timmeh

I've noticed that this too this fall. Took a day off last week and was hoping to have a little more room to fish but the crowds were still there. Oh well, still nice to get out. Nice fish too. Oh and O-S don't curse the rain, we need that.

Or you could release those good sized spawning fish in favor of a smaller one

I suspect for most people it's a personal preference. As far as this, no, not at all. In fact if the fish is not smoke properly, or long enough, you may expose yourself to potential bacteria and parasites. It's not common in Ontario caught fish, but is possible.

Most tackle shops carry rod cases that will hold the reel as well, and/or multiple rods. They may not have them in stock that size, but if you ask they likely can order something in that will work for you. I got one for about $35 or so last year and it's definitely been good for me.

If you're interested in water levels check out this link; http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/formNav.asp Best bet is to go out and give it a try. And talk to any other anglers you may see out there. Most people are more comfortable sharing info to people they meet on the river as opposed to on the net. Good luck

I agree with the others that say the choice of bait is NOT the most important aspect most of the time. The key is figuring out where the fish are holding and presenting whatever bait into the strike zone. I'm about 2 years ahead of you in the learning curve and I used to think I was always using the wrong baits or leaders or whatever. But in time I when I learned how to manipulate split shots, or spinners to get my bait into the strike zone and I started to do better. And figuring out where the fish are takes time as well. Once you start to catch fish consider the details of the area such as water depth, colour, flow, current breaks etc. Fish don't move around completely random, so try to figure out what attracted the fish to that area. Then you'll start to put together a pattern of where the fish likely are. A piece of advice from someone who was in your shoes not too long ago; At first I tried to fish every river that had steelies running and it was far too much for me to learn. Pick a river or 2 and focus on them. Learn where the fish are in those rivers under different conditions and then you can apply that to new tribs. I'm certainly not an expert at all but I know how you feel, I used to get frustrated with steelie fishing and not catching anything. I'm far from an expert but I've been able to steadily increase the number of fish I get into. It can be a challenge but if you're willing to work at it you'll get it.

Oh man, this could really be taken the wrong way!! HAHAHAHA... I'm sorry I know I'm immature but I found this hilarious...

Thanks for the info muddler. One more question to add: what's the difference in performance between 2 and 4 piece rods?

Hey everyone, I recently asked for some advice regarding centerpins and really appreciated the feedback but in thinking about it I've decided that I can probably keep going with my spinning reel this season and save up for a fly fishing setup in the spring. As I'm lucky enough to live close to the upper Grand it's something I've always kind of wanted to get into and I figure I'll get probably get a lot more use out of it. But there's a lot to learn for a newb! I would mostly be fishing the upper Grand and similar rivers for medium sized trout and I would like to get into some bass fishing with it as well. But I'm not sure what rod weight I should be looking at getting? Is there something that would be the fly equivalent to a 7 foot spinning reel that would be useful in a lot of conditions? I was considering getting a decent 6 weight combo. Would this be appropriate or would it be too light for bass/too heavy for medium trout? And would I be better off spending more money on a good reel or rod, or am I best balancing it out equally? I've already priced a few options out at my local tackle store but thought it be to my benefit to get some advice from the crew here too. Further, any other advice you'd pass along to a beginner would be helpful. Thanks again for the advice.. Tim

Going to try to get out for some rainbows at my favourite spot ....

It's my understanding that the success of natural salmon reproduction in Great lakes tribs is not well understood, or at least there is a lot of mistaken info floating around out there. I've read/heard estimates that put the % of naturally produced fish at anywhere from 5-50% of the great lakes populations. Either way the salmon population is highly dependent on stocking. So while I personally don't fish for salmon, and therefor don't keep any, I doubt keeping a few fish for roe will have an impact. Personally I'd prefer people take salmon as opposed to steelies for roe

You're bang on here. Currently there are more than 250 people on the forum and 80 are registered members. So clearly there are a lot of lurkers here and they're just hoping someone slips up and mentions specific info.

Well wherever it's from that's an awesome shot.

One thing I do when using rigs like this is to use a fairly light cheap line for the sinker. This way when it gets snagged it breaks off quickly and it's pretty quick to re-tie a new sinker and get back to fishing.

Nice photos Steel, those are awesome action shots. I remember years ago when I was young my parents would take us to another trib and we'd watch the salmon jump. Sometimes we'd go in and help them make it upstream. And good on you for taking action. Some people would just walk away from that but I feel as anglers we have a responsibility to help protect our resources. It sounds like you handled the situation perfectly.

Nice report, especially the brookie - that's a real beaut.

You need to read the intro pages at the start of the regs that apply to all situations and water bodies as well as those for the specific area you're fishing. One of the general regs is that you are not allowed to fish within at least 75 feet downstream of any dam, fishway or any obstacle designed to assist with fish movement. Some dams have even larger sanctuary areas.

Nice fish, I believe that would have been a heck of a fight. Coho is still a fish I haven't crossed off the list.

I believe it has to do with the fact that pike are not naturally found in a lot of kawartha lakes, instead musky are the dominant fish. The addition of pike into some of these waters is a threat to the musky populations. I've been told that pike spawn before musky and the YOY pike eat YOY musky, though I don't know if this is fact or not.

I love a story with a happy ending!!

I recently had the same decision. I found a real good sale on a citica so I went with that. I've have had no problems whatsoever with the citica. It's my first baitcaster so I was worried about birdsnests but didn't have much of a problem with that at all. I can't directly compare with the curado though.

It's a few days late but since my camera is working again I thought I'd post my latest outing. Figured I'd hit the upper tribs before they closed so I went out last weekend. Was mostly in search of specks but had a nice surprise at the end of the day. Didn't take pics of all the specks but here are a few... Didn't get any real big specks but a few nice ones in the 8-10" range. This next pic is quite interesting. I thought I had an average fish when all of a sudden it started to pull twice as hard... Apparently the hook went through the chubs mouth and a brookie tried to steal it... Managed to get into a couple little resident bows like this guy. Apparently I wasn't the only one interested in closing weekend. These guys showed up to see what was going on... And finally on to the last fish of the day, which turned out to be quite a nice surprise. I had hiked my way to a small log jam I found earlier this spring that had a few brookies around to check it out. First cast I get a nice hit and I knew I had a nice sized fish on. I was hoping to see my PB brookie but instead found a nice brown. I wasn't too disappointed though . Was fishing by myself so I couldn't get a good pic and wanted to release him ASAP so here's the best I could do. As always when fishing for these smaller trout single barbless hooks were the order of the day. And all fish were put back right were I found them. Now it's time to start thinking about those bigger trout.

I use the same set up: 15lb power pro and I buy a spool of seagur flouro and use it as a leader (I don't bother with the specific leader material unless I'm trout fishing). This works great for me, and I use similar techniques as you mentioned. Though I should mention you will spend a bit more time tying on fluoro leaders if you get snagged. If you use a good swivel it can help with line twist cutting down on the knots and tangels. One thing you can do is to tie the flouro leader onto swivels and then wrapping them around an empty spool. Then if you break your leader of just tie on a pre-made leader.

I second Las on this. It should be the official response to questions like this. OR You could just post this link http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/formNav.asp And you're right Johnny this post does sound quite similar to a previous post.......

Booking the time off work now. But if I can't get there before 7:00 do you think there will be any left? lol.