kemper

You might be surprised - its December so a lot of the water that would normally leech into the systems is going to lock up in the ground. The creeks I fished today actually got dirtier as the sun came up and melted the ice, but I expect them to be prime again in the morning

You missed one! Don't worry though, he was only a minnow

I'm running straight 12lb nanofil to a 7.8lb redwing lead. No shot line, the Nanofil seems to be okay with me moving shot around on it so far...

Any idea how it might do once the temps dip below 0? The last "best-thing" flocast turned to dust as soon as it got cold.

I have to agree on that one Bill. Although I did come across a guy a couple weeks ago who went on a rant about Canadians after I'd been talking to him for twenty minutes. I guess my Yankee accent is getting better... In this case I was talking about the roe! The fish are 100% canuck

The Ethical Committee would be proud

Did you notice the Berkley Nanofil in the one shot... other than the fact that I almost had to sell my car to buy it, that stuff is far and away the best line I've ever used. Thanks for the tip! You barely even need to set the hook, I blew up a bunch of leads before I figured out just a quick lift of the rod will do.

Nice fish! - and an even better mustache there Mike...it almost fooled me (the background didn't though!)

Timing is key when you're looking for trout in the rivers - some days timing is on your side and other days it's not. Last week after a rain I headed out to the swamp of a Lake O tributary knowing that I had timing on my side. Sure enough, I walked right into a huge run of fresh chromers, and no-one in sight. I normally don't take pictures when I'm solo, but I got on a hot streak and decided to snap a couple. These were by far the easiest fish to fool that I have ever encountered, and I couldn't find a bait in my bag that they wouldn't hit. A great day for sure, the highlight being a five drift, five steelhead on the bank streak - my best non-opener streak to date. Apologies for the muddy fish, its unavoidable in this location.

Lots of reproduction on the CAN side of the pond and some fairly strong wild runs. The closer you get to NY (West Lake O side) the more American stockies you will see.

Any Top Gear fans in here? They did this too...but with a V8!

For skein: scrape, dry, sprinkle of borax, sometimes I add a pinch of orange jello powder for colour (and for whatever reason they seem to come out of the freezer better with the jello, sugar might have something to do with it) Less is better of everything! For loose: I like to river cure them, and tie bags with nice marbles for clear water situations. Works well for me, others hate it.

You're going to get a million different opinions on this one... Generally it seems like the CTS has taken over from the IMX on the rod podium - I've fished them both and although they are both great sticks I honestly wouldn't trade my Rainshadow XST for either of them. Personal preference thing, more $ doesn't always mean better? The independent reel builders are killing it lately - lots of opinions on those as well. On the river it seems like Kingpin has taken over - again not something I would pay for (but I'm cheap). I run a 3 year old Raven SST 3 - its stupid light especially paired with the XST and lets be honest here folks, a centerpin is a pretty simple piece of equipment. My only complaint is when its raining and the rim is wet I get my knuckles busted, so I'm looking to switch it up.

Ah yes, the sounds of pursuing natural fish in their environment. thwack! "comin down!"

mmmmmmm kelt. Probably tastes about as good as the brown that's beside it. Wasn't intending that you roped it Mike! Too bad it spilled, stuff probably works better than brownie roe I'm joking, for anyone who is humor-blind.

I think people are missing the boat on this one...my guess is the fish is fertilizer. If you notice, the gold has already been mined.

Wait a second Bill...are you implying that the huge buck brown didn't bite with its tail? "FISH ON!...COMIN DOWN!"

I'm sure it would fish a 4 pound lead if you were careful, to be honest I never go less than the 7.8 redwing. Under full lockdown you can turn anything. The bonus is that its real light.

Thanks for the help guys

The 2 piece is a fantastic stick Mike...I've fished it against just about everything and I haven't found something I would trade it for yet. Looking for a 3 piece for bigger water, it has a bit more backbone - or maybe that is just my excuse because I want to tie another rod over the winter

Hope this isn't in the wrong forum. I'm looking for a 3pc Rainshadow XST blank. I have sourced one, but the price is a little more than I would like to pay. If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be great (or if anyone has one they are looking to get rid of that would be even better!) Cheers,

Brownie scrape you say...never

Previous experience has taught me that keeping my mug off the internet is in my best interest...

That fish was just really pink...had been in the system for a while

Good shootin! Is it bad that I can identify the water from those shots? Its been producing well even through the recent drought there!