muddler

Just looking for ideas here. I'm going to try trolling with spoons for walleye in my local lakes next summer. The main trolling terminal gear here is the worm harnesses and minnow baits. I've read up on some sites that trolling with spoons for walleye is also a very successful technique. What I'm looking for is type, size and finishes that have been successful. I'm going to make up a bunch of spoons after Christmas. Looking at using 2 1/2" flutter spoons with various finishes. Do spoons work by themselves or do I have to tip them with something? All advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Muddler

Opps! Congratulations. You taken the first difficult step. I used Xyban(it's like Champex) when it first came out for about 3 months. Eventually I found that I was down to 3 or 4 cigarettes a day. I then added the lowest dosage nicotine patch and the two weeks later I quit. That was Oct 6, 1998. I haven't had one since. As an added bonus I paid myself $5 each day. That was what a pack of smokes went for back then. One year later I walked into Angling Specialties with $1825 and bought an ANSPEC float reel ($650) a float rod and a pile of tackle. The only time in my life that I played the big spender. That fall I fished rainbows and I'd chuckle that I used smoke all this away. This worked for me. I set a goal and stuck with it. There were many times in that first year that I wanted to light up, but with a little help from my fiends I hung in there. If I really wanted a smoke I used licorice as a substitute. I took up fly tying so that I had a hobby in the winter time. Been tying ever since. I wish that I could say that quitting smoking was easy, it wasn't. It was all worth it eventually. I still have the float reel and I just have a tough time parting with it. I tie flies pretty well now and I feel great. Good luck. You've made the best decision ever in your life. muddler

I agree with the above suggestions. I'll also add that you use the smallest hook (12 or 14 egg hook) and use a 4lb florocarbon (or lighter) leader. Use the smallest amount of weight for casting and use 4 or 6 lb mono. If all else fails try trapping some of the natural insects using a piece of nylon screen downstream of some rocks you just flipped over. You might find some strange creatures under those rocks that the trout are feeding on. muddler

I use an 8 weight High densitity sinking tip WF most of the time. The first 20 feet sink and the rest is a floating line. I use a loop to loop and attach a fast sinking steelhead polymer sinking leader. Than adds another 4 feet. It is the same setup I use for swinging flies for steelhead. I also have a 10 foot sink tip line. With the sinking leader and loop to loop connections I can fish 10, 14, 20 and 24 feet down on the lakes. I weigh my flies when I tie them too. For rivers I use whatever combination for the section of river so that I am just touching bottom every now and then. When I throw in a full floating line and I can fish surface and down to 5 feet with a sinking leader. That gives me a lot of depths that can be fished effectively. The sinking tips let me roll cast to get the line up and then I can lift the line on the next cast. I do carry a full sinking line but I found that it is very difficult to lift 30 feet of submerged line. Hope this helps. Muddler

When shore fishing I always wash my lure/fly in the mud in the shallow water near shore first before I use it. I wash my hands in the same mud/sand too. muddler

Uphere between Manitoulin Island and the mainland there is a large fish farm The two main pens contain rainbow trout which I was told by one of the "farmhands" that they were steelhead. They grow up to 20 pounds so I would agree with him. muddler

I live in Northern Ontario in shield country too. All the suggestions above will work. Look for the weed infested shallows and use a surface lure. The ols Moss Boss works well for me. Often I can find a mid lake reef with weed growth to the surface. This ideal Largemouth habitat too. muddler

Not much of a trend. Back in the 1980's Al Linder promoted longer rods (9 ft+) for live bait for walleye. I personally use nothing but 8 1/2 ft steelhead blanks(light, medium light and medium) for all my bass rods. My go to live bait rod is a slow action Diawa blank (tatanium wire wrap) that is 9 1/2 ft long. My jig throwing rods are all light steelhead 81/2 footers. I've tried the shorter rods and I just don't like them. I might add that I'm an old time fly and float fisherman and the longer rods just appeal to me a lot more. Muddler

