MJL

Awesome report Mike

Well done for both you and your son.

Congrats Will and great report too

You never forget your first. WTG!

Cool pics and vids Jacques

Is that just sugar water you're feeding the humming birds? I've always wanted to try setting up one of those feeders in my backyard next to the window so I can photograph them.

Neat veggie garden too. The raccoons and rabbits always ended up eating my greenies before I got a chance to

If they're floating around on top, one popular bait to use is dog kibble. You can try soaking it in a flavouring for a bit for some added attraction and then stick one or two pieces onto the hook. Bread (left fluffy not mashed up) also works too (unfortunately, ducks and seagulls like bread too.LOL). When I see carp cruising by, I also toss out a worm + single split shot in front of them and many times they take - I've even had carp do a 180 and take the worm as it's falling down to the bottom.

Great catch. No doubt was a blast on the ultra-lite

Still a fair number of steelhead around in the tribs. The times I tried using pink worms for the resident trout, all I ever got were chub

Love the pics...I'm dying to get up that way for steel. Thanks for sharing.

Great report Cliff. Looks like an awesome daddy-daughter day you two had.

I'm guessing she takes after Bly when it comes to fishing...They both out-fish you

The question remains...When's she going to get her first carp?

I only just started fishing for resident trout (purposely) last week so I'm still fairly new at it. For the times I've been out, Panther Martins in size 1 have been producing better than any other lure or bait I've thrown at them.

I love a question about fishing the spinners. What is the best approach or technique when using them? Also, I thought I was fishing a nice small pool at the end of a run this morning with my #1 Vibrax Pink when all of a sudden I saw a fish approach, attack and snap my line off. After further investigation I noticed that the majorit of the fish in this stream were smallies. Do smallies have that much power to snap my 4lb line?

The basic answer is there really isn't a best approach to fishing spinners. My background to spinner fishing is primarily fishing for steelhead but the techniques I used to catch steel worked very well with the resident trout.

When I'm fishing weighted spinners (Like Mepps, Vibrax, Double loon, Rooster tail, Olympique, Panther Martin, etc), my favourite approach to fishing a pool, run or rifle is to stand downstream of your intended spot, cast the lure upstream of the target and then retrieve with the current (you may have to countdown a few seconds after the cast if you're fishing deeper water). A lot of the time, I'm casting straight upstream. My go-to rod for trout fishing is a 5'6" UL spinning rod (Actually it's my only rod for smaller trout)...My go-to rod for steelhead is a 7' Medium action spinning rod (rated 6-12lb) - For me, I find longer rods less sensitive and less accurate for pitching spinners in close quarters.

You can also cast across or slightly downstream and swing the spinner across the river by guiding the line with your rod. If you don't feel the blade turning, hold back on the rod, if you need more depth, lead with the rod. Great for fishing shallower runs and pools because when you hold back on the spinner to get the blades turning, the lure will tend to rise up in the water column (perhaps out of the fish's perferred strike zone)

You could just leave the spinner in one spot and let the current spin the blade of the lure. Works great if you're standing on top of a log jam or undercut and you can guide the lure between branches and other snags. I find extra heavy bodied spinners work really well for this - I have one spinner (Made by Strike King I think) with a lead keel body and it has worked quite well just by leaving it dangling in the water.

You can cast also them anywhere and fish them like a regular lure. Works great in slow moving, large, wide pools. A lot of the time, fish will chase them down and nail them in the shallows...Gets the heart racing

Spinners tend to bring out the worst in fish. Fish don't nibble spinners (at least big ones don't)...They always smash them.LOL

One of my favourite methods of catching steelhead and trout.

Hope this helps

Great report Blaque. I really enjoyed the pics. Well done on taking the nephew out for a day of fishing - You've got a great fishing buddy for life

Thanks for sharing

which stream is this? seems kinda small, I am surprise there are any fish in it at all.

Looks like great habitat to live in. Clean, cold water with lots of roots to hide in and rocks to provide homes for bugs of all sorts for fish to eat.

love the spinner fishing eh.

You know it

Can't go wrong with spinners. For steelhead I enjoy tossing spinners as much as I do getting them on the pin. In terms of fun, it's hard to beat watching them follow a spinner close in, then nailing it right at your feet and then having to dodge their initial few jumps right into your spawn sacks (if you know what I mean)

Sea food probably can't get fresher than that

I've always wanted to go to the Fraser to try my hand at catching the ultimate bottom feeder

Awesome report and great pics. Thanks for sharing

Great report Jedi!

Well done on those catches. I've only fished there once 6-7 yrs ago. I only caught lots of small perch and had 1 small pike hit a topwater lure - couldn't connect with it though. I might have to take the canoe out and try it again this year. Thanks for sharing

Might not be the coolest thing to do in downtown Toronto but after a rain, go out to the park at night with a headlamp (preferably with a red light) and pick as many as you need. If there's lawn sprinklers in the park, you don't even need rain.

I normally start my worm picking at midnight in my yard when the worms are getting kinky with one another

I can grab 2 worms at once.LOL

You can also pick them off sidewalks, driveways and the street when it rains...It's even easier to get them there than on the lawn...They're fast buggers.

Hope this helps

PS

If you're planning to use worms around the Islands or Harbourfront, be prepared for lots and lots of gobies (did I mention lots ) .

Thanks guys

so you finally bought a net for this ? lol!!

 

nice work man, that definitely was a great day.

I've had that net for a few years...Use it when I'm fishing smallies in the canoe. I think it's the first time in 2 or 3 years that I've used it though.LOL

GCD, that's awesome...You ever have to pull up anchor and chase Moby Dick? Ever get spooled fishing the fast water?

After a dismal carping session Saturday night (into Sunday morning), I was pumped for another fun day of hunting brookies.

