River Rat

well, I don't think it was obvious till he decided to out himself but whatever. ? To me it's sad that you don't see that one post could do that. I would have to assume by that statement that you are fairly new. I see you are hanging around with him now so unfortunatly you will see it first hand. RR

dude, not sure who stonefly is but there is already a Mrs. Rat. so don't get jealous. besides, I'm pretty sure I've seen you around the local tribs and I am pretty sure you know what I'm saying. If stuff got posted about your favorite haunt you could say farewell to the perfect harmony you've established there...... Cheers RR

yup, it is far away in a different country......that's why guys scan the internet looking for any signs that the fish are in and banging out there before they drive that far.....those rivers still fill up, those bait shops still talk and spread the word.....now that the internet IS around, how do you think those rivers looks today. you shoudl get out and see for yourself. RR

well GCD....if you are comparing my point to our reality ...are these specific spots on rivers ? do you go back every day of the following week to see the damage done? do you post a pic of a fish in a lake or a pictorial and video diologe of huge numbers being caught in a 1 mile section of a river ? apples to apples bud, think about it. head out to XXX point on Simcoe in the winter and smash 20 whitties and post is on here and see what happens. get out on XXX point on Erie next weekend dragging tubes and pound 20 huge smallies and post that here and see what happens. hit the Catt on a wed and thursday, post a 4 page egogram on here...I saw what happened. RR

steverowbotham, 100's of guys know that spot in your pic you are right, but guess what.....fish tend to move in pods at certain times of the year putting high concentrations in particular parts of the river.....by posting a pic of that spot telling people you hit a bunch, you have indentified that concentration of fish for the 100's of guys and thier buddies to pound into oblivion......I know of TONS of guys that just scan the internet and take days of work when they see a post like that. does anybody understand what I am trying to say here or am I really the only guy that has seen this first hand....tons of times ? RR

Mike, Why the heck did you chime in here anyway ? was I talking about you ? did I mention your name ? what's your problem ? and get your facts straight man, I wasn't banned ? I took myself off that board because of guys just like you jumping all over any little thing I posted, just like now.....call JC and ask him. I was at his place on Saturday laughing about it. It was 100% my decision to leave. Louis, what the heck are you doing in this post...seems like solo can handle himself, no need for you to gang up on me is there ? if a guy drives 3.5 hours and can't get a licene and decides to fish anyway, what does that have to do with me ? "the fact you fished with a "dude" without a liscence puts us all at risk".....good god man, could you try any harder to find something bad to say about me ? LOL by the way, I don't have any issues with "the local's with the bandana's and shot guns running amuck "......nice stereotype bud. I'm only 1/8th native Canadian but dam proud of it. Save your racial profilling banter for the local Mississauga KKK meetings "dude" Anyway,... anyone who has fished the catt in the last 5 years knows exactly what I'm talking about. and who I'm talking about simply doesn't matter.....it's best to keep pics that identify the exact location a current run off public sites. Unless anyone can tell me what "good" it does for the fishery ? I'm all ears. Louis, you keep saying you are working to save our fishery....what did you write in this thread that would help you get to that goal ? I remember back a few years ago when someone did the same kind of post about skein fishing in a certain harbor that a guy took him to for the first time.....that place is now destroyed, there were 30 guys slit fish eveywhere last three years.....the land owner had enough and shut it down. access is by boat only now. Same place, guy posted a great day winter steelhead fishing with pics .....blammo, next weekend 100 holes and blood and guts everywhere. Hey wallaco, mortallity rate is around 10% with the best C&R practices. When 20 guys hit and average of 10 fish per day, stats say 20 will die. When 80 guys hit an average of 6 fish each per day.....the number of dead fish more than doubles. I would say the traffic is at least 4 times what it was prior to the internet glory posts....at least IMO that's what I have seen. just think about it is all I ask, and lighten up there Mike and Louis. Save the witch hunt for holloween LOL ..... RR

