We took a wonderful fall hike along the river Saturday afternoon for several hours.
The leaves had not fully turned colour and there was still plenty of green around.
Fishing season is closed for the year. Still, it was nice to see the river again and dream about next spring.
Pocket Water
I'll be back at this bend pool in the spring time. You have yourself a nice winter!
The kids admire the tumbling water
Not yet there
Now that's more like it.
The River. Friday, October 14, 2009 @ 4.14 p.m.
A fully loaded float fisherman waits for the Steelhead to bite on the Notty over Thanksgiving weekend a few days ago. He was one of the nicer ones who smiled and even gave me a little wave.
Thanksgiving weekend angler
I was looking for an old photograph on my hard drive, when I stumbled across this. I have no recollection of where I found it, so I can’t link to source.
It’s a very detailed and cleverly put together. Quite helpful to newbie anglers.
So whether it’s rainbow trout, brookies, salmon or brown trout you are looking for, whip out your thermometer, and go fishing.
Ontario Fish: Water Temperature Preferences
Every time I walk along the river, in the heart of sprawling suburbia, I am always amazed at what it has to offer to hikers, kayakers, canoeists, birdwatchers and anglers.
I live in downtown Toronto. But whenever I happen to be in the vicinity of the river on business, I make it a point to go under the bridge.
Down in the ravine, I forget that I am just 20 to 30 minutes away from downtown Toronto.
The float fishermen, a fixture on southern Ontario rivers, were out today looking for the chinooks and steelhead.
It can be a gruesome experience.
There is often little finesse involved and a lot tramping through the river.
Today, however, it made a nice scene.
Heading to the bridge
Searching
Fishing under the bridge
Below the bridge.
The scene at the bridge!
It’s been a weird year.
First it was one of the wettest summers we’ve had for years.
Then mid to late September, we had over three weeks without rain, a phenomenon my local paper noted has not been repeated since the 1940s.
And after threatening to rain all week, the skies finally opened up this afternoon.
That didn’t stop the kids and I from enjoying a fall fair on the outskirts of our city, this last Saturday of traditional trout season.
It’s past 9 p.m and still raining!
Real rain, not that spitting type which is so frustrating.
It can only mean one thing.
The fish will finally start to move.
I love this time of year.
Right about now, masses of fish have started to assemble at the mouths of various rivers that flow into Lake Ontario.
There is word that the same coaster brook trout has been caught at a fish ladder on the river, two years in a row.
I am lucky to live in a place where the change of seasons is so dramatic.
Two days ago, it was warm.
Yesterday, it was cold.
The fall colours are its peak in Algonquin Park.
Another season is about to start.
Another year has gone by.
In five days, traditional trout season which opens in the last Saturday of April ends.
I did not go up to the river as much I had hoped to this year.
Yes, I was able to get out to “the river” several times early in the season, but then much of the summer was spent out of town and out of country with family.
September turned out to be a busy month. Surprise, surprise!
It is, I am certain, a feeling echoed by others who had grand plans at the beginning of the season, but quickly found themselves bogged down by the the business of life.
There steelhead begin their run, following the chinooks, in earnest, very soon.
Hope springs eternal.
Jeffrey has produced a wonderful map of Algonquin Park, which over the past couple of years, has evolved into a waterproof book.
For the map obsessed, this is yet another map worth having. It provides details the Friends of Algonquin Map does not have, the most helpful feature being, which lake has what fish.
If you don’t want to download it – for free – you can move around it and explore it, right on the home page.
It appears to be a labour of love.
I was lying on the grass looking up at the sky. That’s when I remarked on the beauty of a tree. It’s not just the roses we should stop to smell. We should look up at the trees every now and then.
The post by mister anchovy that his hurtin knee had prevented him from going out much on the river this year makes me think of a friend who is going through a bad patch.
He is an avid angler who has spent a life time exploring the rivers of southern Ontario with passion and skill.
More recently, he found out that old injuries had come back to haunt him, and he is pretty much out of commission.
He is older than I am, but that didn’t stop me from feeling the hurt as the realization sets in that he may never fish like he used to.
He is heartbroken.
When I posted a youtube video of Obama and the mariachi band a few weeks ago, I knew that it would be related to fly fishing in some way. I just didn’t know how?
