Farewell… Time for me to say goodbye

[007]

Hi everyone,

 

Well the time has come for me to say farewell. My time in Toronto & Canada is up and I will be returning home to London, England in a week or so. The rods and tackle are all packed and my Canadian fishing adventures are over…. Well at least for now. Who knows I might be back in the future!

 

I have had a thoroughly enjoyable time on this side of the pond. In the almost three years that we have been here my wife and I have been lucky enough to explore many beautiful places in Ontario, as well as a few in Quebec, Alberta and B.C. You are truly blessed to call this beautiful country home – take good care of it. The same goes for the fishing – you don’t know how lucky you are to have such an amazing and varied fishing resource with so much free access to good fishing spots.

 

So to the fishing…. Here is a long "summary" of my fishing and outdoors adventures. Pour yourself a coffee, take a seat, and sit back and enjoy (I hope) the longest report you'll see for a while. Lots of pics too!

 

2005

 

My fishing adventures started in August 2005. We had been here for 6 months when we were lucky enough to be invited to someone’s house near Uxbridge in Southern Ontario. The person hosting the party had an old farm pond on their land and I noticed some kids with outrageously large red and white floats (I was soon informed by a 5 year old that they were in fact ‘bobbers’) with thick line and huge hooks. So I stood and watched a while, intrigued to see what fish they would catch. Part of me couldn’t believe they could actually catch anything with such gear – the last time I had been fishing was at least 10 years ago in England where we had to use fine tackle and finesse fishing techniques to get bites from even the smallest fish. What fish would be stupid or should I say greedy enough to take a worm on such a big hook and not spit the bait once it felt the huge red and white ball dragging behind it!? I was soon to be introduced to the fish we all know and love - the Largemouth Bass! Much to my surprise I watched this kid’s bobber move sideways and it wasn’t long before he was reeling in a feisty little green fish. The kid then handed me the rod and left. Ok I thought this could be fun for a few minutes so I picked up the 4ft rod with spincast reel and cast a worm out. It wasn’t long before I caught my first Canadian fish – a small largemouth bass. My passion for angling was rekindled!

 

 

About a month later, we spent a long weekend in Algonquin Provincial Park – going for walks, canoeing and taking photographs. One day when the weather wasn’t great we visited the Portage Store at Canoe Lake and I noticed some ‘cheap’ fishing gear (cheap in quality if not price!). This was my chance to do some real fishing. So I enquired about the fishing laws and was told that I could get a licence in the nearby MNR office. So we filled out our Outdoors card and fishing licence forms, bought a Shakespeare rod and reel combo for myself and a kid’s spincast combo for my wife (she loves how easy it is to cast at the release of a button), some hooks, weights etc and a box of worms. For the next few hours we had a blast, catching perch and a beautiful coloured fish – we soon learned was a pumpkinseed sunfish. There was no turning back now – I was hooked on fishing again.

 

It wasn’t long before I was out at the weekends in the fall of 2005 fishing my local spots on the Toronto Islands for LM bass, pike, perch and sunfish. That year was a short fishing season for me but I did manage to catch the smallest pike I’ve ever seen with my first ever lure and a few decent bass including one that must have been close to if not over 5lbs (unfortunately I had no scales at the time).

 

 

 

Though I have lived in big cities like London, England and now Toronto, I wouldn’t say I’m a city person and love to explore wilderness areas and be part of nature. Therefore whenever we could we found the time to rent a car and drive up to Algonquin Park. On one of half a dozen trips we have made I decided to try my hand at trout fishing - catching my first ever trout a brook Trout from the Oxtongue River just before the close of season. We also enjoyed getting up close and personal with some of those big ‘friendly’ moose up there and would spend hours driving HWY 60 or walking the trails in search of the beasts and when we found one we would watch in awe from a safe distance – with the camera shutter working in overdrive.

 

 

 

 

2006

 

My 2006 fishing season didn’t start until May or June, but boy was I ready for it. A chance visit to Vaughan Mills had introduced me to the delights of Bass Pro Shops and needless to say my credit card took a serious beating on more than one occasion! I was now ready for all that Ontario could offer in fishing – armed with a couple of rod and reel combos, a net and a fine selection of rapalas and mepps lures. Can you believe it – before I came to Canada I had never even used a lure before!

