muddler

looks like it's way to clubersome for practical use. Another fishing gimmik. The best allround bobber for lakes is a slip bobber 99% of the time. Steelhead type fixed bobbers are good for depths less than the rod length you are fishing. Light, sensitive and quiet bobbers are always best. All else is a conpromise. Muddler

Seems that there's a lot of Largemouth Bass available. Try looking Here http://www.fishinaz.com/Lakes/ muddler

I agree , do a lot of research. You will need some sort of rotating device to turn the rod when the final epoxy coat is put on to prevent sagging of the final coat. I use a BBQ roisery motor. It should be a slow (5-20 rpm) rotating motor. Read carefuuly how to identify the "spline" on the blank. That is very important. Next, any guide spacing charts are just a starting point. To really get the rod to perform at it's peak you will have to adjust the guides under load. You might even have to add or take away a guide to get the best results. The rule of thumb is one guide per foot of rod. That means that a 7 ft rod would have about 7 guides (+/-). Glue your rear grip on first. If you are using individual corks you'll have to make a simple cork press. next comes the reel seat. Use graphite bushings rather than masking tape uner the seat. I found the the tape dampens the vibrations that pass through the blank to the reel seat when fishing. Next add the fore grip if you want one. Shape the cork if you used individual corks. Add winding check and hook keeper as desired. Next get your guides. Use the best you can get. I prefer SIC titanium frame guides. Using hot glue (Archery cement is the best I found) not epoxy, glue on the tip top based where the spline is. File the top of the foot down so that the thread can easily "climb" up on the foot when wrapping. Remove all sharp edges and noticible bumps. Tape them on your rod and test under load. Adjust as neccesssary. Next comes the wrapping of the guides. WhenI first started, I would try to create the fanciest artwork I could come up with. It did nothing to improve the function of the rod, but they did look nice. Now I use a one colour wrap with a gold or silver band in the middle. Simple, easy and it looks nice. Add colour preserver (yes even if the thread doesn't need it), it will fill in the small air gaps for the final coat. Add final coat and allow to rptae for at least 12 hours. Add butt cap and your done. Not that is probably the shortest explaination on how to do it. Read and research this stuff thoughly and you be turning out rods pretty fast soon enough. I sarted over 40 years ago a,d I only buy a rod from a store as a "loner". All my (100+) rods have been made by me. A great hobby in the winter. muddler

As a retired teacher, I have (and always had) a serious problem with anyone voicing an opinion to a closed audience, especially young impressionable minds. As adults we are well equipped to know the difference between fact and fiction and a half-truth (well most of the time anyway). The job of every teacher is/was always to teach students how to learn the ciriculumn. Personal bias and opinions have NO place in the classroom. Personal beliefs and personal moral values should never be discussed in the classroom. The key word here is "Personal". My advice to this teacher is simple, if she wants to voice her opinion then voice it in any public forum she wants, even this one, but leave the kids out of it. muddler

Another example of cranial rectal inversion! muddler

I agree with Big Cliff on this one. However, every now and then you meet people with an "attitude". If that is the case have a note prepared that staets that you will press tresspassing charges if this happens again. The police will honour that as you have the road posted, left a note and spoken the the person. As for towing the vehicle, that may be a last resort. As Big Cliff sais, try to reach an amicable comprimise first. That usually works. You don't want to get into a huge legal battle over this. muddler

Done. Thanks for the link .... muddler

Here's the latest. This is my favourite radar site. http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/radar/index_e.html?id=WSO muddler

My next door neighbour has a feeder out all year as does the fellow across the street. Now They get nothing too. We've never seen that happen before. Just wondering if anything unusual was happening here? muddler

