MJL

Whatever species of hawk it is, it's definitely not a bird I see in my neighbourhood very often. In terms of coolness, this encounter is up there with the time I found an injured nighthawk on my driveway - we took it to the animal shelter in a shoe box. On that note I'm hoping to get more into nature photography this year while I'm out fishing. Thanks again for your comments

Great report cliff...Looks like mad fun...Maybe one day I'll take up ice fishing.

My uncle has one on his TV.LOL One of my friends had a saltwater aquarium and had a boxfish in his tank. He tried playing with it just like in the video clip and it ended up poisoning everything in the tank.

Some things that come to mind - Giant catfish of the Mekong - Beluga sturgeon of Russia - Sharks across the globe (over harvest) - Probably the easiest to write about

Here's one more pic that I had to crop and brighten with Photoshop. Followed it into my neighbour's back yard. It wasn't very big. Probably about the size of a crow. I just looked at Ohiofisherman's link and the juvenile coopers hawk and sharp-shinned hawk look the same.LOL Thanks guys for the replies

A few weeks ago I was shoveling the snow off my driveway and in the corner of my eye, saw something chasing a flock of small birds. Didn’t really pay too much attention till I turned around again and saw a hawk sitting on my neighbour’s tree. Called my dad to get his camera and I snapped away. I’ve seen a few hawks in my neighbourhood soaring overhead but never seen one this close. Also could explain why we don’t see the rabbit that use to visit our veggie garden anymore. Just wondering what kind of hawk is it?

I guess you're not going to say that these pics aren't photoshopped.LOL Interesting colour choices for sure. Also has a superman thing going on as well as a combination of Ronald McDonald meets the smurfs.

Great report and definitely a well deserved catch. Kudos for toughing it out. Hopefully this winter I'll get down there for some steelhead fun.

You can try shooting Paul Castellano a PM (User name: Cast Adventures) for some info on what fly gear you might need. I've only fished the Niagara for steelhead in spring (float fishing) and from what I can gather, you probably should have some heavy sink tips or shooting heads and/or heavy shots on hand. One of my friends fly fishes the Niagara but uses a 14' 9wt spey rod the majority of the time matched with shooting heads. Not sure how much space there is for a backcast down in the gorge - You might have to learn to roll or spey cast before you go.

Great acquisition Kemper. Hard to go wrong with a Raven. Victor, maybe this year you can try getting your tongue stuck to the Aventa

I’ve been to the BPS a couple times and Cabelas once – Only been to the Gander Mountain near Buffalo. The only things I ever seem to get in Michigan are Shimano reels and PowerPro. At the time were significantly cheaper – PowerPro was ½ the price in Michigan than it was in Ontario. Didn’’t really find anything else that was cheaper than what I normally find at LeBarons. Like Rattletrap2 mentioned, I also wasn’t very impressed with Cabelas stock. Hunting, clothing and camping sections were decent but in general the fishing stock was low. The uber large brown and rainbow trout swimming in the ponds were neat though – Even had vending machines with fish food to feed them. Definitely prefer the BPS over Cabelas. I’ve been to the outlet mall in Birchrun a couple times. Good number of places to peruse. I stock up on Columbia fishing T-shirts every time I go. Definitely prefer shopping in Michigan than I do in Buffalo.

You could also try using a light gun oil to lube the bearings if you have sewing machine oil.

Islander has my vote as a bullet proof reel to last. A solid, well made reel that’s easy to maintain. I’ve taken spills with it and dropped it but my Islander keeps on ticking. There’s always a few used ones floating around somewhere usually for $200-$300 (or less) and they’re usually in great condition. A few years ago, some places use to retail them for $300-$325 brand new. I think the ones with the bearing upgrades are around $100 more (at least the one’s I’ve seen for sale). Great customer service too, my friend lost his reel pouch for a fly reel and they sent him one for free.

From what I was told by the customer service guy, it was more of a flats spinning rod for bigger fish like tarpon, permit, cudas, etc. Definitely not a surf casting rod. Albright has these to cover that: http://www.albrighttackle.com/conventional...rf-casting.html

With everyone sharing their new steelheading kit as of late, I thought I’d share a pic of some bits of tackle I just picked up today. A rare find (at least for me), I picked up 5 new Olympique spinners from the local tackle shop. Found them tucked away in a dark corner of a reel case – They were the last ones. The shop-keep gave me a good discount to take them off his hands figuring that no one else would ever buy them. I can’t remember the last time I saw these for sale in shops. I actually can’t remember ever seeing them for sale anywhere. A few of the older anglers told me they used to get them back in the 70’s (before my time). My uncle Mark gave me 1 of these spinners along with a few other lures for my 5th birthday. I caught my first steelhead the following spring on the spinner when my uncle took me to the Ganaraska to fish for some silver bass – Certainly a welcome surprise and no doubt the moment that got me hooked into steel. Over the years I’ve purchased less than a handful old and tarnished Olympique spinners off fisherman who no longer use hardwear (or gave up the game completely). I always seem to have great success with these lures…At least till they end up in snags. Can’t wait to use these babies, I’m sharpening them at this very moment!

