Pro Anglers

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• Back to back wins on Lake Okeechobee

  With the first EverStart event over. Cooler weather and high winds brought low weights on day one by Okeechobee standards. But day two prove to be a different story, with weights as high as 35lbs. Day two leader Brandon Medlock went on to win for the second year in a row. His double weed guard jig that his father makes was the major lure he use to help him win. Other techniques were used such as

• On Lake Ontario with Maui Jim Downrigging in the Blue Zone

  I spent a day on Lake Ontario last summer downrigging for trout and salmon and it was one of those hot as heck and very bright days. Blue bird skies and not a cloud in sight. The sun was coming at me from every angle, and the glare on the water was incredibly strong. The great thing about these days is that the sun helps with throwing a really good flash off the lure to get the fishes attent

• 2012 EverStart event at Lake Okeechobee

  Stay informed on the Southeast division EverStart events right here while I take on the challenge of competing in each event.

• Fall Steelheading/Amundson Centrepin Combo Review

  Fall time is tributary time. Time to put the boat away and brake out the long sticks. This fall has been very rewarding having a lot of success on numerous rivers. If you've never fished for brown and rainbow trout before, you can't beat the feeling you get when you hook your first tail walking salmonid of the season. Timing is key! Wait for a big blast of rain and make your way down to th

• Staying Comfortable on Big Water

  A lot of my fishing is done on big water; whether its Lake Ontario, Niagara River, Lake Nipigon or Lake Erie, staying dry and comfortable plays a huge factor in a successful day of fishing. I know from experience, and I'm sure most anglers can agree, being cold and wet does not motivate you to be out in the elements trying to catch fish. I was in the market for a good quality rain suit a

• WFN's Mariko Izumi to join panel of inspiring outdoor women

  One of the many issues of concern for the fishing and hunting community is recruitment, or, more specifically, the greying of our ranks. In short, we are continually striving to bring new anglers and hunters, particularly youth, into the fold. And more and more, the outdoors community has also been targeting woman as potential new outdoorsfolk of tomorrow. And that’s a good thing. In fact

• Salmon Tips

  5 Tips and Tricks to put more Salmon in your boat Downrigging for Salmon doesn’t have to be like solving a rubix cube.  Keeping it simple can put fish in the boat; however, become a good Salmon fisherman on the Great Lakes takes time, experience and attention to detail.  In this article I will discuss 5 basic things you should know about (without going into great detail) that

• Boating Safety Tip - Mustang Survival

  Being out on the water a lot, it’s been my general observation that most boaters do not wear their pfd’s while running the boat or while fishing.  Whenever I am out on the boat, my first priority is making sure that safety is number one.  I spend a lot of time on big waters, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and Lake Simcoe, these waters are known for not being very forgiving claimin

• Cottage fish attack

  Lake Vernon (Huntsville, Ontario) has recently been the site of a bizarre fish bite in a normally peaceful cottage setting. Muskoka's Cottage Country Now recently reported that on July 15, 2011 a swimming pre-schooler's foot was bitten by a fish while in the water with her parents. The youngster was taken to local Huntsville Hospital for treatment to multiple foot lacerations. The article sug

• A trip to Lake Nipigon - Monster Pike and Gorgeous Brookies!

  Where do I begin…..it’s always been my plan to one day make it to Nipigon and fish for trophy Brook Trout, in fact small stream Brookies were one of the first fish I avidly targeted.  Catching 6-12 inch Brookies was always a treat when I was a kid; there was nothing better to me.  Growing up, I had read many articles and books on Brook Trout and they all pointed to one magi

• Lake Ontario Downrigging - Port Credit - Monster Rainbow

  I love introducing people to salmon fishing.  It’s easy, its laid back and loads of fun.  When I had the opportunity to take my younger cousin out for the day, I knew it would be a blast.  He’s not an avid angler by any means; however, he’s good company and I just wanted to show him what Lake Ontario had to offer.  Many people have no clue what opportunities

• Haliburton's Fishstock

  The Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association (HHOA) is hosting Fishstock on August 13, 2011 at the Haliburton Fish Hatchery. The fundraising music festival will feature: The Legendary Downchild Blues Band and The Partland Brothers PLUS: Rick Fines Blues Review - Jerome Godboo Band - Mark Christiano of the Ya Babys - Ragged Company - MaClay Experience - Keith R

• National Fishing Week

  Have you made plans for National Fishing Week yet? It’s coming up fast, kicking off this Saturday, July 2, and running through to Sunday, July 10. Even if you don’t participate in an official event, it’s a great time to take a kid fishing or introduce someone new to the sport. That is, after all, the main point of National Fishing Week: to get more Canadians outdoors and enjoyin

