ChrisK

Excellent job on those baits Leechman.I particularly like the chaurtruse spinner bait. Its always been one of my favorite colors for bass...

Lost a few pounds chasing chrome down the river the past few weeks Really Wayne, the breathables make you look slim and trim cause I can't imagine loosing any weight at trailer if you know what I mean. Thanks for the kind words as well gents...Nice to catch a few for a change...

Just got back in from the weekend. Excellent water levels with emerald color,my fav..Fished mornings and evenings but the real bite was happening mid day in high sun. Mostly larger fish weighing in between 5 and 10 pounds. Fly of choice of course was the purple bugger with blue crystal flash which I appropriately named the "Purple Haze"Thanks Jimmy All in all over the weekend I went 12 for 14. One fish broke me off in the timber and the other tossed the fly after an amazing jump and mid air head shake. Heres a couple of pics... One for the smoker

Nice pics Thanx for sharing

Not only were these fish colored up but that buck that got loose had a huge kipe on him all ready which was quite a surprise.

Not so much the one in the back. I usually only take out the one rod on the ponds when I go for bass. I'm pretty happy with the yak too.

Now that I come to think of it Roy,lets not forget this moment cause last time I checked Muskie are part of the Essox family,right ??? :tease:

Thats a nice little yak for sure. Great price too !! Mine is a 12ft Pelican I purchased from Canadian Tire on sale for $300. Its there Pelican 120 Angler I believe. Comes outfitted with a rod holder and some other stuff. Check out the link. I'm 5'11" and weight aprox 245 pounds and it keeps me high and dry. They are great if your not planning on travelling on the water to far....Other than that I don't use any electronics on board. I'm a back to the basics type of guy..

This is the best I got. I fish the local ponds here in town once and awile in my yak and catch some respectable largemouth bass. Its a lot of fun !!

Nice fish there bud. Got to love that scenery in the background.

Man,sorry to here that Kev. Keep the faith brother and stay strong for her...

Ya guys,crappy weather fer sure both days with high dirty water conditions but it just goes to show ya you can still get them in the muck. Ya Roy,my muskiestudd days are pretty much a thing of the past. Things could change in a heartbeat though bud. Just like anything other fish you can increase your odds ten fold by putting yourself in the right place at the right time....June is coming quick !!!

Had a awsome weekend landing 4 beautiful bows and loosing two tanks. One literally jumped over a log on the other side of the river and looped back under it back into the pool popping out the hook and the other at my feet braking the hook in half and swimming away with some sweet looking purple flash whooley bugger to show his buddies. Water was cloudy and up Saturday so I used the black beaded bugger and went 3 for 4 and then it started raining so I packed it in. Rained all night pretty much.I got up Sunday morning the river was high and muddy looking and it was raining still. Decided to do some chores around the trailer...About 2.30pm it stopped raining the sun came out. What the heck lets give it a try. River was high and dirty but there were a few pools still running pretty slow. Tied on my favourite mid day stained water fly(purple flash bugger)and started working the slower water. Took about 15 drifts and then my float went down like a ton of bricks. Set the hook and the fight was on. This fish was staying deep in the main pool using its weight to bulldoze around. I new it was a bigger fish. Finally it tired after about five minutes,rolling on the surface.I finally see it clearly and its an easy ten pound buck if not more.Gradually I coaxed it to the side of the river like all the others. Just as I was to beach it on the soft silty bank it took one last roll some how gaining leverage and snapping the fly hook in two and then bolting back into the pool...Wow, I was truly impressed with this big bucks performance just as I was with the steel from the day before that jumped over the log...I just wish I could of got a pic of the big fella before he made his way back into the pool. Heres a couple pics I took from Saturday Isn't this little guy a handsome fella !! Can't wait till next weekend !!!

Beautiful fish....

Alot of good flies mentioned above but don't overlook learning to read the water and using the appropriate fly for the conditions. Like for instance,a black whooley bugger pattern would be good in stained water where visibility is limited and the fish may only see a silhouette and take it thinking its a black colored stone fly. In clear water you may have to scale down a few sizes and use something more natural looking like a prince nymph,hares ear or pheasant tail. If the current is strong you can add a brass bead to your pattern to get it down into the zone faster... Here's a few pics from last weekend where I was fishing stained water and the bows were taking the bead head whooley bugger quite readily. Later on in the afternoon high light hours I switched to a unweighted scaled down purple whooley bugger with some blue flash tied into it. The blue flash caught the sunlight nicely and the more natural fall of the scaled down unweighted fly was irresistible for those tight lipped bows that were left behind by the morning crowd:D Zoom in on the last picture and you can just make out the purple fly still firmly imbedded in the trouts jaw. Its quite small really for a bugger but very effective in the stained water. Good Luck !!

Where I steelhead I also have some timber and it produces fish time and time again. You just have to figure out the currents or lack of and give them what they want and presto,success !! In my particular situation the timber is in a tail out on a small bend in the river so there is a natural undercut there which allows the fish to stack up under it. I run my float starting up stream of the timber and guide it along so it ends up on the edge of the timber and the presentation more than likely just under the leading edge or close to it. Last week it was flies that worked for me,mostly stone fly presentations. Water was stained so detail in the flies wasn't important but location of my presentation was. Week before spawn was the bait of choice so I guess what I'm trying to say is mix it up and find out what they want through trial and error and learning to read the water doesn't hurt either but that will come in time through the trial and error part... Good Luck !!

You did the right thing bud..If it was a stone or a baseball I'm thinking it may have turned out differently....

Solopadler, That is one sweet float pole. Great workmanship from tip to butt from what I can see. You'll have to let us know how it measures up on the river. Spiels working on a fly rod for me as well. Hopefully he'll have some spare time(between your poles)to get her put together this fall so I can try it out on some Huron trib steel

Heres a nice little stove for an ice fishing hut http://goodoutdoors.theshoppe.com/wilderness_shanty_wood_stove.html

Sorry to here that Gerritt. Hope they catch them. In our neighborhood everybody owns dogs and they all loose it when someone walks down the street day or night so its pretty safe.

If you can't find one I'll give you one out of my tackle box. I'm in east London.Oh ya,only thing is I'll be out for the weekend as of tonight so if you need it right away well.......

Happy Birthday Paul !!

9.8 pounds

Great gun. Had mine now for 25 years with no problems. Keep her clean and oiled and it will serve you well.