MJL

I don’t use twitter but pretty much any source of info can be used for uncovering the mysteries and complexities found in the world of fishing.

I’m currently developing a Nash equilibrium game theory matrix for carp fishing in competitive environments (like tournaments). I knew 4yrs of business school and studying managerial economics would come in handy one day.

I’ve watched sniper training videos to better learn how to move and conceal myself in the forest along gin clear trout streams. Study something that does something well (even if he/she/it isn’t related to fishing) and benchmark yourself against it – From my 3rd yr consulting management text book

I’m also studying the ancient art of meditation and tai chi so that I will one day uncover mystical powers within myself which will enable me to understand and communicate with fish

Be a sponge and absorb every detail you can. Think of yourself as being a part of the Matrix and then bend the rules...I know Kung fu

The big question I have is…Will it handle a 55+ inch muskie that's going to be at the end of my line next week?

"I have a daughter, slim, tall, 38D breast, 24" waist and 34" hips.

Sign me up for that religion...And Quick!

Thanks guys for the comments. Fishnsled, we were actually looking at a Minn Kota with 30lb thrust. I'm not exactly sure how powerful they are (seeing as how I've never used one) but is 30-35lb enough? My canoe weighs 60lbs and with 2 X 120+lb humans inside, would it be able to tow us around?

Always a pleasure reading these reports Mike. Nice Eyes and a Nice Few Days on the Water!

 

You may have the biggest case of fishing fever I have ever seen. (I can relate) I like how you get right into every species you are fishing for - full research of species, a complete knowledge of the major rigs, and all the other good stuff that adds to fishing.

 

I suspect the two of us will be spending our winters like mad scientists with every accessible MNR document, topographic maps, and all the old classic books etc. My library card will be working overtime for sure

 

BTBM

For me, if I’m driving 2+hrs to catch a fish, skunking is not an option! I want to go in with the intelligence and stealth of an elite commando unit and attack the lake or river’s population of tackle-testing and/or tasty fish with all the fire power (or fishing power) I’ve got. I will stay overnight if I have to in order to complete the mission!

Also beyond the Discovery channel, National Geographic and the Food network, there’s not much else I enjoy watching on TV nowadays so I read a fair bit. I guess most people would call me a fishing nerd.LOL

Excellent report and pictures. Congrats on the walleye..a very nice job. Y'know Mike, as I read your threads/posts, I can't help but think of the great upbringing you've had. That is a testament to your parents and to yourself...a breath of fresh air in this day and age.

Thanks for taking the time to post this report. I know that it's very much appreciated.

In my case, growing up, I only had basic cable, 2 Nintendo games (one of which was Duck Hunt), softball and an immigrant mother who wasn’t afraid to use chop sticks to smack her kids’ butts with – Apparently it’s much easier on the hands that way

After school the rivers were my playground, the lawn was my target casting range and the books, both of which were titled Freshwater fish of North America, were my bedtime readings. My parents have turned me into a fishing super-computer with little remorse for hunting down fish and taking pictures with them

Nice work on the Walleye, that is definitely a nice fish, and you are one of the few people who has released one that size, so kudos on that, that is definitely a fish that is a good breeder.

 

Next time make sure to try some bucktail jigs, I have had luck with black and red tipped with gulp minnows in the weeds, and on the weed edges, walleye are mostly nocturnal, so unless it is overcast you need to fish in the thick stuff to find them during the day, but then again I am by no means an expert!

You mean that fish was of a tasty size? Really appreciate the tips Darryl. I wasn’t able to find very many weeds at all on that lake (at least nothing green). Average depths ranged from 14 through to 45ft depending on which side of the lake we were blown to. One day I'd like to try night fishing for walleye. I'd first have to mount navigation night lights to my canoe first.

Cheers

Mike

Great bucketmouths Mike

You got them bass dialed in!

Walleye have always been my arch nemesis starting from my earliest fishing trips as a kid to the lake. All the walleye I’ve ever caught (which hasn’t been very many) have been by accident while fishing for other things – none of which were really all that big. When I tried to target them as a kid (mostly in fast-water areas from shore usually around opening day), I always ended up catching carp (and lots of them!) on worms, leeches, minnows, plastic jigs, bucktail jigs and rapalas . I saw other people catching loads of walleyes around me using the same baits, fishing the same areas and I chalked it up to fate – The carp gods simply loved me too much to fish for anything else . I never really tried for them since.

