BillsTheBassMan

As stated in a previous thread, Couchaching whips up fast because it is a small, shallow (max depth is like 27ft, and when the wind starts rocking, so does the water. There are days that can appear perfectly still, and the Couch would be rocking. To be honest, you'd be better off going to Simcoe as opposed to Couch. Sparrow Lake is on the Severn as well and offers good bass and pike fishing.

Yep, that's what I'm doing and I have NO reason to change. I have two friends that claimed the same thing a few years ago and they're still on the Power Pro as well. And just a heads up - Power Pro is on sale at Canadian Tires as well - $19.99 a spool. This isn't an outrageously great sale, but it's still cheaper than MSRP. A tackle shop I frequent always has PP @ 19.99.

Beautiful Fish Pete - amazing, clean, flawless looking ski in the first pic. That musky rod & reel is looking better and better. Thanks for sharing.

A nice SMB for sure . . . did you guys get a measurement on him before he was returned to swim another day? He looks longer than he is chunky, but a gorgeous fish nonetheless.

I'm not sure if spiderwire bleeds as much either as I always fish the white stuff . . . so I guess it doesn't bleed as much if you fish the white stuff . . .

Still sounds like a sweet day on the water V - and not a bad fish to add to the memory banks

Power Pro is Braid. I fish the green stuff, but apparently the red stuff is less visible - I'm not sure I buy it as Power Pro loses its dye in next to no time - don't be alarmed by this if you ever buy it - it's just dye.

The last time I fished with one of my closest friends he was caught in a snag and reefed it out like a donkey. His jig head came flying back and the barb got stuck in my shirt - right at my heart. No bruise, no damage, but a close call.

Howdy, I just started carp fishing about a week ago and I've landed 5 now and 2 Redfins - it's a good time, and you'll get a feel for it pretty quick. I've only fished with corn to this point, after picking a spot with prevalent carp, and chumming it for the last week - almost on a daily basis. You can check out a few resources that should give you a quick start. OntarioCarpFishing.Com Google: Hair Rig. Check the following threads here: Whirlpool Carping and My First Fish While Carping (by me, but help from some experienced carp guys) . . . There is lots of good info there. Also, you can PM HammerCarp and he'll direct you to some even more amazing resources. Ryan

I've been estimating the mirrors I've been catching in the 4 to 5 pound range.

I've fished all three lines that are being mentioned here. Here's how they should be ranked: (1) Power Pro - The best, period. (2) Spiderwire - A decent choice if for some reason you can't find PP. (3) Fireline - Just not as good as either of the aforementioned. Buy some power pro, but thanks for letting us know about the sale - braid fisherman pay a lot more for their line (depending how often you re-spool) and any sale is appreciated. Cheers, Ryan

Yeah, I haven't seen them in GD for quite some time now.

Congrats on a great day out on the water Limey and congrats to your wife on her PB Walleye. Awesome video and report as always. Ryan

Hahahaha, That's pretty funny. I guess you had no way of knowing it was a 6" fish that you could winch out of the water. With hooksets like that, I suppose you probably should be wearing a jock I've ripped senkos out of the water many times though to have them come flying all over the place - when you're popping them back up, sometimes you just forget where you are in the water column

That's a pretty epic story beans - thanks for sharing. I started carp fishing about a week ago and I've got into lots of catfish and a LMB. I don't suspect I'll ever catch a Musky on corn . . . but I guess ya never know.

Sounds like a good idea and a good time Steve. Thanks for the report - some nice fish there.

That's a sweet rod and a nice report . . . thanks for sharing! I just started carping, I've only caught 5 carp now, but two of them were mirror carp, so they must not be THAT rare. Ryan

Just stick with what you're doing. Here's my pike setup, and I land a very high percentage of the ones that hit: 7" Medium St. Croix Reel with drag set loose to medium 15lb Power Pro with 12lb Rio Fluoro Leader Mat. Modified Trilene Knot. This deals with Georgian Bay Pike. It should handle pike in the London area. Slowpoke has some sweet advice there as well. Ryan

This week I caught a 4' metal pipe and some mennonite ladies leggings - nasty. I had a snapping turtle on my line a few months ago, but I managed to shake it. I've also caught a car battery. My buddy caught a snake, but the snake turned out not to be hooked, he just really wanted the minnow and FINALLY let go after he was suspended from a bridge and was shaken around a bit.

