BillM

Well, that's not good.

Been looking for a muskie setup and have been reading up on reels the past couple of days.. On a few of the US based muskie forums, they are head over heels for these reels(Okuma Induron model to be specific) Fairly cheap and up to the task apparently. I was planning on the Abu Garcia C3, or a very lightly used Morrum(crossing my fingers) when I came across a few articles about these reels. Prices are around the $100US range, which isn't far off from the C3. Any of your muskie guys have any thoughts?

Hell, I'm allergic to freshwater fish, how ironic is that?

Dutch, excellent post! I've been a monprice fan for a while Currently running a PS3, BEV HD Box, Xbox 360, and a Samsung HD860 DVD player through a Monprice 5x1 HDMI switch. All the audio runs via optical to my Onkyo HTIB S780. Nicely controlled with a Harmony 550. I am looking at upgrading the reciever to an Onkyo TX-SR605, to get rid of all the optical cables and run everything via HDMI.

When you attach any USB storage device to your computer it gets assigned a drive letter, just like your C:, D: etc.. Once you have it plugged in and the computer recognizes it, click on 'My Computer'.. This should give you a list of all the drives on your system. You will most likely see it at the bottom of the list, listed as a "Removable Storage Device" You can double click it, just like you can your C:. You should be able to navigate through the folders and find the video file you are looking for.... Once you have found the file, put your cursor over it and click your left mouse button once. This should select the file.. Once the file is highlighted, click your right mouse button and then select copy.. Once you have selected 'copy' you can then go back to your desktop, right click and select paste. This should copy the movie to your desktop (Or you can put it anywhere else you'd like, doesn't really matter)

Sony Bravia's are on the upper end of the TV range. I am assuming this is a LCD? If you'd like to do a little more reading, check out avsforum.com All kinds of reviews by audio and vidoephiles(they are as crazy about TV's as we are fishing ) Also, what do you plan on using it for? Mostly SD (Standard Def) or HD? Cable? BEV? The one thing you need to remember about a LCD is that it has a reduced viewing angle compared to say a Plasma. If space isn't a concern, you might want to look into a DLP or RP LCD(Rear projection LCD). You'll be getting more inches for the price.. I run a 43" Panasonic RP LCD and absolutely love it.

mattyk: Appreciate the advice!! Finally tied into my first muskie last year during a trip with the oldman to the French, a monster 14incher Thought I'd get a bit more serious this season and put some dedicated days in. Hopefully I'll get a chance to tag along with a few OFC'ers this year and see what kind of hell I am in for

Anyone have any thoughts on the Abu Garcia C4 that's in the new Bass Pro flyer? I am trying to piece together a muskie setup for next season and was thinking it would be a good option. I just need something for the occasional muskie day, casting some jerkbaits, spinners etc....

I was planning on getting out to Simcoe tomorrow if the weather holds up with my neighbour.. How deep of water were you fishing? Straight off Innisfil Beach? (I don't have portable sonar, dooh!)

I moved to Barrie 4 years ago to be closer to family. I make the daily commute into Toronto 5 days a week. About 200km's round trip per day. I don't find the drive to bad at all, but it all depends on what time you need to be in TO for. I work a 7-4 shift, so I usually miss most of the traffic. Luckily for me I own a car that gets 50MPG I would never do the commute if I was filling up the car with gas instead of diesel. My average fuel costs per month are around $200-250 per month. I love the fact that I can drive 30 mins and be on the Severn River for 2-3hrs of fishing with the oldman after work, you can't beat that. There are a few tricks to miss the traffic, but thankfully I have an employer that understands my situation so I do have the option of working from home on those fridays in the summertime which clog up the 400 to no end. If I have to be in the city, I'll rip up Weston to 9, then up a side road that intersects 27, up 27 for a bit until I get get on sideroad 5 then all the way in. It's not to bad, and it beats sitting on the 400 doing 10km/h... It's all personal preference though.. I would never live in the city, I absolutely hate it.

That report was great!!! Perhaps you should have brought home one of those ugly buggers for bait in the spring?

Thank you very much!!

In zone 15 or 16? Looks like the boundary is the actual river, anyone know off the top of their head?