With the guidance of Jet and Frozen Fire (actually more like getting swindled into it), I expanded my vocabulary to include words like, worm harness, Lindy rigs, floating jig heads, drift socks, bottom huggers, weed-edges, and Darryl Choronzey's Breading & Batter Mix – Maybe TV had more of an influence on the last one

A few weeks ago, the three of us rented a boat on Rice Lake and I got my first real taste of what walleye fishing was supposed to be like – Kind of. We brought 20 dozen worms on the boat, 4 dozen leeches, a whole whack of proven walleye baits and rigs and had 2 fish finders going.

Having only been in a motor boat 4 times prior, I loved scooting across the lake with the wind in my face. We were greeted with a golden sunrise in the morning

We spent 14 hours on the boat and I managed to land 3 walleye (which is the most I’ve ever landed in 1 day). Jet landed 4. All of the walleye were small and under the slot unfortunately – Ironically the MNR guys boated up to us to check for licenses and fish while we were in the process of measuring 1.

First walleye in years...Not big but it’s a start! At that moment there was a flood of emotions ranging from joy, relief that I didn’t skunk on eyes, sadness that it wasn't big enough to keep , and pain from getting my hand razored by something sharp and spiky on the fish . How the heck are you supposed to hold them?

Over the last few weeks I’ve been reading various magazines and articles and doing my best to learn as much as I could about the life & times of walleye and walleye fishing. I also further equipped my tackle selection with walleye stuff (like lures and spinner rig components) and bought a new transducer mount for my canoe...I’ll shamefully admit that I conned my dad into paying for it all when we hit up Lebaron to take our boaters exam...

Tuesday my dad and I decided to hit up one lake up north - By north it’s pretty much anywhere north of Bass Pro for this Scarborough boy . Joining us would be Frozen Fire and EC1. Got to the lake around 1:30pm, rigged up the canoe with the fish finder and paddled around. We broke out the worm harness spinner rigs I tied up and began drifting in the wind over 17-20ft of water. Shortly after (while eating a timbit), my rod doubles over and I set the hook...I don’t feel anything moving...Just weight. For 2-3 minutes I’m still not sure what I have on. I feel some headshakes but it’s not really moving or doing much – Snapping turtle? Subsequently after 2 minutes the hook pops out and we continue drifting with the wind.

With winds blowing hard, my dad and I found a calm spot behind one island and anchored up.

Eyes glued to the fish finder, I didn’t have much hope from the spot seeing that there wasn’t much fish activity happening on the screen. It’s actually the first time using my fish finder on softwater.

I did end up catching my first bass in about 3-4yrs. The fight that smallie gave me was AMAZING

Frozen Fire and EC1 who arrived later in the day found us and also had their fun with smallies. I want padded swivel chairs too

We compared notes and with news of EC1 getting a walleye earlier, we pulled up the anchor and paddled our way against the wind to one bay. On our 2nd drift of the bay, my rod doubles over and I set the hook into something solid. It’s not moving much and I feel headshakes...

After a couple minutes of heavy winching, I finally bring it to the surface and to my amazement, it is a walleye . Only when I brought it up to the surface did it really start to fight...It took a mega long run then and peeled line like a demon possessed! I finally reeled the fish in to the side of the canoe and my dad barely managed to scoop it into my small trout net. Only ¾ of it fit inside!...I don’t know how much it weighed but it’s definitely my PB walleye

I wasn’t sure what size walleye are tasty at. I’ve never eaten one. I released it to grow even bigger for my next trip back. Hopefully I can catch it again at 10+lbs next time...In 3 weeks

My dad didn’t hook into any walleye but together we got into a good number of smallies and jumbo bluegills using Gulp baits and plastic grubs. Here he is just chilling in the back of the canoe

Sunset to a great day on the water

My dad is itching to go back. According to him, we’ll be shopping around for a new trolling motor and battery in the coming weeks (Any recommendations?). He didn’t much like having to constantly paddle against the wind for most of the day…I say he’s getting old

Hope you enjoyed

Mike

Does this mean I should get my box of Michigan Crickets out on standby? I find the best thing to tip them with are single eggs (1-3 depending on water clarity)

Running 15-20ft leads in 1-2ft of water is also key

Nicely done Chris :good:

Football smallies to the max!

Beautiful 'ski Erik...Congrats and great report

I wonder what you'd get for the prop if you sold it on ebay? LOL

 

Even got the steelhead hold down pat for Solopaddler!

 

Too funny!

Nicely done Ryan and Averie

I’ve used Raven 8lb on the centrepin but prefer it on the spinning reel. I find 8lb tends to stretch and dig in after battling a large fish. I bumped up to 10lb Raven and love it.

Welcome to the board!

I picked this up yesterday after I did my boater exam at Lebaron. It was around $43

My dad modified it with a metal bracket-thing to hold the transducer in place better.

