chibi
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
- Messages
- 249
The Location:
For the Kawartha crappie opener, frozenfire and I went to Buckhorn Lake to fish for crappies. This is a well known spot among the Asian community. It is located on private property. The owner has a few docks where people can store their boats for the summer, and I believe they also rent out boats but I'm unsure of the prices. For fishing, they charge $7 a person. It used to be $5, but they recently built a nice washroom.
The fishing:
You can catch a variety of fish here. During mid day, the fish you’ll most likely catch are sunfish, perch, rock bass, and both small and largemouth bass. When it starts to get dark, the crappies come in and so do some walleye. This is a calm bay that gets a constant rush of crappie at sunset and sunrise.
On the opening night when we arrived, about 10 people were already there lined up on the docks waiting for 12:00 AM. frozenfire started catching them right away about 2 feet under the surface. By this point, many had arrived and we had not seen this location as crowded as that night. Everyone fished with about 1 meter inbetween their neighbour.
Equipment:
Ultralight set ups with small reels equipped with 4 lb test, slip floats, and 1.5" plastic tubes on jig heads.
Unfortunately, a few hours in, the rain quickly moved in and it started to thunder. Everyone rushed back to their cars to avoid being soaked. It came, and went, and came, and went. Some people left, but we decided to wait it out. At about 4ish AM, the rain stopped and we could fish comfortably again.
When the sun came out, it was nonstop action. Everyone was landing them at all spots. There were many of decent size and out of season largemouth bass also made an appearance.
We had 3 fish which measured in at 11.5 inches. In total we kept 16. Most of the fish caught were thrown back due to their small size. It was a very packed but fun night. Not a bad way to spend frozenfire's birthday haha.
Here are some pictures of the surrounding area:
All were taken at 7AM or so. We fished along the horizontal dock in this picture.
View from the left:
View from the right:
Closer view of the elevated dock:
Lastly, the small docks usually ignored by fishers. frozenfire's friend has fished here with success in recent years. A lot of rock bass can be found here, along with the occasional decent crappie.
frozenfire's big catches! What a happy birthday boy haha.
Driving directions:
Take the 401 East to 35/115. Then head north past 35, continuing on 115 until you reach 7A to Fowler’s Corner. Keep heading north until you reach Highway 1. Take a right and head east to the end and make a left (north) onto 18. After passing the town of Bridgenorth, make a left on Selwyn Rd (20) and keep going until you reach the 4 way stop at Buckhorn Rd (23). Make a left and head north until you reach Curve Lake Rd (22). Continue going until you reach the end and you should see the house with the docks after the gas station.
Driving time:
From the north east corner of Scarborough, it takes about 2 hours to get there (with regular traffic flow). It'd probably take at least 2.5-3 hours if you're coming from downtown Toronto or Mississauga.
Google recently updated their satellite image of this area, but unfortunately, they took it during the winter when everything was covered in ice. This is the best I can do.
Map:
For the Kawartha crappie opener, frozenfire and I went to Buckhorn Lake to fish for crappies. This is a well known spot among the Asian community. It is located on private property. The owner has a few docks where people can store their boats for the summer, and I believe they also rent out boats but I'm unsure of the prices. For fishing, they charge $7 a person. It used to be $5, but they recently built a nice washroom.
The fishing:
You can catch a variety of fish here. During mid day, the fish you’ll most likely catch are sunfish, perch, rock bass, and both small and largemouth bass. When it starts to get dark, the crappies come in and so do some walleye. This is a calm bay that gets a constant rush of crappie at sunset and sunrise.
On the opening night when we arrived, about 10 people were already there lined up on the docks waiting for 12:00 AM. frozenfire started catching them right away about 2 feet under the surface. By this point, many had arrived and we had not seen this location as crowded as that night. Everyone fished with about 1 meter inbetween their neighbour.
Equipment:
Ultralight set ups with small reels equipped with 4 lb test, slip floats, and 1.5" plastic tubes on jig heads.
Unfortunately, a few hours in, the rain quickly moved in and it started to thunder. Everyone rushed back to their cars to avoid being soaked. It came, and went, and came, and went. Some people left, but we decided to wait it out. At about 4ish AM, the rain stopped and we could fish comfortably again.
When the sun came out, it was nonstop action. Everyone was landing them at all spots. There were many of decent size and out of season largemouth bass also made an appearance.
We had 3 fish which measured in at 11.5 inches. In total we kept 16. Most of the fish caught were thrown back due to their small size. It was a very packed but fun night. Not a bad way to spend frozenfire's birthday haha.
Here are some pictures of the surrounding area:
All were taken at 7AM or so. We fished along the horizontal dock in this picture.
View from the left:
View from the right:
Closer view of the elevated dock:
Lastly, the small docks usually ignored by fishers. frozenfire's friend has fished here with success in recent years. A lot of rock bass can be found here, along with the occasional decent crappie.
frozenfire's big catches! What a happy birthday boy haha.
Driving directions:
Take the 401 East to 35/115. Then head north past 35, continuing on 115 until you reach 7A to Fowler’s Corner. Keep heading north until you reach Highway 1. Take a right and head east to the end and make a left (north) onto 18. After passing the town of Bridgenorth, make a left on Selwyn Rd (20) and keep going until you reach the 4 way stop at Buckhorn Rd (23). Make a left and head north until you reach Curve Lake Rd (22). Continue going until you reach the end and you should see the house with the docks after the gas station.
Driving time:
From the north east corner of Scarborough, it takes about 2 hours to get there (with regular traffic flow). It'd probably take at least 2.5-3 hours if you're coming from downtown Toronto or Mississauga.
Google recently updated their satellite image of this area, but unfortunately, they took it during the winter when everything was covered in ice. This is the best I can do.
Map:
