack of fish! Thanks for hte post and good work!

I agree %100 but it isn't that easy for all of us.... Sometimes 25 years at the best rate you can get is the only option. We're a young family on a tight budget at the moment, with student loans, young kids etc, so 2.99% for 10 years is good for us right now. This gives us the time we need to pay off our student debts and get ahead with our careers, saving money etc. without having to worry about our mortgage payment doubling overnight. In which case, we would lose our house. We're trying to pay a mortgage, our own university debts and save for our kids to go to school at the same time. We built a new 4 bedroom 1600sq foot house with a 2 car garage and finished basement for $230,000 and put $20,000 down on it. In ten years from now we will have paid off enough on our mortgage that it doesn't matter what the rates are, chances are our home will always be worth more than what we owe. It'd have to be a pretty severe increase. We're also lucky enough to live in a rural area that isn't affected by fluctuating rates near as much as in the city. Houses are so cheap around here that lower rates don't generally mean cheaper houses... they're already as cheap as they can be built or sold - so when rates go up, prices don't typically go down either - people just stay put. As they go up, houses just don't sell, when rates go down around here, houses start to sell but not at inflated prices. We don't have bidding wars, or multiple potential buyers or anything like that. I know that in the end we would pay something like $500,000 for our home that had a price tag of $230,000 to build. I think it's robbery on the bank's part, but this is what I can afford right now. We're hoping to change things up after 10 years but right now this is the best scenario for us.

Agreed Big Cliff - Absolutely, but he's looking to do this with his 3 year old boy.... the youngster will have way more luck with a live minnow wiggling around... at three a little twitch tends to be more of a big jerk lol

Sorry to dig this thread back up guys - I wasn't able to get back on and didn't want my homies to think I was ignoring them! haha Thanks brotha - It was nice to get out of the house for a couple of days! I have a busy spring ahead of me but I'm hoping to log some serious hours on the bay this summer seeing as I live 30 seconds from the launch now. My parents are moving down here and my old man actually got himself a slip for his boat this summer so I'll always have a boat in the water, literally a few hundred meters from my door step! We better log some time on the water together this year! The local inland OOS stock should be fairly safe from the ice fishing fools who like to keep illegal fish, but man they take a SERIOUS beating opening weekend! That's the time I'm worried about... sure the season is open but I've seen guys keep twice their limit. This year I'm sending the MNR to have a look see for themselves. Talk soon dude! HD! It's been a long, long time brotha - and you're having a freakin' BABY!?!?! CONGRATS - I had Averie with me pike fishing Humber Bay Park when she was 7 days old and I expect no less from you! Not gonna lie - girls are WAY easier then boys... when they're little anyways... Congrats once again, and keep in touch! Thanks WD - I thought that was pretty funny to... We were only fishing in about 5-6 feet of clear water and she was actually looking to see if we drilled over weeds or not... That hole was a dud!

yeah man for you all of the above will work great - I love pink Slammers in panfish size after ice-out. But for your wee one, you can't beat a live Emerald!

COOOL stuff! Funny you mention sandy beaches for early season Browns on Lake O. I've done very well fishing sandy beaches for early season inland browns in smaller bodies of water as well. Thanks for the report Aaron! Cheers Ryan

We were at %6 with more than 2 years left on a 5 year mortgage... Took a huge penalty but scored a 10 yr. deal locked in at 2.99 %... it hurt pretty bad short term, but over 10 years we're saving a ton... like some people said, find the best rate you can find, do the math and if it's better off go with it. We could have gotten 2.50% over 4-5 years but we figured 2.99% for 10 years is pretty tough to beat... and if rates skyrocket in the next 5-8 years it won't affect our mortgage payment which is sweet.

bahahaha I'm not from Barrie but that was funny! Congrats and good luck the the new house! Cheers, Ryan

