Canuck2fan

I wish I'd been a little better organized and got a good measurement. I have a 9" handspan and I couldn't quite get 1/2 way around his belly. He appeared to be almost 3 hands long but he wasn't cooperating and I was having trouble keeping my rod tucked up under my arm and hold him up out of the water to measure at the same time with the free hand. If I dropped him low enuf for his tail to hit the water he started flailing.

 

It was fun.

 

JF

John I have no problem believing you.... I have caught 2 bass in a connecting river (creek really) that were monsters. The first one when I measured it on the rod came from the tip of the butt to just where the thread began to wrap around an eye. I showed my buddy who was with me when got home we measured the rod and the distance was 21 inches. That one was the baby. The next time I was out and alone I tied into something I thought it was a carp until it did a couple of tail walks.... When I landed it I was shocked it was not a particularly thick fish but when I hand spanned it the only thing I could do it went over 3 and a good bit. My hand span is 8.5 inches..... I know it wasn't that heavy a fish because it was early season but come fall fatty time it would have over 4.5lb for sure which would be pretty good for a river fish from around here. So there are some monsters in those waters. Same spot held some large pike too that year. Now it is all carp ( through there.

That's a tough break, maybe have it fixed and try to sell it.

 

What were you thinking when you didn't buy a Shimano in the first place?... There's a reason that a lot of us here are dyed in the wool Shimano men. Quality and service!

 

Another life lesson learned.

I am hearing that Shimano is not standing behind product the way they used to either.... It seems that in a tightening economy that having to replace rods constantly for people who can't stop slamming them in car doors is costing too much money.... Our local tackle shop owner is pretty embarassed that he can't get Shimano to replace more than a couple of rods that supposedly have a life time warranty....

I think that once the MNR gives a judgement that should be good enough for everyone. Especially with just one digital pic of a fish.

I do like how the MNR experts are working on a guide to help us identify different species though LOL. Probably will be ready about 2015 or so. Then they will wonder why all the atlantics they are working so very hard re-establish aren't taking hold.

Your wire leaders may slightly change the action of hardbaits like Rapalas. The great thing about that is: pike don't care.

Again Rich has it right. Pike don't care and even if you do get a kink in a leader and it makes the rapalas move funny the pike just might think it is a wounded fish and smack it that much harder. I caught all my bigger pike this spring on leaders that I couldn't straighten out perfectly. The more action the bait makes the more attactive it seems.

I have a crazy idea...it spawned from the need to pin due to nervous twitch.

 

Ill be back with a report later tonight, just know that the pin has been dusted off and crazy things are soon to happen.

I can't believe somebody finally listened when I posted a while back in another thread about floating for bass....

http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.p...22216&st=20

We have been doing it with spinning equipment rigged "exactly" the same as for trout with worms or live leeches for a couple of years in rivers and the results are fantastic.

That sounds like a whine to me......however I don't blame you!

Actually I enjoy working on the Monday, I will get enough done so that I will only have to put about an hour on Tuesday and probably be finished at both jobs by 11AM Monday at the latest (mainly because without managemant around I can start at 2AM LOL). So I will have the rivers and lakes all to myself after about 9AM on Tuesday when I get out there.

So really as long as it rains once really hard over Friday night to soak all the drunken little teenagers who are off "camping" so I have to work Saturday morning I won't be bitter at all about that either. LOL

I have three different headlamp systems. From absolute crap to best here they are.

The ball cap ones are fine if you really just want to not walk into trees going through the bush.... They are very limited in range and in you have to move your head around a lot to get them to be useful when using your hands.

Worse thing about then is they only work if you are wearing a ball cap. Not really something I like to do when it is -10 C out....

Perfect for lending to friends who come along who never have their own equpment, that you don't really care if they walk off the end of the pier or not.... I once grabbed a guy in our party who was going to do just that because he couldn't see the pier dog legged, wearing one of them.

