trapshooter

As always Mike, great report and pics. That will be fun with the underwater feature on your new camera. I hope everything works out for you with the new house and your trip to Michigan. I know you've been looking fwd to that trip for a long time.

They have their time and place for multi-species angling. Some walleye fisheries seem to favour the reef runners while others claim the Taildancer or DeepDiving Huskey Jerk or (insert crankbait brand here) work best. I have a few of them but I don't swear by them, by any means, but I'm sure some people do. I'd rather have a broad selection of different brands of minnowbaits/stickbaits/crankbaits then just ALL Reef Runners. That's my 2cents.

We have a cottage on Georgian Bay out of Honey Harbour. Lots of rattlers out that way, as wayne indicated Beausoleil has a lot there too. Amazing creatures. A lot of ppl mistake fox snakes for rattlers as the fox snake has developed the ability to mimic the rattling sound of a rattle snake. They 'vibrate' their tails in the grass/bush/undercover and imitate the sound of a rattler very well. Fox snakes grow much larger though. The Massasauga doesn't get very big.

Oh yeah, forgot to add my best advice for any new guide.... spend the money on a Gor-Tex rain suit, it's the best investment you can make towards your new job. You'll spend FULL DAYS in the rain and you'll be an unhappy guide if you are soaked to the bone. My Bass Pro Shops 100MPH suit has served me well and is far dryer then my colleague's Cabela's Guide Wear suits, which all leak in the crotch area, esp. if you're sitting. Good luck with your new job!

Guiding changed my life for the better in more ways then 1. Hope you have a great summer. I can't wait to get back up to NW Ont. myself for another season.

Right on Ramble. Can you imagine what they'd say at Kesagami if a guide tried to use one of those to land/hold/weigh a big pike?!?!

Ya, what smokey says. Shoot a few and see what one feels the best. Lots of quality archery equipment on the market today.

same how loomis has different lines of quality... IMX, GLX, GL2 etc.

One line of rods?? Check again. High end Loomis are definitely one of the best money can buy though. I'll admit, I'm biased towards St.Croix. Their warranty program has been very good to me as well. I sent my broken rods directly back to the factory with a US $10 bill for return shipping. No questions asked. The top of the line blanks from both companies are all amazing rods, no question. It's Croix's warranty that does it for me. Things happen on the water, rods break. If I pay top dollar for a rod with a lifetime warranty, I don't want to pay $85 to have it replaced.

Nice Trout. I really enjoy your video reports.

Hey Justin, I have a chronarch Mg on a crankbait rod and just love it. It's very smooth and sooo light. Casts like a dream. I'm a shimano snob though. I've seen guys at the lodge burn out drags on Quantum stuff in one season but I've heard they have made improvements lately. I'm adding a 201Curado DHSV this year to my line-up. I agree with sheldon though, those Kistler rods are begging you for some top of the line reels! Happy shopping!

You just answered your own question. If it's for ice fishing it's gotta be a SLED, no question about it. Go spend a day on simcoe when the snow or slush are piled up and watch how slow and pianful it is for guys on ATV's.

In the spring, after ice out, you can usually catch them pretty shallow. Flatlining spoons, inline spinners and minnow baits works well. A lot of people use planer boards to get the baits away from the boat but isn't always necessary. I would avoid using sunfish tails as part of your presentation.... I believe this is illegal to use part of a game fish as bait. A 3 way rig will definitely work to get your bait down deeper. You can get larger weights rather then loading up on several split-shots. You can also get in-line weights that clip onto your main line, replacing the 3 way rig. A sonar/graph is almost a must to mark bait and your target species. It will at least give you an idea of what depth range to get your bait down to. You can even jig lakers if you mark some on deep structure like points or main lake reefs. Good luck!

The only walleye rod I have that's got a slower taper is my crankbait rod. I have a few different combo's for wallye. Depends if I'm jigging, lindy rigging, bottom bouncing, casting cranks etc. A lot depends how deep you are fishing too. In the middle of summer I am targeting walleye at 30-40 feet deep and you need a sensitive rod to feel the hits but also a rod with decent backbone for a strong hook set that far down. For jigging I have a St.Croix LE and a Fenwick Techna BOTH Medium power, fast action and even though the specs are the same, the Fenwick has much more backbone and is just as sensitive.

Congrats on your PB Cliff!!

Anyone tried, or planning on trying, Berkely's new fluoro line?

Beauty bass Garry!! Congrats on that pig.

Maybe it's cheaper when you buy more, i.e. a full spool of fluoro. I agree that it's gotta be the same thing if it says 100% fluoro. Maybe it depends on the brand though, different quality fluoro??

It looks like Croix has dropped the Avid series Muskie rods for 08. Only Premier and Legend Tournament (which is 1 series above Avid).

Some real nice fish there. Thanks for taking the time to scan em.

When Chuck Norris goes swimming, he doesn't get wet, the water gets Chuck Norris.

Buddy!! Awesome fish man and the beard is solid too. Good to see you're getting out. Not long now and we'll be back at the lodge so you better get your fill of trout.

You make it look easy. Congrats on such a great day.

email sent. thanks a lot.

If shoal lake compares to Kesagami then you're going to want something a little more substantial then bass gear with 10lb test. Fishing a lake like Kesagami, you could easily tie into a pike of a lifetime and you want to be ready. If you're willing to spend hundreds or into the thousands of dollars on the trip do yourself a favour and pick up a quality rod and reel. A spinning combo is fine but look for something MH and a reel with a larger line capacity and good drag. Braided line is the way to go with spinning reels since you don't want to put over 12lb test mono on a spinning reel.