007

Hey Bowslayer. One of the days my wife and I went for a walk around the campground and saw your boat at your campsite but there was no one around, otherwise we would have said hello. It sounds like with a bit more luck and better weather I could have perhaps got that elusive first walleye and first decent smallie of the year. Oh well can't win all the time. 007

Nice one dsn. How big was it (weight, length etc)? Sure looks like a 20-25pounder. Hope to get out there with you one day - I could do the whole cameraman thing in between catching a few of my own! 007

Wow. Great looking smallies. Looks like you both had a great time. Congratulations 007

Great report Aaron - had been wondering how you got on up there. I had a feeling you would get one of those Muskies. I bet that huge one gave Kristi a surprise, I don't think she thought you would catch one on those huge furry lures! The result would have been worth all that noise from your baitcaster reel too!! Thanks again for letting me have the experience of fishing with you and sharing your boat. It was great to meet you both. If you're interested in seeing what other (smaller) fish live at Restoule - check out my report (probably on page 2 or 3 by now!) Gavin (a.k.a 007)

In my quest to catch as many of ontario's fish species this year I have been using the eating guide to understand what fish I might catch in different bodies of water. I soon realised that there were many fish that were not listed which I had caught from listed lakes. Therefore I have come to the conclusion that the fish listed are those that are the most commonly found species, those most targetted for eating, and those that MNR have caught and tested or stocked. As for Musky - it is not listed anywhere in the guide I don't think because if you ready the intro it says that muskies should be caught and released and not eaten as they are very slow growers and can contain high levels of pollutants - sound arguments for conservation and safety. That's just my logical conclusions from reading bits of the guide - but there may be some other guys from MNR on OFC who could tell you more. I think there is one member who actually helped produce the guide - but can't remember their name. 007

Nice fish there Clive! Seems like not just the pike need to watch out when you're about! Its nice to be able to fish local rivers for new species. Wish there were a few places like that nearer T.O.. Thanks for sharing. 007

Nice Ebro Cat there English! Good to see us English going to Spain for more than just sun, sea and s....sand!!

Nice report. Good fish and great pics - congrats. 007

Good job BBR and Sleded - good variety of fish caught and some nicely marked muskies! Thanks for sharing 007

English, You're right - I'm certainly thinking twice about returning to England and not just because of the great fishing here in Ontario. Unfortunately though I have to go where my job takes me and where I will have the best career prospects. Though just iun case I will be looking into how to get Canadian residency status - not sure how easy that is though? If it was a fishing decision - it would be an easy decision. Compare my local day ticket fishing for tiny roach and perch in a muddy looking canal in London, England with fishing for huge carp and pike, hard fighting bass, beautiful looking sunfish and strange creatures like bullhead and bowfin in the 'clear' waters of the Toronto Islands (for free!). There's no contest. One good thing though about the UK is that you get a lot more holiday/vacation entitlement - so I could probably see/fish more of Ontario by coming over from the UK! Not quite so good on the bank balance though :-( Cheers 007

I hear you English. I'm also from England but have been based in Toronto, Canada for the last two and half years. The fishing here is great. It's different from back home in many ways - lots more water to fish, lots of free fishing, more fishing from boats, many different techniques, more aggressive and less wary fish, lots of different fish species, plus a few familiar ones. There is a chance that I will unfortunately be going back to live in England at the end of this year and I must say from a fishing perspective am not looking forward to it!

Thanks for the kind comments guys. Sure was tough out there that weekend but you can always count on some Rockbass to add some good old fishing fun. TonyB - My wife and I decided not to rent a boat from Martin's Camp because of the unpredictable weather and because we are novices when it comes to boats. There were certainly lots of bait fish in the lake and some big fish in the depths as shown on Aaron's electronics (likely walleye, whitefish and lake trout), but in the morning I fished with Aaron I was targetting bass and Aaron bass and musky. Interestingly most boats that left the park for walleye came back without any luck when I was there. So I shouldn't be too disappointed and I was warned it would be tough there. I'm looking forward to see if Aaron does a report when he gets back as I would like to know how he got on for the rest of the week and see if those back lakes were any good - from the sounds of it they would have been better places to get my bass!

Sounds like a fantastic day - congrats on the musky!

Pics added at last.

Just got back from England and bought a load of fishing magazines while I was there. Was looking at them on the plane earlier and sure enough one of the top anglers in the UK was using red line! First I had seen of it. When I finish reading the article properly I'll see what it says about it.

