craigdritchie

Legend is a nice boat. Never heard of anyone having a problem with one.

I hate to say it, but a HUGE number of fishermen are complete and absolute morons who shouldn't be allowed to leave the house. Took a walk along Bronte Pier last night with the wife. Lots of people out, including about four guys fishing. We walked to the end, and they were gone when we returned. The amount of garbage and crap these four idiots left behind (on the pier and in the water) was just disgusting. The rest of the pier was fine - totally clean. The area where the clowns were fishing was a disaster. I wasn't the only one who was disgusted. And we wonder why we see more "no fishing" signs every year.

What happens is that people get very creative and re-name fish to suit their own purposes. "Norwegian Steelhead Salmon" don't exist. They're a farmed rainbow trout that some guy in a fish store gave a fancy name to. Why? Because an exotic sounding thing like "Norwegian Steelhead Salmon" has more market appeal than "rainbow trout," which people can buy anywhere. It's the same damn fish except some guy got creative and gave it an exotic name. He probably charges more for it and makes more profit. This happens all over the world. Fish stores and fish restaurants give basic everyday fish exotic sounding names so they sell better. People buy into it because they don't know any better. The guy at the fish store says it's xxxx .... it must be because he's an expert, right? "No sir, you're not eating a road-killed anteater. You're eating a genuine, wild American desert lamb .... seared in red wine sauce and a touch of parsnip." Total Bull, but it happens every day. Those "Norwegian Steelhead Salmon" are not steelhead, they're not salmon, and they've never been to Norway. They're rainbow trout that have been raised in a swimming pool or a floating pen (most likely somewhere on the Great Lakes) and fed cat food by a machine. They've been genetically modified to grow from egg to market size in a year. From a nutrition perspective, you're better off to toss the fish in the garbage and eat the plastic bag you brought it home in. But that doesn't sound very marketable, does it? Hence .... "Norwegian Steelhead Salmon." Why do I expect to hear the Monty Python guys chirp in right about now with a comment about "beautiful plumage?" There's actually more to it than that. Reclassifying them under the same genus as Pacific salmon makes it easier to protect them with the same legislation applied to Pacific salmon. When the lawyers head to court to argue about native fishing rights or hydro dams or high seas netting, it's just easier to protect steelhead too by reclassifying them under the same umbrella as other Pacific salmon. Renaming them had more to do with convenience for lawmakers than any biological reasons. True fact.

Walleye are pretty easy - forget the lake and fish the Severn River instead. Just watch your prop and stay between the buoys when you drive through the NW corner of the lake ..... lots of rocks that just love to eat lower units. There are a few muskie in Sparrow, but it is not a particularly good muskie lake. Try the big spinnerbait, or a big Husky Jerk.

We have low quality product on store shelves because that is precisely what consumers demand. Across most of North America, people always buy the cheapest stuff they can get. I'm not talking specialty stuff like fishing gear, I mean normal household goods. Wal-Mart has T-shirts for $4.99? Let's go! For most people, price trumps quality every single time. The proof is in the immense number of small businesses that have been destroyed all over North America by big box retailers and chain discount stores that sell lower priced, lower quality stuff. People want stuff cheap. The only way for that to happen is to compromise on quality.

Thing is, they will probably sell a gazillion of the things. There really aren't a lot of options out there for someone who wants to buy new, who wants a sporty looking car, and who doesn't want to blow a whole pile of dough. Challenger, Camaro and Mustang are all far more expensive cars. Even a Mits Evo will still cost more than the Dart. Remember the old Chev Cavalier Z24? This is the modern version. Remember, the target market for this vehicle has never even seen a 60s/70s Dart, much less driven one. They won't make the comparison.

Looks like a Neon with updated sheet metal (or plastic).

That camera does a great job. Is it one of those GoPro models?

Basically their version of it.

Good reels shouldn't need to be fixed when you first take them out of the box.

Mike those baits are from the mid 90s. Berkley went with the yellow wave pattern (shark teeth?) along the bottom of the label somewhere around 94 or 95, and kept it till about 98 or 99. I have some old fishing magazines from that period and you can see the same label in the ads. These will all work just fine. May as well use them, since they have basically zero value. They're not collectible, because there's still way too many of them out there. Baits marked "Sample" were normally given free of charge to fishing writers, tournament guys and sponsored pros so they would use them and start hyping the new product. They were marked "sample" to discourage unscrupulous people from just selling it. I have a garage full of this stuff. Whenever I got samples I always kept one or two packages in perfect condition, so I could use them as photo props. Still have most of it .... I mean boxes and boxes of stuff now .... so its kind of like my own personal museum. By the way, if you like old baits, keep an eye out on eBay for old Power Bait Neonz. They were produced around the same time. Man alive, did those baits STINK!! I have no clue what Berkley put in that stuff but once you got it on your hands you couldn't get it off. I still remember getting the samples in the mail and opening a bag in my office. It almost made my graphic artist puke, and my desk smelled like a dead animal for two weeks. Berkley discontinued the Neonz baits after a short while (likely due to people being afraid to buy the stuff) but they did catch fish.

