My journey in fishing began in the summer of 2011.  By early 2012, I feverishly hunted a trophy northern pike.  

February 14

My first report with a “catch” for 2012.

I spent the afternoon today taking advantage of the warm weather. Got to Ontario Place around 2pm. Fished along the water in front of both parking lots trying to target pike.

I started with a big willow-blade spinner with a wire leader. Another guy was fishing there as well. I asked him for advice, he advised against the big spinnerbait and wire leader. I donwsized to a spoon tied on directly. I tried to cover the water as methodically as I could. Eventually switched to a noname silver sinking Canadian Wiggler (that I pulled off of a salmon in the Fall hahaha).

I didn’t see any action unfortunately. So I’m dying to spend a day out there with somebody who knows what they’re doing and is able to get reliable pike hits.

I did catch a crayfish, it has fish in the name at least =P. This little buddy was a nice surprise.

Around 5pm I moved the car further east. I found some free parking around the island air port. From there I worked the Spadina Quay marina at the foot of Spadina avenue but no luck there either. I fished into the dark, till about 7pm. I started using a glow-in-the-dark spoon for a bit.

Anyway, I was glad to get a line wet. Anticipated pike is always exciting, just wish I could spend some time with a seasoned vet to show me how it’s done.

Also my rod (I think it’s 6ft) didn’t help on the casting front… should I invest in a proper length 10ft. or 12 ft. rod? Would really help the action and casting i think.

February 26

I spent 2 hours at Frenchman’s bay last Sunday because I was in the area. I started fishing the public docks at the base of Liverpool road.

The ice has set in around most of the shallow areas. You’re limited to fishing at the docks really.

I started by working a red devil spoon along the bottom parallel to all the docks, taking care to not come close to the dock edges and spooking any fish. No luck after about an hour.

I switched to a rapala size 7 shad crankbait (silver/black). I worked the slowly around the middle of the water around the bridge and along the docks as well. Nothing.

Then I took a stroll down the east and west paths at the base of Liverpool road. The east one brings you alongside the shallow wetland that’s iced over. The west one brings you to a “no trespassing” gate. Has that gate ever been opened? It gives you access to all the deeper water!

I did get surprised by a huge beaver that surfaced just next to me by the docks though. And I got a nice sunset. Nevertheless, I wish there were fish!

March 5

The weather was windy, but my friend and I headed off to the Bluffs this past Saturday to try for some pike and fly some kites. We also met a bunch of surfers.

We started fishing the Bluffs Marina. With the wind so strong, we spent most of our time trying to cast with the wind. It was really troublesome getting our lures across the open water and into the dock areas. We weren’t able to cast as far as we would have liked.

We tried an assortment of lures. We changed up from natural colours at the start to brighter colours after an hour or two.

Eventually, my friend got 2 trout on a suspending crankbait from Walmart. The crank was fairly small, maybe equivalent to a size 5 rapala. It was dark green/yellow yellow-perch colour. The trout hit close to the shore, about 10 feet out. Then my friend got it snagged up and lost it.

No fish for me, I tried everything I had at dead slow speeds, fast speeds and jerking retrieves. Maybe it was bad luck, maybe it was just that 1 lure my friend had that was working. I’m at 4 or 5 trips now of being skunked…. *bummer*

Here’s me holding the bigger of the 2. Notice the surfer in the background! We safely released them back, make sure you do the same

Strange we didn’t get into pike.

March 8

After my volunteer shift downtown I took the streetcar down to the Spadina marina. I got there pretty late, circa 5 o’clock. I ran into a fellow fisherman on the streetcar that was very helpful and educational =).

Anway, to report on the Marina. There were a lot of anglers there. They were tossing cranks and in-line spinners and shiny spoons from what I could see. That’s what I was tossing as well.

Water was murky, you could not see very much.

No follows, no fish apparently was the story. This is my 2nd trip there this month. I try to go every Wed or Thurs after my volunteer shift. The pike will be there one day this month, and I’ll be ready for them!

March 11

Today was absolutely gorgeous, so I spent the afternoon at Tommy Thompson park. The first thing I realized upon arrival was that I should have brought a bike.

I worked the shoreline to the north/west of the metal floating bridge. I focused on big stick baits, red/silver, blue/silver, jointed green, and a gold J-13. Also tried a fire tiger rattle trap. I cast into open water with varied speeds of retrieve.

I spend about an hour casting across the opening of the bay as well. There was deeper water there that I hoped would be holding fish. Either they weren’t there or I wasn’t enticing them.

Oh well, skunked again on this beautiful day.

March 14

This seemed to be a relativity hot day for pike. Clear sky, full sun, around 15 degree with a chilly breeze. I arrived at Frenchman’s on the west side of the bay around 3pm and worked it until 8pm.

Everybody I talked to had either already caught one or did catch one later in the day. I saw a nice 10lb’der caught on a big, shiny 5 of diamonds spoon. A friend of mine I met there caught one on a slow-worked husky jerk.

As the day went on I switched from slow, jerking presentations to a mepps long with a white twister worm trailer. I tried to simply cover water to trigger a reflex strike.

Well this ended up producing my first pike of the year (2nd pike of all time). =D It’s small, but hey, I was stoked:

As I was leaving somebody at the parking lot landed another nice 10 lb’der on a firetiger crankbait. Right on!

March 16

My friend and I hit up the same spot at Frenchman’s yesterday.

Here’s my obese whopper of the day =D

Yup, my first perch on a mepps spinner… or on any fast-moving presentation for that matter! So odd =P.

I don’t think the bite was on yesterday, no word on any catches. Strange because conditions seemed perfect with the sun and heat.

One small pike was caught by a father/son duo out in a canoe.