A keeper: The Old Guy and his ’bow

Chunky trout: One of my hauls

When the president and the vice-president request your presence, you comply. So it was yesterday that I had no choice but to go fishing with Gord Deval and Jim Lloyd, president and vice-president respectively of the Scarborough Fly and Bait Casting Association. Gord and Jim, along with fellow club member Ray Cockburn, met me at 5:15 a.m. at Highway 404 and Aurora Road north of Toronto and we were on our way. Our water of choice? I’ve been sworn to secrecy, and must hereby only refer to our destination as Limit Lake (one small hint: it’s just south of Algonquin Park).

We hit the water around 9 a.m. (Gord is a self-proclaimed “old guy,” almost 80, and he needs to stop often for “breaks” and food), and after assembling the two Insta-Boats, we were soon afloat and casting into the thick morning mist. I shared a boat with Gord, and within minutes Jim and Lloyd were lost in the haze; we didn’t meet up again until lunchtime.

For the most part, we tossed tin, although I did a few roll casts with flies from shore during lunch, hoping to at least produce a splake (the lake is stocked). But it was the hardware, in particular one of the new Rapala Flat Raps, that produced the most. Indeed, I had the hot rod, pulling in five sweet rainbows with the Rap and losing two (four of my fish were over 20 inches, with the biggest about 26 inches). Jim, Lloyd and Gord (on a fly) each got on the board with one before we called it quits at 3 p.m. in order to make it back up the 4×4 track before night set in. Plus, by then the rain had begun in earnest.

All in all, it was a great day on the water with some great fishing buddies. And tonight I’m having fresh trout for supper. Now that’s what I call valuable field research.