singingdog

From the shape, posture, and the darkness of the back, I would say that's a redtail. We have merlins and sharpshinned hawks feed at our feeders sometimes. We call it the two-tier feeder system.

Highland Park: one of the most underrated scotches out there and a good bet as a gift because it is fairly mellow. If he isn't a scotch drinker, I would stay away from Laphroaig and some of the other peaty scotches.

The journey The destination The prize Great day on the water. 2 of us had a bakers dozen in about 3 hours, all 2-4 pounders. Beautiful fish! Real range of colours from white bellies right through to intense orange/pink.

Weight forward lines can be floating. In fact, it is one of the best choices for large bass flies. The downside of a weight forward line is that it doesn't roll-cast as well as a double taper line. Definitly budget for at least one lesson and don't scrimp on the line: it's probably more important than the rod, and definitly more important than the reel. 9' 8 wt would be a good bet for the fish you describe.

Bucktail jig. Almost a toss-up with the white grub, but I figure the tail on the white curly-tail would be gone after a few fish. You don't need a boat to fish a jig anymore than you do any other lure. Oh, and live bait isn't a lure anymore than a hooker is a girlfriend.

I was down in Stowe a couple of weeks ago. There is a great flyfishing outfitter there that is selling off all their demo/guide rods for the season. The prices were good anyway, but the fact that I was looking at prices at par made it tough to not buy a whole bunch of stuff I didn't need In-stock items were a good deal as well: MSR prices on flyfishing equipment seem to be about 25% cheaper in the states, which meant 25% off for any canadian shopping there. If I needed a bunch of gear, I would be looking at a special trip to buy south of the border.

Yea, I know a guy who's uncle works with a woman that heard this story about a kid ....................................................never mind.

I'm not surprised at your experience with Kashaga lodge. I used to live right across the road from that place and had to listen to his son rip around on a souped-up snowmobile every night. The guy is definitly a character.

I purchased 3 of the 15 or so items I had selected. I did it as more of a "test", thinking "If they cut me a deal at the register, then I will be a little more understanding." Didn't happen.

Every year at this time I set aside some $ to upgrade my gear. This year I wanted to get a new river-fishing rod for smallies and rainbows. None of my local shops have a very good selection, and I wanted to actually cast the rods to get just the right stick. So, I called over to Orillia - 1.5 hrs drive for me - to check the selection out at the tacklebox there. I was very specific, right down to the length, action, speed and price range of the rod (7 - 7.5', L, fast action, up to $200). The guy on the phone didn't even hesitate: said "we have tons of stuff for you to look at". Right on! Everybody knows that feeling, when you are going to drop some major coin on a new piece of gear and want it to be just right. I loaded up a reel and some casting weights and did the drive. When I got there, there wasn't one rod on the floor that even came close to what I had described. Over the next 45 minutes, one of the salesman kept walking up to me with M wt rods under 7'. I finally had to tell him, "yes, that's a very nice rod, I have 2 of them already". They finally found one rod that was the lenghth and weight I had described, but a way slower action. All this time, I am shopping for other tackle: tying materials, plugs, spinners. By the time I finally decide that I have wasted a 3 hr trip, I have about $100 in other stuff in my hands. The original salesman finally admits that whoever answered the phone didn't do any homework. I walk to the cash, show them what I was going to buy, tell them my story: nothing! Not a penny discount for 4 hours of my time. It had to be one of the most frustrating customer-service expereiences of my life. I did almost all the work for them, short of requesting a specific model of rod. I called specifically so I wouldn't waste a drive over there. Then, when it was apparent that they had wasted 4 hrs of my time, there was no sense of trying to make up for it. GRRRR!

Funny you should ask that: I am just in the process of looking at that question with a group of art students. We seperate art from craft by intention, not quality. If your intention is to master a set of skills - in photography that would be light, depth, composition, focus... - to take the best photo possible then it's mastering craft. If your intention is to use those skills (mastery of craft) to convey some message beyond simply capturing an image, then it's art.

Hard to beat white or white/chart. There are so many good spinnerbaits on the market now, that shopping for price is a legit way to go. I used the new Daiwas this summer and like them: slightly more compact and high-quality components. If you're just starting, save yourself some $ and decision-making grief and get a few white ones with different blade combos - willow/willow, willow/colorado and at least one single colorado. IMHO, blade configuration is more of a factor than colour. You can mix-up the colour by using different colour trailers/grubs on the white sbaits.

