MJL

Bill, If I'm casting, I crimp a few split shots about 18 inches up the line for the k5-k8 kwikies. With the K9 and bigger they seem to run deeper on their own without additional weight but casting them can still be difficult due to wind resistance. If I'm float fishing, I bulk shot below the float. I never go above a k5 for float fishing - I find anything bigger tends to be a little too water resistant unless you run massive slip floats. Most guys I know fishing out of boats prefer to 3-way rig them and back them down. A Kwikfish out of the box will float. I normally change the factory hooks to a size bigger and sharper - This usually causes them to sink to the bottom nose down, tail up. The factory hooks on the vintage lures suck.

Of all the colours of Kwikfish that had to be discontinued, they had to discontinue the most popular and best selling ones: Skunk, pearl, coachdog to name a few Brian, skunk is hard to beat anywhere but this one has caught me tons of fish on your home river (also discontinued )

Flatfish come in models with and without the spreaders. Le Barons had a few medium sized flatfish at the Markham location with the spreaders the last time I was there. When I was a kid, the salesman at the local shop said the spreader was there to hook anything that came close to investigate.LOL I've never seen a Kwikfish with a spreader.

The ones with the spreader and 2 trebles are flatfish. If you're looking for skunk kwikfish in the pile, there's K5, K6, K7, K8 and K9 in there I cleared out a bunch of the vintage colours from several tackle shops that were going out of business. Picked most of them up for $0.99 each

Did someone say Kwikfish? I don't own a boat, but do occasionally back down various lures like Kwikfish, hotshots, hot n' tots, wiggle warts, shad raps and river rockers into log jams and hold them there. When the temps are up like in fall or late spring, I prefer casting and retrieving. In winter, I find dropping plugs back and holding them in the current is much more effective than casting. In winter, steelhead really don't want to chase lures. If you have ability to back lures into log jams with a boat, you can do really well even in the dead of winter. Depending on the lure you're running, you'd be surprised at how little current is required to get decent action out of some plugs (kwikfish being one if you have some weight up the line). Others like hot n tots and wiggle warts require a bit more current to get them down and working.

I almost didn't believe it when my friend who is an employee posted it up on Facebook. I've been a regular customer for many years. I know the staff at the Markham location very well and fished with a few of the guys. Overall it was a great place to shop and it will be missed I was at the Markham location this morning. My friend and I picked up the last 2 Stradic FK reels. Still decent amounts of stock left although popular items like 8lb Berkley XL mono, powerpro, split shots, higher end spinning reels are mostly gone. I went in looking to stock up on only split shots, hooks and a few lures. I ended up spending much much more than I was planning to.LOL I asked when they were going to be closed. The only answer I got was when everything is gone (including the light bulbs).

When it comes to British carp records, history has shown us that the record fish have been caught at least a few times (normally several dozen times in the past) over many years. At some point in the last few years, that fish would've been caught at a weight a few pounds (if not a few ounces) lighter than it is now. If anyone is interested, you can search google for "Two-Tone" the British record carp and see how many times that fish was caught and how many times the record was broken by a few ounces. British climate and the smaller sizes of the lakes are not really conducive to producing a lot of bigger fish. IMO, you have a better chance at winning the lottery than catching a record fish in Britain that had never been caught before. All British record fish have been caught before - They all have names and the anglers are trying to get them a few ounces heavier than the last time. I personally think most European carp records are a joke. For the most part, the fish are stocked and fed huge amounts of highly nutritious artificial foods like boilies and pellets throughout the year. It's exactly the same as catching a record trout from a stocked trout pond. There's nothing natural about it.

High school - First period microeconomics class. A teacher from another class came into the room and said a plane hit the world trade center. Most of us thought it was an accident. Didn't think much about it till the last class of the day when we were all watching it on TV.

I've only ever fished the Burnt River once back in 2007. My uncle has a cottage along the river. It's very stained. Apparently the river got its name from the colour it turned when a large forest fire swept through the region. I would love to fish it again in the future with my canoe. I was told that in the past, the river was used to transport logs to a sawmill downstream. I lost a ton of jigs and hooks to snags - Bring lots.LOL

Maybe Brian has a secret pantyhose fetish. He might like it

Can't help you with the motor but those are some great fish! Nicely done

That's what waders are for.LOL The Navy Seals that served in Vietnam wore panty hose to keep the leeches off of them...