I don't have a motorized boat but I plan to mount it onto my canoe (human powered). Jet and Frozen-Fire had both their units going with the same mount when we rented a boat on Rice Lake a couple weeks ago. Worked pretty well.

No no no, I'm trying to sell mine for $35.00......LOL

I've got bad news

From OFC News Weekly

"Top economists suggest that the global market demand for Ping A T lures is on a continuously sharp decline. The lure company is in its final stage of its product life cycle and has gone from being a cash cow to a dog, according to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The global market price suggested by experts reveals that these lures should be sold at a fair market value price of $2.50 each. The price is expected to drop another 2 cents tomorrow with news that these lures must be retrieved incredibly slow or they will flip over and fail to work - A perceived product design flaw according to some anglers.

A recent interview with fishing mogul, MJL suggests that he is willing to purchase the entire stock at 10% higher than the suggested fair market value of $2.50. By doing so, he is in effect allowing Spiel Corp to progress his inventory management practices to something similar to that of Toyota’s just-in-time (JIT) management system. Spiel’s bottom line can only improve with such a transaction."

Sorry Chris, $35.00 won’t cut it in such a competitive market place without the demand

You can always turn a non-portable unit into a portable one - although it probably won't be as compact as the the commercially available ones.

In my case I turned a regular Humminbird 343c colour fish finder I got on sale for $220 + a battery and stuck it into a cooler bag for my ice fishing adventures. The portable equivalent to mine at the time was (and still is) the Humminbird 345c which was going for $370.

I plan to try it out in a couple weeks in my canoe. I'll probably mount the screen of the unit to the bow of the canoe (I usually sit in front when I'm with my dad) and run the battery + transducer cables underneath my seat.

Nothing like a fresh chinny smacking a float with a one foot lead off the peir(steelies close 2nd, lol). My fav is 3 to 4 inch glow in the dark tubes at night under the float when the arms are too tired of chucking spoons and fighting fish.

Who said what now about glow tubes?...Nothing to see here folks

They're absolutely deadly underneath a float at night.

The last couple years I've been experimenting with glow marabou jigs beneath a float for my nighttime steelie hunts with some extremely deadly consequences (for steelies and chinnies that is)

Here`s one i`ve often wondered about --- its illegal to let a fish go to waste if it dies (or looks like it won`t survive), but what if the fish isn`t a legal size (in the slot, too small, whatever)?

 

You catch a walleye in the slot, it's gut-hooked, and you let it go knowing its almost for sure going to die.

 

Or you catch and unfortunately lose a small musky (i would never eat a musky regardless of size, but just another example)?

 

Aren't you theoretically guilty either way?

I've been wondering exactly the same thing.

As far as limits, possession and catch and retain go go, I’ve always been told by the COs over the years that catch and retain limits are just that…You catch a fish and then stick it on a stringer, dump it into a cooler, put them in a livewell, dump them on shore (obviously for pick up). Once you’ve decided to harvest that fish and hold the fish using one of those means, then it counts towards your limit.

In most instances (unless stated otherwise), your possession limit is the same as your daily catch and retain limit. If you catch 2 walleye and stick them on the stringer (assuming the walleye limit is 2), you CAN continue fishing for walleye. You just CANNOT keep any. Similarly, if you have 2 walleye in your freezer, you CAN fish for walleye the next day…You just CAN’T keep any till you have eaten 1 from your freezer or given 1 away. Catch and retain and possession DO NOT include unhooking, taking photos and then releasing. If it did, guys sporting Conservation Licenses wouldn’t be able to fish for muskies (where in most instances the limit is 0) – But they can.

From an ethics standpoint, should you continue to fish for that species after you’ve caught your limit? Or one where the limit is 0? Probably not considering that not all fish that you catch & release will survive even if they swim away (i.e. they may have been mortally hooked).

Here’s a couple responses from the MNR

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/Enforcement/2ColumnSubPage/198397.html

Question Re: Daily Catch

If I went fishing for bass yesterday and kept my limit can I keep the bass that I catch today?

Answer:

How many fish a person may keep depends on how many fish of that species they already have in their possession. Keep in mind that fish limits, both daily limits and possession limits, can be either about species (like yellow perch or northern pike) or a combination of species (like largemouth and smallmouth bass together or walleye and sauger together).

Possession limits are the number of fish a person can have in their possession in any location whether the fish are live in a live-well or in a refrigerator freezer at home or at a fishing lodge.

If all of the bass that were caught yesterday (a limit) are still in your possession today you may not catch and retain any more bass. You may practice catch and release fishing for bass as long as you immediately return any bass you catch to the water you caught them from.

