Welcome to Fish the Abyss: an Angling Up North Blog

Welcome to Fish the Abyss: an Angling Up North Blog

By Logan E.

7 Minute Read


The Mysteries of the Abyss Beckoned my Name...


Jeremy Wade (iconic fishermen) famously coined the phrase "casting a line is like asking a question," and heck do I have a lot of questions.

The mystery of the abyss has always drawn me in; since I was a child every body of water observed beckoned my name with the constant thought crossing my mind: what swims in the mysterious depths?


I grew up fishing, with my dad constantly dragging me along on crazy back-road adventures. Brook trout was the typical bounty and the venue was usually a pristine creek tumbling through Canadian shield terrain in North East Ontario.





 As my fishing journey evolved I quickly became enthralled in the pursuit of top water fishing, which naturally led to me chasing Smallmouth bass. These bronze back scrappers are notoriously hard fighters, acrobats, and most importantly they often indulge in a topwater bite.




 Enter Jeremy Wade, River Monsters, and the pursuit of fish with teeth, attitude, and monstrous reputations. In 2009 the show River Monsters aired and I quickly became obsessed with it. My Canadian fishing ignorance and lack of fishing diversity at the time made it difficult to comprehend the scale and magnitude of the caliber of fish that Jeremy was catching; monsters did exist in the abyss.

Like many others, that show was the spark that ignited an obsession in me to pursue the weird, the ugly, the malign, and the monstrous. My fishing pursuits segued into angling for the northern pike. A maligned  species that are the bane of bass and walleye Anglers due to their razor-sharp teeth and ability to ruin or bite off a  lure connected to the line. Don't get me wrong, pike definitely have an avid angler fan base, but they're weird, they have the potential to get large, they fight hard, and they are bonafide  predators, and I was shouting their praises. The only problem was I was lacking a boat at the time of my pike pursuits, and my fishing venue wasn't known to be a trophy area for pike. So I caught quantity, but I was lacking quality, and the urge to catch a gargantuan fish remained.


One day, my childhood best friend (and primary fishing partner) and I were conversing, and the focus was on the next step in our angling journey. What could be above the voracious pike in size, attitude, and allure? There was only one answer, the mighty muskellunge.

Covid wasn't the only pandemic in 2020, because I was afflicted with a bad case of the muskie bug, and what a sickness that turned out to be. A boat, trailer, motor, canoe, fish finder(s), trolling motor, power anchor, rods, reels, specialty muskie tackle box, and 30+ lures later I was all-in for muskie. Countless hours spent fishing, researching, watching videos, reading articles, scouring maps and blogs, and thousands of casts and figure eights led to the culmination of a plethora of frustrations with trickled in successes as well. But muskies, like any addiction were not enough; what was I to target to scratch that big fish itch when muskie were closed (half the year in Ontario)? I couldn't just focus on one fish species because they simply weren't open enough of the season to satiate my appetite for big fish.

My first ever muskie! Caught in a canoe with my bestfriend Calvin

My first muskie over 50" at 50.25" (likely my heaviest muskie to date)

My longest Muskie thus far at 50.75"

Enter the realm of 'the weird'!
Three things typically draw me towards a fish species: the capacity to get large, the presence of teeth, and a hard fighting attitude captivate my attention. These attributes led me to the pursuit of bowfin, Channel catfish, and longnose gar (gar still elude me). There was something very nostalgic about sitting on an anchored boat, or the bank and casting a chunk of cut up fish into the abyss, all the while anxiously awaiting the heavenly audio of a clicker sounding a take. This method of fishing harkened  back to my River Monsters experience, and in this way, I entered my own personal monster pursuit.

My first Bowfin

One of my first silver redhorse

My first Channel Catfish

2024 was a mix of successes and misses as I landed several new species including bowfin, silver redhorse, and Channel catfish but I also got humbled on some pursuits. To expedite some of my hunts I am constantly researching and striving to obtain more knowledge about angling; in early 2025 as I was researching the new regulations, I came upon the fish identification portion of the regulations page (ontario.ca/fishspecies). This page listed 35 Ontario species and this created a thought- how many Ontario species could I catch if I made a legitimate effort? I have caught some of these species before, but I am starting fresh in 2025! This blog will outline my pursuit of 58 species of fish in Ontario, some are very popular, others are very obscure and will be a legitimate challenge for any angler. I have added the following species to my Ontario bounty:
○Silver Redhorse; Longnose Gar; Fall Fish; Tiger Muskie (muskie x pike); Aurora Trout (brook trout colour variant); Splake Trout (laker x brookie); American Eel (will have to target outside Ontario due to endangered species status); Spotted Gar (same as American eel); Grass Pickerel; Chain Pickerel; Flathead Catfish; Longnose Sucker; Bigmouth Buffalo; Smallmouth Buffalo; Quillback;  Saugeye (walleye x sauger); Goldfish; Scuplin (not picky on type);  Arctic Char; Tiger Trout (brookie x brown)

Plus the species listed below on the Ontario fish identification posters:

https://www.ontario.ca/page/guide-eating-ontario-fish#section-8

Will this pursuit take me a long time, challenge my skills and knowledge as an angler, and probably drive me a little crazy? Absolutely!

Welcome to Fish the Abyss: an Angling Up North Blog series where I will highlight my journey in the pursuit of Ontario's iconic and lesser known species (some invasive or stocked). Each post will include a handful of species that I have caught 2025 and onward with targeting methods, catch stories, photographs, and some interesting facts about the species.

As a side interest to the main ambition of this blog I will be writing about fishing tactics, gear reviews, and will be regaling readers with funny angling stories. 

Stay tuned and tight lines everyone!
For up-to-date catch photos follow @anglingupnorth on Instagram. 

Attached are links to my other blog posts:

Fish Photo Dump:

The (Catch and Release) Tools of the Trade: Muskies 101:

One Man's Trash (Fish): 2024 Rough Report:

Ontario Angling Hitlist Chapter 1: Frigid Fishing:

Canadian Angling Giants:











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