I'd probably make my way up to Honeymoon Island and fish the channel (Gates open at 8am, $5). Whitings, ladyfish, redfish, occasional jack. I was down there last spring with the oldman, I just used a jig with a plastic trailer. You could fish right off the beach if you wanted to. A slip sinker setup and a shrimp will find its way into somethings mouth

Haven't fished the sound, mostly Severn river between Sparrow and Gloucester.

I have the weights inside my 100DSV arranged with one 'on' one 'off'. You still need to make sure you use the fine adjustment knob on the right hand side of the reel depending on the lure you are using. You wanna make sure when you engage the spool, the lure and line comes out at a constant rate, but not enough to get a backlash. Makes things alot easier when casting

The only difference I see would be the use of a leader. And as far as the braid vs mono thing on a baitcaster.. I have NEVER had to re-spool when I backspin with mono, once that braid gets tight, forget about it, it's time to break out the scissors. Braid digs in on the reel way worse then mono ever does... :EDIT: I do like using braid when fishing jerkbaits or top water. Lure control is quite a bit better....

Braid doesn't cast as far as Mono does. For a first time baitcaster, I'd definitely recommend mono over braid. I've been using a baitcaster for years and there are still times when there is no way in hell I'm getting that backlash out. Mono is also cheaper for the first time user to learn on Also what are you guys mostly fishing for? I usually use a 6 or 8lb mono, 20lb braid at most for anything I fish for. I wouldn't want to cast 17lb mono on a baitcaster, especially that Curado 200DSV the OP posted about... If you are most fishing bass and pike from the shore, 8lb should be more then enough with a decent leader. If you want to try the braid, 20lb at most (6lb mono diameter). Make sure you setup the reel for different weighted lures, it will make a big difference when you go to cast it...

I gotta say GBay, specifically Massassauga. Endless amounts of habitat, lack of fishing pressure, access to big water and massive amount of feed. Although, upper Niagara holds quite a few fish My oldman tied into 2 muskie's fishing for smallmouth bass a few yeas back, landed one 38lbs, 45inch 5 mins later had another one on even bigger, broke the line. This was on bass tackle, lol we were fishing for smallmouth 6lb test, little hooks, small minnows... I know the lower Niagara has some big fish, atleast one or two big fish (40lb+) get caught during the St.Catharines Salmon Derby at the mouth of the river... This is all based on personal opinion

What I would do to spend a day fishing with someone that had some good experience with muskie. For some reason it's always been 'the fish' with me. That thing is a monster.

That is the biggest sheephead I have ever seen!!! I pulled one out of Quinte about 7 years back which was about 10lbs or so.

'03 Tacoma V6 4x4 pulling a 15ft Legend with a 40HP 4-stroke Honda. I think the truck still comes out ahead, even with all the fancy gadgets in the boat.

Heddon Zara Spook Jr.

Hey guys, what a great forum this is! I just thought I'd introduce myself and say hi. Originally from St.Catharines, moved up to Barrie about 4 years ago. Avid fisherman since I was old enough for mom to let me out in the boat with the oldman Oldman and I recently went up to the French Thanksgiving weekend. I had made a few purchases for the trip and was eager to try them out (Shimano Citica 100DSV baitcaster along with a MH 7" Shimano Clarus 1 piece). Made the 20km jaunt from Dry Pine Bay to the main channel pretty much everyday. Weather was about 18 degree's with the water temp at about 68. Stuck with top water lures the entire weekend for pike/bass. Dad would sink a few minnows trying to entice the ever illusive pickerel. Ended up with one nice pickerel (about 6lbs) endless bass and small pike (30+ fish a day) along with 2 nice pike, one tipped the scales at about 13lbs, the other was 25lb. Both took Zara Spook Jr's (small topwater bassbaits, lol). Boated 10+ smallmouth over 5lb's that weekend. I think the best part though was spending time with the oldman. Dad and myself, like the old days when he used to pull me out of grade school for the St.Catharines Salmon derby (He actually placed 1st in the Lake Trout division one year). Here are some pics of the big pike I tied into. (ignore the stupid look on my face) Again, great forum, lots of info looking forward to picking up a few hints and tips from you guys!!! -Bill