First Post

[NickP27]

As I sit here on the floor of my new Montreal apartment with a nearly indescribable mess of fishing gear spread all around me, I figure that this would be as good a time as any to make my introductory post to this community. I’m trying to once again ‘organize’ myself for a trip back home for the quickly approaching Ontario Trout season.

I came across this community midway through last season while trying to find some information on some of Ontario’s lesser targeted species that I had yet to cross off my lifer list. With my first glance through the forums I did manage to find some useful threads to help point me in the right direction, but what immediately caught my eye was the Multi-Species Challenge. Considering myself a bit of a multi-species angler, I had full intentions on submitting some entries for this upcoming season; however, I have since relocated to Quebec and from what I gather this will disqualify most of my fishing efforts from admission … at least in 2017. I’ll still enter my Ontario catches for this year; though my time spent fishing my home waters will be quite limited.

I caught my first fish in 1993 (See Below …). I was just three years old. I spent the next thirteen years fishing occasionally and catching the same FIVE species over and over again and never got tired of it, I honestly thought that was all there was. All this changed when I was sixteen and was invited for a weekend on the Ottawa River at a friend’s cottage. I hooked my first Pike and Channel Catfish along with getting a glimpse of a Longnose Gar. I had no idea that these fish even existed, let alone right in my own backyard and I was absolutely blown away. I quickly developed a much more serious passion for fishing, catching my 100th species just last month on a trip to Florida and couldn’t have asked for a better landmark catch than my very first Tarpon (Also see below …).

Although I am now a ‘Quebecer’, I still feel I have a lot to learn from the fishing wisdom of this community and have a lot to share of my own past experiences in Ontario and my new experiences to come here in La Belle Province. The fish don’t know they’re French … same rules still apply.

I’ll make a post later this week with some of the lifers I hope to cross of this year as I explore the many new fishing opportunities that a fresh start has to offer. Of course, I am always looking for pointers.

Cheers,
Nick P

Not sure how these pictures will look ... new to this formatting.

   
Species #1

   
Species #100