singingdog

I'm not ready to buy the "there's cougars in Ontario" story yet. I know that there has been DNA proof of some droppings, but I believe it was an escapee. If there are wild cougars in Ontario, where are the photos, paw prints, kill sites, shot animals....? As outdoorguy says, they are not difficult to hunt, with either a gun or a camera. We get the same 'sitings' in this area, but somehow nobody ever walks over and finds tracks where the cougar was walking.

Look at where you will be using the boat most of the time. If it's smaller water, then go with something in the 10-13' range. If you are fishing larger water, need to cover more distance, or want more carrying capacity, then look at boats up to 16'. There are lots of good fishing SOTs out there right now. They are usually set-up with rod holders and places to mount fishfinders. Your best bet is to paddle a few and see how they feel. Check out Yakfisher.net. Lots of Ontario/Quebec yakfishers there to ask questions of, and get advice from.

Marabou is named for the african stork that it used to be harvested from (one of the largest, and ugliest birds in the world). Now, feathers sold as 'marabou' are generally turkey feathers.

Why not trade in the slower reel? You can always fish a fast reel slower, but not the other way around. If you are using it for cranks and need to put the burn on, the high-speed will come in handy.

I love it when a Canadian says "the states", as if 50 different legal jurisdictions somehow all had the same customs, laws and and regulations. I grew up in the Midwest states; Indiana to be exact, lived all over "the states" for years: Pennsylvania, Massachussettes, Wyoming... I still go down to vist a couple of times each year. If anyone in Central Ontario thinks there are more fishing opportunities- or more fish - in most states, they have had a very different experience than I have. When I go down and visit, and talk about the fishing opportunities in Ontario, every fisherman I talk to ask "When can I come and visit?".

If it was a pike, that would be extremly unusual for Kash. There's more than 'some' musky in Kash, there's some monsters in there. That whole chain holds a fair # of musky, and large ones.

Looking to do some river-mouth salmon fishing. Has anyone been out on southern Gbay lately? Any action? If you don't want to post here, I would appreciate a PM.

Nice tutorial....the quality is just fine. The only thing I would add is that you need crosscut rabbit strips for that style jig. Typical zonker strips don't palmer near as well.

I am pretty sure it has turned. Check the temp. If it is around 60, the smallies should be quite active, especially with the forecasted weather. Wait until the sun is up and go to spots where the sun will be warming the water. Shallow or deep? I imagine they will be keying on about 10-15' of water, close to dropoffs into deeper water. Watch for baitfish action. The gulls are around now and will sometimes help with this, if you don't have electronics to find it yourself. I have been having luck with suspending jerkbaits this time of year. Stop by if you get a chance...I could steer you towards some spots. Haliburton County Studio Tour I am letter K on the map, only about 5 minutes from the south side of Kash.

You really need a new hobby. If chickenhawk irks you so much, put him on your ignore list and spare the rest of us your posturing...please.

I have been out on several lakes this week, and conditions have definitly changed. Every lake I was on, shallow and deep, had surface temps between 58-60 degrees. I was on two lakes on the Gull system, and they have both turned over. Looks like sunny days and slower presentations are in order for bass.

The Compre's are a great deal. I don't think many production rods can touch them for value.

Nice jigs. Rabbit fur is the bomb. IMHO it has better action than marabou. If you want a slightly different look, and the ability to hold scent, tie the contrasting colour on the back with a short zonker strip. The hide side holds scent for a looong time and gives a slightly different look. Pink zonker strip with a white collar is a good pattern. Black zonker strip with a flouro chenille collar makes a great egg-sucking leech.

I would look for a decent hook, period. Lots of hype about jigheads. They are just a hook with some lead on them - and - if you fish them hard they are nearly disposable. If you find someone that pours, you can usually get a good deal on them in bulk. I tie lots of trout jigs on 1/16 oz heads that I get from a local tackle maker. My only criteria is that they use quality hooks. Weight and size will depend on how you are going to fish them. Most folks that are using super-light salmon/trout jigs are float fishing. I don't use a float most of the time, but fish very fast water that keeps the jig off the bottom without a float.

One of the least-used and most productive laker tactics out there. You should see the looks I get when I pull out tube-jigs for trout...until they start hitting them.

