solopaddler

Holy cow Chris, that's crazy! It's happened to me twice while soloing and I can relate to the adrenalin rush and fear. Never lost my canoe though. Damn good thing you had your Spot messenger.

Interesting that you stumbled onto that rig. Seems as though everyone in the province these days is running a bead/bag combo. Typically an 8 or 10mm trout bead pegged above your hook which is most often baited with a roe bag. Chartreuse is a popular color for the bead as well... You know what they say right bud? Even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while. Nice fish btw. When are we going to hook up?

I can't believe they hired Gibbons. Shocked actually. Is that the best that they could do?

Beautiful, love the specks!

Sweet, more gigantic finned drift socks!!

Looking good bud! I fish many of the same systems you do and have always done well with white jigs. Do yourself a favour though, seriously. Tie a couple up exactly the same way but make the collar chartreuse. For whatever reason that combination has been even more lethal for me.

A very well rounded year, well done!

Awesome Chris, Ramsey has always been one of my favourites.

We'll have to get out together sometime soon Chris. Nice looking fish!

Occasionally, yeah. Last week I kept a larger fish around 10lb's for the first time in a very long time. We were having a dinner party and it was a request. I filleted it, rubbed it with a dash of cajun spice and garlic, bbq'd it on low heat and basted it with melted butter and maple syrop. It was really good. Kamasan B983's in 8 & 10. I've used some of the wide gap Gamagatsu hooks and have never had luck with them, they constantly bend.

Was great to meet you too Mark.

Thanks lads! This time of year I only work two days a week.

The board has been kind of weird lately so I figured I'd do my part to help the situation with an actual fishing report. Been steelheading like crazy this last little while, 5 out of the last 7 days and I'm headed out tomorrow for 2 more. Fished some larger water today and managed a slew of big bright wild steelhead. Water temp was 42 degrees and all of the fish were caught in slower holding pools. Despite the cold water temps, once hooked these fish went insane. Absolutely incredible power and speed. The bulk of the fish were caught floatfishing, but everything was upsized. 12 gram float, 12lb main, 8lb Maxima Ultragreen tippet and quarter sized gobs of skein wrapped in pink and white scarfing. Later in the afternoon I switched to hardware and caught several swinging a #4 spinner on a tight line down and across. The hits were pure electricity, totally savage. Here's two of the better fish. I realize they look larger because of the hold, but still. The larger of the two was 351/2" on the tape. Looking forward to some more tomorrow.

Generally if the water is dirty that means it's high as well. Earlier in the fall when water temps are warmer these flood conditions will prompt fish to move, they're generally on the prod. They can literally be anywhere as the dirty water allows them to feel safe. Later in the fall when temps drop...like right now, under flood conditions most fish will bunker down and won't move 'till the waters start to drop and clear. They'll generally hole up in slack water areas where they have to expend less energy. Slow back eddies, large current breaks behind logs or boulders and long slow pools. You generally won't find fish in quicker water. Steelhead are synonymous with tailouts, you can't ever go wrong fishing one. However not every tailout is created equal. This time of year when the water temps are colder look for the longest, slowest pools with long drawn out slow moving tailouts. 3-4' seems to be a magic depth. When the water gets really cold sometimes they won't hold in the tailouts at all, they'll stack up right in the gut of the pool. Today I fished for a couple of hours before work and every single fish I hit was in the heart of the deepest troughs. I fished some real nice riffle water and a couple of tailouts and caught nothing.

I fish exactly the same way myself. As I've progressed over the years I've learned that getting your bait where it needs to be is far more important than finesse. This fall is a perfect case in point. I've purposely been running even bigger and heavier stuff: 12lb main, 10lb fluoro or 8lb Maxima lead, large amounts of shot, big hooks and even bigger baits. I've really hammered the point home to myself that presentation is what counts with these fish as it's been one of my best falls ever. Stupid numbers, and I've been fishing all over the map. The biggest mistake most rookies make is not getting down to the fish. The added bonus of course with heavier rigs is you don't play the fish to exhaustion and casting is exponentially easier.

Awesome Chris! What time of year did you guys fish it? Ron sound like a Nazi LOL!

Experience of a lifetime Mike, it's no wonder you look so happy in all the pic's. Thanks for sharing!

Taking piers and estuaries out of the equation, this time of year there are numerous lakefront areas where browns congregate and people fish for them. These invariably are sites where they were stocked as fingerlings. They return there in the fall out of pure homing instinct and nothing else. The water is usually glass water clear and the trout are spooky. On top of that they have spawning on their minds and in that type of environment can be hard to entice. Most guys who have success in these types of spots fish at night either with an egg sinker and floating roe bag or a small bag or single egg under a float lit with a glowstick. Casting pretty much any type of hardware at night is effective at times, but wide wobble banana baits like Flatfish and Kwikfish really shine as the fish are able to zero in on them.

Good advice, but to elaborate a bit further, after removing the bearings soak them in Kerosene first or electric contact cleaner. They're usually packed with light grease which in fact hinders the performance. Doing these degreases them. Once you do that then add a couple drops of sewing machine oil and reinstall. You should see a world of difference.

Wow Chris, that's fantastic!

Nice Doug, looks like you had some nice weather too.

Nice thread work Brady, looks great!

Agreed. They're quite likely homicidal pedophiles too. And at home I'll bet they don't even recycle. I mean it only stands to reason.

Nice fish Joe!

I've used them twice, but to rent canoes never for their fly in outposts. Personally if I'm driving to Atikokan I'm paddling Quetico, no way I'm doing a fly in trip. The fishing in Quetico is remarkable, plus it's the best flatwater paddling in the world imo. It's possible to plan a route with very few portages, just short liftovers around waterfalls or very short trails. Absolute amazing campsites and scenery as well. The outposts look okay but they're not unusual in any way. Most fly in outposts in northwestern ON have adjacent portage lakes with boats cached on them.