Ramble

if you have 'yotes in the area, then keep an eye on the pouch when he's outside. After dark letting him run and take a leak then bringing him back in is no problem. Leaving him out side for extended periods might not be the best plan but it doesnt sound like you are doing that. If don't see sign of them in your yeard, or up against your fence i wouldnt worry too much. As for all this other stuff. I feel the need to remind you guys about the fecundity of coyotes 1st, and their highly adapatble nature...not to mention a few guiding principles of population ecology. #1 Fecundity...bacically the harder you hunt the coyotes the harder they reproduce. Females will bread in year 1 instead of year 2 if their population is under pressure. Litter sizes will increase and the females will really try and protect their young, by moving them everynight to a new den site if need be. A common problem with 'yote populations is that they are hunted hard for a few years, then the hunting stops...BOOM population expolodes in a few years time. #2 Super adaptible animal, for their size nothing beats them. About the only thing that can keep them in line is wolves. They have a serious hate on for each other. There is 'yotes in the industrial parts of TO that are totally nocturnal, living in an ashphault environment. They are amazingly resourceful animals. #3 Bad winters and you see coyotes preying on more deer. That is natural selection in action. Coyotes taking over the role of the eastern wolf. it'll keep your deer populaitons healthy, so don't worry about it too much. #4 Carying Capacity. Coyotes can't exist on nothing. If you are seeing high populations of coyotes then there must be a high population of food stuff. They have an extemely varied diet and with most species they will feed on what ever provides the most energy, for the least amount of work. That usually translates into whatever has the largest population. Pets fall nicely into that spot. Easy targets. Especially tied. #5 populations will adapt. Except for a few critters such as Fishers and Marten, its fairly hard to decimate an animal population to the point its gone. Turkeys are smart and populaitons are growning, of course coyotes are going to eat them. If they are eating them, then they arnt eating something else, likley something that has a lower population level. Remember all this stuff works together as a system. Sometimes portions get a little out of balance, but hunting as a management tool is ultimatly flawed. The system is missing something or else it would be in balance. Hunting for coyotes takes the place, and is an excellent tool for situations for example where coyotes have learned to prey of cattle calfs as they are being born. But for large scale populaiton control, it's very hard to acheive results with hunting. Some animals hunting can work for like bears, but coyotes are far too adaptable long term. However it is the easiest option for the gov't and hunters like to hunt, so it works very well. Anyway i think i have rambled on enough here....just a little food for thought. -R-

I'm hearing a few whispers the ice might be good to go this week. Anyone have any updates to add? Thanks -Dave

I always stick around after dark when ever possible for at least a little while. I can't wait to get out. I have plans for 1 weekend on Scugog anyway. -R-

I was pretty excited to see the cormorant cull at Presquile getting looked at again. I'm pretty sure the MNR has "the line drawn in the sand" for those islands and the habitat over there, tho i'm not sure why that is the chosen battle grounds. They also have the deer cull back on the list as a management tool as well. I knew some of the wardens who conducted the cull their in years past, and you would believe the protesters that would show up. It's crazy. I saw some stats not too long ago on cormorant population numbers, and it looks like the are near carrying capacity for the great lakes region, and will probably drop a little in a few years once the system has established their presence. They are still spreading however. We are seeing up North at Kesagami in the summer....64 miles south of James bay. Some isn't in balance with the system while you look at their numbers...something is missing. Weather they are lacking a keystone predator or competition something is off. But of course when populaiton densities get too high nature sorts that out with disease. Cormorants are pretty tolerant to botulism and a few other diseases like that, so it'll be interesting to see what will balance the scales if we don't. -R-

Hell Yes ! Post exam fish.....nothing makes you feel free like that. -R-

Warm/Cool Water Species Crappie Perch Walleye Smallmouth Pike Cold Water Species Brookies Splake lakers Rainbows Atlantic's I love pretty much all fish and i have a really hard time mixing those 2 lists into just one. Comparing Crappie and Brookies for example are 2 very different fish in my books, they dont compare, so how can you choose one over the other? Easy....2 lists lol then they can BOTH be #1 -R-

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. i love putting these sorta things together. I have a couple ice fishing trips coming up, (I CAN'T WAIT) and hopefully i can get going on the Kesagami Report. I hope it turns out half as good as the last one! Tight lines fella's. -R-

i didnt see christmas MAGIC factored in to all of that number crunching! Or what it if Santa has multiple twins....or if there are many Santa's after all their are many different names for him. Typical bunch of number crunching, formula fiddling engineers lol ... always trying to "fit" things into a "box" that cant be fit into a box. Santa will live on with or with the blessing of the engineers! -R-

CO is carbon monoxide. CO2 is carbon dioxide. Who says university chem classes don't teach you anything lolololol

Post the pic of that big brow tine! Here's my 10 point set.

