solopaddler

Some nice fish there Mike, considering the tough conditions.

 

I heard the long range forecast is calling for less precip than normal for the rest of the fall, so things may not get any better in the near future.

 

Course, you being a weather dude, you already knew that

Thanks Lew, and yeah you're right about the weather, it doesn't look too promising long range.

I'm headed back this weekend for an overnighter with a good friend and his two young boys aged 8 and 9.

He's been trying to pin me down for a while now to help him take his boys steelheading and this is the weekend.

Based on how things went yesterday I think it'll be a blue eyed miracle if the boys get anything, but we'll giver 'er a go and you never know....

so 6 pictures 2 different fish?

 

Nate

What difference does it make kid?

If you're that concerned about it we landed a grand total of 5 fish between the two of us, rolled a couple more and hooked and lost a couple more one of which was quite large and snapped my tippet...

Those were the pic's that happened to be on my camera.

Tis the season folks

Headed north with a friend yesterday to fish again and man was it tough compared to last weekend!

Right now with the rivers so low it really is a game of timing, if you don't get any rain it's going to be

tough sledding.

Weather forecast was originally calling for a bit of rain overnight and some more during the day yesterday.

As it turns out we didn't get any rain and had to scratch and claw for the few fish we got...

Still, a great day to be out and the few fish that were caught were full of fight.

cheers, Mike

But then I'd have the added expense of recording equipment Mike.....

Yeah but then you can make millions selling the video "OFC'ers Gone Wild!!"

How could you accommodate multiple couples in there?

No problem, just call it Hedonism North

speaking of Al Gore.......If your a southpark fan check out the "manbearpig" episode if you haven't yet.....its hilarious.....

Yes, beware Al Gore's deadly MANBEARPIG!

On another note, how 'bout them Leafs?

If you a have a place to store them why not build a few ice bungalos and throw them on the lake in the winter?

There's virtually no overhead and the things are always booked.

Pretty sure the guys who run Blue Water leave theirs stashed on the shores of Cross Lake year round.

Just another thought Wayne if the idea is to generate some income up there for whatever you ultimately have in mind....

I don't think a single person, myself included has said it's not a good idea to hang a food pack, just that in remote areas it's not really necessary.

I find it funny to see people whose idea of living in the north equates to Muskoka and whose actual bush experience has been limited to Algonquin Park, attempting to offer an educated viewpoint on something they have no real first hand experience in.

If you're strictly talking about Lake Temagami then I "might" consider it, but only if the prospecter tent was in a completely remote and 100% private location with no neighbors nearby, otherwise I'd just rent a cottage.

In general I love prospecter tents, they're cool.

Some of the things you can't do without a child (ren)

You can't be woken up at 5 am by the shreik of a 2 year old child that has seen a deer in the back yard for the first time.

You can't teach him or her how to wire up a string of flouresent lights and switch them on for the first time.

You can't hear the excited chatter of "I got a nipple" when fishing.

You can't sit back and worry "Did I do that right?" and find out that yes you did cause they called and asked to be picked up 'cause they had a beer and shouldn't drive.

You can't watch with pride as your child wears your old jersey on the field with pride and flashes you a smile every time she makes a save.

You CAN! have land and build your own place. I did that in the home we have now. The whole family worked together to restore the home we are in now.

You CAN! build a house on the water and have a boat. That is my primary motivation for wanting a boat, to share it with my kids.

You can not have to slap your dumbass kid in the head at 68 because you raised him or her right and no longer need to correct his or her behaviors.

Just my two cents.

Uttered in all humility and respect for whatever choices you need to make.

Regards.

That was great!

If it hasn't started on some lakes, it will very soon. It's not my favorite time of the year for fishing. Any tips on fishing the turnover?

If you're talking walleye or bass on deep shield lakes, the simple easy answer (although not etched in stone) is fish deep. A lot deeper than most are prepared to do effectively.

Fast breaking shorelines or points that drop quickly into at least 30-40'. Small humps that top out in the 30' range, and my personal favourite expansive sand flats in the 40-50' depth especially if there's chara weed.

Smallmouth are especially vulnerable at this time of year as they tend to school up in spots like that.

Learn how to use your graph properly with the sensitivity turned up high and spend the time to slowly search for the fish before you begin to target them.

Lindy rigs fished on the bottom with oversized minnows or a jig tipped with a minnow, slowly and deeply are how I fish shield lakes after turnover.

Now, if there's been several days of abnormally warm sunny weather, then the bigger fish will make brief feeding forays into the shallower, 6-12' deep weed flats.

On days like that you can fish in a more traditional manner with more traditional techniques, but by and large fish slow and deep.

OR

You can just fish a river .

To the guy that said you have a better chance of being struck by lightning....

Well if you ran around in a thunderstorm with a 10 foot metal pole duct taped to your head you would greatly increase your chances of being struck by lightning.

 

Keeping food at ground level or even worse in your tent is like running around with a pole on your head in a thunderstorm when in bear country.

 

Use your head for more than a hat rack. Tie up your food and sleep soundly. or if you want to get your rocks off. leave it on your picnic table 10 feet from your tent wake up in in fear at every crackle or sound when inside your tent.

That would have been me Vince, you know the same guy who met you in Port Perry and bought your trailer a couple of weeks ago?

Not sure where you're coming from with those comments bud, but my knowledge and insight comes from 25 years of hardcore wilderness experience which includes several lengthy solo expeditions.

I neither camp near picnic tables nor wake up in fear...

