Fang

#1 - 7.5 Flippin Stik Heavy (but slow action), 50lb braid for frogs (subs for punching through heavy mats) #2 7' H Action (BPS Bionic Blade) 25 lb XT Flippin Tubes, Jig n pigs worms #3 6'8" MH Spinning 15lb braid, Senkos, slugos, xraps #4 7' MH 20lb Braid, worms, tubes in lighter cover, spinner baits topwater Now mind you if it was my boat or a tournament I usually have 9 rods rigged ready to go. Like to have a light and heavy Jig n Pig and same for worm rods. One with 1/4 or 3/8 weight and then always have to ahve a 1 oz weight rigged for thick mats

me

As soon as our credit lady shows up I'll snap a picture

Close by as well Bronte Outdoors sell by dozens, 100's and flats South on Bronte from QEW about 1/4 mile

Both 16 mile creek and Bronte put no fishing by laws in place around all boat docking areas a few years ago as there was a ton of damage, trespassing and lures left snagged into mooring lines. On 16 mile the piers on both side of the river are fishable and upstream you can park at the GO station and walk down to the cross road bridge. The river downstream from the bridge can be waded and has OK bass fishing sometimes.

I'm a cogeco user as well (oakville) and I have let them know several times I'm waiting for OFC. Have to take the kids swimming now at my moms place. Can watch the kids from the corner chair in the fmaily room and have chennel 426 on. Hook and Look is very cool - love the underwater shots. Gotta love those saltwater shows especially that one from Australia. I need a cold shower after that one.

Do a ton of snorkelling in Temagami and seen all kinds of stuff. Lawnchairs, Cassette radio, towles, ...... Must fall off the houseboats neatest find for me was a perfectly round white rock the size of a golf ball. I was in the Muskokas on a private lake and thought it was a golf ball and dove down about 15 ft to get it. Turns out it was a piece of white granite that was sitting in a large bowl shaped depression. I guess over a long time the wave action and water current rocked the white granite chunck and wore it down smooth and round. Still have it sitting in my shop. Picked up other item like pike pole, bottle and around the copper mine on Temagami came up with a 6ft core sample still intact.

Just a heads up that this Dollarama store has Storm Wild Eye bucktails 3/8 oz for $1/pack and packa of Storm rattle worms as well. At the back of the store on an end aisle spot

Was down on the east side for the fireworks July 1st and walked the breakwall and inner harbor around the marina. Did notice a few small panfish along the walls. They put a temporary dock out in front of the willows this week. Not sure if it will stick around but it's definitley in the way for fishing.

Caught on a 5" frozen herring in a Rhys Davis Super Herring rig. Just like fishing meat for Salmon on Lake Ontario. We ran with a 1 1/2 oz weight in front of the bait and back 80-100 feet behind offshore planer boards. Trolling in 20-25 feet of water.

As promised from my trip report here's my buddies big trout and his big pike

Defintiely a spoiler for fishing down here. At the end of the week a 35" pike was a bit disappointing. The band does a fantastic job up there manning the lodge. If it was not so much money I'd plan another trip there in a few years. Have to start planning next years trip now. Road trip out to for Atlantics and sea run trout on the Mirimichi river for the Warren Duncan memorial. Get to fish with Warren's son John and some other top guides at Tuckaway lodge in May. Start counting the days.

