jigsnreels

Nice weekend's work. Fun times and full bellies. :-)

Nice fishing. My dad was in the military and we were posted to Sioux Lookout for a couple of years. We did the Vermilion River a lot, and the walleye fishing there was ridiculous. I really miss that part of the province, especially when I see pictures like these... looks like you had an amazing time!

The size itself is the giveaway here. Mature American Brook lampreys average about 13" long, while the threatened Northern Brook lamprey is only about half as big. Just out of curiosity, what did you take it with?

This link on baitfish has been posted in a couple of other topics: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/regions/central/pub/baitfish-appat-on/pdf/baitfish-poissons-appats-on_e.pdf Check out "golden shiner," and compare it to "rudd," which is directly beneath it. The lack of scales on the belly between the pelvic and anal fins and the width of the anal fin itself are the giveaways. Judging by this resource, this certainly looks like a golden shiner...

Here's a pretty good resource to show the differences between lake, splake, and brookie: http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/lakesup/ltspcbt_id.html The snub nose and the square tail say brookie to me. Can't really go by the spots, as there seem to be several different variants.

The Mitchell, hands down. The 300 is legend! Besides the instant street cred you will garner amongst your friends when you flash that bad boy in public, once you fix it up you will be able to use it for a lot more than just your old-school nostalgia setup... :-)

I thought a brookie had more of a square tail than a splake...

On Vancouver Island (where I'm from), I've heard them called all of the above. Tyee is a name I've only ever heard up-island, everywhere else they're kings, springs, or just plain chinooks. In Alaska, I've only ever heard them called "kings." Thanks for clearing that up. I suspected that it was just a question of size, but was wondering if maybe there was some special Great Lakes sub-species that I was unaware of... :-) So - a pair of kings and a pair of jacks, then. Nice haul.

With fishing like that right in your back yard, how on earth do you get anything else done? That sow is ridiculous. Thanks for sharing!

Okay... this may sound like a newbie question, but how do you differentiate between a "king" and a "chinnie?" I assume you're referring to chinooks in both cases... is it just a size thing? Out West, folks call an immature king that returns early to spawn a "jack." Is this what you're talking about here?

Yep. Neither species of freshwater lamprey (Northern Brook Lamprey and American Brook Lamprey) get to be any bigger than about six to eight inches long. If these are as big as you say they are, they're sea lampreys for sure.

Interesting. The first fish I ever caught was a smallmouth bass on Lake Muskoka on a drop shot rig that my dad tied for me. This would be in the early '70s. Hardly a revolutionary technique, and I was hardly a "world-class angler" at the time. Actually, I was probably better back then... :-)

Nice work, G! Nothing like having a big chinook on the line, you've made a lot of people on this board very jealous! :-)

Should have bashed it with a rock instead of filming it. Same goes for whoever threw it in there.

Haven't checked yet but they should be running in the Thames by now. Fun way to spend a couple of hours. I want to hit the ponds for crappie this weekend but I might check a couple of spots on the river to see what's going on...

The GorillaPod mini-tripods are a little pricier, but they're great for taking solo shots. They're the ones with the articulated legs so you can set them up on any uneven surface and still keep the camera straight, and you can even use them to mount your camera on posts, tree branches, whatever. Definitely a worthwhile purchase if you want to take your camera along for the perfect shot but you don't have anyone to take the pic for you... Nice fish, btw. Now I'm hungry. :-)

I haven't spoken to many MNR officers (never even seen one in the London area, although I have heard of them doing checks up at Fanshawe occasionally), but the few I have chatted with seemed pretty reasonable - and also very knowledgable about their "beats." I'm sure they'll have a pretty good idea about what you're going for just by the location you're fishing in and the setup you're using. For example, if you're fishing Pond Mills for "crappie" and you just happen to pull out a fat bucketmouth on a 7" plastic worm, you might get a talking-to...

Jeez. More proof that truth is stranger than fiction. :-) It looks like the mouth of the lizard from "Jurassic Park" stuck on a big guppy...

If it actually existed in nature? I'd shoot it. Pretty sure this is Photoshop though.

I had a look at these and they seem to be very well reviewed. I'm not sure I would completely trust a non-locking snap swivel (both for a fish making short work of it, as mentioned above, or for losing an expensive lure - as also mentioned above), but I'm getting my gear ready for bass season opener next month so I might give these a shot. I do like the low profile and the convenience of these snaps.

Nice haul! That chinook is a real beauty.

I haven't been salmon fishing since I moved to Ontario (I'm originally from BC), but so far for me, nothing beats the mighty Chinook. :-) Never trolled for them though, always just cast from shore. Takes a bit of time but hugely rewarding when the line starts peeling off the bail. The one in my avatar was actually taken in Ketchikan, Alaska on a blue and white 1/4 oz. Buzz Bomb, and took me a good half hour to land... Pinks are a lot of fun too, they're easily the most aggressive of the Pacific species. Throw a simple little pink or yellow feather jig in front of them and you can spend a whole afternoon getting strike after strike after strike. As far as Ontario goes, though, I've really enjoyed just fishing for bass and panfish. There's a few places around London that are easily accessible and give pretty good sport. I really do want to get after some lake salmon/steelhead sometime...

How about bacon-wrapped deep-fried bacon jerky? You know that's going straight to your aorta...

A bit of bread on a hook works fine for me. Throw on a split shot for weight and a bobber and you're good to go.