Canuck2fan

For bass, pike, walleye and even panfish my favourite is a 7ft Shimano Bull Whip fighting rod, with a Shimano Mark II reel, as for line I use Trilene XT 6lb test....

For chrome I use a 11 and half foot Swan Noodle Rod Company Super Light action Emerald with a 6740 President series Pflueger reel. Strangely enough with it I used to use Trilene XT 6lb test on this combo with 4lb XT leaders until I started using Raven Main Line florescent green line which I have to say is about 40% cheaper than trilene and much more abrasion resistent. Started using flourocarbon leads but haven't found one yet that does the trick consistently yet...

I am sold on that plan bring on the thaw!!!!

Forget all this unimportant crap about who should immigrate and who shouldn't (PC in any flavor just makes me want to puke anyhow and yes that includes politics LOL).....

The really IMPORTANT question his post raises is WHAT TYPE OF FISHING DOES THAT LAKE OFFER!!!!. I would think about a move for giant trout, walleye and muskie. If that lake out there just has "good fishing" for catfish, carp, perch or pike I would rather stay in good ol Ontario LOL. Although from what I understand NO WHERE in North America is there the variety and quality of fishing that I can enjoy within a 90 minute drive of where I live now. Convince me I am wrong and I will think about migrating west until then I can live quite well on my 8.00/hr miminum wage here in the land of milk and honey.

I don't about Floyds being the tops anymore. Last year they couldn't put our group on fish and only checked in once during the day. Never offered to move us or anything even though they had a ton of empty huts nearby, that were closer to where groups were catching fish.... I have heard some of the folks out of Pefferlaw will move you around which is a bonus if you aren't getting fish were you start out.

I don't know what type of rod or reel you are looking for under 75.00 bucks.... There are all kinds of choices many such combos can be had at BPS, CT, Wallmart, or LeBarons.

I have a number of Shakespeare rods and Pflueger reels that were all under 75 bucks a piece and am very happy with them. The Medalist series of reels especially. Trion rods from Pflueger have a very high graphite content and perform very well for me and a few friends.

If you specify what species you plan to go after I am sure the folks around here can offer you a number of options.

Ray,

In your defense you had really LOST the first one and just not forgotten it because it definitely was NOT where you thought it was thanks to your lovely wife!!! If all other defenses fail just tell the judge your wife hid the card from you to keep you home cleaning the gutters.... and when you went to replace it the teenager working at the bait shop was talking on their cellphone to her boyfried and therefore failed to ask you the proper questions... so you didn't get the lost box checked as required I am sure any reasonable judge who has been married will understand part one and lets face WHO hasn't been waited on in a store by a teenager with raging hormones? I bet the judge will you off the hook, unless it is a small town and he owns the baitshop and it was his daugher working LOL.

I have seen lots of rods for 60 or 70 bucks with titanium guides. As an example look at the Shakespeare Agility line. You should be able to pick one up for under 60 with tax during the show.....

Getting two rods is probably the best idea as mentioned though it is very tough to get an all around rod that you are totally happy with. However if they still made the Shimano Bull Whip Fighting Rod you would be set. By far that is the best all around rod I have ever seen.

Rich another great report sorry about you not folks not getting fish, but it looks like you had fun anyhow. BTW I was out steelheading and did get a 2" sunfish today... which was kind of a let down LOL

I should toss every piece of plastic I own in the bin..... I have never caught anything using plastic EVER. But then I am old school and believe very strongly in live bait, or lures for perch, pike, bass, and in spawn and the lowly earth worm for salmon, and steelhead.

I do what I did today. Find current on a trib with a little opening in the ice and have at it. Of course I had to break open about 50 feet of sheet ice with my rod holder tied to my stringer so I could fish. It was a bit of a joke though watching 20 or so rainbow swimming around totally ignoring all the different baits I had with me.

The craziest part was everytime I smashed open more ice the bows would come cruising over to check things out. I would have thought the noise and dragging my rod holder would have spooked them. NOPE just made them swim over for a look see.

I don't know about the ice.... The spillway was still wide open on Wednesday all the way to the bridge on the way into St. Mary's and there were lots of open holes over Wildwood in front of the dam too.... The temps are colder last night and tonight though. Be real careful checking.

I remember one time in Algonquin, that another canoe pair from our group got so close that the guy in the bow said he could nurse from the cow.

I hope he intended to pet her first.... before he got that intimate.

Fishing for bass it rarely happens that I get skunked maybe one in 100 trips, although I enjoy seeing my fishing buddies get skunked standing right beside me using the same bait more often than not at my favorite fishing hole...

Steelheading as I have found out is a whole other world, it almost seems like you have to expect to get skunked half of the time when you can only go one day a week, so you can't choose the weather or water conditions. If I want to fish steelhead I have spend a lot of time fishing for them during times when I know before leaving that my chances are slim to none. On those days I get "frustrated" when I go out and get skunked and other people are catching fish. By frustrated I mean I get interested enough to try to figure out how they are getting them when I am not. I try to learn a little and the next time I go I definitely fish harder. By that I mean I will try different baits, different types and lengths of leaders. I will also move around a heck of a lot more than normal.... I try to start earlier and stay later too anything to mix things up a bit. After trying all the new stuff I learnt from the trip before I even will go back to what didn't work for me the last time. Sometimes that is the exact thing the fish want that day.....

Getting mad about being skunked does happen to me occasionally but I get it over by the time I have the car packed up and leave. By that time I am already planning my triumph over the fish for my next trip out.

