Gregoire

Just to clarify, I said you're comment was ignorant, as in lacking valid information and not based on facts. I also said that you are a sheep because you bashed the games seemingly for the sake of being negative, not because you disagree with me. If you were to provide some solid reasons as to why you hate the games, besides the fact that your already long commute has become longer, than you would be adding done thin tintype conversation.

That comment is ignorant. Besides the elite high level athletes competing at the games, there has also been a large investment in developing sports infrastructure, most of it outside the downtown core. Pick a sport and go out and enjoy it. If you choose not to fine, but please do not add your voice to the rest of the sheep complaining. That is just baaaa d form.

I've driven in the city a lot during the games. If you are off peak it is ok. Also driven a few times with the family. The HOV lanes were great. If you have to drive through the city the 407 is always an option.

It is a bit of a joke meant to indicate that we like seeing pictures or fish.

The prices are in line with top flight international competition. It is unlikely that they will drop prices beyond the 20% that was already offered. It is more likely that tickets will be given away. Doesn't make a lot of sense but that is the way it works.

My personal hatred is for people who flick lit cigarettes out the window at night in the highway. Seeing a flame flying at me at highway speeds is not cool. If you have to smoke you should have the decency to properly dispose of your waste.

The older I get, and the more I travel, my appreciation to live in Canada increases.

As was previously said, sharpen hooks: all the way to the barb. In order to get a good hook set the hook must enter past the barb. They probably got off because the hooks were not set properly, so if your hooks sharp, make sure you set the hook, sometimes multiple times, especially if you are using rubber. After a while you should be able to get a feeling of whether you made a good hook set or not. Set the hook hard, and I mean as hard as you can. A musky's mouth is all teeth and bone. I have seen people literally jump off the ground, and run to the back of the boat on a hook set. When I am fishing with someone I can generally tell if they set the hook or not. Once you have a good hook set you should be able to horse them in, which is a my preferred method. Get them in the bag as quickly as possible. It is much better for the fish. The net acts as a livewell. I hate it when people say you have to play the fish. I have heard people say that they don't want the fish thrashing in the net, but that is why you have bolt cutters and other release tools. Cut the split rings, cut the tips off of hooks. With this done it becomes easy to unwrap the fish and allow it to revive in the net. I would recommend a pair of Lindy fish handling gloves, they literally allow you to lip a musky without getting cut, ask Fisherpete. Get in there with the gloves and cut away until the fish is loose.

In that case I'll have a wait a few years, or see it I can trade up.

That is a great fish. Thanks for sharing.

Pete, First off, the Tranx only comes in righty, so there is not way in hell you will catch me casting with my wrong arm, as I am right handed. Secondly, I'm pretty sure that tossing a baby for musky would be better in the fall, so I will wait until then.

For the first time in a few years I won't be heading out for the inland opener. Instead I'll be tossing around my 6 month old.

I'm guessing it has to do with the drainage systems. In the Kawartha's (zone 17) there is no closed season on pike.I looks like the Kawartha system drains into the Whitby and Oshawa harbour, but not Frenchman's bay.

Aren't the weeds always thick on Lower Pigeon? I know the musky were in different locations on Pigeon last year, but once we located them they seemed to be much bigger.

Mend it works, but a better way to fix plastics is to weld them together using a lighter IMHO.

I heard that the patent on gore tex has expired. If you are buyibg gure tex you are just paying extra for a name.

If you are going with the Tranx and pairing it with an 8'6" rod or larger I'd go with a high speed reel and a jerkbait rod for the other rod.

Good to hear that you are not fishing clear water. It sounds like all you will have to do is work on your figure 8. The better you get at it, the more fish you will land.

If you have a good budget, like you seem to have, do not cheap out on the rod, especially if you will be casting 10's all day long, and doing an 8 at the end of each cast. For that reason I would recommend the big nasty. This rod is the best bucktail and figure 8 rod in my opinion. The stiff tip especially makes doing 8's easier, especially at the end of the day. I also feel like you get a better and quicker hookset with the big nasty, something that is essential when hooking fish boat side. For a lefty the revo winch is the best bucktail reel IMHO, and can be used for other lures as well. If I could only have one combo it would be a winch on a big nasty. As far as tackle goes I would get some double tens, a topraider, a side to side topwater, and a shallow invader in the regular and mag size, and a dive and rise bait like a suick. From what I have heard, the eastern part of LOTW has much clearer water, and lower density of fish. I would also echo that you should hire a guide, but for multiple days, in quicken the learning curve. I think with a guide booking booking mulitple days in a row makes them more familiar with you, and more likely for you to pick up on how they pattern fish, so that you can use the information yourself. From my experience fishing on LOTW and fishing musky in general, I can say without a doubt that you will be missing fish if you are not throwing a double ten. They are especially key for performing the figure 8, and for going back on fish that you have seen previously. That does not mean that you will not be able to catch fish on other baits, I have hooked fish on LOTW on cranks, jerks and rubber, but if you want your best chance to catch fish in almost any musky lake, you should be casting a double 10.