Over the weekend I did some research on more places to try my luck for brookies. Pulled out old maps I got from the Toronto Sportsman Show years ago. Also did more searching on Google Earth and I visited the local library to see if I could get my hands on a few topographic and hydrographic maps.

Left the house at 8am this morning with my: Fishing licence + wallet, polarized glasses, ultra-lite combo, a small net, a sandwich, a bottle of water, camera, bug spray (definitely needed) + sunscreen, waders + boots and a small box of spinners and other mini lures. I packed light for this trip.

Got to the river and climbed down the bank (I actually got lost twice on the way to the river but I won't discuss that ) …Tried the first few pools above the road with a panther martin spinner but no luck…Not even the chub or minnows were biting (I actually didn’t hook any all day). Walked further upstream and found a big deep pool with some fallen logs. I hid behind some shrubs for maximum concealment and 2nd cast with the spinner I get one to hit.

Success! It was 10 inches long and the biggest brookie of the day

Walked further upstream and fished deeper runs, pocket water, rifles, pools, undercuts and log jams. Most of the places I actually stopped at I either hooked and landed one or hooked and lost one…Unfortunately most spots were just 1 fish spots – I'm guessing the rest of the fish probably ran deep into cover afterwards.

Another one – This was about the average size today – Still beautiful nonetheless

A kaleidoscope of colours

Landed 12 brookies in total in a 1.5km stretch of river and lost a good number of small ones. All of them were caught on the panther martin spinner (My only one which I subsequently lost to a sunken tree today). I was amazed at how fast they dart out of cover and hit lures.

At 1pm I hopped into the car and made my way to a lower stretch of the river. First cast into the pool, I’m greeted with a small but sweet brownie

They really liked the Mepps spinner.

The release

In total I landed 12 of these small browns…All them were roughly the same size. I had a fun time catching them on the ultra-lite and thought my day went pretty well (I'm sure the fishing won't always be like this)…I had another half hour to fish till I had to go home…A few more casts wouldn’t hurt…

I casted my size 1 Mepps upstream and retrieved with the current…I suddenly found my drag singing like mad and my 5’6” ultra-lite rod bent over double

I had a good idea what was taking me up and down river for a run

After 5 frantic minutes of running, trying to horse the thing in, subsequently slipping on some mud and falling onto my ass and cussing, I tail a chrome steelhead of around 7lbs

Seems the steelhead gods flicked the On-Switch…In the last half hour of my day, I hooked and landed 3 more steelhead between 2-7lbs in the same pool with the Mepps. For the other members of my Chromaholics Anonymous support group, these fish were accidents and I didn’t enjoy catching them at all (well maybe just a little ).

It was a great day out. Weather was nice, fish were biting (some bugs were too but Deet kept them at bay). I’m afraid to say that I think I'm becoming addicted to this type of ultra-lite fishing. It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever wanted to try fishing for something measured in inches rather than pounds and I’m enjoying it a lot. This evening I purchased a few more Panther Martin and small Mepps spinners from BPS and it looks like I’m ready for another round with the brookies.

Hope you enjoyed

Welcome to OFC Mark. Great report and pics too.

Mike

Epic reportage (hehe I said epic...But it really was )

Holy mother of cod, those brookies look tasty.

Mind-Blasting report Cliff...Congrats on the PB too

Can't beat spending time at an OFC G2G...Looks like you had a blast

I've always wondered how squirrels taste...There's an especially fat one in my backyard that screams "Eat me!"...It really does

Now you gotta hunt for ones that are steelhead sized

Like you, I was amazed at how pretty those fish can be...Great report and pics bud.

So Mike when you going to take me carpin and show me how its done???

 

Berge

Hopefully very soon Berge...I'll even let you use your net to land a few so you can appreciate the smell of a carp on the ride home

I'll probably scout out a few places this week and let you know

Great reports and pics Marko.

That fully scaled mirror is a gem...Beauty fish...Congrats

Looks like I might have a go at the carp around my local swims...You've got me pumped!

A few times I saw a banner for a lesbian partner search site...Maybe they like to fish too

Hey MJL, so WHEN are we going to go for a drift?! or your too busy fishing for carp.

Now that was just mean! You know I'm working through an addiction to chrome

Young grasshopper, I must show you the ways of the jedi carping force (Being a carping Jedi master myself )... Only when you become a master of carp (the world's smartest freshwater fish), can you truly become a master angler of all other species.

Berge, you are so insensitive. Why couldn't you wait a few more weeks (or more) till the carp bite picks up? I spent last night/this morning (9:30pm - 5am) freezing my nuts of waiting for a carp to bite...I managed 4 line bumps and my first skunking since March...Why did you post this!!!? Why!!!?

*curled into the fetal position on the floor and shaking* - "one more drift couldn't hurt..." "Brownies like jigs too..."

WTG Brendan!

...And yes you too Berge

Thanks guys for the comments...I'm still thinking about landing that first brookie

Those specks are quite large for small creek fish.

Welcome to headwater brookie hunting; beats the crowds and still is good for a month or so and picks up again for September.

Congrats on the success! Those are some nice specimens.

How big on average are they usually in the streams? I got 1 that was 5 inches, 3 in the 9-10 inch range and 1 that was 14.25 inches.

I was so close to picking up a new ultra-lite rod today along with a new trout net...I'm afraid to say I just plunged head first into the wonderful world of brookie hunting

Also, what lures or baits could you recommend for stream fishing? I'm not exactly sure if the spinners I already own are too big for them (Mepps + Vibrax in size 1-3). At the moment, I'm having a hard time tracking down spinners in size 0 around my neighbourhood - Tried a few tackle shops + CTC + Wal-Mart with limited success as well as variety.

Thanks