• Pro King Spoons

  There are so many spoons on the market and each anglers has his favorites and typically keeps 2-3 brands in a variety of sizes and colours.  One of my favorite brands of spoons by far is Pro King.  Here is a run down of the specifications of the lure. The cupped, taped design of the Pro King Spoon is perfect for catching salmon, trout and other game fish. Each spoon comes with VMC treb

• Fishing with Dad for trophy pike in northern Saskatchewan

  Awesome. Sweet. Dude. Those are the three new words my Dad says he learned during our four days of fishing at northern Saskatchewan’s Milton Lake Lodge (we got back to Ontario on Tuesday). That’s hardly surprising, given we were hanging with Nick Pujic, the hip young principal of Fly Max Films and Fly Nation TV (think surfer culture meets fly fishing), and our guide Naoto Aoki.

• 1st Annual B.C. Loch-Style Fly Fishing Championship

  Congrats to the winners of the first annual B.C. Loch-Style Fly Fishing Championship, held last Friday and Saturday on Trojan Pond near the town of Logan Lake, B.C. Eight teams of five anglers apiece vied for the top team and individual honours. Among the winners? Outdoor Canada field editor Mark Anderson, who placed third in individual results. As well, Mark’s team (Equipe Airflo

• How to “Cheat” your way to success – Salmon and Trout Downrigging Tip!

  On Lake Ontario the regulation states that for every one angler, you can have two rods.  This helps anglers cover various depths and different baits so they can find out what the fish are after on that particular day.  On many occasions I find myself out for a quick night run for a few hours before the sun sets.  Although 2 rods are more than sufficient, having a third would be gre

• A new Era!

  The new 4 inch Swammer

• Chesapeake Bay 2010 - Gear

  This event I used three different baits. My main bait and the one I caught all my fish on was a green pumpkin Slammer made by X Zone Lures (formerly called Strike Zone Tournament Baits). I also employed a 3 1/2 inch green pumpkin tube on a 1/4 ounce jig head and a 3/8 ounce black and blue flipping jig with a black Zoom Big Salty Chunk. I threw the Slammer on 6lb test

• 2010 B.A.S.S. Open - Chesapeake Bay

  Well this trip to Maryland's Chesapeake Bay was much less productive for me than in 2009. The tidal fishery whooped my butt this time around. Once again I fished for smallmouth in the Susquehanna River however it was a different time of year than last year and those big fish just weren't around. After practice I knew this was going to be a brutal event and just catching a limit each day would pro

• Ontario Fly Anglers Can Help Canada's Veterans

  Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing Canada (PHWFFC) is a group dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled military personnel, veterans and other Canadians suffering from physical or psychological injury as a result of their service to Canada. The Ontario chapter is looking for help from dedicated fly fishing anglers and corporate sponsors. With 14 new Nothern Ontario

• Is a Power Pole Worth the Money?

  My answer --- They could charge twice as much and I would still have two on my boat. Everywhere I go I get asked "what are those things sticking up on the back of your boat?" Well they are Power Poles, the next thing you are going to want to add to your rig. Power Poles are a hydraulic shallow water anchor which will silently anchor your boat with the push of a button in depths of 8 feet o

• 2011 Trout Opener Review

  What an interesting Spring we’ve had; bitter cold and endless amounts of rain.  It was hard to believe that Trout Opener was just around the corner.  The week prior was spent scouting, checking weather, tying roe and going over my gear to ensure that nothing would go wrong on that day.  I never thought the thing that went wrong would be the disappearing of fish. I decided to

• Detroit River Gear

  It's always great when you can fish a tournament with only two rods on the deck and this was one of those times. I was dragging tubes and dropshots in 14-18 ft of water and I was also dropshoting directly below the boat. For the tube I was using a 7' MH Abu Garcia Vendetta Spinning rod paired with a Abu Garcia Soron STX 20 reel with 20lb SpiderWire Stealth braid and a 10lb Trilene 100% Fluor

• The forgotten art of lure making

  To me, teaching a man to paint to impress the human eye is great. Teaching a man to create his own lure that will fool a wary fish to strike - is art.   There is no question in my mind that tying your own flies or creating and painting your own lures adds a new dynamic to fishing that many of us have never experienced. For angler, blogger and lure creator, Tommy Ellis, it happens all

• Niagara Browns on a New Lure

  Well, it's been a while since my last post and so much has gone on!