The second worse one is a china made knock off that I got at Zellers. it has a head strap that doesn't work, and just a head lamp with a standard bulb. It was worth the 9.99 I paid for it, but just.

The best is a 3 light Rayovac with a head strap that after 3 years and about 140 trips is just as good as I day I bought it. It is the only totally waterproof one out of the bunch too. It has a red bulb for catching worms that works great for giving you enough to walk around. The second setting is for 2 leds that work great for working on line and baiting up hooks. The last setting is a "krypton" bulb that you could use to call in airplanes. I got it at Walmart and will be picking up another one just to have on hand because the unit is so good. It takes 3 AAA batteries I use dollar store panasonics in it and they last at least 15 hrs for me unless the temperature is sub zero then I get about 12 or so. I paid about 18 bucks for this one and it is about the best money I have ever spent on a fishing accessory.

Just checked Rayovac's website and they don't list the one I have anymore but seem to have "improved" it. That means I best go to Wallyworld this weekend and grab one like the one I have... As Rayovac might have fixed it to death LOL.

Yeah thanks for reminding me that I have to work Saturday morning and all day Monday...... LOL

Everybody who is lucky enough to have it off have a happy one.

I was wonderin' what all the fuss was about with the Gulp Alive containers leaking???

 

Maureen bought two containers of different size minnows and neither one leaked even after being knocked off the dashboard and sitting upside down overnight...

 

After taking a good look and shaking the container to check for leakage I noticed we didn't peel the inner seal off all the way ...just tore it back halfways and put it back in place before replacing the lid...

 

Don't know why they couldn't insert a rubber ring on the inside of the lid like on a Mason jar...

When I first opened mine I did the same thing by only tearing back the liner a little but the thing leaked so bad I thought the solution was to take the liner off. I was wrong as usual.