Last October I had just stepped through the door after a week of moose hunting when the phone rang. It was my long time fishing buddy all excited. He just got off the phone from Facts of Fishing and he'd won their 2007 photo contest. First prize was a trip for 2 to Big Sand Lake Lodge in northern Manitoba and a ton of other fishing stuff. After explaining to my wife it was my duty as a friend to go otherwise my buddy would have to spend a week with someone who just did not have the same interests and passion for fishing she said it was OK and we started planning the very next day. All winter we ran through what rods, tackle and set ups we would take and found that we each had just 50 lbs of luggage allowed and that includes all clothing. We got booked in for the 3rd week in June and with the late ice out weren't sure what to expect. We settled on a line counter system for lake trout and a couple medium heavy baitcasting outfits for pike. Walleye were supposed to be everywhere so a medium light spinning rod would suit us fine. We flew into Winnipeg June 16th and found our way immediately to Cabelas (formerly SIR) to snoop around. We really didn't need anything but it was pretty cool to wander through the hunting section and see all the mounts. Bright and early the next morning found us at the airport waiting to board the charter plane and head 2 hours straight north by plane. Now on to the fishing. A fresh walleye breakfast was waiting for us and should of had Rob and I all smiles but we couldn't wait to get on the water. We loaded the boat much to the suprise of our rookie guide. This was his second year at the lodge and I guess he wasn't used to too many guests having 5 rods each and a big tackle bag with 6 tray loaded with non-typical northern type lures. The view of the lodge from the lake Our first stop was called Buster bay, a 45 minute boat ride. I figured we must have passed about 100 other good spots but our guide said we should get lots of walleye and maybe some big pike. First few hook ups ended in big pike busting up our tackle. 2 breakoffs on 60 lb Flouro leaders was really frustrating. Took a few minutes to re-tie and regroup and then it was non stop action on smaller walleye and pike That evening we did hit paydirt lake trout fishing. Different from the typical spoons and plugs, we ran frozen herring rigs like for salmon on planer boards and my buddy nails a 45.5" Laker. Must have been 35-40 pounds. Picture is on his camera so I will promise to post later. This was big fish for the week at camp. Next 2 days were pretty much the same, we would hit a number of back bays in the morning catching all kinds of walleye and pike but no "trophy's". Saw 7 moose along the waters edge including this momma The last day we started to figure this pike thing out. Water was warming up to mid 50's and we found the big females laying in the first section of grass channels off the main bays. A quick stop on a beaver lodge and a lesson on "bass poling" for our guide and we were off to were we spotted a bunch of bigger fish the previous day. Our guide would pole the boat into the main channel and then hold us in one spot while we fan casted to very slow cruising pike. They were still very sluggish and we had go with small 4" Gulp minnows. First good fish was a 43" er and on the skinny side. Action slowed and we saw too many fish just swim slowly by our offerings. I had an idea of taking one of the frozen herring that was for lake trout fishing and start pitching these on a single big worm hook. Didn't take long to see that was the ticket. In the next 3 hours we boated over a dozen big pike 36" or more. We stopped counting the 30-35" fish. Last fish before we noticed we had a dead starting battery was my big one for the week 43" but very thick. Could not grab it behind the head. We spent the rest of the day trout fishing and picked up some additional Manitoba Master Angler fish A 36" that hit a frozen herring. Picked up another 38" but left it in the water for the release. I wish I had my buddies camera to show some of his big fish. We were told that a good week at Big Sand Lake is to get 1 or 2 Master Angler fish for each boat. At the end of our week we had a total of 7, 4 lake trout and 3 pike. We both hit our pike and lake trout and came so close all week on walleye but missed out by less than an inch several times. This place was truly a fish factory and we gave it hard all week. I honestly think we broke our fishing guide by the end because he could not stay awake driving the boat and was so thankful we gave him the last night off. To be honest we didn't have anything left in our gas tank. Big Sand Lake is definetly a trip of a lifetime

if your using a level wind reel. measure the amount of line you pull off the reel when the line guide makes a full pass from 1 side to the other. Remember that number and then just count the line passes. It's not 100% accurate but better than guessing. If your using a spinning reel I always cast out the lure and then start from there.

