Stuff and stories

Ashley Rae fishes the Grand River

30/09/16 10:28

Here's a great write-up and photos from Ashley Rae of SheLovesToFish.com on her time in Haldimand County, including a morning spent with me, fly fishing the Grand River.

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Smallmouth on Lake Erie

09/08/15 20:23

Greg invited me to fish Lake Erie on his brand new 20' Starcraft to try our luck for some smallies. Being with Loomis/Shimano I feel that I need to know more about the conventional side, so I've picked up some spinning gear. I've yet to get a fish on the new 7' 6" Compre and Stradic CI4 2500 so I figured this was a very good opportunity. I needed some bass slime on the handle to get the shine off of it. Read More...

Affinity Photo

14/07/15 12:18

From the day it came out, I've been a fan of Apple's Aperture, but Apple in its infinite wisdom is discontinuing the product. I had to start thinking of additional photo tools as the improvements pipeline for Aperture has had its tap firmly shut.
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Sotto Fly Fishing Club Champsionship, Belwood Lake

12/07/15 09:55

The Sotto Fly Fishing Club out of London, Ontario ran a fly fishing competition yesterday on Belwood Lake near Fergus. The competition was for warm water species using either the competitors' boats or rentals that were available.
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Back to trout fishing

19/05/15 20:52

With all the bass and steelhead I've been chasing these past years, I've kinda neglected resident trout. So lately I've been trying to rectify this omission.
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Opening Day

27/04/15 12:33

Got out with Mark Z. for some Maitland fishing Saturday and Sunday. Bluebird skies made it more challenging but we did manage one each.
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Grand River Trifecta

14/11/14 15:59

Hit the Grand River Trifecta today: two bass, one walleye and a very feisty steelhead hen, all on the same fly.

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Advertising

19/04/14 08:34

Recently I’ve added some advertising to the Hooked4life website using Google’s Adsense. I’ve made liberal use of their ad blocking tools to keep the ads as pertinent as possible to fishing. Read More...

End of the Season

30/12/13 11:26

December 31st is the close of the steelhead season for most of Ontario’s rivers, with only a few sections open all year round. So these last couple of days are usually the seen as an opportunity for a last hurrah.

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The season is about to start

31/08/13 09:31

Reports of a few fish trickling in has me itching to get out with the steelhead gear. Yesterday I dusted off the 15 footer for some ‘armed practice’ and discovered some not unexpected rust on the shoulders. The older I get, the more the rust accumulates before each season.
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Steroidal beaver

17/02/13 09:40

Angler’s often talk about there encounters with beavers, so here’s my version of a run-in with “Johnny Canuck”. The beaver has a reputation for being industrious, tireless, passive, nice, but a bit dimwitted. Let’s just say that the fellow I met up with came under the heading of “None of the Above.”

An old and not so good fishing story

16/02/13 15:34

My job had me travelling all over Northern Ontario so one summer I planned my schedule to fit in some fishing in the middle of the trip. I had to drive up Hwy 129 from Thessalon to Chapleau on my way to Timmins so I stopped at an outfitter in Thessalon to ask about brookie streams. He recommended I try the Snowshoe, Rapid, and Gravel.

End of the Season

01/01/13 12:35

Our local river closes down on December 31st and won’t reopen until the fourth Saturday in April. While there are still some rivers in Ontario where the season remains open, my fishing is more or less shut down until spring. Read More...

Stretching

22/11/12 21:47

As we get older our muscles aren’t as limber as they once were. Really don’t need to tell this to anyone who is getting on in years as we all feel it when we roll out of bed or lift off a chair, but it’s funny how often we forget about it when we’re on the water. Read More...

Confidence

22/11/12 21:47

Nothing ruins our results as much as loss of confidence. When we run into a dry spell, it will only get worse if we walk up to the water thinking it’ll be another day without a fish. Read More...

Dry Spells

22/11/12 21:46

It happens to everyone who fishes - a dry spell where we can’t hook a thing. Anyone who claims never to have had a dry spell either has a weak (selective) memory or fishes so little that the dry spell was unnoticeable. Read More...