While getting ready to publish this story I realized that we haven’t had any original Fishing Fury editorial for 2009 which makes this the first! What an amazing start to the year!
Kim Bain-Moore has been called the First Lady of Fishing after securing her name in history as the first woman to fish the Bassmaster Classic. We recently had the opportunity to have a short interview with Kim and ask her a few questions about her love of fishing, her experience fishing competitively and what it was like to be the first woman to fish the Classic.
Kim Bain-Moore shows off her catch during weigh-in at last years Women's Bassmaster Tour event in Lewisville, Texas.
Fishing Fury: Hey Kim, let us start by saying it’s a great pleasure to speak with you. You’ve broken a lot of barriers in the world of fishing and it’s great to see the sport grow and evolve with women competing in big tournaments.
Who would you credit with building your love for fishing from a young age?
Kim Bain-Moore: Without a doubt, my Mum (Lynn) and Dad (Steve). They were always proactive in creating opportunities for me to get outdoors and enjoy nature. My fondest memories are spending time with my family fishing and hunting on my weekends and vacations. I was also a member of many sportfishing clubs in Australia, so I have been very privileged to have grown up around many diverse and talented anglers.
We just passed a big milestone here at Fishing Fury – 1000 posts, and nearly 600 of those came in 2008! We’ve grown to be one of the most popular fishing blogs and certainly the most updated. When Jon and I started the site, we didn’t have the time to update it as much as we would have liked, and really we still don’t, but we do the best we can to bring you something new to look at and read on a regular basis. The site has undergone many changes and revisions over the years, and thanks to Jon’s design skills we’ve been able to introduce fresh, user friendly designs each year. In case you haven’t been around since the beginning, here are a few of our old designs!
Fishing fury began in July 2004 with this simple black splash page. Originally the page featured an excited little girl holding onto a largemouth bass with the look of fury in her eye. I can’t track down the original photo, but the text says it all.
All of the old sites were very dark, but in 2008 we gave white a chance, and we haven’t looked back. The latest edition of the site maintains the white theme and as you can no doubt see, adds several new features including links to recent posts and featured articles. With you continued support, the site will grow even more – thanks for all the fish!
Last week I did an interview with Bryn Weese (left) of the Toronto Sun about TTC accessible fishing spots around Toronto. Turns out that Bryn is an avid fisherman himself and we ended up talking about much more than could fit in the article.
Jonathan Marshall [sic] and Clive Mathias, creators of the website fishingfury.com, are both experienced anglers who make it their business to fish in the city and tell people where — and how — to do it.
If their website is any indication, not only are there huge fish, particularly pike, to be caught around Toronto, but there is also a thriving angling community here.
Like many Torontonians, Marshall doesn’t own a car and uses the TTC to get to his fishing spots.
“I’m pretty much stuck in the area, but that’s okay,” he said, noting he heads over to Toronto Islands for pike fishing after work.
“The pike opportunities on Toronto Islands during the last week of May is probably the best fishing in Toronto I’ve ever had,” he said, noting the evening hours from 5 to 9 are probably the best times.
His secret? Large inline spinners, like a Mepps Black Fury 5, casted in and around weedbeds with a medium or medium-heavy spinning rod.
“Pretty much anywhere you see a weed bed is the perfect place to go,” he said, noting the centre channel on Centre Island is probably the best spot of all.
Also try the water near the amphitheatre on Centre Island if the boat traffic isn’t too busy.
In addition to pike and bass, anglers can also catch panfish, carp, trout and salmon (seasonally) from the shores of the islands. Marshall said he even once caught a walleye there.
It’s a great article and I’m very happy that I was interviewed! Don’t forget that next weekend is the National Fishing Week, which means you do not need a license to fish that weekend but you must follow the conservation license rules. There are also family fishing activities all over the GTA and across Canada.
Bryn if you’re ever in need of a fishing partner let me know, I’m more than willing to meet you some where on the TTC or even split those extremely high gas prices!
At Fishing Fury, we love shiny things as much as fish do – especially shiny reels. As odd as it may sound, it’s not only important that our reels function well, but that they look great too. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder when it comes to reels though. Personally I prefer the appearance of a round baitcast reel, where as Jon prefers low profile. One thing with both agree on though, is that if we had the money, we would have a serious collection of pimped out reels. Here’s a list of the reels we wish we had, but probably never will.
Click the image below to read our latest feature article, Dream Reels!
I’ve been very busy these past few weeks traveling and working, but I’ve got some great content coming from my brief stay in Maui, and as soon as I can find the time I’ll get it all posted here. Meanwhile Adam Guy and I were chatting, he’s a great source for all things Japanese, and he told me that he had another food article ready to go. So back again, another installment in the growing “From The Table of Adam Guy” series, another mouth-watering meal.
Summer for Tokyo fishermen means octopus fishing by day, and night-fishing for Japanese conger eel. The octopus known in Japanese as “madako” (Octopus vulgaris, Common octopus) is cherished as a delicacy, eaten commonly as sashimi or served boiled as a celebratory dish for New Year’s.
To catch such octopus, one employs a special tackle comprising a hooked, weighted wooden board about eight inches in length, to which a crab is tied, upside-down. Octopi apparently have a great weakness for crab, particularly those with their vulnerable underbelly exposed to attack. The baited device is lowered into the water using a thick nylon/polyester line, and then jigged up-and-down by hand on the seafloor. Octopus usually feel the bait with their tentacles before launching themselves onto it, and this can be felt in one’s hands as a sort of ’sticking’ feeling. On feeling the ’stickiness’ on the line becoming much heavier, signalling the octopus actually attaching itself to the bait and starting to feed, a violent and large yank upwards on the line with both one’s hands sets the hooks into the creature and then it is a slow process of hauling in the line by hand to the surface.
Last week I did an interview with Bryn Weese (left) of the Toronto Sun about TTC accessible fishing spots around Toronto. Turns out that Bryn is an avid fisherman himself and we ended up talking about much more than could fit in the article.
Jonathan Marshall [sic] and Clive Mathias, creators of the website [...]
