Gregoire

If Sam Ecker is still guiding in the Kawartha's give him a call. Figure Ate Guide Service. He'll put you on fish. Otherwise this time of year hitting up St. Clair with a guide is a great choice as well. Handelbarz guide service with Mike Parker http://www.handlebarzfishing.com/guiding, or Keith Davison http://www.keithtrophyfishn.com/. Personally I would not look to book a Georgian Bay guide for this year this late in the season, and if I was booking one, would look to book for multiple days in a row. One day trips you are best served on St. Claire or the Kawartha's.

The downward decline begins. Welcome to the club.

The one's that you remember are funny. I'm sure that I will never forget that fish.

They also occasionally chase Senko's in shallow water.

A heavy action rod and reel specifically designed for musky is essential so that you can get them to the boat as quickly as possible. Proper release tools, long handle pliers, hook cutters, and a very large net so that you can keep them in the water while unpinning them. Someone posted a good link in here a while back. Knowledge on how to properly handle the fish. This is a good link: http://www.muskiescanada.ca/articles/catch_and_release_tips.php Another good tip is to hold your breath when you take the fish out of the water. Having said that I would recommend that you stick to bass fishing. Once you start buying musky lures it's hard to stop. For the kawartha's black orange bucktails are awesome. Black orange rubber baits are also good.

Ha

Thanks for all the info, I'm just going to replace the top guide as has been recommended. I contacted St Croix, and they are willing to sell me the parts, but as of now have not offered to send me a replacement. As far as the Loomis rod goes, it looks like I have to send it in or bring it to the factory in order to get it fixed. While I can see how user error would have caused to cracked ceramic guide, although I am not sure that is the case, I am certain that the loose cork on the Loomis rod is a manufacturing defect. By far the best customer service that I have received is with Daiwa rods. I have had a few replaced from A Aikman. It was a simple swap out and wait for the new rod to come in.

I really like the rods, and know the fix is pretty easy, and probably cheaper then shipping them out. I was just hoping I could find a place to swap them out so that I am not out of pocket any expenses. I will contact the manufacturers directly and update this thread if I make any progress.

I have a st croix bronze back rod and the reel seat is loose. Also have an avid rod that cracked and lost the top guide insert. Anyone know if there are stores in the GTA or better yet Toronto where I can swap them out for the lifetime warranty? If not anyone have contact info. I'm specifically interested in a St Croix contact as I can always drop off the rod in Peterborough, but would like find an alternative to the expense of sending a rod to the USA.

Great fish Pete. Thanks for sharing!

Great fish, thanks for sharing!

Hope you've already boated your first. Was a very generous offer. I haven't fished Balsam in a few years, it's a Great Lake. Should be plenty of musky hunters out there today.

Milk crate and cut up downspout or Home Depot bucket. You can cut notches in the side and add a middle section. Google it.

I've been bitten off clean through a 20lb leader many times trolling on the St. Lawrence. For this reason I only troll with heavy leaders now. If I am casting, I will go as low as 20lb leaders still, and will tie straight to 8lb line in very clear water. I fish mostly musky, and have moved almost entirely to single strand wire leaders that are at least 2ft long on my trolling set ups for musky. When pike fishing I rarely use anything but my musky leaders, which are a minimum of 150lb. I would prefer to go overkill on the leader then kill a fish.

This thread is awesome!

Tackle industries made a pink musky rod for a while. Might be a bit stiff for rigging, but could work. Not sure if they make it anymore.

Doubles are great for crank baits. Quite expensive though.

Le Barons has them all the way up to 8/0, and usually at a good price.

I picked one up before Christmas. Used it on my NZ trip. It is a nice solid rod. Hoping I'll get to use it in Florida in March.

I've actually had that happen while I was in the boat at LOTW fishing with Spence Petros. We were three in the boat and I was right beside him when he hooked up on the eight. On the hook set the bucktail came flying out of the fishes mouth right towards my head. Spence reacted in time to prevent the lure decapitating me, and when the the lure hit the water the fish ate it again. We called the method the slap back, and it has been used effectively a few times since then. Stupid fish!

Dropped by today. Picked up some 6/0 and 9/0 3551's. Was nice to see they had some of the large sizes in stock.

Good luck. I've been that way a few times this year, nothing big in the boat though.

There's a store in Montreal that carries them and will ship, but I haven't seen the gloves anywhere. Cabelas is listed as a retailer, but I have only seen the rain gear online, which also looks good, and floats.

Pigeon definitely has some Kawartha hogs.

Just awesome! Thanks for sharing.