Author Archives: Michael

Fun with Torontonian Freshwater Drum

July 28, 2013

Here’s a report that hails from the Greater Toronto Area, Canada. I’ve recently been exploring fishing from my “new” Tarpon 140 kayak. The water outflow from a nearby factory is a magnet for a wide array of species in the spring and fall, but it’s not a popular fishing destination in the summer. Read more

Who needs huskies to pull the sleigh!

July 15, 2013

Who needs huskies to pull the sleigh, when you have DRUM! I took advantage of the abnormally calm winds today to make my fifth trip out on the kayak. So many people have told me that the timing is wrong for a warm water discharge… because it’s too hot? Read more

Third time’s a charm!

July 7, 2013

I had a few hours to spare before work for a third session on the new kayak. Yesterday, my 2nd time out, I caught a brown bullhead on a swimbait (go figure). I had scoured Google maps for a more convenient launch to access to a local warm water discharge. Read more

Fun in a kettle lake

July 5, 2013

I returned to the place of last week’s monster encounter that ended with a broken line. This time I had minnows. And a bag full of wire leaders =). Some hammer handle pike seemed to be the culprit. The hook looks deep in the last fish, but I unhooked him just fine. Read more

Kickin’ bass

July 5, 2013

On the long weekend, FishFight once again invited me to join him and Zack on his boat to fish for bass on the Niagara river. Last time we were out, I saw over 7 muskies so I brought muskie gear as well. Read more

Things that bump in the night

June 25, 2013

Heading home from the cottage this weekend, I decided to try for some blondes. I had no craft, but I brought my inflatable beach toy… As my friend put it, I was one headshake away from disaster. Anyways… I began by paddling myself out to likely structures and chucking live minnows in them. Read more

Cottage weekend on Drag Lake

June 24, 2013

Besides other “cottage weekend” activities, I had the opportunity to take a kayak or two out for a spin during prime fishing hours at first light and in he evening. You may recall my crazed lake trout hunt on Drag Lake from last year. Read more

A flash of red

May 20, 2013

After work today (yes, work on a stat holiday), I headed out to the same small pool that produced my lifer rainbow darter last week. There were many other darters around, and I figured I’d try to catch them… plus… this area is known to have “abundant” redside dace. Read more

GARrreat Saturday!

May 20, 2013

I headed out on Saturday with a single target in mind: longnose gar. To aid me in my journey to another lifelist entry, Ken had been generous enough to share both his technique and location with me. I arrived with plans to do some wading, but then had a better idea. Read more

10 months and 6 days ago…

May 12, 2013

10 months and 6 days ago I set out for my first ever attempt at microfishing. It was the the day I first began tracking my fishing species lifelist. The target on that day was sticklebacks and I had returned empty-handed. Read more

Spring 2013 steelheading

May 10, 2013

Ice-out lured me to the river for my first steelies of 2013 Then a lull… awaiting opener… I spent opener day getting out-fished by Ken =). My landing ratio needed some work, as I was losing 4x the number of fish I was hooking. Read more

After 11 trips… After 136 hours… After 842 dollars…

April 12, 2013

Lake whitefish are finally mine! I drove up north on Wednesday for another “one last stab” at knabbing my first lake whitefish through the ice. I arrived at my spot in the afternoon to find large schools of baitfish from 80 fow to 30 fow. Read more

Catching Them All

Michael Verdirame's journey of fishing.