Trout Opener 2012

The countdown is over, the rivers are open, and I FINALLY got the chance to head out for trout today!

As much I enjoy going out for crappie, I really love it when more water and more fish are open. As far as I’m concerned, Trout opener is almost as good as Christmas. Playful little brook trout are a great way to put a smile on my face.

Of course, consideration number one for trout opener is always, where should we fish? Neither Darrell nor I like to deal with the crowds on trout opener, so we decided to visit a stretch of river that is on private land we have access to.

Ahh, back to the river....

The moment I caught a glimpse of the shimmering water weaving through the field, and heard the water rushing through the rapids, I felt like I had returned home after a long absence. This is where I learned to fish.

Because of the chilly morning temperature we had waited until later in the morning to head out, hoping that the day would warm up, and so would the bite. Hoping our plan would pan out, I tied on a spinner, watched for any movement, picked a little back eddy, and started casting.

Several casts later, all I had was a lot of twisted line, frustration, and the need to re-tie. Darrell, however, had some better luck and had the first catch of the day.

Darrell's first catch of the day.

A better look at the brookie.

I thought we were off to a good start after that fish, but several more casts and lure changes provided no action. We moved from pool to pool, occasionally stopping to fish faster water, and though we had a few hits, nothing was serious.

Watching the water revealed little action. Now and then I’d see a shadow or a flash, I’d get a hit on my lure, but the fish were not active. Hoping to change things up and end my skunk, I headed for the honey-hole.

The honey-hole

The honey-hole is a pool located just past a curve in the river where we have pulled more quality brook trout out of then either of us can remember. This was the scene of our memorable ‘flying brookies‘ episode, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation as I reached my place on shore and cast my Mepps Black Fury spinner. It didn’t take long to be rewarded!

My first trout of opener. Yay!

A closer look at my first trout on opener. We weren't catching big fish, but they sure were a blast.

After fishing a few more pools and finding nothing but weeds, it was time to take a snack break and enjoy a peaceful place on the river.

I could have headed out for bigger fish and busier water, but then I would have missed this great little picnic site and a chance to enjoy the sight, sounds and smells. I was so focused on the fishing that I didn't realize I had left my phone at this spot until I tried to take a picture of another brookie Darrell had caught.

Eventually we noticed increased activity on the water surface. The hatch was on! With the sun warming things up, the hatch was bringing the water to life and fish were surfacing. What a day to leave the fly rod at home…

Fortunately, the spinner was enticing enough, and I started catching fish. One of the neat things about this river is that, in addition to a healthy brook trout population, it is home to a thriving Atlantic salmon population. And they are little piggies. The season is always closed on inland Atlantics, but it doesn’t stop them from biting. They are fantastic little fighters and after a quick picture, they were released to see them grow bigger and hopefully end up in Lake Ontario one day.

By the time I had played with a few little Atlantics, and long-line released a decent brookie, I was happy and relaxed, feeling like it had been one heck of a wonderful day.

We finished our fishing in the spot we started, by the bridge. I was having a great time casting under the bridge, sending the lure farther and farther inside, while watching fish chase it and smack it. It was a great time until I got snagged and thought I was going to lose my lure. However, my awesome fishing buddy decided there was no need to lose a spinner, and went for a walk.

Off to save my lure...

While it was not the busiest trout opener in terms of fish, any day on the water is an awesome one, and trout opener is never to be taken for granted. Just watching the water, remembering how to read the river and cast in tight spaces, is reward enough for one day. Some crazy little fish were the icing on the cake. Now I have months and months ahead of being able to hit the river. After-work fishing trips can resume, and my fly rod can be dusted off and continue to it’s education of trying to slow me down (I rush things too much).

Tomorrow’s another day and another chance to play with trout. I love this!

Contest Time! Getting Ready For Trout…

Spring is here and with that comes trout season! While trout opener is still over a month away, I can’t help but daydream about being able to go out for brookies and browns, without having to travel far from home.

While I plan to get my fly rod out more this year, trout season will always find me tossing spinners. I learned to fish using ultralight gear and tiny spinners. Throw a spinner in the river we used to live near, and you couldn’t keep the brook trout away.

With today being Argo’s birthday (my horse, for those wondering), I’m in a celebratory mood, and it seems the perfect time to do a contest. This one certainly has a trout theme.

The winner will receive a copy of The Orvis Guide to Reading Trout Streams by Tom Rosenbauer. This is an excellent resource for any angler, whether you fish with flies or spinners or worms. I recently finished reading my copy of this book and was amazed at how much I learned. It makes me look at a stream differently and I can’t wait to  put this new knowledge to the test.

