MJL

Hey Vic Good to see you’re enjoying your trip…Very eager to hear about your squid fishing adventures...I'm actually tempted to run out and get some calamari myself.LOL Do you know what that species of fish is you caught?

Thanks guys for the comments Great tips Dave...When I was a kid my older sister brought back a Canadian sport-fishing magazine on trout…She felt sorry for smashing a wad of gum in my hair for no reason… The 2 articles that stuck with me over time (and perhaps inspired me to try fishing for browns) were these ones…Finding BIG Browns – Be smart about where you look…And Weighted Deep…Both written by Kerry Knudsen One article speaks of night time being the right time…And using surface lures like Hula poppers and Jitterbugs to tempt double-digit sized browns (measured in pounds, not inches) away from log jams…While I can’t say I’ve ever done the midnight madness thing for stream browns per se, some of the larger ones I did catch (just below 20 inches) were landed an hour or so after sun-down or an hour before sun-rise…I think sometime this coming weekend I may try fishing during the witching hour…Any recommendations on lures or baits I should stock up on? At the moment, I’m just using smaller versions of what I normally throw for steelhead…Like spinners and Kwikfish. Actually for me, I’ve caught the majority of my stream browns on either worms or mepps spinners. Catching browns on worms is almost a guarantee - They're not shy about smashing worms bigger than they are For that particular stretch of river I haven’t really seen anyone fishing it specifically for the browns so for the most part they’re relatively un-pressured…From what I know, the people who fish that river do so for the steelhead, which do make it up there but it’s super challenging to fish because of all the snags…After opening weekend, the majority of people are gone, and come walleye opener, you rarely see another angler in sight (which pretty much goes for most rivers in southern Ontario

Yesterday Frozen Fire and I hit up one quiet river for a session of brownie hunting – resident style. Armed with UL gear and some camera equipment, we got to the river around sun-up and probed the various log jams, fallen trees, deeper runs, etc. We were hoping to take pics of the diverse (and beautiful) colour patterns of the brown trout we got. The browns mostly just hit worms and spinners… However, the trout were only receptive to those willing to risk it all and go for glory by drifting insanely close to the wood (as in dropping straight down into pockets between branches and logs or drifting it underneath the wood). I donated 2 full packs of size 12 and 14 Daiichi hooks and a spinner today to the branch monsters I also cracked the tip top of my rod when the swivel shot straight back when I was trying to un-snag my spinner from the tree Some pics Anthony managed to get a small rainbow that materialized out of no where to slam his bait at warp speed in a foot of water out in the open...We were both amazed to see it happen He also managed to get his new PB brown from the same spot. I crawled through some shrubbery to get to a half-submerged fallen tree and managed to land 2 browns back to back. Lost a 3rd one shortly after One of my coolest catches (perhaps of all time) was landing this particular fish from underneath an undercut bank beneath an overhanging tree CPR does work – As in Catch Photo Release …I caught the same fish an hour and a half later from the same spot when we were walking back to the car. He was an aggressive bugger I managed to land 6 browns in total (not including the repeat capture.LOL) and lost a few. Anthony managed around 4 browns. In total we walked around 7-8km worth of river to find them also having to trek through bushes and hop over large fallen trees (we tried to keep wading to a minimum to avoid spooking the fish). Both of us were super tired at the end of the trip. I noticed that many of browns I catch have a distinctive iridescent blue marking just behind the eye on their gill plates (as seen in the pics above…And these pics below)… From the same river last year From another river – The blue markings are a little faint but were definitely prevalent. Do these blue markings indicate if a fish is a. Wild? I actually found 1 brief discussion on this topic from another message board which intrigued me enough to ask. b. Resident (instead of migratory)? I don't think I've ever seen them on larger migratory fish. c. It's Dependent on their diet? d. Just a quirky colour adaptation for those particular rivers? Here’s one brown I caught last fall without the blue colouration on the gill plate. It’s possibly one of a few thousand fish that was stocked lower down in the river the previous year. Feel free to post up some of your pics of your browns for comparison. I’d be pretty interested in hearing your thoughts. Cheers

I had one of the Laguna UL reels for a brief period till I lost it somewhere in my basement.LOL...It was a decent reel with a nice smooth drag. I use an old 5ft Shimano Stimula UL rod matched with a 2000 stradic for now...I prefer the casting performance of the larger reels VS that of most UL reels with a tiny spool. If anything I may try out a 1000 sized spinning reel in the future.

Nicely done Drock Browns are definitely fun on the UL

Stunning fish and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous! Well done The fish's fins match your shirt.LOL Do the splake you catch ever have the blue halos around their spots like the ones that brookies have?

Fabulous report Mike as always – Felt like I was there in that boat with you guys…Well done guys on persevering through some tough conditions to score big

From an argumentative standpoint, I feel the validity of your points are diminished by the constant use of cliché catch phrases and metaphorical blurring without the presenting a whole lot of facts - how political In fact I’d call a lot of it sheer plagiarism. With that said, automatic complaint generators can be used to achieve the same thing in a lot less time. Plug in the organizational name into the box and go to town.

