Steelhead & Talking Dirty…

What I feel to be the longest winter ever has FINALLY come to an end! I’ve already been out on the open water fishing Lake Ontario tributaries for steelhead (migratory rainbow trout). My ice gear is stored away and it’s time to focus on spring opportunities! Steelhead are incredibly spunky and I’ve enjoyed getting my heart broken from time to time and also landing these amazing creatures on my fly rod over the years. They can be found in Lake Ontario tributaries in the fall months and throughout the winter as they prepare to spawn in these waters come spring.

Trout have excellent eyesight and are found in cold and clear waters eating insects, small fish and roe (fish eggs) from salmon or other trout. In December last year I had the opportunity to get out with a friend and learn the ropes of float fishing with a centrepin, adding another skill set to my angling abilities. Float fishing with a centrepin enables a drag-free drift giving your bait a natural presentation when fishing in current.

All types of fishing have their place and I am excited to learn new styles of fishing that I can apply in different scenarios, never limiting myself to just one style. Fly fishing and centre pinning are similar (yes, I said it), but they each have their place.

I have found fly fishing to be effective when the waters have good visibility and in faster moving current. Float fishing provides the ability to use live bait (roe, maggots, worms, etc) and be successful in stained waters where bright or scented presentations excel. I don’t wait for perfect fishing conditions, but instead adapt to what is happening. The spring snow melt and frequent rain can create stained, blown out and ‘chocolate milk’ water conditions. I’m still very new to float fishing but I’ve caught on to casting and it’s been fun landing some fish on my centrepin set-up (Rapala Shift Centrepin & the 13-foot North Coast Float & Drift Rod)!

On the topic of DIRTY…. During my recent travels to several Lake Ontario tributaries, I was absolutely blown away by the amount of garbage left behind on the shorelines. It was the worst I have ever seen the tributaries to look and I really can’t believe what I saw. Piles (yes, literal piles) of plastic water bottles, coffee cups, beer cans and bottles, fishing rods, fishing line, clothing, tackle bags and more. We are so fortunate to have access to public land to fish these waters and experience incredible fishing opportunities, but we also need to make an effort to take care of these waters and shorelines for future generations. Garbage does not vanish into the landscape. We all have to do our part to keep our waters clean and beautiful.

And on the topic of dirty, there’s that four letter word… ‘w-o-r-k’. As some of you know through following my social media pages, I started a new job this year working for Angler’s Atlas. Don’t worry, I am LOVING it! I had a few anglers request an update on how my job is going so I thought this would be a good place to include it. Since January my life drastically changed. Prior to starting this new job I was working at a fishing store in Ottawa called SAIL. I loved my coworkers and loved the store (hence why I applied there) and I still shop there. This new job came to me very unexpectedly but the moment I heard about it I had to apply.

What do you mean I don’t fish for a living? Haha, I wish! It’s funny when people are surprised that I have a day job. I don’t think anyone on the earth wakes up in the morning and collects a paycheque to go fishing. Even TV show hosts work hard to plan, produce and execute their episodes. It is pretty clear what my passion is, so I do whatever possible to get more involved with fishing, and when you do what you love it doesn’t feel like work!

What is Angler’s Atlas? We publish free magazines throughout Canada (in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario) featuring bathymetric maps and fishing information throughout each region. Since I am located in Ontario, I am focused on our five regional guides here. Our magazines are available online and all of our maps are free to anglers who sign up on our website. We are hosting a photo contest for anglers to be on the covers of our 21 magazines across Canada, so be sure to enter! http://www.AnglersAtlas.com. Although our magazines are new to Ontario this year, they’ve been in publication for 15 years in BC and the success is the reason we have expanded this year. We are getting closer and closer to going to print and I can’t wait to see who ends up on the covers! If you have a business and would like to reach anglers directly through our fishing guides, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you like the new look of my website 🙂