And if the book isn’t enough, the winner will also be receiving some of my favorite spinners. I have written previously about the fantastic spinners made by John Delaney of Fish Creek Spinners. These are great lures and I want to give someone the chance to try them. The winner will get their choice of one the assortment packs of lures that John has put together. You can see the assortment packages by visiting the Fish Creek Spinners store.

There are four ways to enter this contest:

1. Like The Argosgirl Chronicles on Facebook and leave a comment here telling me that you have done so.
2. Follow @argosgirl on Twitter and leave a comment here.
3. Tweet about the contest (must include a link to this post and mention @argosgirl in the tweet so I know about it!).
4. Visit the Fish Creek Spinners store, browse the selection of lures, and leave a comment here telling me which spinner you would like to have in your collection.

That’s it! The contest starts today, March 22, 2012, and ends April 5, 2012 at 11:59 PM EST. The winner will be picked by the RNG and posted here.

The contest is open to anyone in Canada or the U.S.A.

CVC Trout Spawning Survey

Yesterday I had the privilege of taking part in a trout spawning survey organized by Credit Valley Conservation (CVC). It was the first time I had participated in such an event and even though I had no idea what to expect, I had eagerly filled out the registration for Darrell and myself.

The weather could not have been more perfect for a day on the river. The snow from Friday had disappeared and the sun shone bright as we parked at the check-in point on Forks of The Credit.

The sign welcoming visitors to the Credit River

The side of the road was soon lined with vehicles as survey participants began to show up. I had been told that quite a few people did sign up for the survey, but I surprised at the sheer number of people out for the Saturday morning event. We had a group of Scouts with their parents, a few biologists, and a few anglers (such as ourselves), looking to help out.

Waders were required for the survey and the CVC was well-equipped to handle the demand.

Talking to some of my group members.

There were three reaches of the river that were to be included in this survey, so the participants were divided up. Darrell and I decided to join the group that had the farthest walk, although I really hadn’t accounted for how long a walk that would be in waders!

Before the groups were sent off, we received instruction from Jon Clayton, an aquatic biologist with CVC, as to how we would identify redds (the ‘nest’ where fish spawn) and how to catalog our findings. When we came across an area that looked like a redd we had to decide how confident we were in that conclusion, and what type of fish made it. We were looking for redds belonging to brook trout, brown trout and, hopefully, atlantic salmon.

Receiving in-the-water instruction from Jon on what to look for. There were a few redds in the area that served as our guideline for the rest of the day.

After the instructions were done we broke into our groups and set off to our location. Our group certainly had a bit of a hike as our starting point was in Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. I was immediately struck by what a great group of people I was with. Our leader was Pat Kelly, a CVC volunteer whom also represents both the Izaak Walton Flyfishing Club and Trout Unlimited. Pat’s knowledge was immediately evident as he started pointing out various pools in the river and telling us about some of the landmarks. He was so friendly and interested in teaching all of us. I was thrilled to be around someone so knowledgeable.

The other four members of our group were biologists. Some had more experience with fish than others, but they were all there to learn and everyone took time to chat with each other. It was nice to hang around a group of people who could take about fish all day long!

Finally at our starting point

We eventually reached our starting location and two people were dispatched to the other side of the river for a better overall view. We were told to stay out of the river as much as possible so we walked along the bank and kept an eye out for an area with lighter color and a bit of a depression. It was apparent pretty quickly that identifying a redd would not be easy.

It was a few minutes up the river when we came across our first suspected redd. The color was a little lighter than the surrounding area, indicating a fish may have fanned the gravel away. A closer look revealed a bit of a depression and a consensus was reached to call it a category 3 redd – meaning it looked like a possible redd, but we weren’t sure and there was no fish found near it. After recording the location and taking some pictures we continued up the river.

A sign near the river outlines the regulations. I wish more people would actually pay attention to these signs and the regulations!

A sign showing the fish of the Credit River. If you ask me, the brown on that sign looks more like a rainbow trout than a brown trout.

We came across more possible redds and would discuss each one before deciding whether to mark it down or not. Pat was a great leader and always let the group consensus take it, and he would make arguments for and against the location being a redd.

While I enjoyed the walk, the conversations, and the search for redds, I was really hoping to see some fish. The first one we spotted was a sucker and it got us all excited to finally see a fish. Then we came across an incredibly dark fish that looked like it was sitting on a redd.

An incredibly dark fish that caused a lot of excitement and discussion.

We were all excited to come this fish and the cameras quickly came out. While others moved in inspect the redd, Darrell, Pat and I were more intrigued by the fish. It didn’t spook at us and looked like it may be in its last days. Whether it was a brown trout or an atlantic salmon, we weren’t sure. We had a closer look as the fish was only inches from us, and from that view the spots were more visible, making me fairly confident this was a brown trout. It was an odd fish to come across and provoked a lot of discussion afterwards.

