MJL

It helps if you don’t think of them as rotting. Think of them as ‘aging’…Like a fine wine or a premium cut of steak they only get better with time. Once they’re in the rivers, and they’re ‘angus black’, the meat just falls off the bone…No fillet knife required Mmmm…Finger lickin’ good The other 200 anglers I met at the Credit last week can't all be wrong

Awesome job Jacques They look like definite fish catchers to me. Very tempted to get into making my own plugs for steelhead...You're an inspiration...Or a bad influence depending on how addictive lure making really is

Totally agree. I really enjoyed myself down in Michigan when I went over with my family. Been to Auburn hills and the Birchrun outlet twice and been to the Cabelas on one of the trips. The fast-food restaurants (heck any restaurant) down there are insane! I don't like going over to Buffalo...On the bright side, when my family wants to go over to Buffalo, they drop me off at the Niagara river for the day before they cross the border

I've always been told that their diet of alewife out in Lake Ontario was the reason for their lighter coloured flesh.

Too amazing for words

Awesome Fidel! You don't need 8pc rods for concealment...4pc rods will do. Shove it down one pant leg and if the missus asks why you're walking funny, tell her you're packing some serious heat for later...Worked for me

That's what I was thinking too...Here's a link: http://www.uwsp.edu/wildlife/carnivore/hoaxes/Hoaxes.htm

Ditto A quick search on google has references to that pic coming from Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Illinois, east Texas, Virginia and now Peterborough, Ontario - Good to see Ontario made the list

DMASSE, I’m a little confused about the point you’re trying to get across. The year round sections for ALL durham region rivers (Ganny is part of Northumberland county) is the southern edge of the CNR bridge down to Lake Ontario (You have Bowmanville listed at hwy 2 south which is incorrect if you are referring to that as the year round section). The CNR bridge has always been the year round boundary for as long as I can remember fishing Durham region. There however exists an extended season for pacific salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout post Sept 30 to Dec 31 from the south side of highway 2 down to Lake Ontario for all rivers in Durham – Come January 1st 2010, you must fish all rivers in Durham region south of the CNR bridge till the trout season opener. The AND that you are referring to represents the transition point at which the year round section and the extended season section meet (that’s all).

Awesome catch! Cohos are one of my favourite fish to hook into. Great pics and report Funny you should mention green...A few years ago I tied up emerald green woolly buggers and spey flies just for the cohos that were stocked in the Humber. They would smash them without hesitation. Funny enough they wouldn't hit black, pink or chartreuse which everyone else was throwing for them. Some of the salmon trollers I meet in the harbours also recommend anything red when green isn't working...Maybe they're colour blind.LOL

For me in the instance where my reel has nothing on it: I normally fill my spool ½ way with fly line backing. Then put 75-100 yards of mono for my mainline. Rig up my float (and whatever split shots) on the mono mainline tie a swivel at the end and then tie my leader onto the swivel. I don’t use Hi-Vis lines but some people who do put a low-vis “shot line” beneath their float and attach it via a blood knot, double surgeon’s knot or swivel. With the tangles you're getting, are they problems with line twist? If so, it could be the way you spool line onto your reel or how you cast. I spool my reel up much like a baitcaster. Stick a pencil through the spool of line so that the spool is "standing" upright (not laying flat as seen when spooling up a spinning reel). I have the line coming off the bottom of the line spool so that it winds onto the reel spool without twisting. If you're side-casting, as Bill mentioned, that's a guarantee for line twist.

Great catch man Funny you should mention DD spoons...My friend swears by the yellow 5 of Diamonds and he catches insane numbers of steelhead off the pier and in the estuaries. Who'd thought? LOL

I’ve played around with tons of difference scents for my steelhead fishing (Perhaps this stems from my carp fishing background). I remember trying out scents made by Dr. Juice, Yum, Kickin’ trout, Berkley, Mike’s gel scent, cod liver oil and even some homemade ones where I put some frozen herring, cocktail shrimp and a can of tuna into a blender and pureed it into a mush and soaked my lures in it. In my experience they do work to some degree. I remember smearing some Dr. Juice stuff onto my Kwikfish and watching salmon in the rivers nose up to it and even mouth it a couple times which they hadn’t done for hours prior to adding scent. 2 guys I used to fish steelhead with had jobs that involved chemicals. One was a verminator who sprayed for roaches and the other pumped gas part time. They never used to catch a lot – I was thinking the chemicals got onto their baits. A few sprays with the Yum garlic scent and they were immediately into action. Ironically for my own carp fishing, I haven’t found adding flavours (like strawberry, vanilla, pineapple) to my bait to be all that advantageous.

