dave kaeon

agreed. it may not look appealing to many 'catch and release sportfishermen' here but at least he appears to be very particular with his quarry. i know it was a very short clip but he wasn't slashing away at anything he saw indiscriminately... he saw his intended target, took one shot and that was it. how many fish do we each hook, play out on gear that is often too light, then release... claiming that we're concerned about 'not stressing the fish out'? especially in a lot of the virtually artificial and augmented fisheries we taxpayers pay for, the fish are there for our enjoyment. don't want to stress a fish out or have a walleye dinner? then don't bother em. and about that study from a couple years ago... i remember a lot of fishing publications were citing it a lot but i had no idea that P3TA actually funded it. i'm not arguing, just surprised is all... not about to visit that sham of a business' site either just to find out! but just to add another point about impaling with a hook and that study's focus on that, did they consider other factors such as pre or postspawn fish that already show visible signs of wear and tear (stress), or did they consider fish that were played out from depths of 30+ feet... hauled out of heavy cover in warm water... reefed out of logjams in warming rivers? 'scientific studies' can only go so far and then nature and common sense takes over. my view is that fishing and hunting is virtually the same thing. it's just that with fishing, the angler has a dubious option of returning their quarry alive... not necessarily unharmed. that's why i have a problem with the popular notion of 'catch and release' which really only promotes the commercial aspect of our pastime. 'selective harvest' is more accurate in my opinion. interesting vids, and even though i can't see anything wrong or disagreeable with them, i don't think i'll be picking up a speargun any time soon.

humble thanks once again! such a friendly bunch of folks here and that's refreshing especially on the internet... hehe i'm just here to rediscover a lot of forgotten angling gems. y'know.. those little sparkling moments you're able to briefly grasp the elusive reasons why you're on the water to begin with. and when you find some good reason, just hang on for as long as you can because you'll never know when something that was never yours to begin with, will simply drift away. i tend to ramble in person too so this intro is pretty true to form... take care all.

you could have the upper end rebuilt into a neat little jiggin rod, and the lower into a flippin stick!

hey, that was an awesome report and story even without the pics... i just thinks it's amazing you found feeding brownies by flatlining in january! hehe... sure got my imagination going! sounded almost like you were fishing on a nice spring day with the number of species you hit, but alas i look out the window and see a heavy coating of some funny lookin white stuff and cola slurpee roads. about the pics, i'm sure i'm just about as nuts as anybody here with photos... love to ogle fish pics and try to live vicariously through others' fishin stories! so... upload the dang photos to photobucket! it'll auto re-size them i'm sure. great story.

hi danc and c.c.! danc, brooky right? yes sir i appreciate that. your photography never ceases to inspire. glad to read your posts again. glad to be here, and yes scotty, it's me back from the dead! i see you've been hammering chrome bars as always! was wondering if dave retie and johnny hink were drifting around here? hehe...it's been a long time.

hey mjl, ya 2 or 3 years ago i lived right 5 minutes from the humber. i mainly fished it from springmelt til the dropbacks were all gone... usually a couple hours each morning to get me through the day. i never really fished the bridge hole or above the multinumbered dams... basically only the courts' runs and below bloor in the frogwater undercut bank. i'm sure we've shared a drift or two. i had browning gray neos but they were just too much fun to put on and wear so i had to get rid of them! why, whudda ya know? i just happen to have a pic from above the dirty subwayline! and just so nobody starts climbing my back about how shallow the water is and my flyfishin it... the slot where i caught that hen and 3 others was approx. 15 ft wide and averaged 4-6 ft deep... pretty sweet run for downtown toronto fishing i have to say. the shallows i'm standing on actually is normally a small 'island'. just so you guys know. nautifish, i heard that some types of hare and rabbit actually require more nutrients from the one eating it to digest, than what one may actually gain nutritionally from it. weird, but i heard and read about it from some 'survivalist' folks... still might make a neat snack on he water though!

ouch... but super looking fish! yayayaya! does manny ever smile? hehe.. those fish are worth grinning for! ps. those laurentian mountains are looking bigger and bigger everytime i see them!

again thanks muskiestudd, that's awesome! hehe... but my unit doesn't have a balcony. hmm... i'm one floor down from the rooftop... i wonder if they'll let me keep a smoker on the rooftop... hehe it's just nice to be out on the water and have a good fresh supply of smoked meats! thinking of taking up small game hunting sometime this year too. has anyone tried smoked rabbit? just curious.

