Canuck2fan

Hello, new to the board here and I've been looking at a few steelhead rods myself for use with either a cp reel or a spinning reel. The convergence is one of the rods on my short list. For those of you who use this rod, do you use it with a spinning reel or a cp reel.

 

thanks

Definitely go with the convergence if money is tight. Great rods for the bucks and the warranty is good too. I am told you aren't really a steelheader till you spend half a trip fishing with a broken tip... I have been lucky but been there with a couple of folks who just don't get that the rating on the rod for lure weight is not just a suggestion. Nothing like seeing someone take their first cast with a 300.00 plus St. Croix, Fenwick or GLoomis an see the 3/4 oz weight/cleo snap the first half foot or so off the rod.... Seen that on all three of those types of rods. The warranty on those is NOT always over the counter either......

The thing is due to the nature of a noodle rod the chances of having a tip break are a lot higher than with a medium action 6.5 ft rod. So take that into account when you are buying because you might just find yourself buying another one sooner than you think if the company deems it abuse not normal usage.

I almost got me a deer this morning ala bumper tag..... So close because some idjit was so close to my back bumper I wasn't going to brake for the deer. It was my work van anyhow. The darn fool was so close behind me that I couldn't see his headlights in the rearview mirror but I could see he had two young kids in the car otherwise it would have been brake check time long before that. Anyhow after the deer hopped out in front of us and I drove around it more or less I thought the guy behind might smarten up. NOPE!!!! Instead of backing off or slowing down what does this clown behind me do. Pulls out his cell phone and starts making a call, probably to his hunting buds to tell he saw one LOL.... If only I had of had the time to follow him and talk to him about his stupidity of driving like that with kids in the car..... I hope them young ones don't pay for the price his dumbness.

Winter is the best time to steelhead in the rivers. Since you are in Michigan you might want to look for a Swan Noodle Rod Company rod. They were being discounted heavily in many stores over there last year as the company is closed but they make an exceptional product I have two of them and wouldn't trade them for any rod costing 10X as much.

Unfortunately the best bang for your buck rod is no longer available..... The best all around rod for casting spinners, bottom fishing and float fishing was an 11.5 ft Shakespeare Catera. It was the one rod that could do it all not perfectly perhaps but certainly well enough for a first rod. It was strong enough to cast up 3/4 oz spinners, whippy enough to hurl floats out and just barely long enough to drift the float with. It has tons of back bone due to having double footed eyes except for the last four on the tip and therefore is excellent for lake fishing or pier fishing on the bottom. It was also darn reasonable at 49.99 at LeBaron I only wish I had of bought a couple to have around before they discontinued it... The replacement is the Agility line and it is OK but doesn't come in the 11.5ft length

You will probably hear a lot of recommendations for a Shimano Convergence 10ft or 10.5 ft rod which will work fine for casting spoons as that is what they were designed for it can also be used to bottom fish, but totally sucks as a float rod. Not only will it not cast a float very well in high winds, the drifts will be way shorter with it especially with a spinning reel. It is cheap enough to only 70 bucks at Bass Pro. So if you are sure you are going to tossing spoons mainly it would be good start.... (which by the way is over for this year as the salmon are all mostly dead now) It will start you off and get you out enough to know if you want to jump to the next step...

Another rod in that price range is the Browning steelheader? It is also available at Bass Pro.

I started out with one rod the Catera and now I have 4 other steelhead/salmon rod combos for specific things.... Steelheading is like that if you get into it so listen to the opinions see what your friends use and go with what you can afford at the time.

Good looking fish.....

I too had an interesting morning. I woke up at 3AM old time looked out and I figured it ain't raining so off I went. I got to the lake saw waves trashing and crashing the piers so I moved up river a bit.... I got the rod set up and put on the glow stick so I could bottom fish till dawn. On went the roe bag. One quick toss into the honey hole and I set the rod down to go set up my landing net as it is 9ft drop to the water where I was..... Of course I get a bite and hook the fish while my net is still in three pieces. Somehow I managed to put the net together while fighting the fish and after spooking it once by showing it the net I managed to land a nice 8lb plus Bow. Note to self if alone set up the dang landing net to avoid this problem in the future. Nothing like trying to line up the holes for the wingnut bolt and getting it started in the dark while fighting a fish.....

