DRIFTER_016

what's a pig and whistle???

Translation: Cop Bar.

My hand auger is fine up until around the end of February. By then up here we sometimes have close to two feet.

My hand auger is fine until the beginning of November.

By the end of February we have about 5 feet of ice!!!!

Save some for me will ya!!!!

I found me a couple of new honey holes. I also learnt how bad old bait smells when left in the back of the van for a few weeks. The bag of smelts was liquified by the time I found them

Please explain this HST thing to me since I don't live there any more.

They are combining the GST and PST and putting it on everything now?

Where are they doing this? Across the country?

I guess it only effects those provinces that have a sales tax to begin with right?

There is no talk of it up here in the NWT, I guess because we don't have a sales tax only GST.

I guess provinces like Alberta that also don't have a sales tax don't need to worry either huh?

If you think that's bad, try living in Yellowknife!!!!

They don't bother plowing!!!

They plow the main streets after a big dump but if it's just a couple of cm they don't bother.

Then they clear the streets twice a winter. In the middle of the night they close off a street and using loaders and dump trucks clear the street.

But until that time the snow just keep building. The side streets don't even get done when there is a big dump of snow.

The street I park on at work usually has 30 to 45 cm of compacted rock hard snow that builds up by the time they remove it.

While it's easy enough to drive on it makes for a very rough road. That street has not been cleared yet and we have had as much snow this winter as we had all of last winter.

BAH HUMBUG!!!!!!!

Thanks guys,

 

We only use the TV for movies and such. No video games, very seldom do we watch sports. If I had time to watch TV myself, I would have time to fish!

You need to think of how you watch TV as well.

Do you like to watch in the dark or a well lit room?

Do you watch sports?

Plasmas do better in a darker enviroment due to the gloss front while the LCD's shine in a brighter room.

Plasmas tend to have better blacks than LCD TV's

If you watch sports get a plasma or an LCD with a 240 hz refresh rate.

The so called LED TV's (they are actually LCD with LED back lighting) produce better blacks than the CCFL (normal LCD units).

For me the best fit is an LCD (LED back lit) 240 hz refresh rate TV.

Now I just need the $$$$$ to buy it!!!!.

If you watch sports Buy the 240 hz refresh rate LCD or you will be disappointed.

10"

There are Lakers too big to fit through an 8" hole up here.

There are also places where they won't fit through a 10" hole.

Plus there's not a lot of chance that someone will step in it before it has refrozen.

West Africa for Tarpon the size of Holstiens!!!!!!

Giant African Tarpon!!!!

Yep, Trilene XL is definitely a line to avoid on a float reel.

I'm currently spooled up with Maxima Ultra Green (6lb), it's okay but I think I'll be looking for

something a little stiffer next season.

Just go up to 8# and the line will be a little stiffer and be easier to handle.

Actually my goto leader material is 8# Ultragreen.

It's all good here in Yellowknife!!! We only got a trace of snow last night.

The bad comes tonight as the temp dips down to -41 with highs over the next couple of days in the -34 to -36 range!!!

All coupled with 20 to 25 kmh winds for some nasty windchills in the -50 to -60 range!!!!!

BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

On the bright side we're makin' some ice!!!!!!!

HMMMMMMM, don't know what to say as the only dealing that I had with an adjuster on a written off car went very well.

When the adjuster came and looked at the car and made me an offer I said yes as it was $1200 more than I paid for the car over a year earlier.

I prefer 8 lb test. I would suggest Maxima ultragreen, but really the most important thing is to make sure whatever you get is LIMP. I've tried XT as well as P-Line's XT-equivalent and it just does not work on a pin.

Really? In over 30 years of using a center pin a LIMP line is exactly what I avoid, go figure.

Actually limp is bad in my books but then I don't side cast.

I like a line that is between limp and stiff.

In 8# Ande is that line, stiff enough to handle properly and limp enough not to coil off the reel.

I tried heavier Ande when I first moved west and it was too stiff and handled like wire.

That is when I tried Raven in 12# test and it handles very well.

As for 8# Maxima Ultragreen being limp, it is in the middle of the limpness scale like the 8# Ande.