thank you all! very kind, very kind. yes it is very refreshing to see a whole good bunch of different types of fishers and species pursued here. i'm glad that it's all about the fish here... a good vibe. unfortunately or fortunately as long as there are trout in the rivers, that's what i'll be chasing. but once bass opens, i just totally dig chasing bronzebacks in rivers on the fly... an older photo but you get the idea! hey JFR, thanks for the offer but i live in a condo now and i lack the yardspace. i'm thinking of moving again soon and hopefully, completely out of the GTA. ugh... a nice bungalow around gbay or the peninsula would be nice! cheers all.

wicked 3rd pic there... like that angle and nice spur on that bottom jaw.

yeah.. i'm surprised i can still type after abusing my hands like that flyfishing today... note to self; subzero temps is bad for handling a big fat wet flyline all day. and i didn't even get to try out that sage 10' today. fishing 'buddies'... they show up 5 hours late and (grumble, grumble) ... ahh... well, it was a nice afternoon once i lost sensation in my hands. only one solid hookup on a shaker couple lbs rolling an egg pattern under an indi... may as well have been floatin' since i was doing that but i really wanted to see if the takers were still in the riff pockets and up for some big streamers... a no go there.

mmm... steelhead candy. like taffy but for mister and missus trout! did you happen to check the stomach contents too? pretty sure you'd find a few late spawning brown's eggs in there and definitely scads of those green caddis rockworms. you remember that clump of them the other one spat out? i also noticed quite a few fresh stone husks drifting around the backeddies today. rolypoly football!

hi people. i almost never use caps so i hope nobody goes crosseyed from reading one of my posts... well, it's good to be back in the flow of things. taking a well-earned break from the crazylife is good. it's crazy that i totally stopped fishing about two years ago... right about the same time i met a good bunch of fellow fisherpeople (admittedly mostly steelheaders ) haha... just kidding about that. ah, but life got in the way and i lost touch with a lot of good people. there's a few people on this forum i recognize, but i just wonder who else is lurking around. mostly fished smallmouth and walleye with my pa... i was addicted to working my eagle sonar and whining to get on the 9.9 so i could work it like al or babe. y'know, back in the day when limiting out was totally acceptable and 'catch n' release' was just the latest tacky catchphrase on all the shows. open water everywhere and nowhere near the numbers of people fishing today. anyways, somewhere along the line at about 7 or 8 i caught my first chromey shaker while drifting the trent for 'eyes. from there, it was boxing up all my walleye insider mags and scouring through all the fishing facts, outdoor life, and ontario fisherman mags for anything to do with steelies and other migratories... and oh, can't forget matt straw's first few pieces for in-fisherman. just killer work. i think the best articles for bows in print mags came from the 1985-1990... just juicy stuff, no nonsense and gritty stuff. back then bottom-bouncing was still basically king and the talent to roll a couple bb's and feel the distinct tap-tap (familiarity with jigging helped alot) really helped. oh, and btw, i have no real idea what i'm rambling about but i'm bored and i'm just gonna eventually get around to posting a few fish pics and some such... anyways, i'm gonna go out one day soon and bb one of those nifty dropper rigs again just for kicks. i miss the old school feel of the spinning reel on the flyrod. but these days everywhere you turn it's those dang centrepins. the great equalizer... totally puts the majority of people on a level playing field. even though a lot of rigging and shot pattern nuances can get very complex, i'd say most anybody who can tie a clinch knot on the river when fish are in... yeah, they're gonna hit something sooner than later. bought my first pin in '88 and i'm still learning something new everyday... or at least it feels that way. with that, i gotta say what a freaky 'winter' we got down here in southcentral ontario. it's just WRONG... but hey, i missed the fall season so this is kinda novel. i just thank the man for any time i can drift a sweet seam. anywaaaays... check these poor guys out... very recent shots of mister frog and mister snake sleepwalkin. 1st memorable slab of 2007 a smoked-snack-sized-steelie a little porky male already good to go the water's always gettin more and more crowded and finally a closeup of miss lady steel.. so fine... so that's my bit for now. i don't take as many photos as i should anymore but there's plenty of time for that. hi cc, fishfinder, n' barracuda (you shoulda beeeeen there! ) i'm tired now. ps. i don't have the yardspace or smoker anymore but does anyone know of a shop (tackle or otherwise) that will smoke your fish for you?.. i haven't kept anything yet, but when i do decide to take my one clipper hen for 2007's roe, i'd like to get her smoked. i don't have much of an appetite for fish otherwise. selective harvest yeah? cheers.