MJL

You should have put a moustache on the fish too...now that would be a cool pic!!!

 

Just kidding, you really shouldn't accessorize your catch!

Putting a mustache on the fish would truly make this thread, fish-porn!

I was in there from 9-10:15pm chatting with myself on the pros and cons of using Berkley Nanofil.LOL

Sweet fish Brady

With the nanofil, are you running an additional shot line below? Wouldn't mind trying it out next season.

Hahahaha, great shot of Mike and his Mo. If he loses his day job he could definately become a cop or a porn star

 

Too funny! I was actually thinking the same thing

Sweet fish guys

Very sweet fish

Good point about still fishing. There's a number of spots on that river I'd love to go back and try where I blanked with the float and lures.

Sorry to hear Mike. Condolences to you and your family...Thanks for sharing some great pics with us

Zippy is an elitist

But he is also partial to Kingpins

In my case, looking at all the different rivers I fish (and would like to fish in the future), there isn't just 1 rod + reel combo that I'd like for everything...That in itself gives me an excuse to buy more tackle

Sweet chromers guys

Definitely itching to get back there in the future

First off,real nice fish there guys.

 

Question,are they good tasting compared to lake O fish? What I mean is,do they taste like trout,or like crap?

When I was at Chris's place a month ago, the smoked steelhead he fed us was AMAZING

I prefer Z-axis

Nice fish

Need to find a bead that perfectly matches chummed Atlantic salmon roe

Very sweet pieces of chrome Mike

You could always just tell them you're just going over for the fishing...

I remember the first time crossing over the border with 80lbs of corn, 50lbs worth of hemp seeds, 40lbs of boilies and a whole bunch of other things for a carp tourney...Never had a problem crossing any border yet (knock on wood)...Only once did the border guard pop the trunk open and look into a couple of our bags...Good thing they didn't find my 'Kreature' baits

Like Bill said, it's probably best if you get something from your HR department.

The 2 piece is a fantastic stick Mike...I've fished it against just about everything and I haven't found something I would trade it for yet. Looking for a 3 piece for bigger water, it has a bit more backbone - or maybe that is just my excuse because I want to tie another rod over the winter

Just looking for something in the 13’ range that I can build around my 4.5” offset reel. Would like something that handles 4lb leaders OK but with backbone in reserve to pull big fish away from logjams. I originally built my current ‘Frankenstein’ rod for the 4” reel and it’s a bit tip heavy with the bigger reel...After fishing around 15.5hrs straight yesterday (took a couple bathroom breaks), it definitely made me want a better balanced setup

Dont you be giving mine away Spiel.

Brian, you’ll be glad to know that I already Christened it with a trophy creek chub on your home waters and encrusted it with roe juice to enhance its mojo...All Spiel's rods must first be Mikey Approved before they are shipped off to demanding anglers looking for the finest tackle

I'm also looking into both the 2pc and 3pc Rainshadows for myself

Very nice fish. Paul definitely is doing great out there.

A new Ontario record that is!

 

Existing record is 39.88 lbs

 

Nice!

The record has been shattered a many times (unofficially of course). You'll be hard pressed to find dedicated carpers willing to kill a fish for the records. A friend of mine landed a 56lber on the St. Lawrence which won him a weeks stay at a motel that caters to carpers.

Nicely done

Very sweet Paulus

Great report and pics...Thanks for sharing

I've worn my lucky hat since the 12th grade...

Other than that, I go to the bathroom before I leave the house

I can't say I've ever used a Nikon DSLR that didn't give me excellent results...It boggles my mind trying to understand why every Nikon P&S I've ever used or owned just didn't perform well - compared to other P&S even for less money - when it came to image quality

When it comes to P&S cameras, Canon and Panasonic have performed very well for me over the years.

Very cool Mike...I've also noticed that the majority of my fish the last 2 weekends have come to hardware (spinners & Kwikfish) or large flies on the swing. With steelhead, there's nothing like the feeling of a big, bright steelhead pounding a spinner...It's like hooking a snag that jumps and goes ballistic

Very nice

It's been a while since I fished down there. The scenery is just amazing. Definitely itching to get back there soon

Super crazy awesome Mike!

