Yesterday, I headed out for a day of fishing on the shores of the Toronto Islands in search of some Northern Pike with my friend, and fellow OFN‘er, Ric. We started at Wards Island and worked our way all the way, and through, Centre Island. The weather was nice, a bit cold but great for Pike fishing, however the sun didn’t make an appearance until after 2pm at which point the fish became much more active.
Ric definitely gets the trophy of the day, landing 6 pike to my 1. Not to mention the 36″ he picked up just before we left. Using my new Quantum PT Tour Baitcaster, with a super fast 7.0:1 ratio, I found it was very hard to slow my presentation down as much as Ric (using a 5.0:1 Abu Garcia Ambassador) and I ultimately paid the price in less fish. Reguardless, I learned a lot about my new gear and had a great time.
Click on the link, or image, below to see all of the pictures from our trip. All of the photos, aside from the one of me, were taking with my new Kodak V570.
[...] On Wednesday Ric, the angler known as HighDrifter on OFN (I’m really bad with names), met up at the ferry docks to spend the day fishing Toronto Islands. Last Sunday on the Toronto Islands the pike and weed beds seemed to be in the process of really turning on. [...]
[...] As the day progressed we caught a few more smaller, “hammer handle”, pike as the day progressed. I started to get a little worried that I wasn’t going to catch a decent sized pike on this trip, and considering my last few trips to Toronto Islands (other than that nice Walleye), it looked like I would just be taking more pictures than anything. [...]
[...] Our good friend Ric, who’s been making a killing fishing Toronto Islands (on multiple outings) , headed over to Ontario Place to check out the situation. Ric has been hard at work trying to get a Pike on his fly rod and while he still hasn’t succeeded, this experience sure opened his eyes to carp fishing. We got down there and started spotting fish to cast to. I’ve had the fly rod out a couple of times this season and have been able to raise a lot of fish. Still can’t get one to commit though. So anyways, the fly I’m throwing this big clown head. The pike were really spooky and weren’t really responding but as I’m working one a nice carp swims up to the fly and just sucks it in. It happened right in front of Doug and myself and we just kind of turned and said. [...]
well guys..congrats on all ur catches…i went to the islands for the first time on may 23/2010. ive heard/read that there is lots o pike there. i was in my 16′ boat i launched from park lawn boat launch. once i got to the islands it was maggity with other boats…impossable to troll….so i just kinda went all around the islands looking for potential hot spots.saw 2 small 4 lbs pike and tons of carp..i used to go to the spitz with my float tube and id smoke pike there…but now they dont let me go there cause all the stealing goin on…i really only liked 2 spots..1 was on the east side facing the main land and other was rite b4 u get to the airport on the west….just wondering if u could give me a few spots to try without all the boat traffic…hey even better yet..i go by myself…maybe we could hook up and give the islands a go toghether…but im 40 and did all that shore fishing for to long…now ima boat fisherman…out of all my fishing now i am always going north..i rarely do the lake n e more…but i still would like to hit the to islands cause its close …well..just a thought…rob.
Right now finding a spot on the islands without a lot of boat traffic is basically impossible. Once centreville opens and the long weekend starts there are thousands of people on the islands and some huge tour boats running through the channels. It’s still possible to catch fish, but it can be brutal out there.