Of course Berkley could fix this issue but they know once they have us hooked on the stuff we will be buying more regardless of how bad the packaging is. In 2010 when the outright ban on live bait takes effect it will matter even less...

~~~Was up in Honey Harbour phishen this past weekend, and I was Glup Alive, had the 3" Minnow, and 5"Leech caught this nice Kitty on the Leech

Awesome fish in those pictures.... I must say though I am so lucky I got the 3" Gulp live leeches the fivers would have been bigger than the fish I caught, or would have choked them at the very least. LOL

Great report and pics Canuck2fan

 

I think your next experiment should be to have two hooks on your line with both live and alive and see which one the fish will strike first.

 

Please post your results if you do try it

Leechman

Ummm two hooks on at once, that might be crazy enough to work. LOL. I will see if I can rig up something like that and give it a try.....

Alright, I give. I'll divulge all of my secret WGSF spots and techniques in my next report.

I am going to hold you to it Rich the ones I am catching just are as not big as some I saw you posts way back when you invented the phrase.... The fight just isn't what could be you know.

So ummmm don't take this the wrong way or anything but you guys are catching fish like that and you came HOME before freeze up? What is wrong with you LOL!!!!!

I am sorry but as long as I had money in the bank or credit avaiable I would staying where ever that was!!!! But then again both of my jobs are easily replaceable.... Seeing stuff like is the reason I DON'T take holidays anymore they would never get to go back to work.

I dont think the jig weight is the issue....it's a reel that can hold 1.8 kilometers of line. Man...I don't know if I could reel in that kind of line in one fishing trip. I added a bit in case the fish ran like a salmon

Ummm that is only 1800 meters we do that much reeling in about 4 hours easy chucking spoons for salmon.... Then you just break out the tylenol especially if you land 3 or 4 LOL. Where you really do a lot of reeling is drift fishing on a long run off a pier though. You let that puppy run out until you can't see the float or you CAN see silver on the spool LOL.

I will never forget one of our buddies comes fishing off the pier with about 25 wraps of line left.... of course he was the only one to get a fish on. So when Canadian tire opened he went for a drive so he could start fishing again.... Lesson I learned was YES the knot tying the line the reel is important LOL.

I used to have an ungodly number of rods/reels but have pared the selection down somewhat over the years.

If all the rods you own are higher end, and/or custom, a handful of sticks like that could easily equate into a forest of cheaper rods. Everything is relative.

 

Which would you rather have one Ferrari or a dozen Honda Civics?

I don't know what car I would prefer if money was no object.... I might be getting too old to heal successfully from owning a Ferrari if I really put it through it paces to enjoy it LOL. Speaking of exotic Italian machines I did see the darnest thing a couple of minutes ago. I was at Giant Tiger here getting some milk for tomorrows coffee fix and as I am walking in there was a Lambougina Diablo crusing along as the driver was checking out the display racks of clothing for sale... Now I do actually know the next door neighbour of the car owner and they are pretty close I got to remember to find out if it a real one or a kit car.... Either way it was a funny site seeing it at a discount store LOL.

I voted twice again....

So after reading a few polls on here about Gulp Alive and whether it works or doesn't it I thought it was time to delve a little deeper. The polls all tell us that of course it works, and I became a convert after reading about the success others have had on here with it. It should have been a no brainer for me though because why would Berkley spend millions developing a product that didn't actually catch fish?

However , I started to think that the real question should be does it work as well as the REAL live equivalent? I wanted to see if a company could come up with something that is as good as the real thing? Could a modern technology bait really out fish something that nature developed over the ages? This question has been on my mind since bass season opened this year. Until today I haven't been able to get out with both real leeches and Gulp Alive at the same time.

When I got done work in about an hour this morning and saw how fabulous the weather was I thought it would be the perfect time to test out the difference between the leeches and as an added bonus see how my new camera worked.

So after gassing up and hitting the road, I could feel myself already relaxing deciding to enjoy the journey as much as getting to the destination sort of thing. Here is a quick snap as I was approaching the venue for todays battle of the baits.

After a relaxing 15 minute drive it was time to relax even more as in take time to smell the flowers..... and test the macro setting on the camera LOL

Relaxing time over, there was work to be done and as I walked to the water I was reminded of something my late Uncle Bill would always say when action was required "It is time to crap or get off the pot". I guess since he was the one who developed the particular technique I would be using in todays test it was only fitting that my thoughts turned to one of his favourite sayings as I laid out the contestants for today's battle of the baits.