Great post My sister also has a phobia of birds. When we were kids, one sharpshooting seagull dropped a bomb right on her head. She doesn't fish or like the outdoors anymore.

Definitely a beauty piece. Let's see some Christening pics! As far as letting the wifey know, it's always great to stick words like "discount" or "fire sale" into the sentence. Or "It costs less than the price of a cup of coffee per day" without actually taking into account the length of time needed to acquire the equivalent funds. It's always worth more than what you paid

Albright tackle has an 8'3" travel spinning rod for $100. http://www.albrighttackle.com/conventional-rods-spining.html As for blanks, Lamiglas also has an 8'6" travel blank that should fit your needs. They also do the same blanks as finished rods as well. http://www.lamiglas.com/blank_indiv.php?groupid=55 Hope this helps

Congrats on the purchase. Definitely a fine piece that should last you a lifetime worth of memories + more Not always the case...I got my reel in stealth fighter black to remain invisible in the woods

This illustrates exactly the reason for trotting. The fact that your float is a head of the bait indicates that there is a difference between the speed of the surface currents and the bottom currents. If you have the float proceeding the bait, because of the variance between surface currents you are inevitably drifting the bait faster than the speed of the bottom current (where steelhead usually rest and feed) - Hence you are drifting your bait unnaturally downstream. In situations where there is a great difference between the speed of the surface currents and the bottom current, your bait may actually lift out of the ‘zone’ when it’s being ‘taken along for the ride’. In shallower runs and riffles, you may also spook fish with the float + shots + swivels + line. I’d rather the fish sees the bait before any of the terminal tackle.

Can’t say I agree with that. Trotting or putting a slight brake on the reel will slow the float down. As Paulus mentioned, surface currents are faster than bottom currents. You can manipulate shotting patterns to overcome this but you could also trot the reel. Heavy trotting at the end of the drift will cause the bait to rise up in the water column (many fish find it irresistible and hit the bait on the rise). If anything, trotting also helps to REMOVE slack from the mainline where in many instances, the momentum of the reel turning is actually faster than the current pulling line off the reel – Hence slack is created. Setting the hook to fast in any situation can cause a missed fish and a torn roe bag.

Great pics Cliff. Love the vintage pics.

Can't go wrong with an AngSpec if you've got the $ As far as the 20th anniversary model, you should probably put your name on the list soon if you want one for $1200...In a few years when they release the numbers 1-10, they'll be selling for significantly more I had an Islander for the last 6yrs and have no complaints about startup or durability. Easy to do maintenance on should you take a spill into a muddy river - All you need handy is a coin. If anything, I'd prefer if the back wasn't ported so junk wouldn't get in. Also in Ontario, you definitely don't need the line capacity which it has. IMO its the best bang for the buck at around $325. I've been using a 4" offset Angspec for the last 2 seasons. Performs beautifully and does everything I want a reel to do - Actually one of the few reels in 4" that I could find locally. Definitely not a reel you want to do maintenance on at the river. Best word of advice is play around with a few reels on the water to get a good feel on how they perform. The local anglers at Duffins used to call me the reel rapist when I would take their outfits for a spin

Brilliant! Definitely want to hook into at least 1 bonefish in my lifetime. Congrats on the baby.

I would guess he was talking about fly fishing and 'swinging' for steelhead. 1/4 cast downstream on a fixed length of line and swing the fly across. Manipulate the depth you fish the fly by either leading the line with the rod (which will make the fly go deeper) or by holding back on the drift (which will cause the fly to rise in the water column). Finish up with the fly directly downstream from you and strip the fly a bit - often times steelhead will chase the fly right into shore on the dangle. Try casting out at progressively farther distances and then take a step downstream and repeat. This is my preferred method of fly fishing for steel because you can evoke a very aggressive response from fish. Not overly effective in super cold conditions where nymphing or dead drifting is probably a better technique to use - when it comes to these conditions I normally float fish. For dead-drifting or nymphing, you could also cast downstream but most people cast upstream and drift the fly as naturally as they can back downstream. Although you might think of slack as something bad in river fishing, it can be beneficial in fly fishing to create a drag free drift in moving water. Currents will move fly line creating bows in the line (between you and the fly) which will cause the fly to race downstream faster than the speed of the current. By introducing slack into the line (via mending) you can prolong the length of the drift whereby your fly travels downstream without any drag or unnatural movements. As far as float fishing goes, I always cast either directly across from me or slightly downstream - I use a centrepin which is easier for me to drift like this. If I'm going to get snagged up, it's going to be downstream of me and I stand a better chance of getting my rig back than if it were upstream of me. Sometimes going upstream to retrieve a snag is not possible.