Ramble

I am also a fond of the red beads and silver colorado blade.....hammered blade preferably. In the lower light conditions i prefer a willow leaf design with relflective green or blue tape on it with mathing beads. i have little to know experiance with glow blades, and my buddy who i fished quinte eyes using worm harnesses with has been out of comission the last few seasons with health problems. i'll check in with him agian this year, maybe he'll feel up it?

Good Luck

-R-

Top water fly fishing for smallies in August.

-R-

Happy B-Day Billy Boy....Keep a weather eye on the horizon.

Tight Lines and Best Wishes

-Ramble

Well i'm looking for a new Medium/Heavy and a medium spinning rod. I'm looking to spend $70-$90 on the medium/heavy since it will be my primary rod, and about $40 on a medium or a medium/light action rod.

I have done some surfing on the internet and i'm looking at Shimano's Clarus or Compre for the Medium/Heavy. Does anyone have any opinions on these 2 rod types? Is it worth spending the extra on $$ on a Compre?

As for the Medium action rod....I havn't search hard for it at all. I'm just looking for something with a sensitive tip for jiggin 'eyes. Other then that i'm open to suggestions. All opinions are welcome.

Let me know what you guys/gals think.

Thanks

-R-

Fake meat....edible cardboard.....I think we already have this.....i call it McDonalds lololololol

Yeah, apparently they're ok to eat but I'd be careful. They didn't develop a mouth like that from suckin' on oranges.

LOL

Nice report guys. I'm hoping to hit a secret carp spot i know of later in the year for some monsters. Keep the posts coming. You write solid reports.

Tight Lines

-R-

...my own thought is that by leaving all the large predators behind we could really throw things out of whack, it's all about balance

Can explain your thought on teh subject a little more? I'm curious as to what exactly you mean by this.

-R-

Infrastructure aside... you can look a piece of property and tell if it's on a flood plane. Society has too short a memory for stuff like flooding. The Moira floods every year, the question is always how much. I take advantage of it and go canoeing in the woods lololol

I don't blame people for living beside the river...i blame the gov'nt for letting them live their. At some point they need to step in and say enough is enough. They'd save money buying peoples homes and leveling it, then coughing up assitance every 5 years when we get a good flood. Then there is no ne has to go through the grief oh having their home flooded.

Basically my point is that the river isn't going to move. We should just adapt....and that doesn't re-engineering the river.

-R-

I have no what they were thinking allowing people to build their. They had to spend millions to put in a whole series of dams to stop the Moira from flooding down town belleville in the spring. The Moira is always going to flood. IF you take a trip down here sometime, there is a lot of BIG silver maple swamps on wither side....except where there is rapids or people have built lol

-R-

Another Great Report. Keep them coming.

-R-

This is a good thread fellas.....aside for a touch of hostility every now and then lol

Cold water streams in southern ontario are a dying bread. I understand pretty well what all of the arguments are here....but i'm going to have to side with habitat loss as THE major concern. Genetics is definatly #2 for preserving a species like brookies, but controlling the gene pool is pointless if the habitat doesn't exist. First and formest the habitat needs to be protected. Once that is done, efforts to restore the gene pool should definalty be the next step. But protecting habitat is HARD to do in southern Ontario.

What I understand here so far, is that Muskey or Specks is saying that we should protect the genes 1st.

At first i was skeptical of this approach, but i think i understand now. Habitat loss is the major concern for brookies....but harvesting of breaders is also a major problem. Controlling what fish are kept through the regs is a H3LL of a lot easier then rehabilitating the streams which are in trouble. The genetcis aspect is a very easy fix though regulation compared to stream rehab....which takes a lot of time and money.Plus for streams which are healthy it positivly benifits the whole fishery. As for the disagreement between Muskey or Specks and Dan...they are arguing the same thing....using a different method. I think what needs to be done with the population is a 2 stage regulatory approach. 1st would be to protect the large spawning fish like Muskey or Specks suggested until the population demographic can rebound, and we can get some of teh bigger fish back. Once the population demographics of the fish have reached better proportions then implement regs like Dan was suggesting where the late life fish are harvested. This technique should foster the breaders to remain in the population.

