kickingfrog

I'll miss them even though I didn't go there more them a few times a year. One less option for us is not better even if you never shopped there. Back when the Sportsman show was a bigger deal a stop at the Le Baron area was a must for me. Pre-internet the catalog was a staple. I always wished for them to upgrade their website...

http://www.nugget.ca/2016/09/19/effort-to-re-establish-sturgeon-spawns-success TIMMINS - It may have taken nearly 15 years, but the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is reporting that the project to restore the native lake sturgeon population in the region has been a success. “People are catching them on the Mattagami River; it’s restricted to a catch and release, and no catching during spawning, but it’s been a success that way,” said Derrick Romain, the MNRF’s planning biologist for the Northeast Regional Operations Division, who has worked on the Mattagami Sturgeon Restoration Project since its inception in 2002. The project began as a partnership with the MNRF, the Timmins Fur Council and Club Navigateur La Ronde, with financial support from Ontario Power Generation, Lake Shore Gold and Glencore’s Kidd Operations (then Xstrata Copper). They released 52 adult sturgeon from the Little Long Generating Station to locations above and below the Sandy Falls Dam at the start of the initiative. Today, after years of work and monitoring, lake sturgeon have begun to re-spawn, with fish being found in areas of the Mattagami River spanning 340 kilometres, from the Moose River upstream all the way to the Wawaitan Generating System downstream. This is the first successful attempt to restore a sturgeon population by transplanting adult sturgeon from one area to another and then allowing them to spawn naturally. Researchers in other provinces and the United States have attempted, but been unsuccessful, in their efforts to reestablish a sturgeon population using this method. Romain said now that the field work is done in Timmins, Trent University graduate student Maggie Boothroyd is doing her thesis work on the findings in order to further evaluate the project’s success and to determine how the methods used here can be applied in other lakes and regions. “It’s a key research project because it will expand to other segments in the province as this is the only known adult transfer that worked, in the country, the only one,” Romain said. “It particularly pertains to Ontario, because the systems may be different in other provinces, but this one worked. So, the main reason we’re doing this monitoring and research is to determine, why? Why did it work?” He said they are looking at a variety of factors to determine why the project has been so successful so far. One of which is habitat, which will include an examination of the spawning grounds that the sturgeon are utilizing. Questions such as what kind of habitat the sturgeon prefer for spawning and whether they require a single location, or multiple, will be addressed to determine that. Since sturgeon require a large habitat to spawn, Romain said it also important to be sure that any repopulating projects do not isolate the fish, either — or they will not be successful. “These fish used to go hundreds of kilometres, especially when they spawn, the young larvae would drift 100, 200 kilometres downstream,” he explained. “So, if you don’t have the sturgeon going upstream, all the way up, to when they can eventually drift back down, then you’ve isolated the population. Then, once you’ve isolated the population, other things will then come into play like pollution, overfishing, and log drives.” There will also be research into determining if the population is genetically viable and whether there were enough adults transplanted to ensure the population will become self-sustaining. The species, which was once plentiful in the region, began to go into decline sometime in the 1950s. In 2008, it was added to the Species at Risk list as a species of special concern. While there has been no definite determination of what was the main driver for the decline of sturgeon in the region, overfishing, pollution, mining and log drives have been cited as contributing factors. Given the fact that they have only begun disappearing over the last century, Romain said it is imperative this work continues in order to return the species to its natural habitat and improve biodiversity in the area. “They’ve been here since the time of the dinosaurs,” he stressed. “The glaciers and all those historical events happened, but, whenever the glaciers disappeared from here, the sturgeon survived — so they’ve been here for thousands of years. “It’s a species that was present at one point and because of our actions, we’ve pushed them out of certain parts of where they were once quite prominent. Some people think it was bound to happen anyway but in my mind, if we’ve done something to cause that and it’s not a natural extinction, lets say, then it’s our duty to try to rectify what we’ve done.”

An estimated 1,500 Americans illegally and unexpectedly washed up in Canada late Sunday after strong winds blew them across the St. Clair River near Sarnia, Ont. They were participating in the annual Port Huron Float Down, during which people simply float down the river on rafts, inner tubes and other flotation devices from Port Huron, Mich. High winds pushed them to a number of points along the Canadian shore. They had to be rescued by Sarnia police, the OPP, the Canadian Coast Guard, Canada Border Service Agency and employees from a nearby chemical company Lanxess Canada. In the Canadian Coast Guard video below, you can hear thankful Americans praising Canada for its rescue efforts. Link has more info: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/floatdown-sarnia-americans-wash-ashore-1.3730792

Better than the other way around.

Just received two outdoor magazine's hunting annuals today in the mail. September 15th-ish grouse trip north for me.

Is that $300 for 2 people? If you get a hunter safety book from someone I think you can save a bit of money as well, maybe 20-30 dollars?

I think employment background is checked. There are things that would raise redflags. Those flags won't necessarily mean a refusal, just further investigation. You also provide them with some reference checks that they might call and interview. I guess they are looking for things like is this person a hothead? Do they have a history of such and such.

