Ness' Outpost

Chantelle and myself donned our rain gear and headed out to a trout pond in Milton called Fish4Trout.

Chantelle had my Ugly Stick spinning rod with 10 pound braid and 7 pound fluorocarbon tippet about 3 feet in length. Spinners were the best for her. Retrieve the lure just fast enough to get the blade spinning, but no faster.

I was set up with my 9′ fly rod with floating line attached to 3 feet of braid and then 3 feet of fluoro tippet just before the fly. I only used one fly all day, a green woolly bugger with some attractive flash in the tail I bought at my local fly shop in Mississagua. I need to find some time to get there on a Saturday and start tying my own flies over the winter. A great fly and well worth the $4 cost. It held up to being water logged all day and the trout pulling on it and trying to swallow it whole. Way better than the cheap Canadian Tire specials – if you can find them – that are throw aways after 2 hours of fishing.

Here are some pictures of Chantelles catch – which became our lunch. I paid the extra entrance fee for catch and release and each trout was released successfully. Anything that was killed on my fly I would have to keep and pay for, but everybody swam away after a quick hook removal. Be sure to debarb your flies which helps a lot when you are in a catch and release situation and makes the catching part more challenging – which is ok here since there always seemed to be a trout willing to take a fly.

Don’t be scared of the larger upfront cost of catch and release. If you’re a good fisherman you’ll easily land 20 or more fish in a morning and at 60 cents an inch that can add up. Besides, the pond needs that money to breed new fish for you to catch so they can replace the ~10-30% mortality rate of catch and release – even if the fish swims away.

If you ever are down on your luck and need an outing to pick up your spirits take a trip to Milton and go fishing with the folks at Fish4Trout. They were friendly, helpful, and prepared our catch for transport on ice. I’d go again.

This past Sunday I spent the day in Georgetown upgrading my referee card to a level 2. Of course it had to be the muggiest and hotest day of the summer which was just before hurricane Ike came to town that evening.

This will get me out of house league and doing some rep and travel games.
Looking forward to the new season.

Lauren and I officially moved into our new home in Mississauga today. Thanks to everyone who came out to both sites for loading and unloading the truck. It rained quite a bit but we are in and unpacking.

The bad news is that the truck leaked through the light. The good news is that it just slowed us down a bit since the bottom of the cardboard boxes were soaked and had to be handled carefully. Luckily the piano wasn’t on that side of the truck. I complained to Uhaul and they kindly reversed the charges for the truck so it turned out all I paid for was gas.

This is far better customer service than Bell that is for sure.
I would rent from Uhaul again – overall this experience has been pleasant. There is a little bit of frustration waiting in line to get and return the trucks. It seems the service centres are a little understaffed on weekends. Next time I plan to move something on a rainy day I’ll be to get a decent truck and not put anything under light fixtures in the box.