Spinners...But hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get one on the dry fly. We took the pics with my FZ18. Somebody dropped his lady’s camera into the river one day this spring and had to loan the DSLR to her… I always have my camera set to do continuous shooting…It’s just not all that great in low light. Actually my camera is notorious for being quite noisy in low light due to the small sensor size. Looks like I'll be saving up for a Nikon D3

I use my centrepins a few times a year for carp…Particularly in spring when they’re in shallow. I can’t say that a centrepin does any particular thing better than a spinning reel for this purpose…Some people drive automatic cars and others take more joy out of driving stick shifts – One angler that fishes a local swim uses his Clough and 13’ IMX . For the most part I don’t use a rod holder and stalk the fish by sight fishing them when using the pin. With that said, if you plan on using a rod holder of some sort (and potentially staying a distance away from your rod), clickers on many centrepins will handle the initial run of a carp – some obviously better than others. You don’t want a clicker tension to be too high or lock down (I find the med spring setting on my Islander is just about right – Med-light setting on my AngSpec is best)…You definitely don’t want it to be too loose either (or you may end up with a bird’s nest on the initial take (where you may end up losing your rod + reel when line wraps around on something like the handles). Corn on a hook right on bottom (using a sliding egg sinker) is about as easy as you can make it for a rig…When I’m stalking carp in the shallows, live dewies are my favourite, rigged with a size 6-8 octopus hook + split shot 14 inches above.

Hey Vic...When are you coming back? We need your DSLR ...Brookies are some of the most challenging subjects I've ever taken pics of...1/2 chrome, 1/2 kaleidoscope of colours and they never sit still for very long

Today's word of the day was Vermiculations...Brought to you by the letter V

You rinse it off after.LOL You can use the vinegar option like I do, which is the tastier option if you don't rinse it off after and decide to bite it on

I switched over to the Water Gremlin shots for most of my steelheading last spring…Size B and BB for most of my river fishing (Niagara I use the big ones)…They’re way easier to pinch onto the line by hand than the regular steelhead shots...I soak mine in vinegar overnight sometimes (it turns a powdery grey which turns some people off but I don’t really care)…Other people soak theirs in Draino to take off the shine (it turns black)…TBH I haven’t really noticed a difference in my catch rates between shiny VS dull finished split shots but others I know swear otherwise. To the original poster, I normally use a longer leader than most (24-30 inches)…I find myself switching baits/jigs/flies, etc often and snip off the leader bit by bit. I’d rather just slide my float up than re-rig a new leader.LOL If I’m fishing frog water, I generally don’t put any shots on the leader…For the rest of the time I almost always have split shots crimped on the leader (usually 12 or more inches above the hook). Mind you, some of the shots available for steelheaders are quite hard and can damage your line when you slide them up or down…I’ve used Sure Shot and Water Gremlin shots without any problems even (dare I say) with 2lb leaders during the days I used to run a 14ft Hardy.

Picked up a few of the Riverwood spinners this spring…Love the fact that they don’t tend to rise up in the water column on the retrieve due to the heavier body – Great spinners for wide, deep pools or classic smooth-water runs with a slightly faster pace to them…I’m a sucker for French blades too. Now if only I could find them with black blades as well as ones in silver in size 0 *cough, cough* I get a little over stimulated when I talk about spinners…

For single hooks, you'd probably need to add a small split ring onto the spinner. For Siwash hooks Take a pair of wire cutters and snip the treble hook off...With siwash hooks, they generally come with eyes that are opened so you can put them onto a split ring or the wire bends of a spinner...Once on, you take a pair of needle-nose pliers and crimp the eye closed. Problem is most stores don't carry very small siwash hooks...I'm having a tough time finding siwash hooks smaller than size 2 anywhere. If you can find Mepps Comet spinners, you can twist the brass body to remove and replace the hook. They're quite similar to the Mepps Aglia except you can remove/replace the hook without cutting or adding split rings. The blade on the Mepps Comet is as long as the blade on the same size Aglia...Just slightly more narrow. The body on the comet is slightly thicker than that of the Aglia to accommodate the hook/change system. Aglia on top...Comet on bottom Comet hook change system

Great video Simon! 40 smallies in 3hrs is Amazing. Well done

Beautiful report Clive! Really digging the pics...Which lens did you pick up? The results are stunning!

Great story Laz. When I was 3yrs old or so and my dad used to take me out a few times a week to the local spots like bluffers park, the Rouge and Frenchman’s bay to fish. I vividly remember catching my first fish, a small yellow perch from the Rouge river marsh. My dad let me stay a few minutes longer than normal there that night and just when it was about time to leave, I got it. We brought it home in a bucket full of river water and kept it in a small bath tub for babies. It lived in there for a day – My mom was not impressed…We released it a couple days after back into the Rouge where we caught it. That pretty much solidified whatever interests I had about fishing and aquarium keeping into becoming life-long obsessions. I was fortunate to meet some great anglers who took me fishing on the weekends and at the age of 5 I started fishing the various rivers for whatever they’d cough up. My dad took me carp fishing at the local swims after school in the evenings during the week. Back then I already hooked and landed a few small steelhead using spinners and bottom bouncing worms however catching a strange looking fish literally blew my mind.LOL Same spot, 10yrs later, I introduce my dad further into the joys of river fishing for salmon and steelhead (beyond just trout opener). I’ve never seen him rush out to Crappy tire to get a pack of cleos as quickly.LOL We literally spent day after day fishing the rivers together from August through to May. We celebrated my 15th birthday together by going fishing. He bought me a 4000 Shimano Symetre to Christen a few days before. 10yrs later, same river and still fishing with my dad on opener. That Playschool fishing rod my dad first got me at age 3 was the tool of the devil.LOL

