Bob

There are 3 launches down there, one at the municipal marina, one at Mitchell's and one at Vance's. Go upstream from any of them and look for a spot on the river that has old pilings lined up on one side. Everyone gets their early season walleyes in around that area. You'll see lots of boats there but there's usually room for one more. If you ask where you launch, you'll get the same directions no doubt.

Some folks seem to have a need to display a "holier than thou" attitude. Once I fished a Ganaraska trib and had a fellow (dressed in the finest LL Bean fashion) berate me severely for killing a brown trout. Never mind that stream resident browns are the tastiest of the trouts IMO and never mind that they're not even native, this fellow considered browns the elite of the trouts so it was ok that I killed a brookie but not ok that I killed a brown. Go figure? I like fish. I like wild fish. I don't much like frozen supermarket fish. In this guy's eyes, I was some sort of buffoon. Don't sweat it when these "holier than thou" types climb on you. They just can't help it.

I fished a couple hours today and got my thumb punctured in a few places by a 28" pike. It was a good day.

There is a two part crazy glue or super glue that's designed for hard plastic. The first part is a prep thing and the second part is the actual glue. I've only ever used it once but it worked fine for what I was using it on. Don't remember what that was either. Might be worth a look?

I wouldn't be trying to convince folks in northern Europe and Asia that global warming was even happening. This past winter over there was record cold and killing hundreds of people with hypothermia. In around 1910, it was global cooling that was going to kill us. !930s, global warming, the Arctic was melting, seals disappearing and the Innuit and polar bears were going to starve. 1970, we were going to be under a mile of ice by 2000. I remember that flap. Now we're back to global warming and the only thing that'll save us is to tax CO2 output. Anyone see a pattern here? I don't believe for a minute that we have the capacity to control or even affect climate, especially not with a trace gas that's less than four one hundredths of one percent of the atmosphere and absolutely essential to all life on this little ball of mud. What arrogance! It was a nice winter and I enjoyed it. Now that temps are back to normal here and it's been windy lately, it's cramping my fishing. Bring back the warm.

I was out yesterday for about an hour and a half. First few minutes put a small laker (maybe 24") in the boat but that was it. Didn't take a picture (forgot the camera) but it sure was tasty. Rain today, maybe I'll get out tomorrow for a big'un.

Yep. Bohemian waxwings. We had a flock of them stop in Elliot Lake right around Christmas a few years ago. They have a strange migration pattern as they breed in Alaska and NWT and migrate across to the East coast for the winter. Great pictures.

Better a little sunscreen than big heating bills. I was sleeveless while raking the yard today. Spring cleaning early and more time for fishing. Our lakes are still ice covered but it won't be long.

Checked out two of the lakes in town today, they're getting wet around the edges. Forecasts in the teens for next few days so not too long. I've been here over 30 years and the earliest I've seen Elliot Lake open is April 15th. Might be considerably earlier this year.

I have a real problem with folks who claim to know leagal stuff when they can't even spell legal correctly. What's up with that?

Yeah, I'd be guessing really bad scotch wouldn't be coming from Scotland. On topic: the only open water we have here is in the creeks and rivers. Lakes are still solid with some snow cover. With the long range forecast I'm looking at, it won't be too long.

If there are many porcupines around, chances of finding sheds are slim, porkies chew them up pretty quick. Mice chew on them too.

I'm with you on this Gerritt. Not enough pay attention to the politics going on in this country. Too much money in lobbying and the politicians are all bought and paid for by big business. Average citizens no longer have any say in how this country is run. Past time this was changed. We need to better vett the politicians we have running in our government and it seems the only way to do that is join the parties and get involved. Seems that only a minority join political parties and they all get sucked in to the status quo. These are the ones nominating the people that run for "our" representatives. Sad.

Since most of my fishing is trolling, my go-tos are Lymans, Rapalas, Bombers etc. They all catch pike, bass and trout.

No such thing as bad scotch. Just some better than others.

If you like them battered and deep fried, then that's the way to cook them. English style fish batter is simple and cheap. 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon of baking powder and a teaspoon of salt. Mix that and add a cup of water more or less according to how thick you want it. dip your fish pieces and drop them in the deep fryer. Fryer should be hot and you cook the fish until golden, flip them over and cook for another few minutes. You're there! I use only lard in my fryer.

I've never seen one, only pictures. When I started fishing Elliot Lake there were no pike or perch, now there are lots.

All kinds of pros and cons. Sledders hate it because there isn't enough snow to make a good trail. Homeowners save big-time on heating costs. Not bothering me because I've gotten old and arthritic so I don't think much about ice fishing anymore, too hurtful. It's not anything new, I've seen too many winters go by to think they should all be alike. Quite a few years back, we had one that didn't have safe ice to venture out on until mid February. Back in '81 (I think), I was trolling Elliot Lake on the 15th of April. A few years later, not until almost the May long weekend. One year, some clown was water skiing on Elliot Lake on Christmas day. Most years, you couldn't do that. Every winter is different.

Yeah, I remember. My brother bought a crew-cab Volkswagen pick-up that had been used on the show to film an episode that was a moose hunt. Can't remember the name of the celebrity he had on that time but I believe he was a baseball player.

Hope you don't mind if I scoop one or two for wallpaper?

One year in the early 80s, the ice was off and I was fishing Elliot Lake on the 15th of April. Mid 90s, we had a spring that didn't see ice out until a couple days before the May long weekend. If it comes early this year, I'll be a happy camper. So will the light of my life, the other day, she suggested we hook up the boat and tow it around for an hour just to feel good.

In the time and place I grew up, lager was classed as a ladies drink. Real men drank ale. Always enjoyed stopping for a beer at the Clinton Tavern, they had the coldest draft around and usually Molson Export. Long time ago. I can remember the days when if you were in a hotel and asked for a "Blue", you got a Molson Stock Ale. That was before Labatts purloined the nickname for their Pilsener. A lot of these brews mentioned here, I've never tasted ( or even seen for that matter ). Don't drink a lot of beer anymore, makes my glucometer mad at me.

I picked up a handful of Rapala long cast baits and the salmon loved them but the lips on those things didn't survive more than a couple of fish before the lips broke.

We have the same situation here, there are so many lakes in the district that many of them never see fishermen. Elliot Lake has decent fishing for pike, bass and lake trout but a busy summer Sunday only sees 8 or 10 boats on the lake, only about half of them fishing. It also has a good FREE launch ramp. I love it.

Mine will be home made because the store bought stuff makes my glucometer mad at me. It will be really light on sugar but definitely WILL have some rum in it.