rhare

Hey Thanks for the kind words guys!! We work hard to make it a fun trip. The reason we started doing 5 hour trips this year is beacuse we are running out of Bluffers and basically all the big boats there run 5 hour trips. Longer trips can be arranged. Just ask The fishing along the North Shore of Lake Ontario and particularly along the Toronto city line is amazing in the summer months. Its just doesnt get any better anywhere on the lake. Lots of great guys mentioned in this post, enjoy its a great fishery! Ryan Hare

Love the spalted BLM burl can't wait to see it in handle form.

very nice! I like the wraps sharp looking design..

Thanks again Mike, more then happy with the blank Yeah I've kinda grown partial to them, really like them in the cold weather freeze up isn't much of a problem. They do make for nice light sticks

LOL Bill sounds good, I'm in .. Dan might be better competition his wallis casting is pretty sick. At the very least it will give us a reason for another get together LOL.

Sounds like a plan we will have to set something up once this chocolate milk clears

Just wanted to share with everyone a couple of the custom builds that Spiel has done for me this fall. I was fortunate to have Chris do a build for me last year and it turned out awesome. His attention to detail if amazing and if anyone is thinking of having a rod built I would suggest contacting him. Great guy to work with. The first rod is a Rainshadow XST1382F 11'6" I had this rod built for my wife for xmas. The handle is turned a bit smaller for her hands. It turned out awesome and pairs nicely with her pink steelheader. The second rod is a Sage GllSH-1136-3LLB. A 13'6" 3 piece. I picked up the blank last fall but didnt have a chance to have Chris build it until this fall. It turned out to be a beauty. The wood reel seat and inserts are made of big leaf burl maple and the pics really don't do it justice. tightlines Ryan

LOL, It's like riding a bike spend enough time trying and all of a sudden it just happens. looks like your having lots of fun regardless Brain

That depends on the person... A good wallis caster can cast as far as someone side casting. A modified wallis or spinning side cast can pretty easily be tossed as far or further then a side cast. It all comes down to timing and technique. Most guys really stink at casting because they really dont have to cast very far in most of the flows we have.

Walker downriggers should not be on the list... 1. They sold the downrigger division this year back to a US company. I believe Burts bought it. 2. The riggers where never actually made in canada. They assembled them in a plant in Stayner but the bulk of the rigger is built in china. They now focus on there deeper diver sales, good product but also not made in canada. Just distributed by a canadian company.. They also have a hunting division quigley bows and scopes I believe. I know Scotty down riggers is already listed but they are one of the best examples of a pure canadian business there is. Every part that is on a Scotty rigger is made in Canada. In fact almost every part on the rigger is made directly in the Scotty Plastics factory. With the exception of the new digital counters ( made in Canada however) and the stainless bolts ( also made in canada) In 60 years they have never sold out or out sourced to China... Its actually amazing. Beyond downriggers Scotty also makes many other products. The egg incubators they make are used all over north america to help keep producing fish for the future. Rod holders, tons of new paddle sports products,products for fire departments for making connections to hydrants quicker and easier for firefighters. They also produce many products for other companies in canada and the US.

I run a fairly large charter boat on Lake Ontario . I have to agree with the above comments,that for the most part most of the clients I have are catch and release or at the very most keep 1-2 fish each. The 5 fish limit on kings is no issue at all. The lake supports a world class salmon fishery and since its purely a sport fishery (no commercial boats) there is no shortage of salmon. On our side of the pond we stock around 560,000 chinook. The Americans stock around 1,600,000 chinook. (numbers are not exact) For the most part the natural reproduction is limited to a few rivers, so as stated above it is for the most part a put and take fishery. Although there is no need to abuse any fishery for that reason. There are plenty of boats that do target silver fish on the lake out deep and those (coho and steelhead) are the ones that should be protected by a 2 fish limit. A lot of this happens out on the East end of the lake. Clients often are looking for limits of fish rather then quality fish.As far as the GOSD running a fish slaughter, there are other events on the lake that kill waaaaay more fish in a weekend then are caught and weighed in the GOSD. 60 teams weighing 10 mature kings over 2 days... likely killing 30-40 to get there best 10 over the 2 days. Even the 1 day events 60 teams x 6 mature kings likely killing 8-12 fish to get ther 6 best. I fish the events so I am guilty,the fish is never wasted. Teams even donated over 20,000lbs of salmon at one event to the Toronto zoo to help feed the polar bears. However, all of these events as well as the GOSD help fund the stocking of these fish so what's the real damage... Lake Ontario is an amazing fishery. Its able to support a world class salmon fishery, world class steelhead fishery, amazing lake trout and brown trout fishing, world class walleye fishing... All for one reason, shes a bait machine! The amount of Alwives and smelt in the lake is unreal and its from shore to shore. I dont see any issue with bait in the next 5 years anyway.I think it was 3 years ago we had the biggest runs of smelt and alwives that have been seen in years. Anyway, amazing fishery we are truely blessed to have it in our backyard. get out and enjoy it!