We came across some interesting structures along the river which Pat was quick to point out as a project he had been involved in with the CVC youth corps. The structures are debris catchers – logs tied together with wire and weighted with rocks, designed to catch debris as it floats down the river, thereby providing structure for the fish to relate to.

A closer look at the debris catcher

A better idea of the size of a debris catcher.

As we neared the end of our reach there was one more exciting event – watching a large atlantic salmon swim by. He came out of nowhere and I didn’t see him until he was swimming by Darrell, but it was a nice sized healthy fish. Darrell saw the large kype that let us know it was a male. It’s possible we could both be wrong about it being an atlantic, as it’s not always easy to tell when they’re in the water. But we’re both pretty confident that it was an atlantic, not a brown. What a treat!

Leaving the Credit River...

It was an incredible day on the river and another amazing learning experience. The Credit River is an absolute jewel and I now have a few more spots to hit for brookies next year. Huge thanks to the CVC for providing the opportunity for people to be involved in something like this spawning survey. It was an incredible learning experience and I met a lot of wonderful people. It’s nice to spend some time helping a fishery that provides so many great angling opportunities.

To participate in upcoming CVC events, check out their Events Calendar.

Watch a video interview with Pat Kelly.

Credit Valley Conservation is on Facebook. Like their page to keep track of current information, including contests.

 

 

 

Help The Ringwood Fish Hatchery

The Lake Ontario fishery needs your help. The Metro East Anglers is looking for funding to continue running the Ringwood Fish Culture Station. The proposal calls for Ringwood to raise the entire coho salmon stocking program for Lake Ontario, as well as raising brown trout and rainbow trout.

How can you help? Go to the Aviva Community Fund website and vote for the Ringwood proposal. Round one of voting ends next Wednesday, October 19th, and Ringwood needs enough votes to move onto the next round. You can cast one vote per day for this idea so please go back each day to show your support.

If you enjoy the Lake Ontario fishery as much as I do, please show your support!

2011 Salmon Spectacular Recap

The weather was much more cooperative for this year’s Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular and as a result I was able to get out on the water far more than last year. Unfortunately, that didn’t result in catching any more fish. In fact, after hitting the water for three of the ten days of the derby, I got royally skunked!

A beautiful sunset on the water.

Darrell and I ended up running dipsy divers in an effort to get our baits down where the fish might bite. We don’t have downriggers on the new boat (it’s meant to be a car-topper after all) but after running long lines that were a little difficult to manage in the heavy boat traffic, maxing out at a depth of 70-feet and getting no bites, I think we may have to invest in riggers in the future. We tried a variety of lures and combinations, running the standby Lymans quite often but nothing seemed interested.

I never tire of seeing the rods all set up.

Even without catching a fish, participating in the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular is a lot of fun. The whole city is immersed in the event and it seems like there are anglers everywhere you go. There is entertainment daily in the big tent and it becomes one huge party. Many anglers line the pier, hoping to fish starting their run up the river. But for me, the real action is out on the water where so many boats troll by, attempting to land the big one.

My camera was having major issues capturing the number of boats out on the water. Picture about 20 boats in this view...it was incredible. I loved being out at night especially - with all the lights it makes the bay look like a village.

The derby ended at noon on Sunday. The awards ceremony was set for three o’clock that afternoon and Darrell had bought quite a few draw tickets for the 17ft G3 boat that was being given away, so we were in for the long haul. And what a long haul it was…we didn’t leave there until 6:30 or so. But it was truly a sight to see, the amount of prizes being given away was amazing. There were prizes awarded for the top ten salmon from each day and the top five trout from each day. It’s worth entering a fish in this derby because you stand a great chance at walking away with some fantastic prizes.

The winning trout was an 11.97 lb lake trout caught by Ken MacKay of Owen Sound. It was Ken’s first ever time downrigging and he wasn’t sure what depth he caught the fish at because he was too busy playing with the button on the rigger! For his catch Ken walked away with a 14ft G3 boat, 15hp Yamaha outboard and two manual Scotty downriggers.

The winning salmon weighed in at 21.16 lbs and was caught by Rudy Hachey of Owen Sound. Rudy caught his fish in the early hours of the morning, 80ft down in 90ft of water, on a white Lyman black ladderback. It would have been impossible to not be happy for Rudy – he was so thrilled with the win and always smiling.

When the awards ceremony ended, and Darrell’s draw tickets proved to be unlucky, we climbed into the truck for the long drive home. Both of us were exhausted but, despite being skunked, we had a great time and will look forward to the event again next year.

For complete Salmon Spectacular results click here.

For more on Rudy’s win click here.