 

The season started off with a bang catching mainly small pike at the Toronto Islands. Unfortunately my most productive pike fishing trip ended with me in hospital with a treble impaled in my hand, but the thing that annoyed me most was that I didn’t get a picture of the biggest pike I had caught because of the accident!

 

It was in the summer of 2006 that I became a member of OFC. After lurking for a while I had a chance encounter with the “pike specialists” Mepps and Jon at the Toronto Islands and decided to join the forum. Thanks for the nudge guys.

 

Here are some highlights of my fishing in 2006 in photos.

 

Fishin’ the Islands

 

Pike caught using my ‘lucky lure’ – a Rapala Rattlin’ Bass

 

A surprise Bullhead Catfish caught using a lure!

 

An 8lb Common Carp - my biggest fish ever (well until this year)

 

My first Smallies – caught at Rockport along the St Lawrence River – what a fun fish to catch, I just wish I had caught some big ones. While fishing one evening I also had a small musky hit my mepps lure right in front of me, but it somehow spit the hook – oh well you’ve got to have a “the one that got away” story!

 

 

 

Back to the Islands for some fall pike action….and a surprise salmon though I lost it shortly after the photo was taken!

 

 

 

 

 

 

2007

 

So to this year… At the start of the 2007 season I decided to challenge myself to catch as many different fish species in Ontario in the year as possible. This was inspired by a UK Fishing TV show called “The Great Rod Race” where two pro-anglers caught a specimen fish of every fish species in the British Isles in a 1 month period of travelling and fishing all over the country. Well we haven’t travelled all of Ontario (it’s a big place!) but we were successful in seeing as much of it as possible and managed to catch a few different fish species along the way. I would have liked to catch a few more bigger fish during the year and I failed to catch a few sort after species – musky, salmon and steelhead spring to mind but I had fun on my “Quest”. The final tally for the year was 20 species….

 

Northern Pike, Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Black Crappie, Common Carp, Yellow Perch, White Perch, White Sucker, Brown Bullhead, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Bluegill, Rock Bass, Bowfin, Common Shiner, Golden Shiner, Creek Chub, Lake Chub, Fallfish and Round Goby (plus Brook Trout caught the year before and the Chinook I lost).

 

Maybe someone from OFC can take up the challenge next year and catch a few more than I did? How about it Ccmtcanada and Bly or perhaps Tbayboy or Big Bass Rich or MJL could be likely candidates?

 

We thoroughly enjoyed this year as we travelled all over Ontario in pursuit of wilderness, wildlife, peace and tranquillity and of course… fishing! The highlights would have to be getting up close and personal with a big bull moose while camping in Algonquin, hiking in the quartz and granite hills of Killarney, Canoeing at Silent Lake, taking a float plane ride over Georgian Bay, the view from Bon Echo rock and catching a glimpse of a black bear.

 

The fishing highlights were catching my biggest fish ever – a 15lb carp, hooking quite a few largemouth bass of almost 5lbs in the City almost in the shadow of the CN Tower, seeing my wife’s smile when she caught smallie after smallie at Silent Lake and out-fished me, fishing with an expert - Aaron Shirley – on his boat at Restoule and the surreal experience of standing on ice over 15ft of water 1km from shore fishing through a small hole in the ice in a snow storm on Cooks Bay, Lake Simcoe with SUVs driving past!

 

Here are some of the highlights in pics from the year….