Oro Canvas, line 7 S Oro. not sure the number but it's in the yellow pages. She does great work.

Why go traxtech? The scotty riggers are still faster on pick up and drop,require much less battery power, parts are much easier to get, lifetime warranty, 100% made in canada for the last 60 years. $300 less per rigger, simple almost fail proof design and most important they are proven to be workhorses.

ooohhh so that's whos that was thanks for making my decision easier Mike lol

The pic doesn't do the handle justice Chris it's a beauty!! Really happy with the work so far. Anyone looking to have something made up should shoot Chris a msg or email. great guy to work with, amazing workmenship and a high standard of quality. won't be the last rod he builds for me

Wow! Thanks everyone for the great referrals really looking forward to seeing everyone again this year. Looks like it's going to be an amazing summer with some really big fish Just getting ready to rig out the new ride, 3250 pursuit. Heres a shot from when I picked her up end of last season. tightlines Ryan Hare

Lot's of people had to live like that I can agree. Didn't mean anything personal by it of course By the time you split those 5 up with the group there isn't much left for the year anyway

Eaten or thrown in the garden why on earth would there be a need to take 30-40 in a day? unfortunaty thats the reason you won't be able to keep 6 a day anytime soon. Even with a low limit like 6 with the amount of people fishing Simcoe daily it wouldnt't take very long to distory the population. Remember they are not stocked and there is very limited brood stock to continue reproduction. The majority of the fish you are seeing won't reach spawing age for 4 more years...

There is no excuse for not reading the reg book.

The fact that it has never been an issue in... well, ever makes me think that it's not likely something that needs to have any resources what so ever put into it. You can't just clarify a part of possession with out having it written somewhere.I'm sure it's not as easy as just tossing a new page in the regs. There would be some serious cost involved. Anyways, futile argument. I'm sorry it bothers you that it doesn't say in writing you can take a picture of your fish. I think it's a common sense issue. Not to insinuate that you have no common sense, I just think that they leave areas like this out so its a small reg book not the holy bible of regulation that takes 30min to find something in. tightlines Ryan

I'm sorry but it's really hard to understand what is going on here... But I agree we should re-write the regulations because you feel threatened by the possibility of getting a fine for having a picture of a musky that isnt with in the slot size but is in season... seems like money well spent to me... It's defiantly one of the big issue we have today on our lakes and rivers. In all seriousness, if it's that big of a concern to you then just don't do it. The simple fact that it's done ALL THE TIME and no one has ever been charged is good enough for me...

Has anyone actually been charged after the photo was taken?

I 100% agree with you Bill... The season is closed for a reason. Usually because big spawning fish are venerable well spawning or protecting nests. Hitting out of aggression to protect not because they are feeding.. If I caught my PB speck in my buddies pond full of giants would that count? He doesn't feed them....

Simcoe is loaded with aquatic life! If you want to see something really cool when your in your hut look really really closely at you line in the water... there are millions of little white specks in the water. If you move your line toward them they shoot away! The water is totally alive out there and loaded with zooplankton. The main forage for herring on lake simcoe. Although they will often eat.. well pretty much anything they are very aggressive. The main food source for them is micro organisms. They are also eating up spiny water fleas, which also feed on zooplankton. Its unknown what the effect of the spiny water fleas will have on the herring after consumption but so far nothing has been observed that is dangerous. I 100% agree, there are plenty of other fish that people can catch and eat. The herring are extremely important to the lake Simcoe ecosystem and they should be protected and likely will be for the next 3-4 years.

Rick You would be surprised what a little laker can get in that yap LOL Once caught a 8 lbs laker with a 2-3 lbs laker half digested in its mouth! They are pigs!LOL The main reason for the large cisco is an aging average population, the lack of competition of food among cisco has allowed them to grow rapidly. If you notice the large schools are now made up of a good mix of sizes so we are starting to see new year classes and should get new spawning classes each year now. Sorry Rick I was a little off, the herring live between 6-8 years in total. Males take around 3-4 years to get to maturity and are usually smaller then the females that can take up to 6 years to get to full reproductive maturity.