Gary George

High demand waterfront in Haliburton is big lakes with connected lakes. Same most everywhere, more water means more money. It also means more traffic of all kinds, winter, spring, summer and fall. For my money I'd be looking at small lakes, riverfront or proximity that permits a view and some reasonable access. Think gas fueled idiots on or in every kind of craft imaginable if your on busy / popular lakes. Even weekdays can be crazy if the weather is nice. I'm not on a lake but most of my clients in Haliburton are, the only ones who don't comment / complain about the gas fueled frenzy are the ones who thrive in the kaos and fumes or the work-a-holics who aren't really ever home on the water anyway. Choose carefully if your thinking sunsets and waterside campfires. The obvious choices that cost the most would be very low on my list. Maybe your looking for that, if you are don't expect the fishing to be all that great except in the margins of the season. Thats the other benefit of "less desirable" lakes, the fishing is usually more peaceful and productive.

I just received my latest edition of Ontario Out of Doors there is an excellent article dealing with catch and release and related ethics as a fisheries management tool. It's called "Catch 22" written by Bruce Ranta. In short it deals with the concept that catch and release along with all other regulations applied to fisheries are dependant on the ethics, awareness and overall knowledge of anglers. Worth the read, not sure if it is avalible online.

Discretion is the better part of Valour. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me! I to think you made a quality choice. I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't extend that discretion more than once. Hopefully your nieghbor gets that to!

I never mentioned anything about fishing "extended season" or pre spawn fish. I never said anything at all about numbers of fish caught or numbers kept. I just said that your assuming a fair bit about my tactics. Please don't put words in my mouth. Your questioning the ethics of an entire group of fisherpersons yet you use the word "some" when describing the abusers. That same "some" are present among the food fisherpersons. Thats an enforcement issue, the "some" who abuse. I don't see food fishing as wrong, I do it a lot with certain species. I'm just trying to make the point that taking fish is certainly negative as the fish is gone as opposed to catch and release which may remove fish but probably doesn't in most cases. Catch and Release sections and periods are a common tool of fisheries managers, the beleive it works. Slot limits work, are we all agreed? Catch and release is integral to slot limits being functional, next step in protection is close the fishery period. Catch limits are the first line of protection followed by enhancement (habitat and stocking programs) and then slot limits. The final level of protection applied is sanctuary. I think that this represents a fair assessment of the MNR approach to protection of species so catch and release appears to be an acceptable method by those standards. We could debate MNR ethics and standards but thats kind of moot since they are the final authority. On the matter of 10 lbs Carp busting my Float Rod, none have yet. Niether has any of the nearing 20 lbs Steelhead / Rainbows I've landed with this rod. I suppose if your buying off the rack, off shore factory built "noodle rods" you may be experiencing this kind of breakeage. My ancient Loomis hand built seems to enjoy heavy fast fish. One of those fish ran nearly the entire distance from the hydro station to Lewiston Bridge on the Niagara and my "fragile" Float Road and weird Center Pin reel brought it back and landed it. The fish was every bit of 17 lbs and it was October. I have heard since the beggining how my "noodle rod" is weak, bad for fish and interferes with others ability to fish the nearby water. It's always from folks who don't actually have any experience with the technique or the gear involved.

Cannuck2fan your assuming a fair bit there about me and all fisherpersons who practice catch and release. Sorry if my opinions and observations don't fit with your view. The Bighead has one of the longest histories in Ontario with Rainbow Trout. It's wilder, healthier and colder than the Ganaraska. It recieves less overall pressure during spring spawning periods but does have a fall season. It's not unusual to fish runs and pools here alone all day. The Ganaraska is probably the most popular "lightliner" destination in southern Ontario yet it has an absolutely huge run each year. Catch and release is the norm here. It is urban, used for many other things, runs thru farm country and has very questionable water quality. A day on the Ganaraska generally is like a carnival with so many people. Neither river benefits from any current stocking programs that I'm aware of. To what do you attribute the lower fish numbers to in the Bighead if it's not harvest? What would you say the huge numbers of fish in the Ganaraska are the result of? Why are popular northern cleaner rivers less able to support large runs of trout and conversely polluted, much trampled urban rivers able to crank out huge numbers of fish? Oh and by the way anybody who can claim a Carp puts up more fight than a Rainbow can't possibly have actually caught a fall Steelhead. In terms of catch limits I have been told by COs that the catching and releasing fish is factored into limits it's just that its near impossible to enforce. So it comes down to personal ethics and education. Reality is that very few guys actually catch, handle and release much more than a few fish on any given outing. Sure there are a few but it's really a small number compared to how many actually float fish / "lightline" for trout. I fished the Gany for ages and with literally hundreds, even thousands of guys out for opening the number of dead floaters and stringered fish was never notable. I have seen very few dead fish in the tributaries I have fished and when I did there was never any certainty that they died of any one cause. That would required much more than observation to be sure. If I sounded pretty certain of myself it might have something to do with 25 plus years of Steelhead experiences. I prefer to believe what I have experienced rather than what I'm told.

