porkpie

I am quite Canadian, thank you. Clearly there are many anti gunners here. I don't debate with antis, it is seldom fruitful. I will leave you to your beliefs!

You need to learn the concept of together we stand my friend. Believe me, there will be a time when the P3TA groups will be saying, well... Fly fishing is ok, but the bait fishermen are bad. We only want to ban fishing with bait, the fly guys will say whew, what a relief, they just want to ban the stinky bait fishing, who cares..... Next year, P3TA is after the fly fisherman. It's called incremental steps, but the firearms community and hunting community have caught on to the game. We stand together now!

Me too. I think the Newmarket Costco was selling them before Christmas with a drill adapter included for something around $100. Truly an awesome auger. I got mine shortly after they hit the market, and have zero regrets!

I snap the neck on anything I keep. This includes steelhead. I have never tried it on a large king, but only keep them for skein anyway. They usually expire quickly anyway. Typically I keep perch, pickerel, crappie, and on occasion I keep steelies, usually when I need some skein, however I do eat smoked trout, but typically give away kings that I keep. If you haven't tried it, I suggest you do. It kills instantly, bleeds the fish out, keeps the meat fresh, and you will have no blood while cleaning, nor any blood in your eggs if your harvesting some roe as well. Only way to fly IMHO, and I've been doing it for nearly 20 years now! Give it a try. I will add, I think all the purposefully distasteful comments about letting them flop and suffer for enjoyment, watching them gasp etc.. Are extremely distasteful.

Well they do have lots of space, that's true... That and a good selection of penny candy for the kids on Saturday afternoons!

I would t be surprised if Rockhaven slid right off into the lake and disappeared! For all the years we have been on the lake, it has gotten worse and worse, with little to no repair! I'm not surprised their email doesn't work. Hardly anything else does! Try the phone!

Your welcome my boy, your welcome!

I have plenty of time off, and sick time, but it is not used for fishing. I am a shift worker though, so fish during the week all the time. I also take my son out of school from time to time to go on day trips. I would not post about my use of sick days for extra curricular activities on the Internet though. You never know who's watching, and frankly it's a dumb move!

They aren't banned and you don't need to be grandfathered. They are no longer made due to safety/liability reasons, although as mentioned there was a moratorium on manufacturing them.

Small world!

Same Lloyd that used to fish the ganny 15-20 years ago??

Redhead brand mainly crap. I bought a pair of uniform boots for spares, and they leaked like a seive, also bought a pair of their hunting boots, also leaked like mad for supposedly waterproof boots!

Friends don't let friends drive dodge. I have a late model f150, and have been pretty happy with it so far! If those where my 2 options, I would go with the ford every time! The Chevy is also a good option if you can find one in the same price range. I've never met a dodge guy who was truly satisfied!

Awesome machine you have there. The darn things are hard to find in good condition, I've been looking! Nice fish!

When I used to fish in the dead of winter, erindale was one place that I could almost always count on to have a few open holes. I don't fish now unless there is a significant thaw with some runoff. I'm not much for onesy twosey anymore, and it has to be worth my while! I suspect you'll at least have some fishable water on that section of the credit though!

My friend, you seem to have an unnatural bias against electronics for ice fishing. I have seen several of your posts that took shots at a flasher. I am going to assume you have never fished with one for any length of time. On small farm ponds or tiny reservoirs, perhaps I can see your point. I fish simcoe though, and while anyone can walk to 10 feet of water, throw a jigging rap on and search out a weedbed And proceed to catch whatever is under the hole, it is a whole other ball of wax when fishing a sand flat in 30 feet of water jigging for decent fish, and moving on when the school moves! I surmise you would likely be caught a bit flat footed in this scenario. Everything has its place, even video games! Electronics on bigger/deeper waters can be the difference between boom and bust! Give it a try some time, you may be surprised! It is not always possible to sight fish!

Well the float dropped, but will he try to set the hook, or realize he is ticking bottom..... I am just having a bit of fun. However, my opinion on superlines is based on fishing all over the north and south shores of the Great Lakes, and having fished some big systems with killer long drifts. I don't see an advantage to superlines or fluoro lines etc on a pin, but definately some big disadvantages. ie: a shot line, crappy in cold weather etc. the old standbys catch as many fish, with minimal hassle. I can see the advantage for someone new, for example my son. I just bought him his first float reel, and perhaps for him increased line flotation or hi viz may assist him, for me it's a non issue. If you keep an eye on your line, mend and correct as needed and keep contact with your float, you shouldn't need the low stretch of superlines nor the hi viz aspects. I also have no trouble winging a float a long way because I don't monkey about with light floats and dust shot, even in low water conditions. About the only concession to modern gear I've made is fluorocarbon leader material. Otherwise I am still float fishing the way I did 20 years ago, and for some reason catch ratios haven't gone down. Anyway, to each their own. And no more trolling LOL!

That's ok pal, everyone has different opinions, if you feel rookie line works well for you, then have at er!!

There is a reason cattle farmers keep a donkey in the pens at calving time!! Donkeys are mean, and will absolutely stomp a coyote or other predator.... LOL!!!0

Most braids and superlines, as well as all the hi viz gear they are producing are a complete waste of time for float fishing. They are designed to appeal to the fisherman, nothing more. Superline has its place there is no question, but not on a float reel. For years I've run either xt, xl, samurai green (not on market for years) or Ande in bulk spools, I have also used a fair bit of maxima as well. Stick with any of these lines, and you will have no problems, won't have to waste your time cooking up shot lines or any of those time wasters, and will have far more time for fishing, and you won't need to re-spool every time it gets cold, or go to the expense of a second float reel for winter.

I suspect not many.

Well if you are, Ibycus is freeware, and nothing that needs to be spoken in circles about!

I have used very small salmon/trout flutter spoons on these tipups for years with a small shiner. That has accounted for many many pickerel!

Yes yes, warming up a rod.... That's the ticket..... LOL. OP, there is nothing wrong with an okuma or a clarus for that matter. Either will work well! The nice thing about clarus is they are 4 piece. I have been chasing rainbows for over 25 years, and some of the over complications I see guys getting into these days makes me laugh my butt off! These rainbows aren't terribly hard to catch once you have the hang of it! I see fellows running fancy Florescent line, then "shot leaders" and then leaders etc etc, and agonizing over float and hook selection to the point of ridiculousness. The truth is steelhead fishing has become a fashion show! Any of the factory stuff available today easily bests most of the high cost custom stuff from when I started out, and I am still fishing some of that stuff 20 plus years later! I have 2 clarus rods, a 13 and the 11'3" for my son. I have them for the trunk factor, but I wouldn't feel put out by the okuma I can tell you that! Heck even 2 piece streamsides are lovely rods for the $100 outlay! Enjoy your new pole, but don't over complicate the sport. They are beautiful fish but they aren't rocket scientists!

Grohman #3 is my bush knife. Also known as the RCF jump knife I believe. Not a big knife, but durable and handy, as well as nice to look at!