craigdritchie

Uh huh. Hunting shows do not draw large enough audiences to interest major advertisers. TV time costs a lot of money, and Global does not exist to operate at a loss. From a business perspective, I wouldn't air the programs either.

These threads always crack me up. "My truck's better than yours!" "Oh yeah? Well your is a piece of crap!" "Oh yeah?" "Yeah!" Does anyone truly believe that vehicle manufacturers still make every single part in their vehicles? Amazing, if so, because it hasn't been that way for at least 25 years. With only a handful of very expensive exceptions (Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin, etc) the vast majority of car manufacturers outsource a large number of parts. Toyota didn't build the faulty gas pedals that sent their vehicles crashing into walls, they were sourced from a gas pedal manufacturer in Streetsville, Ontario. That company also sold gas pedals to other manufacturers besides Toyota. All sorts of parts, like computer control modules, oxygen sensors, brakes, exhaust systems, rads, throttle assemblies, starters, you name it, are outsourced. It's the only way they can keep car prices down. If Toyota had to build every single part by themselves, a Corolla would cost more than $60,000 and no one would ever buy it. My truck might be better than yours, but not by as much as you might like to think.

Here's a hoot - go to Wikipedia and search "Somebody That I Used To Know" Or just click here :-) Scroll down to the section titled "Cover versions and media appearances" ..... and read the last paragraph. These guys are going places, I tell you! LMAO!!

Just for fun take a gander at Munroe Lake, on the Manitoba - Nunavut border. The main business is a lodge operation on Munroe Lake itself, but they also have an outpost camp on Brownstone Lake, a short distance away. I have never fished Brownstone. I did fish Munroe in 1997, and still feel it was far and away the most enjoyable fishing I've ever had in my life - better than Great Bear, Tree River, Bolton Lake, Wollaston Lake, La Ronge, Great Slave, Cree River and Mistassini. It's pike, lakers and grayling. On the main lake we caught stupid numbers of pike every day, including numerous fish over 40 inches, mainly on buzzbaits and Slug-Gos. There's an esker that runs through the lake, and when the wind blows across it, the pike line up and destroy basically anything that moves. I spent most of my time fishing for grayling however, and pretty much exclusively on dry flies, using a six-foot three weight Loomis I had built just for that trip. Caught several dozen fish in the 17- to 19-inch inch range each day, and lost several more to aggressive pike and lake trout. It was unreal. Two different rivers feed the lake in the north end, and it is drained at the south end by a large river. I spent most of my time on that south-end river mouth. We were there six days and apart from making a few shoreline casts to catch a few fish for shore lunch each day, we didn't otherwise fish for lakers intentionally. Never got around to it. I don't think many people do, so they're probably a bit of an open book. Caveat - I haven't been there since 1997. That said, it's only open for a few weeks each summer, and was closed altogether for a couple of years following my visit due to an ownership change. As with most other northern destinations I've been to, the majority of the guests were well off, but didn't have a clue how to fish. If a person knows what to do, the sky's the limit. Again, I have no idea what the outpost is like, but if it's anything at all like the main lake, I would give it legitimate consideration. If you do go to Kazan (which sounds awesome), see if you can find the article on it that appeared in an Ontario Out Of Doors magazine from approx 1980 - 1982. I think it was a spring issue, because I remember it being fairly thick. Story was about a trip that the writer did there with then-current Toronto Maple Leafs players Darryl Sittler and Claire Alexander. It had some interesting info, including some stuff about accidentally catching large lakers on dry flies while grayling fishing. The info will be way out of date, but an interesting read regardless, especially if that's where you're headed. Cheers

That's excellent news. I just love these guys - they're truly fearless, and about the only ones out there doing anything creative or different. I look forward to seeing their show, since the vast majority of TV fishing shows on air now are just plain awful.

So much for my Monday-Tuesday business trip to the States. Flights all along the east coast are being cancelled.

Agree with Bill. On big water, using big floats and fishing big current, long baitcasting rigs they work great. But in small streams or light currents, they're not so good. The small spool on a baitcaster doesn't turn over anywhere near as easily as the large spool on a centrepin. Fish slow runs and the difference is night and day.

Totally agree - based on that criteria, go to Disney.

