FishHeadRic

Hey Clive! What's your set up? 5wt-7wt-8wt? Do ya have a line or a set of lines yet? If ya do, what's the taper on it/them? Weight forward, shooting head, even? How deep are the rivers there? Are you going to have fish any depths to get to holding fish? Did you do any steelie fishing back in toronto? Do ya have a good selection of flies. nymph, egg patterns yet? Ric

Don't forget about this one! FHR

My Lord Dan! I hope you didn't type all that out! FHR

Chucks legs are NEVER bound by his jeans!!!

Especially if you scroll down real fast! FHR

Penn recently got rid of their Z series. Those reels were basically bullet-proof. I was at a fishing show a few weeks back and talked to their rep about it and he plain and flat-out admitted to the fact that it didn't pay for them to sell reels that would last forever. It is ridiculous but from their stand point I guess it does make sense. FHR

For the price range you're looking at you can't go wrong with a St Croix Primier series.... http://www.stcroixrods.com/rods/default2.a...mp;section=spin (Just clict the "ROD SPECS" tab under the pics of the rods) With out a doubt they're one of the best rods you can in the 100$ range. I have an ultra lite and just bought the 8' Primier Surf this winter. Great rods! My next suggestion would be a Fenwick HMG. Mayby a bit more but well worth it. I have 3 Fenwicks and love them all. http://www.fenwickfishing.com/prod.php?k=7...%20%20(1117412) FHR

Do you want to spend 120 on both rod and reel or just the rod? Also do you want to stay with a spinning set up or move onto a bait-casting one? Is this rod going to be used from your/a boat? Or primarialy from shore? Are you looking fo a 1 or 2 piece? If you want to spend 120 on just the rod you'll have a a lot of rods to choose from. The St Croix Triumph series that Slow Poke suggested is a good one. There's also their premier series. Fenwick, HMG series, HMX series is also right in that ball park. Shimano V-rods have been popping up on sale for right around 120... All Star also has a few in that range. Rogue, Diawa, Seeker,Berkley, Quantum... All have great rods. One of my favorite outfits is an 8'6" St Croix, Wild River Heavy power, fast action paired with a Quantum Catalyst 40. I also run a 10'6" Berkley Series One, Medium power, with a Abu Ambassadeur 1st gen Morrum. FHR

Yeah a little nuts. Great fishing though. I used to go out on Christmas day under OP It's a great area cause it's fairly protected from the wind but your could only spend half and hour at a time in the water otherwise you'd just start cramping up. It also got dangerous going between the ice sheets. I'd sit there and wait till they parted and gun it to the other side. I did have them close on me one time and had to hop up on top of the ice sheet before my legs got pinched off. I also used to love the way people would look at me when I got on the TTC covered in Pike blood and smelling like a China town supermarket floor. Hehe! FHR

Ahh, Waiting for the ice-out. The one thing I don't miss Remember this day Fidel? FHR

The season always closed in April in lake O. Geeze, I wish I was back there at this time of year! Guys, the pike are out there all winter! Some of my best days were in Late Feb, and all through march. Just look for open water! I used to fish between the cracks of ice! I don't want to burn spots for the guys that are doing the leg work so I won't openly. If some of you guys want though PM me and I'll point you in the right direction. S'up Fidel, Grant! FHR

Go on TJ, Just give'em a ticket already! FHR

Lew got the two right. The one on the right is the ole Hearn power plant. Coal burner I believe. The one on the far left is from the poo-poo factory and the other one in the middle I think is from an old brick yard factory. FHR

Lake Ontario ain't to shabby. Little Vermillion comes to mind as well. FHR

Hmm, Not sure... Wayne, I stopped down there last summer before I left and the store was gutted. Maybe they were just doing a reno. Hopefully cause I really liked that store and their staff. FHR

Seriously scuro, your best bet is to find a local tackle shop down there and see what patterns they have tied up or are tying up. Buying anything up here won't truly reflect what you're going to need down there. When ya get there you can also ask local guides as to what they're throwing. They will tell you. Some of the guides Ive run into are some of the nicest people I've ever. Just talk fishing and I'm sure you'll get an ear-full as to what paterns were working for the bones that day. They're fisherman! They can't help talking fish. If you're a good with tying flies you could also just travel down with some basic gear and your press and go nuts the night before in the hotel. FHR Oh yeah, I second CH's suggestion of the spinning rod and the chugga bug. (Snook and red fish candy!)

The sight is still up but l'm pretty sure they closed the store down last summer FHR

Go heavy! At least 130. I have been bitten off once fishing pike. I was using 80lb. FHR

Thanks Guys for all the nice compliments! Very much appreciated. Terry the first one is 8" and just over 2 Oz. Grant I actually gave the feathered one to my best friend down here. He also said that it was too nice to use but I made him promise to catch at least one fish with it before he pops it onto his mantle. I turned out a half dozen of that size & pattern. That one was the only one that got the feather treatment. The others are on the drying rack right now. I did different patterns on all of them, Yellow w/ red head, all yellow (school-bus), perch, pearl with coloured spots (wonder bread) and an eel pattern. I like to paint 'em but it's really not that important in my opinion. The action of the lure is what really matters. Mike I made all of these for the stripers down here. Pencil poppers are weighted in the back end so that you can cast them out as far as possible and keep them out there. The way they're worked is after they land the fisherman tucks the surf rod between his legs and grabs the rod just under the first guide. Shaking the rod while taking in any slack that is caused by the shaking. When weighted right, the lure will pivot on its rear end with it's nose swinging side to side. (You muskie guys think you've seen some explosive hits...) I've often thought that these would make great muskie lures. I'm going to be coming back up toward the fall so I guess I'll see then... FHR

Yeah they're really cool. Cliff, did ya bug out a little when the camera started going all matrix. Some trippy stuff there, eh? Ric

Thanks Ken, Mike, Roy, Cliff. Matt, I'd like nothing better then to hit the hard ice right about now but unless you can pick me up (in NYC) it might be a little hard. Guess I should change my location on my info card eh? Where were you when l was living up at Young and Eg. FHR

COOL! l love the way those land-locked ones don't get the length of the ones up here but they just fill out like footballs. Kinda like the land-locked salmon out in BC. Ric

Nice GCD! You got any land-locked stripers down in those lakes? Ric

Roy, it goes on down here as well. Apparently the kids are discouraged from going door to door because of abduction fears but this just forces then to go from shop to shop in my town. All these kids just gaggle up by mall entrances and home depot exits... The other day one of the kids handed me a piece of paper and it said that our school district was raising money for new classroom maps! Apparently some of them still have East and West Germany on them!!! The Democratic party has already spent over 100 million dollars on their election campaigns and the kids in my school district have to sell chocolate raisins to figure out why Russia doesn't look the same when they look it up on the Internet. Allocation of funds seems to be misdirected on both sides of the border :/ It's not always a bad thing these kids are doing. Ric

Hey Danbo, lt's hard to see in the pics but the belly of th pink one is pearlized. l've got an air-brush and have been using cretex paints with it. The pearl just dosn't show up though. Thanks Rob, much appreciated! FHR