caught my first decent sized fish at erindale park today (Credit River)

[huzzsaba]

Some of you may remember my last thread about fishing the credit river, and I followed those instructions as best as I could. I may have arrived later than I should have to catch rainbows since there was literally a whole school of them sitting in a hole right in front of me. However they were not interested in anything.

 

2 hours into fishing and I felt something coming after my simple worm and hook setup and instinctively I yanked on the rod to set the hook. It fought pretty good but I was able to get it up to the rock I was sitting on no problems. My first ever smallmouth and it was a good sized one! I was fishing alone, so I could not get the measurements as it was flopping around on the rock and I did not want it to hurt itself. That is why I was only able to get a photo of it in the net. My estimate is that is was a good 14 incher and probably weighed 2 lbs, maybe slighly heavier.

 

Prior to this, I only caught a few 6 inch perch so this is my biggest so far! I obviously released the smallmouth knowing the season does not start til end of June. And as mentioned before, I went for the trout. Can't control what attacks the bait.

 

I am pretty happy with the results but darn those rainbows. they disregarded anything I presented to them

Perhaps the rule of fishing them at dawn and dusk is what I should try .

Edited May 8, 2015 by huzzsaba

[FloatnFly]

Nice catch, be careful about posting OOS fish though.

 

with the steelhead, pay attention to how they are sitting in the water, are they level, or heads facing up? if so, target those ones, they are actively feeding. heads down with tails up, they are essentially 'sleeping' and will not move or eat anything, you'll just frustrate yourself trying for them

[netminder]

Trout can turn on and off seemingly randomly. Glad you weren't targeting the bass, but you probably shouldn't post photos of fish caught out of season.

[porkpie]

Some guys really suck the fun out of life. Nice fish pal, congrats!

Edited May 8, 2015 by porkpie

[misfish]

The ever, NO NO NO, of reporting of OOS fish.

 

Many posts about it, and many post of good advice of not to post.

 

Hope you got the point, politely I might add by our members here. Refreshing to see he didnt get a new one torn. KUDOS.

 

 

Nice smallie BTW.

 

Keep at it,you will get your treasure bow.

[misfish]

Some guys really suck the fun out of life. Nice fish pal, congrats!

 

I didnt see any harshness dude.

 

It is a nice smallie.

 

I could post some nice OOS whites in perch grounds,but have learned.LOL

Edited May 8, 2015 by Brian B

[huzzsaba]

Thanks for replies and the heads up about posting OOS fish. I was always a little intimidated by the guys at the park who come with their gear and stuff to fish and me being a newbie to fishing might have gotten a little too excited after my first catch. I never thought it would be of concern if it was released. But there are always those who say one thing and do something else, but I am not one of those.

 

Truth is that I was quite disappointed when I got home that the only fish caught was OOS. the mistake I probably made was that my leader line was Mono and probably visible to the fish because the water was very clear. I will be investing in some Maxima ultragreen as I heard that stuff is good.

 

The bows were pretty much facing upstream and just sitting still. On occasion a few of them were swimming around and some even leaping at what I'm guessing were flies.

Edited May 8, 2015 by huzzsaba

[BillM]

Don't try and catch the fish on the beds, they aren't going to bite. If you can see them, they can see you. If you catch a OOS fish, just get it back in the water, no harm no foul. Also, steelhead aren't very smart your leader being mono wasn't the reason you weren't catching fish.

[porkpie]

 

I didnt see any harshness dude.

 

It is a nice smallie.

 

I could post some nice OOS whites in perch grounds,but have learned.LOL

Dude is a new fisherman and is just happy to have caught a fish . It's been a long time but I still remember that feeling. True, no one was very harsh, but those guys just haven't showed up yet. When they get here, they'll be berating the way he handled it, or that it was out of the water, or laying on a rock or whatever else they can think of. I'm just happy to see a guy who is happy he finally caught something. Fishing, some people take it way too seriously!

[manitoubass2]

Fishing is serious busiñess lol

 

Nice catch!