Happy new Year to all. My daughter and I built a new bird feeder this summer. We put it out about a week ago. We noticed that NO birds (not even Blue Jays) have showed up in the last week or so. I talked to my neighbours and they reported the same results. We always start the bird feeders in the cold weather. The seeds have not been touched at all. Early in December there were piles of chickedees, morning doves and other birds. Now Nothing. Is there something happening here in northern Ontario (Sudbury Region) that we/I should know about? Has anybody else noticed anything strange happening with the birds? I've NEVER seen a winter day here without a bird flying about somewhere. muddler

September and October late evening monster walleye fishing from shore and no body else was there. Awsome. muddler

My dad told me, "You can play safe anytime and often, you can be sorry only once if you risk your life." 6 inches is the minimum for me. muddler

Just in case you have any doubts chek out these two sites. http://www.intellicast.com/National/Radar/...mp;animate=true http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/radar/index_e.html?id=WKR The animations (loop) are nice. muddler

I don't think it much matters what line you use on a centerpin as long as it is limp enough to come off the spool easily adn stiff enough that tangles ar at a minimum. All the above lines that have been suggested are good. My preference is 4kg Ande hi-vis green and low vis green. All my reels are half filled with 12 lb dacron from Cabelas. The diameter of the dacron is about the same as the 4kg Ande. I have yet to be spooled to the dacron, but you never know. I use two back to back Uni Knots to join the backing to the mono. I then fill the rest of the reel with Ande mono. Float is always on the mainline. I prefer a tapered leader set up when conditions are tough. I use the heaviest floro leader that I can get away with. I use mostly Raven floro, but the tippet end can be any variety of brands that I buy that season. I use the Orvis tippet knot to join mainline to leader and to join sections of leader material. The Ovis knot for flies and bait has been my most consistent and easy to use knot. I use sticky weight (tungsten moldable weight) more often than a shot pattern. I find if the weight hangs up I can usually pull it free as it very flexable. Often it will come back barely attached to the leader. I just mold it back on the leader and I'm good to go. muddler

Well it started off very poorly this year. I tore the tendon in my right shoulder in May. Virtually no strength in my right arm. Doctor said it would take months to heal. It's about 75% now. So instead of putting in the boat regularly and starting the 6hp I was very limited as to what and where I could fish. I went back to my childhood haunts and fished from a small bridge (5 minutes from home) that crosses about a 100 feet of creek. I could flip a slip bobber and bait in there in the mornings and evenings. Caught tons of bass and walleye without damaging the shoulder. The fly fishig, baitcasting and float fishing were done for this year brfore it even started but I had a great time every day regaudless. muddler

When I was about 10 years old (early 1960's), we'd hike up to a local lake and fish off the shore. One day I snagged something and it wouldn't budge. I those days we'd just jump in and swim to the snag and unhook it. So I did just that. About 50 feet from shore in about 12 feet of water I dove down and there was my red and white daredevil hooked onto a Sears(Ted Williams model) outboard. One of these 2HP with the gas tank on top. I dove down and freed it from the mud and eventually dragged it to the shore. We finally got it home and copied the serial number from it. Went to the Sears outlet in town and asked if they could track down the owner. A few weeks later I got a letter from a fellow in Ohio that said it was his. He wrote that it was a kicker on his boat and it had fallen off that spring while he was travelling across the lake. He said he had replaced it and that I could have it if I wanted. WOW! After cleaning it up and pelacing the plug it started up no problem. We used it for years and finally sold it so that I could upgrade to a new 4hp Mercury. muddler

This time of the year, you can leavethem inthe garage unless the temperature goes below zero. Next few days seem ok. muddler

Good suggestion already. I'll add that you may want to try differnet baits. Flies, worms(plastic and real), single eggs, etc. Present your offering as naturally as possible and in the strike zone. That means ticking the bottom every now and then, light leaders (go as heavy as you can), and the lightest terminal gear you can use. Stick with it. muddler

