MJL

Great report and pics...All of them beauty fish.

Top Angling

Great work and kudos to all those involved.

Since when did Spiel own an Islander? j/k Congrats on the new reel. Islanders are smooth sexy workhorses.

Looks like you had a great day out. Great catch and the fish are all beauties. Although the fish are on the smaller size, I bet they were a blast to hook

Top Angling

Great catch C&C

I think carp are beautiful fish...The Japanese told me so.LOL

If you think about it, some people spend tens of thousands of $ on a single koi for their pond...Carp aren't that different.

Beauty fish! Nothing better than a fresh trout meal. You certainly found a gem of a fishing spot.

Top Angling

On another note, how big on average do those resident browns get on average - What's a big resident fish? I've occasionally caught them by accident while fishing for steelhead. Never really tried to fish for them. That brown in the pic seems pretty big compared to what I've caught in the past.

Every year my dad and I head out on the opener to fish for steelhead…This year was no exception. We got to the river at 3am. My dad slept in the car for a couple hours and I fished in the darkness hoping to tempt at least 1 fish to bite. My main mission this trip was to christen my new float rod, “The Molting Diamondback” seen in this post:

http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.p...;hl=diamondback

And my dad wanted to break-in his little new Daiwa spinning reel on some steel.

At around 5:15am I hooked into my first steelhead of the year – The headshakes and speedy runs were orgasmic. A minute later it broke the 6lb leader and headed back downstream…$h@+!

It’s been exactly 1 yr since I fought my last steelhead – I caught my last steelhead on last year’s opener. I was so rusty this morning.

My dad shows up to the pool I’m fishing and hooks on a roe bag. On his first drift, he ties into a fish. His reel sings for about 5minutes and it finally comes to hand – A fish of about 5-6lbs.

5 minutes later, I hook onto an identical twin of my dad’s fish. It tail walks across the river, does a cartwheel and goes ballistic around the pool. 5 minutes of playing the fish I grab its tail and my dad removes the hook...I christened the Molting Diamondback.

Between 5:15 to about 8:30 I landed 3 or 4 fish and lost 4-5 fish. Talking with some of the other anglers walking by, they also didn’t hook into very many fish compared to prior openers. Despite the lack of numbers, the warmer temps we’ve had the past couple of weeks turbo charged these fish. Almost all the fish hooked this morning by anglers went airborne and were a total blast to fight.

We had camera problems all morning. Despite having half a dozen fresh batteries, the camera gave us low battery warnings and turned off on us on several occasions we tried to take pics. Looks like it may be time to invest in a new point-and-shoot camera

A couple pics we did manage to snap

Early morning fish

The molting Diamondback putting the boots to a fish.

At 10am the roe, worm, fly and jig bite had died down. I grabbed my 7’ Shimano Compre spinning rod, my baby 2000 Stradic loaded with 8lb mono and tied on a silver mepps spinner. I casted it upstream and retrieved it with the current. This beauty hen nailed it and went nuts before being brought to hand for a pic. The spinner still dangling from its yap.

In the afternoon we headed to another section of the river downstream. I hooked into a couple more bows and lost them but much of the time was spent hauling in chub after chub.

Although we didn’t get into a huge number of fish (If you don’t count the creek chubs), I still had a blast. It was great to feel the powerful headshakes of steel again after so long. I was impressed with the performance of the new rod and my dad is still drooling over how well his little Daiwa reel worked. The shoulders and wrist are sore but it’s all good.

On a more personal note, my hard work at school and my sabbatical away from steelhead for the last year did not come unrewarded. I checked my school marks when I got home and it looks like I’ll be on the Dean’s list for the 2nd straight year and in a position to graduate with marks good enough to get into most MBA or Masters program in Canada in the future (If I decide to go). With that said, I’m unofficially done school and hopefully this opener was just a taste of more to come.

Hope you enjoyed

I'll pass on fishing Sunday so I can watch the race and wait for the "big one". Yep I gotta be crazy to put Nascar before fishing.

We own a VCR...USE IT!

That thing is almost as big as my head...You'd have to be a snake and unhinge your jaws to take a bite out of that

Nicely done with the Q

My first opener was spent bottom bouncing pocket water of the Ganaraska with a short fiberglass rod, a reel with a sticky drag, a split shot crimped up the line and a roe bag impaled on a size 10 hook. You have a great list of equipment and tackle that you will no doubt enjoy using. Everything you have will help towards catching steelhead and trout. Actually it doesn’t look very different from what I carry in my wading jacket.