Limp line is Trilene XL, the stuff is terrible on a float reel.

lol! I'm a master of something, but it's not the pin

 

Right now I use 8lb Drennan Super Mono... I've just recently started to use a swivel above the float and it's drastically cut down on my line twist. I can safely say that after the first time I put one on, my line twist all but disappeared.. After the first couple of fish were landed, my worries about another point of failure disappeared... Just gotta make sure you figure out the depths you'll be fishing that day and leave enough length between your first swivel and second swivel accordingly...

 

However twist will surface when you are fishing the larger rivers (Saugeen, Catt, Genny) where you actually have to make long distance casts. I know I should learn the Wallis casts, and I am but my buddy Dave does a weird sidecast/wallis combo and it works out well for him.. I've been trying that with a bit of success...

 

I'm not a huge fan of the floating line, they usually turn to wire in the cold weather and are a huge pain in the ass (again if you are making big casts, the ditches out east don't count, lol)

Bill if you want to completely get rid of line twist do the following:

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LEARN TO CAST!!!!!!!

Seriously learn a spinning cast and all line twist will magically disappear.

The only time I have done the side cast in the last 25 years has been showing newbies how to cast, since it's the easiest to learn.

Within a year they have all been weaned off the side cast and are now using some form of spinning cast.

Try it, You'll like it!!!!

Also hit up Angling Specialties at Conderation and Central Pkwy. If you DO end up going there, call me! I GOTTA meet the legendary Drifter!!!

PUHLEEEEEEEEEZ!!!!!!

Everybody has mentioned everything from heaters and tackle to satellite radios.

You might want to bring along an auger too.

Just sayin'.

You can get them at Bass Pro...not too far from Mississauga.

 

Cheers

 

Craig

Thanks

I'll be stopping in there anyway.

Will be visiting my folks for Christmas and need to stock up.

They gotta be cheaper there than up here.

Yep, they're about.

Back early in the decade when I was living in Grand Valley we had one down by our pond that was feeding on the gut pile from the deer we cleaned back there.

All my reels are half filled with 12 lb dacron from Cabelas. The diameter of the dacron is about the same as the 4kg Ande. I have yet to be spooled to the dacron, but you never know.

muddler

In all my years of fishing a pin I have only been taken to the backing once.

That was in September 2004 or 2005 in Alaska.

I had walked into a spot to fish the area around an island, first drift float goes down, set hook and 30 plus inches of resident chrome explodes out of the run and instantly heads down river towards the ocean 90 miles away!!!! It made it's down stream run with line peeling off the reel followed by about 50 feet of backing. About 100 yards or so down river it held in a large eddy and I slowly worked the fish back up river as I was now on tip toes in chest deep water trying to coax the magnum chromer back to me. I managed to get her to within about 40 or 50 yards when after an epic 45 minute battle she threw the hook.

It was the best and most memorable fight and the image of that fishes explosive first leap is burned into my mind for eternity.

But...they have the same diameter and likely the same breaking strength LOL!

I'm a big fan of 12lb Raven in the green colour myself.

Not true Mike.

I was losing way too many floats out in AK with 8# Ande with 6# leader material, but since I switched to 12# Raven and 8# leader I have not lost a single float.

I can't pick just one.

I love to Steelhead fish as much as I love Laker fishing, and they are both different.

For Steelies running the centerpin is the goto method, but I also bottom bounce, flyfish and toss lures.

For Lakers jigging through a hole in the ice is number one followed closely by open water trolling, casting lures, flyfishing and even on the centerpin in the right locations of course.

Maybe I missed this in the fray. But does paying for a guided trip entitle you to clock spots on your GPS. Maybe this is where the only guiding out of town folks comes in. Perhaps if asked some guys will allow this but who knows.

 

Like everyone, using tips and help when fishings new areas is a great starting point but still nothing beats dialing in your own spots.

Marking guides spots with your GPS is generally frowned upon unless it is a remote location (i.e. fly in, canoe in etc)

For many years I used 8 pound Ande and it worked great.

Since I moved west I have gone to 12 pound Raven because of the heavier flowing rivers.