There are 5 or 6 places that you can get licenses in the area. I know this because I visited all of them last year trying to find a license for a buddy with me but they were ALL sold out...all of them. This was the Saturday after a HUGE post was put on here (OFC) showing all the holes and runs in pics and videos....with comentary and fish numbers talking about a huge pod of "suicidal dropbacks".....the post was put up on the Thursday, by saturday all 5 stores were sold out of licenses.....it was a zoo like I haven't seen since opener out east. We fished for a couple hours (my buddy took his chances) and after hooking a few beat up droppies that had obviously been caught already, we decided to leave (for the 3.5 hour drive home) rather than add to the pressure these poor fish were under. Carefull with your questions and answers in the public discussion forum guys....1000's are watching this and other sites. The damage caused is not reversable.....and this river is damaged now IMO. Seneca had licences last weekend....hope you drive a 4x4. Cheers RR

well, common sense tells me that you don't need to point out that throwing 3 prongs across the backs of spawning fish is disgusting. I think every "angler" out there knows that.....if that's what you were talking about then I appologise and agree....who wouldn't ? all Chinook salmon staging off shore, and entering the habors and respective rivers to spawn are all within "days of dying"......I did read your comment and my interpretation was that salmon fishing (unless summer trolling) was unethical and "disgusting". Then GCD chimes in talking about the willow branch and cloths line pully......obviously another troller. There are good and bad in both practices....yes there are a ton of "center pin" guys that ARE trying to impress and think they are some big deal making the rest of us look bad. Posting "look at me" documentories pinpointing the exact location of a run in specific rivers. Ripping and popping drifts. 14ft floss leads in 5ft pools....we all know that's disgusting. There are also tons of us who understand ethics and know what we are doing. Fishing ethically and respectfully to others on the water and the environment. (line, garbage etc) Salmon trollers have a bad name too....every downrigger boat in my local harbour comes back full of meat. Fish yanked up on hydro poles and guide wires, exploding air bladders and exploding ice chests. Guys greasing other guys off drifts, and fighting on radio (and shore after) .....gallons of fuel, oil and exhaust leaking into the water and air everyday to drive around and wait for fish to hit.......there also those who know what they are doing but the result is usually the same...dead fish. neither method of fishing is perfect......those that are "disgusting" know it......the rest of us don't need to be painted with the same brush. RR

the bass are still on the docks....get in tight and punch that slop RR

Roy, from the looks of your Avtar....you are a troller. Throw a bait on a rope and drive around hoping something bites....now THATS fishing! Piers and harbors are fun on the pin......leave the upper water to the hardware chucking trollers. RR

if they look skinny, take a closer look....you will find they have slit bellies out east RR

my buddy replaced his Yammy 225hp cowl and it was like $1400 USD RR

Scientific anglers Mastery series for slow water, Drennan for fast SA 1. the most abrasion resitance I have seen in flouro 2. rated properly, unlike many other more supple lines like frog hair...7.2lb breaks at around 8lb....frog hair 7lb breaks closer to 5.6lb 3. very supple, no memory....for lite bugs under float in frog water, it hangs straight 4. It's coated slick, so it doesn't go dull after a while like many others do Drennan 1. strong like rope....8lb breaks like 10lb 2. holds a knot very well 3. cheeper than SA 4. has some memory and is stiff but for runns and faster stuff, it doesn't matter RR

I suppose this is a better past-time than hangin' out & smokin' dope, eh actually, we fish and smoke dope at the same time in the villa......... add 15 years to thier age and put a float rod in thier hands and that picture looks just like Burts Dam, the Oak, Thornberry, Caledonia....Pulaski.....you know how many guys I see running pom poms and 14ft leads, popping every drift ? If you don't tell them now, and show them how to really cathc fish in a pool, they grow into what you see out there on every river on any given day ....just with more expensive equipment. The local CO in Bowmanville is Mitch Phinny, call the TIPS line and ask for his cell....they will give it to you. He will get you to send the pics to him. He patrols that area in the bushes and stuff taking pics himself. No doubt he already knows those kids. Venting on this site won't do anything about the problem, ....do something about it. RR

Same scenario, if the wind is low and you can get away with only a jig head in the tube and a regular stemmed float (no weight) you will detect the "riser" hits.....when everyone else is running 6ft weighted leads, I run a 2.5 ft lead bare to the jig head........when the float moves up, or down, any movment...he's there. This is a cold water technique mostly........use a slip float the same way if you want to twitch em without disturbing the surface. but I'VE been fish tubes with Buck Tyler for 25 years!......do I hear 30 ? anyone ? LOL RR

