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So does anybody know if I can use frozen Sardines?

Hey everybody, I have a few questions regarding dead baits, as I have never really tried using them before. I have read the regs (2006-2007) and am curious if I can use something I might buy at the supermarket, frozen sardines or mackerel for example. It's not one of the species they mention in the guidlines but I kind of figure they are referring only to live bait with their limitations, as they make no mention of chicken livers, bacon or any of the other strange baits I have heard of people using. It would just be more convienant for me to occasionally hit the supermarket or China Town than speciality bait shops. Thanks I have also heard a rumour that according to the new regs that: "Only Live or Dead Baitfish less than 5.1 inches in length can be used as bait. This is for all of SE Ontario (Zone 18) with the exception of the Ottawa River (Zone 12). I guess that wouldn't effect me but I imagine others won't be too happy.

Not exactly my backyard but sticking with the animals in an urban setting; has anybody else seen Deer in the Don Valley? I saw 2 last year, one on the bayview extension (dead) and the other (alive and well) amidst a a clearing at the side of the DVP by the Bloor off ramp I believe (maybe a couple KM from Bloor and Yonge). I've never spoken to anyone else who's seen one in the area but imagine with so many members on this board from the Toronto area some of you might.

Wouldn't mind a Shimano Curado 201DHSV. Not sure that I've been that good though......

Great report, makes me feel like going fish'n! Travel Safe and looking forward to some European Pike reports!

I'm not a real true blue musky fisherman but I might have to say yes. I'm big on catch and release and almost never keep anything I catch; definetly never for a trophy (although who am I kidding, I don't catch trophy size fish). But...If it would guarentee a serious financial windfall for my familly I'd give up my principals and go for the cash I guess. I'd feel bad/guilty about the fish but it would be a difficult choice......I don't honestly know what I'd do.

Snag wins the prize, which is as equally non existant as my pike. I won't give up. DSN, were you Carp fishing or piking? I would imagine Carp must be getting pretty near dormant, but then again I've seen the occasional pic when someone gets them through the ice in the dead of winter.

I took up smoking the occasional cigar after I quit smoking cigarettes after my boy was born. Sure they stink but on the plus side it cloaks the stench of skunk I so regularly get while fishing. I smoke them much more regularly in the summer, nothing beats sprawling out in the sun with a big frosty mug of beer and a cigar, enveloped in billowing clouds of smoke. Not all that particular, so long as the beer is cold and the cigar is lit you're golden in my books. I can't honestly say I can really appreciate the difference between a Cheap Century Sam and and a Quality Cohiba, despite having had both on numerous occasions.

Well, thanks for the words of encouragement. I will indeed try again. Every dog has it's day and I know mine is coming. It will just be that much sweeter when it finally happens. We can add a little trivia. Name that tune. (Line from song- "I'm a driver ,I'm a winner, things are gonna change for me , I can feel it.) PS. Anybody editing their posts at 3:32 is probably not going fishing the next day.

Wandered down to the waterfront today for a little bit of piking action. Had a spot in mind but found it was frozen over. Moved over to near the base of the spit. It felt like 0 in most of toronto today but the wind was really coming off the lake which must of made it negative something cause it was pretty cold. Every 7th or 8th cast with the Damn mono on the baitcaster it would tangle, I can't understand why anybody could favour it over braid. Not only was I getting some wicked tangles but the line was freezing up. It was ugly. Just as I was about to quit, a big pike did not come up over the drop off and strike my lure. Nor did he manage to throw the lure, becuase he never hit it in the first place. Releasing him was particularly easy. You know that deep sense of satisfaction you get when you catch a nice big pike? Well, I don't. So in summmary I had zero follows, zero hits and went zero for zero on caught and landed. No pike were harmed in the making of this report as no pike were encountered. I'm getting sick of getting skunked on these Toronto pike. Seems like anybody and their grandma can catch one.....cept me. Driving me CraZy. Rant, Rant, Rant.

I imagine if you were seriously concerned with saving sportfish in Canada you'd come up with a more creative and less controversial solution than tossing the odd carp you catch onto the riverbank. Got anything else? Maybe if they reclassified Carp as a "Sportfish" it would solve your problem? Why not lobby for that? Give er.

Just watching it on TV right now. 2 hours long is probably a bit much for all but the most die hard of Carp fisherman though. But hey, I'm sure some folks love every minute of it.