Here is the connection:
Local fishing guide Dan Vermillion reacts as President Barack Obama hooks a trout on the East Gallatin River near Belgrade, Mont., August 14, 2009. The President hooked about 6 fish, but did not land any during his first fly fishing outing. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)
We took a delightful bicycle ride along the Humber River yesterday, the same day hordes of equally delightfully dressed men and women walked to raise money for find a cure to end breast cancer.
I remarked to myself on how lucky we were that we could take the subway to the river, and how much potential the river had. There are parts the river that can be naturalized more , out of date weirs that can be removed, and much more love afforded a river that was the source of so much history when it came to the founding of Toronto and the lives of its original native inhabitants.
The Old Mill stone bridge, built in 1916, a popular spot for lazy salmon fisherman looked absolutely lovely from a distance.
A little girl sits on a log and observes a poacher, across the river, visible in white, fishing the no-fishing zone near the first weir. Some people will never learn.
Someone left an intriguing urn by the river. My first thought was that it contained human ashes.
On closer look, it was sealed. I left it alone. Hopefully the person who left it there comes back for it.
gto
It’s worth viewing this all the way to the end, if you enjoy canoeing! Otherwise go look at youtube videos of motorboats 
I love Canadian Tire even if my Mountain Equipment Coop going friends derisively refers to the store as Crappy Tire. As far as camping goes, it’s good for certain things, while the coop is good for other stuff.
I’ll buy cheap white rope to hang a tarp from Crappy Tire but get a nice, ultralight cooking set from the coop.
White gas from Crappy Tire and an expensive water filtration system from the coop.
I’ll get a Colemans cooking stove from Crappy Tire but expensive rain gear from the coop.
I’ll get the bike for my kids at Crappy Tire but the flat tire repair kit from the coop.
And so it goes for things big and small.
That’s why I smiled when I stumbled across this photo on the Crappy Tire website.
Not my idea or style, but again, too each, his or her own, eh!
We just got back from a few days of some back country, interior canoe camping in beautiful Massassauga Provincial Park southwest of Parry Sound. The area where we were is similar in topography to Algonquin and not quite the classic windswept Georgian Bay landscape so well known to many. Although, every now and then you get a taste of it as the photo below shows.
The weather held out and not a drop of rain fell.
The bugs were long gone.
Bass were caught.
Good food was eaten.
There was much swimming and canoeing.
Life couldn’t get better.
The portage point provided quite a contrast to how people travel into the back country.
Here is how one group travelled:
And here is how another group we met travelled!
To each his or her own, eh!
As we left, the weekenders arrived and there was quite the usual jam at the portage point. But everybody knew that the campsites were well spaced out and that within minutes, solitude would be their main companion, except for those whose campsites were on the narrow channels.
Posted for no particular reason, but partly prompted by the difficulties el presidente Obama is having getting health care reform through congress.
There is a hopeful innocence to this song that stands in contrast to the nitty gritty of actually governing.
The mariachi sing with optimism of what Obama will do but not how he actually will do it.
It’s not often that I stop to look at big boats in Toronto harbour, but this particular one made my head swivel this afternoon.
It was the helicopter perched on its very own landing pad, on the yacht, that did it.
I stopped, got out of the car and snapped this picture
Turns out, according to my local newspaper, that the 200-foot long boat, the Calixe, is owned by an American newspaper publisher who earned quite a fortune when she divorced a very rich man.
The article http://www.thestar.com/Unassigned/article/681668 says it is “the property of a California newspaper publisher named Wendy McCaw, who has money to burn since receiving a $460 million (U.S.) divorce settlement from cellphone mogul Craig McCaw 12 years ago.”
The headline of the story reads: Her yacht’s probably bigger than yours
Still, my canoe is bigger in spirit, better lookin’ and more fun than your yacht.
Plus it’s red.
We were up on Georgian Bay this past weekend for a family celebration when I came across this young couple walking along the beach, rods in hand.
Put simply, there there was something quite evocative about the sight of the two of them as they quietly walked towards a point to cast their lures.
The appeared comfortable together, at ease in each others presence.
I enjoyed watching them.
I particularly like the image of the girl fishing from the rock.
Beachcombers
Getting Ready
Girl Fishing from a Rock
It’s good to be back in Canada.
The jet lag has finally begun to lift.