You don’t need tackle in the quantity that I have them in. I’ve accumulated a lot of gear over the years and have done a good deal of tackle scrounging in a couple of rivers during the summer when the water was low.

Floats – I usually stock up on floats because I know in one way or another, at least some will end up in trees and shrubs either behind me or on the far bank. I prefer balsa ones like you have but also have a few clear plastic ones as well for clear water.

Terminal tackle and other bits and bobs of stuff

- Left – Egg sucking jigs I tied myself…Riverwood makes commercially available ones in a variety of colours and sizes…I think Raven does as well. Often times jigs catch when nothing else does.

- Center – Soft plastic tubes; tinsel jigs my friend made for me; spinner blades in size 1-3, clevises and brass, gold and silver beads. The spinner parts are for swinging un-weighted spinners down and across pools and in front of log jams and snags. I got the parts from Angling Specialties.

- Right – Split shot and hooks in a few sizes

Additional soft plastics

Leader material

I carry an assortment. I have them from 3.4lb all the way up to 20lb. I fly fish so I need heavier ones to create leaders which can turn over heavy split shot. 4-6lb is a good all round leader strength for clear water

Hardware

A few banana baits - They work great for teasing steelhead out of logjams.

Spinners in size 1-4, spin-n-glows, more un-weighted spinner parts and nifty fishy looking spinners (TBH I haven't used these fishy spinners before...They just look so neat)

A few flies I just finished – I swing the bushy and fury ones (left) on my fly rod, I fish the small bugs (right) under the float. Mostly woolly buggers, stoneflies, caddis larvae (or pupae…I’m not exactly sure), prince nymphs, egg patterns in this box…I’ll still tie a few more before the opener.

There’s a wide variety of baits, lures and techniques you can try. I always have a bottle of roe in my pocket and I always carry a few small trout worms in a small container. Definitely bring the camera and your licence.

Hope this has helped.

Like you I'm pumped

Damn straight!

I've been looking forward to this weekend for the last 6-7 months. For me the opener is like Christmas...Always has been, probably always will be. This past week I spent tying flies, greasing a couple spinning reels, Re-spooling my fly and centrepin reels, sharpening hooks on my spinners and Kwikfish, etc.

2yrs ago I got severe withdrawal symptoms the day before the opener and wrote this:

‘Twas the night before trout season and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The waders and vests were put together with care

In hopes that the steelhead would still be there.

Little Mikey was lying awake in his bed,

While visions of steelhead danced in his head

Johnny stroking his spey rod and Dad with his cap

Dreaming of that moment when they could feel a fish’s hard tap

Too excited to sleep Mikey began to tie flies

With many different patterns, nymphs, buggers and dries

Marabou and chenille and a generous dosing of yarn

Hoping that steelhead would succumb to their charm

There were leeches, muddlers, matukas and scuds

Popsicles, clousers, Mickey-fins and glo bugs

Wake-N-bakes, bombers and other various dries

They all attract steelhead, from deep in their lies.

Johnny awoke, also too excited to sleep

He rigged up his spey rods in which he could dredge the deep

Sink tips and shooting heads and split shot galore

No steelhead could hide even those hugging the floor

There were twelve rods together of all models and makes

All back-ups in case, one of them breaks

There were Thomas and Thomas, Loomis, St. Croix and Sage

All of them beefy to control steelhead in rage

All of the rods could launch a wet Popsicle with ease

Even in rain, or in a stiff breeze

Eight weights, nine weights and a couple of tens

Hoping they’ll be tested, by monstrous hens

Dad (a float fisherman) woke up to tie spawn

Hoping to entice, a few fish at dawn

Three salmon eggs placed in the center of the bag

His recipe with fish scent makes anyone gag

Dad rigged up his float rod a Frontier 13

The rod had a black blank with guide wraps of green

It was his beloved float rod in which he placed on his ‘pin

An Islander Steelheader, a reel with great spin

Not to be forgotten the spinners and spoons

Cleos and Gibbs, Mepps, double loons

Marabou jigs and some made of fur

Hoping that steelhead would give them a stir

Finally dawn broke Mikey, Johnny and Dad jumped in the car

Hitting the Notty which wasn’t too far

Hoping the fish-gods would be on their side

At the end of the day, they’ll be grinning with pride.

