Syn

...........and don't forget arbor tape before your arbor knot, or mono backing in case the braid slips on the arbor while fighting a big fish.

Holy Cow that's a huge bass. Congrats!!!

Theres many anglers at Old Mill (just south of the bridge) when the salmon are running. I've seen a few salmon (two years ago) past Eglinton holding in deeper water underneath an overhanging tree.

Must be near L.A.

Where was you idle screw located? Is it hard to get to?

I spent some time looking for a fish finder this year. I ended up with a eagle 245ds portable with dual beam. http://www.eaglenav.com/en/Products/Fishfi...ishEasy-245-DS/ It is not the greatest but for the money $180+tax its ok. It was on sale at Canadian Tire for $170+tax recently. Anyhow, factors to consider: -pixel resolution 240X160 is pretty good -suction cup transducer or if you rather have the pole kind like on the fishin buddy (which also has side view sonar on the expensive ones). The suction cup does come off occasionally. But 245ds port unit fits nicely in its own little plastic box with 8aa batteries. -side view sonar I would love to have but thats only on the more expensive units. I settled with a wider beam cone 200/83 on the 245 ds shooting down. -don't really care about colour screen, I can get by on grey scale. _if I had $200 more I would have wanted to get a built in GPS with the fishfinder. Makes navigation so much easier on big lakes with many islands. Batteries you will go through a lot, so consider buying 8 eneloop AA from Real Canadian Super Store or white top Duracell rechargeable and a charger for under $40. That was save you big money in the long run. The 245ds I have is a basic unit for a mid range price, I turned fish ID OFF because it will make you think you are surrounded by a million fish. It interprets weeds, sticks interference as fish symbol lol. Side note: I only actually saw the fish arch a few times and that was in deep water 70ft. Not too may fish are going to love being pinged in 10-15 ft of water with out being spooked by the sonar and motor noise. I turn the sonar off when not needed (anchored). I'm using the fishfinder+map as a depth sounder rather than looking for fish because it can only show me fish directly under the boat, which is a very small area in 20ft of water. In 50ft+ I leave it on because it will help me locate baitfish and the beam angle can cover more area at that depth, especially using the 83hz beam.

Small suggestion: google fishing knot strength and read a few threads before you decide. Also some knots slip much easier than others. I remember when spiderwire fist came out there was a knot (I can't rember it now) that would consistently slip until the knot became undone. This was because the spiderwire was so slippery. So the moral I learned was "chose your knot based on the fishing line type you use."

Some lines like power pro come with a piece of foam tape to prevent slipping on the spool. Put it on just before your arbor knot.

For tying swivel, snap 30 and 50lb braid on 8-12 mono and 6-10 flouro same knot but I don't double it.

Heres a link to a view overhead of the launch. The lake is plenty deep for your boat, BUT about 1km pass the northern bridge it gets really shallow 2ft in the river. A few points on the east side of the main lake have some big rocks, so just stay back from them a bit. Also stay away from bird crap island. We drove the boat a tad to close and about 75 seagulls were startled and started flying towards us overhead doing bombing runs. Luckily we did not get hit. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source...mp;t=h&z=18 115 Merc. is huge for that lake but you'll be fine with a trolling motor and anchor. Did not see boats docked but they have a dock and people with seados, canoes were tied to it. They had a fence with lots of bigger boats inside for storage too.

Maybe God is not so subtly telling you to switch from fly fishing to bass/pike hunting using crankbaits?

Speaking of cool finishes. I picked this up from ebay for $3 and free shipping. Its jointed too. Can't wait to try it. I have no idea of build quality (china), but I have spare trebles anyhow. I hope for $3 it does not fall apart on the first cast or dissolve in the water lol. http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/hannah200866/3_green_001.jpg

Perfect for braided line. Using it on 50lb power pro currently.

I think knots are should also be mentioned in this thread. This is my favorite. Never failed me yet. The Doubled Five Turn Uniknot

Yeah saw it earlier, I thought he was going to get run over by his own motor. Did you see the boat video after that one? It lifted off the water like a hover craft. So cool. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=716_1250603976

I wasn't sure if that was myth or not. Thanks for correcting me. Torpedoing it also is good to use if you think you are going to lose your grip (especially really big ones) on the fish and you want to ensure it does not land in the boat. Point its head downwards 45 deg and let her go.

Awesome job! I remember reading muskies like to bite even more at night. "great little lake in Ontario " Do you mean port severn little lake. I don't remember little lake being so full of muskies. Perhaps you were fishing in Gloucester pool which is generally deeper then Litlte lake? I should be there Wed if the weather holds up. Can't wait! "All released - (although given water temp 78 plus worried about mortality - any suggestion would be awesome) " I'll state the obvious- try to keep it in the water as long as possible. Usually thats where using a muskie cradle comes in handy. Most time for my fish is spent on hook removal. Then 10 sec to photo and measure, and back in she goes. On release hold her lightly by the tail. The goal now is to get oxygen back into the gills by moving her forwards. Then big splash and shes gone. Tons of info on google on muskie release eg: http://www.pastikas.com/index.php?option=c...&Itemid=149 http://www.muskiesinc.org/ss/site/content/...06-TipsRele.pdf

Go for it, just tell the wife it was on special for $30, she won't know http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/gl.../Stella_FD.html

I've been bored waiting for my next fishing trip day to arrive (wed 19th aug) so I've spent some time reading up on leaders, specifically for big pike and muskie. Been using steel leaders all my life, but decided to splurge on a titanium leader 15 strands $9. Looks ok, but I've also been reading that 100+lb flourocarbon leader is the way to go. Flouro has some give to it, a bit more that titanium wire. So I've got a couple of Huskie Muskie casting leaders coming in the mail now. I like how they are coiled at the loops to prevent snap chafing. Anyhow what are you guys using for leaders? I hate using the Stay-lok Snap but I've heard its the best one to use. Also how do you guys feel about the crane swivel vs bearing swivel for the same lb rating. The crane swivel looks weaker by design imo, only had it break once, never broke a bearing swivel.

A few hits show up on google. Mag X Some dating back to 2002 http://fishing.about.com/library/weekly/ne...ws020204abu.htm Don't see a C5 at the Abu site http://www.abugarcia.com/cat.php?k=132487&sk=132487 Saw a few c5 hits on ebay too.

You could just buy another handle, likely $20, or buy a higher quality reel with fancy features and pass this reel to a sibling or put it on a spare rod.

Does it have a knob on the other side and did you tighten it? That always loosens off over time, thats what holds the handle in place.

Have you given thought to whether you want front or rear drag? Rear drag is cool because I can pop off the spool just by pushing the button and I like how I can adjust the drag quickly using the paddle, although it does have a dial for initial drag tuning. Those two reasons are why I went to rear drag reals. Anyhow I'm partial to shimano. So ~$70 Spirex , ~$75 Sedona, $48 Sedona RB, $74 Semetre RI (IIRC older model) Then just decide on size based on the rod you have and what lb fishing line you use. The capacity and lb are on the side of the spool. Any good guy at the fishing store will help you pick the right reel. Spend some time with the reeel on a store rod and get the feel for it to make sure you like the handle and so forth, because you'll be using it all day long. http://www.lebaron.ca/pdf_files_sp09/fishi...mano_sahara.pdf http://www.lebaron.ca/pdf_files_sp09/fishi...ano_symetre.pdf http://www.lebaron.ca/pdf_files_sp09/speci...ials_page_b.pdf

Nice catches, Kind of looks like chicken lol.