ChrisK

Yup,like Spiel said.....Personally I feel it is more of a snagging method(most of the time done innocently by novice fisherman) opposed to intising the fish to hit from hunger or agression. Its a grey area for sure because of the fact that when all is said and done the hook ends up pretty much in the mouth area of the fish sometimes in if the hook passes through into the mouth and sometimes on the outside if the hook finds home on the intial hook set. Its really up to the fisherman to make the ethical choice as to what tecnique he will use to go after the fall salmon while they are in the river. I personally if and when I fish for salmon in the rivers its done under a float. This presentation offers the bait to the fish from in front and or overhead in some intstances pending on how accurate your rig is set up opposed to the depth of the pool your fishing.....This ensures if you actually get a salmon to hit its going to be the real deal and the hook should be in its mouth........ Good Luck !!

Congrads... You know the old saying though......Were theres little ones theres bigs ones !!! Time to go find Grampa.....

Cliff,that is a classic,well done. You'll have to let Hazel know we all really liked her singing... Thanx

If you want a place thats close(within 4 hours) of Toronto go visit the West Arm of Lake Nippising in July or August when the muskie are in full tilt feeding mode. You can stay at a number of different lodges up there . I prefer Lakair Lodge because it is more central to that side of the lake,between West Bay and Warren Bay which hold some pretty decent size fish. I havent fished it as much as I have in past years but I did get my 50 incher out of West Bay when I was more actively fishing for muskie.... Good Luck !!

Through expereince you will learn to read the body language of muskie and pike when they are in the net or cradle....You can tell when they are ready to thrash....Body stiffens and a surge of energy enters the fish..Hard to explain, but at this point hands are out of the netting device to allow the fish to have its tantrum and settle down again. A good firm grip under the gill plate when fish settles is usually the ticket and then hook removal by cutting out trebles with side cutters or removing lightly hooked trebles with long handle pliers of some sort..... Most times when possible I never bring the fish into the boat unless its unhooked,bait cleared from net and everything and everyone is ready for a picture. As for gloves,I personally do not wear gloves when handling big fish only because if you do happen to be wearing gloves and get in the way of a fish thats thrashing chances are the glove will be penetrated and trebles drivin into hour hand reguarless and then what ?? Now you got to somehow peel the glove back to the hook to assess the cituation...... Anyhow, bottom line is, A cool calm head and steady hands will prevail in this time of landing big fish opposed to full blown out "chinese fire drills"...No offence intented to our Chinese brothers but thats what we call it in this neck of the woods. Perhaps Capt Hooked (Kevin@Lakair) could tell us a story of how he earned his nick name here on the board Cheers !!

Good tecniques never die. I still fish with the drift when I pull lindy rigs for walleye providing the wind is pushin in the right direction. Go back to that spot and do as you did when you were a youngster and you'll probably suprise yourself..... Cheers !!

Well, The way I remembered it was Kevin at Lakair called me and said there was some dude named TJ that was starting up a fishing related disscusion board and he needed someone to put up a post to get things rolling. So Kev gave me a email addy for this TJ fella and TJ gave me a link to his new board. My thread,the first on OFC was called "I love muskie fishing".....and the rest was history. Things took off quickly with new members showing up every day. I especially remember the braided line verses mono discusions with Garry2r's and the constant ribbing of Mikeo of course all in fun... Then Lew showed up and joined us in our line preference discusions as well.... To this day I still prefer mono by the way Guess I'm just old school.....There were so many people coming on board back then I can't remember half of them..... Over the years there have been many folks come and go including myself but I like many others couldn't help returning to the best darn fishing site in Ontario....OFC Home sweet home Cheers !!!

From what I can see your left with the swivel and the rest of the leader is missing with the spoon. Looks to me like a bad manufacturer crimp on the leader which explains why both went the same way. "Bad Batch" Little tip,don't run a steel leader when fishing for salmon. Just a snap swivel will do fine when chucking lures. Reason being is Salmon don't have a seraded cutting edge on their teeth like a pike does..They have teeth that are more meant for gripping and pushing around eachother when on their beds so you can get away with using light lines without leaders when fishing for them. Also when offering up roe just tie your egg hook straight to your main line without snaps or swivels. If you must your can attach a micro swivel about 12 inches or more up the line from the hook to reduce line twist..... Good Luck !!

