Gregoire

I've thought about tying my own leaders, the problem is that I am no master of the fishing knot. Until I gain more experience in that area I will stick with pre-tied leaders. I hate to loose 20$ lures or a fish of a lifetime due to my incompetence.

I think the debate here , as some other people have hinted at, is whether fluoro is superior to mono as a line. In general fluoro is a bit smaller in diameter than mono, which may be a reason why it seems to be preferred by trout anglers, as diameter seems to make a difference to the fish. I would suggest that fishing in gin clear water would also see benefits of fluoro over mono. I remember watching a facts of fishing show where Dave Mercer was fishing with a guy who was using a smaller diameter line and was having way more success drop shotting bass. I would guess that while finesse fishing the lower the diameter the better, and in this case fluoro would be ideal. When using heavier leaders for musky fishing I would think that diameter would have less of an impact. I use fluoro leaders because I believe they are better for the fish and will cause less harm than a wire leader. I would try mono leaders, but I do not tie my own, and have not found any pre-tied mono leaders. The other debate about fluro is that it is more abrasion resistant and is nearly invisible underwater as compared to mono. From what I have read this is more of a myth than reality. Why than do people swear by fluorocarbon? I would guess for a few reasons: 1. Advertising. We are definitely swayed by the constant claims that fluoro is better than mono. Also fluoro is more expensive than mono so it must be better. 2. I would also guess that people have swapped out their old mono line for fluoro lines and noticed a difference in performance. As we all know new line will perform better than old line. 3. In addition I believe their are only 2 or 3 suppliers of fluoro line in the world. As a result the quality of fluro is quite consistent. Contrast this to the various different typed of mono, that can vary quite considerably in quality. 4. I think that a mono line that was on a shelf for a few years would degrade much more that a fluoro line that had been sitting around for the same period. You must make sure that the mono line that you use is brand new. To sum up: Fluoro seems to be a better choice for finesse presentations due to it's lower diameter. In terms of performace and invisibility the difference between the two is debatable, and some would say (myself included) that there is no noticeable difference, especially when considering the cost.

I watched the show from about 5 minutes in until the end. I do not remember a big speech about immediate release, but there was a short blurb posted. I am interested to learn more about the impact of fishing bedded bass. I guess if lake Erie is any indication it does not have a negative effect. I wonder if there is any chance the MNR will switch the regs in Ontario, or for that matter what the logic is behind keeping the season closed.

Thanks for the replies. Lots of good information shared. I did not know that catching fish on beds in areas where fishing during the spawn is legal can be hard. From my experiences. and from what I have read bass in areas that are not pressured during the spawn they will hit anything that approached their bed. I think Hook n Look is a good show, with some really interesting camera shot. I just think that a professional angler should have some responsibility for helping conserve the resource that provides him his living. There was a small disclaimer at one point reminding anglers to return bedding fish to the water as soon as possible. I thin an overt mention to spawning and bedding by the host of the show would have been appropriate. Maybe a mention that fish during this time are not feeding, but are protecting their nests, may have also been nice. To be honest I am not sure why some areas have closed seasons for bass during the spawn and some do not.

Just watching this show now. It showed a smallie, obviously on a bed, repeatedly striking a lure. At no point was there ever any mention that they were fishing during the spawn. While the video was cool, I think it is very misleading. In my opinion any time a host is fishing during a spawn it should be mentioned. That fish probably could have been caught with a dill pickle. He is claiming that his bait, which a sponsor is paying him to use, is the best bait. There was just a written disclaimer about catching the fish while bedding, and about catch and release. I just have a problem with him claiming a bait is superior when you can sight fish and catch bedding smallies on virtually anything. I found the show to be very misleading, and to be honest I do have a problem with fishing post-spawn smallies, especially when there is no mention of them spawning, just bedding. A host should be overtly obvious about what he is doing, and I do not think this host was. Just my little rant. Maybe I need to fish more and watch TV less.

My girlfriend did all the shopping. I just had to get her a gift. Went to Tiffany's spent a lot. I should be good.

I think some things just upset some people. It's ok express your opinion when that happens. The fact that you're willing to roll with the punches is a mark of your character.