Great report. Thanks for sharing

This past winter, Anthony and I saw a snowy owl on the 401 on our way to Simcoe. We guessed that it was hit by a car and probably couldn't fly away

Pretty much any harbour, pier, river mouth with access to deeper water nearby will hold carp at this time of year. You can catch carp literally anywhere along the Toronto harbour front. The carp just cruise up and down searching for food. Not too sure how the carpers are doing in Hamilton Harbour this season but there are also numerous places to fish for carp (like Pier 4, Pier 8, Bayfront park, Fisherman's pier, Lasalle marina, Eastport, etc). Back in the day, I used to fish Lakeview Promenade park in Mississauga but haven't fished there since the plant was demolished. I used to fish for carp there in the dead of winter. The fish were attracted to the warm water flowing from the plant. Hope this helps

Can't wait till September till I get into some brookies around my neck of the woods. 15' 43lbs, that canoe sounds like a dream to portage. I'm in the market for a lightweight kayak or canoe at the moment. Great report

What a beautiful fish! The leopard spotting on that fish is amazing.

On to the next challenge...25,000ft dive without a safety net.LOL

I can't remember how big it was (we didn't measure it. My friend's leg is in the background if that helps). At the time, we were thinking it was just like any other longnose gar and didn't pay any special attention to it. Only till I put up a few pics on facebook did a few of my friends inquire about it.The fish was released. In any case, I would imagine keeping spotted gar would be illegal due to their threatened status in Ontario. We also didn't want to have to hike up the gorge with a carcass.LOL I think the biggest issue with the ID for that particular fish was the location where it was caught. From my understanding, the Niagara isn't a place where they are normally found (in Ontario they are only really found in a few bays around Lake Erie). I was told that Florida gar and Spotted gar are very hard to tell apart except for bony plates on their isthmus (Spotted Gar). Pretty cool anyway

Wow! Looking forward to landing specimens like those one day!

Longnose and spotted from what I understand. Spotted is extremely rare in Ontario (I believe it's considered threatened in Ontario). My friend got a gar in the Niagara and the Fish ID experts couldn't determine if it was a spotted gar or a Florida gar that someone released from a fish tank. They would need to dissect it to confirm the ID. Gar by MJLeung, on Flickr

Very nice Brian. Only ever tried deep frying whitefish. I gotta give that recipe a try this winter.

A few months ago, I eventually stumbled on a video on how to clean gar (longnose). It seemed like a pretty involved process. From what I remember, the tools they used included: a hacksaw (to make the first cut behind the head down to the spine), sheet metal cutters (to cut through the tough scales) and a fillet knife (to get the meat off the bone) The guy in the video said it tasted pretty similar to alligator (the reptile). Looked like a lot more work than what it was worth for a smaller fish. And yes, the eggs are poisonous.

This is what I've wanted to do for the past 4-5yrs. Finding perfectly dark skies and dark places to shoot is getting a lot harder in Southern Ontario It's the only reason I bought the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 II.LOL

Surprised you couldn't get along with the UPF rated shirts? Are they synthetic or cotton? Most synthetic materials are more breathable than cotton. I cycle between 5 Simms UPF rated shirts and 3 pairs of SIMMS long UPF pants. Like you I've had my bout with cancer. In my case it wasn't skin cancer, but the chemo drugs left my skin pretty sensitive to UV light. I also can't scratch myself hard or it's permanent. From top to bottom: Baseball cap Polarized sunglasses UV Buff Simms Guide shirt (UPF 50) Simms zip pants (UPF 50) Wigwam liner socks Columbia water shoes Simms guide sun gloves (UPF 50) UPF 30-60 sunscreen on whatever skin is exposed (UPF depends on whatever is on sale at the store) With that setup, I can wade in the water and I'm dry within 15mins if it's sunny out.