MJL

The last little while I was mostly out of commission. Chemo hit me a lot harder than I imagined for longer than I hoped. I missed out on the Fishing for Tyler event and some fun OFC g2g’s on the ice . I can’t imagine how the patients who go through multiple sessions on a regular basis feel. In a nutshell it sucked having every side-effect on the list they gave me except for hair loss...But I lived through the 1 session and I have the whole month of March away from hospitals, needles and CT scans (which I probably hate the most). I go back to Sunnybrook in April to see if I’ll need round 2. With only a couple weeks left in the season for Simcoe lakers, I just HAD to get out for at least 1 decent laker this past weekend. Lake trout for the past 2 years on Simcoe haven’t been very kind to me. Watching them zoom up from 95ft to meet your falling lure 30ft below the ice, and turn back down to the bottom, is probably the ultimate form of rejection an angler can get . This season wasn’t that different with only 2 ciscos to show for my efforts in January. I caught my last decent lake trout (bigger than a cigar) on March 6th 2010 Sunday March 6, 2011 and feeling OK, Victor and Frozen-Fire took me out for some ice fishing . At 9am it almost happened...I see a fish rocket up 15ft from the bottom to meet my tube and I connect with it. For a minute I slowly try to bring it to the surface...Then the hook popped out 9:37am the ice Gods must have been generous because it happened. I see a fish rocket up off bottom in 90ft of water to meet my tube at 75ft. I engage the reel and crank it fast. The fish chased it another 20ft before it slammed it. It’s amazing to see how fast lake trout can swim after food. The fish took 3 mega long runs back down to the bottom but I finally got it through the hole I can only think of a few other fish I’ve caught in my life where I’ve felt as happy and relieved to catch...This ice season, I didn't totally suck I might do one more trip out onto the ice this weekend. Plans haven’t been made as of yet. Perhaps I’m not as sad anymore to see ice season end. Along with that fish, after 4 months of waiting, my new toy finally arrived. I guess you can say my baby (left) has a new big sister (right) Just gotta decide where to Christen her and what new rod she’ll be paired up with for my future river adventures. Can't wait! Cheers and all smiles Mike

Brian, does this mean you've caught the steelhead disease? For backing, I use either fly line backing or dacron (I have Cortland Musky Master on one of my reels). For mainline, I've been happy with 10lb Raven in either green or smoke grey. I personally don't like using bright, coloured mainlines...Many people do though...Like Nomad said, I just keep an eye on my float at all times during the drift. You should try both styles of waders on at the store to see which one feels more comfortable to you. I've always used stockingfoots myself. I figure when the boots wear out, I can just buy a new pair instead of replacing the whole thing.

Awesome! Nice fish Just hoping to get out on Simcoe this weekend for at least 1 decent laker before the season closes.

In that price range neighbourhood and 12-13ft 2pc configuration some that come to mind are: - 13’ Raven IM8 ($200) - 13’ St Croix Avid ($280 new at most places for the newest model) - 13’ St Croix Wild river (Under $200) - 13’ Streamside (Around $120) - 13’ 2pc Frontier (You get no form of warranty with it though) – Usually $150 new in shops now when you can find them - 13’ Loomis GL2 (usually you can find them used for around $200-$250 in the classifieds – Like the Frontier I don’t think you’d get warranty with the GL2 nowadays)

Any idea of how much he wants to spend on one?

Fantastic news Kelvin

Simon, you do realize that there are resources available to you to prevent things like that from happening...One of which is called OFC chat. Usually there is someone more sane than you to help you along with the healing process. You've already made the first step by accepting the fact that you have a problem

The hat-trick becomes official on the scoreboard Congrats to the both of you!

- Canon 40D - Panasonic Lumix FZ18 - Nikon D40* * Technically the Nikon's my dad’s camera, but I used it more than him when I was a kitchen appliance pornographer for a few years. Oh the pics I took with that camera...

Kermit? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Personally I've never used them...Watching other people hook them kinda grosses me out.

Sweet brownies Bill ...Itching to get down there myself after almost a month of no fishing As for the eye-brows, consider them assets...You have an infinite amount of dubbing available to tie nymphs on the river when you need them the most!

No...It was 99.999% me...And I'm being modest It was my special amino acid and pheromone impregnated tube that I gave him that did it...Just like my uber top secret roe of mass destruction The question remains...Did you get a double Big Mac with an apple pie after?

