Ben_Daniels

Damb Cuz that's a huge cat!! Congrats! does that steelhead have a HUGE eye or is it just me? -Ben

I would definitely recommend a Shimano Cruxis. I've used this reel for the past couple years and think it is awesome! Ive gone back and bought 2 more at like $130 each. I just saw it on sale at Tackle warehouse for $70! Here's the link http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpageRLCSHIMANO-SHCR.html If I were you I would buy two of these for less than the price your looking to spend. Great reels in my opinion! -Ben

Awesome report buddy! Those are some sweet Pike! -Ben

Wheres the can of worms, where is it!? O my god its open I don't think its a huge deal but i do get mad for the sole reason that I can't go fishing for what you caught! makes me jealous I personally don't think we should even have a closed season but I do respect it and follow the laws. In most places fishing for spawning bass is a moral/ethical question. Here in Ontario its a legal one. I don't think its wrong to fish for bass during the spawn but i do think its wrong to target bass on beds. Even when there are bass on beds there are also usually bass finished spawning and bass that haven't spawned yet. I guess most people don't understand that and I guess that's a big reason why we have a closed season. If you catch a bass off a bed and keep out away for more than a minute or two it probably won't go back to the bed and all those eggs will get eaten. Fish that aren't spawning I don't think it has any affect on them really when their caught. And I gotta say it does take skill to catch a big bass on a bed, not as easy as you think! When I lived in Florida where there was no closed season we'd catch more big fish when the spawn had finished. I found it a lot harder to catch a big bass off a bed with lures than after the spawn finished using a big shiner under a float. But after seeing the affect that taking bass off beds had, I stopped fishing for bass that were on beds, because morally/ethical I felt bad about it. When you take a bass of a bed and it goes back to the bed the fish loses all its color, looks pale, its eyes look weird (it basically looks like its cracked out) This was in Florida where I could legally fish for bedding bass. Just my two cents on the bass season.....What was this topic about again? I think I need another beer. -Ben

Nah I didn't get a measurement or weight on any of them. Its was probably 30-32". Ill measure the bigguns. Yea I hate taking the time to blurr images...a real pain! But a couple years ago I got some choice words in a PM from someone. lol Thanks for all the replies guys -Ben

Hey everyone! I Haven't fished or posted in a while, but I went out for the Pike opener and figured I better make a report. I hit a couple of shore spots in Toronto searching for pike. I caught probably 8-9 fish most of which were small hammer handle pike that I didn't take pictures of, also an OOS bass which I unhooked in the water (why are you biting 8inch long baits! ) I Only took pictures of a couple of the bigger fish. I Didn't catch any really big fish, but had a great time, I love early season Pike! Here they are. I think I've finally mastered the timer of my new digital cam This was my first fish of 09'! It had a big wound on it side... I don't know if it was from spawning? or a bigger pike? a lamprey maybe? Another little guy Another little guy This was the biggest one -Ben P.S. Why am I not seeing a report that makes me jealous from SNAG!!!!!! *No fish were harmed during the making of this report.

He didn't play Harvest Moon

mmmm....salmon and ketchup . Nice catch! -Ben

4 inch Zoom Dead Ringer in Pumpkinseed/Chartreuse. either fished texas style with a small weight, or rigged weightless and fished really slowly.

I'm bartending right now...its alright but Not a career, pays the bills and lots of cash money, not to mention all the cute girls and free booze. I'm also a George Brown Graduate too!!! Hospitality and Tourism...yea the kitchen sucks until your a manager but then your chillin. I'm still going going back to school next year for Economics at York University, who knows anymore, DO what you Love to do.......except fishing cuz that ll never happen Just kidding! -Ben

Put a CO at the trout pond in the Toronto Islands this time of year and the fines will more than pay for their hourly wage .... I got in a HUGE argument with two younger, 20-something year old guys at the Toronto Islands about this time of year last year. They were fishing for bass on beds and I got really mad and gruffly told them to stop and they refused....it almost got violent because I kept throwing small stones wherever they cast their baits so that they would stop fishing for the bedding bass....I eventually walked away and learned that its better to just ignore these people because even if you tell them that their doing something wrong, they DONT care at all and they might even get violent. People who don't understand the regs, now thats a different story.... -Ben

That is AWESOME!!!! My hat goes off you you Cliff! I cant even put into words how entertaining that was for me!!! So true and yet so funny hahahaha Its already stuck in my head -Ben