Fish o Mania is not the most interesting thing on TV admittedly but don't be fooled, carp fishing for real rather than watching it on the tube can be pretty entertaining. Big, strong, and plentiful.

Nice Fish, deserves to be resized but I can't tell you how to do it as I'm pretty useless with computers. No more musky for me this year but I'm already dreaming of June........

Yeah no kidding. Take a closer look at that 2nd pic, the guys whole body is actually already inside it's mouth.

Beautiful. That's exactly what I'm after.

Thanks for the replys. I'm kicking myself because when I picked up the medium action rod I could have just as easily gone with a medium heavy or even heavy. But.......I suppose this will have to do. For now. Until I can sneak one more rod into the house without the wife noticing.

Cheers, this Keiths for you.

Hi. Topic title more or less states it all. I do alot of fishing for Pike along the Toronto waterfront on weekends, especially now that the Kawarthas have closed up shop for the season. Now I have a great Musky rod but that just seems a little heavy duty for Piking along the T.O. waterfront; I know they have some monsters in there but at the same time there are quite a few hammer handles as well. I actually just purchased a medium 6 and a half foot St. Croix Baitcasting Rod for Toronto outings but it almost feels a little light for what I imagine a good pike rod would be (I've only ever caught one pike, it was about the size of a whole Mackerel you might get at a Restaurant). So....Suggestions....anyone? I've read a few articles and seen a few fishing shows where they actually suggest a medium power action rod but I'd like to hear others thoughts. Thanks, Ross

DanC's response really surprises me. I think you must be in a real minority with using one hand for spinning retrieves and the other when working a baitcaster. Interesting.

Well, I tried my 17lb Stren this morning and was not overly impressed. It was cold, around 0, so that might have effected the line a bit, but I found it tangled easily and not only did tangles run deeper into the spool then with braid but they were more difficult to pick out. Dutch's advice regarding a piece of tape on the spool seems like a good idea with mono although generally not a necessity with thicker braid. I don't think it casted as well as braid either although I'm also using an unfamilliar rod. These are just my experiences.

My eyes aren't that old and I find mono tangles very frustrating too. Glad to hear someone echo that sentimemt. Actually, I just got back from grabbing a spool of 17lb Stren mono after all these posts praising mono. I'll spool er up and we'll see how she compares. I had a real frankenmix on the spool anyway, ancient 25lb mono backing, 45 lb ice fishing braid in the middle and maybe 30ish yards of 20lb powerpro at the end. I'm skeptical mind you.

I don't see any advantages to using the heavy braid other than ease of casting and minimal tangling really. The higher strength line also prevents you from breaking off and losing lures when you get a bad tangle mid cast. It's also nice to be able to pull baits out of snags on the bottom or off other debris. I imagine that 8-12lb mono could produce some really horrific birdsnests and backlashes on a baitcaster but can't say for sure as I've never tried it. I wouldn't suggest using a light leader either, 20lb and up heavy fluro for bass, pike, musky. My 2 cents. P.S. I suck at cacthing bass.

In my limited experience the higher the pound test of the braid the easier it is to untangle and less likely it is to tangle in the first place. A real cheap option I recently tried was 45 lb ice fishing braided line from Wal-Mart, it was 4 bucks about for a spool's worth. That's alot cheaper than powerpro or any of the other quality braids and is decent for doing a little practice with, it having a huge diameter. If you're not to worried about spending a little extra (I guess you probably are not after having just dropped that kind of dough on a set up) just go straight for either 50lb or 80lb test. I like my 80lb braid personnaly. Be sure to use a leader though. Dano beat me to it regarding line diameter. I tried mono briefly myself and found it much more difficult to pick out the tangles than braid. Maybe just me.

I just moved up here from Toronto a year ago and this was my first season living up here. I love it. Had a great season for me. Managed my fist 4 muskies in numerous outings (basically the only species I targetted) and caught a few panfish here and there. Looking forward to next year already, plan on catching alot more bass, carp, walleye, etc, etc. I think technically some of the kawarthas are open year round, you just have to get North of Burleigh Falls a bit. Maybe by then it's not considered to be the Kawarthas any more, I'm not sure. Next year I want to explore as many new lakes as I can, This area is great and I've just begun to scratch the surface for what it has to offer!!