Ok, let's cut to the chase. Back to the original question. It really doesn't matter much what gear you use for steelhead as long as you can present your offering in a natural way. Spinners and plugs are an exception to this as they are usually retrieved upstream. Roe, worms and flies (and thier derivatives) must be presented as naturally as conditions allow to consistently catch fish. This usually means using smaller hooks (6-14) light leaders (usually florocarbon) in the 4-8 lb range and the lightest float and shot that will get you bait into the strike zone. Usually downstream. Each river system is different. Some of the "ditches" in the east of the GTA are easier to fish than some of the larger Georgian Bay rivers. The east rivers are usually narrower and the deeper spots where you cannot see the bottom wil hold fish at some time or other. Any wood debris or other materials that offer overhead cover will also hold fish. The drifts on these eastern rivers is usually shorter than larger flows, so finding productive spots is usually easier. I once saw a fellow use a 5 ft ultra light outfit with a float and he was nailing one fish after another. Not my weapon of choice but it worked for this guy. His presentation was very good. He would bump the same tree on every drift and often he'd hook up. He lost alot of fish too. Rivers like the Nottawasaga, Saugeen and Maitland to name a few, are a whole differnt story. Longer casts and much longer drifts are manditory most of the time here. You still have to have a natural drift to catch steelhead constently, but a short rod can make that a lot more difficult. The longer rod make it a lot easier. The float reel has become the reel of choice, but a lot of very good fishermen still prefer the spinning reel and yes a few use baitcasters. Use the best equipment that you can afford. Not everyone can drop $1500 for a state of the art float reel and rod. Learn how to present your offering in the most natural way and you will catch fish, lots of them. I think that every fisherman/fisherwoman should be forced to fly fish for 2 years before they fish any other type of gear (LOL). It would force you to fish your offering as naturally as possible or you just catch much. I know I learned how to read the water much better after I learned to fly fish. My presention of the fy had to be as natuaral as possible to consistently catch fish. I would use this knowledge for many other spicies later. 8 or 10 lb mainlines are the norm. 2 to 8 lb florocarbon leaders and small hooks are the norm too. Use the heavies leader that conditions allow. The clearer the water the lighter the leader. Some guys prefer mono leaders but I like the duarbility of florocarbon.. Shot patterns vary for each condtion. The link posted earlier in this thread had some good ones. Use good knots that you confidence in. I use the Orivis tippet knot to join floro leaders to mainline and the Orvis knot for tying hooks and flies to the leader. They hold extremly well for me. Use a variety of baits. Don't fall in love with one type of bait (I've done that too many times). If most guys are using roe without success. try a worm or fly or jig. Some days are just better than others. Sometimes the fish are just not there. Watch the guys that are successfull. Where they fish, how they fish and what they use. Watch the water for indicators of life. Are the insects active? Are the minnows being chased? get a thermomater. A rising temperature indicated greater activity of the fish. I use rising to 50 degrees F as my switch over temperature. I'll use woolly buggers, bigger pink worms and larger stone flies then. A dropping or low temp I go with egg clusters (I like the fake bead ones) and single egg flies or beads. 3 inch pinkies and jig round out my choices. I use those whenever I want or if nothing else is working. All of these are presented as naturally as possible with a short swing on a tight line at the end of the drift. You may have noticed the "natural presentation" theme over and over again. Often it's not what you are using but rather how you use it. Don't be intimidated into believing that they is jsut one way to do it. I remenber about 20 years ago when everyone in my neck of the woods would never use anythin lighter than 15 lb test for walleye and a heavy pike leader and a bait casting outfit. Now 8lb is the norm and no leader. Mediun to light action rods ranging fro 7 to 9 ft now. But a long as a natural pesention can be made, fish will be caught. The same goes for rainbows. muddler