Simon, I already know what he caught that fish on...I gave him that tube a few weeks ago on our last trip out ...So technically speaking, that's my fish and I "caught" it

I caught a large blue condom off the Ganny pier with a cleo

The best recommendation I have is to spend the $80 per hour average with a fly casting teacher (in most cases, you only need 1hr + maybe an additional follow up class some time later). It’s the best investment you can ever make if you’re starting out – Many teachers will get you casting in the first 20 mins (woman learn even faster from my own observations) and spend the rest of the time fine tuning your technique - obviously some people take a little longer to teach though. After that, spend 1 or a couple 10-15min sessions during the day to practice on your own (so you don’t get fatigued). Some things are better seen in person so that you don’t develop bad habits first and then have to unlearn them when they become muscle memory – It speeds up the learning curve exponentially. You can’t go wrong with any casting videos done by Joan Wulff or Lefty Kreh though. Mel Kreiger’s videos are also pretty good. Both Lefty and Joan are at polar opposites on how they cast (Lefty is a side caster while Joan is an upright caster – you’ll have to find a casting position comfortable for you) but the casting principles remain the same...Straight line path, smooth application of power and a crisp stop at both ends of the casting stroke. If you can throw a dart at a dart board, you can cast a fly rod. If you really want to learn to cast on your own, a video camera is a great tool to use for motion analysis and loop analysis (i.e. fly line analysis) to see what you’re doing right or wrong on the cast. The best intro casting tips I can give you is ‘LEARN TO CAST ON GRASS’, 'LEARN TO CAST A BALL OF YARN INSTEAD OF A FLY' and 'WEAR YOUR POLARIZED GLASSES AT ALL TIMES'. I see way more people frustrated when they try to learn on the rivers with weighted flies (with sharp hooks!). You won’t have to worry about your line and fly drifting away from you or hitting trees behind you and you won't have to worry about hooking yourself if you know nothing about wind direction The more technical aspects such as learning how to create a drag free drift, learning what flies to use, learning how to pick your line and flies off trees behind you can be pretty fun things to do on your own. Podcasts and Youtube videos are great for those (tons of stuff if you Google it). Obviously a professional guide would speed up the process but there are tons of other anglers out on the water willing to show you a few things for free. I lucked out on my first ever fly fishing trip when I was 16/17 – I ran into a fly casting instructor and a fly fishing guide in the parking lot at the Humber

Thanks Ron My mom picked up a whole bunch of those Ensure things...Haven't tried one yet - She got 3 flavours. I have the metabolism of a hummingbird The trip to the hog spital was fairly quick. Spent 4.5hrs at Sunnybrook, the last hr being hooked up to the IV and the rest of the time undergoinvarious tests and waiting. The nurses were impressed with my choice of reading materials ...Beyond the mags Spiel sent me, I also read the book, '50 places to fly fish before you die' (not that I plan to expire anytime soon )...Anyone up for a steelhead trip to the Skeena or a bonefish/Giant Trevally trip to Christmas Islands and/or a trip to the Rio Negro in the Amazon for peacock bass?

Cheers guys and thanks again for all the comments I’ll be there just for the day (planned for about 6-10hrs or so I’m guessing)...The nurse doing the chemo class on Monday recommended that we bring our own food – Anything that doesn’t stink - Like sardines or herring. She also said the food at the hospital wasn’t all that great either. The only hospital food I've ever eaten was Jell-O. I was at Mt Sinai last week. I guess I was fortunate not to have to sample their food. Personally I hate needles and get grossed out so food probably won’t be on my mind while I’m sitting there . I’ll pack some snacks to bring along Thanks Grimace. I’m pretty acclimatized to the cold. Late fall/early winter steelheading before the rivers lock up will do that to you . I do love fishing outside way more than inside the hut...I get to stretch my legs out. My parents got me a survival suit for Christmas and it’s been awesome. Last year I just wore a whole lot of fleece and a gore-tex jacket over it all and it was pretty miserable when it hit -20C or -15 with wind chill. Also picked up a wicked set of mitts from MEC for times when gloves just don’t cut it: These: http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442633339&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302885383 Next purchase will be a better set of waterproof boots Definitely can't wait! Thanks Joey. Victor took the Ling...After seeing the slime ooze off the cooler (and everything else we put in there) when we took the fish out, I figured I'd let him have them Cheers & all smiles

Thanks guys Hey Wayne, I’ll be going in to Sunnybrook for it. So far, only 1 treatment planned and I’m pretty thankful for that. May be another one 3-4wks after but the oncologists are pretty confident I won’t need it (I hope). Out of everything, I was pretty surprised at the cost for the anti-nausea pills – The doctors advised me that I may still feel queasy and it’s going to suck for about a month per treatment. At the moment, I’m already underweight so I’ve been doing my best to pack on the pounds the last couple weeks (which has been just 3lbs to put me up at 121lbs ). My boss recommended Mac & Cheese made with butter and cream or a big piece of steak which doesn’t sound too bad right now.LOL

