Hey All,
I'm new here - I've had this massive interest in fishing ever since I could walk. There are pictures of me with a rod in the water before I could barely put together a sentence. I've fostered a unique interest in fishing since then.
When I was about 5 or 6, I had my wrist slit by the dorsal fin of a fish, and unfortunately I still do not know what it was. I still have the scar and I'm in my late 20's now. it was a bloody mess and I've never gotten over it. When I finally tried to start learning how to take a fish off, a 7-8lb pike bit me and left a tooth in my wrist I had to dig out. It went into a vain and I had to be hospitalized - the scar is still there, right on top of the vain. I've caught plenty of fish but I can't deal with toothy warm-blooded fish like pike and muskie, and I actually freak out around spiny fish like rock bass and walleye because my childhood incident left me with some sort of mental trauma. I do not target these fish, but sometimes I go fishing with friends and inevitably catch them. My fishing buddies understand this about me and are always kind enough to take fish off when we go for warm-blooded species in the summer. Plenty of spiny fish have unnecessarily died because of me, but I take pride in knowing that more than 95% of those poor souls became delicious breaded fish balls. The other 5% died because of unintentional foul or swallowed hooks. I do not waste! I also hate the taste of these fish and usually cook them for friends. I've never caught a walleye, nor do I target them, but if it was hooked, I wouldn't be able to handle it. That's right, I'm a fisherman who hates most fish.
That said, I've always had an affinity for trout. I don't mind handling them and I practice catch and release for the most part, except of course when I'm looking for a meal. I'm one of the few anglers who does not care about size. I don't want the giant lurkers, and I don't really care for them either. I target smaller cold water species, specifically trout, and have adapted incredibly odd techniques of catching them. When you see the fisherman using 20lb braid or baitcasting 6lb floro through running water for spawning salmon, that'll be me. I learned it because that's the way I caught fish when I was a child fishing coldwater tribs in northern Quebec, so yes, it's incredibly childish, but believe it or not it works very well in the right type of water and conditions. It took me years to figure that last bit out...
I've just recently gotten into fly fishing. I wish I had started this years ago. It's phenomenal. I've caught a few bass on a fly, but have a lot of trouble setting the hook. Smallies spit that poop out like hookers on main street. It's probably only because I only use barbless hooks no matter where I'm fishing. Another member of this forum has a quote from a fly-fishing writer that states: "I don't know what fly fishing teaches us, but I think it's something we need to know". My response to that is that it teaches you about river ecology. To learn fly-fishing is to learn about hatches, and then the food chain. It teaches you feeding patterns, and shows you how the top predators of river ecosystems often target the smaller wildlife. It teaches you how to be patient. It is not forgiving. It shows the most nimble of people how to tie the hardest of knots, and even if you can do it flawlessly, it keeps you in practice. It is a lesson in life. Of course the author of that quote is getting at something bigger than the obvious, but realistically, he's right. At it's most basic, Fly-fishing teaches one about the process of life. It's astounding when you sit and think about it. You can PM me if you disagree...It's absolutely beautiful and I don't think I'll ever stop fly fishing as long as I'm living.
I do have wealth of knowledge of many bodies of water in the Southern Ontario area, and have even kept logs of what baits work where and when. I hope I can contribute to this forum with as much as I hope to learn.
Some notes:
-biggest fish: ~18-20lb pike in Midland/Penetang off Georgian Bay. I was fishing with a guide of a known tackle store in the area and had just casted a salt jig behind the wake of a 20ft cruising boat...
-Smallest fish: a juvenile trout on a west trib. I was actually changing a bait for my buddy and my fly line was about 1" in a small pool no larger than a pitcher of beer. I figured nothing was in there.... when I pulled it out to cast, there was a 1-2 inch trout on the fly. I learned from my mistake and won't ever leave something in the water again.
-biggest missed opportunity: A massive, MASSIVE, top water hit on a lake on the SouthEast side of GB. I'm actually going to make a post of it to get some ideas of what it was....
-biggest memory: the injuries stated above!
-worst offence: I dragged a rock bass across a lake in a paddle boat for two reasons. One, I was too much of a pussy to deal with the spines in a paddleboat. Second, when I got it close to the boat to even attempt it, I started getting dive bombed by seagulls. The fish lived and was live released, but I'm pretty sure it died from fatigue with the next day. I murdered that fish and I accept that, but lament the unnecessary death.
-most unexpected catch: beautiful 10-12lb lake trout in the middle of high summer trolling a jointed rapala behind a canoe...The fish was on the grill within 15 mins of being caught.
-biggest Fail: Wading into a sandy West Trib only to step on a dead fish under the sand, freak the hell out, and fall into the water. Since then I bring a change of clothes on every trip.
Now you know about me, I'm less manly than most, but I'm good at catching fish with cheap, kiddie techniques.
B/R
