Markham, Ontario

Today, my good friend Hooked with Saj and I enjoyed a fantastic fishing session. We gathered at a fishing pond at 5:30 AM, just as dawn was breaking, in the northern part of Markham city. To give credit where it's due, I used the gear Saj gifted me for Christmas last year—a lovely little box filled with assorted color paddle tail soft plastic baits that mimic tiny baitfish. I rigged up my line with a quality swivel, allowing me to change lures easily without having to retie the entire leader connection. My goal for the day was simple yet thrilling: I wanted to determine whether fish in this particular location preferred one color over another or if color truly didn’t matter when they were hungry. Before I was even ready to start fishing, Sam was already shouting from a distance that he had caught a nice fish. I rushed over to see him reeling in a nearly 2-pound Largemouth bass. Jealousy hit me instantly—I couldn’t wait to get started! I decided to begin with the most obvious choice: green/chartreuse. My plan was to cast each lure ten times and see how many fish I could catch before switching to the next color. Here are the results: - Green: 3 fish out of 10 casts - Pink: 4 fish out of 10 casts - White: 2 fish out of 10 casts - Green pumpkin (natural color): 1 fish out of 10 casts To my surprise, I initially thought that green pumpkin would be the most effective color since it mimics the natural hue of baitfish in their habitat. However, it turned out to be the least efficient color on this cloudy day with murky water. Next, I switched to my final color choice—orange—which I assumed wouldn’t catch any fish at all because it seemed too bright and might scare them away. But once again, the results completely flipped my expectations! I found myself reeling in fish after fish; it was unbelievable how well it worked! During those ten casts, I landed a total of eight fish, with one that got unhooked halfway back. So, that’s an impressive average of 8.5 fish per ten casts, and I was absolutely thrilled! Overall, today’s fishing adventure was a resounding success! #CatchKing

Are you sure there’s fish in all that weedy gunk? You Bet! Fish love cover and oftentimes the plants are more dense above water than below it. Underwater there’s lots of channels. #CatchKing

🔥 PB ALERT! 🔥 Landed my personal best 2lb 13oz Largemouth at a local pond this morning! Went out with my good buddy Beika Zhan and in just 1.5 hours, we hauled in over 30 fish! 🎣 The bite was fire at dawn but slowed once the sun got higher — timing is everything! #CatchKing

When I first began fishing, I was uncomfortable with weedy areas as often you end up pulling a lot of grass and the lures get hidden in the thick of it. But over time, I’ve become comfortable with grass and have honed in on the skills to fish weedy bays - it’s where most of the fish usually are and can be very lucrative. #CatchKing

Another day, another KOI. This beauty was a bit smaller in length than the one caught by my wife, but definitely heavier and fatter. Centerpin fishing is truly one of a kind experience in fighting one-on-one. #catchlog #catchking

Her very first KOI (锦鲤) Carp hooked and landed! This beauty pulled a hella of fight for more than 15 minutes! I’m so proud of her. Shoutout to FIRST CLASS ANGLING and our top-tier pro Jacky from Bedrockhobby.com!

Found out that there's bowfins here, so went on and have a try. Unfortunately no luck on boffins. But we have 2 carps and 1 bass

My first carp! After seeing these little brutes in the magical tiny pond here last year, I decided to pop over yesterday for a try with bread. I wasn't patient enough yesterday and didn't hook up, while seeing them eat the leftover bread in front of me. Today I headed back after a morning of failed pike fishing and learned from my mistakes yesterday. Fight was fun on the UL rod