Harbourfront

[BabyHerc]

I hit the harbour this morning with hopes of tying into a nice pike or two - instead, the only thing I tied into was an angry, leashless pitbull (more on that later).

 

Most of the boat slips were ice-free, but some of the better spots were still impenetrable. Water temps in the open areas were just a touch under 38* at about 10:00. I also had a few new products to try out: a new soft-bodied minnow with a tail-spinner, Vanish Transition fluorocarbon, and some home-made Seaguar fluorocarbon leaders.

 

I managed a follow on a slow, steady retrieve with the tail-spinner, but the fish was probably 30 inches at best. I am also very displeased with Berkley's new Transition line: they claim UV light makes it a bright red, which is accurate, but they also claim the red colouration disappears underwater... FALSE!!! It was bright red as far down as I could see. Although there may be many factors why I didn't hook the follower, or any others, I'm sticking to my excuse of this bright red fishing line .

 

After a fruitless hour-and-a-half on the waterfront, I made my way to the ferry docks to see if the ice had come off the island channels yet. I hopped on the ferry at 11:00, and was very hopeful. As we docked at Hanlan's, I saw nothing but solid ice. Not one to give up, I made the trek, hoping to find an open patch or two. I walked along a hidden path to one of my favourite spots, and, to my dismay, saw more solid ice. I decided to just walk through the islands, taking in the sights and sounds on my day off work. As I entered the clearing from the path, I saw movement to my right; there it was, not more than 30 feet from me, a very large, very angry pit bull, with no leash, and no owner in sight. I knew no one else was aware of my or the dog's presence. I froze, and looked around for an owner of some sort. Nadda. He was just as startled as I, and he decided to make the first move. He barked, and made a false charge about 3 feet forward. I began making my way back to the main road backwards, to keep my eyes on him. He barked again, louder, and with more frequency. He charged again. This time, he wasn't stopping. I held my ground, pointed my 7 foot rod directly at him, and yelled, with all the primal rage I could muster, "GET BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!". He stopped, and huffed again. I walked backwards at a faster clip, through the snow, careful not to lose my balance. He barked once more, and made another charge. Still with my rod pointed at him, I yelled again "BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!". He stopped, looked down, then looked at me, then ran off in the opposite direction. What a relief. Once I got back to the road, I jogged my way back to the Hanlan's ferry, and called it a day. Who needs pike, anyway?

Edited March 14, 2007 by BabyHerc

[Victor]

o man that sounded scary!

 

next time you can tie on a crankbait or something and cast somewhere .... maybe that will direct its attention somewhere else ... on top of that, you might not be skunked

 

thanks for the report !

[urbanangler1990]

yup i was out there today as well and had nothing, ummm my excuse shall be that water was too murky haha

[bpsbassman]

What kind of crap is that Herc???

Where the heck is the TFW (I'll explain that next I see you) that owns him??

Glad to hear you made out okay. It could have been very serious.

Has your heart started beating regular yet??

Maybe you should phone SPCA and report it.

[Jonaton]

Sorry to hear about the skunk, I am hoping the weather holds and I can start back to my Sunday weekly fishing.2 more Sundays till the season closes.

[BabyHerc]

Yup, heart's beating regularly again, thanks Roger. I wanted to report it to somebody, but figured it was too minor an incident to call the police. Anybody have the number for SPCA? Or any other agency that would handle this? We don't need to hear about a child getting attacked on the islands. This the the third time this type of thing has happened. Once at Chemong lake, but the dog was a little mutt, so no worries, and once on the upper Rouge, but the dog was on the other side of the river, and I had my pepper spray on me. A barage of rocks deterred the Rouge dog, which was a very large rottweiler.

Edited March 14, 2007 by BabyHerc

[Golfisher]

Hard to believe, after all this bad publicity, that anyone would still leave an angry pitbull loose and unattended. Glad to hear that you got away, but others might not have been so fortunate.

[just2manylures]

Whewww. Glad you made it out ok. You really should consider reporting that to the proper authorities. Like you said, we don't need a child being attacked by that dog.

 

Too bad you got attacked by the infamous "skunk" though. I don't know what is worse, the dog thing or the skunk?

[setomonkey]

Sorry to hear about the close call with the pit bull, you should definitely call it in. All dogs are supposed to be licensed, which is a relatively minor thing, but pit bulls are supposed to be muzzled whenever they are in public areas, which is not a minor thing, esp. if it's acting in an aggressive manner.

 

Call the Toronto Animal Services, the number is (416) 338-PAWS (7297).

 

Tell them where you were and describe the dog for them, it may have just gotten loose from one of the residents but they should follow up on this.

 

Mike

[BabyHerc]

Thanks for the number Setomonkey, I'm calling it in now.

 

And thanks for the tip, Clampet! Funny, my fishing knife bares a striking resemblance to Rambo's "fishing" knife