DANIMAL

sound like a fun couple of hours out there, nice fish.

Nice pike, congrats on the PB.

I heard there is 6-8'' right across hay bay, but have not been there so I cant confirm it.

You sure do know your steelheading, nice fish and good job.

There is no one rod that can do everything well. A 7' medium heavy is probably what you are looking for, it can handle most fishing situations pretty good. But it wont do a good job fishing with large musky size baits, or small panfish or finess baits. So depending on what you expect to be doing most you can go a heavyer or lighter from there.

I see you are from Kitchener, check out Natural sports/The fishing store. There are some very knowlegible fly fishermen working there. They would be happy to set you up.

Layers of fleece or wool and a waterproof breathable outer layer. Just watch out for some of the cheaper jackets that claim to be 100% water proof, They are but only for about the first 10 or so times wearing them and then they start to leak.

Bellwood lake is closed for ice fishing this year due to low water levels.

nice fish, looks like you have a really neat fishery down there.

Any predator fish species (walley, pike, trout, whitefish.......)

I havent been down there in a while, but I heard it was clearing, but mudded up again on the 18th.

Jackpots and other walk the dog baits are a great tool to have. Like others said they are bad hookers. But on some days when muskies get really picky they will rarely hit a steady moving, good hooking bait, but will a least hit a walk the dog or eratic moving bait. So they can turn a one bite one catch day into a 5 bite 2or 3 catch day. And they are really fun baits to use.

Monster pike or lakers up north, or muskies (where legal of course)

It was nice meeting you out there steve, a fun day for sure. A few more jumbos would have been really nice though.

Thanks for the info. I'll probably try VB.

Anybody know how thick the ice is at verginia beach or anywere else on simcoe?

I have found that most of the time dead baits work best laying right on bottom. But when fishing deep water and/or at the base of a steep dropoff suspending the bait 1-2 ft. off bottom often works better. I usually experiment throughout the day.

I would like to start making my own soft plastic baits this winter. Does anybody know of any PLASTIout a luck retailers in southern ontario? Preferably near kitchener. (I mean the plastic material, I dont know why the word shows up like that)

Was at niagara this morning, water was brown(2 ft. vis.) but managed a few fish. the water was getting worse(less than 1 ft. vis.) by the time I left, this afternoon. Probably wont be worth the drive.

Plenty of open water on the niagara. Thats were i'm going tomorow.

I have heard of a few guys going out on simcoe on 2-3'' of white/weak ice. But I wouldnt recomend it, lifes worth more than a few perch.

Wanted to fish the niagara but it looked like chocolate milk. Checked Port D. and the water was green with about 3-4 foot vis. Water temp. was 39-40 F. and the air temp stayed well below freezing all day, had to lather the electric motor up with fish scent to keep it from freezing. Cought a couple nice steelhead and my brother cought a small (12-13") coho up near the rapids. Got sick of the crowds up there so we tried pulling kwickfish and spinner rigs down closer to the lake. cought 1 more nice steelhead and missed another, both on the spinner rig. Heres a couple of pics.

Spoons, spinners, minnowbaits...... will all work, but will usually be a better option when the water gets colder and the baitfish move in. If you like using lures, a kwickfish/flatfish worked near bottom works great all season long. I should also mention, lures work best in clearer water.

Roe bags in about the dime or nickle size will probably be the best bait now. The fish usually do not start prefering minnows until the water gets down into the low 40 F range and below. There are good drifts at the launch, up, and down river. The best drift can change from day to day or even hour to hour. So if it is not happening at one drift try another. Good luck.

Thanks guys, I'm just learning all this computer stuff.