 

My first ever Ice Fishing Trip – on Cook’s Bay, Lake Simcoe. It was incredibly cold – no fishing hut to protect me from the -20 degrees wind-chill and snow squalls – but what an experience:

 

 

 

 

Sucker Fishing on the Humber River in Toronto:

 

 

In order to see more of Ontario’s wilderness we booked about 6 weekend camping trips in Provincial Parks all over the province. The first camping trip ever with my wife was in early summer to our favourite park – Algonquin. Though the fishing and weather could have been better we had a good time – I caught some huge rock bass, had my first shore lunch and spent a wonderful hour at dusk watching a beaver go about its business:

 

 

 

 

Whenever there was a free weekend I was out sampling the best of Toronto’s urban fishing opportunities – Grenadier Pond for Bluegills and my first White Perch, and Toronto Islands for some summer Bass and Carp Fishing – including my Personal Best Carp and biggest fish ever – all 15lbs of it oh and plus the smallest Bowfin ever caught on rod and line!:

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Restoule – was a lovely small park but the fishing was tough. I did manage to catch lots of the world’s greatest spots fish including what must be a candidate for the smallest rock bass caught on rod and line? Can you see a trend developing here – I caught a lot of small fish this year. But of course this was to be expected as over half the time I was fishing the way I was taught as a child in England – with a float and a worm, which no fish however big or small can resist. These tactics also increased my chances of catching different species for my quest. At Restoule I bumped into Aaron Shirley who very kindly offered to take me out on his boat and show me how to fish for muskies and smallmouth bass. No muskies were caught and I lost the only smallie to bite my lure but it was a great experience for me – as it was my first time fishing from a boat.

 

 

 

The next weekend away was to Silent Lake for Camping, Canoeing and Fishing. A truly beautiful little park, best explored by canoe with lots of smallmouth bass, though I couldn’t find the big ones:

 

 

 

In August I managed to fulfil my childhood dream of taking a flight in a floatplane – which was totally awesome. The flight over Georgian Bay out of Parry Sound over the thirty thousand islands was absolutely fantastic:

 

 

 

In September we went stayed at Pigeon Lake. This was a pure fishing trip and was my last attempt at knocking a few species off my quest list. Here’s a few pics of my multiple species bonanza including my first ever walleye, my biggest Crappie, but unfortunately no musky:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ended up spending most of the fall fishing for largemouth bass down at the Toronto Islands – best time of year to fish there as there are fewer people, fewer boats, less weed and bigger fish! I had some really good trips and worked out the perfect pattern at a couple of spots for catching some lunkers… hawgs and other strange words I’ve picked up to describe big fish! Here’s a few of the 4-5lbers I caught:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally my recent Perchin’ trip in Barrie where I caught more fish in a single day than ever before – over 70 perch in about 4 hours of fishing. What a way to end the adventure.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read the report. I know it was a bit long but hopefully enjoyed reading about my fishing adventures and all my reports over the last couple of years – someone had to show you all those small fish!! Hopefully I have positively contributed to what is an exceptional board – full of great people with lots of knowledge to share. My hat goes off to the admin crew for the great job they do. Thanks to all of those who have inspired me and consistently given me words of support and encouragement – such as MJL, dsn, ccmtcanada, and SNAG to name a few. My only regret is that I didn’t get chance to meet and fish with you and others on the board.

 

Though I won’t be in Ontario, I’m sure I will be back on-line once I am settled in England to check out all your fishing reports. Hopefully, I will also be able to post a few fishing reports from England and show you some pics of some different fish species – that even Cliff (ccmtcanada) and BLY can’t catch!! And who knows I might be back for a Canadian Fishing holiday one year.

 

Goodbye for now and take care.

 

Gavin (a.k.a 007)

 

[DT10Sam]

WOW.great report and you are taking back a lot of memories with you. Thanks for sharing. Come back and visit.

 

Best regards,

Sam

[Bly]

Excellent report Gavin. I am happy to hear that you will still be participating on OFC, it would be an awful shame to lose you. I have enjoyed all of your reports over the past year and I look forward to reading more from you when you are back in England.

 

Safe travels and thanks again for your contributions!

Bly

[nautifish]

Safe trip back. Enjoyed the report it was awesome. I hear you about canada it is a great country and we are very fortunate to have what we do right on our very own door steps. I lost count how many times i have said too many canadians take it for granted and they do. I lived in the UK for 16 yrs. Don't miss it been home seven yrs january 18th . Canada has everything . Something tells me though you will be returning sooner than later.

 

Take care

 

Nauti.