You lucky buzzard! Those pinks are gorgeous. Good show When I was going through university, my after class (or in between class) haunt was the Humber river next to downtown Toronto. The number of snaggers, poachers, anglers with no sense of river etiquette, homeless people, shopping carts, drug dealers, people who enjoyed making out in their cars in the parking lot, teens who liked to throw rocks off high bridges at anglers and other shady characters rivaled that of the numbers of steelhead going up

My uncle used to take me to that same spot when I was a kid to watch the salmon jumping at that weir. Last time I took a walk there (a couple years ago), there were fences around it to prevent people from going into a situation like what you described. A great story Harrison and an amazing thing your dad did for that kid. I’ve only seen the odd person take a spill into a river, sometimes they’d walk into a deep hole and float down river a few meters or so till they got to the shallow tail-out. Even saw kids get pulled in by large salmon and carp but never had to witness or help out someone in the midst of drowning – Hope I never have to. Thanks for sharing

I’ve had success using the little Berkley trout worms. I’ve used the standard 3 inch worms in pink, white, red, chartreuse, cheese and natural – I’ve caught on all colours except the natural brown. I also bought 4 inch Berkley pink worms from LeBarons years ago and caught shed-loads of fish on those – They are quite a bit thicker in diameter than the 3 inch ones. I haven’t seen the 4 inch ones in stores for a while. I’ve used the soft plastic worms designed for the bass anglers (6-8 inches) and caught a few fish on them as well. So far the biggest plastic worm I’ve been able to land steelhead on was an 8 inch pink worm with the hook and leader threaded through via a baiting needle. Haven’t tried any of the gulp worms but might give it a go next season. In spring time and throughout the fall, I rarely (if ever) leave home without cobra sized nightcrawlers which I pick from my lawn at night. The live red worms also rock too when the water is super clear. In general, steelhead love worms of all types.

Awesome job Jaden...Beauty bass for sure. You rock! Great pike Monique

Awesome pics generously proportioned This past weekend, Victor was curled up in the fetal position and mumbling "when is my new camera coming" over and over again. Perhaps when he sees this thread it will drive him even more insane

Awesome catch Tibbs. Congrats. In the fall I catch tons of steelhead smolts heading down to the lake (some as big as the one you caught). I know some guys who target them specifically during the salmon run with ultra-lites and light action fly rods with dry flies. Mad fun going for them. That's a beauty bow Fidel. Well done

Congrats Doc Ditto on that!

I fished pier 4 a couple weeks ago. I did see quite a bit of scum literally glowing underwater. At the fish-in that weekend, I vividly remember someone telling me that the blue-green algae is Earth's home grown version of kryptonite. Swimming in it will give you super human strength Or diarrhea

Last night both Victor and I were free. I had on good authority that a few fresh chinnies and a good run of browns were starting to make their way up one river. Victor having not yet landed a salmon before was dying to give it a go. Last year when I took him, he got his first taste of salmon when he lost 2 off the pier which literally DESTROYED him. Earlier this year I promised I would get him into some more before year end. I took Victor to a spot not far from the river mouth. Sure enough we could see some fish rolling about in the wide, deep pool. The whole night we had that pool to ourselves and could fish in peace. Quite a number of fish were leaping clear out of the water with lampreys still attached. Victor wasn’t getting any hookups. I managed to land a few fish on bags of skein scrape. Also managed to break the tip of my 13’6” Raven IM9 while fighting a fish – Took 10 inches off the top when I walked into a tree but I guess I turned it into a pretty sweet chinny stick with even more backbone. After a long night of sheer persistence, Victor finally landed his first ever salmon. Sort of… Victor unhooking the beast Victor’s hero shot Who says Catch, Fillet & Release doesn’t work?

Well done Ryan. Congrats! That's one beauty brownie for sure

Energy drinks, coffee, caffeinated pop drinks, drinks high in sugar and snacks high in sugar seem to have the opposite effect on me. I might get a rush for 20-30 seconds after I drink any of them but after that I crash and I’m even more tired than before I drank the stuff. When I’m participating in one of the marathon type carp fishing tournaments (48hrs or more) or I’m doing a marathon type fishing session, I find I can do 2.5 straight days fairly easily without sleep or coffee – I do crash on the third day. University was the same. When I’m fishing, I don’t drink anything else but water and I usually don’t eat very much. Sleep is sooo overrated

For $200 a used Islander gets my vote. If you can find one, G. Loomis or Tournament Drifter reels (Essentially the exact same reel with a different name stamped on the backplate) are also nice if you don’t mind the heavier weight or the positioning of the handles. You could also look at Okuma’s 2 reels (Aventa and Sheffield) for around $150 to $250 new depending on where you get it. Both seem to be good reels for the price. In terms of features, most of it comes down to how well it feels in your hands when taped or screwed onto your rod. I personally don’t enjoy using some of the reels where the handles are too close to the rim (Like most JW Young models) or too close together (Loomis) - They are great performing reels though. In terms of performance, how long it spins after you give it a good whirl is not of huge importance unless you plan on batting the reel to retrieve your float + rig all the time. Regardless of how long you can spin the reel for, reels should start to spin with very little effort to get it to go (commonly referred to as “start-up”). Hope this helps