007

Nice shot - I like photos of deer in fields of long grass with their heads popping out. Depending on what lens I have I might try to get a little tighter in on the subject. But at other times I will do like you did and leave them small in the frame to show how they blend in to their surroundings. The other thing to try sometimes is to put the animal off to one side slightly so that the creature is looking into the picture and then the empty spaces don't feel so big as the viewer perceives the animal to be looking into the area where they are going.

Nice shots. When I am at a high viewpoint I like to do both - some just showing the panorama and others with a person in so you get the sense of perspective, scale and the sense of someone viewing the grand landscape before you.

It's nice to catch a surprise fish! That's gotta be the first bass I've heard of being caught on corn though! Nice little trout too. Congrats. You've got the fishing bug bad! Keep the evening reports coming. 007

Nice fish! Never thought about using rattlin shads for Salmon. Must give that a go!

Thanks for the kind comments guys. May be I'll post more pics when the OFC photography forum is us up and running. 007

That sure is a sweet looking fish - congrats! 007

As promised here is Part deux! Having eaten our fish n'chips the day before we decided we needed to do some serious hiking the next day in order to burn some calories! For a morning hike we decided to do another 3 hour trail - the Cranberry Bog Trail. This was a long loop trail from the campground through forest, alongside marshes and bogs and past beautiful lakes set in pink granite and with a backdrop of the white quartzite La Cloche mountain range. It truly was a trail through a variety of habitats and environments but in places not the easiest to follow. Certainly didn't fancy getting lost out there. We stopped off for lunch above a beaver dam in one lake and my wife on spotting some minnows in the water started to feed them bread from my lunch. It wasn't long before the free offerings of food attracted a few pumpkinseed sunfish too. Soon after, the trail made its way past A.Y Jackosn lake (one of those lakes where no fishing is allowed), which is named after one of the Group of Seven artists who fought for the protection of Killarney as a Provincial Park. There we sat for a while contemplating life and enjoying the peace and quiet. Once back at camp we had a little break - cooling off in the lake before heading out for our second walk of the day - the Granite Ridge Trail. Though not the most impressive viewpoint in the park it was perhaps the least strenuous when compared with the trail to Silver Peak or "the Crack" (the best viewpoints) it still afforded great views of both the La Cloche quartzite hills to the north and the Georgian Bay granite rocks to the south. As you will see from the pics we saw a few other interesting things on the way - not least a curious green beetle and a vintage car abandoned in the woods! So the weekend was at an end on Monday and we had the long drive back to T.O to contend with. Not long after leaving the park we caught a glimpse of the elusive creature of the forest - a beautiful black bear - as it ran across the road ahead of us as we left the park. It was the first bear we had seen in Ontario in three years of exploring the parks wild places (wasn't our first bear sighting ever though as we had seen some in the Rockies and literally almost bumped into one in Yosemite National Park in the USA a few years ago - but that's another story). We planned to break the journey up again and use our park pass to see another provincial park on the way down - decided upon Killbear. Killbear struck me as being a nice park with a nice shoreline, forests and from the reports at the visitor centre plenty of wildlife including a few bears. I hear the fishing is good too. After a quick look around the new visitor centre and a walk to the lighthouse it was back on the road and back to 'civilisation'. It wasn't long before I longed for the wilds of the north! Hope you enjoyed the report - though not much in the way of fishing. Killarney is a beautiful place and well worth a trip - beautiful like Algonquin but different and wilder. Here's the pics.... enjoy.... 007

Good news from the Doc - no broken or cracked ribs - just damaged the muscles. 4 weeks till full recovery but I think I'll be almost fit for fishing this weekend

Thanks for the comments guys. When I hear that people have enjoyed the pics it makes the large amount of time spent doing the pics and post worth it. Deano - didn't make it to Silver Peak but I hear the view is fantastic. Made it to a few other lookouts, though not as high - they will be in Part 2. HeadHunter - thanks for the tip about the fish n'chip van - they were delicious. 007

Thanks for the comments guys. Off to get my xray results this afternoon. Grant - PM sent

I decided to spend a couple of hours after work fishing with a friend/colleague. Headed down to Grenadier Pond by subway from our Bloor/Yonge office. Started fishing at 6pm, packed up in the dark at 8pm. Back to basics fishing - light tackle, float and small piece of worm. We enjoyed pretty constant action from Bluegills and Pumpkinseedfish. Caught a few nice ones - a good warm up for the walleye and muskies of Pigeon Lake at the weekend LOL . On a more serious note - the aim of the evening was really to see if i could cast/fish without too much pain from my ribs following my 'accident' last week bassing at the islands. Still haven't heard from the doc about the xrays - to say whether I cracked a rib or not. It was still painful - but I managed to cast for a few hours. Hopefully will be at least half fit by weekend. Here's a few pics from tonight. Good night one and all Mr Bond!