It’s been a little while since I last posted. I’m most certain that I missed some awesome reports A couple weeks ago, I got the news that I will need additional treatment in the form of chemotherapy and have been prepping for it since. Not fun by any means – especially after reading Irishfield’s daughter’s battles through it. As always, I’m blown away by the support OFC and its members having given me since I first became a member Spiel again has been incredibly generous. Mid-last week I received another awesome package to read while I’m at the hospital getting my chemo-drip There have been others on this forum that have gone through chemo and they’ve been amazingly supportive answering all the questions and giving me all the tips they could – I can’t thank you guys enough . As one member mentioned, “treat it like a bump in the road instead of a road block”, and that’s exactly what I plan to do With pending treatment starting Thursday, I figured I’d like to make this last weekend a little special. Last week, Frozen Fire, Victor and I planned a weekend trip for some laker action. Friday night after work, we made the pilgrimage north to one lake and checked in at a motel for the night. What do you do when there are 3 guys and only 2 beds? You bring an air mattress and rearrange the furniture to fit it in! Spent some time gearing up and setting up our tackle late into the night. Saturday morning, we head out to the lake. Last week, my dad made a ski system for Frozen Fire’s portable hut. It made pulling the hut over the snow so much easier. After some time spent locating fish, I finally managed my first laker of 2011 . It was a lot smaller than what I was hoping for but very welcomed nonetheless. Watching the flag pop up on my HT rod holder was pretty exciting – It took a small minnow. For the first time ever, I managed to get 1 fish to chase down my lure on the retrieve and nail it. It swam from 65ft to 35ft to eat my jig + minnow combo. Watching it all go down on the fish finder was exciting to the max! A wave goodbye In total, both Frozen Fire and I managed to land only 3 tiny lakers each to about 15 inches or so. Vic blanked. We fished from 8am to sundown and packed it in for the day... Or so we thought... While packing the car, we met a couple who were going out for some nighttime ling fishing. Intrigued by the prospects of trying poor man’s lobster, we decided to stop in for dinner somewhere before heading back out on the ice for the midnight bite. 8pm we hit the ice...Again... It was a cold and windy night. We kept warm by moving around and drilling a ton of holes (at least I did). We fished from 8pm till about 1am (I think...I can’t remember exactly when we got back to the motel ). Victor landed 2 ling and Frozen Fire landed 1. I didn’t get any action all night We slept in Sunday...Well Vic and Frozen Fire did. I ate a big breakfast and went through my pre-fishing trip routine that increases my Jedi fishing powers I was hoping that Sunday would bring us some bigger fish. I did manage to catch the most lakers I’ve ever caught in 1 day. Unfortunately the 6 I landed were all pretty much the same size as the ones we got the previous day - I probably lost about 7-8 fish . I was pretty amazed that a lake trout would try to eat something roughly half its size It was a long drive home (especially for Victor who did the driving in a super gear packed SUV).I was pretty exhausted at work Monday morning from the weekend. But I definitely can't wait to do another trip like that again...Maybe next time I'll take a sick day from work on the Monday Hope you enjoyed

Incredible fish Ben...I'm just blown away

Best of luck Doc!

Haven’t been online much Rick. This definitely isn’t what I was expecting to read on the board. Very sorry to hear about all of this. My deepest condolences.

I do agree with what you said Garry. I will play a little devil’s advocate just for fun Over the last while, I’ve been given some new perspective on how precious and scarce time on the water can be. I dropped from fishing 4-6 days a week to only 1 day a week now if I’m lucky – Mainly because of work and having to visit the doctors and hospitals the other times I’m free. Back in high-school I dated a girl who had a Japanese father who happened to love fishing as much as I did (and was the ultimate gear junky). The words of advice that he gave me when I asked about all of his tackle were this: “If you only could get out a few times a year (like he did), wouldn’t you want to make that day as special as it can be? Wouldn’t you want the best tackle on that special day so you can enjoy yourself the most?” While I don’t know in what context he used the term ‘best’, we could assume that it could refer to some things like: being light, durable, smooth, fast (or slow depending on your preference), comfortable or custom built to your preferences. Or it could mean designed species specific to give you the ‘best’ chance of catching them with a given a technique. In terms of lure quantity (or quality), wouldn't you want to have that 'special' lure in the event that none other in your tackle box are working? That’s pretty much the mentality of the Japanese culture and I can’t argue with that. I'm told that there are more high end fly rods and reels per capita in Japan than anywhere else in the world. Me personally, I just got an overpriced St Croix Legend Ultra UL ice rod (because it had the 24k gold plated spring indicator thingy built in), a new Hummindbird ice transducer (because carrying around a wooden stick + clamp was a pain), a new survival suit to keep warm and tomorrow I hope to pick up an underwater camera to make my days on the water extra special ...At least that’s what I told my mom when she asked about the new sled with all the stuff inside. She just rolls her eyes at me now

Currently saving up for my plane ticket ...And a new 9ft 5wt Sage Z-axis for cutties, 11ft 8wt Sage Z-axis switch for the bullies and a bunch of steelhead tackle for a side trip to the coast Can we have cutthroat sashimi if I catch one? LOL

Very sad news indeed. I've only had the pleasure of speaking to him via Tuesday night chats. He will be missed My condolences