tbayboy

Nice stuff JB, great looking 'eyes there. Enjoy the feed.

Good morning everyone. Yesterday I had the pleasure to hook up with Manitoba Rob a relatively new guy to the board who lives up in my neck of the woods (aka Markham). I had been dying to get into some walleye since my buddies back in thunder bay started prefishing for our annual trip and starting sending me reports just to rub it in. Rob suggested Stoney Lake as we had a shot at both muskie and 'eyes and since I've never been to any of the Kawarthas I was up for anything. Rob took care of all the boat rental arrangements and at 6am we left the big smoke for an 8am start. The owner of the boat rental place told us a couple big eyes had been pulled up at the falls right around the conrer so we headed over. Luckily Rob has lots of boat time under his belt and did a great job of backtrolling us into the rapids at the foot of the falls and down went the jigs. Tap Tap Tap - ahh man there's perch here. Ok off go the nightcrawlers as the little perch won't let them stay on long enough. A bit later I get a real pull so up goes the rod and wizzzz out goes the line. Son of a ... when I switched reals the night before I didn't set the drag. Ah well we tried there and nearby for a bit longer but other than an incidental smallie (my first smallmouth ever actually but out of season and all of 10 ounces made for a quick pictureless release). We then moved around for a while trying a bunch of islands, shoals, humps and other spots that Rob had mapped out (he had picked up a nice map of the lake somewhere and done his homework before we headed out) and then the comedy/miracle began. We had been going by a bunch of people targetting muskie but they weren't having luck. Rob had been tossing out a few muskie lures as well but nothing. Rob then thought we should try setting up the bottom bouncers and working a long shoal with a couple promising humps on it. On went the rigs and the crawler and after driving be some more unlucky muskie hunters when my line stopped and this conversation began: "crap, snagged", "Ugh its a log, and I'm draggin it up", "You sure its a log?", "Yeah must be, though unless I'm crazy the log just thried to throw the hook?", "Thats not a log, its already on the surface - look where your line is", "Nah, probably just slipped. Oh wait no your right and thats no walleye", "Where's your camera " Rob, always in guide mode, made a great call asking where my camera was then cause I sure as hell wasn't thinking about it and we wouldn't have this bit of fun: <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value=" name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> I called it the miracle muskie because: 1. Wasn't targetting muskie 2. Was using a leaderless mono worm harness with a single smallish hook on 8lb braid line. 3. It appears that it slapped at it and missed the hook but got caught on the side or rolled off the hook and got it on the side 4. When near the boat she rolled again and the hook moved from the side right into your mouth so when landed she was perfectly hooked at the side of the mouth. 5. I don't know how to fish so me being involved in any way makes it a miracle Anyhow, here I am when all was said and done with my first muskie, 41 1/2" of fun: <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1422/558571838_f772c8e245_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="My first muskie" /></a> Later in the day as you probably saw a the end of the video Rob tried a repeat of the only way we seem to know of to find muskie. Unfortunately in my rush to get the camera filming and my line out of the way I managed to get my line in the motor. Arghh. Rob got the motor stopped without missing a beat but now he couldn't chase the fish down in the boat so when she rolled there was nothing he could do and the mono was sliced/snapped right off. Sorry Rob we'll call it a long distance release. Outside of the 2 muskie we also ran a drift over some good looking muskie territory that instead resulted in a school of perch (11" in the boat) and a bunch of incidental largies - those guys are definitely done with their spawning and looking for some fun - they were hitting everything. All in all we ended up missing my target (walleye) but caught: Muskie, Perch, Smallmouth, Largemouth and of course the worlds greatest sportsfish: <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1117/558879637_d74aee1431_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Worlds greatest Sports Fish" /></a> And this monster which actually did turn out to be a log (after the last 'log' we weren't taking any chances with this one): <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1036/558880439_9ca03cf8dd_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Big one" /></a> Big thanks to Rob - this guys knows his stuff and his time guiding in Manitoba certainly showed today and I learned a lot from him. Next time maybe he can find me some walleye too Thanks for reading everyone, see you out there. (edited because I can't spell or type)

Great stuff Terry, nice fish.

nice rock bass Patrick, sucks about the drive back though

Congrats, beautiful fish!

I'll put up with snow for a 46" pike and 1499 other fish. Sounds like a great time, cant wait for the pics.

I think someone else hired the same guys, heard on the traffic report last night around 7 heading home that hwy 400 up north somewhere had a slowdown due to couch parts on the road, maybe yours just jumped from the truck and is trying to get up to some good fishing holes

I love it. To me thats a perfect fishing photo, about as candid as they come. Thanks for a good morning chuckle.

Sounds like a great day to me, there's a reason that lures a classic.

I picked up the Sahara this year (facing the same decision as you vs the Stradic) and have been very happy with it, great real for a nice price. The recommendations about Cabelas are dead on as well - given the current dollar rate its definitely worth looking south of the border if you want to save a bit.

I was at BPS last week and there was a group of cubs with their leader looking at canoe gear. He was trying to explain paddles to them but they kept using them as swords causing him a little worry about the damage they'd do to the paddles and everything around them. Was happy to see they at least still have the organizations and at least some kids still do it (did beaver and cubs myself as a kid but stopped before scouts - don't know why)

Great stuff TJ and glad to hear you survived the pikes revenge (its always the little ones that cause the damage). Great photos as well, looks like a wonderful spot to spend the summer.

Congrats Weeds, can feel the adrenaline through your post even without the pic (but damn it don't taunt us like that - we need pics! )

Great photos of a beauty pike. Like you said, may have been the only one but it sure was a nice one.

