Northhunter

5-4 after two. Habs just sat back and waited for a break in the storm

Works for almost every fish species. I've been dropshotting for more than 50 years. Of course back then it was just called 'fishing with a sinker'.

LOL.

I've been doing it for years. Started doing it ice fishing for brookies and walleye because I was always guesstimating how far I was bringing my bait up off bottom (the difference between 6" and 10" is huge when the fish aren't biting and you want them to ). Put the sinker below the bait, it hits the bottom before anything else and your minnow is exactly how far up the line you put the hook. Problem solved.

I set my tip-ups the same way.

I see no reason why it would be species specific.

Sens won't beat the pens...no way! Pens in 6 games. as for the montreal fan saying Toronto don't deserve to be in the playoffs...neither does montreal....remember they are only 1 more point up on them and have way more talented players, so you do the math! I agree bench steen and put in O'neill.

If this 3 point system wasn't in place the Leafs would be 6 or 7 points behind Montreal and out of the running.

Please .... Leafs had 330 lost man games at last count and your bringing up the flu bug. lol Nine regulars out at one point and your talking about a player or two a game, luxury, sheer luxury.

 

Mats reduced to playing the cycle game with those two pylons is a disgrace but I don't get a say, so, " GO LEAFS GO !!

The majority of the team was infected. The training staff had never seen anything like it. It's one thing to have a couple guys on IR, it's another to have a different player or two out every game for an extended period of time because the majority of your roster has a "bug". If 1-3 professional hockey players in peak physical condition (these guys are machines with access to some of the best medical attention offered) are sick enough to not dress for a game, how many are on the ice playing because they have to and aren't much better off?

I don't think it's a coincidence that after the flu bug left the team they got healthy and started winning again.

The game will be intense, for sure. The fact that it is in In TO has me a little worried.

I'd like to see the Habs do some damage if they make it. They started the season with a 21-8-5 record and the best special teams in the league. It wasn't until after Christmas that they really faltered. Although it was never mentioned as an excuse, this is a team that had their dressing room overhauled / disinfected twice because of bouts with the flu. It seemed like for the longest time they had a player or two out of the lineup with it every or every other game.

Before the loss to the Rangers they were 9-2-0 to make it to their current situation and again have the best PP in the league. If.. if Huet comes in and does well they could possibly have one of the best goaltending tandems going in Huet-Halak. There are a lot of young, extremely skilled guys in their lineup, not unlike a team like Pittsburgh, and are better than the current standings suggest. I am obviously baised, but can see them coming out of the East, even more so if someone gets New Jersey out of the way.

That said, if they lose in regulation it's all over.

Why the poll??

Gave my opinion already on the first thread.

I tried Stren Super Braid briefly a few years ago and had the same experience as duber - It's softer and more supple, but it tangles like thread as a result. I had unexpected break-offs as well.

I'd like to try IronSilk again. It was a nice compromise between mono and the superlines, except the stuff of a few years ago didn't like UV rays.

I like Fireline. It doesn't sound so smooth when it's coming through the guides under load and eventually the coating wears off, but that's about it. I think it casts great?? I'd like to try the clear stuff, although depending how light hits it might be better off with black/smoke.

I tried PowerPro because everyone and their brother it seemed was raving about it. I like it but it definetly has its faults. I don't use the 50-80lb test the musky guys do, but the lighter stuff is anything but abbrasian resistant. Loses its die and turns whitish rather quickly as well. If they sold it in "standard" amounts it would cost 40-50 bucks a spool. You only get 125yds for your $20, which hurts.

Tiger musky.

A 3" pike fingerling will take a baitfish (or another pike) that's 2". They'll eat fish 2/3'rd's their length. Pretty incredible. I saw about a 5lb northern with a 2lb sucker in its stomach once.

I read a report on walleye where they were looking at feeding patterns. I think for part of the discussion they mentioned a mean prey length of 20% of total length (based on stomach analysis). My memory could be off, but if you apply that to fishing... I guess you could draw the conclusion that that a 25" walleye could potentially pass up a 5" rapala because it ain't on the super size menu

Or is that a dropping barometer signifies an approaching storm

I've gone out when the forecast showed dropping pressure and nada. The latest was the last winter storm to hit the Toronto area. Around the same time one hit the Sudbury / Parry Sound area and I was on the ice when it blew through... never lost a minnow. Conditions were prime, except for an east wind... hmm.

