wacky tambaqui

I've done some research on the freshwater angling culture in England. There, mackerel seems to be a popular bait for piking (as they call it). What they do is they wind and tie a piece of string lengthwise along the trace (leader) and leave it sitting on the bottom with the hook sticking out of the front end. Another fisher in my area I know of swears by leaving a herring on the bottom in a similar way. redsfan, I'd definitely try anchovies if I were you. Let us know how you make out. Pike -especially the bigger ones- have a keen sense of smell and they are known to eat dead things.

I too have caught Blues up around Kirkland Lake when I lived/fished in the area. They have a gun-metal colouration about them as well as bigger, higher-set eyes and longer, skinnier bodies. The ratio seemed to be one Blue to every 15 or so Yellows. ...And no, I don't believe them to be extinct.

So... Here we have something about somebody going into someone else's private pond which isn't right to begin with but OTOH was the property clealy fenced and signed as being private land? Was the place all wide open and looking like a free-for-all or were there blatant visual indications such as fences and signs? If it was visually obvious that the property is private-owned, then in this case I side with the property owner. That being said, I too would pack some rock salt loads. In another incident some years ago I was looking for a way into a rapids on the Wanapitei River and found what looked like an access point. There was a widening in the road and tire marks that suggested other anglers and berry pickers were parking there. There were no signs, fences, or any visual indication the land was off-limits to the public. Otherwise I would have not ventured there. As I took my tackle out of the trunk, I was startled with loud growling noises. I turned and there were Cujo and Chopper backing me up against the car, baring their fangs. I've been face to face with every four-legged Northern Ontario critter you could name except the cougar and never felt afraid or saw any need to pack pepper spray until that encounter with those two vicious dogs. Then the land owner came around with an attitude to match that of his psycho mutts. To make a long story short I cut the argument short by retorting: "Sir, I did not mean to intrude on you like this. I didn't know this was your place." On those words, the land owner just blanched as white as a bed sheet from head to toe and completely changed his tune from a condescending one to a convivial one and even extended a handshake. To this day I regret having accepted such a truce with Mr. Psycho Mutts. But then too, I was all startled, surprised, shaken, and not thinking clearly anyway. In Ontario, any open countryside is a free-for-all unless clearly marked and signed as being private-owned. I speak from my many years of experience working in legal land surveys.

Another home-brewer - Wow! I've been making my own for over 25 years. Fishing and beer-drinking are a pair like Christmas and Santa-Claus. Tennessee, I'm not sure what the legal edicts are up here in Canada for brewing your own but there are some conditions to abide to. All I can say to that is to never give any of that to minors and I always have my guests stay overnight after they've been drinking my beer. There is also no drinking at the fishing hole unless overnight arrangements are in place. It's better to sleep under the stars than behind bars. Cheers!

The Y.O.A. needs to be repealed and replaced with the doli incapax clause as seen in the case of the murder of James Bulger in Liverpool: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger If those brats want to play like grown-ups, let them pay like grown-ups. Seeing that the Canadian Injustice system seems to encourage, promote, and support that kind of behavior, we honest working folks end up the losers when the case goes to court. We have a choice when it comes to dealing and living with brats who gain for themselves at the expense of others with such legal impunity. We can continue to have our lives ruined by such individuals and groups, or we can take matters in our own hands (albeit with high legal risk) and apply our own solution: Frontier Justice. One thing: make sure you have no witnesses who might go against you.

WT's gf: "Look, it's either our relationship or your fishing outings. It's one or the other." WT: [pulling out the rods, reels, and tackle box] "That is a very easy decision to make."

Shimano have the machine, St-Croix have the stick.

Rightly so! And I never refuse any ladie's request of "can I come with you?" I have plenty of spare rods for those occasions and she always gets a nice combo for the outing

Well I'm not a fan of country music by any means but that tune is a good catch btw- I've been there, done it, and I didn't miss her that much.

Mr. Mercer is the inspiration to my handle http://www.factsoffishing.com/photoview.php?id=117

a. k. a. "Jurassic Pike" http://www.cyberus.ca/~gofishin/osom/jurassic.html

I concur with napjohn8 as well. I caught a 42"er by happenstance in the French River while fishing with a hook and minnow. The smell of that species has to be experienced to be described.

frog, Go to your favorite hardware store and score yourself some of that black PVC piping such as you probably see in your basement. Get it in 3" or 4" diameter (depending how many rods you want to store) and cut it to whatever length you need for your rods. You can also get a solid end-cap for one end as well as a screw-on end-cap for the other. You can get glue for that piping in the same section in the store. Believe me! I never had a St-Croix become a St-Cry ever since I made a rod case out of PVC pipe. For my reels I have an empty Sony Video-8 case that I picked up at a yard sale. It protects them very nicely too.

Now this is where there could be potential problems with "potable" water. All surface water nowadays is infected with the giardia and it doesn't matter where you go to take any water from any stream, be it high in the mountains or in the most sparcely populated places. That kind of pressure for extracting water could cause contaminants to be leached from the said creek and/or from other ground pollution existing in the vicinity. Has there been any scientific study on this, or are they waiting for people to start getting sick from drinking that brand of bottled water? I'm sure we'll all know soon enough.

goteeboy, Your timing couldn't have been better in posting that info about FC fishing lines -just as I was about to go and burn my tax refund on upgrading / re-tooling my fishing arsenal. The re-tooling includes getting FC fishing line and now I know what to look for. I was surprised with the poor results there really were with two brands I used in the past. As far as having any presence in my fishing arsenal goes, the Vanish will live up to its name and I will pee on that other poor performer before ever buying it again. OTOH I will put my money out to the max for that one German brand if I can't find any of the better performers that are shown on those charts.