A fine pair of bass!

Hi all. Well I promised a report from my Labour Day weekend trip to the beautiful Killarney Provincial Park near the north end of Georgian Bay. Here it is finally! I took so many pictures on the trip that its taken me a while to decide which ones to show you and download them all! Hope you enjoy Part 1. I hate long drives and this is surely one from Toronto (about 4-5 hours), so on the way up we decided to break the journey and stop off at the French River Provincial Park visitor centre. The recently opened centre was very interesting and informative, however the highlight was the view from the pedestrian bridge over the French River. We arrived at the George Lake campground later in the afternoon and set up camp. What with all the trips we have done this year, we had the tent up in no time at all. It was a beautiful first night - peace and quiet and a fantastic starry sky. Next morning we went exploring. First we found that there was a beautiful view of the La Cloche mountains across George Lake from the eastern end of the campground. With such beautiful weather we decided that the focus of our long weekend would be to do some hiking and some photography. First planned hike was the Chikanishing Trail. This trail winds its way over pink granite rocks and through forests along the Chikanishing River to Georgian Bay. What a beautiful 3hr hike it was. The rocky terrain was quite something with amazingly colourful rocks. The views of Georgian Bay were sublime. Here's a small collection of photos... After the hike, my wife was quiet tired so while she went for a snooze in the tent I grabbed the rod and went looking for a nice big rock to sit on and do some shore fishing for a couple of hours. The purpose of the trip was not fishing and I didn't think I would get the chance to so I jumped at the chance. I found a nice vantage point on a rock and started by float fishing with worms close to some broken rocks at the base of a peninsula. I wasn't quite sure what, if anything, I would catch as it is well documented that the lakes in Killarney have suffered over the years from acid rain which wiped out most living things. One plus side of the pollution is that the clarity of the water is unbelievable. So it wasn't long before I saw fish coming out of their hiding places in the rocks and taking a look at my bait! I had found a leaflet about fishing in the park at the park gate, which indicated that George Lake has Rock Bass and Perch in it (hence the worm bait!). However much to my 'surprise', the first fish landed was a pumpkinseed sunfish - should have guessed - they get everywhere LOL. Then next fish was a small smallmouth bass. Hang on - what happened to the Rockies and Perch I thought?! However true to form it wasn't long before I hooked a small rock bass - shouldn't have been surprised, it seems I can catch Rock Bass everywhere I go - whether it is the busy T.O Islands, wilds of Algonquin or an acidic lake in Killarney! For the next couple of hours I pulled out plenty of fish - in fact mainly smallies but the biggest was only about half a pound! I'm sure if I had tried a little longer and used lures I may have found some slightly bigger fish but it was fun all the same. Here's some pics..... Now in case any of you are wondering what the fishing is like in the rest of Killarney given the history, here's a quick guide to the main lakes that might be useful if you're thinking of heading up that way. It is based on what I read on the park leaflet. Balsam Lake - Good bass and pike fishing (closed to Lake Trout all year) Bell Lake - Good bass and pike fishing (closed to Lake Trout all year) Carlyle Lake - Pike and Smallmouth Bass (closed to Lake Trout all year) Fox Lake - Bass and Pike George Lake - Rock Bass, Perch +sunfish and smallies based on my experience (closed to Lake Trout all year) Johnnie Lake - Pike and Smallmouth Bass (closed to Lake Trout all year) In addition to these and a few others with fish in, there are 21 lakes where no fishing is allowed because they have been declared fish sancturies so the stocks can re-establish themselves. There are also a couple of lakes that are 'dead' lakes and have no fish in whatsoever! After the few hours of fun fishing I went back to camp and woke my wife. Neither of us could face cooking so we headed into the village of Killarney to sample the fish n' chips we had been told about. We weren't disappointed! I can honestly say that it was the best fish and chips I have had in Canada and it was even better than some back home in England! The chips were cooked to perfection and not greasy and the freshly caught whitefish and lake trout from Georgian Bay was just delicious. If you're up that way the 60km diversion off Highway 69 to Killarney is well worth it for the fish n chips let alone the scenery!! Well that's about it for part one. I will download some more pictures of the weekend's hiking and breathtaking scenery soon as part two! Cheers 007

Thanks for the tips guys!

That is one beauitful fish Carole - congratulations on a very impressive Brownie - much nicer looking than Cliff's fish!! LOL I told you that you guys would start catching different fish each night - what's tomorrow going to bring??

