bare foot wader

I am personally a fan of the "pizza hut" pizza served at the Fanny's gentlemans establishment in North Bay Thames river near Delaware we always stop for Chester's chicken in the convenience store beside the bait shop

I grew up using a hatchet my first few times ice fishing...it works for sure, takes a bit longer and not as pretty...the edges wont hurt your line

"From what I read so far the rod + reel + line all have to be set for the same weight." as a good base point that is true, but often times you will over gun the rod with line and reel...a larger reel will never hurt you, more backing, larger arbour, faster pickup, less lien memory...and a larger, aka heavier, reel will balance out entry level rods that are not ultra light blanks "I was thinking of fishing out of the boat for (Bass, Pike, Musky and whatever else hits my fly in St Clair)." fly fishing is like golf, you can't drive 300 yds with a sand wedge and casting large musky flies really does require an outfit suited for that...steelhead river rods have different requirements than punching a fly line from a boat, river rods are longer to help mend the lind and cushion light line presentions...bass, pike, muksy aren't line shy, shorter stiffer rod to punch big flies in the mind look for a moderate action, it will help you feel the rod load and is more forgiving for a beginner caster rod - echo, tfo, st croix, amundson all have good rods that won't break the bank line - expensive but look at a rio versa-tip, will cover all the bases for you....otherwise go with a WF and some sink tips reel - amundson, pflueger, okuma - all decent and affordable....if you're a budget, spend more on line and rod if you're shopping online be careful of getting dinged with brokerage or duty...try to buy in canada www.flymart.ca guy's name is Scott, good prices and more importanly cusotmer service

Our group has fished twice with Blackburn, stand up guy, great fishing and good times....keep it simple, 4 or 5' of ice in 6-10' total, subtle jigging produced...I found a deep hole approx 12-15' and had steady action all day....up shallow was hot bites at dusk/dawn and randomly throughout the day my most productive setup was a tip with a size 4 treble with either a large minnow on it or 3 medium sized ones wiggling around jigging rod was a jighead with minnow good luck.

right on, I've been dying to get back to Whis this season, working way too much boarding deep powder for the first time takes some adjustment, i was so damn mad trying to get started again with fresh pow up to my nipples LOL.....there are hundreds of killer runs to explore but if you're only there for 8 days take one day to explore some backcountry off blackcomb, try to hook up with a local who's in the know, slides are very real and if you get turned around wrong direction backcountry then it's a recovery and not a rescue to get you out next step from whistler is heli skiing, that sets a whole new standard but will definitely haunt dreams for the rest of your life also, squamish has good fishing year round

fishing lakes or rivers? I'd fish bigger and slower...spoon, cranks or spinner bait...swim a 6" grub hard to beat a big chub/sucker/whatever baitfish below a float still find them in and around the weeds in bays or falts, definitely look for the green weeds still but I'd start looking at deeper hard bottom structures and off shore, rock piles/points, humps and saddles, reefs...spend some time around any river mouths...look for transition structure between shallow and deep water, if the sun is out give up shallow a try during the heat of the day...I always love a windy day, fish current breaks that form in open water and the wind ward side of structure

I was impressed with it on the pin GoneFishing - are you maybe sidecasting more than wallis?

if you're determined to fish them sit down on a log and give them some time...take off the float, no split shot, no swivel, just your hook and bait...stand back from the bank or well upstream and cast your bait well above the fish and let it drift down naturally, when the line jumps or moves sideways (kinda like a bass bite on a jig) set the hook...used to work all the time for me fishing after the masses on a certain eastern lake O trib...downsize your bait and try to use something different and natural

how long does the aqueseal last for you guys? I find it'll crack after a few seasons, never liked it for on the water fixes i have the loon UV glue and light....works well enough to get through the day but not long term IMO

marine goop, which is basically shoe goo, pretty sure it's the same thing

x 2 on the panasonic, grabbed one myself recently, very happy I'm slowly diving into dslr/learning photography past few years but basically, how the new nikon was explained to me is you could put a 500 hp in a ford focus but doesn't mean you're put that power to the ground...the nikon sounds impressive on paper but doesn't have a good enough sensor or something like that, so the picture quality is lacking unless under optimal conditions, not usually the case when you're fishing....the pics i've seen from that camera for definitely full of noise and grainy

when we're fishing anywhere around the Delaware area we HAVE to stop for chester chicken in the convenience store...it's a must stop, under no circumstances is chester's chicken passed on I also found a chester's chicken in BC, near Lytton, whenever I shore fish for sturgeon in the area we have to stop there, my BC fishin buddies don't really get it but the one time we didn't get the chicken we didn't get the sturgeon...pretty simple math there....we don't skip the chester's anymore