[pikehunter]

Great summary of your Ontario fishing adventure

 

I wish you a safe journey home. Perhaps you can continue posting some reports from the UK?

[ccmtcanada]

Gavin,

 

You questioned whether you added anything to this board....I know for me I always looked forward to your reports! I thought the quest you were on was pretty interesting and I was always wondering what you caught! It's a little sad seeing you go, but hopefully you'll keep up with your passion of fishing and send us reports from across the pond. Have a safe trip back, and look forward to hearing from you again soon!!!

 

Cliff

[Tomcat]

Thanks for taking the time to share some of your Canadian experiences with us. You certainly reminded me of how lucky we Canadians are to have so much so close. Safe journey home.

[tbayboy]

Sometimes it takes the view of someone from the outsideto show you what a wonderful place you live in. Thanks for reminding us all and sharing your adventures with us. That mini rock bass and bowfin still crack me up .

 

Have a good trip back and we'll be waiting for some of those classic European fishing pics like this one

 

[fishindevil]

Thats a great report gavin,and nice pictures of all those fish that you caught,hey you did very well,and tried hardyou will be back some day im sure of it, yake care and send us a report or 2 from back home in england...cheers

[huntervasili]

Thanks for sharing Gavin, Looks like you enjoyed your stay here and hopefully enough to return and maybe come out to a G2G too... I will await some of your reports from overseas... Thanks for sharing

 

 

Bill

[Puckhead]

Fantastic report! You've experienced more of what this province and country have to offer than most Canadians... Glad it offered you such good memories! Cheers and safe voyage back across the pond!

[007]

Tbayboy - that's too funny - if only!

[Weeds]

Great report, makes me feel like going fish'n! Travel Safe and looking forward to some European Pike reports!

[steverowbotham]

looks like you figured those largies out in 07. Glad to have ya, hope ya come back. Take care

[frozen-fire]

Wonderful report. I always got excited when you posted up reports. Beautiful pictures everytime. Please do come back and take care in England.

[fatherof3]

great report,will miss them and have a safe trip back.

[bassmastermike]

Good to see you enjoyed yourself In Ontario and across Canada im sure will be with you forever. Great pics and report sorry you leaving us we will miss your reports Take Care... BMM

[OhioFisherman]

Great pictures and report Gavin! Glad to see you enjoyed the stay at the neighbors house, it`s a beautiful place.

[SlowPoke]

Great report Gavin, thanks for taking the time to compile your thoughts and photos.

I know it's a little late but if you want to take one last shot at a muskie, I'd be happy to take you out this weekend!

-Brian

[steve_paul]

Have a safe journey back to England Gavin. Thanks for all the reports on your adventures here in Canada, they will be missed.

 

Looking forward to seeing some reports from over there as well from you. Take care and good luck.

[motv8tr]

As everyone has said, great report! It's good to see you were able to to get out as much as you did, and 20 spiecies in one year is a pretty amazing feat! Congrats! Have a safe trip back, and be sure to let us know when you're settled in.

 

Maureen

[lew]

Nice to hear you enjoyed your stay in Canada so much 007, and even better that you got to see so much of what this country has to offer.

 

I've been to England many times myself, and although nothing in size compared to Canada, it's also a gorgeous place, with so much history going back soooooo many years.

 

Looking forward to your reports from the far side of the Pond once your settled in again.

[Roy]

Thanks for the kind words, Gavin. I'm glad you and your wife had a nice stay here. You know, with the net, there are no longer any great distances...we can keep sharing info and experiences from wherever one finds himself. I'm sure that OFC members would love to see some of your reports from the UK. Thanks for all of your contributions to the board, keep them coming and most of all, be well.

[Moosebunk]

Many, many nooks and crannies all over all parts of the province. You sure stuck your head and dipped your line into a few of them. Great recap of your years over here and thanks a tonne for sharing them. I thoroughly enjoyed this report for what it was for you and even more so, for the kind of inspiration it could evoke in future newcomers to fishing. Great job. Good luck back home.

[Bitsmith2k]

i always enjoy your reports.. this one was no exception.. thanks for sharing and have a safe trip home..