Toronto Islands – May 24th 2006

With Clive back from the British Virgin Islands, it only took us a day to get our gear ready and head back to the Toronto Islands for some pike fishing. Clive has been building some Mepps-like french spinners for himself, mostly with large blades for targeting big pike and musky. We figured that this would be the perfect time and place to test them out, and it definitely was.

We arrived at the Toronto Islands at noon, deciding to sleep in and head up for the afternoon bite. It didn’t take more than 10 or 12 casts before Clive was pulling in a nice 30″+ pike. I was pretty impressed, but when he pulled in another 30″+ pike, no more than 20 minutes later, I knew it was time for me to switch to an in-line spinner. Unfortunately, Clive didn’t make another similar spinner with the same type of blade, so I used my trustworthy Mepps #5.

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.

Sure enough, no more than five minutes later it happened. (Click the picture or link below for more images, including one of Clive’s home-made lure. Again all photos were taken on my new Kodak V570)

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Cabela’s Versus Bass Pro Shops

When Ontario got its first Bass Pro Shop I was very excited. I had never visited a Bass Pro in the America and was excited to see the selection of fishing tackle. As far as tackle shops go in Ontario, there is nothing that compares to the selection that Bass Pro has, but in America there is more competition from other huge tackle stores.

While on a recent road trip I had the chance to stop at a Cabela’s and I was extremely impressed with the store. The amount of fishing equipment at Cabela’s was far greater then that of the Ontario Bass Pro. There was so much gear that the store was quite overwhelming. Besides the fishing equipment, there was several impressive aquariums filled with several fish that I have not seen in the Bass Pro aquarium.

The biggest difference is that Cabela’s had a big selection of saltwater equipment, and Bass Pro Shop in Ontario has none. In defense of Bass Pro, the Ontario location is nowhere near the ocean.

Here are a few photos from my visit to Cabela’s in Hamburg Pennsylvania.

Toronto Islands – May 17th 2006

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.

This time we headed straight for Centre Island, skipping that long fish-less walk from Wards. It wasn’t long before Ric found a nice 33″ pike while wadding out on the weed line, and watched as another similar sized pike followed right behind his. HighDrifter had a few hits in the same area, but couldn’t seem to get a solid hook set.

After covering the shoreline for a few more hours we ran in to more OFN’ers, Johnny Bass and Lucid, and sat down for a chat. Soon after a severe thunderstorm started rolling in, we kept fishing for as long as possible, but were eventually sent for cover due to some crazy lightning. Luckily we found this cool stage area in the nearby park.

Once the rain and thunder subsided, we were right back fishing the canals. It wasn’t long before I hooked in to a fish, but it wasn’t until I got a good look at it that I realized it was a walleye, and once I had it in my hands I could see it would actually be my personal best. There have been a few rare walleyes caught from shore on Toronto Islands, and now I’m one of the very lucky people to have caught them there.

The Toronto Islands are starting to get to the point they were when we fished them in 2004, and since Clive is back in Canada it won’t belong before both of us are out on those islands for a more ‘full-fledged’ Fishing Fury report.

Enjoy the pictures.

Toronto Islands – May 14th, 2006

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.

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Canadian Pike Lures Fisherman From Tennesse

Connie Inman is definitely a hero of fishing here at Fishing Fury. In true fury style, Connie has been traveling nearly 3,000 miles, 3 times a year, to the remote Canadian wilderness in search of nothing more than his greatest passion, trophy Pike fishing. When Clive and I first met Connie it was through the Ontario Fishing Network, where those who know him, consider him to be a king of Pike. Connie’s kingdom of Pike is the small 14 mile Little Vermilion Lake, just north of Red Lake, Ontario, and can only be reached by a small bush plane. It wasn’t long before the pictures of Connie’s monstrous Pike and his great personality led Clive and I to book our trip to Little Vermilion through Sportsman’s Lodge, the same service Connie uses.

The trip was a total success and it was all thanks to Connie, he bestowed a great deal of his knowledge on us in a crash course guide around the lake our first day.

If you’d like to book a fly-in fishing trip to Little Vermilion Lake for trophy Pike, contact Brett Geary and his family at www.trophypikecanada.com.

Read the article on Connie Inman by the Tennessean.

And of course this wouldn’t be a complete entry without a least one monster pike from Little Vermilion Lake.

OFN Invitational – Lake Nipissing, June 26-27 2004

It sounded like a great idea… A Pike tournament at Lake Nipissing hosted by Ontario Fishing Network and Lakair Lodge. Not to mention a chance to meet all of the great OFN’ers in person.

We contacted Lakair Lodge the day before the OFN Crayola Invitational pike tournament to make sure there was a place for us to stay. Luckily there was, so we got all of our gear together and headed out the next day. Neither Jon or myself had ever traveled so far north, but we looked forward to it with great anticipation. The drive was long, but the thoughts of unexpected adventures ahead helped pass the time.

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