Awesome report. Can you adopt me?

I'm very well mannered, you'll hardly even notice I'm up there.

I believe all 3 have some influence, but the only obvious correlation I've noticed is with wind direction. I can think of a number of times I've made a mental note of it being a full moon phase or dropping barometric pressure and going out and getting skunked or close to it.

I know for myself an east wind seems to kill the bite 95% of the time. The only exception I noticed was last year when the 'eyes turned on after the spawn with the warm spring. They had the feed bags on and it didn't seem to matter.

The absolute best fishing I've ever experienced was in a pike lake with an approaching storm that never hit us, but passed close by. Pretty well every cast resulted in a fish. Even if you missed the first couple strikes, on a long cast you'd hook up on the 3rd or 4th before the bait reached the boat.

If they're in the attic that could be a health risk?

Those buggers cr@p where they sleep, if it's a family group it accumulates over time (years).

Blaque - every team that's expected to be a "contender" or a finalist is over-hyped. It's a different group of teams every year, but from the first minute of the first playoff game on, it's a free for all where anything can happen.

Detroit, San Jose, Anaheim, Buffalo.. all "contenders". I wouldn't be surprised if none of them make it and it's a Minnesota/Atlanta final or something of that nature.

The home and home on the weekend were playoff atmosphere games.. for the Leafs. Buffalo currently has a 5 point lead and a game in hand over Ottawa for the top seed. They've done their job so far. Maybe they remember last year and are waiting until April to show they have something to prove?

Better than being Montreal right now, IMO, who started out 20-7 but have to play playoff hockey for a month and a half just to make it to the big show.

It's kinda sad, but they probably wouldn't have the course if it wasn't for some of the things that have happened in the past.

Guys getting a shotgun blast in the face because their cigarette pack had blue/red/white on it, etc. The way they are hunted makes the activity more accident prone, not to mention most of the zones are in the south where there's less land and more hunters.

Our turkey hunt is also relatively new. If they tried to impose a mandatory seminar for something like deer hunting it would get a lot more backlash. The deer hunt's been around forever, and all you've ever needed is a tag and hunter's safety. The money helps too.

Males will ripen sooner and show up before spawning starts and some will stay until after it's all over. Bodes well for the population as everything depends on the females. If it happened the other way around there would be a lot of reproductive potential lost in unfertilized eggs. The youngest males are also usually one or two year classes under the youngest females, which usually stay deeper off the beds until it's "time". It's thought that it could be one of the reasons males are smaller, as walleye experience sexual size dimorphism (say that five times fast). Males put a lot less energy into producing milt, and yet are quite a bit smaller than females once they hit maturity. They think the marathon they put on every spring trying to make nookie may actually effect them enough to impede growth throughout the year.

Probably won't help put them on the end of your line, but you can wow your fishing buddies with sexual size dimorphism

Go shallow. A lot of times the fishing is slow for the opener and a week or two after - spawning takes a lot out of them. The small immature fish will be more active than the breeders, which is why you get little guys, if anything.

The ones that become active will be where the food is. South facing shorelines and bays, feeder lakes, etc., will get the most sun and provide warm water, which gets a chain reaction going. Plant growth and invertebrate activity picks up in these areas first which draws in baitfish and if you're lucky, hungry walleyes.

Try the standard stuff and if it's still no go, nothing beats drowning a minnow.

Bottom line is sometimes they'll hit anything. Generally stuff that's moving and half their length or less is the normal food, but even that doesn't always apply

But for quicker moving baits I've always done well with things in green/chartreuse/firetiger. A yellow/green Little Cleo is good - heavy bait that casts far and can be fished fast or slow, shallow or deep deep. Has a proven action and throws good vibes ("thumps" the water).

Slower moving baits and I go with more natural colours. Add another vote for the suspending Husky Jerk. Blue/silver with an orange belly is good when they look at the bait a little longer or hit on the pause. Perch is good too... can't go wrong with a perch pattern.

