dave524

Great waterfowl shooting, don't think I've ever got such a mixed bag of geese, divers and puddlers. Little surprised to see blue wing's in there if they were taken in the Kawarthas, even at Long Point guys are sayin they are for the most part already gone. Good shootin

More salmon spawning is good up to a certain point. What everyone fails to realize is the "carrying capacity " of the nursery water and the ability of the fry/smolts to reach full term , that is in the end the number of new fish that will be entering the population in the lake. Once you reach a certain number of spawning fish any increase in the number of spawners will not impact the number of recruits to the population. To achieve the numbers of fish that anglers want in the lake I think we are looking at augmenting the natural production with hatchery fish . I'm not condoning the flagrant waste of fish for roe or the guys that think they need several gallon ziplock baggies for personal use, bet more is wasted than actually gets used as bait Probably preaching to the choir here as most of us here that use roe are not guilty of the excesses that we witness, but I don't think responsible collection of a few eggs as bait impacts the population.

At one time when carrying a shotgun for self defense against bears it was an unwritten rule that you had it loaded with 00 buckshot. In the event that it was contested that it was not self defense, the spread of the shot would be your alibi, if the 9 or 12 pellets could be covered by the palm of a hand it was obvious the bear was very close as opposed to a slug or a rifle where the range could not be readily verified. Truth is , at self defense ranges, feet not yards, a duckload would probably work.

I've had them for quite some time but I have a pair of high green rubber Nokias that have a removeable felt liner, they are good for slushy condition and around water also fairly warm. Edit: this page show the different models, may want to consider the studs as well, that is new to me. http://www.nokianfootwear.com/

I see it's a lot cheaper if you don't fish migratory salmon and trout, almost 1/3 the price. Hope our MNR doesn't pick up on that. Edit: that didn't come out right. Should have worded it " I see it is a lot more expensive if you fish migratory salmon and trout , almost 3X the price"

There are some areas where walleyes will target the frogs when they migrate to the shores of lakes for hibernation, get them quite shallow in the fall evenings then.

Not in the least, tried it many times , never got into it. Glad I live close to the Niagara for my off season fix.

There is a real danger from having a trace of lube in the chamber of a centrefire rifle, but it is not due to any explosive characteristics of the lube. Upon ignition of the powder charge the brass case expands and actually grips the walls of the chamber so that 50- 60,000 psi is distributed evenly throughout the chamber. In the event that there is lube in the chamber and combined with the slightly tapered shape of the case there will be excessive force directed back on the bolt face, warning signs of this will be a slight flattening of the headstamp lettering, flow of brass into ejector plunger hole, hard opening of the bolt with a bolt action as you can actually shear off this brass flow into the ejector, in a more serious case you can get a primer puncture and hot gas leaking back into the action towards the shooter, permanent springing of the action causing a condition of excessive headspace ( rear locking actions like the British Lee Enfield were known for this and actually had interchangeable bolt heads of various lengths to correct this) and ocassionally castrophic failure resulting in perhaps serious injury to the shooter. PLEASE be sure to remove any storage lube from your chamber and bore before the start of the season.

The attitude that Pike are somehow a less desireable gamefish existed before this whole pike versus muskie controversy. When I was a kid in the 50's and early 60's we legally speared them like a coarsefish in the spring. At university in the late 60's early70's, I had friends that were outdoors guys from northwestern Ontario that used to joke about the Americans and Europeans that paid big bucks to go Jack fishing up there, the locals despised pike. The basis of this was that they were a predator of more desireable species like pickeral and speckled trout. There was a lot of misguided efforts to control various predator species earlier in the 1900's.

At the 8 pounds listed for weight, I would find it a quite heavy for an upland gun. The ic choke would work with the old style foster type slugs but a rifled bore is really needed for the modern sabot slugs which greatly increase accuracy and range. As for versatility, adaptability and the availability of aftermarket accesories including barrells of any type nothing comes close to a Remington 870. It is the largest selling shotgun of all times with about ten million in total sales for good reason. Almost 50 years in the field and I have owned side by sides, over and unders, autos and pumps but if I had to do it over again I would go with a 12 gauge 870 with a 28" barrel with interchangeable tubes and a rifled slug barrel with a cantilever scope mount (there are combo packages available) and a 20 guage 870 with a 26" barrel improved cylinder or tubes. You could hunt everything from woodcock to geese and deerhunt with that combo and never feel overly compromised in your firearm choice.

Just a thought, for the difference in price between an 870 and the Benelli you could probably buy a respectable rifle for big game.

The glimmer of hope I saw in the preseason was quickly laid to rest with the start of the regular season, same old, same old, same old.

I was just trying to avert a costly mistake with that old friend of yours. Actually, there is a new tungsten based non-toxic shell on the market that I was unaware of when I posted. It is a tungsten/polymer shot, sounds like it is little balls of nylon with tungsten powder in them for weight. It is said to be safe in older guns as it a softer compound but I assume it would also be very hard to find and would be priced way up there too. LPS , I use LPS-1 more as a cleaner of powder residue in gas operated autos and a short term metal protectant. When I put a firearm away for a longer period, there is LPS-3, which is specifically a metal protectant that I use , just a light spray on a soft cloth and it puts a slightly waxy film over the metal but it should be removed before using the gun the following season, especially in the chamber, bore and locking mechanism of the gun. Works good too for storage of less used things like cast iron bullet molds ( I use traditional muzzleloaders) and even on hitch receivers so they don't corrode and get stuck.

