capt_hooked

Beautifull...! Tell Craig, I have 15 of these boats... He's welcome to come up this spring and fix them up for me... the capt't

Bank fishing for musky...! I love it...! Congratulations...!

Used to live near there... New Bern is a beautiful area... and I may have pier fished there (beaches to the south) long time ago?.. Remember great sea-food restaurants.... the cap't

Happy Birthday Paul...! This is also a special day for me as it is my father's birthday as well. He was born in 1919, 93 years ago. Dad died in 1999 at the age of 80. kc

Lakair Lodge... the old guy who owns the place is a bit crazy.... but its a great camp, with good service and clean cottages.. great fishing...!

It was great seeing every one... Kevin and Leslie...

The North Bay Nugget does our tourism business no favours.... like most news media today it seems to sell papers by sensationalizing...! I was talking to many of my peers today about this subject and all seem to be having a pretty good year catching walleyes here on Nipissing.. that is not to say we do not need to protect our walleye fishery or that it is not in some stress.. But it is not necessarily all doom and gloom. Reading carefully there are some very well thought out replies here... However, instead of pointing out all the problems I would like to point out solutions... In my opinion one very practical solution would be to greatly increase our re-stocking efforts. I use the word re-stocking as Lake Nipissing's yellow walleye are NOT natural to Nipissing but were introduced in the 1920s and 1930s through MNR stocking efforts. I do not like gill nets... and have read articles were box-trap nets are a reliable and economic alterative.. with NO bi-catch. However, the commercial fishing industry could not exist without consumer (mostly local?) demand. Look up stocking efforts in New York State... http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/21666.html There are many good arguments for stocking... If we take more fish out of the lake than can reproduce naturally then we either need to stop taking fish or we need to replace them. Stocking makes a lot of since as the sports fishing industry contributes greatly to the local economy. the cap't

Thanks for the links.....

ah ha..! great pic...!

I got a true pickerel once (acturally two of them).. in a small lake near the French River... It looked like a short, fat pike... same thing... but different.. and totally different bone structure... when filleted... and the taste was incredible..! I have never seen another pickerel since and only occasionally have I met someone who has ever caught a pickerel. Although lots of local people claim they do.... every day.... Out west.. they call northen pike.. "jack" and in Carolina... they have a small pike they also call "jack". But I figure most of us don't know jack...!

We have been stocking young walleye on the West Arm of Lake Nipissing for some 25 years now. The size of fish shown in the top picture of this post is normal for fingerlings.... soon after they reach that length (2-inches) they start to cannibalize themselves and must be released prior to that event. We have released an average of 20,000 fingerlings at this end of Nipissing each year and the MNR fall Index Netting Studies show an average of 25% more fish from the nets tests in the West Arm, compared to netting studies from the rest of Nipissing. This I believe is a strong indication of the success of our stocking program. There is nothing "natural" about sport fishing, commercial fishing and ice fishing... When we take out more fish than the lake can reproduce naturally then we need to either stop fishing (what?) or put back in what we took out. The yellow walleye was introduced to Lake Nipissing in the early 1920s and was never "natural" to this lake. Tight Lines... the cap't

Happy Birthday Roy... today's word of advice... never trust a fart...!!

Just to get you guys excited...... I expect we'll see a couple nice muskies caught while you are here..... One guy and his wife this past week raised 3 big fish (46-48 inches maybe?) and landed two smaller fish.. a 39- and a 44-incher. They were very happy. Bass and walleye fishing is good... Pike is a bit slow for some reason.. although I got asked to clean two nice fish..(25-28 inches) few days back... fried them up real fast and tasty .. for a nice couple from Georgia...

On Nipissing's West end.. many walleye can be found in the weedbeds and are often overlooked... Fish the deeper cabbage... double twister tails.. try all the colours... Use the wind to drift fish... start about 4pm and fish till the sun goes down.. Spinner and woors.. also work good.. The trick is to be in the deeper cabbage and to be ON THE BOTTOM...! Also this week some guests caught good walleyes.. trolling the front edges of pencil reeds using spinner and worms... this is in less than six feet of water.. with this heat and mid morning.. good luck... the cap't....

Warm and dry conditions has resulted in a total fire ban north of the French and Mattawa Rivers... There were 33 new fire starts in the province yesterday and 22 new starts the day before.. If you are planning a camping trip.. I understand it is o.k. to use propane or gas stoves for cooking only. No open fires allowed. Fines can be up to $1000.00 here is the site: http://forest.lrc.gov.on.ca/AFFM/fire/interactivemap/firemap_English.htm the cap't.

Damn..! Good thing they did not ALL decide to show up in our camp grounds at the same time...!!!! Congratulations..!!!!

Roy... you'refunny...!

Those photos are great Joey...! wow..! Can I use a few of them..? Was good seeing you guys...! I got out with Lew for a couple of hours and showed him how to catch small pike while avoiding all those pesky muskies...

"That Lucky Old Sun...!"

Fishing is good so far this year. Good numbers of walleye, pike and the lots of incidental catches of bass and musky already. Water levels are high. Shadflies just began to hatch last couple of days. Not many mosquitoes yet. Lots of firewood...!

Fish digest worms better than plastic. $2.65/doz here plus $.35 to the government. Wonder how much the pickers make these days? the capt..

Lots of water.. Temps are around 55-60 degrees and going up fast with this weather... Many people swiming on opening weekend. Very few black flies or mosquitoes at this time.. it is too dry for them. Reports are cabbage weeds are already up good. Fire ban in the area so no open fires allowed. Walleyes and pike fishing is currenly good. the capt.