That's a nice score for sure. I have a nice set of sheds myself i found years ago belonging to a beautiful 10 point. This year i found a single spike antler. 1 point about 7-8 inches long. They are always a treat to come across of any size.

Personally i'd have to say my PB laker in algonquin with my dad this spring. But the most memerable fish of the year wasn't mine. I had a few really good "guide moments" this summer, but this one takes the cake. The guy i was guiding, Tom, flew in under marginal conditions halfway through the day and we fished a little for pike but ended up putting the hurt on some walleye that afternoon. The front was making the pike uncooperative. The next day, we were out for 11 hours straight. ticked down rain the ENTIRE time and it lightened up enough for me to pull off a shore lunch at about 1pm. Tom is an amazing guy, super relaxed personality and had faith in my ability to find fish from the get go. A true joy to guide. More like fishing with a friend then taking a guest out. The next day we fished hard all day but the big pike were moving off the creek mouths looking for weedbeds, and the weather which moved through still had them pouting. Near the end of the day we pulled into Edgar bay as the weather cleared and fished the creek mouth landing a few snot-rockets. We hadn't seen much over 30 inches all day. Our last stop for the day was to see if a cabbage bed was out yet, and it was just reaching the surface. I pulled out the anchor and Tom started pounding the water with his buzz bait and spoon despite his back complaining about casting all day. Our second pass of the weed bed was much the same but we managed one lazy but descent swirl at a cabbage clump near the end of the drift. The thrid time over the weedbed he said "let's call it quites soon" so we got to that last clump, he fan casted the area and NOTHING. I felt if there was going to be a big fish here she was gonna be in that patch where we had seen the descent swirl earlier. Looked like the perfect ambush spot for a big girl. I told him as much, and he loves the buzz baits for pike as much as i do, so he put on one of his custom made black buzzers and went to firing away. I had the anchor out so he could really pound the area. A short while later he sat down and did some casting from his seat due to his sore back. His lure landed in that same spot mid-cabbage patch every cast, a dozen times. (Yes i was counting) On the 13th cast the buzzbait went all of 4 feet when it was slurped under a big swirl. He set that hook with his whole body and teh fight was on. The fish took off like it was just unleashed from the gates of hell. I had the anchor out in no time. The 43 inch she-wolf was under the boat and all over the place. I spent my time leaning on the push pole to get us out into deeper water away from the weeds when i wasn't trying to keep his line off the splash guard. After some of the best runs i saw from a northern all year, i got her into the net. For the next 5 minutes i dont think there were 2 happier guys in the country. Hand shakes and adrenalien pumping to beat the band. 2 and half days of hard fishing, but by GOD she was worth every minute of it. I dont think i'll ever forget those days, that fish, or his grin. That feeling is why i love to guide, and that's why this is my most memorable fish of the year. -Dave

Fishing Pike in Kesagami ove the last few years i have played with colours as well. But not hard body baits. It's a heavily stained lake with 4 feet of visibility on a good day afer some calm weather. Rough water or winds and it can get thick quick. Orange, pink, and white are standards for pike and walleye on the lake. But the other colour is black. Black twister tails and black jig heads can out fish any other colours some days and I found that a bit surprising when i was 1st up their. Black buzz baits with black props are another killer combo for northerns, i'm sure water clairity has a lot to do with their success. I brought up 2 black skirted spinner baits with black blades and lost both after about a month, but they saw a lot of action. Adding a pink twister tail was icing on the cake. SO many big pike followed it right to the boat, and often were picked up on follow up casts with the black spinner bait, or on a silver spoon. I've some nice fish come on the black/gold huskey jerks as well. Black bucktail spinners have also done quite well on that lake. Out fishing red/white combo's a lot of the time. Black/orange colour schemes also seem to be on par with black bucktails. Fishing down around here, i have found black is good on clear days with clear water as well. I've seen some of the biggest smallies attack black jitter bugs, while smaller fish were chasing colours more. Did you find bigger fish were more common on the black? or just higher numbers under certain conditions? Anyway there is some more observations for you. -R-

I'll take that kinda surprise any day of the week. -R-

osmoregulating is how they can deal with different salinity levels. anadromous is the word you are looking for. GCD was all over it lol -R-