Touche hahahah -Ben

You've got the wrong hat on in the first pic ....Awesome pics and report! -Ben

The dropshot rig, one of my favorites.... its just a different way to present a bait! Yes you can use small circle hooks and finesse baits on spinning tackle which is what most people think of when they hear dropshotting..... or you can even use big baits rigged weedless on big hooks (3/0-5/0 worm hooks) with big weights(1/2oz-1oz) and a beefy rod. I really like fishing this rig in the weeds. I like to use the bigger, heavier drop shots when I'm fishing for largies. Some days a 3 inch finesse bait might be really good, but a lot of the time I find the largies like a 4-5inch craw or creature bait on a dropshot. all depends on the situation, type of fish,ect. Yea you can definately cast it out and slowly drag it back in feeling the bottom and shaking it. I even give it a pop every now and again. It's just a different way to present a bait!! Don't forget it!...I hear people use dropshot rigs for everything for crappie to Lake trout. Not just for smallies! One of you smart musky guys...Lew... should figure out a way to make a musky drop shot..might be really effective or maybe just the next marketing scheme lol -Ben

I am o soooo envious -Ben

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/PrinceOfWhales/DSC_5186.jpg Very cool pic, save that one! -Ben

I go up to Lake K a couple weekends a year, mostly in the summer... beautiful ,clean, clear lake. You should have an awesome time. As Lostchild said and I'll agree the Walleyes are really hit or miss....hard to find and hard to get to bite. Theres really healthy Pike and Smallmouth populations there though. Ill send you a map with some hot spots circled...if you promise to post a report with a lotsss of pics A couple of the gas stations in the area sell maps with a general breakdown of the depths and structure in the Lake, definitely a good buy for $10. If the walleye are tough(ie leeches and minnows aren't wokin) I'd go for some gators! Ill send ya a pm in a bit -Ben

Perfect Spinnerbait rod! -Ben

I love the blurred images lol but I can still tell exactly where you were...doh a little more blurr next time....right DSN lol Nice clean looking fish though! Your GF's fish is a beaut! Gotta Love that Urban Pikin'! -Ben

Thanks guys, it was a great time out there! Gotta love Urban Pike! My hands are really beat up from the past couple days. not too bad but it sucks going to work and juicing fresh lemon, lime, grapefruit and orange juice Great times though! Yea I was really happy that they were checking licences...only problem is he glanced at the front of my outdoors card and saw 08 and didn't even flip it over to look at the 08 fishing tag. I got the outdoors card in 06... I explained to him how the whole tag thing works lol. He said he had already checked 8-9 people and didn't look at the backs of any of the cards...got me thinking, do you think that the cops even have the necessary paperwork to give someone a ticket? Or are they just gonna say go home? -Ben

Nice Pike SNAG!!! Even with your tricky backgrounds I can still tell exactly where your fishing! lol -Ben

After all the great Pike action on Saturday I just had to get back out today. I fished the Islands from 2 p.m. - 8. The Pike were very sluggish today. Lots of follows and missed fish. I had more than one Pike follow the bait all the way up to shore then rub their cheek on the side of my bait with their mouth closed and then swim away. I tried to fish the same lure that I caught all my fish on Saturday on and had no luck for over 2 hours. Once I switched up I started to catch fish. I don't know how many times I need to learn the lesson..."What worked yesterday probably wont work today"... but I figured things out and ended up catching 7 Pike and an OOS Largemouth. On average my fish today were bigger than on the opener but I had to work harder for them. Once again no huge fish but a totally awesome day. I caught more fish when it was raining really hard on Saturday than I did today when it was blue bird skies. I never thought I'd say this but I hope it rains soon! Here's the Pic's... 25 Inch Didn't get a measurement on this guy...A Police boat pulled up and 3 cops got out while I was seeing this fish swim around. The cops asked if I had a fishing liscence..I said "Yes, but can you hold on a second!" I cast past the fish, hooked up and landed the fish with the cops watching me. I asked them to take a picture for me and they said that they were very happy to. Cops spook me and I completely forgot about the OFC sign lol. One of the Cops even said "Make sure to not lift him vertically and to support the tail." WOW was I surprised, I was gunna do that anyway but hey most people wouldn't know that and I didn't expect him to say something like that. I'm not a big fan of cops but these guys were very nice, polite and I'm soooo happy that their taking the initiative and checking liscences... How come I've never seen a CO in the Islands?? 28 Inch 30 inch 30 Inch 32 Inch For Team 13! I Gave blood for this fish! -Ben

alright no more pictures of lures lol