Trolling is great in the fall, but you could catch a lot of fish on LOTW by throwing bucktails. I echo the sentiment to contact Mike P. He'll hook you up with a bunch of buctails at a fraction of the retail cost. LOTW is also a huge lake, which differs greatly depending on the area of the lake that you are fishing, and density of musky changing as well. However, no matter the part of LOTW you will find really big musky.

The Fact that we made it home safe, and that John broke the 50 barrier made it worthwhile, but not something I'd like to do again. Here's the fish, some of you might recognize it:

According to 2rr's that information is fabricated, and anatomically incorrect.

I'm guessing that is why they helped us out, but they sure were not happy about it. The irony of it all is that on the way back to our camp their engine light turned on. Turned out they were really low on engine oil. John had to scramble to find some at our camp for their boat sop they could make it back to camp.

The scariest thing that ever happened to me was on LOTW on a musky trip. I was fishing with Cowanjo, and another guy who we met at Sandy's Blackhawk. We had located a big fish that was about 35km from camp, in a place where not a lot of other boats were fishing. We managed to boat her that night, a big fish that won John the biggest fish at the University of Essox musky school that week. When we decided to start up the motor to head back to camp, right as night had started to fall, it would the motor was dead. Those of you who have been to LOTW will know that it is a huge body of water, with 10's of thousands of islands, not to mentions bays and channels. We were well off the beaten path, and had not seen another boat that evening. We had not even seen a cottage that night, and did not know of any camps, or habitable shorelines that were close by. We all had cell phones on us, but none of us had reception. Luckily, just as our motor died, a boat puled close to us. We managed to flag him down, and he came by to check on us. The following is my recollection of our encounter: Guy in a new Ranger with a 250 and a 15hp on the back "What's up guys?" Us: "Can you help us out, our motor won't start" Ranger Guy "I just pulled in to this reef and it's primetime, I don't want to mess up my fishing" Us "We are kinda stuck and our camp is 30 km's away, is there anything you can do?" Ranger Guy "Why don't you keep trying the motor, I'm just going to fish this reef again." He motors over to the reef. We try for what seems like an hour to get the motor started, but It was probably 10 minutes or so. The guy is in sight, and just keeps fishing. Finally he hits his motor, and comes over to see us. Ranger Guy "Any luck?" Us "None, the motor seems dead. Any Chance you can help us out?" Ranger Guy Stammers a bit, seems to want to keep fishing and pretend like he never saw us. "My camp is in the opposite direction of you guys." Us "Maybe you could give one of us a lift back to camp? We are really sorry, but we are stuck." Ranger guy "I was all set up to fish this reef, and it is just getting in to the prime time, are you sure there's nothing else I can do? Us "We are sorry to be such a pain, but we are stuck, and really need some help." Anyway, after what seemed like an endless dialogue the guy finally agrees to take John back to the camp. leaving Tim and I in the boat. So we end up in the middle of nowhere, using the trolling motor to slowly motor in the direction of camp. Eventually a boat with Jim Saric, Steve Heiting and Kevin Schmidt came to rescue us, just around the time that a large lightning storm was rolling in. The first thing Heiting says to us is, "I heard you caught a big one, can I see the pic?" We ended up docking our boat at an abandoned summer camp, Friday the 13th styles. I was the first on the dock, and my first step went through a rotted out plank. I fall down, avoid injury, get up and make a joke about it. Saric scolds me and tells me to hurry up, as there is a storm coming. Heiting reminds us to bring the camera, as we'll want the pic of the big girl. We then have a frantic ride in to camp trying to beat the oncoming storm. The tow craziest things were: 1. Ranger guy, who if he wasn't sure that we could identify his boat probably would have left us there, and; 2. Spending an hour and a half in what seemed like total darkness using the trolling motor to make our way back to camp. I was so nervous i just kept rambling, because I was totally terrified.

You would do yourself well to listen to Pete, he is a hardcore angler, who uses his equipment a lot. Therefore he would know what lasts. His willingness to share information and give back to the fishing community is awesome. My only problem with him is that he is the reason I am addicted to musky fishing. I caught my first ski with him, and have been addicted ever since.