Rich

And a pic of the 38 inch beast Rob caught 2 hrs before I hit the ice: :clapping: :clapping:

Drill a hole, catch a fish. That was today's strategy. Even if the hole was a foot away. Good mixed bag, plenty released. Kept 7 perch and a crappie. No pike bites all day, besides the 38" that Rob caught and released before I got there.

I've experienced it enough for a lifetime.

Headed out for the first trip of the season yesterday with a couple buddies on some local ponds. It was a successful mixed bag but unfortunately the true species we were after (big northerns) only showed his head once. No leader and a new fangled tip up device got the best of me and I lost my first trophy of the ice season on a frozen sardine. Otherwise, the slabs, bluegills and perch were good to me. First fish of the day was a little largemouth. The only one I saw all day. I gave him a quick photo since he was the first fish of the season. Hope that doesn't offend anybody.

I got the 0 Celcius one or whatever it is, works good for what it does. 2 seasons so far.

Yessir! Year round!

I believe your buddy was down and tried that with me and my ex a couple years ago... it was a slow night but normally yeah same deal with cats/carp I actually fish them both at the same time at my spot. Carp during the day and big cats at night, just a change in bait!

True enough sir everyone's passion is different. I'm sure a lot of people would scoff at me for how much I spend on catching catfish, lol

Carp rod = the $30 medium action spinning rod I don't use for anything else

You'll be a lot more satisfied going at that time than I was going in April. According to the guides I talked to when I was there, the month of June is best for stripers but they can be caught all summer long off the beaches.

On foot! Keep moving! Can't bring myself to sit in a hut for more than 5 minutes even if there's fish in there.

His views on the outdoors are old-school mentalities and thank GOD he doesn't always get his way with the MNR or C&R would be illegal! Out with the old, in with the new. He had his time.

Comfort and discomfort are partly emotional responses, fish have no sense of emotion therefore if they feel pain it's merely it's most basic form.. a warning signal from the body to the brain that something is wrong. They do not feel the same discomfort accompanied with human pain. That's what I mean.

You don't have to fish within 75M of the dam to be in an accessible shore fishing area in Caledonia. Therefore, nobody needs to break any laws, or waste time 'hunting' steelhead. I don't fish steelhead really at all anymore. I have a real problem with tromping through fish nests to disturb a natural migration of fish. I for one, think it's ridiculous guys can walk across trout eggs all season but heaven forbid a guy catch and release a bass in April. BTW fishing at Caledonia is very slow this year. Early runs put fish way upstream. Good reports even further than Brantford from some people this year.

While I know fish don't feel pain, I'm certainly not gonna go fishing where I'm gonna need to pull a fish-paramedic to bring them back to life with needles and gadgets before taking a photo and releasing. Since I don't fish tournaments, I guess like most I'll never need to fizz a fish. Fillet knife's always in the tackle box for those fizzable fish. ;-)

The dam is accessible, I'm sure that's why he planned on fishing that area. Not everyone likes walking 400 miles in a cold river for some stupid trout.

Congrats dude!

I had mine screwed in to a piece of scrap wood. I jammed it into the slush so it pointed straight down. Always worked for me!

Looks great! For better results use outside round or sirloin tip for rouladen.. eye of round is the worst for anything!

Fishfinder/GPS and a Bow Mount for the filth deluxe

Fished some shore spots on Long Point Bay with my boss last week and were pleasantly surprised with a few perch to take home. LOTS of throwback small ones, we ended up with 13 'keepers' though I think about 4 of those would be borderline, lol. Floats & Minnows did the trick.

No complaint is that the government is taking that portion of a cent off every bag. Ever watch the movie Office Space? That fractional cent ratio adds up to a big bonus in some government pockets. REAL PROBLEM. Thanks for mocking me for being concerned. You're probably right. We'll just sit back and let the government keep finding new ways to take away what we earn.

When you think about all the grocery bags being bought (now almost all grocery stores have 'gone green') per customer, daily... the government is dipping their hand in something else and getting a pretty decent amount if they're getting 1 cent for every grocery bag purchased... that's an extra 1 cent per bag they weren't getting before.. I'd say that's a real problem.

Wow, never really speck fished in October. Oh yeah, that's cuz the season's closed. Great pics!

Thanks for the advice guys. I just ended up bringing in what I had and it was done and overwith real quick. Had to pay tax on the trailer, no biggie. Took her on the bay this Saturday for the first time. Smooth riding boat.