Sportspal with a small electric clamped on the side of it is an outstanding fishing machine. Never even tried paddling one, nor would I want to.

FJ you have a PM.

Yup. Water resistant = it will leak. Waterproof = it will not. Truth is, a paper bag is "water resistant." I wouldn't keep electronics in it.

What do you expect from a lawyer? "Hi, I'm Lionel Hutz, attorney at law"

Buy a PORTS Cruising Guide to the Trent-Severn and Lake Simcoe ($37.95). Every marine store along the Trent sells them, or you can order from West Marine or directly online at portsbooks.com (warning - the website sucks, but the books are pretty good). These books have everything - marinas, launch ramps, restaurants, stuff to do, where to find the LCBO and beer store - you name it. They're also full of aerial photos, so you can also find some awesome fishing spots! PORTS also sells guides to Georgian Bay/Lake Huron, Lake Ontario & the Thousand Islands, and the Rideau Canal/Ottawa River.

1. Don't bundle the fishfinder or GPS power cable in with anything else. Bundle it with the engine controls and you will almost always get some amount of interference. If possible, run cables for electronics down the opposite side of the boat from the engine and dash wires. 2. Ideally, run electronics off their own battery or, as Bill suggests, use an isolator.

Do you mean something like this? This was an adult muskie, in the 45-inch range. Very nasty looking thing with a lot of old scars and injuries ... kind of looked like its head went through a wood chipper. I have no idea if it could even see out that eye, but I doubt it. Other than its banged-up head, the fish looked perfectly fine though, and seemed to be eating well. Fought hard and swam off just fine after our brief encounter.

From today's Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1219013--markham-fish-store-owner-faces-charges-in-u-s-for-smuggling-illegal-species-of-fish Markham fish store owner faces charges in U.S. for smuggling illegal species of fish The blue Honda CRV pulled into the Fort Erie motel parking lot just before 1:30 p.m. in late March 2011 with a delivery from Markham fish store Lucky Aquarium: a white plastic bag with two Asian arowana, or “dragon fish,” an endangered and protected species that can sell on the black market in the U.S. for thousands of dollars. The buyer, Randy Cottrell, an undercover agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, handed over $1,590 in cash to the deliveryman. Then, he claimed in a sworn statement recently filed in a western New York court, he placed the bag of fish in the bottom of his duffle bag and the two parted ways. About a month ago, after a years-long investigation into the smuggling of endangered and illegal fish from the GTA into the United States, Lucky Aquarium owner Jim Ip, 49, was arrested for allegedly organizing the motel pickup and a string of other meetings that saw invasive and endangered species knowingly smuggled across the border. Ip, described online as a “fish fanatic” who lives in Scarborough, has been charged in western New York with two felony counts and a misdemeanour count after he allegedly sold invasive snakehead, Asian arowana, and axolotl — a protected and endangered amphibian — knowing they would be illegally transported to New York. The fish store owner also faces a provincial charge in Newmarket, Ont., which his lawyer Darren Sederoff said is related to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation into the transfer of giant snakehead fish. In his sworn statement, Cottrell said over the course of several months, beginning in June 2010, he visited Ip’s store and communicated via email and phone to arrange purchasing invasive, endangered and protected species. In July 2011, Ip allegedly shipped a container with 26 giant snakehead fish to Amherst, N.Y. The package was intercepted at a border crossing in Buffalo, where Cottrell said he confiscated the fish — a notoriously violent predator, illegal to sell or possess in both Ontario and New York state. Reached at Lucky Aquarium Thursday afternoon, Ip refused to comment on the allegations, but Sederoff said his client planned to plead not guilty to the charges. “A lot of the allegations levelled against him are completed exaggerated,” Sederoff said. “He’s disappointed that the charges were levelled against him. We’re going to vigorously defend this.” Sederoff said Ip could be extradited to the U.S. to face the charges, but added that the case is in its preliminary stages. If convicted, Ip could face up to four years in prison for selling the snakehead and arowana, and an addition year in prison and $5,000 fine for selling the axolotl. He is scheduled to appear in a Newmarket court in August.

That's definitely a coho - nice one too. Tail, anal fin and upper jaw (mandible) are dead giveaways.

It's also not the first one.

It's the Great Lakes. Anything's possible - from tiger muskie in Toronto harbour to coaster brook trout showing up at the Streetsville fishway. That's why I love it here. You never know what you'll catch next.

I release tiger muskie. It isn't so much that it will go and spawn (it's a hybrid and they're usually sterile). But muskie of any kind are pretty valuable fish - too valuable to be caught just once. Besides, I might be the guy who catches it again next time around, when it's even bigger. Why anyone would kill a muskie is beyond me. There are far better eating fish out there, and replica mounts look absolutely fantastic. There's just no valid reason to bonk one.

The practice of "fizzing" fish should be outlawed. Most "fizzed" fish die within a few days of being released, partly due to the additional rough handling they receive, partly from the extra time spent out of the water, and partly from having some clueless idiot who's convinced they can perform fish surgery in a rocking boat poke a dirty hypodermic into the thing's liver, kidney, stomach or spine while blindly searching for the swim bladder. Sad, but true.