solopaddler

Wow, the self righteousness is literally oozing from some of you guys. Go to court and get it knocked down Ryan.

Nicely done buddy, the weather seems reminiscent of our day on the Manistee last November.

Sorry to hear that Doug, especially your dad getting riled up, he's a good man.

Incredible Ben, beautiful fish!

Very nice Justin, thanks.

You're right it doesn't, my eyes are blue.

Right on bud, glad to hear you got out with the new stick!

Jay it's a Riverkeeper, model is the "Frogwater". The builder is an Ontario guy, lives near Tavistock. He made a run of 20 I believe with another due to start early this winter. Somewhat similar to the Mykiss but lighter and the clicker mechanism is unlike anything I've ever seen. Not true!!!!!! Unless I'm dragging my 2 wee ones along with me. (If I fish on Thurs or Fri I have to pay for daycare)

Funny, I've got a pd day on tap for this Thursday.

The carbon reels are new. Personally I wouldn't take the chance on them yet. There's a couple of incredibly light reels on the market that I can reccomend however. Bob James light, and the Raven Vectra SST-3. Between the 2 I'd probably lean towards the Raven. It's a bit cheaper and is incredibly light..6.7oz. You can see both of them here: http://centerpinangling.com/centerpinreels.html

I normally shy away from the popular streams on a weekend but Sunday was just too tempting. A big slug of rain had spiked the water flow up north. Looking at the Environment Canada flow rate graphs, the rivers shot straight up on Sat. With no rain overnight and knowing these rivers clear and drop on a dime I knew Sun would be good. Arriving in town well before sunup we grabbed a coffee and proceeded to check a variety of popular access points. Many anglers had had the same idea as huge numbers of cars were everywhere. A little disheartening but not entirely unexpected. Fortunately almost 30 years of fishing this particular river has provided options. We drove further up stream to another access and found some solitude and fish. The morning was crazy, we put a large number of fish on the bank, all bright chrome and full of fight. Twice I had fish hit so hard my float was ripped 3' sideways across current, pulling my rod arm forward in the process. Just wild! Fish were caught on a mix of white and chartreuse roe bags to start with. Once the water dropped and cleared by mid-day and more anglers arrived on the scene the fishing slowed considerably. We scratched out a few more fish by scaling down tippet and hook size and switching up to both live and pink worms. That's a great tip actually: If you know there are fish in front of you but they're not hitting, change things up. Even if that's simply matter of tweaking your rigging, do something. I don't have a ton of pic's, but did manage to snap a few: The glory hole. My buddy walking a fish downstream in the afternoon with 2 frustrated anglers in the background. Now is the literally the best time of year if you're looking to get out, I anticipate the first couple weeks of Nov all year long. If anyone's interested the new reel is amazing. Startup is unreal and for a larger reel (it's 47/8") it's only 8oz in weight. Very, very, very impressed! Cheers, Mike

On larger waters casting streamers and spey patterns and fishing them on the swing is the ultimate in fun. However for the most hook ups and especially considering the smaller water you're fishing, high stick nymphing (dead drifting) is key. If you have a keen touch and eye you can forego a strike indicater, otherwise it's a great help. Small natural egg patterns are standard with the sucker spawn in a variety of colours being by far the most popular. Many guys will run a sucker spawn on the point then add a 6-8" dropper and tie on a small bead head nymph like a prince, pheasant tail or black stone. This tandem fly rig fished under an indicator is imo the fly fishing version of the spawn bag LOL! Very deadly. Just enough micro shot is pinched on your tippet a few inches above your point fly to get them down in the current, but not hang up on bottom. You'll have to experiment with the amount. If you strip out enough line from your reel prior to your cast you can "shake" out line and extend your drift an amazing distance. Cast directly across or perhaps slightly downstream, quickly throw a large upstream mend in your line then start shaking and feeding line to extend your drift. I havn't used indicators myself in years...but my eyesight's getting bad and I still need something visual. To that end I tie a 12" piece of stiff, heavy mono to the end of my fly line to aid. It's made by a company called Sunset Amnesia and is bright fluorescent orange. The rest of my tippet is added using a simple loop to loop connction that I can change quickly if need be. If you're running an indicator remember to leave a 5-8' section knot free so you can slide the indy up and down as water depth changes from pool to pool.. I could go on and on.... Hope that little bit helps.

Funny. I had plans to fish smallmouth on Erie tomorrow but because of the rain will likely be fishing the Saugeen for steelhead. LOL!

Agree with Dave. Many times over the years that's exactly how I've harvested my own eggs. As long as the fish is recently deceased and it's eggs aren't rotting there's nothing wrong with it. In fact the practice should be encouraged.

I bought a Thule rack for my X-Trail. It was way cheaper then the factory rack (which wasn't standard equipment) and works great.

Released from hospital on Wed and doing okay from what I heard.

Congrat's, seems as though you've found your mojo!

Yeah there's definitely still some secret spots south of the border. Pretty much every single stream, brook and ditch that flows in Ontario and Erie's south shore sees a run of fish. Many of these fisheries are completely untapped. The problem for me is I hate fishing small water for steelhead, so even though I know these fisheries exist, I stay away. Some of the creek mouths can be good. Fishing in the lake has saved my bacon more than once when everything's been blown. As far as naming this particular trib goes I just can't see the harm. It's not possible for that place to become more of a zoo. As far as I'm concerned it was the several fly fishing mag's that printed feature articles on it a few years ago that really piled on the pressure.. As is the case with most pressured spots wait 'till the snow flies. The fairweather fishermen will be gone, and there'll be lots of room for the diehards.

(Craig, I'm sure there'll be other opportinities to go) Risks are minimal and no different from every other fly in outpost camp in the north. If you're interested you may want to contact Ed directly. I'd say at this point interest is pretty high for the 2010 season. On the plus side I personally don't believe you'd have to go at a traditionally "prime" time like early June. Because it's so far north and a river system it will fish well throughout the season.

Just playing with you dude. North Huron was rockin' today.

Nice fish bud. So you were showing a house in NY today?

I don't really know Simon, it's weird. It's not that I've taken him out all that much, he's still too young. I think he just sees dad constantly fishing and wants to emulate me.. Looking forward to it! Drew, we should get something arranged soon. Albert, I've been meaning to call you. When conditions are prime we've got to get out together! Well worth getting the passport..but the better fishing has actually been north this year. Still on the mend? There's plenty of easier access places y'know. Thanks everyone for the comments! Cheers

Why not? I could write an essay on the topic. At this point I think I'll let it ride.

Once again I agree completely. Especially about the discipline needed to stick with the fly when your buddies are smashing them on float gear. Been there done that.

Why are you still here?