MJL

The first ocean-run steelhead I ever hooked out west ruined my life forever.LOL

There's not a day that goes by where I don't think of fishing the Skeena at least once...Usually twice. The fish of the Kispiox are the heavyweights of the steelhead world. Hoping to make it out there for either fall of 2015 or 2016 (Maybe both if I'm lucky.LOL).

I'm also looking for a new set of ice rods for my laker fishing. I used the 36" Med-Action St. Croix Premier ice rods the past 4 seasons. Love the length and the fact that it has a reel seat. Not a huge fan of the action or the fact that there really isn't any fore or butt grip to hold on to when fighting large fish. Might be finally time to build myself a set of custom rods

Rapala's customer service is excellent and in my experience, the lures are tuned and ready to go right out of the box. I haven't had one which didn't run straight right out of the box. With that said, I'd have to agree with Steve on the crappy hooks and split rings. I'm not a fan of the VMC hooks they use - I've had a good number of them break or bend. The factory split rings are super soft and I've lost hooks and split rings when fish hit. The only Rapalas that I use where I don't change anything on is the J-13. All the other models, I swap out the hooks and split rings. Haven't had a lip break on a lure though.

I fish outside on the ice 95% of the time. I primarily use 8lb Berkley XL for jigging deep-water lakers out of Simcoe. I also have 8lb Berkley Fireline Crystal on one reel. It does ice up but not as bad as other super lines I've tried. I'd love to try Tufline Duracast if I can find a spool.

I bring my own magazines, books and sometimes my dad's tablet when I go to the hospital. Stay in an open place away from people who are coughing and sneezing.LOL

For floats, I mainly use foam or balsa slip floats in the 14-25gr size. I prefer the bigger sizes primarily for visibility at long range. I did pick up a few fixed Balsa floats from Centerpin Angling in 14 and 20gr sizes to try out down there. For leaders, I mostly just use 6-8lb Maxima UG. I've done OK with roe there but the vast majority of the fish I catch down there (in no particular order) are on soft-plastic minnows, streamer flies, yarn eggs, beads and 4-6" pink worms. Sometimes I bring a 2nd spinning rod with me and use spoons, bigger spinners, Kwikfish and other lures. A few years ago I did really well on the steelhead casting a 4" Swammer on a jig head.

Congrats Brian. Another tool to add to the arsenal. In terms of line twist, keep in mind that line twist can also be introduced to the line when retrieving fixed floats against the current (especially on long hero drifts) As for swivels, I use them. For years I used to use blood knots or triple surgeons knots for my leader to mainline connection. I got tired of having to slide up my floats and shots every time I snagged up so I could get enough tag end to make the knots (potentially fraying the line by doing so by sliding up the shots). I also found results similar to this (scroll down to the knot shootout): http://www.yellowstoneangler.com/gear-review/tippet-shootout-seaguar-grandmax-trouthunter-orvis-mirage-riopowerflex-pline-dairiki-varivas-sa-climax-maxima-froghair-stoft-umpqua I've done away with micro swivels and instead use larger ball bearing swivels for my leader to mainline connection. The bigger swivels have larger rings to tie knots to which makes tying knots in the dark (and cold) much easier. They are also less prone to breaking in half like the micro swivels are (especially the tiny Raven ones which suck IMO).

My pair of Fabers have large metal teeth at the bottom. I guess they're like crampons

I bought these from Lebaron (Made by Faber - model: North Cliff) They're primarily designed for mountain snowshoeing however they worked fantastic this past winter on Simcoe (and my front yard.LOL). There are a bunch more options that are probably better designed for the task. It came down to the fact that they're the only pair I could find that were lightweight and came in a size for a person my size. This past season I was able to run 2.5km back to the car in no time at all, pulling a sled, with a bunch of snow on the ground. So much traction!

Happy Birthday Terry! I think you should cut his line when he has a big fish on

I fished it a few times this spring. Water went up like normal between 8-10am. Then it went up again at 1:30-2:30pm another 4ft. Definitely not a SW wind issue. On the bright side I still caught fish but a number of anglers lost their tackle boxes.LOL I'm hoping to make it down soon. Plan to bring some camera equipment that I definitely don't want to have washed away.LOL

Some quality fish right there Sweet score on the lures! This was the first year I've ever had to fish from behind the trees down in the whirlpool...OPG is doing some crazy stuff with the water

I think next time I will try my new net poking technique on your fish...It involves poking the net at the fish and leader without actually scooping it up...I'm sure it would've saved you from getting your hands wet and cold Next time you can bring your pop up hut and heater along with your pontoon. You can anchor up in the middle of the river with your fish finder transducer and Terry and I could fish inside your heated hut and watch steelhead chase our baits like lakers on the LCD

My heart sunk when I read the update Wayne. I can't imagine going through what Jen is going through. She inspired me to get through my battle with cancer I'm sending all my positive mojo her way

Take a video or picture, write down license plates if you can, call the MNR and forward the info. I've fished rivers pretty much my whole life. In that time I've seen poachers with machetes, baseball bats, spear guns, rocks, knives and I wouldn't be surprised if at least a few of them had concealed fire arms. I've even seen 1 guy with night vision goggles netting fish below Bowmanville dam at night. If I see someone snagging a dirty black chinny in knee deep water to add to their stringer, they can go right on ahead. A quick pic or video of the incident and move on - forward the info to the MNR when you can. Some people might recommend that you advise poachers that what they're doing is wrong. That's really up to you (keep in mind what I said above). I've seen things escalate quickly a number of times. As one of the smaller steelheaders on the river, I have no intentions of getting into any altercations of any type deep in the bush... The MNR is well aware of the poaching that goes on during salmon season. They are understaffed but do make efforts to reply to your phone calls.

Most memorable conversation of the day: ***Hawk swoops down onto ground***: "THUMP!" Brian: "What was that?!" Mike : "I'm pretty sure something just died over there..." ***Hawk flies away Great to run into you today. I'm sure we'll meet up sometime this fall

In general, swinging flies isn't a numbers game (although you can have some stellar days doing so especially at this time of year). When you're purely swinging flies, you're trying to illicit a chase response, a reflex response or an aggressive/territorial response from the fish. Swinging flies usually works best on fresh, untouched/un-fished for steelhead that haven't been pestered by other baits, lures or flies. If you're looking for numbers of fish, nymphing is definitely more consistent. Run an egg pattern, nymphs, michigan wigglers, woolly buggers, stoneflies, etc either under an indicator or dead drift them without an indicator. There's one guide who fishes the Huron tribs who uses a technique called "Swymphing" which combines both a dead drift and a swing at the end of the drift. You can try that with whatever flies you already have.

Carp are the fish of the future!!!

Definitely don't want to fish for them there anyway. It's a sanctuary after Sept 30 HWY 407 down to the lake is fair game till Dec 31 though

Pacific salmon die after they spawn (ie. Chinook, coho, pink, chum, sockeye)