Not sure what the wait time is right now for the background check but even if you passed the course yesterday it would be unlikely to get your firearms licence before November assuming it all went smoothly.

There is a part in the background check about ex partners and how long since the split, but since that didn't apply I don't remember what the timelines where.

I believe that the course is offered sometimes in evenings. Maybe 5 nights of 3ish hours (there is a minimum number of hours). The ofah site isn't the only place to find the course. Local gun clubs or stores will host them too. Maybe even Sir Sandford when the students get back?

There are some nuances but yes, the hunter safety and gun course are needed. They can usually be done as a 2 day course. The OFAH site will list courses in your area. Once you pass that you have to wait for your background check from the RCMP. That can take a few months. Once you get that, then you can get a small game licence and you're good to go for some species. If you are hunting migratory birds (ducks, geese and what not) you also need a migratory game bird stamp that you get from a Canada post outlet (think you can get it online as well). Take that all with a grain of salt as I did not sleep at a holiday inn last night.

I get the light thing, just like a rear plate on vehicles but it's not lit now. The only "light" is the red tail light and we know that that doesn't light spit. The light on plates is a dated law that serves no purpose now but to write someone up for it. Currently replacing a plate ($35) is far cheaper than a ticket so back it goes.

I lost my boat trailer plate on a terrible private road. Picked up a new one but I'm trying to think on a better way to attached it to the trailer now. The plate mount that I had has the licence plate below the break/signal light and is going to come off again if I don't do something different. Is there any reason I can't just mount it to the back frame of the trailer with zip ties or wire?

http://wqad.com/2016/07/29/illinois-dnr-looking-to-enlist-river-monster-to-battle-asian-carp-in-mississippi-and-other-rivers/ CHICAGO (AP) — A giant fish that once swam from the Gulf of Mexico to Illinois is making a comeback. Biologists are restocking alligator gar in several states where it disappeared about a half-century ago, partly in the hope that it will be a powerful weapon against Asian carp. That invasive species has been swimming almost unchecked toward the Great Lakes for decades. The alligator gar is the largest fish native to Illinois. It is a prehistoric species that has not been seen in the state since the last documented alligator gar catch occurred in the Cache River cutoff channel in southern Illinois in 1966. It was officially declared extinct in Illinois in the 1990s. The IDNR began an alligator gar reintroduction program in 2010, but it has been on hold for the past two years. However, state lawmakers are working on a bill to re-introduce the fearsome fish, with the goal of enlisting it as an ally in the battle against the invasive Asian carp. It turns out that alligator gar have a taste for carp — and also dwarf the invaders. Asian carp can grow to 4 feet and 100 pounds; alligator gar can grow more than 9 feet and 300 pounds. The larger fish was exterminated from all but the southern part of its range by anglers who mistakenly believed it threatened sportfish. Now states are hoping the monster gar will become a valuable trophy fish.

On a side note today they were talking average height. The average Canadian man is 5'10" so figure an average eye height closer to 5'7"ish for us Canucks.

Water, like the land, is flat so it's infinite. lol

I'd have to catch one first before I had to decide if I was going to eat one. Were these southern alligator gar or our northern longnose gar? I think there is a bit of a market for the alligator gar down south but here it would just be individual anglers. They are a very hardy fish so there isn't a need to help them recover in a livewell. Maybe they were put into the livewell to accommodate filming the show?

There is a doctor sonar site that does a lot of interpretation, but I agree with those above, the freaks come out at night.

It would be funny, if it wasn't so deadly serious.

Had a part day for a fish before a family bbq. Ryan's request was bass in the pads. It was early, cloudy and not my first choice but at this point I'm not fishing as much for me anyway so off we go. 4:15am wake-up and on the drive Ryan proposed a challenge of: mouse, frog or sunfish. Each of us would use our choice of lure and see how things went. Ryan picked mouse, I sunfish and my brother went frog. Things started to go sideways right away as I landed small bass on my 2nd and 3rd casts. The competition ended a short time later when I landed 2 more small bass on consecutive casts again. Unfortunately that was it for fast action and between 7am and 12 not much happened. In the last spot Ryan finally got the hooks into a bass and got it out of the pads and grass. That was as good a way of ending the trip as could be and it was time for slip-n-slides, trampolines, squirtguns and a cold beer for the adults. By the 3rd one Ryan wouldn't bother to stop for a photo. And the 4th bass went back sans photo as my photographer was switching to a sunfish. Slow fishing ensued. First pike on a sunfish... well a quarter of a pike. He insisted on being in the photo all by himself. On a frog.

Are we drawing these conclusions on a few months of fishing in a few areas?

If cost is the issue then use braid. It last for years and then you flip it around and use it a few more years. Mono has it's place.

Vanish isn't meant as leader line. Use flouro that is meant for leaders.

I almost always use a lead on my harnesses of 3 to 2 feet. The type of bottom cover will factor in as well as how heavy your rig is, how fast you're moving and how much lift your blade (or blades) give the harness. The general rule of thumb is an ounce of weight for every 10 feet of depth.

Thanks Bernie.