Rizzo

nobody is debating this point...its the musky fishing thast poses boredom and safety issues. A 5 year old will be more happy catching a bucketful of sunfish than 8 hours in a boat with maybe 1 fish

pike whose markings have been eaten away by polluted water

If you're taking the little guy I might suggest dangling a worm off the side of the boat for him while you toss bucktails over the weeds. I can't think of a better way to turn a kid off fishing than going after musky! My five year old can't sit 5 minutes without a bite never mind quite possibly an entire day with nothing. While he's entertained with the panfish you may just get lucky and scare the bejeebers out of him with a 40+ inch fish

walleye on topwater, never heard of that before. I've caught them on spinnerbaits just under the surface but never on top. Great report, was an interesting read.

wow that is some serious fishing. I gotta convince the wife to move up there (and I'd probably join her too! )

The good heat waves came in april if you recall! We got close to 90 degrees here in Barrie. Man that seems like a long time ago. I agree its about time to see some 75 degree temps or better

I have always just used it in the lake I'm going to fish (ie the lake our cottage is on). At least you get the forage the fish are used to! One time I got a tiny little pike in there, very cool. I've never looked into the legalities of trapping your own minnows and then using them elsewhere. I'd imagine there would be restrictions to consider.

I think hiring a guide for him is an excellent idea...you can share in the day too by coming along!

Congrats on the first pike but man does that pike look skinny in the first photo! 2nd photo does it more justice. I have problems posing too, always end up with the fish turned just slightly wrong so it doesn't look anywhere near as big as it really is. Take this fish for example

the "cool fight" should have told you right there it wasn't a pike! If it was coming in like a wet blanket then I would have guessed pike too, but most smallies I know make a much better account of themselves. Pound for pound there is no debating a smallie outmuscles the pike every time. As far as a "rare fish", for Simcoe it actually isn't. I have a friend who fishes Simcoe fairly regularly and he will catch several 6 pounders a season and 5 pounders regularly. He actually tells me (joking?) he tries to pull the bait away from 5 pounders, only interested in 6 or better! If you eliminate Simcoe and Erie from the equation then that is a rare fish (but considering your fish came from Simcoe I guess we can't do that!). Either way, its one heck of a bass. The good news is, spend a few more days on Simcoe this year (or Erie) and you may just beat it!

troll, you'll get all the distance you want

remind me to never use the bathroom after you

sorry to burst your bubble but I'm pretty sure that "myth" was disproved a LONG time ago...actually I would have thought it hard to even find someone (at least any fisherperson) who still (or ever) believed it

Ditto on the abu garcia at walmart. I have bought several of them over the years and no complaints. Great for up at the cottage where I can loan them out to people and you don't have a heart attack when they step on it or drop it in the lake. As far as line I would go with 8 or 10 pound braid. If I need another all-purpose rod I would easily buy another, but I've already got a few!

14 inch grandma...I may not catch a lot, but when I do...

lots of pike in gravenhurst bay. Any time I went there we just fished it

guaranteed if I actually target a pickerel someday i will get skunked. I guess I just fluke them out middle of the day under bright blue skies!

glad to hear things are still good out that way. I remember fishing east lake as well...was like shooting fish in a barrel some days

oh man, I wish my dad had taken me out of school to go fishing. Actually, my dad wasn't a fisherman, so we didn't go fishing school or no school! Is this west Lake with the sand dunes? I used to fish there many years ago...and if they had a few more musky in there I'd probably go back some day

nope, I put them in one of those wire mesh minnow traps and set them on bottom in 8 feet of water the odd time I have used live bait. If you're worried about them getting out then plug up the 2 holes.

haha actually that advice was to someone else who was thinking about going to Gloucester Pool I think. In that same thread I had commented that if the walleye fishing was that bad there, I should go because I don't care for them. They fight like a wet blanket! We actually had another eye (3-4 pounder) to the side of the boat that we lost...no matter, it wasn't worth a photo and would have been released anywho!

Guess I can only speak for myself but if I tied into that many out of season fish I'd move!

So I got the photo. We were after pike, and ended up getting this fish as well. Caught on an x-rap 14 along a drop off outside of what we thought was a "piky-looking" spawning bay.

Went to Gloucester Pool Saturday for the first time (thanks Misfish for directions to the launch). After launching in Little Lake we headed straight upstream. All kinds of structure up there...drop-offs, shoals, weedy bays, points, saddles, islands, rapids, trees, docks...you name it. Too bad we only had half the day to explore! Water was approx 60 degrees. We got a few decent pike in the 27-30 inch range, more in the 20-24 hammerhandle range, and some OOS bass. The real kicker is I didn't bring an OFC logo because we caught a walleye that had to be pushing 10 pounds. My buddy took a photo but we didn't actually measure it...either way, it was size large. Other than a walleye I caught last fall trolling a 13 inch custom crankbait (thanks Robin), it is the biggest 'eye I have ever seen. All fish were released. I'm hoping someone from Team 9 goes to the Bay of Quinte, because other than there, I don't think that unmeasured, "un-logo picture taken" fish will be beat! If my friend sends the photo within the next few days I'll post it. Those dang pesky walleye just won't leave me alone...I had actually commented about my "pesky walleye" problem last week when someone else brought up Gloucester Pool and how it is not the place to go to target 'eyes...somehow they manage to find me.

I agree with list it in multiple cities. I had lots of calls right away when I listed in Toronto (although some were lowball offers from people who had never seen the boat, or wanted to trade for something ridiculous) but the guy who bought it saw it on the Barrie listing...he was able to come over and buy it before any of the Toronto people drove up.