singingdog

That's one of the most creative "what's your best lake" questions I have seen....just kidding. A dream is a good thing to have, and a lake that is good for all those species is probably that: a dream. There was a great place for sale up here a couple of years ago: one cottage on an otherwise uninhabited lake for a cool 1.5 million....but no specks!

The gammie wide-gap finesse hooks are great. My other favourite is the weighted wacky hook from Northland: great for getting them a little deeper and into heavier cover.

7 lbs is a looooong way from 9lbs 8oz. Lots of 7s have been caught from Simcoe, but has anyone ever weighed a fish over 8.5 from there? Erie is producing amazing #s of 7s, but I have never heard of a 8.5 being caught from there either. It's like there's some kind of growth limiter on those waters. Don't you remember that guy from Ottawa that broke the world record, but filleted it before it could be weighed? I always admired his cajones....if you're going to lie about a fish, you might as well double the weight instead of adding a measly pound or two. I believe the Ontario record is from Birch Lake. There are some virtually unfished bass lakes in the area between the Kawarthas and the Highlands....nuff said.

I used to live and work on that lake as the program director for the leadership centre that was there. The lake is full of smallish smallmouth. Somebody snuck some 'eyes into at one time, but I have no idea how they are doing. It would be cool to hang out with Bob for a weekend....see if he will take you to a good fishing lake

Definitely tube jigs, with enough weight to make occasional bottom contact. Deep diving cranks, making lots of contact, are another good way to cover a hump like that. Look at your map and look for variances in the slope of the shoal....there is usually a "spot on the spot" on humps like that. For smallies, I would be looking for boulders and spots where the drop-off to deep water is slightly steeper than the surrounding contours. Check out this InFisherman article. It has some great info about fishing humps for bass.

Good post from Garry. A very good fisherman from up this way absolutely swears by the "spot on the spot" theory. You can find it by chance, but it often takes less time on the water, and more time studying maps/electronics to find the bigger ones.

That's an immature cowbird, being fed by the cardinal. The adult birds that get parasitised will feed the cowbird young until they are fledged, just like their own young. What's really strange is seeing a small warbler feeding a cowbird that is 1.5x it's size. Interesting study a few years ago on cowbirds. It seems that the females will revisit nests that they have parasitised. If the host bird had recognized the cowbird egg and gotten rid of it, the cowbird would proceed to destroy the nest. If the egg remained, they would leave the nest, along with any host eggs still intact, intact.

Yep, Green Heron, formerly known as "Little Green Heron" or "Green-backed Heron". Great little waders that love to perch on branches overhanging the water.

SSSSHHHH......don't tell anyone about the LC wakebait. They do not catch big bass of both types. Anyone that has purchased one should avoid frustration and send them to me as soon as possible.

My best presentation for big smallies is wacky-jigging. Here's 2 recent ones: 90% of the time I am throwing dark green or brown. I have caught up to 20 smallies, but more typically 7-8, on the same senko by using either an O-ring, or by putting a thin band of shrink-wrap tubing on the middle of the senko and hooking through the shrink wrap. Orings and a circle hook will normally get you 4-5 fish/senko.

You should give the Koppers Blueback herring a shot. It's about the same price as an Xrap and very similar in action to the Sebile. $18 is not much for a lure that catches fish and doesn't get fished in heavy cover.

I believe there are a fair # of 20"+ smallies in any decent smallie lake. Finding them and catching them is a whole other thing. I rejoice at anything over 20".

Sounds like you got a bad spool....or a counterfeit spool. I have powerpro on reels that is 4 yrs old, tons of fish landed with no issues at all.

I'll counter Bill the Bass Man and say that smallies can be very particular. On the lakes that I fish, a single presentation rarely works every outing. Granted, I target larger fish, and will sacrifice numbers to size on any given day. If I am unfamiliar with a lake, I will almost always start with a tube on one rod and a spinnerbait on the other.

If it's big and white with black legs, it's a Great Egret. If it's big and white with yellowish legs, it's a white-phase Great Blue Heron, which is a much rarer bird. Sandhill Cranes rarely wade and are blue/gray.

The owner phantom hooks are great. You can get the same effect for less $ by inserting an egg sinker, eye first, into the tube then Trigging with an extra wide-gap hook through the eye of the egg sinker.

It used to be up in the convenience store right next to the bridge. Hasn't been there for many years. It was a beauty.

If you set up a texas rig with a eagle claw bobber stop in front of, and behind your worm sinker, you can easily convert it from a Trig to a Crig without retying. It's a great setup and one of the most versatile ways to fish soft plastics.

There are lakers in Kash, but very few are caught in the summer. It's not even considered a good laker lake in the winter. Bass, eyes and musky are your best bet at these temps.

Do you mean the Burnt river near Donald? There is no Donald river near Haliburton.

The UL Compre is a moderate action rod....the flex goes right down into the butt of the blank. If you are looking for a faster action UL, Fenwick and Berkley both make very nice ones that come in at about the same price.

Pretty thin article...and poorly researched. There are multiple instances of cougars attacking human beings in BC alone.

It was slow on Sunday as well. I tried Head, Grass, and the end of Kash and didn't even get a good follow. Lots of boats on the water, so the skis had probably seen plenty of lures by the time I got to them.

T-rigged plastics (big grubs, flukes, senkos) and big flipping jigs are both good in heavy cover. You can fish a short-arm spinnerbait in surprisingly heavy cover.

It doesn't have to be complicated, or expensive. You can catch a lot of fish with a few bucktail inline spinners and some heavy-duty spinnerbaits. If you stick with lighter lures that don't require a winch to retrieve, you can do a lot of musky fishing with a MH rod and a good baitcaster. Do listen to the advice about release tools and leaders....those are not places to scrimp.