Hi all. Sorry that this Canada Day camping/fishing report is a little late, but no sooner as I got home from the trip I had to fly back to England for a few days. I hope there's not too many typos - just got back today and am jetlagged. Well my wife and I headed out north from T.O to Restoule for our second camping trip of the year with the aim (well at least for me) to catch some more species to cross off this year's list. The main targets were walleye, smallmouth bass and possible Muskie. The park is a nice place but would the fishing be any good... Unfortunately, things didn't quite go to plan. Firstly, the weather was unusually cold for the first two days. Secondly, we didn't get chance to rent a boat and Thirdly, the fishing on Lake Restoule is notoriously difficult with no real possibilities of catching fish from shore at my lakeside campsite. I had hoped I would catch my first smallmouth bass of the year from my campsite but as I had been warned by TonyB and Bowslayer - the shoreline of the park is incredibly shallow and even if I waded out a long way or took the inflatable out and casted, there just didn't seem to be any fish in the shallows - probably because of the cold temps? My next option was to take TonyB's advice and fish from the nearby boat dock at Bell's Point. I tried my luck there on the second day, together with all the other fishermen without a boat - got pretty crowded at times. One guy said that the night before someone had caught a bunch of fish including smallies, but had kept everything for the dinner table. I hoped there were some fish left to catch! Fortunately there were but not the fish I was after. For the next two days I fished the odd hour here and there at the docks - and the action was pretty non-stop but it was rock bass after rock bass or sunfish after sunfish - including some of a good size (plus the smallest i've ever seen/caught)... but no smallies. I wasn't too disheartened though as I seemed to be outfishing everybody else there. The key was to float fish worms with just the right length of line between the float and hook to dangle the bait above an area of submegred logs - perhaps an old beaver lodge, where a shoal of rockies were hiding. After a while I decided to try to pass my method on to other anglers who weren't catching but most of them were too arrogant to listen... what's with that ... oh well their loss. Here's a few pics - I love the way rock bass scrap and their different patterns. On the last night with the dream of my first smallie of the season and my first walleye ever looking unlikely and me feeling somewhat disappointed with the weekend I had a change of fortune. A month or so ago when I first posted a question about fishing Restoule, I had a response from Aaron Shirley of "Getting Hooked with Aaron and Barry" Fishing TV show fame to say he would be up at Restoule. Little did I know though that he would be practically in the next site to me. Needless to say it wasn't long before we bumped into each other and got chatting about fishing. Aaron was even kind enough to invite me out for a morning's fishing with him and the lovely Christie on his boat on my last day in the park. The three of us headed out to a couple of recommended spots and started fishing for smallmouth bass with a mixture of xraps and shadrap crankbaits. It wasn't long before Aaron caught the first smallmouth, closely followed by Christie's first one of the day. It took a little longer before I managed to hook a smallie and as is typically my luck just as I was about to swing it into the boat it took it's third and successful jump for freedom. So unfortunately no picture and I guess I can't cross that species of this year's list as I didn't hook another after that. Despite the slow fishing and the disappointment of not boating my first smallie of the year it was a great morning of fishing and conversation. I would like to say a big thank you to both Aaron and Christie for taking me out and for being so friendly. I may not have caught much but I really enjoyed myself and certainly picked up a few tips along the way. It was also a treat to see Aaron cast out his big musky lures - some of which I couldn't believe would ever catch a fish, though they did have teeth marks to prove their previous successes. Anyhow - the quest continues in a few weeks time with another camping/fishing trip, this time to Silent Lake P.P - hopefully I will catch some smallmouth bass there that will stay on the hook long enough for a picture! The walleye and musky will have to wait for another day and another venue. One final thought for you fisherpeople who go camping - don't leave your bait buckets unattended outside your tent - it attracts a few unwanted guests as this pic at some guys site shows.... Needless to say the mother raccoon went back to her babies with a belly full of minnows! Cheers 007

I'm off to bed. Can't take it anymore. How do you catch so many different fish species from shore in your few hours fishing each evening!? Well done again - nice to see daylight too. To be honest Cliff that Drum looks prettier than most of the carp you catch! Good luck tomorrow with the salmon! I feel another amazing report with pics coming our way from you guys tomorrow! 007

Judging by that list - I think your beating me by three or four species! I must try harder! LOL I don't suppose you have a picture of the Trout-perch? I've seen drawings of them in a book but never an actual photo of one - would be great to see a shot of an uncommon species like that. (sorry for changing the subject from your initial post) 007

Anywhere in the weed off Gilford. Two weeks ago I hooked a beauty about 100m from shore in 8ft of water. Only problem was my line snapped and I lost it. If you catch or see one with a 'hot steel' coloured xrap in its mouth that's the one! I want that lure back LOL Good luck 007

Have you two ever considered setting yourself the same target that I have of catching as many different species in a year as possible. I'm convinced you could just do it and catch all of them in Ontario! My guess is you already have more than me already, and usually bigger than the ones I get too!! Seriously...How many/what species have you caught this year between the two of you, i'm curious? Watch out fish... here comes ccmtcanada and bly - none of you are safe! Keep the reports coming. All the best for the weekend. 007

Nice looking bass there, pity the bugs cut your fishing time short - pesky things!

Good job dsn. I've used green/chartreuse microtubes on Cook's Bay and caught loads of pumpkinseedfish and perch. One reason those bluegills and pumpkinseedfish didn't take them could be because they are still spawning. When I was down at the Islands last weekend I watched them spawning and then cast baits to them - the majority of the times i dangled a bait in front of them they picked it up by one end, didn't swallow, swam 2ft from their nest and spat it out. They just weren't interested (even in a bit of wriggling worm), all they were interested in was protecting their nest. You took some good photos - is really good to see the fish in their natural habitat (though minus the cans and other garbage). I would like to invest in a waterproof digital camera to try and takeshots underwater at some point. Does your camera have a setting to reduce the glare of the water or do you have to use software afterwards to get the effect? Either way it gets you interesting shots though a little surreal looking. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it out to fish with you tomorrow due to work commitments. If you're still going, good luck and I'll try and get out there with you for those monster carp at some point this summer. 007

Don't worry Urbanangler - Cliff is right lymph nodes swell up when you're body is fighting an infection or virus. My wife had some recently after our last camping trip - the doc thought that she may have been bitten and the body's immune system was fighting back! It took a few weeks for them to go down. That said....It's worth getting a doc to look at it though asap if you're in pain. As Roy said, they will probably prescribe some antibiotics. Keep well 007

Thanks Bowslayer. Lots of great info. Maybe see you out there. Thanks to you and TonyB I have a much better understanding of the place and the fishing opportunities before I arrive. 007

Congratulations Cliff on your achievements - a true all round angler! 007