CAUTION !!!!!!!!!! The shells you want for that M59 are not the tungsten. There are tunsten/steel blends out there and they are every bit as hard and destructive on older barrels as straight steel. They are essentially steel loads, the tungsten is very heavy and is alloyed with steel to give the shot more weight and better downrange ballistics. The shells you need to get to waterfowl with that gun are the BISMUTH, which is about the same weight and hardness as lead.

I'll back up Stocco Lake, went there musky fishing with a friend who was in the air force at Trenton a few times. Seemed like every run from one spot to another at high speed we would see these pods of gar floating just below the surface.

Nice Coho. I really really like Cohos in the river, glad they are back on stocking lists. When I used to target them, they were about the last fish to enter the rivers on Lake O, often late November or early Dec just before ice up, even have encountered the odd one still alive the following March during ice break up. This new strain is obviously a much earlier spawner. They are far more willing to hit than Chinooks, seems to be in better shape further up river than Chinooks are and put up a far more acrobatic fight than Chinooks. Also for anyone wanting to target them, they liked green, not chartreuse but a real Kelly/ Forest/ deep grass green. Don't know why, not saying that it is still the hot colour , but would be my go-to colour initially. Did I mention I like river Cohos??

My 12 gauge 870 is the special purpose model. When steel shot came in I was using an Remington 1100 in 2 3/4 " with a skeet barrel and a modified barrel as a waterfowl gun. I figured since I was finished skeet shooting and I could use the extra payload room of the 3 in. for steel shot went looking for a 3 in. 870. Local gunstore that I frequented traded me even for my 1100 and 2 barrels for a new 870 special purpose. The parkerizing is a slightly a more gray finish than the black express finish, also the parkerizing is a chemical reaction with the surface of the metal, much more durable than the express finish which is on the surface of the metal like a paint. The stock too is real walnut with a matt finish as opposed to a walnut stained hardwood, the stock is machine cut checkered as opposed to a die pressed-in checkering. The gun also came with a nylon camo sling and swivels on the forearm cap and butt stock. It also had the full set of screw in chokes, not sure if the express had this feature at the time. I was happy with the deal and it is still a good waterfowl/turkey gun. On the subject of the 20 gauge lightweight. Remington used to (maybe still does)make 2 different 20 gauge guns. The cheaper 20 was actually made on the same receiver as a 12 gauge as a cost cutting measure, as you can guess it really wasn't a lot lighter than a 12. For a premium price you could get a 20 lightweight which had a receiver scaled down to 20 gauge size so there was a substantial weight reduction, also most of the 20 lightweights I have encountered have had a mohagany stock further reducing the weight. As the receivers of these 2 guns are different they do take different barrels.

I voted zero, when I was 15, there was no PST, no GST, no fishing licence, small game licence was $1 plus 15 cents issuing fee, no duck stamp, no PAL, no FAC and I could walk into the local hardware store at 15, pick up a box of 12 gauge shells for $1.99, heck if I was short there were partial boxes with an X in marker on the top and he would sell them for 10 cents apiece and to top it off, The Department of Lands and Forest had more CO's in the field. Ain't progress grand ???

Very nice, I have both a 12 and 20 870, Dad has been using the same one since 1952 in 12 gauge. They are basically unchanged since than, he got a new slug barrel in the 90's, it fit , I am pretty sure that is still the case. One thing to check with yours is to make sure the magazine is still plugged for only 2 shells, hate to see you get inadvertently caught on that.

I'd use a needle and thread your tippet material through the knot then tie on your hook much like you would fish a corkie. We used to run little pompoms from a craft using the needle approach. FWIW I simply tie an egg loop style knot, this one http://www.steelheader.net/knots/whip_finish.htm Place about an inch of yarn under the line between the knot and the eye of the hook, slide the knot up to the eye and draw tight till the yarn flares and trim to shape. You can get creative with colours, a bit of hot pink added to chartreuse was killer on the Niagara. Also with a bit of dexterity you can change colours without retying the knot.

Nice photos and nice fish, encountered Pinks a few times down at Port Ryerse on Young's Creek. If I remember correctly the Pinks are the result of a single accidental stocking back in the late 50's . For the longest time you would only get a run in odd numbered years, but as time has progressed a smaller run has developed in even years as well. Probably the result of their equivalent of Jack Chinnies, fish that spawn a year earlier than norm, it is thought that this is nature's way of diversifying the gene pool. This is an odd year so your observations would make sense.

I used to fish it a lot, not a place for a 13 foot plus float rod, try something in the 7-9 foot class. Brush and undercut banks. Good technique is small skunk flatfish, work it downstream on a tightline into the brush and under the banks. This technique used to be called hotshotting, but I see little mention of it anymore with steelheaders. Caution: hold on tight and use heavier tackle and be prepared to outmuscle a fish quickly there. Best access is at the town of Vittoria, there used to be a park area just south of town at the old mill dam, fish there down to Regional 24, it was all parkland as far as I know.

Very nice fish. When I was younger, back in 74/75, I worked seasonally at Long Point Prov. Park and the Waterfowl Management Unit , lived in Port Rowan and got into some there and a few creeks very near to that spot. Now that I've just retired maybe a trip back there should go on my to do list. Getting a nice brown like that always was a thrill after the more usual fare of put and take Bows and the occasional Speck.

Third one looks a little different, orange hue to the fins and a little elongated profile. Never have seen one being up here in the Great White, but could it be a Warmouth???

Friend of mine was a CO, often if he suspected some one of poaching he would wait till garbage day and check for evidence there, not that they have to with their search powers, but it helped with the timing of a search of the home, he would know when to go in.