MJL

Prayers be with your brother and your family John. Sending all the positive Mojo your way.

I have the Mustang Atlantic Class survival suit - I always wear it when I'm out on the ice. I haven't had to test its floating capabilities yet in the 6yrs that I've owned it. It's fairly lightweight for what it is compared to most suits out there. Keep in mind that the outer material is not waterproof and overall, it's not all that breathable unless you're unzipped (you will feel the moisture inside after a long trek on the ice).

When you're the smallest/lightest guy in the group, let the biggest/fattest guys go first and watch from a distance

The market on discontinued centerpin reels really fluctuates. The past few years, the market has really softened even for the usual collectible pieces. My first ever centerpin was a 3 3/4" Hardy Silex - I was about 8 or 9yrs old. I slipped and fell and landed on the reel - the center spindle was seriously bent. It's somewhere in my basement in a box. At the time, used Hardy Silex reels could be found for 20-50 British Pounds. Today, there are not that many fully caged centerpin reels that are still being made. John Milner's Talisman reel is the only one that I know of right now that you can actually order brand new today. I'm sure if you put your reel up on Ebay, you'd get some decent offers from the guys on the west coast.

I was once told that the makers of the Clough float reel had a hard time selling all 100 reels they made. A good number of reels went to the west coast and were used as mooching reels. At the time they were sold, they were going for $610. Nowadays a well used one in the classifieds normally is in the $4000-$4500 range.

If I wasn't already saving up for a custom John Milner bushing Kingfisher, I would definitely consider it. I'm in the market for a good bushing reel for my west coast trips Aside from the guys collecting reels, there's not a huge amount of demand for a reel like that in Ontario. As Josh mentioned, it's a caged reel so side casting light rigs is definitely out of the question. I know a few guys in BC who would love to get their hands on a mint 4" Hardy Silex.

Sounds like you've got a centrepin reel...The Silex is a bushing centrepin reel that is still used by many west coast steelhead guys.

Brian I own both Milwaukee drills. I use the fuel for ice and my dad uses the other 550lb drill for his projects around the house. Used the fuel + clam conversion place + fin-bore all last winter. Made drilling holes for my underwater photography so much easier The drill + conversion plate weighs a lot less than a full blown gas auger. Not a huge deal if you're towing all the stuff behind a snowmobile or ATV. When you're walking 2-3km out in deep snow, ounces become pounds and pounds become pain.LOL I've seen a number of power augers fail out on the ice. If the drill fails, swap the drill out for your manual auger handle and you're still good to drill some holes.

From what I've read, 650lbs of torque seems like the bare minimum for an 8" auger bit. Kevin tried out a Milwaukee drill with 550lbs and it had a tough time cutting through ice with an 8" auger. Here's the video:

Last August/September my dad and I drove from Toronto to Vancouver (Canada on the way) and through the US on the return trip. If you'd like to see most of Canada, the mountains are a beautiful sight to see after driving hours through wheat and Canola fields.LOL

Aside from the Angling Specialties Anti-reverse float reel, the drags on every other centerpin reel are just glorified adjustable clickers. The reels with drags operate just like any other centerpin out there. You have free-spool and with the flick of a switch, you have drag-mode (which usually is adjustable). Not really any different than a reel without a drag - ie. Freespool mode and clicker mode.

170 minutes doesn't seem bad at all...Last weekend was a marathon before I hooked my first fish.LOL Nice catch!

I saw 300yard spools of Nanofil at BPS this summer...You never know when that fish of a lifetime will hit 3 football fields away

Brian, you could always just lay down beside the river. The sound of flowing water will soothe you to sleep Doesn't get any closer to the river than that! First crack at the prime pools!