You would be best to try and narrow down what kind of fishing experience you want to have. It's fine to say "I want to catch bass" but there are a zillion ways to do that and some of them may not appeal to you. For example, there are a couple of lakes in western Arizona coughing up largemouth bass in the mid-teens right now - HUGE fish, for sure - but you may fish for a week to get one bite. It's still fishing on bottom with dead bait, by the way. Is that what you want? Or do you want to catch numbers of four-pound buckets on topwaters? They're totally different experiences. You will also need to figure out what kind of budget you're looking at, since some of these places will cost a few bucks, and others will cost couple of grand a week - per person. How much are you willing to spend on this? Do you want to stay in a larger town with lots of high-end restaurant choices? Or do you want to rough it and eat out of a can? That makes a huge difference in where you will go. Maybe narrowing things down a little would help you find what you really want. Otherwise you'll keep getting all sorts of different ideas thrown at you, and no real sense of what will work and what won't.

In fact, I do believe my life is better with a cell phone. Prior to having one, I spent a great deal of time each week hunting down pay phones that actually worked, and making sure I always had a bunch of quarters to feed them with. I no longer need to do that. Having a cell phone makes my life easier and more convenient. And yes, my work lifestyle does require me to stay in fairly continuous contact. Note I emphasize "work" lifestyle. That's why I have a cell phone, for the most part. I do not feel the need to re-examine my life choices, given that I am lucky enough to have a job that many people would give their eye teeth for. To each their own. But understand that not everyone who uses a cell phone is ignorant, nor are they owned by it. It does have an on/off button. Whether people choose to use that is up to them.

Well said. I wouldn't be able to work without my Blackberry, and simply can't understand why anyone would go out of their way to not take advantage of such a useful item. Then again, I'm also a big fan of electricity and indoor plumbing. Go figure.

MNR might have a problem with you chasing the geese with your boat (kidding!) but otherwise, so long as you have the right licenses it's all good. You wouldn't be the first to spend a morning harvesting surf n' turf.

Many parts of Bronte aren't even 15 feet wide.

I can see this one getting locked up pretty quickly.

Sounds like fun, but I have a ton of work travel between now and the end of November. December is wide open, but I'm pretty much pooched till then.

Aw come on Chris, why stop at the base and the guides? Wrap the whole rod from end to end!

White perch are very common in Lake Ontario. They belong to the same family of fish as white bass and striped bass (they have no relationship with smallmouth/largemouth, sunfish, or yellow perch whatsoever). Average size is 10 - 12 inches. They usually travel in large schools, so when you find one, you've found a bunch. They're pretty good eating fish but, as others have said, I would be cautious about eating much from Lake O.

OMG that Chuck Teston video is hysterical!

Mike's right - many of these animals were stuffed by people taking taxidermy courses. Sad but true fact - many taxidermy students practice on unwanted dogs and cats that have been put down by the local humane society. I guess it's a valid use of an animal that's dead anyway, but still creepy nonetheless. But as the pictures above attest, some taxidermists don't get any better when they move on to paying customers' animals. I look at these, and then I go look at Advanced Taxidermy's website ..... man it's scary how talented some people can be ..... and how scary other people aren't!

Bad taxidermy is one thing, but these mounts are truly epic. Enjoy.

Lake Michigan fish have wound up in the lower lakes before. I recall reading about a tagged rainbow trout stocked into the Manistee River, which was subsequently caught by an ice fisherman in the Bay of Quinte. He returned the tag, so the only real question is, did the fish survive a plunge over the falls (unlikely) or swim down the Welland Canal? Great Lakes fish have also turned up on the East Coast, in Maine, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Sometimes they travel. But it is rare. Most seem to stay within the same system where they were stocked/hatched.