Way to go Brendan!

No one ever forgets their first steelhead

Sweet!

Very sweet fish Devin ...That pool looks so different now since I fished it with you a few weeks ago.

Almost a year ago I made the pilgrimage to one special river I hadn’t yet fished. Frozen-Fire and I scouted as much water that trip and were rewarded with some small chrome fish for our efforts. It was also there on the bank while stepping over a fallen tree that I realized something wasn’t right - It turned out to be cancer.

Over the last 10.5 months I’ve been visualizing my return back to that special river. I could see all the pools and runs I scouted in my head and imagined that a long bar of steel at the end of my line was dancing across it. It’s a river that has humbled a few of my friends and left them fishless the last few years.

A few weeks ago, Frozen-Fire and I made our first trip back. It was an exercise in reading the water and probing depths by using either the biggest roe bags we tied up or clamping on a set of hemostats when the roe ran out. Numbers weren’t great and no really big fish were landed but when it comes to steelhead, the fight of October chrome (even smaller ones) is second to none – Especially from this river...They are a special breed.

First steelhead of the fall for me – A great welcome back gift from the river gods

Snapped an underwater pic of a small one – Even when the river is low and clear, the water has a muddy tinge to it…Out of 50 underwater pics I took that day, only 1 came out decent

Perhaps the weirdest thing we saw that day were 3 guys drifting downstream in a small tinny showing us 2 salmon they had kept...It wouldn’t have seemed so weird if we actually saw fishing rods in the boat and the salmon didn’t seem quite as dead. Ironically we saw them launch upstream 6hrs earlier and their license plate read Nova Scotia – Go figure

This weekend with some free time, I loaded the car with my fishing and camera equipment and made my way to the end of the street...There I decided I’d go back to the river

The morning brought a cold mist hovering over the river and ice was forming on the guides and the reel. Seriously, it’s just too early in the season to be dealing with that!

With no other angler in sight I had free reign on that stretch of river. Action was non-existent the first few hours...I thought I hit the river at the wrong time until I started catching some fish

A steelhead in training

At 1:30pm I saw the most remarkable thing – 2 steelhead in the pool I was fishing were rolling and boiling on the surface quite frequently. There definitely was a small hatch of insects going on...Either small stoneflies or caddis flies (they were brown with long wings). It didn’t matter though, as they were boiling on leaves and floating debris as they drifted downstream. One fish around 5lbs torpedoed itself 1ft above the water parallel to the surface. I haven’t seen this type of activity in many years!

I quickly stashed my gear in the shrubs and ran back to the car through the bush and forest to grab the 12’ 6wt spey rod and a few boxes of flies I borrowed from a friend – I was supposed to test drive the outfit anyway to see if it was the right setup for me before I bought one. I swapped the sink tip for a floating “cheater” tip, attached a leader of 6lb Maxima and tied on one of my friend’s floating flies in the box (it’s yellow and black and made of foam with rubber tentacles and googly eyes). The fish were still surfacing...

The first couple casts weren’t pretty at all but they mostly got out there...My earlier practice doing the Perry Poke and Circle-C casts on the front lawn did help - My neighbours have gotten used to the sight of fly line shooting past their window

Fifth cast I hit the seam close to far bank and for a couple seconds it V-wakes across the surface...Until the fish boiled on it...

I was so shocked at the sight of it, I didn’t really set the hook...The fish jumped, cartwheeled and danced across the surface before I actually did anything...It wasn’t big but I don’t care...I hooked it on a dry fly

I was on an adrenalin high when I landed that fish (I still am feeling the effects of it at this very moment)...Pumped up so much, the next cast I launched the fly and then some into the trees on the far bank . I can’t imagine the next time I’ll see chrome steelhead rising.

I spent the rest of the day alternating between swinging big sinking flies, tossing spinners and float fishing and managed a few more small fish doing each. It really is a pain in the ass carrying 3 long rods and my camera stuff . This trip definitely made up for the lack of fishing I’ve done so far this fall. Bring on November!

Mike

Sweet buck