solopaddler

Nice lookin' machine, congrat's!

Been holed up all day long waiting for the storm and I'm bored . Do you guys know proper urinal etiquette? Take the test and find out! (perfect score on my end ) http://www.drinknation.com/urinaltest.php

Gonna have to agree with Dan and Randy on this one. And the blue colour is definitely in the slime coating... Caught one on Nippissing through the ice a couple years back, dropped it on the snow, it thrashed around and literally turned the snow blue where it lay.

Looks like you had a great year Sean, congrat's! Your summary speaks volumes. You've definitely got the right attitude when it comes to the sport of fishing. Cheers

Hey Rene, yes, chumming a few days prior to fishing pays big dividends. I'd personally stick with spreaders on the bottom with small lively shiners... As you know on my lake minnows aren't allowed period. I love fishing for whitefish up there and have had some success in the winter jigging a small silver Williams, 8" dropper off the treble with a pearl tied to it. Vast majority of the fish were caught on the pearl dropper. Good luck man, would love to hear how you make out!

Dead bait for pike for sure. When I'm fishing in the early spring open water I'll let it sit on the bottom. In the winter I like to suspend the bait horizontally though just off the bottom...

Saturday should be fine, Sunday looks a bit iffy though...

Love the pictures, thanks for posting! Booth is a great lake, especially for big pike in the spring.. Park's not too thrilled with them being there however. It's really only a matter of time 'till they infiltrate their way upstream into Opeongo. Very cool to see lakers caught on the jig in mid summer. Deadly technique especially on small lakes like that where they tend to get concentrated.

Lansing is right in the heart of MI, not really close to anything... If you have a full day to kill you might drive up to the Little or Big Manistee, about a 21/2 hour drive from Lansing. Even if the fishing is slow it's worth the trip, the country around there is absolutely beautiful.

Thanks for the kind words guys. For those that are into it there appears to be some decently mild weather starting later next week and continuing through Christmas. There should be some good opportunities .

This time of the year the weather can turn on a dime. As a steelheader you constantly watch the long term weather forecast, shuffle work schedules around and do whatever you have to do to squeeze a day in when the conditions look good. 'Cause things can end pretty quickly this time of year. Opportunities are limited. Today was one of those days. My very good friend Paul joined me for the first time this fall taking a precious day off work and hoping for the best. On the surface things looked good. There had been substantial rain on Tuesday, then nothing on Wednesday and overnight into Thursday morning. This river clears overnight so we knew there would be a fresh run of fish in and the conditions for this morning should be good. Only problem, they were calling for a winter storm starting mid-morning with possibly up to 10" of snow. So, do we make the long drive to fish and potentially get stuck in a storm? OF COURSE!! The drive over this morning turned out to be a doozy. The snow started earlier than was predicted and with 40 mins. of driving still to go it hit with a fury. The road quickly became snow covered and the Oldsmobile (or Deathmobile as I like to call it ) was weaving and slipping all over the place. We made it though! When we finally arrived at the river we were somewhat dismayed to see that it was a bit dirtier than anticipated. When the water is this cold and dirty it's imperative to have large, bright roe bags, preferably skeined roe and not loose. The skeined eggs milk out much more scent and are generally much more productive than loose eggs this time of year. When the water is this dirty it's also important to change where you drift. The fish aren't going to expend an ounce of energy in this cold, so fast water is not a good choice. Slower more moderate flows are key. Also when the water is this dirty the fish hold much closer to shore than some might think, the fish feel safer in the murky water. Small, soft little seams very close to shore are deadly... Anyhow, enough yapping! My normal modus operandi as far as a starting point is as close to the lake as possible. Usually if you hit a pod of fish near the lake they'll be fresh and aggressive, so that's just where we headed. We fished it hard for a while and both missed fish, but couldn't connect, so we tried a little further up and managed to catch a few. There were definitely fish in that spot. The only problem was with the murky, high water. There was really nothing there to hold them. No spot where they would really stack up. We both decided we needed to find a more intimate pool upstream where the fish would be more concentrated. I knew a perfect spot. There's a long stretch of fast water and just above it a long, slow pool with lots of cover. When fish are ascending a river, after running upstream through fast water they like to rest in the tailout of the first slow water they find. We made a beeline for that spot. In the interim the snow and rain started to fall heavily. Here's Paul crossing the river to join me on the other side. Needless to say it was nasty out, but boy did we find the motherlode! I'm afraid to tell you guys how many we actually caught today... but it was a lot. We lost a pile of fish as well. Amazingly even in the cold water they put up a heck of a fight. By the latter part of the afternoon the precip had changed entirely to rain so thankfully the roads were just wet and the drive home was uneventful. We were like a couple of cold, wet ,drowned rats when we made it back to the car. But we were happy rats . All in all a standout day with a good friend who I rarely get to fish with anymore! Cheers, Mike

Now that's funny!

Stumbled across this and thoroughly enjoyed it, thought you guys might too. http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2...troutbikini.txt

Your reports are inspiring, thanks for sharing your experience and congratulations!

Considering you guys just got into the sport heavily a year ago your success is remarkable, excellent report! You're both fine people and I'm glad I've had the chance to get to know you. Cheers

Have a Rapala electric but it never gets used. Only good for a huge mess of panfish, otherwise I've got no use for it. I'm faster and waste less meat when I do it the old fashioned way.

Yeah conditions out that way are terrible. Worst I've seen myself in long, long time. Congrat's on hitting a couple considering what you were faced with!

Nice recap Kev. Especially like the shot of the caribou running away. Cheers

How'd you know it was going to be good? I was really leery about it myself, LOL! As long as it stays relatively mild then there'll be plenty more opportunities, in fact things are looking pretty good for later this week .

Very sorry to hear Kev, my thoughts are with you.

Congrat's on what sounds like a great year Lew. You're right yesterday was a great day to be outside! Water clarity might have been an issue on the upper no? It looked pretty murky down below...

All I ever use is dill and lemon pepper as far as spices go. I'm sure you'll figure it out bud, and have a great day, sounds like a lot of fun!

No doubt! While fishing a large back eddy I saw a huge log probably 12-15' sweep downstream and get sucked under. I watched for it and it finally resurfaced 5 mins later about 20' downstream. Definitely some heavy, dangerous currents! At one point while chasing that one hot fish downstream I had to wade around a log jam in fast water. The water was murky enough that you couldn't see bottom, and I stepped off a ledge into water that was right to the very top of my waders. If not for the fished pinned to the end of my line to give me a bit of balance I would have fallen face first. As it was I stumbled along 'till I found footing in shallower water and continued the chase... Close call, but then that's what makes it memorable.

Well I've said it before, but I really do hate the cold . However, one of my favourite trib's had just cleared up after a prolonged blowout. The weather didn't look too brutal, so it was game on today. The reason I love this river is the challenge. It's big water with heavy current and landing fish is always tough. Fortunately today because of the cold water the majority of the fish hooked were subdued. I did however have one EPIC battle with a fresh fish in the 12lb class that took me over a km downstream stumbling along ice covered boulders before I managed to land it. What a blast! It's a river that requires heavier rods and line, and today I effectively managed to de-virginize a very sweet 8/9WT GLX spey conversion. What a great stick for big water! On a side note, this river is far enough away and unknown to most that I feel comfortable posting some background in the pic's. If anyone has an issue with this pm me (but please don't ask me where I was ). In no particular order here's some of todays catch: Cheers, Mike

As much as I love those trib's they're mostly locked up at the moment along with quite a bit of slush. If I were you I'd head south instead .