Good advice in this thread .... allow me to add a couple of additional thoughts. 1. Spinnerbaits are the go-to lure when you need to cover a lot of ground in a hurry, or when you're fishing a huge area and aren't sure exactly where the fish are hanging out. They're not so good when fish are sitting very tight to cover, or are in a negative mood from fishing pressure or inclement weather. 2. As a general rule, they tend to work better in warm water than in really cold water. 3. Spinnerbaits made from titanium wire will stand up much better to pike & muskie than those made from standard stainless steel wire. If you fish in places that have a lot of pike, or are targeting pike and muskie, titanium is worth the extra cost. 4. Spinnerbaits with a large, single Colorado-style blade (fairly round blade) are best for stop-and-go fishing, such as when you buzz along the tops of submerged weeds, then stop and let the bait helicopter down into the open spots (works great for largemouth, by the way). When you fish this way, single Colorado blades are less prone to tangle the line than tandem blades or willowleaf styles. 5. Others have already mentioned that a single Colorado blade will run shallower than an identical bait with a willowleaf blade. What you also need to know is that the Colorado can also be fished more slowly. The willowleaf, on the other hand, is best when you want a really fast retrieve. 6. Personally speaking, I find that a white, 3/8-ounce or 1/2-ounce spinnerbait with a silver Colorado blade will handle 75% of my spinnerbait needs. But I also carry somet high visibility ones (chartreuse or orange/red) with bright, fluorescent painted blades for use in murky water. And I always have a few larger ones (5/8-ounce to 3/4-ounce) with one or two willowleaf blades .... usually a grey or silver skirt with silver or gold blades. That's my undisputed top bait ever for summer smallmouth on warm, windy days. I'll add a stinger hook more often than not.

Interesting announcement by Michigan DNR - they're reducing chinook stocking in Lake Michigan by 50 percent due, in part, to increased levels of natural reproduction. Read on ..... cut and pasted from Great Lakes Scuttlebutt: Michigan DNR To Reduce Chinook Salmon Stocking In Lake Michigan The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced that, following more than a year of deliberations with constituents, scientists and fishery managers, it agrees with an inter-jurisdictional recommendation by the Lake Michigan Committee to reduce Chinook salmon stocking by 50 percent lake-wide. The Lake Michigan Committee is comprised of fisheries managers representing Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and five Michigan tribes that are party to the 2000 Consent Decree. Under the lake-wide plan, the 3.3 million Chinook salmon annually stocked in total in Lake Michigan by the four states would be reduced to 1.7 million starting in 2013. “This reduction is essential in helping to maintain the balance between predator and prey fish populations in Lake Michigan,” said Jim Dexter, Michigan DNR Fisheries Division chief. “These reductions are necessary to maintain the lake’s diverse fishery.” A key factor to Lake Michigan’s current and potentially precarious ecosystem balance is an increasing presence of wild Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan. Streams in Michigan continue to produce significant numbers of naturally reproduced Chinook salmon and lake-wide estimates show more than half of the lake’s Chinook population is of wild origin. Because of the significant natural reproduction occurring in Michigan, the DNR will shoulder the majority of the stocking reduction. Michigan will reduce stocking by 1.13 million spring fingerlings, or 67 percent of the 1.69 million recently stocked by the state. Wisconsin will reduce by 440,000; Indiana will reduce by 25,000; and Illinois will reduce by 20,000. This marks the third time in recent history that stocking in Lake Michigan has been reduced by the agencies. Previous decisions to reduce stocking in 1999 and 2006 resulted in maintaining and improving catch rates. Fisheries managers believe this is because natural reproduction continues to fill any available predatory space. The decision to reduce stocking is part of an adaptive management strategy that includes a feedback loop that will monitor certain indicators in the lake – such as Chinook salmon growth. If conditions improve or get worse, stocking will be increased or decreased accordingly, and more quickly. “This will give the DNR more flexibility to adaptively manage the lake,” said Jay Wesley, Southern Lake Michigan Unit manager. “Traditionally, we have made changes in stocking and waited five years to evaluate it, and another two years to implement changes. Now we have the ability, through a defined and accepted process, to make changes as they are needed.” The DNR’s Fisheries Division will discuss with constituents this fall how each stocking location will be affected by the stocking reductions. Future site-specific stocking levels will be based on natural reproduction, net pen partnerships, broodstock needs and hatchery logistics. Every existing stocking location should expect a reduction. Please visit the Michigan Sea Grant's website for more information on the Lake Michigan Chinook salmon stocking reduction plan. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state’s natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr.

Exactly why I avoid the crowd altogether. It's a lot more fun to fish out-of-the-way spots that may not have as many fish, but do have far fewer people. Like Mike, I have fishing licenses for a whole bunch of different places. I have no problem filling the truck with gas and driving several hours in order to catch some fish in peaceful surroundings that also happen to preserve my sanity. My time is valuable. I'd rather spend more of it driving and have really good quality fishing when I arrive ... than stay closer to home and waste an entire day in a circus with all the clowns. Fewer hours on the water, but better hours on the water. Quality over quantity. Jut my two cents.

It's not just Quebec. I shot this photo in the Cleveland airport three days ago.