[FloatnFly]

Thanks for replies and the heads up about posting OOS fish. I was always a little intimidated by the guys at the park who come with their gear and stuff to fish and me being a newbie to fishing might have gotten a little too excited after my first catch. I never thought it would be of concern if it was released. But there are always those who say one thing and do something else, but I am not one of those.

 

Truth is that I was quite disappointed when I got home that the only fish caught was OOS. the mistake I probably made was that my leader line was Mono and probably visible to the fish because the water was very clear. I will be investing in some Maxima ultragreen as I heard that stuff is good.

 

The bows were pretty much facing upstream and just sitting still. On occasion a few of them were swimming around and some even leaping at what I'm guessing were flies.

 

 

truth be told, fish don't give a crap about brand of line you're using. again, pay attention to what the fish are doing, if they are moving around your leader, they can see it. down size it til they stop moving around it, for steel head i carry 4.4# tippet up to 12# tippet spools, it depends on the water clarity on how heavy a leader you can get away with

[Fishwilly]

Give the guy a break! So what he accidentaly catches a bass OOS and he's not allowed to speak of it. Ya'll need to relax.

Just my two cents.

[Thrilla]

It's just a bass

[Gerritt]

Happy to hear yeah caught something man! Don't mind some of the purists here.... They forget fishing is supposed to be enjoyable and not political.

 

Good job man, and I hope you catch the quarry you were targeting... Can't wait to read the report when you do.

 

Keep on, keeping on.

 

KCCO

 

G

Edited May 8, 2015 by Gerritt

[The Urban Fisherman]

Happy to hear yeah caught something man! Don't mind some of the purists here.... They forget fishing is supposed to be enjoyable and not political.

 

Good job man, and I hope you catch the quarry you were targeting... Can't wait to read the report when you do.

 

Keep on, keeping on.

 

KCCO

 

G

What he said! Good stuff dude!

[netminder]

All I said was it's not a good idea to post the pic. Since this topic is readily viewable by the entirety of the interwebs, you don't need to encourage the mouth breathers out there that it's no big deal. Not saying it is a big deal, we just don't need more people doing it. And yes, it's a smallie - we do have more than enough of those as it is. 1 fish isn't the end of the world, 100 and then there might be an issue, even if they're released again they've still left their spawning beds unguarded.

 

It's a complicated issue. I know I've caught fish out of season when targeting something else - especially bass. I just don't tell anyone!

 

Good job on the first fish though- there will be many more to come, I'm sure!

[icedude]

Happy to hear yeah caught something man! Don't mind some of the purists here.... They forget fishing is supposed to be enjoyable and not political.

 

Good job man, and I hope you catch the quarry you were targeting... Can't wait to read the report when you do.

 

Keep on, keeping on.

 

KCCO

 

G

 

Happy to hear yeah caught something man! Don't mind some of the purists here.... They forget fishing is supposed to be enjoyable and not political.

 

Good job man, and I hope you catch the quarry you were targeting... Can't wait to read the report when you do.

 

Keep on, keeping on.

 

KCCO

 

G

x2--Crisis Avertedlol--nice FISH kid-Enjoy

[bare foot wader]

great to hear about the success! steelheading and river fishing has a steep learning curve, but when it comes together it really comes together quickly, just gotta keep at it

 

accidental oos is very common, you can avoid certain spots but it's inevitable to happen and clearly did the right thing releasing it.....the thing with pics, friendly advice can sometimes perceived the wrong way

 

I didn't see your pic, but fish in the net sounds way better than flopping around, props for that...but I believe the official response from the MNR is OOS are to be released immediately, taking pictures is not immediately and can cause unnecessary stress and warrant a fine, depends on the specific CO

[Rizzo]

congrats on your first decent fish out of there. I used to wade the credit 25 years ago and there were some decent smallies in there. Nobody else seemed to target them back in those days

[misfish]

 

 

I used to wade the credit 25 years ago and there were some decent smallies in there.

 

Eldorado Park 30 years ago, was a great spot Roger . .LOL

[mattaw]

It's just a bass

 

Those are fighting words!

 

Nice fish. It has been a long long time but I remember that feeling. OOS happens, as you said, you can't control what bites. Just get it into the water and released safely asap. Keep at it, you'll get your fish!