I agree the term B&B is over used in Ontario. How about something simple like

The Port Dover Angler's Lodge on Lake Erie... or

The Port Dover Angler's Inn

I don't know which is worse . . . . seeing people taking 5 large trout home . . . . or those who catch 10 or more, hold the big ones up by the gills for shots, then uncerimoniously KICK it along several feet frozen ground, across gravel & concrete & into the water, after it's flopped around for several minutes? I likely 'kill' less in a year than SOME (definately NOT all) of these proud 'conservationists' do in an outing!! Oh well . . . . . what can ya do?

 

I have rarely seen truer words written here!!!! Talk about hitting the nail right on the head.

Congrats on a beautiful fish and I hope you enjoy every tasty morsel.

For 2007 I just hope to continue to have the physical and financial health to fish as much as I like with the all of the same people I fished with this year. On top of that I would also like to meet twice as many new fishing buds this year as I did in 06. I have one other goal that is the same as last year I hope to watch my father get his first rainbow in long long time because we didn't get it done last year. Now if I could just convince him that at 71 he doesn't need to work 7 days a week it could actually happen too LOL.

Decided to go fishing today since the weather is looking damp tomorrow. I thought I would give a buddy of mine "another" chance to get his first rainbow ever. (He's only been skunked now about 40 times in a row....) Anyhow a few of us got out to a local trib and started fishing about 6AM. NOTHING not even a line tap. About 9AM another angler shows up he had been fishing closer to the lake and was not able to handle the high winds. Anyhow 1hr later he has landed 2 fish, while our party got skunked....

I hope everyone's luck turns around in 07 LOL

Picked up my license on Friday so I am good to go if the weather looks promising. I hope to be fishing the rivers that are still open for a couple of hours before I have to work in the afternoon. If it is raining I will just have to wait till the 3rd to head out...

I never over spent on fishing till I caught steelhead fever...... Before that I was sane I had about 500 bucks tied up in all gear for bass fishing. That allowed me to catch my own bait and fish 3 to 4 times a week for the entire bass season and do very well actually....

Started steelheading last November and this is without having purchased the final two/three must haves to complete my arsenal(which are a center pin reel and a quality set of breathable wader with separate wading boots) I figure I have about 1800.00 plus tied up already and spending more every week HAPPILY!!!

No one really says anything to me about the amount of money one of the perks of being single I guess...

I haven't been to my family Christmas yet but friends have been very generous. Got a ton of GC's, a 9" Rapala fillet knife, a new cooler for keeping the bait cool. Loads of sinkers and other tackle.

Today while fishing on my favorite trib I got a really decent gift from a total stranger. I was on shore drift fishing with worms because my roe was tied for bottom fishing. A fellow angler was nailing fish left and right and asked if I was using salmon or trout spawn. I said I only had worms today. He said here and tossed me about a dozen tied salmon spawn bags..... I thanked him profusely. The only unfortunate thing was he left just before his generosity paid off for me. I landed about a 4lb male bow which will make a very nice edition to the family christmas dinner tomorrow. If the gentleman who gave me the roe happens to read this I want to thank him again and wish him a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!! As well as all the OFNers

I agree with everyone who says finding a cure isn't going to happen due to the almighty dollar. Like many diseases now LOOKING for a cancer cure is bigger for the bottom line than finding one ever will be....

Now if someone could come up with a tablet you have to take daily to prevent cancer then it would be availabe in 3 months for those who could afford it.

I have almost always had to work Christmas eve, Boxing Day, New Year's eve and New Years day. This year I got out of working Christmas eve, Christmas, New Year's eve... The only good part is that on Boxing Day and New Year's Day I can go fishing early then work for a few hours in the afternoon.

I get a gift for myself every year, only way I will ever get what I want... This year I got myself a Swan Noodle Rod Company black 11.5 ft superlight action rod, and got with a Pflueger Medalist C6040 spinning reel for it..... For my birthday I will get an Okuma Aventa or Sheffield to go on it.

I hope to be fishing if it stops raining and the tribs aren't too muddy...

I never feel bad about taking fish home that I am going to eat. I have of course caught fish that were deep hooked and going to die obviously that I regretted having to take home and eat. Especially if happens to be a large female. I would consider more of a waste though to just let it rot in the water, but that is just me and way I was brought up.

As for C & R I have mixed emotions. This fall I have seen many a person rip into another angler for not practicing C & R only to have these same anglers catch over 8 steelies or more each and this is after the limit as dropped to 2 fish... Some of which they fought for 20+ minutes then keel hauled up on shore to remove their hooks..... On one particular day I watched to guys catch 18 fish and then release them, while they were doing it they were bragging about how before that morning they had each caught 6 a piece at another location. Of the 18 fish they caught as I watched At least 4 of those fish were not going to make it in my opinion. One was bleeding very badly. One had been dragged through the mud for so long it took the guy about 3 minutes to wash the mud of out its gills so it could limp away. The last two were on the line for almost 30 minutes because the guy using what looked a 4wt fly rod didn't want to be out fished by his pal so he wouldn't take a chance on trying to land either of those fish till they were almost belly up. When I pointed that out to these two folks that some of the fish they were "releasing" were probably going to die shortly afterward told me they NEVER, EVER take fish home because it is so "wrong".... I said I see but then I politely asked them how they came by the roe they were using if they never "killed" a fish. I didn't get an answer to that question though. I am not trying to start a war but sometimes the C & R crowd needs to acknowledge that while they don't take fish home they do still sometimes kill fish just as dead as the ones some of us take home to eat on ocassion....