Canuck

Eat it. I agree on the planking. Here is a good recipe that takes the alewife taste out. Marinate clean filets (skin taken off) in a mixture of a lot of maple syrup and a little lemon juice and some salt. (only for a few hours). Take the fish out and boil up the marinade and reduce until its as thick as the original maple syrup was, add some butter salt and a bit of pepper. Then plank on a soaked cedar board in the BBQ and baste the salmon on the plank with the syrup while it cooks. You will love it!

Those open water steelhead can be a lot of fun when they decide to play airplane. The charter captains like to move to rainbows when they can't find the salmon or they get lock jaw. I think they find the rainbows more predictable to find and catch ( I don't). Its kind of funny that the captain told you guys they were salmon. Maybe a bit distracted by the idiot Phelps wanna-be.

Here are some tips: Buy the bag rolls at Costco - much cheaper Don't overheat the seals. follow the instructions and let it cool between cycles. You can bread (fish crisp) small pieces and then spread them out in the bags before you vacu-seal. Then you have fast food au-natural for the depths of winter when you want a feed of pike or salmon bites. Just drop em in the fryer out of the bag. When you vacuum seal, make sure the sealing end bag is dry. Also, fold up a dry paper towel in the end between the fish and the sealing end. It will absorb the water and ensure a good seal without water messing it up. Reuse the bags if they are still in good shape after you take them out of the freezer. I have thawed out salmon after 2 years in the deep freeze (a nice fillet got "lost" in the bottom) and it was still fine. To be safe, use it within a year.

Those look a lot like Rainbows to me.

GBay Rainbow Trout taste great. Even the lakers are great when they are small. The larger lakers are the same as anywhere, a bit oily, but that makes them better for the smoker. GBay salmon are fantastic to eat. They have much less of an oily/fishy taste compared even to the Farmed Atlantics that the grocery stores have. Its too bad they are not looking like they will be around for long in GBay.

I used to keep my boat in Bronte and fished Lake O. Its up on GBay now. I found the Salmon in Lake O did taste different from the store bought spring/kings and also from the GBay versions. I attribute it to a diet of mostly alewife in Lake O vs mostly smelt in GBay. I didn't find them bad, just not the same. I only kept small ones though. I kept a 30lb one I caught in the Tournament once. Kept the big fillets in the freezer for two years before I tossed them. Could never bring myself to eat it. My daughter who spent most Saturdays from age 5 to 9 on Lake O with me, always called Salmon "two-meal-a-month-fish" because I had to explain why we never kept the big ones we caught. It'll probably stay with her for life.

Been there. We launched a canoe trip years ago and went from Bisco up to near Chapleau by canoe. Great country. Portaging across the height of land there is no picnic though. The rivers dry up into wandering swamps for about 4 miles before you start to pick up the north flowing river. The road into bisco isn't really a road if I recall. Hard to believe anyone still lives there.

The funny thing about these kind of discussions is that the guys that burried the needle, lost it and killed themselves and a few friends aren't posting that much any more. Just ask those kids that ran the S4 into Lake Joe. Any young guys reading this - don't be stupid. The posts you read hear were from stupid people (like me) that got lucky that we outlasted our youthful stupidity. Bumper sticker I saw once - "Hire a student now! (While they still know everything)"

Azulu Thats not good news on the AC tourney. I don't know what happened to the salmon last few years. Funny thing was I also did not get a laker. Normally I pick up a few each trip and keep a small one for the table. I marked very little baitfish this time either. Maybe the zebra's?? Anyway its kind of disappointing. I probably spent $100 on fuel to get one fish. I guess the bass fishing is good though so I guess I can always switch targets.

Was on vacation last week at our place near Penetang. More boating than fishing, but I did some rigging around Methodist Pt /Giants Tomb. One fish in 4 hrs. This one is about 8 or 9 lbs. Sorry about the cooler picture but this was headed for the BBQ. Love those GBay salmon. I just wish there were more around.

I had the same experience with a Navionics Gold East Great Lakes chip two years ago. It had errors in depth all over Nottawasaga Bay. I reported them and was told I would have to either send them the old chip and wait 6 weeks for reprogramming (basically the whole summer), OR, buy a new one from them and ship the old one back and they woud refund the price I paid for the new one. Sounds good says I. BUT, little did I know that I had to pay for shipping the old one back AND pay for brokerage to get the replacement into Canada. AND (it gets even better), VISA charges you a high rate to translate the US purchase and refunds you back on the credit card at a much lower rate. In the end I would have been better off to sell the old chip at a huge discount to someone not needing Nottawasaga depths and just buy a new one here in Canada. Also, Navionics was not pleasant to deal with at all. I had to argue to get a replacement chip since they said I was the first to report the errors (Nottawasaga is not 400 ft deep so I think others must have ignored the obvious errors).

Round Lake and the Blanche is sure a great fishery compared to 30 years ago when it was so polluted it was pea soup green all summer. The fish sanctuary o the Blanche helped rebuild the population as well. We used to motor canoe up where you were and there are a lot of eyes in there in the spring, even back then. I gotta get back up there some year.

Where can we buy Seafoam in Canada? I have heard about it from the Hull Truth web forum as well. The offshore outboard CC crowd seems to swear by it.

