MJL

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. 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.

The Hamilton fishing derby is next weekend. This weekend I was cooped up inside fighting a cold (in summer!)

How many dozen worms do you still have left? Nicely done!

CTV also has a news segment on it as well http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100808/northern-snakehead-ontario-100808/20100808/?hub=TorontoNewHome It's hard to tell by just looking at the head. It's much easier to differentiate a snakehead and a bowfin by looking at its anal fin (or possibly whatever's left of it after the meal ).

At 28 pages long without pics and 37-42 pages with pics (depending on formatting), it’s more like a book

Here is an excerpt from an article I wrote about carp fishing. TJ may (or may not) decide to publish it online in the future. Summer Once the spawn is done in the shallow bays or canals, carp typically vacate the area in search of deeper water. In rivers, they usually can be found cruising deeper boating channels or below dams in whitewater. There they find greater amounts of oxygen and larger quantities (as well as variety) of food items. With regards to fishing in and around the great lakes (almost everywhere in Ontario I’ve fished), the larger carp (25-40+lbs) often disappear with smaller fish in the 8-17lb range being most common. I’ve talked to a number of other carp anglers and they also report similar findings. Nobody knows where these larger fish go during summer. With that said, I find carp in the 15-17lb range (especially river carp) fight the greatest and have no problems peeling line off the spool in a hurry. Fall Carp can be found sticking to deep water areas during the fall season. Large trophy fish also seem to make a return and carp of all sizes seem to put the feedbag on knowing that winter is just around the corner. Many places that anglers target carp late in the season are as deep as 45ft. The carp in Hamilton harbour are notorious for this where anglers may fish in 25-40ft depths near close-to-shore drop offs and off piers. As in summer, carp relate to steep drop-offs where food of all types can be found. Weather conditions can fluctuate greatly in fall and water temperatures can plummet or rise from day to day. Stable periods of weather and temperatures can boost carp activity. Sudden drops in temperatures can make even the hungriest carp, tight-lipped and inactive. Just like in early spring, sometimes fishing later on in the morning or afternoon/evening can be better than fishing before sun-up. Winter Carp are caught accidentally by ice fishermen targeting perch, crappies, walleye and other species. The most consistent way to catch carp in winter is to target areas that discharge warm water. Power stations and industrial manufacturing outflows and any other areas that don’t freeze over in winter are prime spots to try. Aside from the warm water coming out of power stations, carp are also treated to food like baitfish which get sucked into the turbines, chopped up, and spewed out from the outflow tubes. Some of the largest carp I’ve ever seen caught have been from these areas and it makes sense. Their growing season is year round as opposed to just being from spring through to late fall. Huge numbers of fish often congregate year round near these outflows. Finding access to these warm water discharges can be challenging. After the 9/11 attacks, many power stations have limited or completely closed off areas for anglers to access. Garbage like empty coffee cups, used fishing line, fishing tackle packaging and beer bottles left behind on bank didn’t help either. It must also be noted that fishing in or around these warm water discharges can be dangerous no matter the time of the year. Ice can form along the shoreline in winter and falling in is a possibility. Beyond hypothermia (if you do manage to get out of the water), the currents flowing out of these power plants are often strong enough to make swimming impossible and undertows are very much a guarantee in many spots. Take extra caution when fishing around warm water discharges. ********************************** In a nutshell carp can be caught 365 days of the year in places around Ontario. When in doubt, try it out

Funny enough, I’ve dropped my cell phone into the river a total of 6 times and the aquarium once. Dried it off each time and it’s still going. Not bad for a cheap LG phone I got for free. When in doubt, I use zip-lock As for cameras, I’m averaging 1 per year.

I've been wearing my Simms Classic Guide jacket (which essentially is the current 'Guide' model) since 2004. Absolutely Love it. I wear it 4 seasons of the year as a rain/wind jacket as well as a general wading jacket to stuff tackle in. The baggier cut allows for extra insulating layers underneath (eg. fleece jacket + hoody). Only recently one of the seams in the hood started to leak (which I patched up with aquaseal).