As great as the store is, should we not try to support the local tackle shops that are run by a guy who loves fishing. Just a thought.

Yeah we should but what do you do when you go in 3 or 4 times and he has promised you the goods but they are never there? He claims he orders 4 cases and only gets one.... So by the time his buds and the staff are done they don't have what I want, in the last 6 trips in there. I could live the 25% higher cost on the small stuff but if I drop 2 to 3 grand a year on goodies I need to save money on the bigger stuff or do without..... (which ain't going to happen) LOL

My wife and I have been debating retirement lately, and where we would like to serve it. Both of us have (something like) second careers that will travel well so we're flexible. In fact we just walked in the door from a week in the Phoenix area, and we as usual came home saying there's no place like home, Stratford to be exact.

I would agree with everything in your post except the low cost of living? Stratford is damn expensive for what you get for our HIGH property tax. We pay millions every year for the lovely park system that we lowly citizens only get to use during the winter because you can't park down there during season. If the dollar stays high that will probably change though and with the new director at the Festival will probably see a HUGE drop in attendance next year.

However you can be fishing in some really fantastic spots in well under 90 minutes....

Currently we live in NW Ontario, just south of Red Lake. The wife wants to move to the city. Since we are both from southern Ontario (30 years ago) we know the area generally, but since changes occur over time, we know the area would probably not be recgnizable to us.

 

We are considering Winnipeg since it is close and has the shopping and entertainment the wife wants but it has become so violent in the past couple years and the car thefts are skyrocketing, i'm becoming leary of moving there even though it's close to great fishing.

 

Where would the members of this board live if they could live anywhere. bearing in mind shopping facilities and entertainment and fishing availability?

 

Thanks for your opinions.

Bill

If you want a larger city with all the shopping and entertainment but don't want the big smoke I would suggest London or somewhere close to it.... I am not a fan of the city by any means but it does have all the toy so to speak and is on the Thames (good fishing) And about 1 hr to 1:15 hrs to more than a few spots on lake Erie and Lake Huron as well..... Lake Ontario about 2hrs or less.

I was in your position last year in the spring..... I HAD to have a pair of waders that I could use in sub zero temps, but survive in when hiking to and from some favourite fishing spots in the warmer spring temps. I am a big guy 250lbs with a 29" inseam, but a size 13 EEEE foot which meant I had to do a lot of looking to find ones that would fit my feet and allow room for a warm pair of socks (thank you ducks unlimited for selling a great pair of those at a reasonable price). I found finally found a great pair of boot foot neoprenes that kept me nice and toasty when the winds were blasting and temps below zero, and that didn't totally roast me when the temps were in the low teens. I got mine during the spring fishing sale at Bass Pro they are Red Head Big Man waders I think they are 4.5 mil. They had plenty of room around my gut even for me and have a double wading belt type deal built in. They also have the reenforced knee pads. The price was great about 145 or so. The boots have 600 gram of Thinsulite so they keep my feet very warm a big consideration for me. The only down sides I found was that for the first two times I wore them the legs were too long and kind of folded right at the boot top causing a mild chaffing there (if you have short legs make sure you put them on in the store. Now after about 5 trips they are worked in and it doesn't bother me at all. Also the pocket is a little small but the handwarmer area is fine. I had been told by one local tackle shop that because of my build I would likely have to go with a custom made pair to get a big enough boot with a short enough leg so but I am very happy with the price and comfort of the Red Heads..... Now if and when I win the lottery I might go custom fit but the 600.00 plus price tag has held me back so far LOL

Another tip is I found out that using pair of lined rain pants underneath makes the waders just slide off compared with fleece or jeans....

I use Raven Mainline 6lb or 8lb on all my reels for everything and haven't had any problems with it. Other than it will cut on zebra mussels but then again pretty much any line will do that.....

I am seriously thinking about getting some Cajun Redline though. One of the steelheaders I know used it and it works pretty well for him?

I use XT 4lb for leaders though because I just cannot find a fluorocarbon that will hold a palomor knot for the hook then a trilene knot to the swivel.... I only tried 5 kinds though last year so maybe I ought to spend another 100 bucks this year to see all my fish just break off... NOT!!!! So I know how upsetting it is when line keeps breaking.