Nice salmon and wee trout.. Looks like you had yourself alot of fun catching them under a float. Now comes the expensive part.....Float rod and reel and all the hardware, waders with a nice vest and a good pair of shades so you can look just as cool as the guy with 2000 bucks worth of equipment hangin off him thats standing next to ya less the attitude of course. Just kidding guys, Its great to have good equipment but its also nice to be curtious even in the face of ignorance...Education Education..... Anyhow,look forward to seeing your next report pictures after you go out for some steel... Cheers !!

Was a horrific day. Our prayers go out to those who lost their lives on 9/11 with hopes that some day there will be peace....

And you meant Bayfield not Mayfield like you stated on your original post which I corrected for you Cheers

Congrads on your house....If you want stuff go check out Kijiji. Lots of great deals !!! Good Luck

My condolences to the family Paul. It was a pleasure meeting your uncle at Lakair and seeing him hold up that trophy.....He will be sadly missed but not forgoten...... Chris

Come visit the Lake Huron tribs and see how managable fall steel can be All I can say is you better go to the gym and get in shape for these rockets..........

Hard to beleive he's gone...... My condolences go out to Gary and his family.....

Spider Man

One word of caution, there are areas near Goergian Bay on the delta that are very technical and you can get into trouble in a hurry pending on how high the water level is so be carefull. Other than that theres some great walleye fishin to be had so good luck !!!!

Not shure if its a hoax or if its real. That body in the freezer sure looks real.....In a way it would be good to finally know for sure wether they exist or not. If its real, its a shame one of the speicies had to die to proove it.

Not a pocket knife but a custom made knife with grip constructed with antler that was deformed from a buck my buddy shot. Definetely one of my favourites in my collection. This knife also showed up in the"Guns and Amo" magazine about 10 years ago I figure may be more... Cheers !!!

Hey now Danbo,just hold on there a minute. This is my favourite pocket knife...Its a Tree Brand Classic 1990........ If I get some time tomorrow I'll take a few more pics of the others I got hangin around.... Cheers !!

Store bought harness I would set up on a three way swivel with the drop line weight as heavey as you need to keep in contact with bottom. You could use a home made lindy rig type bottom bouncer which consists of a slider lindy weight,bead and small swivel to which you attach a peice of your main line aprox 24 inches or more pending on your preference and then a smaller size single bait hook or equivilant......If your using worms,get yourself a worm blower and inject the worm with air so it floats.To do this correctly you must hook hook the worm once through the nose no more so when you do inject the air in the collar of the worm it will retain the air.....If your planing on using minnows with this rig you would be better off to use floating jig heads instead to keep the minnow off the bottom and in the strike zone. The whole key with using bottom bouncing rigs is to keep in contact with the bottom and keep your bait in the strike zone......Remember this and you will catch fish....... Also if there is a thermocline in the waters your fishing find it and stay above it when you drag your harnesses across the rocky inclines.....Usually up north on Canadian sheild lakes you will find the thermocline in and around 22ft of water........So fish in the 17ft range on the shoals with your harness and you should be on top of them sooner or later..... Good Luck !!

Speil, I think the first time I saw levelwinds used for float fishing was on TV. It was a show done in BC where the river fished was fast and deep and they were using these sponge like floats that looked like a long white tube with bright orange on the end for visibility I guess....I can't help to think that the levelwind was more suited for the enviroment they were fishing in... From what I remember the fisherman were using heavy line and stout poles as well so they could at least stand a fighting chance against a big fish in fast moving water...Huge chunks of skeen with larger hooks....... So it seems like everything that was being apllied down there was like we were doing up here but on steriods. Now you bring those steroidal methods to lets say a lake Huron trib and the fish will scatter on first site of your float rig comin down the swift.... Cheers !!

Simply delicious !!! Only one problem their I can see.....I'm not in the picture helpin you eat them Cheers !!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to float reels. Personally I like the Green Islander...For some reason or another it catches my eye like a red devil wobbling by a hungry pike..Just got to have one but since I'm in control of my instintive attack and kill responce I've let up to a more practically priced reel with all the smoothness of a more expensive units. I chose the Raven Classic .To me it looks and feels like the type of a reel that can take some abuse. I trip and fall down alot while fighting steelhead on the rocky bottom full of bolders river I fish(non alcohol related) so I need that extra confidence that the reel will take getting dropped now and again. The Hardy as shown above looks to me like a real that will get bent easily and never run the same ever again....Nice reel,big bucks but not for me...... Cheers !!!

And on that note...I think everything has been said that needs to be said here.... Cheers