Which will be the best live or Alive? Can you tell the difference? Can the fish or will they care?

I decided to try a live leech first, I haven't yet mastered the skill of being able to take a picture of fish in the water with my new camera. However, there were about 10 or 11 fish in the area where I threw my first cast.

This fish hit within 20 seconds of the line being in the water and much to my disappointment was about the same size as the majority of bass I have caught this year. That makes one for the live leeches though.

That feisty little fish shook the live leech off though, so I put on a Gulp Alive. I re casted in the same area, and in about 20 seconds again I had another bite. This time however I had been so intent on getting my line back in that I failed to notice I had somehow managed to have the line wrapped about the pole behind the reel, (I really would like to know how the line went out about 30 feet like that too?) so by the time I got the line untangled the fish was gone.

I saw a fish that followed the Gulp Alive leech in though and it was a nice size. I quickly made a flip cast just behind it but before the larger fish could turn around, this little scrapper grabbed the plastic and headed off.

That little guy was fighting way above his weight and would not stay still for the picture so he wound up dusted in the gravel but swam away no worse for wear right after I snapped that shot. He had hit that Gulp leech so hard he had it running up the line as if it was trying to save its "Alife". As you can see the plastic is about 6" above the hook in this picture!!!

So that is one to one in the battle of the baits. One small largie and one smaller smallie. The Gulp Alive leech stayed on though so it now has a chance to go up and take the lead. As I tossed it back in I was wondering how long it would take this time to get a hit. After about 2 minutes I was starting to think something was wrong, but then I noticed my line was not where I had cast. I slowly took up the slack and the rod tip bounced once. I set the hook and knew right away it wasn't a bass this time but what could it be?

One chunky sunfish that is what.... Tough looking fish it only had one working eye and if you notice it's tail had been torn up at some point as well. After a quick snap by my hat to give you an idea of the size of it, it too was safely back in the water.

After the sunfish there was no action for about 5 minutes and so I knew it was time to go for a hike to my next open area at the spot. Next pic is a gratuitous camera test.... of some fabulous looking bush.

See BUSH now don't you feel bad for thinking dirty thoughts?

Now back to the action Gulp Alive leeches are up 2 fish to 1. Since it was time to recharge the Gulp I went back to using real live leeches. I was promptly rewarded with 4 WGSF in a row. I didn't waste the battery juice on all of them but here is a picture in case anyone doesn't know what a WGSF is.

I was thinking it was time to move since all I was catching was WGSF in this area of the spot, but while I was still sitting there I thought I saw a small submarine approaching.....

Actually it was just a HUGE carp and as you can see I REALLY haven't figured out how to take a good picture of fish in the water yet....

However while I was playing photo journalist I didn't notice that something else had taken a liking to the Gulp Alive leech I had on. As I reeled into to leave that area I felt some weight but not much fight.

Oh yes it turned out to be the ever elusive salad fish. Notice how it was struggling to completely devour the leech.... it too was released unharmed.

Things has really slowed down at this point I was getting lots of follow ups and seeing some really decent fish but with either live or alive leeches non of the fish were taking the bait. Since I had put some very serious time into this epic experiment of mine about an hour and 20 minutes BTW and with a lot of things to do later in the day, I decided it was time to pack up and head home. Now if you have ever fished with me you would know that from the time I decide to head home and to when I actually stop fishing and leave can be as short as 20 seconds if it is raining or as long as 2 hours if it isn't.....

Today it was about 10 minutes by the time I had wandered back to where I entered the spot from the road. I had caught about 4 WGSF in different areas along the way but couldn't be bothered getting the camera out of the case....

I decided to try the first area again since I still had a live leech on. I had just flicked it about 3 feet from shore to get a loop of line off the reel when the line started peeling. Did a hook set and a got the reward of seeing this little largie jump a couple of times before I landed it.

Since up until that time it was the largest fish of the day I decided to quit before getting further behind. So I really did pack up and head home. Where I found that the new fishing shirt I had designed and then ordered online had finally been delivered. Here it is....

If you are out fishing and see someone wearing that on their back come up and say hello.

