Ramble

Ya its a great resource. A little toporama and a little google earth and before you know it you have a trip planned.

I'll be hung over. Last exam is Friday. BRING ON THE SUMMER!

I can see some holes in their.

Spinners. DEFINATLY need some bluefox inline spinners. #5's or 6's. 4's can work too if you cant find the bigger ones. I hate to say it, but Wal-mart usually carries #5's. Orange/Gold, Silver, and the Firetiger are the best for pike. Don't worry about the blue/silver one WILL see. (The things are everywhere) Switch out the treble and add a 4 inch twister tail. Orange on the Coloured spinners and white or Pink on teh silver.

Also. White spinner Bait with White blades. I see you have 1 white spinner bait, but i find them to be consistant pike caters. Also stick a twistertail on teh spinner baits as well. Use a contrasting colour.

There was a comment earlier about you not having many baits to target the bottom. Find some Storm Swim Baits. 5 inches long or a bit bigger. The pink or white are both as good as the fire tiger or orange. They work better then they look like they are going too.

If you find the fish REALLY slow on any of your days....usually due to weather try jigging a Twin White twister tail in white. Match the jig head to water depth.

REMEMBER when pike fishing in teh spring water temperature is EVERYTHING. They will be seeking it out. But they are still going to want access to deeper water. Combine those 2 things and you will be in buisness.

-Dave

I'll be after turkey's. I MIGHT manage a pike outing or 2 In Prince Edward County....then I'm off to the north!

-Dave

I was in the CT in Belleville today and walked into the fishing section and went "WOW! When did this happen?" The hunting section has gone right doen the crapper...although i was only looking for a trigger lock anyway.

-Dave

Pike are delicious, I eat lots of them every year.

Me 2. Especially if they are caught in a Trout lake!

-Dave

That is a FINE question to ask. I still haven't found a solution i REALLY like. Floro is probably your best bet. You can probably get away with 20lb floro if the pike arn't too big. Not sure what knots you are using, but a uni to uni is what i use to go from mainline to floro. You could always add on a swivel between the 2 line types. You dont need a very long floro leader either.

Try changing the knot on the jig to something with an open loop. The names escape me right now. Should allow more range of motion. You could also just add a snap...no swivel to the end of the floro.

I think this is one of those things where you are going to have to experiment a little.

-Dave

Wish i could go.

-Dave

I wasn't quite as far north as that canoeing this past weekend. If you head out, by God! BE CAREFUL!

-Dave

...love it.

To answer the "fish ladder" question. They are really expensive to put in. Some i know have cost around the million dollar mark. Volunteers and elbow grease are a lot cheaper and the results are the same. Fish get upstream.

-Dave

Ditto what Ben said.

Only one thing 'd like too point out. Some lodges have a "tip pool" for part of the staff. This does not include your guide at 99% of the lodges. So if you don't tip him directly he doesnt get one. I have had a few of those and seen co-workers get shafted the same way.

I would say tipping a guide is like tipping anyone else. 20% would seem fair if he lived up to your expectations.

20% would be on the low side of things. The fact is your guide works harder and longer then most "anyone else" you would normally tip...assuming you have an average or better guide. Especially if the make a good shore lunch. Normally my tips are somewhere between 35-60% a day....that's an average....of what it costs to book the guide.

I have never used a guide but from what I have seen at some lodges that have guides they seem to tailor there approach to the clients they serve.

Very much so. Ypu don't wanna try and make people do something that they can't. Crashing through 3 footers to get to some far off pike bay for an hour isn't for everyone. I always talk to my guests to see what there ability is and how "hardcore" they are. Then take them somewhere easy and close 1st. At that point its pretty clear what their capabiliteis are. After that its pretty much up to them what they wanna do. I always talk to them before we take off for another spot.

At a very nice lodge I have used several times I walked down to my boat after breakfast was served and the guides were sitting a bench up against the boat house. I had been getting into a lot of walleyes the past two days in a bay less than 2 miles away but I noticed that the guides had blown right by my area going up river. When I asked them where they had been going the told me a area that was at least 10 miles away (they only had 20 hp) so it was a ride for them. I said I was getting a lot of action in Deer Bay so why were they going so far. The oldest guide (he still works there) said, "It's like in the army, when your marching your not fighting". This meant a 1 hour boat up and another 1 hour boat ride back was better than untangling lines, etc..... for the non fishermen he was guiding. They caught enough fish for group even though they could of done a LOT better closer to the lodge. BTW all the talk between the guides while I was getting things ready in the boat was how they were looking forward to golfing in the afternoon.

That is pretty bad review of those staff members. If your guests are tangling lines and fishing with them becomes a chore....the guide isn't doing something right. There is 101 tricks to deal with even the worst fisherman. Its our jobs as guides to get them on fish. That might mean teaching them how to jig, or cast properly. Sometimes things they do might rub you the wrong way, but that's part of the job. Your best bet when working with a guide is to listen to them. If they want to do something a certain way, they probably have a good reason. My very worst guests over the years were the guys who would not listen to my advice.