• Radioworld.ca Presents BASSTALK

  Sunday April 17, 2011 BassTalk is a great learning tool for any angler. Each event features 6 of the countries top anglers and the best part is all the great food!!! $75 ($30 for kids 14 and under) gets you six seminars from some the most knowledgable speakers in the industry, coffee and snacks in the morning, lunch and great deals on electronics from the folks at Radioworld at the end of

• B.A.S.S. Open – Detroit River – Day Two

  Day two we had a lot more wind and it was coming out of the east. It had been out of the west for several days and I knew this would change things up on me. When you get a change in wind direction it most often will reposition fish and with smallmouth this can be a move of several miles. Well this day it hadn’t moved all my fish out of that area but there wasn’t the same numbers and t

• B.A.S.S. Open - Detroit River - Day One

  There was very little wind on day one of the tournament which made the run real nice. But I still had no idea how long it would take me to get back because the river doesn’t get nasty until later in the day when all the boat traffic and big barges come out. So I was hoping to get a good sack early so I could take my time going in and not have to push it. Well the bite wasn’t on fire b

• 2010 B.A.S.S. Open - Detroit River – Practice

  The second Bassmaster event of the year was in Detroit where we launched in the Detroit River with the ability to fish Lake Erie, the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair or the St. Clair River. This tournament I knew would be a huge challenge going in. The last time I fished Lake St. Clair was more than ten years ago. I fished as an amateur in the Canadian Open back when I was 14 years old, which obvio

• Trout Beads and Their Effectiveness

  Fishing beads are becoming a staple in every Steelheaders arsenal of tricks to fool trout into taking the bait.   Some anglers take it one step further and use the bead on every set up to act as an attractor to whatever is tied on at the end of the hook; be it a fly, spawn sac or jig.  Last fall I really put them to the test and when an egg bite would be on, they held up just as

• 2011 Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Symposium

  On April 9th, 2011 The Credit River Anglers Association and The Port Credit Trout and Salmon Association will be co-hosting the Lake Ontario Trout and Salmon Symposium.  This event will include seminars about the Lake Ontario fishery with speakers from both sides of the border.  We will also be having a silent auction with some fantastic prizes to be had and all proceeds

• Counting down spring rainbows

  Do not rule out the effectiveness of crank and minnow baits for spring trout.  The mention of spring trout fishing casts up visions of dry flies, silver spoons and small spinners as the standard attractors of choice.  For some reason, using anything else did not seem worthy of mention until a blog visitor and Alberta fishing guide, Mike Robertson shared details about his recent h

• Trophy lakers and northern pike on Lake Athabasca: The movie

  Subscribers should be receiving the March/April issue of Outdoor Canada magazine any day now, and among the great features, they’ll find a travel adventure story by yours truly. The subject? Trophy lake trout and northern pike fishing on Saskatchewan’s Lake Athabasca (at Lakers Unlimited’s Spring Bay Lodge). As promised in the article (”A sure thing,” starti

• 2011 Canadian Fly Fishing Forum

  Ontario fly fishing anglers will want to make note of the upcoming 2011 Canadian Fly Fishing Forum organized by volunteers from the Izaak Walton Fly Fishing Club. If it’s about fly fishing, it’s at the Forum. The non-profit event features fly fishing seminars and an exhibit hall.April 9-10, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Burlington Holiday Inn, 3063 South Service Road, Burlington.

• The Stump

  Butt Lake.  Not exactly the best name for a lake. You had to pick your words carefully when trying to explain to others where you were fishing.  Strange name aside, this Algonquin Park Lake sported some excellent lake trout fishing and beautiful scenery. It also holds a hidden gem. Actually, it was more of a diamond in the rough. In a deep bay of Butt Lake you will find (or at

• IGFA recognizes 405lb Yellowfin Tuna World Record

  A recently hooked 405 lb Yellowfin Tuna has just been approved by the IGFA (International Game Fish Association) to be recognized as a world record in the organization's prestigious  All-Tackle category. The behemoth Yellowfin Tuna was caught and landed by Mike Livingston from Sunland, California. Besides beating the odds of actually hooking the monster fish, what is significant

• Canada's 30 very best fishing hot spots

  Outdoor Canada’s Fishing 2011 special annual edition has been out on the newsstands for several weeks now, but if you haven’t seen it yet, you should check it out. Why? To learn about the 30 very best places to go fishing in Canada. Since this year mark’s the 30th anniversary of our Fishing annual, we decided to celebrate by choosing Canada’s 30 top fishing hot s

