highdrifter

I always chuckle when I see that first picture. There's no way a fish like that would survive if it had a conjoined fish in it's gill rakers. It's simply two pike on a stringer, the smaller of the two with it's head stuck in the other's gills. For the second, I've seen the same scenario happen many times if hatchery raised trout... HD

I'll be out tomorrow morning if you care to hit it up. Should be a bit brisk with the wind, but we'll be sheltered by the city... Who's in?!!

Happy Hour=Big pike, hungry and stupid! yyeeeee homay. Dat's a biggun. Your learning curve has been very brief I must say.. Evil genious. word. HD

Gitty on up. giggity!

Pennsylvania?! Take me with you, I'll take you to some bigguns on Sunday bro! gimme a holla lata homay. HD

Some.. this particular area rarely ices over. At the same token, the shallows may take a few days. Let's hope we get a nice bout of warm weather before closer. cheers!

You shoulda seen me cradle her... she was as docile as a kitten in my hands.. What can I say? It must have been love.. By the by, that's electrical tape. Those spreaders can be pretty jagged, so FHR and I had dug out some funky red tape back in the day to cover the tips. The fish struggle less and don't clench their jaws as much, making for a quicker, safer release.. We must protect our beauties.. HD

Holly flurking shnits! Here's to many hours well waisted.. cheers! HD

Hey gang, Stepped out this morning for a little pike session and went one for one. I recently moved into a brand new place at King and Bathurst, literally minutes away from some prime water. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, I like to spend an hour or so on the peer, before lugging my sorry arse into work. It’s like coming home on your lunch break and having a nooner.. work just seems easier afterwards.. Wanted to test a new reel I purchased at the show last weekend. I was in the market for either a stradic or an energy PTI (Thanx Clive), but couldnt seem to find the right size in the PTI, so I settled on the new 3000 stradic.. Also wandered around for an hour thinking I would find the OFC booth, but after the retriever show and quick stop to the Lugger booth for a look at a piece, I called er a day and went home. Guess I should keep on the announcements... Im sure I walked right by ya TJ!! What a sweeeet little piece of engineering this reel is though. It balances a 7.1f crank rod perfectly, casts a country mile and has just the right ratio for working jerk baits. When the pike are still a tad lethargic, good contact with a bait helps you the feel the lighter pick-ups. A rather extravagant expense, I have difficulty justifying such a purchase, but what the hey, I've been good this year. Anywho, 2nd cast and she was on! A solid fish, healthy and ripe for the spawn. She was hungry though and I suspect she had more than just eggs in her from the bulge in her gut.. She hit a flash minnow and she inhaled it! I've been clipping one hook from the last trebles recently, which makes emergency surgery a bit easier.. To further reiterate a reply from Anton's thread a coupla days ago about best times for pike..11am is a great hour. When the sun warms the water just enough and is still low in the horizon, there is internal feeding mechanism that activates this particular population of downtown pike. The general rule applies of course, but I'd like to think it's from the way the sun hits the condos on Queens Quay.. 11:02am.. 11:10am... Thanx for reading, should be more to come. H to the D

NICE! Do you do a lot of your fishing at night? You seem to be turning nocturnal! cheers HD

WOW. I'm in lala land right now.. Thanx for that! HD

Gawd, maybe I will! Yeeeessshh, leave it up to you to bring me back to reality.. For you though, I will require payment in full, and the interest is compounding daily... I think I'll just keep taking people out for free though.. OFC is here to make friends, not clients. tight loops HD

Fair nough. I'm just bitter because I'm chained to a desk and I have a deadline to meet.. I withdraw my comment. H to the D AKA Mr. Whiner Von Weinstein

Some nice steel there, sharp and chrome... You must have some pull to advertise here like that though. Wish I had friends like that! tight loops HD

Looking at the weather trends for the week, tomorrow and Wednesday look pretty good. If the bite is on tomorrow, I'm talking the day off Wednesday! Anybody interested should PM me! H to the D

11am hits, I hunker down and concentrate on my retrieve... I'll balance myself on my heels over the edges and get into positive vibe fish mode. If anyone's went past me when I do this, I've been told that I look like a cat about to pounce. And the inner harbour, she be open son. I'll be out tomorrow morning if anyone is down. H to the D

11am and 3pm for me. It's uncanny how that works actually... Must be pike happy hour here in the harbour then.

If they were working long rods, prolly rainbows.

Hey Randy! When you get there, if you spot any nudies coming, just get nakid with them! You'd be nekid, they'd be nekid... Ya'll could have a nekid party and a nekid fish fry afterwards!! And certainly, don't forget the camera ahaah yyeeeeeee H to the D

Sweeet. Pink conjures up soo many thoughts doesn't it?! yyeeeee Noice one bra. cheers HD

Ya know? I've been using the fluro for sometime now, and I find them a bit bulky. Also, fluro may be denser, hence more buoyant in water, and therefore will sink slower than most wire leaders, but if you've got hardware on the leader, like say, 2 crimps, a ball-bearing swivel/snap swivel, your baits will still nose dive, and the action of your baits would be greatly affected. I'm a big proponent of suspending jerk baits, and there's nothing I hate more than whatching my bait sink head first on a pause-retrieve.. If you're gonna go fluro, use as less hardware as possible. If you tend to use jerkbaits, a ball bearing swivel isn't necessary. If you like tossing in-line spinners and spinner-baits, you need not worry about extra hardware. As an alternative, I use thin wire leaders. They've been working really well, especially here in the harbour, where the pike tend to be lure shy. They're light, and sink slowly, so your bait will look as natural as possible in the water. They're relatively cheap, but you can get sure-lock leaders for around 10 bucks a pop. They're worth it, but unlocking them can get tricky, especially in cold water. Just a thought. Good luck! HD

Kudos Snag. Myself, I'm starting to shy away from posting background shots in the harbour because I've seen the damage first hand. I'm starting to get pressured by the harbour whatch folk to fish elsewhere, because what used to be a few anglers fishing the harbour has turned into a crowd. People are starting to complain, especially boat owners. If we as anglers wish for respect and understanding, more discretion needs to be applied. We've never had problems with police, but shots like that will get us in a heep. Especially if half a dozen people turn up there tomorrow and are told they're on private property. Asking for people to use discretion when posting pics such as these is difficult, and crowds are inevitable. Still, if rules are respected, we may still be allowed to fish these areas in 10 years from now. Keep this up and there will be no fishing signs posted before we know it. HD

That's quite the experience! Thanx for the report. If only finding a fishable lake and sleeping outdoors were that simple... I'm jealous! Welcome aboard. I noted that you lived in downtown tdot.. You should fish the GTA with us sometime! cheers HD

HAHAH.. Hey they're having a sale on lucky craft baits apparently! approx 12 dollars a bait. that means you could stock up on top water sammies! mmmmm sammies OFC.. I need it.. I wanna make a phrunky concoction of it and stick it to my veins..!! thanx budday HD

Right on! You'll fit in very well here me thinks... Great report and pics. cheers HD