I have never seen the guides at our camp more preoccupied with something else. Fish come 1st. We have a bad day with a guest we talk about it among each other. We often share info on what spots are producing fish and what lures are working. Some days walleye fishing you can find all the guides drifiting together where the fish are biting best......somedays thats 100 feet off the end of the dock.

One of the imporant things to remember about the guides is that they talk. So you're not benefitting from one guys knowledge, you're benefiting from the collective shared knowledge. Trusting your guide, and putting your faith in their abilities is the best way of getting the best outa them.

ANyway i'm rambling here like a mad man. ANother thing to keep in mind if you don't like your guide ask to switch him.

-Dave

The 10 inch circle allows to find the best pattern. Your not only looking for 100 in teh circle but a fairly consistant pattern as well.....not blotchy. If you can get it to pattern with AT LEAST 100 then you know you can kill your bird at 40.

I don't have much 1st hand experiance but i do understand a good portion of the theory behind patterning. I think you are going to have to play with your chokes 1st off. Get the 10 inch circle and try the full choke and then the turkey choke about 3 times each and see how many are in the circle. WHich one is better? Might give you a clue to what is happening with your shot when it leaves the gun.

If you are consistantly getting low numbers in teh circle try the heavy shot and see what happens. All the variations of heavy shot pattern a little different so u have some play in the selection. The upside to heavier shot is that even if you have fewer pellets hitting the target then you want, each pellet is carrying more energy and therfore does more damage then lead of the same size.

You can also consider going down a size or 2 in size with heavy shot. It'll give you more pellets but still retain enough energy to drop a bird.

You're gonna have to play and experiment to see what works.

If you are still having trouble it's a good excuse to go gun shopping lol.

Good Luck.

-Dave

DNB CBR : "I have to ask tho, is Kesagami's single barbless hook policy not valid in the winter?"

 

I should have taken time out at least one of the four years in a row, while I had a CO checking my lines, rigs, fish and card, to ask him this same question.

 

I believe it's a lodge policy, not a lake policy. Not sure though, so, if you know different please pass that info along to me.

Strickly a Kesagami Wilderness lodge policy. We have all kinds of rules for protect the pike. They are the read and butter of the lodge. If they weren't their neither would the lodge.....and if the lodge was their id probably be short a few fingers by now LMAO.

-Dave

Gotta be the report of the year. If anyon can beat that please try. It'll be a joy to read.

-Dave

vary the speed to optimize the action of the spoon some are more suited to faster retrieves and others to a slower retrieve. If you stick on a single push a twister tail onto it. Makes a big difference in teh success rate i find. It's hard to beat a silver/white combo or a gold and orange. The williams trouphy spoon is good if you ar looking for a dirt-slow retrieve. The wabbler is next best for a slow retrieve. If the fish are slow let the sponn hit bottom and then bring it in, keeping the spoon in last 2 feet of water. I've also had succes stopping the spoon, letting it hit bottom and starting the retrieve up again.

Also i'd have to say bring some blue fox spinners (#4 #5 or #6) and a couple hollow body swim baits. If you can't find a pike with either of those and the spoons, then your case is hopeless lololol.

The bluefoxes are a dream with the single hooks. Again add a twister tail. They become pretty weedless which is another huge blessing.

Try the Williams whitefish spoon as well. Pike love them.

-Dave

No more difficult then any other pan fish to fillet. Depends on your skill level with a knife. I Keep a couple every winter ice fishing if then show up and are a descent size. No complaints about the meat taste. Just a bluegill or a 'seed.

-Dave

Nice Work! You guys were dialed in on them for SURE!

-Dave

Water temp #1.....often associated with depth and wind.

For me lure action is as important as speed if not more so.

Then colour.

Obviously structure and temperture combined outrank all the others. You can have the best pike bait on the face of the planet, but if they you aren't where they are it wont matter.

The deer hair poppers work. Period. They can take a real pounding before you need a new one as well.

There is the usual way to tie them where you cut the hair. But you can also tie them so the tag ends face forward over the eye of the hook. Then you bend it back over towards the bend and wrap it a few times. Saves the mess of cutting. However the cutting allows you mix colours better. If you dont know what i mean, its a very similar method to tying the "Tom Thumb". You can google it. The only difference is you are using teh technique to make the head of teh bug, not the body. Its a little different for the bass fly but you'll figure it out.

-Dave

Nice Job Solo. Can't argu with non-stop action.

-Dave

i'm still in the dark ages of bib pants as far as rain gear is concerned But i stay dry lol. No zippers at all, anywhere. Viking rubberized things. In the sun you can sweat in them pretty god. But in the sun i dont usually need to wear them lol

-Dave

You can do it if the market is their, but you need to expand past trucks. My uncle does the mobile wash thing. Pretty much anything thing you can think of he has hit with that pressure washer.

Not sure what the regs say for it.

-Dave

Ben hit upon the #1 concern for rain pants.....dry nuts. There is tonnes of pants on teh market, and most are better for standing then sitting. Try them on and then sit down. If the water pools on a zipper don't buy them.

I don't know anyone who doesnt like the 100mph jacket and pants.

...and as far as Frogg Toggs are concerned...he wants REAL rain gear. lolol

-Dave