wallacio

Comment dis tu "Rube" en Français? Nice ones bud - hope today went well.

Obama's election certainly does hold promise for Americans and the world however while he'll pull US troops out of Iraq, he's calling for a significant increased deployment to Afghanistan. This will also include a call for even more NATO troops including Canadians and Europeans. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...fghanistan/home

Gotcha, no argument there. I just assumed that you had a float reel and were implying that your buddy with a spinning reel outfished you. Hope Santa comes through for you!

Nice fish, though I'm not following your logic on the float reel vs spinning reel comment as it relates to number of fish hooked (or landed) by you or your friend?

A great weekend for sure Mike...I'm glad that you and Joe were able to make it up for a weekend at the cottage. It's obviously a special place for me an my family, where we've made life-long friendships and spend as much time up there as possible. The fact that it's so close to many fantastic rivers which see runs of wild Steelhead is just icing on the cake. Too bad they didn't cooperate for us on Sunday but Saturday more than made up for things. Looking forward to the next trip...with the girls still in Florida I'll be out again this weekend!

Nice Mike. Too bad we couldn't meet up today...looking forward to the weekend though! Here's a few "from the other direction".

Amazing report Mike...I wish that I could have joined you, Dave and Joe but I had a pretty good excuse! Perhaps on the next trip...what will it be? Sutton? Situk?

Here's an account of what has occurred on Lake Huron over the past decade. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/LakeHuro...eb_122463_7.pdf

As stated, LOB is a Smallie/Laker waterbody (there are Pike around, but not in significant numbers to warrant targetting them) You are going at a great time of year as the big Smallies can be found in shallower water, putting on the feedbag before winter. Think minnow patterns around rocky humps and breaks. A sonar and a hydrographic map would be a big help to find some likely spots. If you want to increase the chances of having a good fishing experience with your boys, you may want to hire a charter: http://www.lobfishingcharters.com/ Good luck!

Difficult to say from the photo but the overall shape and forked tail does suggest an Atlantic (only 1 over 24.8" may be retained).

Nice Brown! As for the Salmon smolt it is most likely a Coho as mentioned. Chinooks typically smolt and leave the river at a very small size, far too small to take a dry fly anyway. Additionally, although it's difficult to tell from the photo the anal fin on the fish in question appears to have a longer leading edge than does the rest of the fin which is a characteristic of Coho smolts (as opposed to Chinook).

Please note that the regs changed in the last few years - NO trout may be harvested (regardless of size).

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...0008000_100-8-3

AquaSeal...available at most fishing stores. http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0005516810247a.shtml

No worries Jigger...I merely pointed this fact out in order to educate with conservation in mind. Unfortunately to this day, it's still a very common misconception that our Ontario Steelhead are the result of a "put and take" fishery when in fact most of our rivers now depend on natural reproduction (entirely or in part), which of course requires an adequate number or fish to be present each year to spawn. Some systems only see a year class of a precious few individuals (a few 100 or 1000) and when you pair that with extremely high harvest rates, it's easy to understand why the repeated killing of wild fish doesn't sit well with some of us (even when it's done within the allowable limits). Personally, I'd like to see steelhead considered a "sport fish" and be managed as such, similar to the way Musky are. It's time to move away from the attitude that they are merely fish for the pan (not that I'm against the harvest of fish from sustainable populations). Ironically, this is the case in New York which relies almost exclusively on stocking programs. There is a one fish limit for Steelhead and it's rare to see even a few anglers harvesting their allowance of one fish.

Jigger, Please check your facts....the MEA primarily stocks the Rouge with Steelhead and none of the other Eastern tribs receive any plantings of Steelhead. See link below...in fact, look at the source for the Rouge plantings (WILD fish from Duffins Creek). These creeks, as with almost every other steelhead river in the province rely on natural reproduction...which explains why we passionate steelheaders tend to get a bit over-zealous when it comes to their conservation. http://www.glfc.org/lakecom/loc/mgmt_unit/06_app_C.pdf

Up until this year, Trout opener was the last Saturday in April however going forward (ie 2008) it is the fourth Saturday (which was usually the last, but not every year). Regarding the notion of "Put and Take" trout fishery in Ontario, as MuskyorSpecks states most Trout populations are self-sustaining including virtually every Steelhead river in the province. Some rivers receive limited numbers of stocked Steelhead however these are usually just a (minor) supplement to an existing, self-sustaining population.

I'll echo the other posts regarding the Islander...for the money, you can't go wrong. It's probably the best production reel out there. A minor point, but my only criticism is that the clicker mechanism will allow the reel to move with only minimal pressure. Here's mine, the great looking grey colour which is new for this year. As Danbo mentions the Loomis is a solid reel as well though many pass on it due it's relatively heavy weight. BTW Dan, the one you sold me is still in good hands and is helping to subdue steel after all of those years (including this monster from yesterday).

"You see this watch? That watch cost more than your car. I made $970,000 last year. How much you make?" LOL

A classic for sure - one of the best "dialogue" movies of all time. Lemmon's character is definitely great - "Old Gill" from the Simpsons is based on this character.

Have a look at the Humminbird portable as well. I've had mine for years and it goes with me everywhere from the cottage to Algonquin including ice fishing (works great...I prefer it over a flasher). You can now buy an ice transducer as well as rechargeable gel cell batteries for it (they used to only accept costly lantern batteries unless you convert the unit to accept gel cells as I did with mine). http://store.humminbird.com/sonar/500-seri...od407100-1.html

If you aren't already aware of this site, be sure to bookmark it as it is an invaluable tool for any serious steelheader. http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/formNav.asp Make note of the water level the next time you are fishing your favourite river and use it as a benchmark for future trips after a rain/melt event. As for the Notty, recently it was a full 3m above fishable levels and is still approx. 1m above ideal conditions.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/cisco/index.html

It looks like you had a great day. The fish in the fourth picture was definitely a herring. You did the right thing by releasing it as they may not be kept on Simcoe (there is no open season so that their numbers may rebound).

Yes, only C&R will be permitted on the middle Notty. Kudos to the Nottawasaga Steelheaders as well as others for pushing for this long overdue regulation as this section of river holds wintering steelhead which were vulnerable to over harvest. Unfortunately with the new regs, there are (what I can only assume to be) glaring errors and omissions to FMZ 16. The extended season as well as year-round season for steelhead on the Bighead are completely missing as is the year-round season for the lower Maitland and Saugeen (yet the extended season for the middle river for both still appears). A number of extended seasons on some other minor tributaries seem to be missing as well. I am going to contact the MNR about this issue and I encourage all other concerned steelheaders to do so as well.