So that's what CBC radio 1 is for. muddler

I started mine in the late 60's. I read an article by Ron Linder about using light lines (6-8 lb) and long rods (9ft). Well I couldn't find one like that so I bought a cheap 9 ft 3 piece fly rod and stripped it down. A company called "Vance Bros" in Tillsonberg had some rod building parts so I ordered those. Built and rebuilt (4 times) my first custom rod. Since I didn't have clue what I was doing, it was all trial and error. Finally got it right, learned a lot. Worked like charm. Caught a lot of fish with it. Ordered Dale Clements books and then ordered balnks and parts from him later. Back then Canada and US post would not ship anything over 3ft(I think) long so it can by truck. Ordered a lot of stuff to keek shipping cost down. Since then All my rods except the loners are all custom built. I've gone away from the fancy wraps as it attracts too much attention. Instead I focus on rod performance and quality parts. My kids have custom rods to fit thier little hands when they were small. I used the smallest of fly rod seats for the reel seats on thier unders pins. As they got older I built new rods to suit thier needs. As for start up tools, it was not that much. I turned all my handles by hand using a rasp and sandpaper. Worked slowly and only screwed up one in all the years. Graduated to a sewing machine foot controlled motor with a chuck and bearing stands to speed up the process. A cork press was home made from a threaded rod cut in half and attached to two pieces of wood with wing nuts at the top for tightening the clamp. Got a small wood lathe from CTC once to turn reel interts and decorative wood for handles. Made my own rod wrapper using the same bearing stands and a home made spring loaded thread holder. An old BBQ rotating motor was adapted for turning the rod over night while the epoxy rod varnish hardend. V shaped stands with felt in the grooves for holding up the rod. Probably didn't save any real money but all my rods are built to my specifications. No cheap short cuts. Each rod performs flawlessly, just the way I wanted. Building your own will probably get you to take better care of them than if you bought a rod. I have over 100 rods now and I only broke two in over 40 years. One on a huge musky and the second on a door slam. My rods are NEVER left in the boat while I travel. Wrapped in a blanket in the car to prevent nicks while travelling. When fishing and going to a new spot I do everything I can to protect the rods from bang on each other. These are now one of a kind and irreplaceable. Oen of the nicest comments I got this year was from a teenager that commented on my "New rod", it was ove 40 years old. Fantastic hobby. Lots of information now in the internet. Enjoy. You will look at comercial rods much differntlt afterward. muddler

First fly I fished with over 40 years ago...muddler minnow.

I couldn't agree more. "Charge waht the market can bear" has been the norm here in Canada for a long time. I am on a fixed income so my buying power is limited. I buy a lot of my stuff directly from China (Hong Kong usually)now and I pay as little as 90% less than the same product (also made in China) here. Shipping is usually free and no taxes and tariffis. Fishing tackle is not as abundantly available as in Canada but a little searching will result in savings. I just cannot afford to pay the high prices here in Canada. I have always been frugal and I bought bulk when the prices were low. I found a bag of 100 black head jigs with the old price tag still on it. 7.99. that was 10 years ago at Lebarons. My local tackle store sells jigs at a starting price of 2.99 per 3. Sorry I can't afford that. Another store sells jigs at 3.99 per 10. A little more affordable. Times are tough, and all indications are that they will get tougher. I want the best bang for the buck. I don't think that the fish know what the lure cost when it hits my bait. I cannot justify paying $10+ per bait and loosing a couple of baits per week. muddler

I use a loop system for fly fishing. I make a small loop on the fly line and lash it fly tying thread coated with pliobond. All leaders have a perfection lop tied on the butt end by me or come witha a poly loop already on them. Changing leaders is simpler that way. I make my own furled leaders for drys. muddler

For steelhead fishing under afloat I use the Orivis tippet knot to add a fluorocarbon leader to my mainline. For hooks, jigs and cross-snaps for 10lb fluoro or mono I use the Orivis knot. For larger diameter mono or fluoro I go with the Palomar knot. Joing two lines together (adding line to backing) a uni to unit knot does the job. muddler

That doesn't seen like a big problem. Just cut that little piece off and sand it flush with the face of the rear grip. I assume that you are using some sort of filler under the reel seat anyway. When I build my handles from 1/2 inch cork the rear and for grip are fitted flush with the real seat. nothing has got to go inside the reel seat. muddler

Just a heads up. My favourite grub for walleye (Yum pink and white) are avaiable at the local Giant Tiger for 97 cents per 8 pack. A 15 pack at CTC is 4.99 here. I bought 63 packs (mixed up the colours). I don't know if they are available at all stores but definately worth a look. muddler