Very scary for sure…Glad you’re alright. Even decked out in chest waders, wading jacket, bug spray, they still find their way onto and into just about everything. I used to fish one stream in your neck of the woods for carp )and occasionally for smallies) during summer but haven’t been back because of the ants. Even wading in the water doesn’t seem to help much…They swim!

Hey Steve…Angling Specialties in Scarborough sells Shimano products. They don’t have any Shimano baitrunners in stock at the moment but can probably order one in for you. Might be worthwhile asking to save you the 30min trip out east. Definitely have a look online from US vendors. My friend hit up a couple stores in Texas while on vacation and brought back a half a dozen 6000 Thunnus for $110 (I bought 1 at that price). I’ve seen a couple sales like since then. Even with shipping, it might come out cheaper than what you’d find in Canada.

If it's any consolation, the monkeys that were punched will be extra tender Catholic church officially denounces spooning…NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Absolutely. The internet definitely revolutionized the whole process of fishing (at least for me). Factor in the price of gas to get there, the time you sacrifice away fishing (when you could be painting the house or mowing the lawn or spending with family), etc. I’ll admit I do a great deal of my “fishing” from the comfort of my home nowadays, much of which is in digital/electrical media form – But it certainly isn’t screening the internet daily for message board postings, or photoshopping someone’s polarized glasses to see the reflections of the background to know where I should fish tomorrow (which according to a few people has happened). There’s an insane amount of info out there readily available to those who know what to look for, where to look for it and how to use it. It’s pretty much as Craig described with fewer anglers cramming into the more popular spots. In my case, I’ve mostly just stopped fishing them all together preferring to drive a little further (or sometimes closer) to fish other rivers or lakes where you might only see a few other anglers all day – Also close proximity to a greasy burger joint is a must

He was using Quantum reels back when he was doing those In-Fisherman shows. He’s the sole reason I bought that crappy Quantum Hypercast back in the 90’s when I was 12yrs old

But killing a carp would be sacrilege! You’d anger the carp gods for eternity! My offer is still up for giving that frog a new home Good to know...I’ve occasionally fed my arowana the whole thing shell and all…If I was to feed my fish something like a frog (possibly of African origin), is there anything I should remove from it first?

Hi all…I’m just wondering how small of a size can you get Siwash hooks in? I picked up a couple packs of the Gamakatsu ones (No. 10005) in size 10 from BPS on Friday. I’m planning on putting them onto various spinners I own in size 0 through 2 (like Mepps, Panther Martins, Vibrax, Double Loon, Rooster-tail, Riverwood and Olympique spinners). Do Siwash hooks come in sizes smaller than 10? I’m also looking for small single weedless hooks…I’d like to also try sticking them on the back of some spinners (most likely with a split ring or other method I can devise)…I personally don’t know of anyone who’s tried sticking them onto spinners but theoretically it sounds like a good idea (especially for fishing around log jams) – Surely someone has tried it. Also wondering how small they go as well? So far the smallest I’ve been able to find locally is size 6 which are about 3-4 times bigger than some of the spinners I’d like to put them on. Many thanks for your help. Mike

Depends where you go and at what size. Some places have a better mirror/common ratio than others. For most places I fish, I get 1 mirror (over 10lbs) for every 200 or so commons. There are a couple ponds I know of where you can get 1 mirror for roughly every 10-20 commons but they are only 1/2lb-3lbs or so. In the UK, the reverse is true where mirrors are more common than common carp

Awesome...Carping legends like Chris Yates and the late Richard Walker would be proud

Sweet! Beautiful carp. That fully scaled mirror is pretty wild. Very cool rod…Is it made of bamboo? Fiberglass? Really appreciate this post. Makes me want to grab my pin and head to the local river for some carp – something I haven’t done for about 3yrs or so.

Congrats on the new PB carp...As for muskies, I've had a few run-ins with them up in the Kawarthas while fishing for carp...They ended up grabbing and stealing my method feeders while I was reeling them in