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With the bad access yesterday,I had to plan on another spot. Had my mind made up . That was til this morning and said I got an hour and a half before day light, so lets take a drive and check out a spot. If it,s not good to get on,I would head to plan A . Well I arrived and there were guys standing around looking at the access . I said, whats the problem ? I look and tell them, it,s a hell of a lot better then where I went in yesterday. I quickly unload the hut and smitty, load up the gear,park and gonzo. Well I did wait for light today,as I didn't know the area . One fella yells out, watch the crack. I could see it out there and would heed his warning . I get to the crack and here comes a couple of ATV,s . I watch and they go back and forth looking for a spot. I walk up,see a good spot, test and ya,good. Cross no problemo . Once I am across, I turn on the navionics. Scroll and see a spot . Head right to it. HMMMM, there are holes around . Must be a good spot. Sit for an hour,mark 2 fish . Not so good . Move time. Hit the bottom of a drop. Sit for 1/2 hour. 1 fish. Move again . Thank goodness there was no snow. Travel by foot was sweet . Hit 2 more spots and mark but they move on fast. I did not like the feel of the bottom . Silty. I could lift the meegs a foot off bottom before I marked it , and my fly was close to the bottom . I scan the area seeing where everyone is sitting . No one looks very excited . I look at the navionics again . Look to where I might want to go. Say to self,why is no one fishing that little hump ? Since it was walking closer to my launch area,I decided to go and try . Set up,drop,bang bang, fish comes in . Tap tap ,fish comes in,rises and smashes my fly . WOOT WOOT, fish on . Get it top side and I have happy feet . Quick dispatch, and back down goes the meegs . 10 minutes later,a mark and tap tap and tip goes up. Set idiot . Miss. Rip and pound the meegs and another comes in. 1 tap and on . That is aggressive . Number 2 is top side . I am doing the happy dance, but then stop so no one knows I am on fish . With the sun warming everything up fast, and the odd ice pound,I'm thinking, do not push yer luck today . Packed up and headed in . Last thing I need is another dip or have to walk miles to find a crossing spot at that crack . Crack was fine when I got to it still, thank goodness. Friday will not be a day to be out by the looks of it, so Saturday might be the last day as Sunday looks like a real windy one too . I am good if this is my last. Not my best of season, but it made me work for my fish. Dang, that is hard work .LOL Now to the reason for 2 different takes . Clean the fish and found one had gobys,the other was full of midge hatch. They were still squirming when I pushed them out of the belly. So the meegs for the goby bite, the fly for the bug bite.

Hi all, Living on Wabigoon Lake I have spent a lot of time chasing crappie in the past few years, this year the crappie bite has been slow so I have mostly fished for walleye. After good success at Walleye and Lake Trout I headed out with a buddy to try for some crappie. We found an area that we knew held fish in previous years, drilled some holes and despite reservations about being in 19'FOW (usually we go a little deeper on Wabigoon) the fish were there. It was not as frantic as it can be, with fish coming through every 20 minutes or so. Some nice slabs but mostly medium sized ones with a few dinks. Nice to get some panfish action for a change, got a plan to try for Burbot sometime in the next week too. Ultra lite rod, 4lb fluorocarbon line and a small cast master spoon tipped with a minnow head works for me while my buddy was using a similar set up with a small buckshot spoon tipped with pink gulp maggots. I got 10 and my friend got eight. We could have probably got our limits of 15 each but we packed up early as he was on night shift.

Nice going always better to do the happy dance rather then the wet pants dance

Looks gnarly. Pike fishing from shore when we where kids. My buddy and I and his younger brother. Gabbing and not paying attention my buddies brother went behind us to get something out of his tackle box just as I was casting and a buried a treble hook from my rapala in the back of his skull. No crying or carrying on as these brothers where farmers. We just jumped on our bikes and pedalled to the Fergus hospital about a mile away. I can still see my fluorescent orange rapala swinging off the back of his head as we travelled along. Got to the hospital and they shaved a good sized patch on his head bald so they could remove the hook. Within an hour we where fishing again. This was 40+ years ago I assume Neils parents where contacted but no parents came to the hospital while this was going on. I can't imagine it would be handled the same way today.

I’ve been waiting to open this thread because January was too far from open water season for me. Now that sports will be wrapping things up for a bit I figured this would be a good night to take a look and share mine. I bought this from another member here in the spring of 2013 and it has been perfect. The single thing to fail was a winch strap a few years ago.

Lately I have been going back through some old fishing journals to find blog post inspiration A few notes stood out - the notion of a big swing on a tactic or a spot - the Fishing Hail Mary so to speak Brought some big smiles to my face thinking about some of these wings that took us from skunk to touchdown lol https://www.northernjacks.com/post/the-hail-mary

This annual event starts this Friday, anyone planning on going? If so please drop by the "EVERYTHING you wanted to know about FISHING but were afraid 2 ask..." exhibit which will be located right at the main entrance! Check out this new educational showcase, would love your feedback and in return, if you mention this board, I'll give you a nice prize! There will also be some great FREE seminars to catch as well while you're there! Hope to see you all there!

It definitely is a interesting proposal and I do believe that Dr. Bruce Tufts from Queens University is behind this proposal. If anybody understands the fish out there he does. His lab has been studying the bass in the St. Lawrence & Lake Ontario for years now. I would defer to his expertise> I know that many would like to see a streamlining of the Ontario Fishing Rules & Regulations but with the diversity of different regions, I'm not sure that it is possible!

