solopaddler

Great to see!

Nice fish for sure. Just to clarify it was 32" long?

Nicely done!

I guarantee if we manage to hook up for some speck fishing in May you'll be tasting it.

Moving away from Dundas was a huge mistake. Most likely we're moving back at some point this year. As far as the car goes buy the Honda. We've owned 3 Hondas over the years and all have been bulletproof including our current '04 Accord. Reliable, good on gas, and fantastic resale.

I use it only for camping/canoeing. Believe me when I tell you I take my morning coffee very seriously. This stuff is expensive but tastes exactly like fresh ground. When you're carrying everything on your back and every ounce counts it's good stuff.

Ryan that's priceless. I cannot believe the worms are out already. That's incredible.

Between the 2 LL Bean for sure. Cabelas waders are notorious for leaks. Depending on your size I may have something for you. I've got a basically brand new pair (worn once in a boat last week) of Dan Bailey EZ Zip Guide Waders in a large king that you can have for $250 http://www.montanaflyfishers.com/sitepages/pid108.php

Thanks for the heads up, I'll grab some enroute to work today.

Muskegon actually, just headed out the door.

There sure are. Unlike the south shore our runs of fish are predominantly wild. The smaller north shore Erie trib's are extremely vulnerable to overharvest though and the runs are fragile because of it. The one river that's safe to talk about is the Grand. It has a burdgeoning run of mostly wild fish and is at this point ignored by many anglers. Most of the best water doesn't open 'till the April trout opener and even then you'll have to do your homework. Much of the Grand can be hard to read and fish effectively. Once you put your time in and figure things out you'd likely have some excellent steelheading all to yourself though.

For sure Won't be out that way for sure unfortunately. The fishing for dropbacks is amazing on the Salmon river that time of year though. Bonus is not as many people around. You can have success on your own but if I were you I'd book at least one driftboat trip. You won't regret it if you do. The boat allows you to cover miles of water that's basically inaccessable to the walk and wade fisherman.

Hey man if you're down this way drop me a pm and let's fish together.

I've been super busy the last few days and havn't had a chance to sit down and properly compose a report. Don't actually have the time now, but work is slow at the moment so... In any case Bill and myself headed Stateside recently for a couple days of fishing. The primary purpose of the trip was to meet up with my reel making buddy Adam in Ohio. Earlier this month I placed a massive order with Bass Pro and Cabelas and had it shipped to his house. In addition the custom centrepin I've been waiting for was supposed to be ready and placed into my hands when we met. On the upside it was Christmas when Adam finally did show up with all my loot. On the downside my reel wasn't ready yet as he had problems with the anodizer.. That was a bit of a bummer, but not a huge deal. Good things come to those that wait. The important part, the fishing, was spectacular. We caught numerous fish most of which were bright chrome and full of fight. We did catch our share of scruffy beat up holdovers as well as you'll see. We fished our way through 2 states, PA and OH, and had success everywhere we went. Amazingly crowds were very light: Bill caught this enormous coloured up buck that he said was his biggest steelhead to date. Congrat's buddy! Adam got in on the action as well. Here he is battling a fish then subduing it: Thankfully we didn't catch too many of these old warriors: As mentioned most of the fish were pure chrome. Check this beaty out. Bill took this shot with his camera and man does it ever take nice pictures! I'm tempted to get one myself the quality is so high.. There was plenty more where that came from as well as a number of fish with a hint of colour. All were incredibly strong and acrobatic: Check out this pool. Is that not some sweet looking water? This particular location was good to me. The water was pretty much clear with just a hint of colour. Early morning and again in the evening roe tied in brighter colours caught the eager aggressive fish. As the day wore on switching to subtle jigs in black and brown elicited many strikes. Water clarity dictated lighter fluoro tippets in the 4-5lb range and small hooks. Truth be told it was one of those trips when the fishing was so good that almost anything worked. It's fun to experiment under those conditions which I did and fish were caught on a whole range of baits. Besides the afforementioned roe and jigs, small plastic worms in orange and pink, single eggs and a variety of flies all produced. Once again a truly fantastic trip! One happy consequence of Adam not having my reel ready is I guess I'll have to head back down in the near future. At the moment I'm gearing up for my annual spring trip to Michigan. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and couldn't be more stoked. What's making the upcoming trip even more special my dad is joining me. Amazingly enough my father has never caught a steelhead in his life. I'm looking forward to taking care of that problem starting tomorrow. Cheers, Mike

Amazingly I had no idea that walleye central made you pay for classifieds. The idea that a percentage would be skimmed off what's sold doesn't sit well with me for one reason. I know myself when I post stuff for sale it's always at a waaaay lower price than I would elsewhere. Specifically because it's OFC and if I can give someone on the board a good deal then great. If I had to increase my price to cover whatever is skimmed off I may stop posting stuff for sale altogether. Personally I wouldn't be in favour of a fee to use the site. Sure the regulars would pony up gladly, but the vast majority of others wouldn't. What I think would be better is a voluntary donation system maybe with a link to paypal on the homepage. I think you guys might be surprised what people would anonymously and voluntarily be willing to cough up to keep the site going. That way would be a lot less cheesy imo.

Remember when Wayne Gretzky called the New Jersey Devils a Mickey Mouse organization? Who had the last laugh there eh?

Dave (Drifter_016) designed the site and I wrote all the script, hope everyone likes it!

15' Lightweight Grumman is 55lb's 17' Lightweight Grumman is 60lb's Bear in mind there is a vast difference in weight between the lightweight Grummans and the standard Grummans.

Trev a 12' Sportspal is good for one thing only: dinking around in small ponds and back lakes on day trips. A 12' Sportspal is potentially the worst possible craft for a canoe trip in the interior. Beyond the fact that it paddles like a garbage scow it's simply not big enough for 2 guys plus gear. In my opinion for canoe tripping with 2 adults a 16' canoe is an absolute minimum. Personally I prefer a 17' as it affords much more capacity and is generally more stable if you're talking 2 large guys. I understand your desire for a lighter canoe. Unfortunately your best bet will be a used kevlar of some kind and that's still a bit of coin. It's an investment though as it'll last a lifetime potentially. If kevlar isn't in your budget at the moment the next best thing imo would be a 17' lightweight Grumman aluminum. They're actually quite light and are very sturdy. Even today the old Grumman aluminums service many summer camps, outfitters and lodges in the north.

Let's just get something straight here. You seem to have a "me against the world attitude" with the world being OFC. Mike and Ron have no "followers" here. There's maybe a fraction of the board that actually knows them personally. Threads like this, people who have no alliance either way will tend to chime in with their opinion. If you feel you're alone here or that Mike and Ron have everyone's support it's not because we have their back. It's because we see through the Bull. The court of public opinion has spoken and sadly has found your arguments lame. You have done yourself and your association a pretty big disservice here. Hope you're proud of yourself.

Definitely Temagami. With Waynes help it's a no brainer.

Awesome dude, the 2nd pic is a beauty.

Steelhead are one of the easiest fish to catch. Once you master the most basic presentation techniques success boils down to one thing: timing. These fish are migratory and react to water flow and temperature. Once you figure out where and when you should be fishing the catching will come easy.

Yech carp!

Very cool, looks like a lot of fun. Besides, anytime you can hook up with Lazarus it's a no brainer.