Welcome aboard, having fished both I'll say this: Islands: easier to shore fish, more shoreline to work, more amenities (you can buy food, drinks, theres washrooms, etc), have to pay to take ferry and pay to park if you drive, more scenic. The ferry isn't a big deal, runs pretty frequently but avoid bringing one piece rods - got some nasty looks from the ferry operator TT Park: cheaper (free parking, no ferry fees). Long walk to fish if you don't have a bike (there's a van that shuttles people but only a certain schedule, I end up walking most times). Harder shoreline to work - less room to work with (lots of jumbled rock/re-bar/concrete/cliffs) so you can't just fish anywhere as the shoreline can be kinda tricky. Closed on weekdays Fishing wise I haven't been out enough to have a preference yet, I've been skunked at both and caught fish at both but don't go expecting fish every 5th cast from shore, if you do that well then we gotta meet up . Try both and see which you like I guess is my best advice (just remember that we post when we do well more than we post when we get skunked so skew what you read here some times ).

Its the photo stitch feature on my Canon - it shows the previous pic so its kinda easy to line up the next then they have a bit of software that 'smart' matches them all into one pic and it actually does a pretty good job for free software (well free with the camera). <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/emosworld/202111855/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/58/202111855_bb2887c70c_b.jpg" width="1024" height="182" alt="sunset stitch" /></a> <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/68/202102373_5716fd5993_b.jpg" width="1024" height="182" alt="diamond head stitch" /></a> At least it works a lot better then windows movie maker does - stupid thing hung after lining up all the video clips I took this weekend, sigh. Guess the video has to wait til I finish kicking myself for not saving my work in progress. Update: managed to get a quick version of the video done before it crashed again, nothing exciting - no actual fish caught on video (if video isn't working try again later, youtube is still 'processing' it): <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8V_eGIl62w"></param><embed'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8V_eGIl62w"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8V_eGIl62w" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Start off with the results: 14 hours of shoreline fishing over 2 days and 4 fish caught. ugh. But you know what - with views like this: <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1385/541667882_fb39276eaa_b.jpg" width="1024" height="119" alt="Lake Ontario" /></a> and this <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1359/541773429_cdb57a95ba_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Toronto at night" /></a> And surprises like this Lancaster flying overhead: <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1439/541769885_dbd64c4722_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Lancaster over Toronto" /></a> I can live with just a few fish: <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1184/541773043_f1f8a57f5b_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Snot rocket!" /></a> <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1134/541663650_8b51cd0849_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Slimed" /></a> Patrick joined me for one day, here he is trying out his new lip grips on a monster that I'm sure we never could have brought in without them <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1369/541664640_3466bb372f_b.jpg" width="768" height="1024" alt="Come here!" /></a> And of course I can always blame this guy for the lack of fish <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1386/541498894_2d394c1d5e_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="Leslie Spit Swan" /></a> He parked in front of me and proceeded to mow down on all the local algae, I couldn't bring myself to make him leave so just took a seat and had a snack while he had his <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1084/541607181_366f9b911c_b.jpg" width="1024" height="768" alt="MMM gooo" /></a> Of course a story isn't good until there sex. Unfortunately all the pics I tried to take of the mooneyes didn't come out well - need some polarized lenses for the camera but I had to mention these fish (at least according to to the locals they were mooneyes - new fish to me, kinda cool). They were in full 'getting it on' mode with 1 fish (I'm going out on a limb and assuming the female) being chased in circles by 3-5 others. Saw that activity at a couple different spots. Also saw a ferret that cost me a lure + leader. The little guy came hopping towards me and froze when he saw me and even stayed put as I grabbed the camera but then ducked just as I snapped it - all I got was a picture of a rock pile and a snagged mepps for my trouble. Ah well, was kinda neat seeing him hopping along. Anyhow, not much of a report for this weekends fishing but with weather like we had who's to complain and the locals didn't seem to be doing too much better so I don't feel too bad (even if I did have to sacrifice a mepps to the fishing gods).

Great story, great pics and a great looking musky, sounds like a good day to me. Thanks

Great report and beauty fish, thanks for the report.

I've yet to get a crappie out of Island so I know your pain but I love the story of the kid and the bass. One of my favourite things about island lake is watching the kids catching panfish from shore or from a boat with the parents, they always seem to have such a great time.

Nice 'eye and damn those pike look tasty. Thanks for the report.

Congrats on the PB!

I was always raised on the mantra - no terminal tackle for walleye. I'm not familiar with Nippissing so can't say anything lake specific but the only time we considered leaders was if you had a real pike problem and they were constantly bitting you off. Also we pretty much stuck to spinner rigs and vertical jigging with 6-8lb mono (catching 14-24 inch fish for the most part) with medium light-medium rods so keep that in mind too. Sure there's lot of other guys here who will definitely know more than I do but figured I'd toss in a thought or two and get this bumped to the top. 3 weeks til our Lac des Milles Lac walley trip, the only thing keeping from breaking down and joining you all at Lakair

And to be fair sometimes things are taken out of context - if the teacher proposed it in the 'here's a fun conspiracy for you' type of context and some students got freaked out well then their idiots on their own and I have a bridge to sell them. We had a great history teacher in high school who used things like this to open your mind a bit. If on the other hand this teacher mentioned it as if they really thought it was something the students needed to know about then they should be clumped in with the other crazies (must avoid religious debate thread..so hard....) and not allowed to teach.

Please dear god get that teacher fired right now. Its things like this that make me understand why people pay for private schools