Our journey to the other side of the world was long and fruitful.
We have much to be grateful about here.
I thought I would share this great image from the website of Ian Colin James http://www3.sympatico.ca/ianjames.
I was told he suffered a second heart attack while I was away, but it appears he is as cheerful as ever, at least in public.
I hope he gets well soon. He is a national treasurer and a real professional.
I hate to say farewell, temporarily, to my hundreds of millions of faithful readers who turn to my blog ten times a day.
Please do not despair!
I will be back in a month.
Until then, tight lines.
The Muskoka Paddleshack http://www.paddleshack.ca/muskoka/ is a must stop on the way north to cottage country or Algonquin for canoeists and kayakers. It is located off Highway 169 in Gravenhurst, just north of the big roadside dinosaur.
They’ve moved to a bigger shop this year. Lots to look at. Great service. Very knowledgeable.
Not quite sure what to make of this image, except that it belongs to the the daily blog A year on the Grand http://therecord.blogs.com/a_year_on_the_grand/
http://therecord.blogs.com/a_year_on_the_grand/
The lower Grand River has smallmouth, walleye and steelhead.
Here are a couple more fly fishing and canoeing images from their blog. Many of the pictures are close up photos of wildlife both big and small that frequent this river. Once badly damaged, it is slowly recovering. I encourage people to visit this blog.
http://therecord.blogs.com/a_year_on_the_grand/
http://therecord.blogs.com/a_year_on_the_grand/
By way of the Algonquin Adventures message board.
What a great image!
Some day, I will build my own canoe.
At the workshop where the Winisk canoe is made. Photo from Algonquin Adventures message board.
For more images, check out this Barry Bridgeford post at
http://www.network54.com/Forum/352882/thread/1245931068/last-1245937968/Canoe+Update+From+Mike+Burns
Another link with specifications
http://www.greenval.com/winisk.html
Some photos from a recent trip to Toronto Island.
No photos today. Forgot the camera.
Bass opener on Saturday was spent on the lower Grand River with my spin fishing buddy L.
Smallmouth fishing is always a blast. Several big leaping smallies fought hard.
The surface flies didn’t work today but the olive cone head streamer was deadly as usual.
We both remarked on the clarity of the water that was crystal clear, the clearest it’s been for years.
It meant that we spent some fun times sight fishing, stalking the smallies in the shallow water trout style. The satisfaction of visually executing the hook set on the “soft take” is a thrill.
Sight fishing truly drives home the point how about how many fish we miss.
The clear water also allowed us to read the river bed for future trips we know will be dark and murky!
As usual, the canoeists were out in full force.
I hope to return with mine some day soon.
Fishing in Nova Scotia is often as simple as pulling off to the side of the road and putting your canoe into a smallish pond that has lots of brook trout. I was taken to this pond by the brother of a friend of mine who fly fishes. There is something very old fashioned and lovely about the way people fly fish in Nova Scotia. Very practical, no nonsense, low key style is involved.
Driving up Bathurst St. in Toronto, I stopped south of the Dundas St. W. traffic light, daydreaming.
It took me a few moments to focus in on this sign outside the Scadding Court Community Centre, just west of Chintatown.
INDOOR FISH POND — the sign read.
The swimming pool had been converted to a fishing pond for five days in June.
Look closely at the picture which shows a boy sitting on a diving board, his rod pointed into a fish-filled pool.
No naturalization of the pool here. I hope they emptied the chlorinated pool before putting the fish in it. I’d also say this was a pretty creative way of keeping pools open, especially in light of recent news articles about the fight to keep swimming pools open in the city.
An article in insidetoronto.ca article states this is the fifth year of a program that helps put a rod in the hands of people who have never fished. They also hope to spread the program to to help inner city kids connect to the sport of angling.
Hopefully some of them will go on to fish in the great outdoors!
BTW – the swimming pool was loaded with 1,000 rainbow trout. People got to keep a fish and take it home.
I snapped this picture of a river near Algonquin Provincial Park.
I like looking at the scene.
Now for something utterly mundane.
Here is a link to a Youtube video for tying the perfection loop that is beautiful in its simplicity. It should be especially welcome to newbie anglers.
He has equally clear instructions for a whole bunch of other knots including the Palomar, Nail, Improved Clinch and other knots.