Happy and safe opener to all

MJL

 

Walked the credit from Burnhamthorpe down today - armed with my camera looking for some nature

 

very suprised to see how low and clear the water had got in last 2-3 days. Almost looked like summer

When I first got there I was thinking the opposite...At least compared to some of the tribs I scouted last week. In either case, some rain wouldn't hurt. The summery weather was nice though and it sounded like the frogs were getting it on.

isn't it great to get out after being in school for so long?

It's FREAKIN' GREAT!

Great Catch!

Methinks I may have to wet a line there in the very near future. I've got 10lbs of boilies just waiting to be used and a new carp rod waiting to be Christened. Trout opener coming up and carp swimming about...I'm getting over stimulated. My Mikey senses are tingling!

Victor's nightly ritual of hitting the refresh button begins!

It’s about bloody time!

Today my dad had to drop off a reel at Aikmans in Mississauga for servicing and what better opportunity to go for a walk on a couple western tribs? Went for a short stroll at the Credit this afternoon and took a few drifts to dust off an old centrepin I rarely use now. Didn’t spend too much time there but enjoyed just being beside the water and getting my daily dose of vitamin D. I got a few nibbles from small river fish but didn’t land anything or hook into anything substantial.

A couple pics of the river

Fishing some pocket water

View upstream

Decided to stop in at the Humber river before heading back home. I only had an hour to fish it before we had to pick up my sister from work. The hour was worth it. It’s been a rough 7 months since I last hooked into a fish, so when I saw that float go down I was ecstatic…My first fish of 2008 turned out to be a creek chub about the size of my hand – I didn’t take a pic.

I caught one more chub after that and finally caught something a little more substantial.

It took a small live trout worm under a float. It didn’t fight particularly well nor was it very big, but at least it was a fish. From the looks of it, there weren’t many fish to be had in that stretch of river beyond chub and shiners - Most anglers weren't catching anything. A great day in general (weather wise) and I really enjoyed fishing both the Credit and Humber – It’s been about 3-4yrs since I fished either so it felt good getting reacquainted with both rivers after so long. Now that I’m finally done university, I can concentrate more on my fishing – Especially getting back into steelhead. Only 3 more sleeps till the opener…Can hardly wait.

Fantastic catch. Regardless of size, it's no doubt a special fish.

A stunning fish.

Congrats

Thoughts and prayers be with you

Never give up and Believe

Beauty fish! You never forget about your first steelie.

As for the rod, I think Raven makes one called the Matrix. It's 12'6" or so and I think it retails for around $120 or $130 before tax. I've only played around with it in the store. It's slightly heavier in weight than most float rods on the market but I imagine it would handle steelhead of any size in this province...It probably would survive nicely against trees and shrubs which newbies tend to walk into with rods over 10' (first hand experience ) I think I saw someone selling their 13'6" Okuma for around $60 at one time in the Classifieds. Those are just a couple more options to add to your list.

Beauty fish and great report

Love the 2nd pic. Definitely worthy of being in a magazine or the Toronto Bread calendar.

Angling Specialties in Scarborough

Tragic what happened. I was probably fishing the same hole the day before. Always use caution when wading.

Great catch, great report

Top angling

Happy B-day Bill!

All the best to you

Great report!

Love the colours on those bluegills

Top angling

I use my old line as backing on my reels. I have about 30 yards of old 10lb Berkley XT on my little Stradic as backing to which I attach PowerPro. I have about 70 yards of old line on my big-pit/surf casting reels...I don't need to fill them with 400 yards of premium line which I'll most likely never see.

There's other uses for old lines

- With mono, cut them into tiny pieces, take a lighter, blob both ends and now you have eyes for small fly patterns like scud, shrimp, crab and crayfish imitations.

- Use them for hair rig materials as bly mentioned provided they're still in decent condition

- Use them as leader/tippet material when you're learning how to fly cast on grass or pavement

Quantum hypercast. Mine didn't last more than 6 months of moderate use. The bail trigger spring broke and the drag locked up when I hooked into a chinny.