Gregoire

Thanks for the info. Lots of good info. Would you suggest using super-glue to improve knot strength while using fluoro?

I was watching a bass show and they recommended an offset hook to increase hook ups. Has anyone tried this? Does it make a difference?

While I have never built a rod my brother got in to it recently. He built me a 4 piece 4wt fly rod for christmas this year. Howeer, the reason why I responded wasn't to brag about the rod. He learned how to build a rod from taking a class. He lives in calgary. I do not know if any rod building classes are offered where you live but it might be something you'd want to look into. He found his at a fly shop.

Had a chance to go out with the husband of my girlfriends friend yesterday. We were targeting pike and bass. I was excited to try out my new to me rod and reel combo I picked up on Friday. I had been out with a friend fishing and he was skip casting under cover and I was jealous. I quickly realized that skip casting with a baitcaster was not a good idea. Thankfully Kijiji was good to me. The combo is an Abu Soron sx40 with an fenwick eagle medium 6'6 rod. The reel came with the box, papers, case and extra spool. Now I just have to learn to skip cast. Unfortunately the new tackle did not get much of a work out. It was a tough day. We were fishing shoals and could not locate the active fish. I ended up boating a Perch and the fattest rock bass I've ever seen in my life. He got a small bass. I thought I finally had something good, I felt good weight and set the hook. However my 8 lb fluoro leader let me down. WHen the fish started to run he cut right through the leader. I hate losing lures. Lesson learned. From now on I will use a 20 lb+ fluoro leader when trolling. Here is a pic of the perch. He hit a wacky rigged white semko. We tried drop shotting with gulp alive, dragging tubes, draggin jigs, casting crack baits, casting jerk baits, spinner baits, wacky rigged semkos and trolling body baits. It was a tough day on the water, but a good day none the less. I don't get a chance to get out nearly as much as I would like to, so any day on the water is awesome. If anybody has advice on technique, lures or where to find fish on the lovely lady simcoe would appreciate it. Thanks for reading

It was a good day out, even though I couldn't boat a ski. Pete is a great guy to fish with. He is dialed in right now. Thanks for a great day on the water. I love the disco perch pic. For me the disco ball says it all. "I am disco perch and I like disco music." I guess the ski's like a little disco as well.

Definitely a beastly 48. Congrats.

7.35

It depends on your price point. I have a cheap musky outfit, an Abu Garcia C3 4601 on a Rapala magnum musky rod. I like this set up for casting, but find it lacks the power for reeling in big trolling lures, anyting over 1-1-1/2 ounces. I would consider this fine for pike though (but I wish I would have gone with the bigger shimano cardiff, or waited a month and paid a little more for the shimano calcutta that was on sale last time I was at LeBaron's). I much prefer my shimano compre and Abu Garcia revo toro set-up. This is about 3 times the cost though. So to answer your question: If you don't want to buy something on the cheap (probably under 200$) I would go with a cheaper musky rod like the Rapala magnum and an Abu C3, but if you want to spend some money (350+) go with a compre and toro combo. Just as an aside; I am an Abu man. I own 6 abu reels. I you would prefer a shimano cardiff compares to the Abu c3 or c4, and the curado 300 compares to the toro or you could go with a shimano calcutta. On the rod side st. croix premier is at a similar price price point. I have only used the the compre and magnum rods and abu reels, and in my experience they work well. I also fish with a guy who used to use spinning reels (size 400) on a compre musky rod, so instead of buying a new combo you could consider buying a good musky spinning rod, like a compre and re-spooling one of your spinning reels with 40 pound line, depending on their size, and using that. It would save you 100$+ on buying a baitcaster. Whatever you do let us know what you choose, and post a report, I love monster pike.

LOL...but seriously watch it. It is one of the best shows ever.

I have a rapala r-type a, revo winch and a revo toro. I have only been using these reels for a year, but have not had a side plate come off. The Abu reels have plates that can only be removed if you unscrew the side plate, whereas the r-type has a turn and lock system. The locking system has loosened up lately on the r-type, but I have abused that reel as my winch was in the shop for repairs for much of the summer. So to answer your question: the side plate does not seem to fall off, but I could see it happening on a reel with a locking system rather than a screw system. I prefer the srew system, as it is not that hard to unscrew. However it does make on the fly adjustments harder.

I have one. I've used it to catch pike before. No problems with it. I've heard that sometimes you can get a bad batch of lures. Did you buy the flat raps all at the same place. Have you contacted rapala?

As was pointed out I think you may have misread flat for fat...

That might be a good name but we decided on disco perch. Actually Pete coined the name.

Imported directly from Mexico

Or pesos

By the way I know what Pete's secret lure is. I might reveal it for a price...it's initials are DP

Thanks again Pete. It was a great day on the water. For my sanity I like to assume that the fish that took the chunk out of my bait was a small one...otherwise she would have hit one of the hooks.

If you were camping it may be something like giardia. You may need to bring a stool sample to a vet.

Great report. Makes me itch to get out there.

From everything that I have read you need a harbour license if you want to enter the inner harbour. I believe that means the islands and the western part of the spit.

I have somewhat of an idea of where you were. I need to get a fishing kayak to hit those spots. If I can free up the time I may give her a go in Toronto from to shore tomorrow...maybe even tonight if the wifey will let me off the hook. If you don't mind a quick question: What type of lure size did you find success with? No need for specifics, I'm just wondering if I should bring out some of the bigger stuff if I want to hook into a few.

That is an awesome day. I've never had any luck in the summer in Toronto. What's the secret?

I think you have a better chance of getting a big pike up north this time of year, but there are monsters in the south that you can catch in the spring, however you can only catch them for a limited time. From what I have read and heard big pike head into deeper water in the summer and are much harder to catch. That is why I am becoming more interested in musky fishing. After catching a big pike this spring (around 40 inches and 10 pounds) all I can think about is boating a 20 pound + fish. I would also love to hear advice from anyone about catching large pike in the summer.

I couldn't agree more

What a trip of a lifetime, although it sounds like you have had a few of those. I guess I can dream on about a trip like that in the future. Thanks for the great report. My mouth is still watering.