So what did my little experiment prove today? Nothing really, except all the fish this year around here are still smaller than I would like LOL. In answer to the question does Gulp Alive out preform real leeches? Not today, it didn't, it was basically a case of either one was getting a fish every other cast at the very least. At one point a live leech caught 5 fish, the most a Gulp Alive leech caught before being recharged was 3. There is no long any question though in my mind that over the long haul that Gulp Alive is the cheaper option as it will usually last long enough to catch many more fish than a live leech. Also it is obviously much easier to store and transport once you ditch that lousy pail you buy it in. It is unfortunately a lot messier to deal with every time you bait up you wind up with the liquid on your hands, hat, glasses, reel, and worst of all camera... With live leeches if you spill it you have a little river water to clean up, with the Gulp juice you have a real sticky smelly nightmare to deal with.

I didn't post pics of every fish but I did keep track and here is how it ended up. Over all numbers were within one largemouth or smallmouth. The Alive caught 4 largies only 3 smallies and more rockbass than I could count but it also nailed that big sunfish. The live leeches did the opposite with 4 smallies and only 3 largies, and again more rockbass than I kept track of. That is the data I collected you can draw your own conclusions from it....

Next time I hope to have another person along and with the same setup as I would like to cast in the same area and see what bait bass will go for which them side by each in the water.....

If I get out and test them that way you readers here will be the first to find out how that battle of the baits turns out.

,man i really want to get into this fall rainbow action...

 

is there anything special that i would need? or can i use spinning gear?

You can use spinning gear. Although longer rods help because then you can use lighter line (which isn't nearly as important as it used to be now with fluoro leaders) You can use a 7ft spinning rod I would recommend a reel that holds at least 250yds plus of 8 lb line though. A 7ft rod for chucking spoons for salmon is ok and you may just hook into something. If you get a salmon off a pier you will understand pretty quickly why I suggest the reel needs to hold 250yds of line. LOL I have been very close to being spooled and my reel will take 330 yds of 6lb test easily.... some fish just don't want to come in and if you add a outgoing river current they can go a ways before tiring out.

Also with a rod that short you can try bottom fishing off of piers. Basics are a 3ft 6lb fluoro leader, with a number 12 or 10 size hook with a number 10 or 12 swivel above the swivel you put on an sliding sinker the size will depend on the current use the lightest sinker you can that will still hold bottom I have found that the pyramid sinkers work better than the egg type. For bait can blow up a worm or use a roe bag tied with some floaters in it as the bait has to be up off the bottom. Keep your bail open and use a small weighted bottle or stone to keep your line tight..... Watch for that little bottle to fall over take up the slack and nail that steelie, and hang on.

While it is possible to float fish with a 7ft spinning rod I would recommend only doing that off a pier too, because in a river you are going to having such short drifts that unless you out there by yourself you are going to hearing a lot of comments from other anglers. I love the looks you get when you float fish off a pier..... you know everybody is calling you an idiot until you land the first fish of the day that is LOL.

Where are the knots happening? If you over spooled not much you can do but take off some line? Also on spinning gear with braid it is advisable to manually close the bail and it reduces line twist supposedly....

I'm TRYING to buy a Pontiac Montana (Extended) or a Chevy Uplander (Extended) after running a Grand Caravan 4 (almost) trouble-free years. I just put the usual things that wear out in 100K, last week I just got whacked for $450.00 for a fuse box. BU T T T T . . . G. M. loves their vehicles SO O O O much, they will only sell 'em at full list, (they wanna keep 'em all, still room for 3 more on the lot!) 72 months, 'no interest' and NOT ONE PENNY DISCOUNT FOR CASH!! Chrysler automatically discounts over $7K from their list for cash, plus other incentives, that total almost $9K from a $35K list? I dont really want another Dodge . . FORD doesn't have decent van, the Japanese are just TOO expensive . . . so I guess I get to find out how a Dodge stands up to it's SECOND 100K? As good as this Dodge has been . . . after having had a Montana, I've never really liked or trusted the Dodge. You guys who've had Dodge vans . . . once the odometer got up there, what started getting replaced?

Well my old boss had a dodge caravan and he put 380K on it. In that time he begrudgingly replaced the ball joints once, the oil about 4 times. His major repair was the ecm when he decided to be chivalrous and jump start a very good looking woman's car that wouldn't start in our parking lot. Whether he didn't know or was busy looking at the eye candy he cross connected the cables and shorted out most of his electrics.... Other than that, the van just went and went. I must say all of the trim pieces in the interior fell off or broke but the van did delivery in town and out for about 11 years without ever letting him down.

