Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to share my brief experience on the Moon River, near Parry Sound.

I drove from Toronto North up the 400 and entered in off the road under the bridge that runs over top of the Moon River.

Not the best access point, rookie mistake, but I was excited to try out my newly purchased "Pelican Catch 120" fishing kayak and was hoping to catch some fish. I thought because of its remoteness that I would have an easier time landing some fish.

I was wrong... I entered the Moon River and through a few casts in, felt nothing so I decided to keep on paddling down the river a while. I paddled for about 10 mins where I came upon my first obstacle which was a small set of rapids, I portaged them, paddled another very small section and more rapids...this repeated for about 5 sets of rapids which took me about 3 hours to portage and move my gear back and forth lol..

At one point I got lazy and decide to get as close as possible to the rapids so I could save my self a few more minutes of portaging and the worst happened.. I got so close that I got sucked down backwards in a fishing kayak and flipped myself and the kayak over.

I gave up trying to pass the rapids alone as the kayak sucks to transport back and forth. I docked it on the shore and fished without it.

Every set of falls or rapids I saw I tirelessly fished it cast after cast, bait after bait..with zero success. The small sections of river were each blockaded to one another by a set of falls....so my guess is that there were no large fish trapped in these blocks of the river???

The water was crystal clear and I saw nothing but very small fish. On one occasion I did find success on a number 2 Mepps, I caught a .5lbs small mouth that I released to try and survive in these locked pools.

Now I know I am an absolute novice but I did give a hard go and found almost no success, can anyone who hopefully has fished or kayaked that river pass me some tips?

I passed over 5 sets of rapids before I turned around and gave up.

The date was September 23rd

The weather was cool with overcast.

You would think that fast moving waters would have some action but they did not.

Did I not travel far enough down the river? Was the season wrong for that river?

I really wanted to land some Trout!

I hope that this post gives some information to anyone who knew as little as I did about the Moon River.

Thanks everyone

Sounds like you were doing the right things, just a bad day, but I have never caught Trout in the Moon.

Alfie.

Hello,

I am visiting this place for the salmon run this month or next and was wondering when exactly does the salmon run start this location by the falls?

Anyone have any idea as to when or is it a luck thing and if you are lucky you will see them run up the river or if not then you would not see them 😟

Thanks guys

Sorry, you missed it. The run was exactly Sept 12 at 9.12 p.m. Lol.
Like us anglers, you just have to do your leg work and hope you see them. Anytime in the next month they could be running. Your best chance to see them is at rapids or the falls where you may see them trying to swim upstream.
Agreed about the cougars hanging around the drop offs around the sandbars

Alfie.

Here we go again.

Alfie.

And he's annoying to boot. When did we become OC&RF, Ontario Catch And Release Forums ?
There is no prize for being a Largemouth Bass? Right?
Almost seems, oddly, like an older reincarnation of Gavins ( I'm only 13 ) 2.

Alfie.

^^
This.
Found out I am a Large Mouth. Trade you that status for a Brookie if you can get me one. Rainbow or Atlantic would be next. I don't fish Large Mouth, can't see what the thrill would be so enjoy while I catch my more exciting fish.

Alfie.

There is 100s of km of Grand to explore, the key word being explore. I too am in Hamilton and could tell you lots of places but that doesnt guarantee fish on a certain day, they may be biting 5 miles downstream.
I can tell clearly you havent done any exploring if you dont know that a long walk is not needed to reach the Grand nearly anywhere.
And you are missing half the point of fishing if you are worried about walking a few km anyway. I have personally had some health issues this year and wish I could still walk those km and see the deer, foxes, hawks and the rest of nature happening around me. Be assured tho that my years of exploring have left me with no shortage of spots close to parking.

Alfie.

Heading back to scugog again this friday!

Can people who fish here often please give me some good spots to go try out for some lunkers, really tired of catching 1lb bass at a rate of 1/ hour. Im not expecting to catch dozens, but atleast 1 or 2 decent sized ones throughout the day.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record. Stop asking silly questions and do the leg work.
Seriously ?? You are going to a fairly heavily fished lake on a week end and are complaining about catching 1 lb Bass at a rate of 1 / hr. We should all have your problems.
Just go search the old fashioned way like the rest of us.