Krawler. Will do. I have had reasonable luck with lakers off methodist, but not usually till early June. Maybe I'll ry this weekend for walleye nearer Midland. My boats not exactly the best slow trolling walleye rig though. I'll try to be a better OFC'r and post a few pics and reports this summer. Have you ever tried fishing inside the whales back channel or anywhere over that side? I pass thru there a lot cruising up to twelve mile bay and i have marked what look to be large fish (probably lake trout) the few times I have slowed down to see what might be down there in the deep spots. Only problem is that the depths change rapidly so I would hate to try to troll deep with downriggers, even with the GPS chartplotter.

Maureen You should have a VHF radio for sure. If you get in trouble you will want it. The cell phone works in the harbour area but not good outside and you will want to call a boat for help, not someone on land. They are so cheap now that the Canadian $ is strong that there is almost no reason not to have one, even if it is only a handheld. Another tip. There is a guy in Penetang that runs a boat tow service www.ontarioboatingleague.ca that you may want to consider joining if you spend any time out there. We needed a tow from Beckwith a couple years ago and it was $150/hr for 3.5hrs of towing. If you join his OBL service you only pay for his fuel to tow you. And lastly make sure you have the charts and better yet a GPS chartplotter. Severn sound is full of rocks and they come up fast.

I hear you on the kicker. I have a Bravo2 drive (a big prop) and getting it down to a slow troll is a challenge. I had to set the idle down to 500rpm to get it down to 2.0mph and thats too low an idle speed. Its a good thing the 350 is a smooth running engine or I wouldnt be able to do it. I guess 50hrs trolling at $1.50 a litre might make the breakeven payback on a kicker reasonable. I can talk myself into just about anything.

Sounds like a plugged septic bed maybe. The honey wagon operator will tell you if the inlet was plugged or not. If not, it may be time for a new leaching bed. Not too expensive if there is good access for equipment, but it makes a mess of your yard. The newer technology for septic beds is a lot better. No more clay pipes. They are a lot smaller too.

Yeah I guess I recall you head up to Temagami for the summer. My boat has a 350 i/o and no kicker. I get about 2mpg at fast cruise and about 4 or 5 trolling so a trip around the west side of Christian, trolling 3 or 4 hrs and running back burns about 35 to 40 gallons or so. But the boat is big enough to feel safe on the big water even if the rollers get 3 or 4 ft, although those days are normally good for the golf game or beer at the beach. I gotta think the marina gas is going to be $1.50 this summer. I guess in the big scheme of things, the gas cost is one of the cheaper parts of owning a boat. (but I do remember the summer of 48cents/litre). Krawler, I recall your posts on the Grey/Bruce forum from a while back. I assume you are the same guy.

Irishfield, Krawler and anyone else in the area of Penetang. I would be interested in sharing tips etc. about rigger fishing in the area. I have been fishing that area since we bought a cottage near Lafontaine back in 2001 (when there were lots more salmon). Boats back in the water for the Victoria Day weekend. I hope to track down the lakers if the boat checks out after the long winter nap. My normal haunts are methodist point area over to Beckwith. A I can usually pick up dinner each trip but not too many salmon last few years. Its too far around from Hindson Marina to Christian to make that trip much (especially this year at $1.50/litre which makes it a $150 day easily). I monitor Ch16 and the boat is Watermark (White Campion Victoria with a blue top) if you are out and about.

If you take a bus to Penhorn lake in Dartmouth (right in town beside Penhorn Mall so the bus will get you there) you can try to fly fish for stocked brook trout and rainbows. Most people still fish or use spinners, but early in the season you may be able to scare one up with a fly rod. A lot of the lakes in the city are stocked.

Hindson. No boats in over winter I don't think. The docks are floaters and the ice melts around them pretty early. I guess I'll have to wait a bit.

Wayne or anyone else up that way know if there is still ice around the docks at the marina's in Penetang Bay? I am wondering if if might be worthwhile going to our marina to try for some perch around the docks.

I was down in Florida a couple of weeks back and shopped a bit. Prices in Canada are now just as good as down there. I bought a set of Maui-Jims at Costco last year for my wife as a B-Day present. About $140 I think - thats a bargain for M-J's. A couple of weeks later she got them and she LOVES them. They are polarized amber lenses. Only problem is that Costco sold out and did not get any back so I wasn't able to get a pair for my self. If they ever come back at that price I will snap them up for sure. If they ever break, M-J replaces them for $50 or so (according to web site legend and the folks at sunglasses hut in Orlando that tried to sell me the same glasses my wife has for US$249.00.

You guys talking about the Blanche and Round near Kirkland Lake? I really miss it up there. My father grew up in Chaput Hughes and I spent most of my summer vacations in that area for about 20 years. Fished all around there. Put thousands of miles on the 12ft aluminum car topper on all of the lakes and rivers. Nice part of the world. Since my grandmother passed a few years ago I haven't been back.

I have both Plasma (Pioneer 720p) and LCD (Vizio 1080p). The Plasma is far nicer. I have a friend with the Sony Bravias (one 720 and one 1080p) and they are nice, but I think the Plasma is a nicer screen. LCD's have a slight delay I find. If you watch a hockey game I find I lose the puck on a slap shot on LSD (even faster ones) and that doesn't happen with the plasma. Some people cant see the difference. I think the Sharp is a nice LCD