These sites are good for general information to point a guy in the right direction. IMO, time on the water is the best way to "gather inormation", not the internet......a guy that spends 500 hours a year on Simcoe (for example) deserves to reap the benifit of the time and expense of putting that kind of TIME ON THE WATER. Many of the people that visit these sites have no idea what kind of commitment it takes to learn how to consistantly hook fish under changing conditions. A point in the right direction is nice, most tackle shops will do that for you too....turn off the computer, get outside, meet people...fill gas tanks and fight with your wives to get away fishing....the payoff is so much better when you suffer a bit to get it!!! RR

Hey Cudz, if you want to catch a 5lb largies why are you fishing the same water you would fish for smallies ? get on those docks and and throw a jig or work the slop if you want largies....... RR

cheers Roy....we found some, but thanks anyway. RR

hey everybody, I am working on a project and I need one of those old canvas lifejackets like the kind from the Titanic or something really old looking like that. I can pick it up and drop it off after and I'll leave you something for collateral just to be sure I return it in cas you are worried about that. I just need it for a few days and it will not be damaged... if anyone can help me out I'd really appreciate it. Cheers RR

get out on a still day and drop shot those hot weather lazy fish. I will run white tubes and flukes, gulp etc nose hooked on a drop shot rig. Just like winter fishing..watch the bottom move and slowly raise it up. If the fish comes up with it, you will likley get a swat from him. A 7ft or better MH crucial with 15lb braid and a tight drag should get the claws into em at 50 to 100ft. when running with a partner, two color graphs and an ethernet connection to one transucer, it's full contact rules on the deck to see who's bait the fish is after. A ton of fun for sure! ...safety first! RR

well...all I can say is....yawn, I'm tired. Big night last night! RR

I love fishing used water on a slop line. Following guys after they have been nice enough to mark those fish with holes in the slop is pricless, especially when they can see you cleaning up behind them. It's even better when they whaled by you at 78 MPH the get on the slop first!! Have a bullet / worm, a big flipping tube and jig and maybe a fluke for followers to the edge.....find the holes, drop in...shaky shaky blammo...I alway follow slop blow ups this way.....and open water swirls are target practice for the fluke....and if you are ever fishingf my boat and blow a fish, it's open season for the other guy to drop in. It goes both ways, full contact fishing is the best!! RR

My buddy had a pond in Lakefield when we were kids and ""WALTER" was the resident bully bass in his pond. They caught all the smaller ones but Walter would only look, not bite. I came up for a weekend and threw everything I had...but no live bait. There is always a greater chance of a gut hook with live bait so I didn't want that. I crept up on my belly on the sunday morning and watched him for a couple hours. There were lots of minnows in the pond but Walter was eating terrestrials....I collectled up grass hoppers and got up wind and threw them in the water. Walter loved to eat them....I had my fly rod with me but no flys that looked like a grass hopper. I did have a popper (old canadian tire poppers) that was painted like a bumble bee.......I tied it on a stood way back and launched a blind cast with the wind....slowly crept up and just as my eyes focussed on the bug, SLURP!! Walter was on.......That was over 20 years ago and we still talk about that weekend to this day evertime we see each other. If it's a pond in a field, I will bet they are eating lots of bugs....try fly fishing for them. RR

frog baits are normally one or two hooks....you need braided line and a med heavy 6.10 to 7.10 rod to get the claws in. For chugs and pop'R's etc...I always make my own buck tails for the end hook and change out the top hook to a red one. 100% of the time, the red hook is in the mouth. That's all I'll say about that. I use a med fast (much softer) rod and hi vis braid (30lb) with a 8 to 10 ft lead usually flouro but mono in stained water. When it's HOT throw into the pads and slop with a tube of jig rod ready to follow up a blast. When it's morning or evening...I tend to throw into the slop and slowly move it to the edge and let in drop....pink flukes, whip tails, flappin shad etc are great for this. Surface hits are the most fun IMO, but the hardest way to get them buttoned down to the scale or camera. RR