vanillagorilla

Biggest is about 35 pounds!

Fishing has been really tough. Back to the same difficult conditions as last week, with no bait or fish being marked. Fished from 8am - 12pm. We only got one fish but it was a DUKER. A real beauty 27 pound mature king. It took a 600 foot run on a wire Dipsy, 166 feet back on 3 setting, with a 11" ProChip with Cut Bait. I am going to try and hit it hard tomorrow.

Illegal to kill any Sharks All Catch & Release

I am very fortunate to have been invited by the SHARKMAN himself Captain Art Geatan to join him for some summer shark fishing. He also said bring whoever you would like since his boat holds upto 10 passengers. I have gone shark fishing with him before so I knew what to expect. Steady action and plenty of sharks! I decided to invite some friends that have never had the opportunity to fish on the ocean and experience such a great fishery and the majestic Blue Shark! I had Paul (Georgous) Bordo, Chris Currie (Two Fingers & a Thumb) and Greg (Faboulous) Fabiano with his entire family (all girls) join us for two day on some unbelievable fishing. Day 1 we went 18 for 20 with the biggest weighing just over 150 pounds. Day 2 we went 13 for 18 with the biggest pushing 170 pounds. All the Sharks were Blue Sharks. The following are some of the pictures We Stayed at Wayne's World Lobsters in a loft over looking the Eastern Passage. This was the view from our room! Our first dinner in the loft. Probably the best dinner I ever had. All provided by Mary Fabiano. Homemade soup, salad, pasta and the LOBSTER!!! We had Wayne's World cook us up a dozen 2 pound prime lobsters. Until you have eaten fresh lobster from the east cost you have never eaten lobster. The Fabiano Clan! The first fish of the trip caught by Greg Fabiano. The next fish caught by Paul G Bordo The next fish caught by Mary Fabiano The next fish caught by Two Fingers and a Thumb (Chris Currie) Me Vanilla Gorilla (Mitch Burke) with the smallest of the day The Fabiano's friend with a fish More Fabiano Girls with Fish Day two was really rough so I did not really pull my camera out much. We had strong SE winds blowing from 20-40 Km/h with seas from 12-20 feet high, but here is Chris with a big one. If you ever wanted to catch Sharks and experience the East Coast of Canada I would highly recommend you contact Art Geatan at Blue Shark Charters. YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED! www.bluesharkcharters.com

That is the secret trip!

I was lucky enough to be invited out to fish with my good friend Barry, for a day of fishing on Lake Erie (US Waters). We could not have picked a better day to go fishing. The weather was amazing and Lake Erie was glass for most onf the morning. We were targeting bass but we happen to fall upon a huge Sheephead and Walleye bite first thing in the morning around 6:30am. Barry with the first fish of the day! Barry with my two fish. He always wants to be in the pictures with the biggest fish. After that bite died off Barry went on to put on a clinic on Smallmouth. He caught at least a dozen fish before I even caught my first. Barry with the first Smallmouth of the day. Barry caught this SOW (Another word for HOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!) near the end of the day. This fish was probabaly 6 3/4 pounds and measured just over 22". In total we caught over 50 Bass, 12 Sheephead & 4 Walleye. What a great day on the water.

I will take one

Did you contact Blue Shark Charters?

Contact Art at Blue Shark Charters (902) 830-4115. He is the best! I have fished in many countries and with many guides and he is simply on a different level. He has only the best equipment and takes every precaution possible to insure everybodies safety. I fish with him for a couple of days every year. The last time I was out I caught a 310 pound Blue that was just over 10 feet long. It took me just over 2 hours. You can see it on the "Getting Hooked" website in the archived episodes. That should give you a good idea of what fishing with Art is all about. Mitch

Great camera! Good luck at finding it for $99.

Skiner, I simpathize with your experience and understand why you would be upset. I can only comment on my experiences with Ken and yjey have all been very good. It is unfortuante that you had a bad experience.

You have to be willing to move around. Sometimes the Huts get slow. We always bring an auger and move around, up to 2 miles from our hut depending on the weather. That always seems to improve our catch rates.

If the weather is any indication of how long safe Ice Fishing will last out there I would try to get out this weekend. Next weekend you will have to take your boat with all the mild temperatures and rain.

Lots of water! Water running down the holes and over the tip ups!

Thanks for the kind words

Well we made it out to Simcoe today on probably our last excursion for Whitefish and Lakers. The lake is really starting to look like a lake. There was tons of water flowing everywhere in every direction. We had about a 45 minute ride out to the fishing grounds off the tip of Georgina Island. We went out there Bombardier Style Fishing was really tough. Between the 4 of us we only managed 3 fish. Me with my only fish of the day. A beautiful 4 pound + fish. Our buddy Steve brought a fry pan and some oil and we had an amazing lunch. Thanks Steve!!!! You are the best!!!!! Greg with his personal best a Massive 6 pound Whitefish This was a Great Looking Fish! Even Close Up! There was so much water out there that we decided to end the day early and Ken ended taking us back in his truck as the water was building up everywhere. Thanks Ken for a great season!

Thanks!

Yes! It is good for Lakers as well!

