New to fishing

[Irishangler87]

Hey there,

Ive lived in Toronto for 2 1/2 years, I'm from Ireland originally. My first summer in Canada I was at a cottage in Haliburton and stumbled upon an ancient fishing rod in the garage that was rigged up with a float and hook. I bought a dozen worms in town and a licence and went to the dock that evening. I think it was late July. Conditions must have been perfect though because I caught 15 Perch that night despite not having a clue what I was doing and have been hooked since!

Ive fished that same dock a fair bit since as my girlfriends family own the cottage. When the waters warm the perch will bite all day so it never gets old. Ive caught a couple of tiny small mouth bass off there too. I would love to catch something bigger though which is why Ive joined this forum. Any advice for me on a specific type of fish to target given my experience would be greatly appreciated. Im hoping to land some big fish in 2014. Im based in North York and would be willing to travel an hour in any direction which I know covers a lot of rivers/lakes. I have no access to a boat and right now have a very modest setup but would be willing to invest more in this hobby if given some pointers. I have a 5' 6'' med/light action, 2 piece spinning rod I bought at Canadian Tire for $25. I have no idea how it would do against anything bigger than a panfish! Ihave the beginings of a tackle box too with a few random lures but I always seem to do better when using a worm and a float.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help.

 

[[email protected]]

Welcome to the forum, glad to see you've gotten hooked into fishing and that you;ve had some success. If i've learned anything from my fishing experience, its don't mess with success, if something is working for you, do not change it til the fish change it. your setup as is, is great for panfish and dock bass. however, if you want to go for bigger game i would invest in a longer rod 7' + this will give you added leverage to handle larger fish as protect lighter lines. i would suggest a medium or even med heavy rod for fishing in weeds, give you some back bone to pull 5lbs of weeds with 3 lbs fish under it.

our water ways are loaded with various types of game fish, pick your poison, do a little research on basic gear needs for the chosen species, and go out and have some fun.

as for finding places to fish, not many people are willing to give up information, but google maps is a great tool for finding potential spots, look for bays, rivers, harbours, piers, inlets, with satellite imaging its pretty easy to find access points as well

 

[OCDComputing]

Hit the G...for sure you can hit some decent fish. The only thing I would suggest is spooling up with some half decent braided line. You can hook into some VERY decent Carp and they will spool you if you are not careful...lol...ask me how I know! Spool up with some 40lb braid and have at'er..lol! There are lots of rivers within an hour of so from you to go from anything to Salmon to Brookies to Rainbows to Pike to LM/SM Bass to Walleye..enjoy! Some leg work is involved but you will have fun getting there and trying different methods! Welcome to the forum!

 

[W_boughner]

I would find out what is near you or in a particular river or lake and find out what are the natural forage is for they fish and start from there ... The rod you have is fine for a beginner but I would recommend some quality line .. Personally I would never use 40lb on a spinning reel but that's up to you .. 15 lb with a fluorocarbon leader is all you need for a med/LT IMO .. Toronto harbor , port credit and Humber bay are good spots for course fish like carp ,cat fish and sheep head with the occasional sport fish during the summer but you will have to up grade for the big sport fish like salmon and carp

 

[FisherGirl]

Use google maps. Find water and you'll find walking trails

 

[Christopheraaron]

I would find out what is near you or in a particular river or lake and find out what are the natural forage is for they fish and start from there ... The rod you have is fine for a beginner but I would recommend some quality line .. Personally I would never use 40lb on a spinning reel but that's up to you .. 15 lb with a fluorocarbon leader is all you need for a med/LT IMO .. Toronto harbor , port credit and Humber bay are good spots for course fish like carp ,cat fish and sheep head with the occasional sport fish during the summer but you will have to up grade for the big sport fish like salmon and carp

^^This^^

 

[rich_ace_G]

Hi and welcome to OFF. Since you said you are from North york, There are tons of ponds to check around your area. Like FisherGirl said, google map is your friend. But being that some are currently close season, like bass and trout, I'd say your best bet is to look at Lake Ontario, find out marinas & docks that are accessible to public. Pike is pretty good right now...if you can find open water.

 

[FisherGirl]

Hi and welcome to OFF. Since you said you are from North york, There are tons of ponds to check around your area. Like FisherGirl said, google map is your friend. But being that some are currently close season, like bass and trout, I'd say your best bet is to look at Lake Ontario, find out marinas & docks that are accessible to public. Pike is pretty good right now...if you can find open water.

DIlli........if you know of open water PM me.......thought we were friends here....lol

 

[Shawarma]

Welcome to the forums and to fishing!

If i can offer any single piece of advise, is don't stress about what the millions of lures, baits, rods, floats, setups that exist out there. You can easily spend your entire time reading and not fishing. So, if you're doing something that's working, try to improve it and go from there. Keep it simple to begin with and you'll be catching those big fish in no time.

 

[[email protected]]

DIlli........if you know of open water PM me.......thought we were friends here....lol

yes open water h34r: h34r:

 

[rich_ace_G]

put a worm in it

 

[Dozer]

yes open water h34r: h34r:

Someone say open water? h34r:

 

[[email protected]]

Someone say open water? h34r:

who would utter such promising words?



hey look its open water!

 

[classic drifter]

JMatt, nice 1 bud!!!! it is actually open water, and according to my lab tests its pure and clean too!!!

 

[FisherGirl]

What a sick joke.

 

[classic drifter]

common FG that was not so bad wasn't it. LOL!!! LITERALLY OPEN WATER RIGHT THERE!!!

 

[[email protected]]

What a sick joke.

you know you love it

 

[Irishangler87]

Thanks for all the responses, I definitely have enough info to get started now. My plan of attack is to hit Lake Ontario looking for pike or catfish. From what I've researched about them they aren't overly picky and might be a good fish to target after having success with perch. I've been looking over google maps and tommy Thompson park looks promising. I'm going to try and get down there on the weekend and scout it out for when the ice melts.

 

[rich_ace_G]

TTP is quite a walk to get to the fishing spots but it's actually good. You can try ash bridges as well for carp,pike or bass. if you go after catfish, all you need is nightcrawlers & egg sinkers.they're bottom feeders.

and btw, bass is close right now.

 

[Irishangler87]

Egg sinkers, good to know. I hadn't heard of those before. So with 15lb line and fluorocarbon leader on my light/med rod I should be fairly well set up for course fish then? If catfish are bottom feeders are pike and carp similar?