Greatest single problem with fish limits is that they aren't enforced effectively. Lowering or adjusting them would only be truly effective if enforcement is consistant and thorough. MNR is gutless, regular CO's in the field are in an untennable position and are spread to thin. They are trying to wipe an elephants donkey with confetti. Lightline fishing and catch and release is not as bad as meat fishing. Get over it. The Ganaraska is probably the hardest hit steelhead river in the Province. Regularly hosting runs in the 15000 range. Catch and release by lightliners is the most common technique on the Gany. Who would want to keep fish from an urban tributary of Lake Ontario that runs past the largest urban storage of radio active waste in the Province? Still this river has a huge run every year. Comparitively the tributaries of Georgian Bay where water is clean and fish are thought to be more edible have very low run numbers and seem to be frequented by meat fishermen. Catch and release is still practiced but not nearly as often. The Bighead is the equal of the Gany for purposes of spawning, maybe superior as it has no dam, yet has never had the same kind of runs. Only one explaination for that, more fish are removed. I too think large invasive fish are a mistake, Pacific Salmon aren't sustainable in these lakes. However Atlantic Salmon once made Lake Ontario home so it seems that the lake can support fish like Atlantic or the similar Steelhead. Limits on Salmon don't bother me but lowering the limit on other migratory salmonoids would be a good idea if enforcement is beefed up. The biggest improvement to fishing lisences would be the written test suggested by another poster. One level of lisence would simplify things as well. Fewer better enforced rules would be more effective than lots of hard to keep track of, poorly enforced rules!!!!

Remember the Cherokee Sport, remember that it was the SUV / 4X4 of the year according to Motor Trend when it was introduced in the eighties. I owned 2 of them, one 89 and the other 97. Ask any parts guy or dealer now what they thought of those in the first couple years. Very lousy vehicles, brake issues deserving of recall, handling characteristics of a skateboard, rust issues, weak suspension, u joints lasted about as long as a tank of gas and numerous electrical issues. My 97 is still going with few issues and over 300,000 ks it is as good as Motor Trend suggested almost 20 years earlier, my 89 was piss poor in comparison and the years before that were worse yet. Entirely contrary to what Motor Trend was saying about them at the time. Think sponsored propaganda. The new GM truck looks good on paper and sitting in the show room, but lets face it that is really still all we could possibly know about the thing. Lets have this chat again in a few years, once people have had a chance to wear them down a bit. That is the review that I'll believe.

Shrink Tubing will last until you hook a fish and then fall right off under tension. There is no substitute for doing this right. I have no idea the quality of BPS guides but I would look to Angling Specialties or John Collinga for quality guides and thread as well as epoxy. It is very easy but highly tedious to wrap a guide onto your rod, preparation before hand and adding epoxy finish afterward are the fussy parts. Private message me if your interested in all the details. I'd be willing to give you a quick online lesson. Definately a worthwhile skill to learn if you own more than a few rods of any quality. Check out rodbuilding.org for a rod building forum similar to this one.

Waders full of water in a current are potentially deadly. The water trapped in them pressed against a logjam or boulder with you inside can be well beyond the ability of the average person to lift or move in order to free yourself from the entrapment. Waders full of water in a stillwater enviroment will not drag you down, water is neutrally bouyant so up, down, sideways doesn't happen. Swimming with loose fitting baggy waders would be very strenuous, with the added hazard of cold water, again you could be in real trouble if your far from shore. Properly fitted waders with quality suspenders and a good snug waist belt will probably be more of a safety asset rather than any danger. Neoprene is bouyant and absorbs much shock and impact. They also keep you quite warm even when filled with water. Other loose fitting waders can be burped(squeeze all the air out before snugging your belt and suspenders) this keeps them tight against you and resists filling with water. Probably more important than all the above is wading technique. Realistically wading moving water above the knee is just plain dumb. Foot entrapment is a real possibilty. If you fall in current after your foot becomes wedged and your driven under the surface and dragged downstream locking your foot into the entrapment your in real trouble if the water is deeper than your arm is long. The force of water on your body can be great enough to keep you from dislodging your stuck foot and in a short time the cold water will rob you of the strength to solve your problem. Wading staffs are a must in cold, deep rushing water. Once you wade beyond thigh deep in current your going to be moving downstrean with every step wether you want to or not. This means careful planning and knowledge of down stream bottom structure. In still water muddy bottoms can be as dangerous as current, imagine the trouble you'd have getting free of the suction of mud if your already up to your chest in the water. Your balance is compromised, you likely haven't got much purchase for your hands to help out, if the water is cold, again it's not long before you've got a serious issue. Deep crossings if you must should be done with more than one person, you can gain a lot of stabilty by locking arms and moving slowly together. Never cross your legs when the current is powerful, always sidestep or shuffle. Buy or make a dependable wading staff, an old ski pole will do. Waders like guns aren't dangerous, it's misuse that leads to problems.