I side with the farmer for a couple of reasons. I also feel bad for the dogs that were killed but I feel absolutely NO REMORSE for the owners who allowed their precious family members to be out running loose. Dogs running loose in the city or country are a bad thing. I have seen a couple very bad car accidents caused by dogs runnings. People love dogs and try to avoid them, in one case I personally witnessed a charming old lady was so horrified that while she was busy avoiding running over a puppy the child (owner)chasing the puppy ran smack into the side of her car and knocked himself unconscious with a very nastly and bloody cut to the side of head. The woman had to be hospitalized as well as the child, especially after the mother of the boy attacked her.... saying she hit her kid. I stepped in and said no you silly fool your kid was the one who hit the car not the other way around. That all happened because of an unleashed INNOCENT animal doing what an animal does. I missed seeing the next accident by about a minute but it took out two parked cars, the car that hit the dog, resulting in my cousin having to pay 3500 dollars for damages to the three cars and an $800.00 vet bill for her dog the dog had to be put down weeks later anyhow as an infection setin .... Why did that happen, because her two kids are idiots who thought it would be fun to terrorize their neighbourhood by letting their 125lb mutt run loose one morning and chase some kids who were going to school that they didn't like.... Do you see a theme here? Dogs or cats for that matter that are running loose can cause a lot a damage in a city where people are traveling at 60KM max, now have the same situation on roads where the speed limit can be up to 90KM and it gets more serious. I know myself if I a traveling down a country road and a dog comes onto the road I will try to avoid it, but I HOPE I am sharp enough to not wind up flipped over in a ditch because of it. IF the dogs were any where near the farmers livestock he did the right thing, whether it was the first time or not IMHO, because as stated it is within the law and livestock is expensive!!!

For the folks on here that said a warning shot would scare off the goldens, they are assuming that the dogs weren't trained for hunting. How would the farmer know much less the pundants on here that a warning shot wouldn't just kick in the dogs hunting instincts? The dogs going into retrieve mode after the shot could have made the situation even worse.

It seems like with any story there are three sides. My side for lack of a better term, the other side and the truth is probably right smack in the middle where no one wants to hear it...

I have never caught a trout in trout creek below the dam. I have however caught and seen them caught in Wildwood over the years. Below the dam in the last year I have caught perch, carp, catfish 2 species it seems. Smallmouth bass, one largemouth and a ton of 15" long rock bass.... If you have the energy to make the trek down from where you have to park and can carry your allowable limit of minnows you can usually catch one or two pike down in the spillway during the spring. The problem is the catfish eat the minnows faster than you can bait a hook, meaning any less than 100 minnows will only last you about an hour usually.... Unless you are using the 5 to 6in size LOL.

As for the Thames by St. Mary's if you can find any holes deep enough you absolutely can catch some decent smallies and pike, this year however I walked about 3 miles of the river a couple of times and only caught one 1/4 lb smallie because there was NO WATER in the river.

I had the worst day fishing today 4 hrs and not even a sniff of a fish being caught anywhere by anyone there.... But I bet I still had a better morning than the two posters above me LOL

Sorry I just had to salvage something out of this mornings SKUNK....

My sympathies for the families of all involved in such a tragic incident.

Unless the 08 regs change things it has always been "legal" to use minnows from different bodies of water in an area.... There was a temporary bait movement ban early this year but it only affected commercial sales, my understanding as I read it the individual angler could still catch bait on one lake and take them to another. Although it would have been immoral in my opinion. What is frowned upon is dumping the left over minnows into the different body of water. What I don't understand is you shouldn't dump the water in the new lake either but you sure see a lot of folks using a trolling bucket or keeping their minnow fresh by leaving them in the water at the new lake.... Which seems to be just as dangerous to me.

As for salted minnows working.... I have seen days where they outfished live minnows 2 to 1 for perch.

I just checked a couple of indepedant dollar stores in my home town they said the lights will be in next week for Halloween as mentioned before but they aren't a dollar LOL.

If you are thinking of fishing Goderich you might just want to wait till after the rain on Tuesday. The water is lower than a snake's butt in a wagon rut... The salmon run on Lake Huron is either late this year or going to be non existent.