That's like asking "What spices should I buy?" What do you want to cook? Narrow it down a bit and it gets more interesting: "What walleye rod?" Well, what do you want to throw with it? The rod that fishes 1/4 oz bucktails and jigworms beautifully will be crummy for chunking 1/4 oz big lipped crankbaits all day. Musky? I fish musky all the time with a MH spinning rod, but I am throwing 1/2 oz spinnerbaits with it, not 9" broomstick handles. Trout? One of my favourites is an older St Croix 6wt flyrod mounted with a spinning reel. I am throwing 1/16 oz jigs on very light line, in very vast water, precision-fishing eddy lines where time in the strike zone might be 1/2 a second. I don't take that rod/reel set-up hardly anywhere but my local trout stream, but it is ideal amongst all the different set-ups I have tried. Figure out what you want to throw, then match the rod to that. If you want a stick that is a true delight, get it custom built. You can get a good custom for less than some high-end off-the-rack sticks and it will be exactly what you design.

Wakebaits. LC, Excalibur and Storm. All my best fish have come on wakebaits this year, including 2 smallies over 20" on one small river in about an hours time. They fill a niche that no other bait in my box does. Lots of traditional stuff did not work as well this year, especially spinnerbaits and senkos - my 2 "go to" baits most of the time. I don't know why, but I just never got a really good bite going on either one this year.

If you read both reviews, you will see that they tested 5 different knots: Improved Clinch, Palomar, Uni, Trilene, San Diego Jam. This is really the achilles heel of fluoro: for equal "real world" line strength you have to use a heavier fluoro. Not sure where you are getting the "dry only" info. Here's a direct quote from the article: "We performed tests with each line in both wet and dry conditions and were able to validate one claim right off the bat. That is, that fluorocarbon lines, do not absorb much water and were not very affected during our tests whether wet or dry. For this reason, the data presented here-in represents dry line conditions."

Great article! I certainly won't be buying Transition for it's "invisibilty" The article pretty much debunks several myths about fluorocarbon lines, especially the "no-stretch". Good info about knots as well. If you want 10 lb test knot strength from fluoro, you have to upgrade to at least 12 lb test line, which probably erases most of the benefits of a light line.

I answered 'favourite' as opposed to 'most productive'. I know I can catch fish on a senko most of the time, but my favourite is a wake-bait. The hits are great, and it seems to be a big fish magnet....very few dinks hit that thing.

I prefer Terminators, just because the occasional Musky does not ruin them the way they do with a steel-frame spinnerbait. Otherwise, get one with good swivels and good hooks. Spinnerbaits work, and for way more than bass. Lots of folks don't have confidence in them because they don't look like anything a fish would eat. They are usually better when there is a bit of wind.

Either you already own a 1/2 oz chart/white spinnerbait, or it's missing from your list Best crossover bass/pike/musky/occasional walleye lure I know of, especially in the weeds and cover.

The other thing to use for a weight is a jig. It's not as easy to reposition as the snag-on weights, but covers more water. It's a great way to figure out if the fish are keyed on suspended food or bottom feeding. The occasional double-header is entertaining.

Well, first there's flouro. If you think it's "invisible" under water, put some in a water glass next to mono and see for yourself. Marketing hype. Flouro has some other great attributes - low stretch (better sensitivity) and the fact that it sinks (different lure depth and action) - but invisibility is not one of them. As well, Wild has a good point. Fish get as much, or more information from their surroundings from vibration as they do from sight. If there were such a thing as invisible line, it would still be sending out just as strong a vibration as regular line. A big part of the light-line debate comes from trout and salmon fishing. I believe the biggest part of going to lighter line is to get a proper drift, not so much for the visibility aspect: lighter (thinner) line has much less drag in the water. Does it make a difference with a fly or a small single hook with bait? For drift: yes. For visibility: maybe. Does it make a difference for a lure with 2 treble hooks hanging off it's belly, both treble hooks made from wire that is twice the diameter of 6 lb test? Doubtful. I have seen too many lakers caught on copper line to believe that line visibility is something I need to worry about. I have caught fish by switching line. Was it visibility? Maybe. I am just as likely to think that it was the different action that it imparted to the lure I was using.

The torpedo is a great stream-smallie lure. Too noisy....not by a long shot. I fish buzzbaits in small streams on a regular basis with very good luck. I have caught enough smallmouth on small stickbaits and tubes right after a buzzbait to believe that the noise does not turn them off. Let the fish tell you whether or not to use a loop/ring on your baits. Sometimes the tight wobble is what they want, sometimes the wider action. I would start with the wider action...if that isn't turning them on, tie directly to the eye and see if that helps. Try a suspending stick-bait this time of year. The Xrap8 is good in small streams. Jerk, pause, jerk, pause repeat.