MJL

I've dropped my reels into d'Duffins and d'Don...I'm stuttering uncontrollably

With all the carp reports on here as of late, I was undecided on what I wanted to do today. Along with steelhead, carp are my other passion in life. This afternoon I hit up one river for a few hours to see if I could get into at least 1 more chrome bar of whoop-ass before finally retiring my steelhead kit for the spring season. Fished a few deep pools without luck and continued walking along the river. My only company for today was a chunky black squirrel which followed me everywhere (literally)…I think he wanted to get some of my almonds – I caught him going into my backpack trying to steal a granola bar. Continued walking (and walking some more) until I found a deep quiet pool. I lugged around 2 outfits with me today 1 – 13’6” float rod 2 – 7’ medium action spinning rod (for tossing spinners) Tried a few of my spinners without luck. I rigged up my float rod and put a live worm on the hook and within 5 drifts I hook into one. It tail-walks and darts around a few boulders – Even jumped almost as high as my head once. I managed to land it – Another person nearby took a picture for me Walked further downstream and found another pool. I tossed a spinner upstream and retrieved with the current. On my 4th cast, a fish smashes it. Somewhere inside is a size 2 Mepps The fishing in general was a little slow. I hooked and landed 4 bows during my time out (all around 4-7lbs). Also got into a couple salmon parr. Being the crazed nut who’s “last cast” is always the cast after the next cast, I do my “last cast for the day”…Float goes down and I hook a small bow about 3lbs on a small pink worm…Unfortunately it comes undone after 10 seconds or so. OK…Officially the last cast for real this time Cast out…Drift….Drift…Drift a little longer…Drift a little bit longer…Float goes down…FISH ON! The steelhead gods are telling me it’s best to end on a high note and it’s time to switch it up. I almost forgot how much of a handful carp are when you don’t have a net…Which I forgot at home this time… My steelhead season has mostly come to an end. I might do a trip or two to the Niagara for steelhead when my family decides to go over to Buffalo for some shopping – They drop me off at the river. For the immediate future, it’s hair rigs, bite alarms, rod pods, swingers, spods, boilies, feeders and 160lbs worth of corn Hello carp 2009 Hope you enjoyed

Great pictures Dmasse...Certainly a fantastic couple of days out on the water

Epic report Cookslav! I can't believe how red the meat is on those brookies. At first when I saw the zip-lock baggies, I thought you were using skeins for bait which were treated with pro-cure.LOL Thanks for sharing

It's not an algae bloom, it's the toxic gas produced by this fish farting Great report and pics Ben Thanks for sharing

Beauty bow there...Congrats

Looks like a great day out...Congrats on getting into them. Those bows are almost snake-like...They gotta be hankering for some munchies.

Congrats on getting your first pike and walleye! Interesting hold on the pike...For a few moments I thought you had fingers with superhuman gecko-like adhesion.

Great report and pics! Pike fishing without pliers...That made me cringe...Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Anyone who fishes pike with me knows I have a phobia when it comes to multiple treble hooks and toothy (and also very slimy) critters. With that said, I wouldn't mind having a go at the big mamma that took a few chunks out of that little one

Great catch Kelfun. Always nice getting a quiet stretch of river to yourself...When I'm alone, I always seem to find myself in a zen like state listening to nothing else but the birds, the river, and the wind while keeping a close eye on the float as I trot it down a current seam - That moment I find freedom

Fantabulous report Mike. Perhaps one of the greatest reports I’ve ever read on this forum. Fantastic photos too from both of you. Still have yet to catch a brookie but your pictures are certainly an inspiration to get out and try for them (sans the 2km portage).

If you're using boilies, that could be a reason why. Generally boilies sort out the larger fish (At least in my experience). Some swims also just seem to attract larger than average sized fish during the year. At one point in time, a few swims in the Kawarthas produced an average size of 22-25lbs and a few places in Hamilton always used to produce fish of at least 18lbs. If you fish almost every other lake, river, pond or creek, you're bound to get something smaller.LOL

Big Congrats Beauty piece of steel...You never forget your first one.

Now you've gone and done it...You just dropped the C-bomb on me! Great catches for the both of you Cliff, you've been spoiled with all the monsters you've caught in the past...You do realize that a 26" carp is the average size of carp in Canada.LOL Looks like I'll be cooking up some bait real soon...Hopefully I'll be out in your neighbourhood during this week if I get the car.

Thanks guys for the comments We were waiting for you guys for ages on the path...Not sure what path you took down river...Were you even at the right river? LOL

Great report and thanks for sharing. Can't imagine what it must be to live around all that gorgeous scenery with mint wild fish like those. I'm so tempted to pack my things and head north for a spur-the-moment road-trip

That's a fantastic week by any standard. Gorgeous fish! I know a couple other anglers (myself included) itching to get down to Hammy harbour for the big girls. The giant corn has worked quite well for me in most places I fish too. Fish just love it.