People sometimes throw shopping carts in the water at the start of a fishing season and go back to get them at the end of the fishing season, and reap the rewards of all the people that broke off on that shopping cart. You ruined their plan. Good on ya.

Hey Dutchy, Glad to see you had such an amazing trip - I'm extremely jealous as I'm still plowing through Gierach books and Colorado is mentioned non-stop. Did you get into any cutthroat trout on your trip? Apparently they hold in extremely high altitudes and the locals around there treat them similarly to how we treat specks around here (they're harder to get to and rarer). It sounds like you folks did well on the spinning gear, which is good to hear. I figured people would do well on spinning gear, but most people just fly-fish the area. I think there would be many advantages to using the spin-gear myself. Also, why do you need telescopic poles in order to be able to bring them home? Thanks for the great report! Colorado has long been on my go-to spots, and I'll make the trip in time! Cheers, Ryan

Great Read Ron - some very interesting stuff there . . . Im going to read it again later! Thanks for Sharing! Ryan

An Update for the Carp guys who've been helping me out here: Today, after my big miss last night, I have successfully landed 3 carp and 1 redhorse. The carp were roughly 6-8-10 lbs, the redhorse was like 4-5lbs. No monsters, but a good start, some good experience, and now I know what to look for . . . ya never really know until you feel it for yourself. I also lost one tonight in the 12-13 pound range. I got him up on surface, at which point he started kind of barrel-rolling like a lake trout. Is this a common escape tactic of theirs? Also, is it typical that the best part of the fight is right at the start? The initial hit and the first 30 seconds or so - they spool you a little and pull like hell. I compare them to "Butterbean" @ DSN specifically. I've been using your chum tactic for 4 days now and apparently it is working. I'd still be out there but I had to get home . . . off to Orillia for the weekend. Regardless, I'll chum the same spot when I get home and try to make it out there to chum it at least every other day. Unfortunately, the bullhead have moved in as well, and it seems that I am catching 6-12 bullhead per trip. Seems like a fishing experience for the young nephew, so I'll bring him out there. Are all the surface bubbles I'm seeing in the area where I've chummed indicative of fish? The area is all bubbles, whereas it previously wasn't. I'm guessing it's fish.

Here is the brief history of loomis & warranty: Pre-1998 - when they were an independent company their warranty was average at best. There were many tales of "misplaced" rods and they didn't always do what they said they were going to do, despite making extremely high quality product. Post-1998 - Shimano Canada buys G-Loomis and their initial focus is to make their warranty rock-solid. They introduce the "You pay $50 (it is currently $75) and you get a new rod, same model, no questions asked" OR you could send your rod to them for inspection, and if your story was a product default, you'd get a new model for free. These options still hold true. IF G-Loomis is upgrading the price from $75 to $100, it is assuredly because they have their new NRX rod line coming out in Mid August. These rods are going to retail from $500 - $700 a pop. Their research staff must know the ratio of returns per sale, and the bounce to $100 probably keeps it in the same $$$ range for them as their current setup. Regardless, if you're paying $700 for a rod, you probably don't mind paying $100 "insurance" after the fact to get a new one. Think of any other industry, and this would be company suicide - real estate, automotive etc. "You can return your Silverado for $2000 and get a new one, no questions asked." Not bloody likely. Anyone complaining about this policy should give their heads a shake. Ryan

That's good to know . . . apparently Carp can school in the thousands, which is nuts, but they at least like to be with 4-5 other Carp. It should mean that if your chumming has worked that you should get into some business. Update on my Carping: I was out after work at my new spot - I chummed with 3 cans of corn, went home for supper, and returned in a light rain about an hour later. I did the corn-hook & 4 splitshot rig (have been getting more action on the splitshots than the bell sinker). I fished fishless until 8:45, got a little bored, decided to rig something up and put down my rod in between two rocks. Bad Idea. I had just reached for my vest and then the drag started screaming and the rod bent like a U. There's no way this was anything but a carp. I grapple the rod out between the rocks, feel the fish for a second and go to lift the rod to set the hook and then . . . gone. He spits it. To make matters worse, on my next six consecutive casts I catch nothing but bullheads. Lesson learned - hold that rod! At least I got to see what a carp run is going to feel like for future hits. I also found a good resource around this website - TJ and a few other gentleman started a site - OntarioCarpFishing.com - I'll do some reading in the rain this weekend and work on some of those hair rigs! Ryan