Thanks guys for the comments Edwin, my Chromoholics Anonymous support group says it’s OK to guide you so long as I don’t fish myself and I don't handle your rod (fishing rod that is) …I’ve only caught 4 crappies over my lifetime...I may be tempted to try for them in the future... Sick of steelhead = Not really…But there’s a few other species of fish I’d like to try catching before the fishing gets tougher like it did last year later on in the spring. I was surprised to see so many bugs out already. Saturday or Sunday I plan on hitting 7 or 8 different rivers and fish for 15-17hrs weather cooperating. I’d like to try my hand at night fishing for browns…Where I plan to go gets kinda creepy at night (especially when you’re alone) with deer crashing through the forest along with the coyotes. So Far the only things I’ve been able to get brookies on are small Panther Martin spinners and the odd small dewie…They had no interest in the $50 worth of small Mepps spinners I bought, small Rapala CD3, micro soft plastics, marabou jigs, micro kwikfish… I often see them chase them but they turn away at the last second. If anything I catch more chubs with the lures than brookies.LOL It’s been an exercise in futility for sure trying to get them to commit to all the other lures I’ve tried. Kinda reminds me of ice fishing for lakers I haven’t really considered the shadow trick you mentioned while fishing rivers…I mostly try to hide behind trees or shrubs or stay well down river of my target area and cast upstream. When I’m stalking carp right along the bank in the shallows though, it definitely does make a difference. Last season I found myself crawling on my belly a lot along the bank till I ended up in the middle of a red ant colony Thanks for the tips Jacques…Really appreciate it.

Many people love eating brook trout. I kept 1 last year and it was tasty when I pan-fried it. I've never really tried any other trout beyond the rainbows you get at the grocery store to compare with.

Decided last week it was time to end my steelhead season for spring. I figured I wanted to end my season on a high-note and couldn’t think of a better opportunity to do it than with the most gorgeous fish I’ve caught this spring. Fresh, chrome, and wild which leapt, tail-walked and cart-wheeled with reckless abandon. It was orgasmic! With that said, I am a huge sucker for peer pressure when it comes to chrome – I must refrain from all things steelhead! I know a select few will try to convince me otherwise…It’s a good thing MSN Messenger has a block-user feature and I also dropped my cell phone in the river again so it doesn’t work anymore Last spring I discovered the joys of fishing for small-stream resident trout and managed to catch my first brookie ever. I enjoyed it thoroughly because of the technical aspect of it all – Observation, casting accuracy and stealth were paramount for the rivers I scouted and fished. Splashing through the shallow tail-outs and crashing through the bushes along the bank totally put fish off (Duh! LOL). Casting super tight to snags and losing lures was part of the game. I was surprised at how well they noticed even the slightest bit of movement and darted back into the logjams. Tuesday morning I left the house for the river with my 5’6” UL spinning combo, waders + boots, wading jacket, water + snacks, camera and a small box of spinners. Got to the river around 9am and like a sniper I slowly moved along the bank low to the ground…Footsteps light and silent, I managed to creep up through the bush 3-4ft behind a pair of birdwatchers who were also enjoying the wildlife along the river…They only realized I was there after I made my first cast and boy were they startled.LOL As with any other type of fishing, make the first cast count I was glad I did. Fish were going nuts eating bugs off the surface (I don’t know what kind they were)…Makes me wish I owned a 3-4wt fly rod . In any case they chased down my spinner and nailed it like a pike with violent strikes visible close to shore. Didn’t end up with any Nipigon river or Algonquin park sized monsters but they were all gorgeous fish nonetheless. Average size was 5-10 inches long. ATLANTIC or BROWN? Hehe…First one of these ever Got another Great morning to be out. Ended the day around lunch time. Got into plenty of fish but usually just 1 or 2 in each spot before having to hike to the next spot…Only blunder was realizing my can of DEET didn’t spray when I needed it to spray . I got violated by the black flies and mozzies Hopefully I’ll be able to get out for some resident browns and brookies this weekend…”Happy Mother’s day mom!…Here’s a few fish to clean and fry up”

But the question remains...Was it tasty? ***sharpening giant fillet knife and getting bow & arrows ready***

Congrats Skeeter on your first bow I'd be tempted to chuck a few spinners or kwikfish in that creek at night to see if there are any resident browns that live there...

Great report Ben! Nice little pike there...Haven't done the TO pike thing for a number of years - Might give it a try this season. See any carp? LOL