Fang

Just saw some neat stuff on centerpinangling under steelhead flies/jigs

There's a good source on eBay from Pennsylvania that sells 50 packs The precision moulds are really expensive in this size so ultra small jigs will cost more. I was buying some 1/50 ounce from eBay with no problems and delivery in about 10 days. $7 USD plus about the same in shipping

Like Skud says, no problem having a few back ups You can spend a bunch of knives and I sure like my custom ones from Ron Post Canadian Tire regularly puts on a small folding Buck knife for $9.99. It's a 4" black handle folding knife. Usually found in the glass cabinet hanging on one of those peg hooks and normal price is something like $24.99. Packed up in that clear plastic that you have to destroy just to get the knife out. Keep your eye on the flyer as they will go on sale coming into hunting season. These little knifes are absolute awesome. Never had a knife for that $ keep such a great edge. Handle is very durable and a very easy knife grip and use. When they go on sale I have to resist adding another couple to my pack.

from spending a number of years at the family camp on Temagami I see many guests who overlook these simple items Zip-loc bags (one with some toilet paper for the boat) roll of aluminum foil Knife sharpener anitseptic cream spices to help flavor meals BBQ sauce or salad dressings as toppings for fish/steak - There is nothing better than a little ranch dressing on fresh cooked fish Always fun to have a small bottle of hot sauce for when the scotch comes out and for me, the must haves are ear plugs small reading flashlight (LED Head lamp preferred) good flashlight over 100 lumens glow in the dark stick from dollar store (hang in the cabin at night to make midnight trips outside easier) 2 way radios but one that has a weather channel (hate to have a boat on dead water when other are on the bite) as mentioned - pack of baby wipes can be worth their weight in gold I also take up a small speaker that can plug into my phone for music and there are AA battery adapters out there to power your phones to play music My next add on is a small form pack in guitar, seen a few but haven't heard one that sells itself to me yet. The Martin backpacker is close. Brought my acoustic on a fly-in north of temagami a few years back and had paddlers camping across from us clapping after each song and shouting requests across the bay

Done a couple in the last few years Bonefish in Mexico Redfish in Florida but my number one bucket list is a trip for big specks. Needs to have a good chance at fish above 5-6 lbs Once I get that under my belt I want to get myself an Aurora and a Tiger tout. Then it's all down south - big bull reds in Louisiana, goliath grouper, hammerhead shark, tarpon to name a few

JB's for sure, that were I bought a bunch this spring. Also Fishing World and SAIL have a decent selection. On Temagami I had good success with the Super Slims especially the UV patterns you can order right from Dreamweaver site. That's where I got mine before they started to show up in stores in Ontario Look for these if available Dr Death orange kevorkian glow frog blue mongoose

I had 6" wide brackets made of 3/16 Aluminum made for my crestliner, one for each side of the boat so I didn't have to run a rail across the back. I'll take a pic and send it to you. Basically it's a three sided bracket 6" wide in the shape of a rectangle. Top side sits on the railing and comes back into the boat. Size of the top surface should be 1-2" larger than your downrigger base plate. Then 90 degree turn straight down to the deck. From here another 90 degree turn to provide a tie into the deck. Lots of options here but on mine I made them to fold back to the outside of the boat so the mounting bolts don't get in the way. On the underside of the deck I have another 3/16" piece of aluminum as a backer bracket. Everything is bolted together with 1/4" Stainless marine grade hardware I run Cannon Mag 10 electrics with 12 lb weights and there is no movement at all.

I drove through one that looked similar in North Bay a number of years ago. Driving along a stretch of Lakeshore Road right by the Burger King, the swarm go so thick that visibility almost went to zero and traffic stopped for a few minutes. You couldn't see past your front bumper. We pulled into the Burger King parking lot and the flies were 2-3 inches deep on the ground - no one wanted to get out of the car and step on them. The front of the restaurant was completely covered like in these pictures.

I did a couple fly ins with my kids when they were 10&5 and then again 12&7. They still talk about the "fun" family stuff we did over the fishing. Take a couple hours every day to do kid stuff. Get out of the boat every now and then and do some exploring along the shore. We did treasure hunts around the cabin and I made a list of easily predictable finds (pine cone, white rock,... ) that my kids did a couple of times that week. Also took a little "box of treasures" from the dollar store (games and toys) and when I could hid it around the cabin and then drew a map for them to find it. Take 20 steps from back door to big pine tree - kind of stuff. Also plan meals that are kid fun like roasting hot dogs over the fire. Enjoy your trip!!