Coyotes don't scare me. Only crazy ladies with shot guns scare me.LOL

Great Picture Cliff. I've been seeing more and more of them around along the rivers this year. Saw 2 big bucks in the middle of the road last weekend on my trip up to G-Bay - I thought they were going to fight right there till I honked at them.LOL

Congrats Paul Yesterday I was browsing the Indigo across from my work and picked up the magazine. I'm not much of a collector of reels but I do have some more ideas of what I'd like to own in the future because of this article.LOL

Nonsense! You just need bigger minnows

12lb Raven for me in either green or grey/blue. Lets me bump up to 8-10lb leaders when I need to without breaking off above the float. Fishes well and it's relatively cheap. I bought a used float reel a few weeks ago and it had a lime green mono line spooled on it (feels like 10lb). Wish I knew what it was but I like the way it fishes.

Brian, do you need a city boy to show you how it's done? Those are the standard Wiggle Warts. I had a few of the wee warts at one time but the fallen trees got them I tried them this weekend without luck. They don't wobble as easily as a Little Cleo due to the flatter profile - They aren't as curved as Little Cleos. I'm guessing they'll work a lot better in faster water on the swing (which is where I plan to mostly use them). Around Christmas time, I'm hoping to get another box of spoons in the bigger 2/5oz and 2/3oz sizes

As always, that was a great report Mike. This trip looks like something my dad would enjoy. He's been thinking of doing a fishing trip that's not overly far from home.

Amazing Drew. Last year I had the chance to fish for the sturgeon on the Fraser and I'm definitely itching to get back there again to get a bigger one. The power that those fish have is just incredible!

For the most part, when steelhead are fresh and aggressive (which is usually the case in the fall), they'll hit just about anything drifting downstream or moving across the river in front of them regardless of colour. When they hit, it's just total annihilation before they cartwheel 2 ft into the air, run 50 yards downriver and cartwheel some more Sometimes colour can make a difference. Last week, a K6 Skunk Kwikfish did most of the damage over the course of 2 days. I went back and forth between a myriad of different coloured Kwikfish and skunk was the only one that got me fish. In terms of top picks for hardware, it's hard to go wrong with a size 1-3 silver Mepps Aglia, Blue fox Vibrax or a Panther martin. K5-K7 Kwikfish in a few colours (depending on water clarity). 1.75"-2.5" crankbaits - Rapala shad raps, Floating original rapala, Rapala countdowns and Storm hot n tots have produced well for me in the past. Keep in mind that the factory hooks on most bass/walleye crankbaits suck when it comes to steelhead and you're better off upgrading them. I've used Little Cleos for steelhead quite a bit and have caught fish with them. I've had better luck with other spoons though. Last week I had to make room in the box for some spoons and spinners my friends on the West Coast sent me to try They're slightly smaller versions of what they normally use on the big rivers out there - They're silver and gold plated (silver/brass for the 50/50 spoons and copper for the copper ones). I mostly plan to try swinging them on faster moving rivers like the Niagara. I own a couple Big O's but never tried them for steelhead. I got a day off this week from work so who knows...

Fall is my most favourite time of the year...Autumn steelhead is what I live for When the water temps are up, I generally look for faster flowing water in rivers or places that slow them down on their way upstream - Of course large pools will always hold resting fish too. With warmer temperatures, fish generally have no problems blasting up river (unless they are stopped or slowed down/stopped by large dams, low water levels or extremely fast water). In the fall when temps are up, casting hardware or swinging flies is my preferred method of fishing. The strikes are just so savage. In my experience, when the temps are up, I catch more fish on hardware than I do drifting roe, beads, pink worms, etc below a float. Only when the temps drop do I see the opposite. Of course there are often exceptions to that and I normally carry both a float rod and a spinning rod on the river. There have been some days in winter where Kwikfish or spoons have out-produced everything else. And there have been many warmer days in fall where fish wouldn't touch anything other than roe. I carry a good assortment of hardware to the river - Spoons, Kwikfish/Flatfish, spinners, hotshots, various cranks all get used depending on the conditions. Here's a pic of one of my main hardware boxes that I carry with me:

We city boys had no problems landing them after a good Mcdonald's feast for lunch For the stretch we fished today, we were mostly sheltered and drifting/casting wasn't too bad...You gotta learn how to spey cast!