A wonderful morning was spent searching for a stretch of river that I knew had some brook trout, a place I had only been once before about four years ago.
It is not easy fishing. There is a lot of brush and little room to cast. Mostly dapping. It takes a bit of hike to reach the spot.
The rewards are tiny but very beautiful. One particularly feisty guy made an incredible dash from under this patch of foamy water as I dangled a size 10 GRHE at the seam. Fishing small streams rejuvenates me. After several hours I returned home, tired from all the bushwhacking, but with a big smile.
Fishing buddies walk today to a stocked pond full of rainbows and brookies about an hour from where we live.
We were guests.
It was a fun day.
My local paper, the Toronto Star finally ran an obit of Dave Prothero with this photo.
You can see his rods in the background and a photo of John Gierach, holding a big fish at the top right hand corner.
He once said that it was the stories of Gierach that helped him through his painful recovery when he had his stroke.
http://www.thestar.com/article/645314
The Toronto Star’s Kenneth Kidd has a lovely story in the paper about a carp fly fishing tournament in Hamilton Harbour. Kidd writes it is part of a North American trend toward urban fishing, sometimes called brownlining, since it all takes place in muddy, polluted water, often in the shadow of smokestacks and power plants.
Some of my fondest memories is fishing off Bronte Pier.
Here is a striking image of the tournament taken by Glenn Lowson for The Toronto Star with smokestacks in the background.
The story: http://www.thestar.com/article/643415
Carp and carping at an urban pier
GLENN LOWSON PHOTO FOR THE TORONTO STAR: Dave Forgeron releases the day’s first carp, a 28-incher. Anglers from across Ontario cast lines for bottom feeders at the charity event. Top anglers trade jibes yanking big homely fish out of brown water: It’s the Coal Tar Classic
Jun 01, 2009 04:30 AM
Kenneth Kidd
FEATURE WRITER
HAMILTON – The morning sunlight is dancing across the water as Heather Ward shoots out her line, dropping a little black fly several metres away that she hopes will entice a fish.
It is hard to believe that this image was taken in the heart of the city.
The potential of this river is endless.
The Other River in the spring time.
We were driving up north towards a friend’s cottage when we stopped to have lunch at a fairly isolated rest stop by the Irondale River around Opening Day.
That’s when these two guys showed up to fish by some rapids. I snapped a picture and have always found it to be a lovely picture.
They could be brothers or friends. I never spoke to them beyond the perfunctory nod. Either way, I enjoyed watching them fishing.
Since I’m a latecomer to this blogging business, I’m trying to get going by publishing pictures from days gone by.
I particularly like this one because it was taken on the Medway River during a mad dash for a day’s fishing while on a trip to Halifax.
There’s something about the way the boat is positioned at the mouth of a little tributary.
These photos were taken a local gathering of fly fishers back in 2006.
I dug them out when I heard Dave had died.
Dave was a quiet man who felt strongly about things.
After he suffered his stroke at age 62, his right arm and leg were paralyzed. He had to learn his tying skills all over again. Only this time he tied with his one good left hand.
I took this picture a while ago.
I realize now it’s about Ontario, Steelhead and the wet fly swing.
News came last week that Dave Prothero, the Toronto fly tier and fisherman who battled back from a devastating stroke that left his fly fishing and tying arm paralyzed, had died. He was a much feted tier at local fly fishing gatherings where he displayed his skill by tying flies with his left hand. He was 81 years old.
I found this picture of one of his favourite flies, a backswimmer he copied from a pond he fished locally.
He was a remarkable man.
I hope to write more about him on this blog.
Several years ago, a gentleman who worked as a former Algonquin Park warden took us out bass fishing on his beat up old boat.
I snapped a few pictures of his tackle box to remind me of what it contained.
It was pretty basic. The box was new but its contents were old.
Those gnarled hands have caught a few lakers.
And the rest of the box.
The river tonight was high, fast and cold.
Air temperature 15 degrees celcius. A few grey foxes towards sundown.
The mosquitoes were out but not really biting yet. Just a nuisance.
Five degrees warmer and who knows what else might have happened?
I stumbled across this kayaker who was out fishing on a warm spring day.
A close up of from behind shows all his gear including what appears to be a casting stand in front of him. He looked like he was having fun.