One of my customers has two caravans. He said the one is getting ready to be put out to pasture since he has about 325K on it now. His wife demanded that the second last vehicle she got be something different than a Caravan. So he let her pick out a Montana. They had it for 4 months after they went to Florida in it she demanded they get rid of it. Too noisy, too uncomfortable it literally crippled her to sit in it or drive it for more than an hour at a time. (I found the same thing when I drove a friends home from lake Simcoe, worse seats I have ever sat in, in any vehicle.) Trading in that 4 month old Montana cost him about 7 grand but after a week in the new Caravan he wasn't even mad at his wife anymore over the money because it just fit them better. His son's wife has a caravan and she has about 280K on it and no major problems with that one either.

One thing with Caravan's is to religiously follow the maintainence reccommendations and use Chrysler fluid when you do, if you have a "good" one you should reasonably expect pretty much the same except for items that wear out after high mileage on any vehicle.

If you continue to drive a any modern vehicle today that has a misfire you most likely will overheat the catalytic convertor. This will lead to a plugged exhaust system. And I would bet that a new converter pipe will be a few dollars worth-much more than a coil. By the way the "coil on plug" setup on these Ford engines has dropped in price in the last few months from the dealer. I think they are around $70 bucks. Very common problem. Fix it up!

Not my decision on whether to fix it or not that is the bosses call, but since it is a coil PACK that costs over 200.00 bucks it won't happen until it needs to happen meaning a much larger repair bill in the end.... That is how some companies "save" money in these trying economic times LOL. I learned a long long time ago you just can't help people who will NOT help themselves.

98 Honda accored? Second transmission???Was he using it for a tow vehicle? I ran every honda to the ground. 400,000 Minimum without ever changing a trani. Some of the older models(late 80's) had ball joint issues but that was about it!

 

Volvo is a solid car and I think its German engineering.

 

As far as cars? I think Dodge had some of the most reliable low end vehicles.

Towing with that honda piece of crap? I don't think so he had an 89 Suburban diesel for towing. My point with relating what happened with that car is the FACT that even the imports make lemons too.....

man O man,

 

my centerpin reel started rusting already ...

why dont rainbows spawn all year round ... then none of us have to wait!

Here is the funny thing if you know how to float for steelies you should be able to the same thing for bass using gulp live or live leeches but you never heard from me LOL..... The trouble is most true steelheaders don't recognize their favourite haunts unless there is a foot of snow on the ground and ice bergs floating by while they wade along looking for spots.

I wouldn't drive anything but a ford E150 for work. Have had 3 of them all bought used from Budget Rental.... The 94 had 88K when we got it and it went 376K. It needed ball joints twice (once when the MOOG replacements didn't last?), one water pump and a timing chain. Then when the shop was doing an oil change they cracked the oil pan and convinced the boss that he needed a new touque converter while they had it apart. Actually all it needed was new fluid but I wasn't around that afternoon to stop the repair shop from doing a bit of extra earning. It went through 4 sets of front brakes and 2 rear brakes. The body was getting too bad looking in 2004 to use for delivery so we retired it.

Got a 2001 in 2004 with 76,000 on it. It only needed ball joints, two sets of rear brakes (one was due to the shoe coming apart, raybestos no less not ford's fault) and one set of fronts with rotors. When the bosses son played chicken with a telephone pole and lost she had 155K on it and the insurance paid out 200 bucks more than we had paid for her because it was in such good condition, except for the boomerang effect of the telephone pole LOL (still not sure how that worked but I saw the receipt for the truck when I signed for it and the cheque from the insurance when I picked it up... might have had something to do with the business selling and the new owners couldn't provide the original receipt?)

Now we have a 2003 got it with 78K and it now has 200K. This one two needed back brakes twice and fronts and rotors. Only major problem other than it needs one ball joint, is that the coil pack is weak on number 6 for the first thousand revs so we get a check engine light off and on but it runs great and one of these days I will get the time away from fishing to swap in a new one. The stonegard paint is also coming off but I think that was due to something the dealer did because the rest of the truck is fine?

Other than ball joints and constantly having to adjust the rear brake shoes so that the rear brakes actually work these vehicles have been pretty good considering the abuse we heap on them without really doing the proper maintainance. Of course if we didn't constantly over load them maybe the ball joints would last LOL.

As for imports never owned one but my uncle had a 98 honda accord. He is the type of guy who looks after stuff, maintainence is next to godlyness in his world but when with less than 90K he needed his second transmission he had enough of the rice burners. He went with a Ford Focus wagon and LOVES it to death.... Might have something to do with how happy he has been with his motorhome with the triton V10 that he swears gets between 18 and 22 MPH!!!!

Again with the double today....