Hope this picture works. Use 6 or 8 lb mono. 1. Cut a chunk of unused line about 6-8 feet long. Tie what should be (in your opinion) the strongest knot to one end of a barrel swivel. Wrap the other end of the line around a chair leg or some other sturdy nonabrasive object that can handle the load about 3 feet from the swivel. Secure with masking tape to the leg. 2. Tie your test knot to the other end of the swivel. Wrap the loose end of the line around your hand (put the glove on first) with about 3 feet between the swivel and your hand. 3. Pull steadily until one knot breaks. CAUTION: PULL AWAY FROM YOUR FACE/BODY SO THA OF THE KNOT BREAKS CLOSEST TO THE CAIR, THE SWIVEL DOESN'T HIT YOU!. IT HURTS....TRUST ME. 4. Repeat about 10 times to get a good idea which knot is stromger. 5. Repeat with different knots to determine which one is best for your usage. I do this every couple of years to settle on the best knot for me. muddler

3-2 says it all muddler

As long as the Bruins play thier hitting game , they'll win this series. They are way bigger than the Canadiens. The physical game will wear donw Montreal. Go Bruins! muddler

Years ago , tackle boxes and storage boxes that were labelled "worm proof" so that the plastics would not affect them. These boxes were made of a different plastic formula and the soft baits(worms/grubs/tubes) did not affect them. I think that most tackle boxes now are made with that "worm proof" formula. muddler

Cabelas still has rod building materials. Also try ebay. I found some very unique stuff there a couple of years ago. Reel seat inserts made from elk antler and some very nice wood inserts too. muddler

The whole "trick" to steelhead fishing is stealth for the contions that you are fishing. For example if you are fishing 6-8 foot depths in the east ditches then a 3 foot leader is plenty. If you are fishing really fast turbulatnt water then a leader isn't even neccessary. I have complete trust I two knots. I use the Orvis tippet knot to join mainline(10 lb) to florocarbon leaders. I use this knot for all my steelhead, and walleye setups. The failutre rate of this joining knot is extremely low. For the hook I also use the Orvis knot( the hook version). Simple and super strong. Don't be fooled by the simplicity of this knot. It is truly amazing. I don't use a swivel for joind the leader. One less knot to tie/break. I use as little weight and terminal tackle as possible. My personal favourite is "Sticky Weight" a tugsten based moldable weight that hangs up less on the bottom rubble. Experiment with the different shot styles for the waters you fish. In high pressured waters and/or very clear slow water , finess is the key. I have fished behind fishermen that have pounded spots for hours and caught rainbows by staning further away from a spot and going with a lighter stealth approach. Fish as close to cover as possible. Risk loosing some tackle. Don't over look the variety of baits to use. I've passed many a snag that was decorated with roe bags of all colours. Switching to a pink worm or a fly(stone, caddis, mayfly, bugger) or bead has paid off so many times. Don't get caught up in using one type of bait. As the stream warms up during the day , steelhead become more active in thier feeding and will prefer available forage. I've caught more bows on a purple wolley bugger and stone fly nymph in the middle of the day than anything else. I've heard way too many guys that claimed that brown trout roe was the ONLY way to go. Not so. Sometimes it would work and some times it wouldn't. Experiment and change up often to find what is working that day. There is NO magic 100% bait. I've tried them all in 50+ years. Just my 3 cents. muddler

There are a couple of those types of scams that pop up every year. "Super anti-Virus Remover XP" comes to mind. There is also a scam where the user gets a phone call from "Microsoft" stating that they will do a security update check for you. The update is done( a program is installed) and then they want a sum of money for the removal of some virus. This fraud (representing Mircosoft - MS doesn't call you)is obviously an inside job as your phone number and IP address must be known. These low lifes target older retired uses. My question is how do they get both the phone number and IP address and the name of the user. Someone is giving/selling this info from a service provider or has hacked that info from a server. I have fixed two systems remotley for seniors that have called me. Both have a similar story. These low lifes prey on the ignorant. muddler

The kids and I made the plans for this summer. Although I got 7 walleye over 30 inches, each of the kids (son 12, daughter 10) want to catch one. So we will stake out a couple of evening outings. My son wants to try surfacing fishing this summer too. He's got the baitcaster down pretty good so we'll see if can get a 6lb+ smallmouth on top. muddler