bar fising is effective and easy when you learn the ropes...on the fraser 12-15' surf rods are the norm, 40 or 50 lb braid, 40 - 60 lb mono leaders and up to 14 oz of lead but usually 6-10oz...many guys use the same rig for bar fishing springs and sturgeon shore fishing....bomb it out there, put the rod in the holder, keep close to vertical, as much line off the water as possible and stand VERY close to the rod LOL...spinners/spinner rigs, spin n gloes, trolling spoon, big roe bags, shrimp, etc all work well in your case though, stack the shot close to the bait, 12-18" up and hold back on the float, less snags IMO then bottom bouncing, especially if you're new to the "feel" of bouncin i'd try running a spoon or spinner through there first bottom bouncin you want as little weight as possible in order to keep contact bar fishing you're holding the bait stationary so you want more, a bar weight or pyramid hold better than bell sinkers in slow deep pools i tend to eat my lunch while i have a slip sinker rig with a floater roe bag or dew worm out there

I'm usually a Nikon guy but a friend has that new nikon, looks really great on paper but I wasn't impressed with his shots, I just got the panasonic t3 over the weekend, only a few shots so far but look good...I'll post a few when i get a chance

excellent good investment, I have a manual model...i wear mine river fishing on big water, only took one nasty spill in a high flow to smarten up, dried off and drove straight to the store, eye opening experience I'm interested in an automatic model for boat fishing...it sounds like the hydrostatic model is worth the few extra bucks, glad i came across this...great thread with solid feedback

flashy reel, i've been trying to find one but mainly a rawII 80, no luck, all pre-sold out...did you order online? mind sending a pm where you picked it up? enjoy the new gear, good luck

I've been a fan of power pro since it first came out, run it almost every rod now, from 8 lb up to 130 just spooled up some 832 and too soon to tell but it seems pretty damn good, better than power pro...slightly more durable and better casting use fireline on some ice fishing reels because I think it holds less water/subsequently ice than power pro but frays easier, more like floss, not as round as 832 or PP, bunches on the spool easily if you don't stay on top of it have used tuff duracast and hated it, frays easily and didn't sit good on the spool you can't go wrong with power pro or 832...I use 8lb on a light action rod, works great jigging haven't found that new berkley nano stuff yet but that might be good for you as well

nice fish, good on ya wise pinners don't set their reels down in sand

there is a lot of info out there, especially on the US side of the stocking programs...credit river association (or whatever the exact name is - president is john kerr I think) has a good amount of info and not just on the atlantics i've certainly caught my fair share of juvenile chinooks in the rivers

i started with an aventa, now have an islander and a kingpin i still use the aventa on my small stream rod, spins as good as the islander....think i upgraded the bearings for 40 bucks in woodstock way back when buy the aventa and use your savings on floats and quality shot

http://www.rapala.ca/products/rapala/F2.php i've had one for past 2 summers, it can toss spoons a good distance and enough backbone to land 5 lb rainbows, sensitive jigging for walleye...great action but not exactly a loomis...about 80

check out hearst air

I've fished an Echo Ion for 2 yrs now, from ON to BC, great rod, casts nicely, looks good but doesn't have the quality craftmanship you see in high end rods...only downside is it's a tad heavy but most of the weight is in the handle build, so it's tip light and balances nicely with a reel I own 3 amundsons, still water and wind warriors...canadian owned and designed but manufactured in china, same as dozens of others...a nice rod but no loomis, that's for sure...good blank but cheap guides and cork...but I like the blanks so much I've had a friend rewrap 2 so far with oversized strippers and single foot guides and better cork, way nicer rod now....gonna attempt the last rebuild on my own have had a few tfo's...no complaints but nothing special IMO albright had a massive inventory clearance that went on for quite some time...worth seeing what they have left what do you want the rod for??? important piece of info for recommending a specific model... longer rod for float tubing or lake fishing? but assuming steelhead? if it's a steelie rod you may as well start off with a switch rod, because if you're casting for steelies it's only a matter of time before you get into spey casting and swinging... here's my new fav company...beautiful rods and reasonably priced http://pierowayrods.com/PRBlog/about/ big following out in BC, similar to amundson being cdn ownded and designed but i've been told built in korea, which apparently has better quality control...i don't know, just what i'm told amundson IMO started strong but is losing their ground, they only have a small cult following on their windwarrior and still water models

my bad, never mind, I found the posting...

@ eyefish....i've heard of simax myself recently but can't find much about them except for an extremely poor website....http://www.hongkee.ca/products.asp?id=169 can you send me some info or catalogue on their full line of fishing products?...right now would be most interested in the ML and L ice rods as for the original post...i've been very happy with my st. croix rods, ice and spinning/casting/fly...every manufacturer will have a few lemons in its production...i've never called st. croix for a warranty issue, always just walked into my local shop and walked out with a new rod, no questions...but I am not a fan of the legend...my biggest beef with st. croix ice rods is i have found the actions to be inconsistent but not a big deal really, just go through the rods until i find one i like IMO the best ice rods i have are st. croix premier and frabil ultra ice