solopaddler

Exhaustive radio telemetry studies have shown a mass migration of large smallmouth bass into Lake Couchiching. That's where everyone should concentrate their efforts.

About as much as the rest of us it would seem.

This is by far the best suit currently on the market imo, although very pricy. SAIL currently has them marked down to $600, regularly $900. I think I'm gonna buy two of them.

Do tell.

In order to do that I'd have to already have a regular 9-5 routine...which thankfully I don't. The other stuff I'm working on.

No real advice from me Rob, but glad to see you're going. Will you be fishing?

Correct, or approximately 41/2lb's.

No, no one's nailed me down Chris. What's funny is my remark was mostly off the cuff but several people did pm me inquiring. Back in the day I led many lengthy trips, mostly in Quetico and Wabakimi, and was at the time an ORCA (ontario recreational canoe association) certified instructor. It's actually something I'd love to do again, time permitting of course.

I can see where that comment's coming from. But if the general public at large knew what I did with the rest of my time you might be surprised. Work hard and play harder.

Never let fishing take precedence over your other responsibilities. Home and family always come first, no exceptions. I speak from experience.

Thanks guys! We generally close it on thanksgiving weekend. If we had a ton of money invested in the place I couldn't possibly justify it, but I don't. Other family members are using it and enjoying it, so even when I can't it's all good. We'll do it again for sure Doug.

That's a no brainer Miro, finish the deck. Looking good so far btw.

I take it the local supply of dark rum is dwindling?

Agreed 100%. The 13'3pc XST has got all the power you'll ever need and is still far less cumbersome than any spey conversion.

Excellent report, glad to see you persevered and had some success in week two.

Nice clean looking fish too, congrat's!

Banjos playing? HAHA! No..... I steelhead fish down in Pennsylvania a fair bit. When you hear the sentence "We don't like you guys cummin' round here, with your fancy rubber pants!!" You kind of expect to hear banjos LOL!

Wow, that's an enormous pink! Very cool.

Good eye Randy! It's a sauger. My lake is loaded with them, we actually caught quite a few. One season a few years back I was catching enormous ones with several over 4lb's and one over 5. Pretty sure I had a provincial record at the very least. Never seen fish like that since...

Great photos and pretty darned good results for walleye newbs. Some people it seems have an innate ability to catch fish.

For sure!

No kidding. There's some really interesting back lakes nearby that have been just a bit beyond my reach.

Thanks guys, yeah the stringer shot was classic. You noticed that I guess LOL! Yeah the little snot rocket was running amok, there was gore everywhere, some of it mine.

This was a weekend of several firsts. With my vacation time being eaten up in other ways this was the first time I've had my almost 2 year old German Shorthair up to our camp in QC. It was also the first time I've fished with Doug (corvette1 on the board), although I've known him for a while now. Finally amazingly enough it was the first time I truly used the new boat this year. It was purchased solely for use at the camp and I havn't had the chance to get up there until now. My parents have been spending a ton of time up there this summer though, so it's been put to good use. I pulled my young son Brendan out of school for a couple of days last week and Doug drove up from Lewiston to join us. It truly was nice to get back up there. I didn't realize how much I've missed it... In this pic you can see just how low the water level is. Normally it's up to the edge of the pump dock. One nice surprise was the condition of the outhouse we installed a couple of summers ago. The old man took it upon himself to finish it in cedar and decorate it like Martha Stewart. He didn't tell me he did that so I was shocked when I opened the door. The dog was pretty good in the car on the long drive up but was absolutely freaked out in the boat. She wouldn't stop whining for a second. Leading up to this short clip Brendan was bragging that he was the best fisherman in the boat. In the background is Zoey whining LOL! <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lU893uTcsog" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> She liked to stand up in the bow of the boat when we were underway. 'Till it got too windy for her then it was "Hey let me outta here!" LOL! She absolutely loved running around the property though. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ky166HlHBC8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Fishing was pretty tough the first couple of days although weather really hampered our efforts. I made the 10km run up to the top end of the lake twice and we worked our butts off for a handful of dink walleye. This is fairly normal for my lake in Sept, especially just before turnover it seems. On the third day I figured I'd try the waters in front of the camp before doing anything else and it was game on. Using mostly finesse presentations such as a slow death rig with a small chunk of worm and a simple live bait rig with an air injected crawler we caught fish consistently all day. We kept a bunch to bring home and the kid was pretty happy about that. The late afternoon was beautiful and we continued to catch fish, although mostly smaller ones. Finally working a 34' trench between two humps the kid caught a slighter better fish. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wTvXnvfBMz8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> So all in all it was a perfect long weekend getaway. Big thanks to Doug for the company and the truly amazing steaks on Friday night. You're a good man, a true gentleman and I'm glad to call you friend. Cheers

I can't stand offset reels. Have you fished one yet? To answer your question the only alternative for you is to pay someone to have an offset foot made fitted to your reel. I know of two reel builders who can do this for a price. PM me for the specifics.