Went fishing with a bunch of buddies yesterday on Lake Simcoe. Went out with Ken from Hank Heyink Fishing Huts again. What a great guy. His huts are always clean and he always provides you with tonnes of bait. The fishing was really tough. I caught the first Whitefish at 10:30am, a chunky 3 pounder on a jigging spoon. Then my friend Greg caught this 5 pounder outside of the huts on the same spoon. Greg bringing the fish to the surface. Greg with his prize catch of the day The balance of the day was pretty tough. We only caught one more fish on a spreader at about 4pm. Ken said the all his 13 huts were pretty slow today. There was only one hut out approximately 2 miles that had their limit of fish. We were still fishing the far huts off of Fox island. I guess the extreme change in weather and the high pressure system really turned the fish off.

I have been getting many PMs about Chris and what camera I was using to shoot these images. Here is the skinny on both! Chris is not a Ice Fishing guide on Lake Simcoe but is a Professional and well know guide on Lake Ontario for Salmon & Trout. His Charter business goes by the name of Riley Salmon and is situated in Scarborough and resides out of Bluffers Park Marina. Chris has been fishing lake Simcoe since he was in his early teen and knows the lake like the back of his hand. In terms of the camera that I was using to take these photos, I was using a Nikon D300 DSLR. But let me tell you that you can get the same kind of quality shots from your everyday Digital Point & Shoot camera. I do sell some of my pictures to many diferent Fishing/Outdoor related magazines in both Canada & the US and until this year I only used a point and shoot camera from Kodak exclusively. I have been selling my photography now for over 3 years, and have used point and shoot digital cameras with resolution as low as 8 megapixles to as high as 12 megapixles. The real secret to good fishing photos is having a camera with a high quality glass lens. All Kodak M & Z series cameras are equipped with a glass lens manufactured in Germany by the Schneider lens company. Then you need good looking fish. Chris supplied that! Then you need good models who know how to hold a fish in a natural pose (this is usually the most challenging). And last but not least you need good looking models. No comment required. If anybody has anymore questions just let me know.

We started off in the huts and when the action slowed down we started moving around with a 1/2 mile of the hut. Chris made the call and boy was he on the money.

All the fish were caught on plain spoons. We never got the chance to use live bait

I was very fortunate today to be invited go out fishing with one of the true "Ice Gods" - Chris Currie, his friend Ian and my friend Paul. Chris was very concerned last night that the wind and the rain were really going to make it hard to get around. As usual the Weather forecasters got it wrong again. We got out to Hank Heyink Fishing Huts from Jackson's Point around 7am. Ken was great and took us out to the far fishing grounds in a really cool Bombardier from the 50's with some other customers Chris the "Ice God" Currie got into some huge Whities instantaniously. The my buddy Paul had one smash his jig! Finally I got a fish and it just started screaming drag. This was no Whitie! It was a huge Laker. Chris and Ian landed it while I got my Camera. What a HOG! Then Ian & Paul both had a double header of 6-7 pound Whities. What pandamonium. Chris with another BEAST on a jigging spoon. I finally got my first Whitie! What a thrill! Chris landing another one of Ian"s Simcoe Slab on Ian's "ICKLE PICKLE SPOON! Chris trying to talk some sense into these fish. By the time all the dust and line settled we caught over 20 fish, with Paul "I DON'T REALLY LIKE ICE FISHING" catching over 11 fish which Chris, Ian & I caught 3 each! A Special Thank You goes out to Chris "THE ICE GOD" Currie for being a great guide for the day! He put us on the fish right away and kept them going all day! When the bite was at its peak the guy did not even bother fishing, he spent all his time landing our fish! He even makes a mean Moose Cheese Burger. What an incredible day on the "Hard Water", one which none of us will ever forget. Thanks again Chris from Paul, Ian & myself.

It was like being on an episode of "Survivorman" with Les Stroud. Aaron said after the first hour of fishing that we should go on a 2 mile walk (Death Hike) out to the "ZONE". Always being game to catch fish I said sure let's do it! He warned me that it's going to be a challenge. I really did not believe him. Wow was I foolish!!!!! Hiking out there with a sled full of Ice Fishing Equipment, a Clam, my Camera Equipment and 2 Monster Smoke Meat Sandwiches felt like pulling a fully loaded Ford F-150 with a full size family inside. But once we hit the zone Aaron went into action and we started crushing Lakers. We did not catch anything gigantic but he had a blast running for the Tip-Ups and having fish follow our Spoons for minutes at a time from 100 feet upto 50 feet. This was one of my first times out Ice Fishing and I was really surprised how much technique was involved. Being a novice I had over 12 fish follow my spoon but only got one to actually take a swipe at it. Here are a couple of pictures from the day. Aaron's First Fish of the Day! Aaron's First Tip-Up Fish My First Lake Simcoe Laker Aaron KING OF THE LAKERS Aaron "MAKER A GIANT LAKER" for me Thanks again for a great day on the hard water buddy!

Fished with Chris and Paul this morning went 9 for 12. We caught fish on Spoons, Flies, Meat and Rockets. Fish were anywhere from 40-120 feet. Here is chris with a beautiful Chrome King (23 Pounds) Thanks for a great day on the water!