BillsTheBassMan

Garry should just write a book and simply call it "Awesome" We'd all buy a copy. Also - free map site - anglersatlas.com - the maps aren't the best, but they give you a general overview. Ryan

Don't get me wrong - Argentina will be a world-class, most difficult opponent. I think now that the Germans stand a good chance to beat them - they are more disciplined, more balanced, and extremely fit. Argentina is great, but I feel they are riding a Maradonna-Induced high at the moment and with a manager with that much emotion, when things go well, they go great, and when things don't go so well, they unravel. I'm hoping the Germans can grind them down and force the unraveling. I put the match at 50/50. We'll see - rather - we'll listen on the radio when we're Parry Sound Bound. Does anyone know what stations carry World Cup games on the radio?

My down-rigging friends have had similar results this year on Lake Ontario and are getting great fish every weekend (up to 30lbs). It seems that the bite is most definitely on on Lake O for now.

That sir is a beautiful fish - the best fish I have seen posted on here in quite some time - congrats and THANK YOU for sharing.

I was watching my Germans play vs feeble England Time well spent. Unfortunately, when we play Argentina next Saturday, I will be en route to Georgian Bay for a week of fishing . . . not a bad win-win situation to be in though! Nice Video Limey!

I completely agree here. It makes using gulp very inconvenient, and in the past, it has scared me off the product despite the fact that I love it as well. I've had moldy tackle-boxes from gulp product. The memory of the time it took to clean it, the tackle I had to throw out, and the fact they expect me to buy another product because they can't properly package the first product just doesn't sit right. With that said, it's the last thing on the checklist to buy @ the tackle store before I hit the cottage vacation next week.

Looks like a blast and a great opener . . . probably worth the damage to the blackberry. Great report & thanks for sharing.

Congrats on breaking the 2010 Cherry John! Sounds like a good day out on the water!

Welcome aboard Trevor

Garry is right. The body of water has to be navigable to make it not-trespassing. This means that you need to be able to at least take a canoe or a kayak through the body of water (your standard speck stream is NOT navigable). Also, you come into another issue with this - do the cops on the scene actually know this law or will they just hit you with a trespassing charge anyways? I'd imagine that 9/10 times, you get hit with trespassing, as this isn't textbook stuff for police. When your situation is THAT questionable, you are just best to knock on some doors. If someone on a larger river tells you to get off their property though, and you're in the river itself, you can just pay no mind. Ryan

Well Johnny, you know I always appreciate your posts, but this one makes me :wallbash: Italy DID NOT have a very strong team. They had a weak transitional team that couldn't get out of a group of nobodies (Paraguay being a slight exception, but still a nobody on the greater scale of things). Italy had a team that, like last world cup, hoped to defend defend defend (as stated by Cannavaro himself) and hoped to get random goals here and there. They had NO playmakers on this Italian team (with the injury to Pirlo). They were left with a bunch of subpar goons, who looked the part, but certainly didn't play the part. If you remember the last world cup, it was the same strategy. DEFEND DEFEND DEFEND and just wait for a goal scoring opportunity. Totti dove in the box vs Australia in the round of 16 and was foolishly awarded the penalty. They tried to push 0-0 games to extra time and break them down in extra time with the likes of Del Piero. It worked. It stood no chance of working again as that team featured the likes of a younger Gattuso, Pirlo, Totti, Del Piero, Nesta, Buffon, a decent Cannavaro (man is past it now), and a decent Zambrotta (same as Cannavaro). And again, you're right, they have recently had disgusting offence and they need to figure that out sooner rather than later. You're right about the Dutch too. They won't win as they lack any measure of defense. They're not what people are cracking them up to be. I predicted this at Euro (I couldn't at the last world cup as they couldn't muster qualification), and I'm predicting it again. Betting against the dutch is generally a safe bet.

Welcome aboard Matt. Great Pictures and lots of Fish Selection!

All I can say to that is Yikes :S

Good Luck! I'm a little suspect of all the new rods these companies have coming out. Ex: "You need this rod for Senkos. You need this other rod for topwater baits. You need these other 3 rods for Crankbaits, Tubes, and Jigs." Try to avoid buying into those philosophies when you're rod shopping (Unless you're fishing the FLW) Congrats on picking things up this season and keep it up. One of the best parts of fishing is standing on a hole, where you know they are fish, and figuring out exactly what their palette desires! Ryan

Yep, that's what I like to focus on as well. Locating fish and figuring out their migratory patterns. I have a philosophy that lots of different fish will eat lots of different baits at lots of different times. You need to find them first and then you're absolutely in business.