From Ask a CO website

http://www.outdoorontario.net/AskMNR/mnrfaqfish.html

Question 17:

After one has caught & kept a limit of fish, is it legal to continue fishing for that species of fish?

Asked on October1/99

Answer from the MNR:

As long as you do not 'catch and retain' over the legal limit for each species of fish you may continue fishing.

As far as catching your limit and giving it to someone else (a friend, mother, anybody), it sounds like (as Rick mentioned) possession ceases when you hand over the fish - Not when they eat it (So long as their freezer is not in your own house)

Response from the MNR - Ask a CO

From same link as above

Question 38:

Does a person need a fishing liscence if they have fish (ie. salmon) in their possession (freezer) even if the fish was given to them? Can i legally give a fish i caught to someone who doesn't have a liscence or might they be in violation of the act?

Asked on November 15/99

Answer from the MNR:

There is absolutely no problem with you giving fish to a friend or anyone else and they do not need a fishing licence. The same goes for game and is widely used by hunters who have participated in the OFAH food for the need y project.

That being said, there are a couple of points to remember.

A. Those fish still are part of your daily limit. In other words you cannot take your girlfriend out fishing with you even though she does not fish, but ‘give’ her a limit, so that you can catch a second limit on the same day. The actual wording is “catch and retain in one day or possess”. You could, however, catch a limit of walleyes today, take them home and give them to your mother-in-law (hey, this is hypothetical!) then go out the next day and catch a limit for yourself. Remember that fish in your freezer are part of your limit, so you cannot have six, ten, or twenty limits of walleye in your freezer at home, even though you only took them six per day.

B. Possession limits apply to the receiving individual as well.

Here's an old thread that covered the topic

http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30585&st=0&p=326647&hl=%20communal%20%20bucket&fromsearch=1entry326647

Here's a response from the MNR (Mar 4, 2008)

MNR Answer:

“Party Fishing” is a term I used in answering the previous question; it refers to the illegal activity of filling another person’s limit of fish

i just start ignoring it.

Ditto…For me I step outside, look around and gauge my forecast that way. I get the same forecast as the Weather Network and it’s more up to date and in real time

Over the years I’ve learned that:

If the weather guy/gal can’t correctly predict the right forecast for the next 2-3hrs (which more often than not they don’t), what hope does he/she have trying to predict weather 3-5 days from now?

If the P.O.P percentage is anything other than 0% or 100%, it’s really their way of saying, “your guess is as good as ours.” A lot of the time they still get it wrong when it is 0% and 100% probability.

I gave up on looking at long range forecasts in exchange for common sense, observation and a good set of gore-tex jacket/pants along with a fleece jacket when it might get cold.

Nice Buffalo MJL. Id also like to see a few more of these guys arround.

 

I dont know how you can carp fish down in the pool. I had tryed a couple times while down there troutin in late Sept, but could never keep my lead outta the rocks. What kinda rig are you using for carpin down there, I was using a bolt/hair rig with about 2 oz of weight.

I use pretty much the same rig as you but I have a variety of heavier leads on hand to handle the gnarlier stuff if need be. Some areas are just snaggier than others no matter what you do.

Sweet! Nice catch for MJL's buddy.

But is it bigmouth or smallmouth? Are there two seperate species?

I've seen/ caught quillback on the lower grand but never a buffalo.

The one in the pic is a smallmouth buffalo. There are 2 species of buffalo I know of in Ontario (bigmouth and smallouth).

Here's a bigmouth buffalo that another member caught. You should be able to see the difference in their mouth.

http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19702&st=0&p=204463&hl=bigmouth&fromsearch=1entry204463

My buddy caught a smallmouth buffalo a few weeks ago from the Niagara when we were carp fishing. It’s the first and only one I’ve ever seen in person over a lifetime of fishing. I’ve heard of a couple small ones caught in the Grand. I'm definitely interested in learning more about them myself.

Their eyes are so beady!

I'll be helping out with the measuring on Saturday. If you're walking around Pier 8, stop by and say hi.

If there's one thing we learned out of all of this...

...Bowfin are tasty

All the channel cats I’ve caught were by accident while carp fishing. I know the ones in the Niagara like over-flavoured pineapple chick peas that I make up. Unfortunately the carp down there didn’t like them as much

A more species specific way I’m told, is to use those frozen shrimp you eat for dinner (thaw them first), smear Preparation-H on them (The hemorrhoid medication) and hook them – Preparation H is optional but highly recommended by my friend (for the shrimp that is). Cast out and wait.

Just voted...Had to disable Firefox's No Script first

Great essay. Your daughter is a fantastic writer. Unfortunately I keep getting a "page does not exist" error message when I hit the vote button. Will try again a bit later.