Wards/Center Island Report - Thurs May 10th

[Snypa]

Decided to head down for a few hours to the Islands last Thursday afternoon, packed everything I needed (or so I thought). When I arrived downtown it still quite warm out, but with traffic/rush-hour & all, I got there a bit later then expected (around 3-4pm). Originally I had planned on going straight to Center Island, but I decided at the ferry docks to check out Wards Island for the first time, I have to honestly say I was actually kinda impressed, the canals there looked great, and I could see movement just about everywhere I went. It was also nice to test out some of my older store-bought baits that I haven't used, one thing I noticed though (like MikeyMikey) my floro leader's swivels were too heavy, and they were making my HuskyJerk swim funny (head first into the ground). Luckily I brought my leader kit with me, plus I had some 25 lb seagar floro, I quickly cut off my old leader, and made a new one with these lighter swivels I had, problem solved. Shortly thereafter I realized I completely forgot to bring my PLIERS !?!! "awww sh**", I swear I thought I had them in my backpack from a previous fishing trip, nope, at home ;D So I was kinda put into a odd position, for the first time ever I was hoping I didn't catch a pike, or possibly face my hand getting bitten off LOL. What would u do

Kept fishing, by the time I got near Center Island, it started to get real cold lol, as soon as the sun started setting, it went from like 30 to 20 degrees It was really hot earlier, so I was in a t-shirt, was actually gonna pack a jacket in my backpack.. As soon as it got colder, I decided to just call it a day. Didn't see any pike at all that day oddly, though lastyear at Hanlans I saw a 40"+ incher, so I was kinda surprised I didnt see any, saw just about everything else (lots of bass & carp), maybe I got to Center too late in the afternoon, but I didn't see any pike that day Maybe I should be thankful, lmao, might've had 1 less finger by now. Here's a few pics:

 

[paw]

ahhh man that sucks!! better luck next time.. nice scenery pic tho.

 

[MikeyMikey]

Ah man...

You fear'd the pike teeth!

 

[Snypa]

LOL thanks guys

 

[frozenfire]

at least it was good to get out. Judging by my experience with pike teeth, you were lucky you didn't catch one haha.
Remember the pliers and jaw spreaders next time.

 

[openfire]

That's why it's called "fishing", not "catching".

Nice scenery and photography Snypa.

BTW, it's probably a good thing you didn't get any pike with no pliers. Last time I caught pike there was blood, and not the pike's blood...

Thanks for the report!

 

[Snypa]

Went down to the islands last Wednesday Nov 7, took the wards island ferry and started making my way down the stretch towards the deeper water (inbetween wards & center), automatically you could feel a strong eastwardly wind, not good if you believe the saying "when the winds blowing west, the fishing is the best", anyways I put a on a mepps #4 aglia firetiger, started casting into the canals & while walking every 5 minutes, when I got into this area where tried fishing last spring, there's a inlet into toronto harbour that starts the main wards island canal. On my first cast while reeling it in, I saw this HUGE dark shadow, my heart started pumping, i was about to have a heart attack lol, then all of sudden there's 3 large shadows, the 1st starts swimming quickly over to my bait, when it got closer I said to myself "hold on a sec... Thats not a pike !?! Its a salmon " 2 of them chased after my bait for a bit. It seemed as tho they just checking the bait out, but not commiting. The fish also seemed quite healthy (considering salmon is about done) & also very active, they were swimming & doing circles in front of me for about 20 minutes, that sort of salmon dance

Shortly after that I moved on & made my towards this fishing dock that I like to frequent (before the boat house), its fairly deep 10-15 ft. its beside that old church, when you're on it you're looking directly across to center island. Been wanting to hit this spot for a while now, and also to be able to take some vids of my baits, the only problem was the wind wasn't too strong, but it was definetly colddddd lol. So I had to make it brief, I didn't take too many pics or vids, but I did a lot of fishing. Also stopped by the boat-house, in the sout eastern part of center island, to make things worse didn't even get a sniff for a follow.. Ahh thats pike fishing for ya

I also took a vid of those salmon that Ill post later tonight. Fished the big bridge area + the grandstands, then I started to make my way back. Didn't see any pike that day, nor did I see Halleb lol, i think he might've been way ahead of me, or maybe that was him (on the bike) when I was walking back to the ferry docks on the way back, but it was still good getting out & wetting some bigger lures & also check out a few new spots. Was looking at the weather today, I might just go for a ROUND 2 this afternoon (if i have time), but this time at the harbourfront, the weather is not bad today !

"Where's the pike"

here's a shot of that spot where those salmon were, you can actually see how close they were to shore.

quick pic of downtown right before the ferry docked

 

[MikeyMikey]

Were you using your Home made lures ?

 

[Snypa]

Yes I did ! But it was quite cold out that particular day so I was only able to take a few vids + also use my regular pike baits. The good news was I took more vids a few days later, on that rainy monday morning. The bad news is that the fish weren't cooperating that day, I didn't get any follows on store-bought lures nor custom lures. Btw tho, it was also amazing to see some of my baits that I wasn't completely coinfident with, look better than I thought they would in-water. Aswell it was also interesting seeing how each bait performed for the 1st-time, I ended up tuning one particular bait when I got back home, it would spin or roll while being reeled in, realized I needed to downsize the blades (too heavy) modified the blades and now the bait looks even better than it did before

 

[Snypa]

Here's a vid of the island salmon, its kinda hard to see, but there's 3 salmon swimming right in front of me. Sorry about the vid-quality, youtube displays MPEG-4 files better than window media files :/ You can press the button on the bottom right of the video, just left of the full screen button (at the bottom right of the video), it should make the video smaller for easier viewing. Anyone know of a good video converter program ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdMO2fTnFoI