I got one of those musky fishing. Yeah you heard me right. The worst part is that was the highlight of my day.

I showed my girlfriend the ad. Her reply "do you know they actually use live dogs for shark bait? It's horrible I saw it on TV." I'm thinking that could be very educational. Just kidding merman. Don't get your panties in a ruffle.

On the Q a striploin if I'm hungry or a filet if I want to ho easy. I also love a flank steak marinated then seared on a pan and baked.

My Chi has a natural fire tiger coat. And he's relatively hairless. Sounds perfect for scugog. Proving again why I can't take him fishing.

That ad is the reason why my girlfriend won't let me take out dog fishing. I think it's funny. She does not.

That was a great report. Thanks for sharing.

Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery. Congrats on the new job.

I'm sure other members of the board will be able to expand on this, but to my knowledge the biggest kawartha musky came out of head lake, I think it was around 35 pounds. According to what I have read and seen 35 pounds and maybe 55 inches seems to be the upper limit of musky in the kawarthas

Good luck. You already have a positive attitude and that is really important.

Just last week we lost my chihuahua for about an hour. My girlfriend was going loopy looking for the little guy. We ended up going door to door on the floor and floor to floor looking for him. My girlfriend was afraid he had jumped off the balcony (can anyone say Drawin award?) After frantically searching my girlfriend heard a whimper in the condo. It turned out he had snuck in to the pot and pans drawer under the oven while I was cooking. I'm guessing he was quite happy for a while eating away at whatever he could find, and maybe even took a nap. Stupid dog.

Thanks for giving that link. I was a good read. Is there another update coming out soon?

This is a great topic. I am pretty young, but I remember penny candy costing a penny, and being able to fill a bag of it for much less than a buck. I remember vending machine candy being 75 cents, now it's 1.25. I remember toys made of metal not plastic. I really find merman's post interesting. He pointed out that his generation grew up in constant fear of the unknown. I do not think kids these days have that fear. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing I do not know. He also mentioned that his parents went without to make sure that he kids got what they needed. I do not think that this attitude is nearly as common, and I think that kids are worse off for it. Keep the post coming

Couldn't that be a piece of the rod that came off inside the blank?

Wow. It looks like the big girls are finally coming out to play

People have come up with a lot of solutions, even final solutions. It is the solutions that are based of solid evidence, such as studies, that we should consider. If they are just expressing opinions or based on anecdotal evidence than they generally will probably will not solve the problem. I think I have expressed my opinion on this topic clearly.

A lot of the replies here are VERY uneducated!!! I am wondering what an educated vs. an uneducated reply would constitute. I, for my part, am expressing an opinion. Uneducated and educated opinions can further discussion, and I believe discussion is worthwhile. I am not trying to change peoples minds, rather trying to make people think about something they may have not thought about before. I agree that a controlled study may be the best way to go about finding out if the cormorants are the problem. Culling may indeed be an option. I just wanted to point out that the attitude of finding scapegoats rather than diagnosing the problem is dangerous and will not solve the problem. Please do not mistake me for a radical environmentalist. If it was proven that killing cormorants would improve fishing I would be all for it, as angling is a passion of mine. I just think we need to consider what we can do ourselves to change our behaviour before we look outside of ourselves. If you read the article that introduced this topic it talks about how cormorants will eat larger fish than we would commonly believe (and I believe this article is from the uk). A previous post talked about how cormorants are dangerous because they feed on smaller juvenile fish. To me this indicates that people are looking to blame and find an easy answer outside of themselves. I guess I am really sensitive towards this issue, and am not expressing myself clearly. I do appreciate most of the the opinions that are being expressed.

Those are great looking fish. Congrats!

I do not think anyone but the most radical environmentalist would recommend eliminating people. What I am saying is that instead of blaming animals, or anyone else, we need to take responsability for our actions. If we accept that the way we act inflences fish populations, we will be more likiely to change. If we balme somehting else, and do not accept that we are part of the problem, then we will keep finding scapegoats, because nothing will change and the problem will not go away. Arguing that cormorants are decimating fish populations in the great lakes is like arguing seal populations caused the collapse of the cod fishery in the grand banks.