Well, it has to beat working.

Got out yesterday for about 3 hrs with a buddy. Stunning day! We didn't hit the water until about 9:00...letting it warm up a bit. Steady breeze and temps climbing to about 22 by noon. Interesting bite: I had 6 good LM, all on a chart/white spinnerbait with a swimsenko trailer. They all hit hard in 1-4' of water, usually with no cover to speak of. No dinks to be found and I couldn't get a nibble on finesse worms, tubes or senkos. This was the first good spinnerbait bite I have had in a couple of weeks. Here's a couple of them:

That's news to me for sure. It has a reputation as a SM and laker lake. Pike do seem to be moving into some of the lakes in this area....no idea how or why but it probably doesn't bode well for the musky.

I agree....keep an open mind. The bass are biting, if you can find them. Here in Haliburton, the pattern has changed significantly from summer: bass are more schooled up and are feeding activly but not relating to any kind of structure consistently. Those logs and drop-offs that produced fish so consistently a month ago are not neccesarily the ticket now.

It's generally slow for lakers and Musky - there are definity better lakes in the area for lakers. It does give up a few good musky every fall, but no better than Grass or Head lake. There are several good shoals for pickerel and the bass fishing is quite good. If you get up this way, the tackle shops in Minden and Haliburton have depth maps, but 2 of the best shoals don't show up on them.

I have had some good luck with them this year on several different presentations: Weightless on a 4/0 hook On a 1/8 - 1/4 oz jighead (good pickerel bait!) As a trailer for buzz and spinnerbaits. If you fish buzzbaits, you really owe it to yourself to try them out. Take the skirt off, bite off about 1" of the swimsenko and superglue it on: great way to weed out the small bass and get the big ones. They are much more durable than a senko and have a competly different swim action than a grub.

You have to ask them to keep their eyes closed voluntarily: P3TA won't let you blindfold a bass.

I would be interested in knowing what diameter you are using. Lots of folks, when they switch to superlines, go with the same lb test (8lb) as they were using when fishing mono. 8lb superline will be strong, but not very abrasion resistant. Buy it by diameter, not breaking strength. I will second the Powerpro reccomendation: much better line IMHO

Yep, slow is the key with senkos. Let it fall, let it sit, lift it a little, let it fall, let it sit.....One presentation that gets overlooked with senkos/stick baits is jig-worming. On a light jighead, they have a faster spiral fall somewhere between a tube and a worm: great presentation when the fish are a bit deeper, or holding in weeds.

Certainly not for bass. Lots of blind tests of scented baits have shown no preference for scents in SM and LM. Scents are largely a marketing gimmick.

Yep, that's a Great Egret. The easy give-away is the leg colour: a Wurdemans Great Blue (a colour morph of a Great Blue Heron, but not an albino) would have yellow/green legs. Great Egrets have dark legs. "Snowy White Heron" may be a local name, but there is not a North American Bird that has been given that name.

Load the road - gently - and see how it bends. A slow-action rod will bend consistently right through to the butt, medium-action will bend into the middle of the blank and a fast-tip rod will only bend in the upper-third of the blank. Fenwick describes the action of their rods in a code: MHF means it's a Medium Heavy, Fast action blank. I fish Fenwicks and have had good luck with them: maybe just lucky.

IMHO the "Light, Medium, Heavy" designations are almost useless for comparing rods from different manufacturers. There are so many other variables in rod flex that 2 mediums can have completly different characteristics. For me, the question is: How fast is the tip, and how much backbone does the rod have? For example, an Ugly Stick has a super slow tip (lots of flex, very little sensitivity) and lots of backbone (the ability to pull lots of weight when the rod is flexed). A Fenwick AVS MF has a very fast tip and still has lots of backbone, but I would rather land a big musky on the Ugly Stick than the Fenwick. These are both Medium rated rods, but have completly different feels. Line rating is another red herring, especially with braids. The best way to compare lines, in terms of handling characteristics, is by diameter. The lure rating, I think, has to do with the rods ability to throw that weight lure with some distance (low end rating) and then fish it without overpowering the tip (upper weight range). There is some variability there as well, since a 1/4 oz jig will load the rod way less than a 1/4 oz, deep-diving crankbait. If I were going by the manufacturers specs, I would choose the rod for the weight of the lures I was going to throw with it, then match the line to your presentation needs.