Bob

Yep! What Gerritt said. Drive right past the park gate and another 1/2 hour will put you in the heart of the Pickerel River system.

Yep. I'm in. Looks good.

Pinook! That's my final answer and I don't want to call a friend.

Never used to be pike in Depot either. They were in McCarthy, the next lake down. Once they got into Depot, they had access right up through the system.

Lots of good fish in Dunlop. I don't fish it myself simply because it gets too much traffic to suit me. It is one of very few lakes in the area that has walleye and they were stocked many years ago by the local fish and game club. For sure, don't eat lakers out of Quirke Lake, it's illegal. Lakers in there are strictly c & r and have been for years now. For sure don't bother fishing for walleye in Elliot Lake, there are none. There was some talk some years ago about stocking them there but nothing ever came of it. I'm sure if anyone took a walleye out of there, it would hit the local papers. Pike have spread all through the Marshland River system and I don't know that they were accidentally stocked. Could have been a high water year that allowed them to get over the falls at McCarthy or maybe some eggs were carried in by herons. Who knows? Folks have been catching them from this system for 10 or 12 years now.

Great shots, nice trip. That's what it's all about. Hard to tell sometimes with young ducks that don't have adult plumage yet but I'm guessing a brood of young redheads.

I don't have the foggiest notion. Is "a whole bunch" a valid answer? Do I have a problem? Nah, the "light of my life" uses them too and every time a new one catches my eye, well I'd best buy a second for her. Same with new lures, there's no way I get only one.

Me too, I know roughly where the Speed is but I wouldn't go that far or in that direction to fish.

I'm on it but don't use it a whole lot. Listed as Karaoke Bob on there. myfamily.com is where the family stays in touch.

If you're looking for shore fishing, Thessalon River has specks, rainbow and brown trout. The big water has everything you can think to catch in northern fresh water. The smaller lakes that have been mentioned have all that is mentioned and more. Bring your boat and do 4 days of fishing. You won't be sorry.

Calling a gar a gar pike is just as wrong as calling a walleye a pickeral. A lot of folks do it but it just isn't correct. No such animal as gar pike.

The trouble with ALL green groups, from anti-hunters to global warming alarmists is that they don't really want to save the world, they want to control it and everything anyone does in it. They're just like watermelons, they're green on the outside but watch that colour that's inside. I'll admit that some adherents are altruistic but they've been totally duped by the leaders.

When I started school, the ritual was "the lord's prayer", "Oh Canada" and "God Save The King". Things have changed a might since then. The prayer was abolished (ok by me), the monarch has changed and so have the words to the anthem. Of course, the words to the anthem that I learned 60 years ago were nothing like the original version as written in french over a hundred years ago. C'est la vie, I guess. I'm a proud Canadian but often not too proud of our politicians.

Here's something else to consider: the Kawartha Lakes didn't even exist before the construction of the Trent-Severn waterway so how many muskies would have been around then? It's the system of dams and locks that created the lakes, before that there were just rivers with some wide spots maybe. Might have been a trout fishery at one time. Could be worth looking into the history of the area.

In many cases, fish that spawn in shallow water are easily spread by wading birds such as heron. They wade through the spawning beds and some fertilized eggs stick to their feet. They fly to the next lake and these eggs fall off so now you have a population of fish introduced. Again, why did it take so long in the Kawarthas? Maybe they were there long before anyone started to catch or notice them. Nature is funny. If life can exist, it usually will. When I first started fishing Elliot Lake, there were no pike. There were lake trout, whitefish, smallmouth bass, catfish and ling. That was 30 years ago. In the last few years,there are pike being caught and not such small ones either. There are 2 or 3 being caught over 20 pounds every year for the last 10 or so years. Leads me to believe they were there for quite a while before anyone caught one. Doesn't seem to have hurt the populations of the other fish. Folks are still catching nice lakers and bass. Where's the harm? Some guys just seem right fanatical about muskies and they're nothing but another member of the pike family that tends to grow a little larger. So what?

I can't understand everyone demonizing pike. It's another fish to catch and it's native to Ontario. It's amazing they didn't spread throughout the Kawarthas as soon as the canal system was finished. What took them so long? In light of the many other waterbodies where they co-exist quite happily, why would the Kawarthas be any different? Their spawning seasons must overlap or there would never have been the first tiger musky so the idea of young pike eating up the young muskies seems a little off. Almost all fish are cannibalistic so why wouldn't last year's musky gobble up the newly hatched ones? Hmm, maybe that's why reproduction rates aren't huge. As long as there's enough forage to keep them going, they should get along fine. Enjoy the new fishery and eat them up. They're good. Seems to me that a two pound pike would make a lovely snack for a fifteen pound musky, maybe you'll find your muskies growing faster.

Cleans the edges off for sure but they are nice looking when they're done. Don't put heavy stuff in the tumbler with them.

Put them in a tumbler to polish them, drill a hole in each and string them like beads. Or make earings.

Commercial bait licenses are sold in blocks of territory and at times the trappers may have a problem with other commercial guys poaching their area if it's a good one. Fishing for personal bait can be done anywhere and maybe these guys don't like it but they can't stop you. Don't fish for bait with one of the big commercial traps unless you have a dealer's license, size restrictions for personal traps are in the regs and they have to be labelled with your name etc. If you're in an area that's being worked by a commercial bait fisherman, I'd suggest you don't leave a trap unattended as it may go missing. When I had a bait license, I never messed with personal traps, but it happens sometimes. Regulations also explain about sizes for dip nets and seine nets.

I've been using them for years in various makes and models. I like them just fine. Some are even more sensitive than front drag models. The model that you're looking at is a good one.

The animal control guy we used to have here (before the MNR took the job back) was trapping 3 or 4 bears a week all over town. He'd haul them a couple hours north of town and turn them loose but they were always back in 2 or 3 days. Rumour has it, they're now hauling them south to see if they'll stay away from here.

In that first pic, you remind me of Smilin' Bob from the commercials. Have you been taking those male enhancement pills?

Haven't been there for some years but there's a gorgeous stretch of river below Inglis Falls that always held a nice mix of pan sized rainbows, specks and browns. The Pottawatomi River west of town holds some nice browns as well. Any weedy bay north of town on the east side of the peninsula should have pike. As I said, it's been a while but that's how it was.

Used to eat them when I was younger and they were just fine. Only reason I don't eat them now is because I just can't find any in this area. I always thought it was ling that was known as poor man's lobster. I'll eat them if I catch them too.

Try Lake Duborne or Granary Lake just north of town. Blind River also has walleyes as well as the North Channel. Mississagi River just west of town also has walleyes as well as a good mix of other species. I don't fish for them myself, mostly stick to trout and salmon but I know they're there.