Left the house at 6:30am…Pulled out of the driveway and got to the end of the street…Did a u-turn back home to see if I remembered to close the garage door…The garage door was closed but have you ever had a feeling that your mojo was running close to empty? I sure did… Hit up one trib this morning for a couple of hours. From the start I was plagued by a massive run of 6-10 inch salmon smolts heading down to the lake. It didn’t matter which pool, run or riffle you drifted in - They were there. It also didn’t matter if your bait happened to be an 8 inch pink worm as thick as a pencil – They took it. I landed 2 small bows in between the whack of mini salmon. First bow of the day which fell to an 8 inch pinky. For size comparison, the reel in the pic is 4 inches in diameter…She was 1 greedy bugger.LOL Decided to check out another river to see if I could escape the voracious salmon smolts. Hopped into the car and off I went. Got to the parking lot at trib #2, popped open the trunk to get my stuff…Closed the trunk. Hopped into the car to head back to trib #1 to get my net which I left leaning against a tree at one pool. Picked up my net at trib #1 and went back to trib #2. 2nd drift in with a white rubber worm and presto, Fish On! Fought a large chrome hen for about 2 minutes and then the hook popped out…Crap! Drift #3 yields the same result of a big chrome fish spitting the hook after a short fight. Spent 3 hours fishing and banked 2 small bows and a bucket-load worth of smolts. In the afternoon I hit up river #3. Water was low and clear. Seems most of the fish were flushed further downstream from the rain we had during the week – That’s OK, I’d definitely settle for a brown or a brookie which also inhabit that particular stretch of river. It’s also quite scenic too and the trilliums (I think) were in full bloom. Are these fiddleheads? I walked 2.5km down the river to see if I could tempt at least 1 more fish before I left for home. Found some deeper pocket water and first drift in, FISH ON! It turned out to be a jumbo creek chub that smashed my fly - A beadhead mylar shell-back nymph (Don’t know the official name for the fly but that’s what I call it). On 34 drifts, I managed 34 creek chubs – A new personal record The magic fly The 35th drift yielded a quite different result. Float goes down in the same spot it always had before and I set the hook into something very solid…Snag?...Feels like it…It’s moving! A beast of a steelhead took the fly and for 6 minutes it leaps, bull-dogs and tail-walks across the surface. It starts going down river and I follow it… Wait for it… INTO THE RIVER! I slipped on an algae covered rock only to find myself on my ass with water slowly seeping into top of my waders. Soaking wet, I reel the fish in, bend down and tail the beast…Doing so, I hear a “kerplunk” & "Splash"…Yup, my cell phone and a spool of Drennan fluoro fell out of my jacket and made their way down to the bottom of the river – Got both back in the end. Snapped a quick picture of the beast before it swam off I spent the rest of the afternoon drying off and basking in the sun. Semi-nude, I managed 2 more bows (approx 5 & 7lbs) – I didn’t take pics of these…This is a family site. To put things in perspective, GCD wears more clothes in his reports than what I had on On the way back to the car along the path, I ran into fellow OFNer, Jet and chatted with him and the 2 lady anglers that accompanied him – You lucky dog you.LOL Andrew, It was great meeting you. Finally got back to the car and made my way home…Stopped at a red-light, I see a sign for cheap High-speed Internet…Being the nerd that I am (addicted to the daily Jumble), I try finding words that can be spelled using the letters found in “INTERNET”…There’s “In”, “Tern”, “Teen”, “Rent”, “net”… “NET!!!” 10 minutes away from the river, I pulled over to the side of the road, popped the trunk open and you guessed it…No net. Drove back to the river, walked 2.5km through the bush to get it and walked 2.5km back to the car. Tired as ever. Cell phone is drying out (hopefully it will still work). Waders + wading jacket + fleece jacket are drying out…I need a drink Hope you enjoyed

Nice fish. Good job on the spinner. Riverwoodies? From thinking about scantily clad lady anglers in waders using 13'6" float rods and custom centrepins

Beautiful fish and great pics! Love the colours on those fish. Funny you should mention the bird-songs early in the morning. On one river I fish, you can fish from 12am till the birds start singing (anywhere from 4:30am to 6am) and not get a hit. As soon as you hear the birds start chirping, the steelhead start hitting. It's uncanny. On another note, do you have or have you ever played around with a polarizing filter on your camera? A lot of the pics I tried taking similar to yours usually have copious amounts of reflection off the water making it hard to see anything underneath the surface - Even if it's just a few inches deep.

Nicely done. Looks like a fun day out. The Rapala J-13 is one of my favourite lures to use. I've caught salmon, pike, big brown trout, steelhead, big smallies and even a suicidal rock bass on the firetiger colour.

Congrats stout fellow...Great pics and very nice fish Especially love the release shots.

Those are huge grayling I've always wanted to try fly fishing for them and getting one on a dry fly. Even with the bridge in the background, the scenery is pretty sweet. Those fish are absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for sharing

Sweet fish Stonefly...Great pics too. Congrats

Dude! That's awesome! Great report and pics. Those are super fat fish. That action shot of the pike jumping is worthy of being in a fish-porn calendar of some sort.