Will be driving down for a weekend of baseball soon and always like to stop to do a bit of shopping. I know some of you steelhead hounds frequent that area and was looking for something worth stopping for. I've been to Colvilles a few times south of Buffalo and really liked that store. I've marked down the Gander Mountain in Erie ( only if time permits as I've been in Buffalo and Syracuse store often) as well as the Orvis store outside of Cleveland as possibilities but looking for something more local. Does anyone know if the FishUSA.com warehouse in Erie is open to the public?

Go heavier flouro 15 lb or higher if your using the metal clevises and have some toothey critters around. I prefer to use the plastic quick change clevices as I feel they're easier on the line and I don't have to be limited to only color and size of blade I tie up. I have 15-20 snells tied up ranging on a couple different lb test and beads colors. Mix in some floating bodies too. In walleye lakes up north I primarily use 12 lb flouro and ha a couple 15's as back up

I've had buffs tucked in every tackle box and a few spares in the boat for a few years now. I wear nothing but long sleeve flats shirts and try to keep the dry fit long pants handy too. Figure the best remedy is to just keep out of direct sun. Hats are still a bit of a pain not having found any shade hats that are functional. For any of you that get out to the west end of the city, there is the new outlet mall at Trafalgar and 401. The Columbia outlet store has a fairly good selection of PFG gear and long sleeve flats shirts in the back corner. I drop by every couple of months to see what's new.

Over the last few years I've fished Lake Erie a bit more than Ontario and find it a neat fishery on the eastern part. I launch out of Crystal beach or Port Colburne depending on what's going on. More Walleye in the east than rainbows but as you get west of Port Abino they tend to show up more. Use Google Search to find Lake Erie Chart 14838 to help with references. Port Abino is in the middle of these 2 launches and the trolling areas are typically in 45-60 FOW east and west of this point. I've had more success out deeper close to the shipping lanes (straight lines on the map out by the border). Word gets out about where the fish are so watch for boats working an area. It's the easiest way to get pointed in the right direction. As for gear a GPS in my opinion is must have. Keeps you on the Canadian side if you've got the proper maps and you'll be weigh pointing fish and bait all day as you work areas. Best set up is 3-4 colour lead core behind in line planer boards running big blade worm harness. I start with #5 blades and then play with color, size if bite is slow. Smaller blades tend to attract more perch and sheepshead for me. Metallics, Oranges, purples, greens are good starts. You can also run 2-3 oz bottom bouncers or drop weights. I prefer the drop weights so you can run longer leads behind the weight. Trolling here is like Quinte, 20-30 ft down seems most productive lure depth. Slow with worm harnesses and a little faster with small slim spoons like Dream Weaver SS Jet plane and dispey will also work. with mentioned lures

His smile in the boat pics says it all

On a fly in lake I used to go to annually, we used 6-10 oz ball weights on a dropper line to get down for lakers. Used a H action flippin stick and a line counter spooled with 30 braid and with 220-270 out was hitting bottom in 90-120 ft of water. This set up also got double use tied to a large dispey as well

That could be Bay Distibutors 705-476-6910 They do Humminbird

When I had a trailer out at Hay Bay, all sorts of stuff stolen out of boats all the time - no matter how much you try and lock it up. Big problem with the type of rod holder you show is that they can still walk off with the reels. Only true safe way is if your boat had under deck storage and you can lock them. I always pulled my boat out nightly and locked my stuff back up in the truck/trailer as our spot was way up in the back away from the docks

most likely alewife - typical size between 4-6 inches long annual spawning run occurs when waters reach around 10C and they are much more prevalent around the bigger rivers like Credit, Bronte,.... they are not very tolerant to rapid temp changes so as water warms up and then a hard wind turns the lake over again in the spring, mortality rates climb

The one at appleby and qew today had top water frogs

There's 2 version of the 832 out there. One is caller Performance which offers a thinner diameter and claims deeper sink rates as the conventional lead core. I needed to update my lead core last year and went with the performance brand. For the amount of time I used it I did notice a depth difference vs the other rod spooled with same lb test but older conventional lead core

Early in season I prefer #5/6 bucktails like the Mepps Muskykiller and Blue Fox and then go bigger through the summer and fall Big spinnerbaits too like Lew posted Gotta have a couple jerk baits like suicks and sledge One of my better go to casting baits that has works in a number of different lakes is the Rapala Super Shad - Perch and Crawfish color and tried and true top raider (also pack a change of shorts for the first few times you throw that)

These times are special, believe me time flies by.

