The Urban Fisherman

oh yeah, and don't bother with perch whatever you do...for some reason they don't do well in aquariums...not for me anyways

It used to be a hobby of mine - back before, and a little while during college I kept a number of native species. Speks did well as long as the aquarium was in the basement and the water stayed on the cooler side. They loved cichlid pellets. Sunfish and Rockbass also did very well and were cool to see schooling around the tank. Bullheads and Baby Carp were hard core bottom feeders, thus keeping the bottom of the tank tidy...especially the carp, you could see the sand getting sucked up in their mouths, they'd filter out the dirt swallowing it and the leftover clean sand flew out their gills...cool to watch. One favourite of mine was creek skulpins I got from manitoulin isl. Cool lookin' fish! And for a while I had two Smallies, but as Fang said once they hit about 6 inches they get to be pretty vicious. They grew up from about a half inch or so and lived peacefully with my african cichlids, then one day my cichlids started disappearing??? After Berkley and Fenwick (smallies) ate about $60.00 worth of them I released them back into the Thames where they came from, and that ended my hobby of keeping native fish. Haven't had a tank for a few years now but I'd like to get back into it when I have time..and money for the right setup! Cheers, UF

got bored after reading the first page of threads, but for the most part Gerrit's got the right frame of mind on the issue. I'll admit though, I'm much more careful around other people and children than I am with my own daughter. Just the way I was raised, my parents and family swore in front of me my entire life, and I'll tell you something, my brother and I were probably two of the most polite, respectable children around. Just because my parents swore in front of me doesn't mean they didn't instill the proper values, or a sense of respect for other people and their religion or race. cheers

I don't do as much carping or pier fishing as I used to but I'd order some up if they were available! cheers, UF

Hey guys, When I was going to college in london my tackle box was stolen from the deck of my fraternity house right downtown, and being a "starving student" I had to restart my lure collection from scratch, so off to the dollarizzo I went and for a whole season all I used was those dollarama lures.... Here's what I learnt. The mini crank baits never swim right....I never had any real confidence in them anyways, so I didn't bother trying to tweak them. The poppers worked ok, but they're super light and nearly impossible to throw on a baitcaster, so I used a spinning setup for them. As for Snags bigger Rap style lures, I didn't have a HUGE amount of luck with his silver orange one, but I SMOKED pike after pike one weekend on the west arm with the Green sort of perch paterned one. And my Go-To lure for Smallies in the Thames, was and still is the 3" pink and Silver dollarama lure. I never had any troubles with the lures themselves falling apart, BUT I highly suggest replacing the trebles, as they tend to rust out pretty quickly. Good Dollarama Fishin' guys! Cheers, UF

Awesome catch! That first one frozen or just really pale? Never fished eyes in the winter before! I had a ferret when I was in highschool - cute little guy there. cheers, UF

won't find me there Hometown! No point in spending a day drooling over something I could never afford to buy at this point! haha Unless of course somebody comes out with a discount Tinny/Electric motor package?! lol Maybe next year!

good work Rich I might have to check out my local carp spot this week! cheers!

what a SWEET thread! Hands down my favourite picture and outing of the year is my daughters FIRST bluegill! She's a whopping 8ish months old when she hooked into this monster! haha My Fiance's First carp! My Dad and I don't get out much these days as he lives in Sudbury and I live near Long Point so it was a huge highlight to get out with him on the BOG this summer where he managed his PB Largie, first time using a bait caster to boot! The new personal Pontoon Boat! And Some Personal Bests!!! PB Pike! PB Smallies GOOD LUCK IN '08 Everybody!

Yeah I Second the Credit for sure! Highly Underrated. I lived in Port Credit for about a year and man do I miss fishing that River! In the summer you can catch smallies all day long, there's the obvious steelhead runs, the salmon runs, pike, largemouth, browns and you might even get a surprise or two along the way! My biggest being two nice Walleye back to back. Still my favourite catches in the credit...a close second to my first salmon... You should try it out sometime! Good Luck! uf

ha - you look like Wilson from "Home Improvement" hiding behind that musky! Nice fish! UF

workin' right now Lew! Editing a walleye show - it's gonna be a good one to... But I'm taking a few days off as of tomorrow morning! Merry Christmas all! Ryan & Family

BEST WISHES RICK! About a month ago my Beagle got into the garbage in the garage and managed to get one of my steelheading hooks lodged in his throat! Found him with line and a couple of split shots hanging out of his mouth. So off he went to the emergency, and two days later and $1000.00 he was more hyper than ever. The only difference was a couple of daily pain pills, a bald spot on the neck and some stiches. They actually cut through his neck and into his throat to remove the hook!!!! Gotta give them vets credit, they sure know what they're doing! Good luck - I'm sure he'll be a-ok! Shoot me a PM if need be - the power was flickering all afternoon/night tonight so I opted to stay away from the computer and now i'm pulling an all-nighter to catch up on some work before Christmas! again, my best to your pal!! UF

What a great report Lew! I thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's memories. I've been working my tail off the past few days and will continue to do so until late Christmas eve so it's nice to take a few moments and read some Christmas memories. As for myself, Christmas is hands down my fav. time of year, and I have countless fond memories from when I was a child. After reading some of your reports, about children who're in university, or who've long left the house, I realised how fast they grow up and how important it is for me to capture these memories on film and video. I took a couple of minutes and dug up some photos from last Christmas when my daughter was only but 2 MONTHS old, and I was shocked at how much she's changed in only one short year! Photos from this week: Thanks for the advice camillj! Happy Holidays Everybody! Ryan

yepp - thanks once again for the report Solo - guess I'm going to be giving those steelies a go on boxing day! maybe even x-mas day depending on how my fiance feels about that idea! Happy Holidays! ryan

Hey X-rap - I grew up in sudbury but the only ice fishing I ever did was for lakers on Lake Wanapetei and I'm pretty sure it's still wide open! If you do make it out let us know how the trip goes! I love hearing reports from "the home land"... Good Luck, UF

welcome to fatherhood brother! When all else goes to crap, and you're having the worst day ever, a smile on your little ones face can take it all away in a flash! Congrats! Ryan

nice to see you got out rich! I'm dying to hit deer creek but it's still WIDE OPEN....barely any ice at all! Keep us posted..we'll have to hit up the bay at some point this winter. Cheers, UF

Welcome aboard fireball! I went to school in London and fished the downtown strip of the thames 7 days a week! I can almost wade the entire stretch without leaving the water! Can't wait to see some reports! I love that river. We'll have to hook up next summer! Good fishin', UF

Glad to hear you're feelin' better! and thanks for the funny read! even though it was at your own expense - always thinking of others eh!

Thanks for the report HH - We're supposed to be headin' out to the bay next week!!! Hopefully it holds out!! Cheers

Mornin' Guys! I'm sure Dave's going to send out a press release when he finally has some free time, but I thought I'd let ya's all know that The Facts of Fishing has a slick new website to go along with the new show. Everybody gets to share thier creative work on OFC, so here's my chance to share some of my editing work to those who don't have WFN. Dave's got a ton of other content as well, all his tips, a ton of video, photos, wallapers, news, his blog, the list goes on and on. Pair it up with OFC and you've got a whole afternoon's worth of things to do on the NET white at work! hehe Let us know what you think! Cheers, Ryan Daves New Website

HEY IRISH! Remember saying this????? "You tell me the answer Ryan... I'll claim the prize and well split it later ! " hahaha ok I didn't tell you the answer, but you still won, so wha'do ya say? Congrats all! Ryan

that looks awesome guido! very cool!