It's been mentioned already, but in black bear country the only real legitimate reason for tying up your food is to protect it from chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons and skunks.

Some recent pic's of the Maitland and Nine Mile taken from another board...

Pictures tell the whole story, not a pretty sight.

Slim pickin's there's just no water.

Word of warning as well, some pretty heavy winds are forecasted for that area on Friday/Saturday.

Fish any well defined Kawarthas weedline with a black/orange inline bucktail spinner and you should get muskies.

Lately I've been wizzing my beers around the site at likely entrance points, just because it's fun.

I do the same thing at night around my deck to keep the coons away.

Calf's blood? LOL!

I wonder how it feels like to walk around and play basketball with hooks in your fingers ... and remember, they are size #12 or #14 hooks

 

I guess you will just ignore pains whenever hooks are pushed or better yet get yanked by other people ..

Do you belong to P3TA?

Seriously though, believe what you will. In the grand scheme of things it's not that big a deal.

She is cute...what's her name?

Musky Bait

I read a book about bears prior to my canoe trip....and one part that surprised me was this quote from the book BEAR AWARE...."Although there is no real evidence to support this theory, some bear experts believe that human sexual activity attracts bears."

 

(no wonder there were 6 at our site)

Oh wow that's really bizarre, I was thinking about my only black bear "incident" when I typed my 1st response, thought about telling the story then decided not to.

But why not?

I was way, way off the beaten path deep in the heart of Pukaskwa National Park with my girlfriend at the time.

Prior to the trip she badgered me with questions about bears...needless to say she was more than a little paranoid.

To ease her fears she bought herself a can of pepper spray which she carried around in her pocket day and night the entire trip.

Anyhoo, it's a warm summer day and we were lying next to each other on this gorgeous little white sand beach with my canoe pulled up beside us on our left side.

Things were starting to get...interesting when she suddenly sits up, looks to our left and in a strangely calm voice says "Mike, there's a bear walking right towards us".

"Yeah right" says I, "Must have been a squirrel or a chipmunk, c'mon" and I pulled her back down.

With the sound of the waves lapping on the shore and the wind in the trees how she heard anything still boggles my mind, but I digress. I suppose her paranoia gave her super hearing .

Well at that point she stood up and kicked me in the ribs (hard!) and says in this really TENSE voice "There is a bear and he's walking right at us!!"

Okay, I got the point, LOL! I stand up and sure enough there's a young male black bear maybe around 100lb's about 20' away.

"Cool" says I, and fumble to grab my camera. "Oh crap" says Susan while she fumbles for her can of pepper spray .

The bear froze when we both stood up, obviously startled. I whisper to Sue, "Don't make a move" while I edged over to my camera bag. Just as I turned my camera on and was about to get a perfect shot, Sue finally finds her can of spray and starts spraying it with a random fan-like motion while screaming like a banshee .

Of course she caught me with some of it and I started wailing myself .

I managed to get off one wobbly shot of the bears butt with tears streaming down my face as he turned tail and ran.

True story .

This assumes the fact that the fish is tail hooked or otherwise hooked in a fashion that increases it's leverage.

Would you then suggest that a musky that takes a solid swipe at a 12" Jake and misses and gets hooked in the back would then be better off dragging that lure around?

How many people are able to tell without a visual confirmation that a fish is foul hooked until the fish is landed???

I disagree wholeheartedly that cutting of a fish is a better option than landing and removing the hook.

When you talk about salmon, the point is moot since the salmon are put and take anyway.

The original poster Fishing For Life made reference to using a roe bag so I assumed he was talking about river fishing for trout and salmon.

Of course you're right Rick if you're talking about virtually any other type of fishing.

As far as migratory trout and salmon go though, it is very easy to tell if the fish is fouled, and

yes I do believe the angler should break the fish off once it's determined to be snagged, for reasons already mentioned.

Although, by law you're not required to do so....

Nothing wrong with a healthy debate .

The chances of trouble, especially an attack from a black bear are negligible. You've got a better chance of being struck by lightning, winning the lottery or getting hit by a bus.

Now, if you're talking grizzly bears or polar bears then that's a different story.

But hey, if hanging your pack in black bear country allows you to sleep better at night then why not.

It's certainly not a bad idea, just not anything I worry about personally.

Hmmm, I dunno. I've spent literally months alone in the bush and never once have I ever bothered to hang my food pack in a tree, never once had a problem.

Mind you I never ever bring food into the tent...that's just asking for trouble.

So the fish won't be stressed and might have a chance at survival.

(when a large fish is hooked anywhere other than the mouth, they're infinitely harder to land and use 10X the amount of energy trying to escape. Delayed mortality due to the lactic acid build up is likely quite high especially in the warmer flows of early fall.)

To re-iterate the point....

I will mention though, that I showed up north dressed very lightly and wearing sandals. Holy crap was it cold up there at around 3 Degrees C.!

Havn't you heard, there's a handy little thing called weather forecasts, usually pretty accurate a day or two in advance.

Wicked report, and gorgeous fish Aaron!

Sweet steelies!

 

Note: I would think twice about putting your float reel in the water where you walk around. The water has micro sand particles that will get into the reel. Sorry if you already know this and clean it after your day of fishing. Just thought I would point it out because I hate when that happens to me.

 

Great day of fishing!

 

Aaron

You're right of course. On the other hand anytime I hear that "grinding" "ratchety" noise, one quick dunk and shake in the river and I'm good to go .