Kayak fishing for BASS, in Ontario, who would have thought. I grew up Calgary Alberta within a 30-minute drive to the Rocky Mountains in Western Canada. Banff and Kananaskis where my playground for mountain climbing, hiking, and rock climbing. I never in my life thought I would move away from the mountains that where a huge part of my life, inspiration, and actual sanity! Somehow, I found myself moving straight across the country to the province of Ontario.
With the move away from the mountains I needed to find a new hobby to keep me outside. I Started Geocaching again which was something I was doing in 2007 in Calgary (my hometown) and continue to do now. But being surrounded by so much water rekindled the old fishing bug I had growing up fishing at the dams in and around Calgary. So, I picked up a fishing license with some new gear and made my way to the Detroit River.
It was not long before I started longing to be out on the water in a boat as I watched so many walleye fishermen on the river. So, as I sat on shore watching them and waiting for bites, I started searching the internet looking at boats. I was also watching more and more videos on YouTube of folks fishing and then I saw some fishing from special made fishing kayaks. This got me thinking how much better a fishing kayak would fit me rather then the trouble of owning a boat.
Let’s get Kayak Fishing
So the hunt was on for more information about kayaks and kayak fishing. My rabbit hole me lead me to look at an Old Town Sportsman 120 PDL. Because I started looking for kayaks in 2020 the year that the world changed due to COVID-19 kayaks as well as many things where in short supply and very hot items for people to buy. I found one at a dealer in the Muskoka area called Liv Outside which was the closest place to me in southern Ontario that had one in stock. Kayak fishing here I come!
After putting a deposit down on the kayak and feeling good that I had secured one I received a phone call the next day saying that the kayak I wanted had already been spoken for. BUMMER! But they did have and other option for me to consider with another Old Town kayak. This one was the Old Town Sportsman Salty 120 PDL a very similar kayak with a slightly lower price point. Because I was already excited to get on the water and knew it would be a long wait for more stock I took this option.
Shortly after my beginnings with kayak fishing I started to see and watch more videos about the Hobie PA kayaks. Initially the price point for the Hobie Pro Angler was much more than I considered spending but the 360 MirageDrive really had me wanting one.
After lots of pondering I decided I would pull the trigger on the Hobie Pro Angler 12 360. A local shop Fogh Marine just happened to have 4 2020 modals in stock 2 green camo and 2 blue. I wanted a green one as I would rather stand out on the water more then blend in when it came to boat traffic. When you are floating on the water in a high boat traffic area you soon see there are some very careless boaters! So I put my deposit down on one and posted up my Old Town on Kijiji for sale. With in 24 hours the Old Town was sold and I was 4 days away from being a Hobie owner.
This year (2021) I plan on fishing in all five Ontario Kayak Bass Trail tournaments and will be joining the Ontario Bassmasters so I can fish those tournaments as well. The OKBT had to cancel the first event on May 29th at Ramsey Lake in Subury due to Ontario being in a “Stay at Home Order” due to this COIVD-19 mess. The event was rescheduled to be the day after the August event at Catchacoma Lakes on the 21st and will be held at Stoney Lake on the 22nd. I am sure I speak for all of the will be anglers that we where happy it was rescheduled rather then canceled keeping the trail at five events for the year.
Tight lines and be safe! Have any questions feel free to reach out!