craigdritchie

Yup, I know. Sorry ... meant the SS II 2000 and 2500 are both discontinued. I should have been clearer. I saw an SS II 2000 on eBay a few weeks ago, basically in unused condition with the original box and accessories. I think it sold for about $75. Now, I kick myself for not having bid on it. I'd like another one to go with the one I have.

Count me among the old schoolers - I've landed thousands of steelhead on Daiwa Tournament SS 1300 Whisker reels (along with everything else, from walleye to sharks). I also like the newer SS II 2000 or 2500 Whiskers, which are essentially the same reel but with an internal bail trip. Both are discontinued, but you can find minty examples on eBay all the time. I also have a bunch of Shimano Stradics and Symetre reels I use for bass and walleye fishing. They're nice reels too, but the difference in drag performance between them and the Whiskers is like day and night. Absolutely nothing beats a Whisker.

Magazine writer/editor. Used to work for fishing magazines, but have gone over to the dark side and now focus on custom publishing for corporate clients. Not as much fun, but pays a whole lot better.

I dropped over 30 pounds by taking up running. To be honest, at first I hated it, and only did it because my girlfriend embarrassed me into it. Now, a couple of years and several marathons later, I can't imagine not running. It just makes everything else so much easier. Start slowly, by alternately walking for one minute then running for one minute. Go out three times a week, for maybe 20 minutes at the most. After two weeks of this, try running for two minutes, and walking for one. When that becomes fairly easy, stretch it out to three minutes of running, one minute of walking. Then four minutes of running, then five ... you get the idea. Take it slow and easy, but before you know it you'll be running for kilometres, not minutes. You will NOT trash your knees or ankles by running, provided you have proper shoes. That's the only real investment you will need to make, but it's essential. Go to a proper running store, like Running Room, and they will check out your biomechanics by having you walk and run barefoot in the store while they observe your feet. They can then sell you shoes that will work properly with your particular gait. Good running shoes will cost $100 - $140, and will last about six months. After that, they're still fine for wearing to the mall (or fishing), but you'll be best to replace them for running. Running on a treadmill is good, but running outside is MUCH better. The momentum of the belt makes it far easier to run on a treadmill than to run on the street. For best results, run outside. Stores like Running Room have clinics you can join, which provide instruction, coaching tips, and company - it's hard to blow off a run if you have people expecting to see you. The clinics work, and you'll have more success by joining one than you will have on your own. Trust me on this. Finally, before you start any exercise program, talk to the doctor and make sure you have the green light to proceed. And remember, the trick is to take it slow and gentle, especially if you've been sedentary for a while. Your muscles will adapt to the new routine really quickly, and you'll feel like you want to go farther or faster. But it takes a lot longer for soft tissues like tendons and ligaments to adapt, so you have to give them time to catch up. Good luck!

Nice brownie. Atlantic salmon have forked tails and generally aren't so deep-bodied.

Pretty fishies. Nice coho in that last photo.

If you just bought the boat recently, then it's worth taking it back to the marina and talking to them about it. They may offer to fix it, they might not. It depends on the establishment and what their policies are. I used to have an old 12-footer I used for hunting ducks, and it had a couple of leaky rivets where the keel came into the bow. I fixed them with a metallic paste called Aluminox. It's like grey toothpaste ... you smear it around the rivet then let it dry and sand it smooth. It worked pretty well. The boat never leaked again (well, at least not in that spot) despite being run into a couple of beaver dams and up on shore repeatedly.

mikeymikey is absolutely right on the money. Your ability to check a rod tube depends on the aircraft being used. Twinjets like 737s, 757s, A319s and such can swallow canoes in their cargo holds, never mind rod tubes. The problem comes when you have to fly on a small regional jet or a turboprop, since most of those were designed for business travel and can't handle anything bigger than one overnight bag for each passenger. If you're going to a small town in NW Ontario on a scheduled flight, you will almost certainly be in a small turboprop like a Saab 300 series, a Beechcraft 1900 or maybe a Convair 560, and none of those will take a tube much over four feet in length. You better call the airline ahead of time and confirm what kind of plane you're on, and what size tube it can accommodate. Otherwise, you might have to leave your rods behind. (That happened to me on my first trip to Kesagami. Air Ontario couldn't fit my rod tube on their Beech 1900, so my rods spent a week in storage at Pearson Airport. Of course they only told me this after I arrived in Cochrane and the rods didn't appear. Thankfully, I bumped into Bruce Leeson at the lodge, and he was kind enough to loan me a couple of his outfits for the week. Thanks again, Bruce!). You can fit large rod tubes on small float planes (Cessnas, Beavers) by running them down the floor under the seats, but they won't do that on scheduled commercial flights. Having worked for a couple of TV fishing shows and a few fishing magazines since the early 1980s, I've taken hundreds of flights with rod tubes, and on just about every type of plane imaginable. Trust me, don't leave anything to chance. Call the airline and confirm exactly what they can handle.

From ice-out till late May you get mainly carp and some rainbows, plus the odd brown, coho and lake trout. Cleos, or spawn under a float, are most dependable. By the end of May there will be lots of carp, including some really huge ones. There's pretty good fishing for sheephead off the Lake Ontario end of the piers through the summer. You'll get them on Cleos, Rattle Traps and Shad Raps. Most are about 3 - 5 pounds and they're a lot of fun on a bass rod. By the end of August you start to get some chinooks show up at night. Rainbows, browns and lakers return by October and stick around through the winter. You can catch pretty much anything there -- smallmouth, pike, white bass, you name it. You'll need a net with an extension handle, as the water is about five feet below the top of the pier.

This news release from MNR is dated April 28, 2008. Notice the specific wording in section 8. I wonder if this will become an issue at tournaments. [post=http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/Enforcement/2ColumnSubPage/STEL02_164557.html]http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/Enforcement/2ColumnSubPage/STEL02_164557.html[/post]