memories!!! grew up flyfishing for smallies on the maitland river through Howick township. Spend the summers on the farm with my grandparents in Forwich and as a wee lad and would bike all over the county with my fly rod strapped to my back. Fished alot around the dam at Gorrie and all the way back to Fordwich on the maitland. got chased by several cows cutting across farmers fields - my kids love those old stories. Spent all day on the river with a handful of poppers and muddler minnows. I can still remember very vivid memories of catching a 23.5" smallie at the dam in Fordwich

fished em all since the first snag proof original came out years ago. Spros are good but very pricey. Scum Frogs best for $ IMHO. Try the new bigfoot model. They turned a lot of good fish for me last fall. Grimsby tackle was clearing out tournament style frogs from Great Canadain baits. 3/$10. I bought 9 to try em out this year

From my understanding most of the tourneys have gone away from opening day events. Although prefishing an opening day tournament is not allowed they decided to avoid the possibility of any anglers being on the lakes "scouting".

Like RT said most of the nest are raided by skunks and racoons. Might be a neat idea to put a wire box over the nest to help these little guys along.

Young Bull Moose for sure. One trait is how the antler flattens or webs when it spilts to the right. From what I've come across elk antlers very rarley flatten or web except well out on the tips. Anything of the main beam stays round.

Looks like a great trip JB. Looks like my other buddies boat in Kokoko needs some bailing!! Makes me almost "homesick" for Temagami. Was talking to Rick (owner of Wishin.....) last night and he mentioned he saw your canoe on the lake. His group was fishing our "The Magic Tree" spot and caught all their fish and a whack more that weekend jigging /casting in 8 ft of water. Another group went into Ferrin Lake off Kokoko and really did well on pike. Oh well have to wait for July to get up there. That beaver pond you hiked into looks very familiar. Think I sat in there a few years ago hunting moose. Glad you enjoyed. Not too many spots like it. If you head back up again give me a shout. You can travel in through Kokoko bay and halfway up there's a speckle lake on a portage thats pretty neat.

On my rods I run dipseys with mono and have not used or had a break of with mono to date (probably just jinxed myself) I agree with others. If you run braid or wire add snubber. I switched over to slide divers a few years ago. I beleive my cathc rate has increase by having the ability to run various leads back form the diver. In the spring I was running +50ft behind the diver. Shorten the lead as summer appraoches. I like the longer leads when running a clean spoon.

If anyone's looking for a high end rain suit take a walk over to the shooting gallery. The BPS Gortex stuff is there and last week they had a clearance rack. I picked up a $259 Gortex Pro Qualifier jacket for $170. Had to walk around the store and think about this for a while as that was a lot of cash. So glad I did though. Raf's pictuire says it all. There is no worse experience fishing than being wet and uncomfortable or cold. As I get older I would rather spend more on clothing myself with the proper gear than getting the latest greatest rod/reel or tackle.

Was on the table when I got home last night. Father Day BPS Flyer

Talon lake is pretty decent for smallmouth bass. Fish the shorelines with the most amount of wood and deeper water. There a few weed beds in the lake and evenings you may be able to get into some walleye around these. Jig and leeches work well. Your not too far from North Bay. Trout Lake marina is close by has live bait and you can pick up worms and leeches there. Fish those same weedbeds with spinnerbaits for pike. Losts of boats troll the shoreline around the mid lake point and seem to catch a mixed bag Also some pretty decent lakers there but hard to catch

Based on your schedule Toronto 4-5am you''l find a decent liquor/beer store right on the main drag in Temagami. Probabl. Once you hit town look for the grocery store on your left hand side in the middel of town. Liquor store right next to it. Next stop would be New Liskerd both beer and liquor store there too. Beer store is just off #65 and #11 There is a Liquor store/beer store combo in Elk Lake too! Just off of Lake street as you come into town Go to google maps and type in Beer store or Liquor Store and location Elk Lake Ontario or Temagami. They provide the phone numbers so you can call ahead and check hours. The one in Temagami stocks a fair bit of cans which is the choice by far for fly in or fihs camps. Takes up less space, more beer per unit and after 6 you get to crush them on your head.