That's awesome man - I'm in the Parry Sound area from July 3-10 and I'll be fishing the vacation as aggressively as possible. We'll have to swap reports after and see how we made out with what. I'll be on an island in G-Bay though. Re: Your Live Bait and Lure Purchases: Fishing lures is a way to be "more involved" with fishing. You get a bigger reward from catching a fish on a lure that YOU put the action on. What you're going through is just a natural progression - live bait, lures, soft plastics, crazy-rigged soft plastics, fly-fishing etc. Fishing is a cycle I've found, just to keep things exciting. Pointer - put specific actions on lures and baits and avoid just "reeling them in." Anglers who put action on their baits catch more fish. Period. You'll learn the "right" action, but that changes. Just mix it up.

Informative as always Garry I've practiced all these techniques, but did them instinctively based on the conditions I was fishing without actually knowingly practicing them. Either Way, this will go a long way into helping people fish the Senko. A Question - how often do you find, that when you're fishing lakes, that fish are waiting for your senko to hit the water before it hits the water and rise to meet it? I've had this happen LOTS of times where fish are waiting for it like they're a center-fielder fielding a pop-fly. Ryan

Yep Rigged, pretend it is Late July, close to the "dog days" of summer. You may have to slow things down a little more than you typically would come the opener. GL

Sadly, I don't think we're going to dedicate too much time on Walleye on this vacation. As we don't know the water that well, we fear that we'll have to dedicate too much prime fishing time to find honey holes. For now the HJ8-HJ10 will have to suffice as I dont want to drop the $40 on 4 more Rapalas - I generally just get them on Ebay in the off seasons as they are much cheaper.

Fixed.

Here is the standard Bass Opener thread that is bound to get posted 4-6 times, but I figured I'd get the ball rolling. (Did you guys hear about the snakefish?) Where are you going? What baits do you plan on focusing on for the first few weeks? What baits do you plan on avoiding? What aspects of bass fishing do you hope to improve on throughout the season? I have a weeklong, Georgian Bay vacation approaching, so I'm personally going to stick close to home for some SMB until that time. I'll probably fish the Grand and I may try to get out onto Guelph Lake. I plan on avoiding the use of Live Bait throughout the season unless I am with my nephew, as at least one of us needs to be bobbing so that I can help him out. My attention will be focused the following baits - Gulp Leeches, Senkos, Dropshotting Bass Magnet Minnows, Swimbaits, Topwater frogs & Mice, as well as my Rapala arsenal. ALSO, my new focus is fishing for SMB on the fly as well. This is my first year fly-fishing and I'm looking forward to some of those tough-fighting river bass on the fly. As for improvement, I hope to diversify the locations I fish a little more and practice locating both river bass and lake bass. Best of Luck to All This Weekend and Beyond! Clip those Barbs!

Fishing Fanatics in Waterloo - They're listed at 9.99, but I get 10% off of everything.

I'm 90% sure the Germans will beat the English. Germany can beat anyone in the world @ any given time, including Argentina. That Argentina backfield could crack at any given time. People consistently under-estimate the Germans as they're not flashy. Germany is balanced. This time around they are young and Ozel is ridiculously good. The Ballack injury was an absolute blessing (and I say this as both a Chelsea and a Germany supporter). I'm not saying we're going to beat Argentina should we both get there, but the game will be extremely close and hard fought.

The Dutch always unravel. At the last Euro they looked more devastating before falling apart in a 3-1 defeat against the Russians (who couldn't even qualify for the World Cup). The Dutch will fall apart somewhere along the way, and their defensive incapabilities will catch up with them. The Argentinians could very well win this tournament and they seem more passionate than I have ever seen them, and love him or hate him, I credit that much to Maradona. He has easily been the most entertaining manager to watch. Like the dutch, Argentina suffers a bit in the backfield, but they have more firepower than anyone else in the tournament. They'll be relying on that out-balancing the subpar backfield (which is still significantly better than Hollands)

@ Nipfisher: You like Rapalas as much as I do apparently - I've got 3 Trays of the things and that doesn't include the ones that are too big to fit in the trays. You like firetiger more than me though I prefer normal perch patterns, though firetiger plays its roll in stained water. Yeah, I have 2 of the LiveTarget that I forgot to metion (as they were in my vest) - I can't wait to fish those baits in a water where they are meant to be fished. Apparently those things are flying off the shelves wherever they are sold, despite the hefty price tag. I bought a bluefox vibrax 6 bucktail spinner on sale for 8.99 (12.99 at CT). It's firetiger - a musky or big pike bait. I'm going to buy its twin in silver (spinner) bucktail (black & red) as well. Thanks for the advice.