I think this Mercer clip would have been a better example. But to each their own i guess lol. Think what way? That's the system. They "party" with the most power governs the country. If "parties unit" they they hold the most seats and they can govern. This isn't something new to Canadian politics. If memory serves me correctly the NDP and Liberals united in Ontario back in 1985 and over threw the Conservatives in power. It's not like this "coalition" thing hasnt happened before. It's just on the Federal level now so everyone is paying attention. Party's align all the time, i remember not to long ago when the Block and Conservatives were working together so they could hold a majority. This is no different. If Harper would attempt to communicate with the opposition and actually try to govern as a representative, instead of trying to run the opposition into the mud this wouldnt have happened. It's actually a fairly intellegent system. This way no party can go to crazy with power. There is always the opportunity for the remaining parties to unite and over throw a party if the feel they are too far "out there". It's awesome to see it action really. Even more interesting is watching the way Harper is responding to it so he doesnt loose power. Suspending Parliment was just a stunt so he could remain in control. I'm not sure the Gov. Gen. made a wise decision by allowing that however, traditionally the Gov. Gen. sides with the majority. I think she is breaking new ground here and isn't exactly sure how to proceed so she is being cautious. Now Harper is trying to appoint people to Senate, after he gave the song and dance a while back about the senate being disbanded, or they should be elected. Now here he is trying to stack the deck in his favour, right when he runs into some political trouble. Anyway, I don't mean to ruffle anyones feathers here. It's just my take on the matter. It's a good article to post, thanks man. -R-

Yeah....the Rookie forgot to plug the boat before we pushed it down. Then i made fun of him lol. But he sorted it out. -R-

A little determination and the right attitude can go a long way in such a situation. In the end you end up doing it yourself anyway, no one likes to bail lol -R-

You're gonna need to refine that topic, but you should be able to write a 3000 essay in no time. Research should not be a problem as well. If need a hand brain storming or whatever give me a shout. I've done more then a few essays over the years lol. My last essay 4000 words on an Insect topic of my choice. I chose Aquatic Insect Assemblages and Individual Species as Indicators of Water Quality. I got 90% on it. anyway good luck. -R-

Glad you guys liked it. Had a blast doing it. It was a good year but i didnt get out as much as i wanted too. Hopefully the cold weather holds, and i can get out on teh ice really soon. Radnine that is Pete. Fish'n Canada did a show up their this summer, it played on Thanksgiving. It'll probably be on again. -Dave

Well i was gonna write a bunch of stuff and slap the pictures into it, but I decided against it. I played around in photobucket for a while and made up this bad boy. It's all photos from this year. (Takes a minute to load) http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff314/g...nt=871e4304.pbr I had 2 great trips with my dad too Algonquin, good times with my fishing buddies and had an absolute blast at Kesagami. There is only a couple K-Sawg photos in the line up. The bulk of them are waiting for the report I'm going to write. I even stuck in a picture of the doe I dropped this fall. It ends with ice fishing photos from last winter....I can hardly wait to get out on the hard water this year. The pic's are in no particular order, and i slipped some scenery and wildlife shots into the mix. It's about 4:30 long, and probably take you less time to watch then reading an actual report of my year if i had written one. The song is the best i could come up with from the limited selection they offer. Hope you enjoy it. -R-

REAL MEN LIP PIKE! Don't let anyone tell you other wise. LoL I've done it before, and I'll do it again. Sometimes they will even let you get away with it. Good to see people getting out on teh hard water. -Dave

East Lake, Kesagami Lake, Kesagami River, Five Mile Lake, Five Mile River, Patawanimau, Lillibelle, Unknown River, Booth, Crotch, Robin, Shall, Opeongo River, Rye Grass, Kitty Lake, Farm Lake, Scugog, Steenburg, Robinson, Pine, BOQ, Moira River, R. Creek, Outlet River, Tatler, Potters Creek, Lake Ontario, Madawaska River, Papinau Creek and Black Creek. Even 30 this year. -R-

What kinda fish are you after? -Dave

RIGHT Richyb....optimum age range....i forgot all about that. They still produce eggs, but not the numbers they once did. I'm pretty sure slot stuff has more to do with cohorts in the population doing the producing....but it's similar to the size thing. Still they can produce eggs with good gene's. Im surprised you havn't mentioned harvesting large brookies yet Dan. But thta's been covered a few times before. Must of this stuff im carrying on about is for multiple spawning, long lived species. Regulations to protect those big fish genes is another discussion entirly. -Dave