Sorry about the long answer. Google 'Orvis Knot'. Don't be fooled by the simplicity of this knot. There is no knot stronger than this one. I've tried them all in 50+ years of fishing. I saw a fly finshing show about 15 years ago made by Orvis(naturally). They had a contest to find the strongest fising knot (leader to fly/hook). This is the one that won. The guy demonstrating it consistently broke the leader before the knot broke. So I did my own testing at home. I simply took a small barrel swivel and attchedet it to the leg of a table using some 30lb dacron. To the other end I tested fresh 4, 6, 8 and 10 lb test mono and leader materials (one at a time , of course). Using a pair of leather work gloves I pulled. The majority of the time the line broke somewher above the knot. I tried my favourite knots (clinch and its derivatives, Polamar, uni, etc.) and the majority of the time the line broke at the knot. A few times the line broke above the knot. Next I tested the Orvis knot against all the other knots head to head. Again I used 4, 6, 8 and 10 lb test mono and floro. One one end of the barrel swivel I tied the Orvis knot and on the other I would tie my other test knot. I wrapped one free end around my boot and the other free end around the work glove. I pulled straight up. The Orvis knot just wouldn't break. Every other knot would break first or the line would break. After that day I have 100% full confidence in the Orvis knot. Every time I tie this knot I still have doubts because of the way it looks but it is very rare that I have it break on me. Usually it breaks after hours of fishing without retying. I think that the hook hinging breaks down the mon/floro eventually. I aslo did similar testing for the Orvis tippet knot against the surgen's knot, barrel knot and double uni knot for joing a tippet to my mainline. The Orvis tippet knot won hands down. Again don't be fooled by its simplicity. Here's alink to the Orvis site for the knots. http://www.orvis.com/orvis_assets/files/index.html Try testing it, you will be surprised. With a little practise you'll find that it is a very easy knot to tie also. Yes I use the polamar knot often when using heavier lins and the uni knot to join two line together (as in mainline to backing), but day in day out I go with the Orvis knot for 10lb or less attached to the busines end. I find I can horse a fish more often as I know the knot will hold. muddler

Ok I'll jump in first. a 6wt outfit is a good all around outfit for medium sized fish(trout and bass). If it's your first outfit, the rod and line match is the most important. The reel basically is used for storing line and often you won't even use the reel to play a hooked fish. That is NOT to say that you should get the cheapest reel out there. Moderate price reels ($50) is the way to go. A well balanced outfit (rod and line) will make fly fishing very enjoyable. Casting will become a pleasure not a chore. As for the rod you can pay just about any amount you want, starting at $50 or so and way up to the thousands. The rod grip is important also. I have a small hand (I'm short too) and I like a smaller diameter grip. It has to feel comfortable for you not someone else. Each small improvement in weight, stiffness and power escalates the price of the rod. Pick something that you will be happy with for a long time. See if a local shop will let you try out the outfit with a 100% trade in rate (without damage) for a short period of time (weekend). Some will. Or if you can practise cast the outfit first. If you fall in love with fly fishing (like I did many years ago) you'll up grade as your wallet will allow you. Get a pro if possible to match the line with the rod. Not all rods cast only one weight of line. Rule of thumb is that the rod should load properly with about 30 feet of fly line. Find out how to make your own furled leaders. You'll never use anything else for dry flies again. Save yourself a pile of cash too. Watch out.. the next thing is fly tying. Now that can get very time consuming. muddler

I tore a tendon in my shoulder (the casting shoulder) earlier this summer, so launching a boat and taking it out was very painful. Casting repeatedly for hours was out of the question. So, instead I went out every evening to a local (5 minutes from home) little bridge that crosses a local creek (it's over 100 feet wide and we call it a creek). Because this "creek" empties into a larger river and the level of the river is controlled locally by a dam the "creek" flow varies daily. This area is a well known catfish (called barbut here) spot. I would take the kids out with me and we would catch a pile of smallmouth, pike and the occasional walleye. We rarely fished late in the evenings as the bugs would get so bad that we could not stand it. Now with the colder weather the flies are gone. I've gone out each evening for an hour before dark and except for one night(raining cats and dogs) I've caught a pile of walleye. I've caught 11 walleye over 26 inches (put back) and my largest was last night (31 inches). The water is 6-8 feet deep in the main channel and there are a lot of minnows by the bridge. The funny thing is that I'm the only one fishing there ..... every night. A local older gentleman come to vist every day and helps me keep the area clean of garbage. He still can't believe that there are so many walleye in this spot. The point is, the walleye come to this shallow "creek" in the spring and the fall to feed. The fishing is just too easy then. I use a 4" twister tail on a jig and bump the bottom. That's it. I've tried rapalas but the jig seems to produce better. Some of my hits occured as I was lifting the jig out of the water by the shore. So they are in very close. About half of my strikes occur within 10-15 of the shore. With a bad shoulder I don't have to cast very far. This by far the best time of the year for shore anglers. Find where the forage is and a little structure in shallow water and the evening bite is on. Having a shoulder problem may have been a blessing. muddler