• Canadian Angler Hall of Famers to be honoured

  Tomorrow morning gets off to an auspicious start when the latest inductees into the Canadian Angler Hall of Fame are officially honoured. The ceremony will take place during the annual fishing industry breakfast at the Spring Fishing and Boat Show at the International Centre in Toronto.   Yours truly, in fact, will have the honour of presenting the distinction to Dan Otway, who w

• Canadian Angler Hall of Famers to be honoured

  Tomorrow morning gets off to an auspicious start when the latest inductees into the Canadian Angler Hall of Fame are officially honoured. The ceremony will take place during the annual fishing industry breakfast at the Spring Fishing and Boat Show at the International Centre in Toronto.   Yours truly, in fact, will have the honour of presenting the distinction to Dan Otway, who w

• CTV's Northern Ontario ice fishing derbies

  CTV's annual fishing derbies will take place across 5 Northern Ontario communities this year.  Entries cost $100 per hole and this allows the ice fishing anglers the opportunity to win big cash prizes and outdoor equipment. Last year's Elliot Lake winner won $20,000!  CTV Ice-fishing Derbies are to be held in: Timmins on Feb. 19 - on Porcupine and South Porcupine Lakes Temiskam

• Cool contest at upcoming Spring Fishing and Boat Show

  Plan on attending the Spring Fishing and Boat Show at the International Centre in Toronto? It starts next Friday, February 18, and runs through to Monday the 21st. Outdoor Canada will be there, complete with a booth for selling subscriptions and the like. More on that in a bit. Also on hand will be our awesome Fishing Editor, Gord Pyzer, who will be at our booth to meet, greet and chat with fel

• Heads up on the latest fish farm scheme

  I read with interest a report about a new scheme from Norway’s Fishery and Aquaculture Industry Research Fund to combat sea lice in farmed salmon. The plan? Place lice-loving Ballan wrasse into aquaculture cages alongside the salmon. Seems wrasse can eat an impressive amount of sea lice—one specimen had 300 of the nasty critters in its stomach&mdash

• Late winter early spring

  Early spring brings cold mornings and hot bites. This time of the year bass in the south are moving toward spawning flats by way of ditches, stopping off on points and feeding along the way. Lightweight slow falling jigs with big profiles can produce big bites. Swallow running crankbaits and lipless crankbaits, along with lizards, hard and soft jerk baits also prove to be big producers. Start

• 2nd annual Ian McMurchy Award presented at the SHOT Show

  The second annual Ian McMurchy Award, launched last year in memory of the late Canadian outdoor writer and photographer Ian McMurchy, was presented yesterday to Outdoor Life magazine’s hunting editor, Andrew McKean. Awarded to the outdoor communicator who best follows McMurchy’s example of educating readers and helping them better enjoy hunting, the honour was conceived by Ni

• New world-record award for live-release anglers

  Record-chasing anglers should be jazzed about the International Game Fish Association’s first new awards category in 14 years--the All-Tackle Length World Record. Yes, that’s right: for the first time in the 72-year-old association’s history, it now has a record recognizing length of fish, not weight. The strictly catch-and-release-only category came into effect on January

• Release an IGFA record fish in 2011

   From my early days as an angler, I have always been intrigued by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) fishing records.  I would read about these huge fish that have been caught and dream about entering one of my caught fish.  To be honest, the requirements you had to meet always seemed to make my chances that much more out of reach for a small-town angler like myself.

• Taro's Fish City Tours Big Fish Of The Year Re-Cap

  Now that I'm in between the soft water and hard water season I have had time to reflect on the outstanding big fish year my clients have had.   One of clients Reade Baker caught an impressive 7.34lbs Largemouth off a shallow log have submerged, he cast to about twenty similar other logs with nothing and then bam the fish smashed his Senko!  I couldn't believe the size of it, I

• Ontario COs serve up a new wild fish and game cookbook

  There are plenty of wild fish and game recipe books out there, to be sure, but this new offering from the Ontario Conservation Officer’s Association aims to also give something back. How so? Proceeds from sales of the $20 cookbook will go toward the non-profit association’s various good works, from outdoors programs for kids to college bursaries to youth trapping awards. Think of it a

• Angling industry takes on B.C. halibut closure

  I sure hope Gail Shea has a big mailbox. And I hope she takes to heart what’s she about to hear. The federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is the target of a new letter-writing campaign launched yesterday by the Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association. The issue at hand? The threatened mid-season closure of B.C.’s public halibut fishery, a move that promises to cripple the West