For 26 years, the last Saturday in April has been the exact same ritual with me. While actual trout openers go back farther as I turn 50 this year, my current focus has been on one of the cutest little creeks you'll come across. For most of the year it doesn't have enough water in it to keep creek chub happy but every spring enough steelhead run this wood infested creek to keep me coming back. Some years the run is early and there are no fish left come end of April, but other years there's enough left to make the drive worth while. With conditions this year, I had no idea what to expect, so Easter Friday I took the drive down and walked the creek to see what I could find. It was sure a surprise to see real low water and gin clear conditions when some of the bigger rivers close to home were still muddy and high. Not one sign of any trout for a mile as I walked the banks. Kind of dejected I drove back home and wondered what to do next Saturday. Stopped in at a few shore casting spots I know of on the south shore and found guys catching some decent browns and a few small salmon. I stopped at another spot to visit some carp buddies and as I pulled in I see a bent rod and a nice 10lb carp landed. Decisions, Decisions,.... do I break the streak for more reliable fish or just go with the flow and keep the streak alive. It wouldn't be the first time I drove all that way and found nothing left in that creek. Well halfway through the week, the decision was made for me as my 15 year old son asked if I could take him river fishing again, like we did when he was younger. Decision made!!! Found the last pair of size 9 hip boots at Canadian Tire and got my old vest ready for the morning. As a flashback here we are back in 2009 with one of his 6 fish that day. Even with the Friday rains, the river was low, gin clear and the traditional pools I was familiar with had radically changed this year. The creek was starting to flatten out and deep water this year was probably no more than 3 feet and there was a lot less of it than in years past. This was going to be a tough day fishing wood and undercut banks. The good thing about that is the long rod and float fishermen ignore most of the fish in this river. Got to a favorite spots and waiting for the sun to come up. Drifted a longer 10ft run (long for this river) covered in wood and started to hook fish. Big disappointment to find my freshly bought leader spool to be crud. Lots of breakoffs that day on the leader knots and I didn't have any back up. Of the 50 ft spool I brought home about 30 ft in my vest that broke in my hands right off the spool We pulled 4 fish out of that stump in the back ground. Was a 3ft undercut that we drifted roe and worms bck under with 1 small splitshot. Lost another 4 fish that snapped us off on the wood. Favorite memory of the day was hearing my son yelling after a huge trout roared out of the wood, busted the crap leader but kept jumping 4-5 times with my son just standing there watching. My view at the next spot, a small depression about 4x4 and 2ft deep right under the tree was stacked with fish. I was on my rear flipping 6ft upstream an unweighted worm. several small guys landed, more bigger guys broke off and finally one decent one beached Sun was staring to break through and it was getting longer between any action. Last fish set a cap on the day for me. Drifted a half dew worm through and got smashed. Fish was 10ft upstream before I could close my bail. Don't know how I was able to get up off my rear, not hit my head on the tree while this trout just tore up the pool. This fish fought just like a rodeo bull doing the roll after roll and lunged up and down the pool. This fish beat me up. Broke my worm box getting up, My rod popped the top eye during the fight. In the net the fish flipped and twisted my wrist and then holding it for a picture it thrashed and I cut my finger on the hook. Really happy that my son wanted to go fishing and that we got to share time on the river again. Catching some fish was an extra bonus.

Last time I was at JB Fishing Depot I'm sure I saw a few pegs of these. Didn't notice size but they were larger sizes that would be for pike and muskie plastics

I took my kids on fly ins when they were young. Plan a couple very simple meals to cook around the campfire Roast hot dogs on a stick that he picks out of the forest. Make simple sandwiches for in the boat but wrap them in tin foil and pull in for a shore lunch. Make a small fire and heat the sandwich up over the coals and you must take a bag of marshmallows and chocolate cookies with you to make smores Stop by dollarama as they have cheap hot dog roasters, campfire grills and such to take with you My kids remember these little things still today more than they fish they caught