Theres lots of ice left but getting on it will be dicey in places. Water levels aren't chainging so existing main lake ice is pretty stable. The edges are getting pretty weird. Cold nights are keeping it in shape but melting shorelines are making access sketchy. I doubt it holds up for much more than a few more days, all huts are off and many popular spots aren't being used for a couple days now.

"For me it's really simple: I find it extemely arrogant of mankind to think they could put a dent into a planet that has been around for millions of years and been through far more pressure from solar extremes than we could imagine." Duh! Our common homes are just temporary, our real home is the earth, much more permanent with respect to our existance. To suggest we haven't dented her is pretty arrogant in itself. Oceans full of human synthetic debris yet more and more devoid of fish. Frogs and birds, fish and livestock mutated, invasive species, undrinkable water. Looks like a pretty big dent to me. It'll start looking like a write off when my grandchildren are fighting a war over a gulp of water. Naw we're not messing up the house, it's all good. Asthma constantly rising, toxicity of nearly everything we eat or drink is suspect. Oh ya the old earth will recover and I take some comfort in that but it would be nice if she didn't forsake us sooner rather than later. I mean our current appraoch is akin to the way and alchoholic or drug addict approaches life. Redline your car for a bit and see how long it lasts. Why do people seem to take better care of cars than the enviroment (our home) we live in?

I went and read that Star headline and some of the article. Just like this thread, it takes that kind of half truth, fear mongering approach to get a reaction out of people. Proof that fliptheslop is correct at least as regards the manipulation of public opinion and sentiment. I'd say fliptheslop also nicely proves that the technique works.

It never ceases to amaze me how people will sieze onto one side of a media opinion on an issue. It's usually the first one they encounter. Then thats the gospel, everything else is wrong or has a hidden agenda. Amazing how willing a forklift operator or a civil lawyer or grocery clerk is to suggest that someone like David Suzuki is dealing in fiction. Just try telling anyone of these folks how to do their job. It's not as if I support Suzuki but geezus, he's made a career out of studying and understanding enviromental issues, how can you summarily dismiss his lifes work as propaganda. I figure his motivation is far purer than that of an oil baron or a dam building engineer. Al Gore the selfish bugger, going to all that effort to effect a positive change on our enviromental impact. Dam him for not thinking more about profits and bottomlines. The arrogance of a guy like that trying to make the planet a kinder place for my grandchildren. I wish I could just look the other way and go fishing or paddling but sadly for us all I am one of those misguided fools who thinks we stand a chance and tries to do a little something. I'll apologize in advance for trying to make things a little nicer for my kids.

The collective thinking generally gets it right. Fringe ideas tend to remain fringe. Selfishness is the root of the whole thing. Politicians selfishly build empires, no regard for well being. Industrialist do the same. Enviromentalists aren't innocent here either. The fact that most are confused and caught up in useless argueing about wether it's carbon emmissions or cow farts causing global warming is the real issue. I'm wrong your right, your wrong I'm right, whatever!!!!!!!!!!!! Selfish, gluttonous abuse at almost every level of western society is not sustainable, that you can count on. I'm in favour of a good solid long term plague. Thin the herd a bit, separate and remove the weak of mind and weak of body. That ought to nicely take care of the leather seated, gas guzzling, air conditioned beyond good health, obese, lawn spraying, burden on the health system, ignorant, lousy spelling, arguementative parasites eating us out of HOUSE and HOME. Did I sound bitter there, you bet, I'm so fed up with the me me me mentality of our current society. The, it's my right to pollute, disturb, abuse and otherwise bully the planet and it's inhabitants gang are gonna be the end of us one way or another. They reside in every camp, in every wing of politics, every school and on every message board. It is this blind selfishness that will be our end, period. Everything that looks to be on the horizon for us is driven by selfishness wether it's diminshing fresh water supply, religous zealots, global warming, energy crunches, all these things, real or imagined are based on personal greed and abuse. I'm no vegetarian but did you know that the land used to grow enough beef for just McDonalds Restaraunts could feed the entire planet if it was used for alternative protein crops like beans and nuts. Wasteful ignorant self serving approach to an almost useless source of food and just one of tens of thousands of money driven operations with no positive give back to the human condition. That is taking on such a grand scale. Try giving instead of taking.

Not to say that Deer Whistles do or don't work but think about this. I have never caught a fish using a Swedish Pimple or a Red Devil. I am sure anyone here can make the same claim about virtually any lure you can think of. As well anyone here has one lure at least that never seems to fail them but no one else thinks is worth a dam. I have never hit a deer and have never had "whistles". Everybody in my neighborhood has hit deer or been hit by deer at some time. I have had more than a few fish slam the side of my boat or canoe or kayak. Never had any fish whistles on them. We're talking about animals who's thoughts or rather instinctive responses we only understand thru the filter of our own perpective. So really it's pretty tough to say definitively that something like this works or doesn't. Look at the different results between hatchery fish and wild fish in studies. Studying animal response can be as real or unreal as reality television. Once you point a camera at something it begins to act differently. There is a huge world of study on how studies affect behaviour. Hatchery Deer would come to a whistle just like dogs do. Have you ever seen a bird sitting on a scarecrow?