Personally I go for LIVE bait whenever I can get it. It is much cheaper than plastics as I gather it myself. Also there is absolutely NO plastic substitute for live crawfish, which you now have to catch yourself as you can't purchase them in Ontario.

I recently talked with a trusted store owner who tried to convince me that Live gulp leeches would out proform real leeches. He almost had me convinced until I suggested that he let me take a pail on a trial basis and if I could get the bass at my usual spot to bite on it I would GLADLY come back and pay for it. If they didn't I would just return it to him so he could use it since he loves the stuff so much. He didn't bite so neither did I. (Mainly because in 3 seasons of fishing bass there I have NEVER seen one even swim over to any plastic of any type much less be stupid enough to bite on it.) Now I that can't buy or catch leeches though I might just have to break down and try using it anyhow LOL.

I have had great success with just taking either Rainbow or Salmon skeins and pulling them apart into pieces that I tie up in mesh just like loose eggs only a bit messier. The advantage to me is won't come off the hook and you can use the smaller hooks less chance of the salmon or rainbow seeing them.

I don't know about what the fish do in the Kawarthas but on Saturday I hit my favourite bassing spot. I caught 10 in total, 6 were smaller than normal. I was pleasantly surprised when I caught a two and half pounder which is pretty big for there. I then caught my PB for the lake a fall fatty that had to go 4 1/2 lbs.... I really thought the cold weather would have stopped or slowed the bite but they were feeding heavy right at the same spot I always fish, with no difference in depth at all. It might have been that the bass knew I feeding them last of the this years leeches though LOL.

blame indians and their nets.

C'mon now we all know that the natives who net are all enviormentalists and not the problem ....

That being said if you really want to place blame it should be on the idiots who run to the reserves and buy the fish that are netted. That also goes for the restaurants who illegally purchase it and resell it.

If you can exchange the rod you can maybe save a few bucks for a better reel by going with a new brand of rod I just looked yesterday. It was called streamside I think? It was all black 1M 8 graphite, cork handle with hardened steel guides Awesome 13ft rods and only $109.00. Over the counter exchange if you have a problem you just have to pay a 10.95 charge but you walk out with a brand new rod.....

They have them at The Fishing Store in Stratford and Angler Outfitters in Woodstock. So they should be available other places.

First of all how is the fishing going?

As for the money, I think you might be out of luck for severance pay as the law that NDP was going to pass in Ontario wasn't, then the Conservatives went the other and of course Dippy Dalton hasn't even with his majority passed the law that would put employees first to my knowledge. That being said though you could still have a shot at pension money depending on how it is setup and administered..... I am the administrator for my aunts estate she worked for a factory that went under in 2004 and it has taken a lot of work, but the government just sent out notices that her pension contributions she made should be coming back to her estate.... even though we thought there was no hope. So as suggested if you possible you should carry on as if you won't get anything, work with the union if you have one and hope for the best. Also be very careful of getting a lump sum pay out if you get one because the taxes are a killer in some cases. I know people who went right away to other jobs with higher incomes, 6 months later got their severance only to wind up in a deep hole come tax time.

These situations are why, we should all be looking for a political party that will amend the laws so that employees come first inline when a business goes under. After all, we all as taxpayers have forked over for pension bailouts and have contributed to the outrageously handled EI fund....

It has to be tough watching all that work you did turn out badly. It can't be that different though than people who start up a new business and no matter what they do it goes under.....

If you really believe in what you are doing you will find a way to carry on somehow.

If you can't finish your degree for whatever reason. The fact is that there are a HUGE number of jobs out there right now, some of them might only be minimum wage but they are there for the taking. I know lots of students who make do with OSAP working two or three part time jobs so it can be done.

That was the idea .. would rather fish between work then fish because of no work

I figured that. Last year the place where I work had a fire, so we kind of shut down so I went from working 6 days a week to four. Everyone of my customers kept offering me full time work and couldn't wrap their minds around the fact that I wasn't interested due to the fact that it was steel season..... Although I must say being on salary helped as I didn't lose any pay LOL. I am finding it tough to resume working 6 days a week just as the steel season begins this year.