I fill all 4 of my AngSpes offset pins the same way. 1. Fill half way with 12 lb dacron. Bought 200 yd spool from Cabela's years ago. Attach to reel with a uni knot or arbour knot 2. Attach mono running line (about 100 yds of 4 kg (8.8 lb) Ande) to the dacron. Fill reel to 1/8 inch of the edge of the reel. Use two uni knots for joining lines. 3. Attach leader to running line using Orvis tippet knot. Best knot I found for joining tippet to mainline. 4 Thread on surgical tubing for float and tie on hook/fly/jig using Orvis knot(again the strongest knot I tested). Good to go now. On the stream I put on some sticky weight (from Cabelas-moldable tugsten weight, and it's removable). Put weight on at the junction of the running line and floro leader. If the weight get caught on bottom , just pull gently and it is flexable and it usually rips free, often still haging on to the main line. As for tangles. I don't cast too much on the eastern tribs. a simple lob with 10 feet of line hanging from the tip of the rod and a little slack from the reel at my feet and a 20-30 foot flip is easily possible. Other wise a side cast will do. If ther is little or no wind a Walis cast works for me, but in windy conditions a sidecast works best for me. The side casts will eventually put a lot of twists in the main line. At the end of the day I just take off all the hardware (hook/fly/jig sticky weight and float and tubing) and let the line float down stream to my maximum casting distance. Hold the rod downstream and let the water pressure untwist the line. Spin fishermen do this in a boat after a days fishing to remove twists in thier lines too. Reel it all back in and you're set for the next trip. Takes 5-10 minutes. The two Orvis knots mentioned above are by far the best knot I have ever used. I use the all the time for 10lb or less lines/tippet. Thy don't look like much, but they have the best holding power of all the knots I have tried. My test was a simple one. Take a mediun barrel swivel and tie one knot to one end of the swivel and the Orvis knot to the other end. Put on a pair of leather work glove on a bd wrap the loose ends aroung your hands. Pull firmly and steadily until one knot breaks. The Orvis knot won out like 90% of the time. It very easy and quic to tie. Give it a try, you may just be surprised. Same goes for the Orvis tippet knot. Simple, fast and super strong. I even tie my braid to floro using this knot. Excellent results. muddler

First aid kit. One is always in the car, smaller ones in every tackle bag. Dollar store has nice little ones in white plastic boxes. I brrf them up a little by adding a few heavier bandaids and a couple of coloured pretty ones for little kids. CTC has a real nice red one made out of red nylon and closes with velcro for $9. It's a little larger than the Dollar store ones but has better stuff in it. I amazes me how many times a year I'll hand out a bandaid or two for a minor cut to another fisherman. Fingernail clipper(that might qualify as fishing tackle) and a sharp pocket knife. A garbage bag or two to pick up some litter ("leave it better than you found it"--my dad) If the kids are with me (8 and 10 year olds), each gets a whistle-"blow in case of an emergency", when we do shore fishing. muddler

Irented it. I wasn't to impressed by it. I played for half an hour and got bored. Cast, set the hook and land the fish. maybe these's more than that to it but I didn't have the patience for it. muddler