Some nice old lures that you have there! Welcome to the board, lots of knowledgeable anglers here! I don't get up that way very often but I'm sure that someone will have some good advice for you!

I live in the sault. If your looking to target certain fish or areas message me I can lead you in the right direction

LOL It started out to be a great morning walk out and I moved a ton this morning. So did my buddy fishfarmer . We was not sitting for long til it was moving time again and again and again. 11 x to be exact for me. We fished shallow, fished deeper then I like, went shallow and back to deep, til finally, found some fish. There was lots,but they were very tight lipped. During 10 am til 11:30, the ice banged,boomed and shifted like crazy once that east breeze started. Water was sloshing in the holes . Once Lord Simcoe finally calmed down, I was able to hook into 4 fish pretty quick and lose 2 . All with,n a span of 20 minutes. Then it shut down. Screen was white for an hour after . Called it quits . Walking was great. Just ice that required cleats for sure . Lord Sim played a little nasty on me once I got back to shore. The area was already sketchy getting on, but doable . When I got back well, not so. It was pick a spot and just get across . Well I picked a spot, shoot the smitty across first. My turn and well, dipdadip I go. Up to my waist . Funny how fast an ole man can jump out when he needs to . LOL Needless to say, this access spot is done . To bad as I was enjoying this new spot to me. Ended the morning with a whitie and 3 perch. Missed 2 other whities. On and off . Dave fishfarmer walking off in the sunrise .

glad you still got your eggs B. We dropped hut in crack it wasn’t pretty getting it out.

akaShag is right, some of the lures, boxes, and paper work and even old fishing magazines can draw a good price. Ebay is sort of a zoo, you need all the possible info you can get on older stuff there, and condition can be everything. Some of those folks have no real clue about what they list, it's old so it has to be worth a lot? Well not really.

Successful Hail Mary's are always a great memory. Quite a few years ago, trolling for lake trout. We had quite consistent success on this lake, and had come to expect 1 or more fish >7lbs each outing with 2 people/2 rods. But this one particular day, while they were showing on the sonar, but just would not bite. We trolled around for hours, trying different depths, stacked lines with one rod fishing 100/50 another 75/37. We were doing what we always did but without the expected success. As the sun dipped to the northwest, eventually dropping out of sight... the sky turned orange and the water flattened out. The chill in the air was starting and it was time to pull the pin. We decided to do one last "hail mary" run over Steamboat Shoal, then pop the releases and wind up, calling it a skunk. We trolled the shoal, then kicked the boat into neutral. I popped my release, and while reeling in... wham!! My buddy is doing the same, and... wham x2!! We had doubled, and brought in 2 nice lakers, one was 9lbs the other 8. Kicked back into fwd to tension the lines to allow netting one at a time. Since that experience, I now make it habit and it has paid dividends. The big trout will follow the lure and when the action changes, tension off the line, spoon fluttering down... they hit. But on that particular day it was a hail mary for us... went from skunk to elation in the last 10 minutes.

It was the 80's and I was playing in a "touring band". By touring, I mean playing some of the stickiest floored establishments from Windsor to New Liskeard. We were playing in Barrie, right downtown during their annual street party. The hotel provides the band with "accommodations" while playing there. We load our personal items into the room, only to discover the following... -light switch for the room is a coat hanger, hanging off of two bare wires in the switch box -there is graffiti covering every square inch of every wall in the place. we spent hours reading and laughing -there is no shower, only a massive bath tub. Written in black marker on the inside of the tub, a picture of a cockroach and a note saying "go ahead, get in"! -We quickly discovered that it was best to leave the lights on, all the time! We turned them off once, the walls and floor began to move! We also made sure that all of our bags we sealed shut as best they could because we didn't want to bring home any uninvited guests -we were required to play a Saturday afternoon matinee. up on stage, doing my thing and I look to my left, at the bar and the entire top of the bar is moving! La cooka racha are racing up and down the bar. -Barrie was celebrating some kind of street party as mentioned, down town street is completely closed off. Now remember, we are a rock band and as such, we didn't usually hit the hay until sunrise, too jacked up from playing. At 9:00am sharp, this massive pipe organ on a flat bed truck starts playing. It's right outside of our window and shaking the entire building. I have grown to hate pipe organs! -back the Saturday matinee... locals we encouraged to come up and play a tune with the band, we were happy to do it. A guy shows up with his guitar, we greet him enthusiastically asking him what song he wants to play... I kid you not, this is how the conversation went. Local - "do you guys know "slow moving Walter, that fire engine guy?" (DEAD serious) Band- looking at each other thoroughly confused... "no, we don't know that song" "Can you maybe sing some of it for us?" Local - starts humming the following "Bah bah bah, bah bah babha, bah ba ba, bah bah. (Smoke on the water) Dude thought that Smoke on the Water, Deep Purple was "Slow moving Walter, that fire engine guy". There are more, but this is the one that I'll never forget! HH

You probably wouldn't want to see me when I'm UN-happy LOL

Indeed. I would be doing a bit of research before I let them go. Good luck. Doug

I meant in Britian . LOL

Welcome Malcolm, Did you fly fish over there ? Have watched so many great fly fishing videos from across the pond .