Thanks Matty - She's been fishing with me since she was still in a stroller so she's quite the experienced little angler... Wow buddy you are going to have one busy summer! lol Averie has bugged me to go see you guys at the trailer, not sure that the little ones would remember. Congrats to Andy on the wedding ( where are you doing the Stag and Doe? ) Congrats on the boat to - we'll bring the snacks and minnows! lol I've been wanting to take the kids to potahawk for a swim but we only have the 14 foot duck boat so it's not the safest way to make a trip out there. Keep me posted and drop me a line anytime you're down this way!!! Yeah I'd say it's easier to except we don't often get very much ice down this way so I'm always on edge. My oldest stepped in a hole that hadn't quite frozen over overnight when she was 3 and went in up to her hips......it scared the crap out of me. After that I started putting her on a harness & leash when out on the ice! lol This year we have almost 2 feet of ice so it's good. Either way, 1 four year old was a piece of cake compared to 3,4 & 7 year olds all at once! Thanks Mike - Long time no talk, hope all is well man! The kids are growing like weeds... bad weeds! The 3 year old is starting to talk back already! They need more time with daddy out in the boat. Thanks Buddy - you have to get back down this way this summer... no excuses, we have to make it happen! haha Thanks Wayne! Thanks Bri - Appreciate the kind words and looking forward to seeing more reports for you as well!

Sweet - I love freshwater fishing but you can't argue that saltwater fish out-fight freshwater fish 10-1! They taste pretty awesome to!

Thanks Bushart - yeah I learned when Averie was little to keep a bucket or cooler on hand for minnows & small fish... it keeps them busy and sometimes actually gives me a chance to fish! lol yeah Dan and they're way bigger pains to!!! Luckily they got mom's brains as well ( well the girls anyway haha ). It's been way to long! Please keep in touch so we can get together this summer!

I've been out of the loop so long that I didn't even know you were gone - it's like going through a time machine! haha I've only managed a couple of posts the past year and haven't had a chance to get on here much. Congrats on moving back out to the bush - we moved from a hamlet of about a dozen houses or so to the sprawling metropolis that is Port Rowan ( Population of a little under 1000 ) ) Looking forward to some posts and artwork!

Things come in threes I guess as it's been several months since I've been fishing or had time to get on OFC - I'm glad to be back and hope to contribute with more reports this season than last! This past year we built the house, moved to my wife's grandmother's place, then into our new home and followed up our busy summer with an even busier winter. Luke and Averie both started hockey this winter which chewed into the tiny bit of spare time I had the past several months. This kids have been bugging me to go ice fishing all year, Averie because we hadn't been in two seasons due to a lack of decent ice and the other two as they've never been ice fishing! This weekend we finally had time to get out. We fished longpoint for Perch and though the bite wasn't stellar the kids still caught a few fish and had a great time out on the ice! The next day they wanted more so we hit up another spot and tried to find some bluegill/crappie/perch - only to come up short with a couple of OUT OF SEASON fish that both went straight back down the hole until their respective openers! We had a bunch of light bites that punked us for our minnows which I'm sure were pannies as we were parked right on a big green weedbed. Those two days wrapped up our ice fishing for 2014 - and so far have been our only two days of fishing this year. Hopefully we will have much more to report once the ice takes a hike! Cheers, Ryan & the kids. ( And Mommy )

awesome! love the reports with kids! Good stuff Poppy

Love and well wishes Wayne. From all of us!

That sucks Cliff!!!! Sorry to hear man - I to have a habit of leaving the garage door wide open... and more often then I'd like to admit I forget it open overnight!!! That was at our last house farther out in the country... now that we're in town I guess I should learn to keep it shut!

YEP - we love u guys

Thank Frank! You and Juli do so much for the event and we can't thank you enough! I've been trying to get a family report done for the Fish-a-Thon but not having internet at our temporary residence doesn't make it easy! lol Hopefully I'll be able to get my re-cap up ASAP. Cheers, Ryan

Ditto to that... well said Bunk. Lots of love and well wishes Wayne!

Pretty sure were on 12 buddy... My dad is there right now setting up our trailer

Calling for RAIN still guys! Try to come prepared just in case the weather man is right and we get that rain they're calling for!

Yep - What Rich said. You're good to leave your boat in the water buddy - just not at hte main dock. Try to find a spot on one of the small docks.. Mine will be in the water you can even tie onto it if you want. The boat will be fine, but don't leave any rods or tackle down there overnight.

Wayne what I do has become such a small part... It the work of the entire group that makes this happen every year! Thanks for your support man! Will you went over and above with that amazing pledge Via PayPal! I can't thank you enough buddy! Hope you can make it out for a visit tomorrow!

Yep - I started another thread in a sneaky attempt to get more people reading about the fish-a-thon!!! haha Averie and I quickly put this video together... She did it for out of town family that she couldn't go see for pledges but it applies to anyone who wants to donate but can't do so in person!! Thanks so much for the ongoing support guys - the Fish-a-Thon wouldn't be half of what it is without OFC! I'm doing this on my phone and am unsure how to embed the video using the phone... Thanks, Ryan