 

No Go At The Salmon Spectacular

This morning started early with a wakeup of 3:45am. We’d actually meant to get up earlier but one of our darling pets seemed reluctant to let us go and turned off the power to the alarm clock.

On the road shortly after 4, Darrell and I headed to Owen Sound to participate in the opening weekend of the Salmon Spectacular. We knew the wind was likely to pick up but hoped that the water would be somewhat calm if we got there early enough.

Unfortunately, the first sound we heard upon reaching the launch was that of waves crashing into the rocks. It didn’t take long to confirm that we weren’t launching the boat today! A few brave souls were out there, being tossed around by the waves. I think I’ll pass on that today – no sense sinking our little boat the weekend after we bought it!

Hopefully we’ll find some calmer water to throw into on the way home.

Enter The 2011 Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular

This coming Friday, August 26th, marks the start of the 2011 Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular, put on by the Sydenham Sportsmen’s Association.

The Salmon Spectacular is an incredible event that takes over Owen Sound for a week with live music, Elvis impersonators and a big fish fry. There are even nightly draw prizes that can land you some pretty great fishing gear.

I have never seen a city more involved in a fishing event than during this derby and it seems like everyone is involved in one way or another.

Owen Sound Tourism is running a contest called Guess The Big One where you can enter to win one of two great prize packages. I just entered the contest but I’m not telling my guess!

The derby awards prizes for the largest salmon and the largest trout caught during the week. Last year the winning salmon weighed in at 19.25 lbs and the winning trout was a rainbow that weighed in at 16.14 lbs.

And the prize for landing the big one…how does a new boat sound?

This is an event where anglers can fish either from boat or shore and be equally successful. In years past the big ones have been caught from both areas. Lacking a boat is no obstacle in this derby because the fish are staging at this time of the year and are in close, allowing every angler a good chance at landing the big one.

Last year’s edition was a pretty wet one. The final weekend was nothing but rain and I’ll admit to not being in the greatest mood. While I didn’t catch a single fish last year, I still walked away with a pretty great entry prize – a new Sportspal canoe with a Minn Kota electric motor and some tackle. That canoe has gotten a fair bit of use in the past year, as has the motor!

If you have the time to head to Owen Sound, buy yourself a ticket and have some fun. Whether you catch the winning fish or nothing at all, it will an event to remember.

Website Wednesday: Bullshit

Well I know the title of this post has to have piqued your curiosity. It’s no joke, just the simple truth, this week’s featured website is Bullshit - a blog about “fishing, boating, trucks, stupid stuff and everything else that makes Canada great.”

Bullshit is written by Craig Ritchie, a magazine editor from the Toronto area. I only found this blog a few weeks ago and it has quickly become one of my favorites. Craig has a great sense of of humour and strong opinions that make for a heck of a good read.

Make sure to check out this blog for posts such as T’was The Night Before Fishing, Brave New World (warning – Canadian politics), and Where’s My Stanton? (I sure hope finds it).

You don’t have to be Canadian to enjoy this blog but readers in Southern Ontario will really enjoy some of the local topics.

Check it out today – you could use some more Bullshit in your life!

Don’t Fall Off The Bank!

There’s nothing like a relaxing evening of fishing to get the creative juices flowing…and boy, did I need it!

This past weekend was supposed to be spent at Lake Simcoe, catching perch to enter in the Orillia Perch Festival. Unfortunately, some last minute repairs to the boat motor did not produce the desired result and without a working motor the boat was doomed to stay at home.

Since we had already made arrangements to be away for the weekend there was a quick change of plans and instead of hitting the lake we decided to pack up for some river fishing up north.

With no exact destination in mind we started driving north on a beautiful, sunny spring Saturday morning.  It was pretty neat to have the time to stop at any stream we came across that had a promising looking hole.

Our first stop of the day was a little spot along the Boyne River. We were driving over the bridge when we noticed a promising looking pool and decided to pull over to take a few casts.

Waiting for a bite. Darrell had a couple hits in this pool, I had nothing. It was a nice little spot to stop. There were other drivers pulling over to ask if we had caught anything even before we had a chance to wet a line.

Another Full Day At The River

Darrel managed some more nice brookies today.

After the excitement of yesterday’s trout opener I was more than ready to hit the water again today and see what we might come up with.

The day started with a short burst of rain as we headed to a river with a pool holding some large brown trout. With Jack leading the way we crept up to the bank with big, juicy worms dangling on our hooks. The water level had risen and it was harder than yesterday to find a steady spot on the bank. We each cast our worms in and let them drift down with the current. And waited. And waited. And waited some more. Do you sense a pattern? I am an impatient person and fishing with a worm tends to bore me. I would much rather be casting, covering water and changing my lure. It wasn’t long before I took off the worm hook.