This kind of thinking inevatibly leads to a slot size approach for protection of the key breaders. Protection of the fish which will have the most spawning still to do ONLY makes sence.

Greencoach brings up another point, the biologists SHOULD know whats going on. HOWEVER I feel that for southern ontario the brookie regulations for wild populations are FAR too lax. Especially for small streams which have unique populations....there is no way the MNR biologists know what each streams population is doing. I think the regs need to change for brookies and err more on the side of caution, and for southern ontario they should be listed as a threatened species.

My overal point here is that any plan needs to consider both genetics and habitat TOGETHER. At our current stage, putting more effort into protecting the genetics only makes sence since it's teh easiest to fix though regulations.

Anyway, thats my interpration and 2 cents.

-R-

Well if it makes you guys feel better, flooding is good for the rivers ecology lol.

-R-

Those are some healthy lookin cats. Congrats on a good day fishing.

-R-

Dan makes a really good point. Releasing the big fish is a good managment tool for some speices but not all. This is DEFINATLY not a new concept.....i'm sure everyone here has heard of slot sizes. Slots take the same idea a step further.

It is good to be reminded of these things every now and then.

-R-

They are already in some of the Kawarthas

-R-

fallfish are FAN-tastic on the fly rod. They are one of the largset of the minnow species...their scientific name is (Semotilus corporalis).

here's a link... http://www.unb.ca/cri/projects/Fish_key/Cy...e/Fall_Fish.htm

-R-

NO WAY! I live on McFee street....brown house on teh corner of marsh! Went to POW and then on to Quinte lololololol

-R-

I also live a top "the hill". What street were you on?

-R-

Don't get discouraged man...late May should be great. I've caught them in August flat-lining spoons for pike. Soon as the water warms up a little the bite usually takes right off i know some old timers who dont even bother hitting their favourite lakes until the Poplar buds are swollen and about to open. They only move as deep as they need to go, and they will come up into warmer water from the cold water to hit food targets. Play around with depths a little till you find what works. You should also book soon, the park can fill up quick in May....however late May might still ahve room due to the black flies lolol.

Have Fun

-R-

Soild report Bunker. It's always good to think about great trips of the past. Where are you gong for the walleye opener this year?? I get 2 openers this year lololol

-R-

Don't worry about bears too much. If one does show up, just yell at him and throw stuff. I have put the run on bears more then one...but never in the park. HOWEVER if there is cubs i'd let her have right of way.

Anyway guts in the lake IS MORE then perfectly acceptable. It's good for the ecology of the lake. It keeps the nutrients in the system.

I have a couple of spoons, that resemble a smallmouth bass. Almost every year we catch a laker with a baby smallmouth in it. There has been plenty of other good suggestions above for lures. We also get in to a few pike in teh high 30's every year. They tend to be higher up in teh water column and often we have seen them swirling at the surface chasing minnows.

Might be worth your time to bring a couple diving crank baits, and a black/silver jointed rap.

-R-

We're heading into the Park on May 9th.

i live close to the Moira in town. This is a picture of me just above the old dam last August chasing some very small smallmouth with the fly rod.

Anyway THAT is what the Moira looks like during low water. Sam's last 2 pictures are of the SAME place. Gives you an idea of how much water is moving though their right now, and what they are up against.

-R-

Good report. Always good to hear the cats are running.

-R-

beauty of a reel....very easy on the eyes. What kinda rod is it on.

-R-

i've seen lots of big northerns on spinning gear. Long casts can really make a differance, and most people can launch lures with spinning gear farther then with baitcasters. Not to mention you spend more time fishing since you arnt picking at birdnests all the time lolol.

The Stradic is a nice reel, but if you want something a little cheaper i'd check out the Sahara. I think i'm going to get one here very soon.

-R-