Author Archives: Michael

Don’t cheat on a whitefish

February 15, 2014

Thanks to a lift on a friend’s ATV, I was able to start fishing nice and early as the sun was coming up. This was critical because I didn’t want to be late for my Valentine’s date with Wendy Whitefish. Even though I was hellbent on Wendy, I just couldn’t resist the temptation to suspend something for Luna Lake Trout. Read more

A day of quality over quantity

February 2, 2014

I hate one-fish days. They don’t suck as much as skunk days, but at least on the skunk day you can write the day off as a lost cause. On a one-fish day, once you get that one fish, the rest of the day becomes a complete tease to get just one more. Read more

Broke the Simcoe skunk… again

January 30, 2014

After over an hour of walking to the sunrise I was ready to auger some holes and pop the hut. Around 9am I was fishing and marking no shortage of bait inspectors. It wasn’t long before one of them actually bit and gave me the fight of the season! Read more

A more realistic picture of Simcoe

January 15, 2014

Jan 13: Had a half day out at Oro-Medonte Line 2. Action was a bit better than Sunday’s dead silence. Fished 125 fow. A few chasers and regular risers to the dead stick in the earlier AM until 11ish. First fish bit the tube and came off in a split second. Read more

Trying to find those whitefish again

January 11, 2014

Walked out from Oro-Medonte Line 2 today in some awesome weather. Wind was nonexistant and the air was nice and warm. Ice was firm, with little slush on top. There were maybe a few inches of slush in some places where snow had accumulated. Read more

Two laps of Florida

January 5, 2014

Another year, another road trip down to Florida with Ken. This time, we’d be joining forces with another avid species hunter, Ben, in our quest to pillage Florida’s spoils of diversity. I don’t think I have ever used the phrase “What is that?” with such fervor and frequency. Read more

Welcoming myself back to Ontario

January 5, 2014

With their short bite windows, fussiness, and mysterious spells of lockjaw, trout (all varieties) may be Ontario’s most notorious fishes. And then, there are the whitefish. My archenemy from 2013 who ran me through immeasurable hours of jigging, driving, and begging in their pursuit. Read more

Back in the yak

December 4, 2013

I haven’t fished in ages. I’ve been pouring all of my time into preparing for my upcoming fishing vacation in Florida with Ken. But, I finally got what I was wishing for, a calm day! This would be my first venture to the outflow under cold water conditions. Read more

My attempts at the pier-based salmon circuit

October 19, 2013

What sort of fishing ate up the bulk of my September fishing time? Pier fishing for salmon of course! Thanks to tips from Ken, I was finally able to figure it out. This was a code I failed to crack in August. Read more

More mid-day kayak Chinooks

August 24, 2013

Trolling… paddling a long way but not ending up anywhere. =) Below are two more attempts to catch staging Chinook salmon from my kayak out on Lake Ontario. Thursday: I didn’t have too long this morning, since the wind was beginning to pick up. Read more

Trolling for my first salmon

August 21, 2013

Well it’s that time of year in Ontario when I don’t feel so bad about living near Lake Ontario! I feel a little lucky that my first Lake Ontario salmon (and also my first for-sure-fair-hooked salmon) was a Coho. It’s one for the lifelist as well, bringing me up to 121 I believe. Read more

A carp at last

August 7, 2013

It took me over half a year but I finally caught my first carp of the year a few weeks ago. Over the past few weeks, I had tried to catch a carp with a new friend a few times and skunked out each time! Read more

Catching Them All

Michael Verdirame's journey of fishing.