Alfie.

Doesn't organelle have its own lake, called ORANGEVILLE RESOVIOR? Look it up you may find it also.

Island Lake would be that name, as mentioned in the first post on this thread.

Alfie.

Good Job, u should of posted this in the fishing reports section though.

Yes, nice Bass. Bet it broke the surface a few times.
Why fishing reports? Good pic for general fishing, one fish isn't much of a report.

Alfie.

Maybe some of MuskieBaits info should be pinned on this site as it seems there is a lot of curiosity about all these chubs and shiners etc this year. These tools maybe useful to some.

Fishing Urban, shiners are available everywhere. No secret places for them

Alfie.

I have no idea where durham is but a really good place to catch panfish is mount pleasant nature centre on the outskirts of brantford. Sorry if thats not where u live.

Not even close.

Alfie.

where you fishing from shore guys?

Read the posts. They told you.
You first time posters kill me, where, where, where?
Get up and do the leg work, not like they are in one place and not another.

Alfie.

Where is this located want to take my dad out and try and get some? If you don't mind sharing haha

Nice first post.
Haha.

Alfie.

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk

NOWAY!!!!! NOT ITALO AND HENRY..............

Sorry to burst the bubble.

Alfie.

You can be charged for targetting OOS Bass. Italo and Henry Wascnuk were charged and fined years ago for catching Bass off their beds while filming a show.
My Dad happened to be there after 'eyes and saw it all.
Said they were pulling them in one after the other.

Alfie.

Also, if someone is able to point me to some sort of a map of where "East Trib", "West Trib", "Huron Trib" & such is located, I would appreciate it.

Thank you [/quote]

East Trib - Lake Ont trib east of Toronto.
West Trib - Lake Ont trib west of Toronto.
Not even going to go to Huron Trib.

A road map of S Ont would be a good start at finding tribs.
So would google.

Alfie.

Can basically confirm your research AJAK. Weather such as temps and rainfall does come into play as well though.

Alfie.

ok thanks so much so the do the fish start to bite for example early may aid may late may ? thanks again

You gotta get out and try these spots. Nothing wrong with asking questions but you won't catch fish sitting in front of a computer screen. The oft repeated do your leg work applies.

Alfie.

Hey guys,
Landed this little beauty and was hoping to get some confirmation that it is indeed a Redfin pickerel.

If so, I was doing some reading and adults max out at 16" 2.25lbs.
I didn't have a scale or tape on me at the time to measure, but this one easily hit 16" and I'm thinking more like 18".
The photos aren't perfect but...
Any thoughts?

Northern Pike, no doubt.

Alfie.

You're right. Not far at all richard.
Haven't been out much yet only a few small Cats so far. Hoping the big boys are running and I can go soon.

Alfie.

That all looks like a lot of fine bait for Cats, Bass, Pike etc MuskieBait. Laughs.

Alfie.

Don't think it's too cold.
People fish Carp in the Harbour in Jan. I'm not one of them but I know they fish and catch. Check some older threads. I remember 1 a few years ago that was just after New Year.

Alfie.

You said a large lake off GB. Of course there could be Carp.
I would rule out Turtles, I have hooked and landed at least 9 Snapping Turtles over the years and not once has there been any sort of splash or anyway they could have made one.
No mystery, many fish will swim with a bait before taking it.
Your choice Musky, Pike, Bass, Bowfin, Cat or Gar.
I also doubt a Beaver if you didnt see it before the hit, but I suppose possible at very, very long odds.

Alfie.

Not true at all east of T.O gets pounded on opener

Staffman was using what is commonly known as misdirection, also called forum sarcasm. Lol.

Alfie.

Only Kitties and Panfish are open there right now. I'd try dunking some worms.
Cats aren't really moving here in Hamilton yet, just little guys like you said. They usually coincide with Trout opener so I expect the forecast warmer weather will have them moving to their spawning grounds this week.
The Grand is a warmer river so you may do well, good luck.

Alfie.