Thanks for the tips on the walleye. I presume I fish the jigs/grubs close to the bottom - do I tip a curly tail with a worm or leave it as is and should I fish it slowly? As for the musky - I have some gear that I have used for pike but it is certainly not very heavy gear. I'm talking a 7ft Medium heavy rod with 20lb powerpro and wire leaders. My biggest baits will be mepps #5, blue fox bucktails, xraps/husky jerks, and spinnerbaits. I have some pretty big long nose pliers and a reasonably sized net. Pigeontroller - I would like to catch and release the musky safely both for it and myself! Is that sufficient gear for small muskie? Kelvin - can't remember which cabin I'm in but will look out for you on Saturday/Sunday.

Hey folks. I'm heading up to Pigeon Lake this weekend. Managed to find a place to rent me a 14ft boat with 15hp motor - Pigeon Lake Resort near Noogies Creek. The plan is to fish for walleye and musky as I've not caught either before (plus whatever else is biting). Not necessarily after a trophy just a chance to add them to my list. Have a few questions.... On a lake like Pigeon what kind of areas should I target for these species? What depths should I fish lures at? What lures/baits should I use? What other species should I target? (Are there LM or SM Bass or both? Crappies? Any unusual species?) Any help, however small, is appreciated as I really want to try and catch these two quintessentially Canadian sportfish and add them to this year's quest list as my time in Canada is running out! PM if you prefer. Thanks. 007

Congratulations Clive!

Great idea Dan. Can't wait - seems like there are quite a few good photographers in the community. (Looks like a composite of more than one image cos there's some ghostly shapes on the horizon where they've been merged)

Great report and fish Cliff. Congratulations! 007

Deano... Don't get me wrong - you're right Ontario has many beautiful places. I have been fortunate enough in the three years I have been here to take numerous trips at weekends to see what the province has to offer in terms of wilderness and wildlife. I've been to Algonquin about 6 times, Killarney, St Lawrence, Killbear, French River, Georgian Bay, Awenda, Silent Lake, Restoule, Bruce Peninsula, Sandbanks among other places. I also plan to visit Bon Echo soon. I've been lucky enough to see lots of moose, deer, mink, a bear, a fisher, and many other species. What I meant by my comment was that it seems that Brandon has Mt Seymour Provincial Park on his doorstep where he can escape urban life, breath mountain air and see bears on a frequent basis close to home. By comparison if I wanted to do some wildlife photography, from my base here in Toronto - I would need to drive 3 hours to Algonquin or somewhere similar - where there is a very small chance of seeing a bear (I've spent many days in Algonquin and have yet to see a bear there) and though I love Algonquin - its scenery is not a match on the mountains of B.C and Alberta (in my opinion). You're right about one thing though - a lot of Ontarians (if that's a word) do not know what beautiful places and animals they have here - most of the people in my office have never seen a moose let alone a bear, and most have never ventured as far as Algonquin! They find it hard to belive that every time I go to Algonquin in Spring I see dozens of moose. I will certainly miss Ontario's wildlife and wilderness when I return to the UK where I will not have any of either cos all the land is developed, farmed and most wildlife hunted to extinction before Europeans even knew there was a place we now call Canada. The people of Ontario and Canada are lucky to have such a beautiful place to call home, and I hope it is looked after for future generations to enjoy! Cheers 007

Hey Loonietoon. My wife and I are heading up to Pigeon Lake Resort too - Saturday to Tuesday. Hoping to catch my first musky and walleye! Will hopefully be renting one of the resorts' boats on Sunday and Monday. Can't wait - hope the weather is cooperative. Have a good time and may be bump in to you there! 007

More great shots Brandon. Wish there was somewhere close to home like that to spend my weekends and evenings. You will have a great collection of Black Bear images by the year end. Congrats and keep em coming. 007

Great pictures Deano and Dan C.

Brandon, You should head over to Banff National Park in the springtime - quite a few Grizzlies. Though unfortunately their numbers are falling due to too many of them getting killed on the roads and railways and by illegal and legal hunters in the Alberta foothills. I read that there are actually many more grizzly bears in the Rocky Mountain national parks than black bears but the grizzlies tend to stay in the mountains while the black bears tend to stay nearer the valleys - where the roads and trails are, which is why people are most likely to encounter black bears. I hope the Grizzly can hold out in Canada for many years to come. Otherwise, best place to see those big brown bears has got to be Katmai and Kenai areas in Alaska - may be one day I'll get up that way. Can't wait for more of your wildlife and scenery shots. Cheers 007