Garfisher

Maybe you're just too good at catching big walleye to catch any little ones 🤣 (I hope that's the case anyways, otherwise YIKES)

Tie on your most expensive lure without a wire leader on, that'll definitely locate you some pike! (Might get expensive though haha)

Kinda. Lampricide would target all lampreys, which would include our native Silver, Chestnut, Northern Brook, and American Brook Lampreys. I've also heard while chatting with someone who's worked with the Sea Lamprey program, that when they treat the Nipigon River that they know the concentration is about right when a certain species or two start flipping up (they aren't gamefish but smaller fish, I forget the species). Young of year Lake Sturgeon can also be lethally affected by TFM (a type of lampricide) in more acidic waters (https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/2045/). But generally lampricide treatments have greater benefits than problems for Great Lakes game fish at least

It was out on Saturday haha

Also on the original subject of this post, I personally wouldn't mind seeing an open season elsewhere in southern Ontario. Maybe even allow harvest from end of normal open season until whenever walleye or pike close for their closed season (obvious exception being zone 17 but make it Mar. 15th perhaps), but at a reduced limit (maybe S-2, C-1), and have certain lakes remain closed for special management such as the Kawartha chain (the lakes immediately on the waterway), Rice, Simcoe, Couchiching, and the Rideau chain.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/carleton-study-suggests-diet-coke-doesnt-go-with-fish Please don't pour pop on fish gills no matter how much they're bleeding 😅

If you hold them upside down they'll go into a tonic state and not thrash about haha

Getting amped up for/during the spawn and sudden water temp changes can overwhelm them and cause some dieoff to occur

https://www.eddmaps.org/ontario/distribution/viewmap.cfm?sub=12252 Chemong has had gobies for a few years now. Chemong seems to be the "eastern" front in the Kawarthas, while in the western Kawarthas it seems that they haven't been able to make it into Canal with the Trent-Severn draining the canal every winter

Probably a coyote, outside chance of it being a fox. Traditional herbivores usually have scat that are pellets/pellet shaped/look like they're made of pellets. Foxes and coyotes will eat fruits and plants at times during the year as mentioned before, and their scat is commonly shaped like the one in the picture.

Never (not to be rude haha). The world record caught in 1865 was 4lbs 3oz and was 18" long. Simcoe will spit out some huge perch in the years to come but they won't hit 20", I can definitely see 16"+ being a real possibility though, and I definitely can see a new Ontario record coming out of Simcoe.

I think it's just a regular muskie as the tail lobes seem pretty pointed (it's the only real clear ID feature), but regardless that's a nice fish! 😎

I'd say so 😎

Well they sort of are a big deal haha. They will greatly reduce the numbers of some native fishes (mostly darters since they would be direct competition), concentrate contaminants absorbed by zebra/quagga mussels (which then accumulates in the fish that eat the gobies), and they can harbour strains of botulism normally not available in the environment (which could cause waterfowl die-offs). But they do make a plentiful food source for bass, walleye, pike, trout, loons, cormorants, and other stuff that like to eat small fish.

https://www.eddmaps.org/ontario/distribution/point.cfm?id=8275276 They're in there...

EDDMapS Ontario has multiple records of Round Goby in the south end of Chemong in the last couple years. There's also a record from Sandy Lake. I believe that is as far upstream of the Trent side of the Trent-Severn as they have been found. Gamebridge seems to be the other side of the "invasion front" (in the old Talbot River channel mind you) and they haven't been spotted in Canal Lake yet.

Why not? They basically eat the same thing as Whitefish do ? They are a bit of a pain to clean/fillet, but at least there's no deboning the fillets once you're done.

The Rapala Original Floater in the F11 size is my favourite for them, however as mentioned tons of times already they'll hit just about anything. Even tried one this summer, it was pretty good! That being said they seem to vacuum up gobies, so maybe not a fish to eat a lot of too often.

I use 17lb Trilene 100% fluoro without much problem using jigs and chatterbaits. That being said, definitely check your line especially if you've jacked a couple bass (really hard sets), as you may be a backlash or really hard set away from busting off. I do like the combo for dragging tubes if you have the opportunity to do that in the fall, the line does last a bit in the mussels but of course constantly check your line as it will get nicked-up pretty good

I ordered one on eBay way back in the spring (in Artistic Burbot) and fished it the only time I've fished muskies this year back in June. It has a pretty wicked action to it when worked and it casts really well. Ended up having a bass or something maybe 3 times the size of the lure take a swing at it, and then ended up missing a fish on it a little later. I've been getting the urge to toss it lately come to think of it haha

Went yesterday, wasn't too bad, especially with relative lack of people compared to the weekend. For the most part wandered around and looked at fishing tackle, some of the hunting and camping vendors had no tax sales going on (only briefly stopped at a couple), tackle shops had some bargain bins, basically what you would expect at a Sportsmen's Show. Was sort of disappointed in the lack of taxidermied specimens at the taxidermy booth, I suspect there would be more though as the show progresses if what they had last year is "par for the course".

Could do entirely fluorocarbon if you aren't a big fan of leaders, I ran 6lb Sunline FC Sniper on my ML spinning rod for a couple years (until I got a new reel and went 8lb fireline crystal with a fluoro leader, partly so I could float fish for crappie) with no problems at all for walleye, trout, bass, and panfish unless I got really lazy with checking knots. If you went with fluoro I would maybe suggest 8lb FC Sniper for a little more forgiveness (or 6lb of your favourite fluoro), the stuff handles like mono and you don't have to replace it every year which is nice (Sunline line diameters are smaller than most other lines, 8lb Sunline line would be the same as most 6lb lines). Braid is definitely a good option though, especially if you see yourself float fishing at all. Mono isn't bad either but obviously less sensitivity and more stretch.

Totally couldn't have been the Fish TV guys hammering them the one episode as they specifically said where they were fishing with the addition of "another beautiful Land O'Lakes crappie" after basically every one. No idea why there was a sudden climb in pressure

https://www.mykawartha.com/news-story/6142247-ministry-to-close-walleye-fishing-on-lakes-scugog/ "In an email to This week, Lisa Solomon, management biologist at the MNRF Peterborough District, said walleye were first stocked in Lake Scugog in the 1920s, and stocking continued until the 1940s. From the 1940s to present, the walleye population has reproduced naturally, eliminating the need to stock the lake. Ms Solomon noted that data collected in the ensuing decades revealed the population was declining, and several factors contributed to that. 'A decline in the population was first detected in the early 2000s. Angler overharvest occurred during the 1980s and 1990s, but there are other significant factors contributing to the decline, such as changes to the fish community (the introduction of black crappie and blue gill), possible degradation of spawning habitat, and the introduction of invasive species.' She added the data 'indicates that there is recruitment failure, resulting in mainly older walleye in the population. Species such as black crappie and blue gill compete with walleye for resources and black crappie may prey on young walleye.' "

Mouth isn't as large, the toothpatch on the tongue is either different from a largemouth or it is present in Spotteds and not in Largemouths (Edit: Spotteds have a rectangular patch in the middle of the tongue, Largemouths have an almost entirely snooth tongue), and the dark lateral stripe on a Spotted looks like it is made of diamond shapes compared to the squares/solid line that Largies have. Apparently Spotted Bass are also more related to Smallmouth than to Largemouth based on DNA