I have XM. Never used Sirius, but don't think it has quite as many stations. Content is pretty similar from what I have heard, except Stern is on Sirius and XM's answer to that is "Opie and Anthony". The comedy stations are pretty good, but don't play full stand-up routines. Mike Bullard (remember him?) has a daily morning show on as well. It's pretty good, despite how his tv stint was.

XM is commercial free, and has a number of stations dedicated to NHL feeds. The daytime "hockey talk" stuff is american for the most part and kinda sucks, but the upside is if there's a game on you'll get the play by play.

I'm not sure what Sirius offers, but I know when I got XM I could send in for rebates. Amounted to about $70 back.

I think you'd be happy with either one, to be honest. Our local FM stations ticked me off too.

I spooled up with it a few times when it first came out and thought it was a great.. until it went bad on the reel and my 8lb morphed into 2lb. The sun seemed to get to it fast - that's the only thing I can figure happened as it decayed like mono would but only after a month or two of light use.

I noticed the "new and improved" stuff last year and my first thought was they must have fixed it, but I haven't tried it yet.

I picked up a bottle of that same paint (Pro-Tec) last year just to try it out and touch up old jigs. You heat up the head and dip it. The paint is a powder that melts on contact and hardens almost as quick - pretty neat.

You can bake your baits in an oven to "cure" the paint afterwards.

Why's everyone hung up on deals?? Was that a real draw "back in the day"?

I've gone 3 of the last 4 years. I wanted to hit it again this year but didn't because I probably would have spent more money than I should have. I knew what was going on the first year when I saw a booth selling jewellery, and a couple places selling fishing stuff, but junk. But I went back. Not everything is worth seeing, but the venue is still huge. IMO there's no better place to go and pick out a new rod. There's 1000's of them! I know I'm not gonna save 30%, but that's not why I'm there. Some stuff is still cheap - I picked up 3 rapalas for $10 one year, and got a deal on a St. Croix another. Then there's the other cool stuff like the elk jerky that is expensive but the best jerky you'll ever have.. or seeing the Raptor Girls C'mon - you can't go wrong with the Raptor Girls lol.

The hunting section was greatly improved last year, but I guess that's only cool if you're a "hick" who likes to look at the newest in guns from Winchester, Remington, Browning, etc. all on the same floor and every booth with a "rep" instead of the blokes behind the counter at BP.

I guess TJ said it best when he posted about the fishing show after everyone harped on it. You city folk are jaded sometimes. Want deals - watch the flyers and go where you need/want to. Want the entire sporting goods world in one place (plus Raptor Girls ), you go there.

With our declining walleye and small average size, I thought it would be neat if we could cross bred our walleye and their zander. We have splake and we have tiger musky, so why not try a test project for 3-5 years of 5-10,000 fingerlings total. We could name the new species wall-der or zand-eye. Think this might work? Last thing I would ever want to happen is to screw up our eco system but those jumbo perch sure would be great to catch.

One of the main reasons for the declining size and numbers of our walleye is fishing pressure. Limit the pressure, and you'll get more and bigger fish.

The slot that was placed on the french river a number of years ago increased walleye abundance by 45% !!!

Nipissing's just starting to really see the benefits of the slot placed there, but a high number of the 'eyes caught are still dinks. The 3-4lb fish that would have seen the dinner table 5 years ago but are being released now will be 8-10lb fish someday.

We already have a walleye/sauger hybrid.. in the states anyway. It's called a "saugeye" and grows faster, much like a splake, except it can "back-cross" with native fish and screw with the gene pool.

I dunno what's more sad/frustrating. Fiascos like this or the fact that despite them, 41% of Ontario is still in support of the lying Liberals.

I'm not sure what the major difference is.. the southern states have a longer growing season, milder climate, etc., but with the exception of largies don't produce fish like that.

More productive waters? Different strains of fish? Likely a number of things. Bigger fish a cool, but I wouldn't bring any over. Their perch alone would probably out-compete and seriously screw up any fisheries they were introduced to.