solopaddler

Way to go man!

We need to hit up the Manistee dude. On my end I'm so swamped and overwhelmed at the moment I'm losing my mind. (Can't believe you retracted your statement LOL)

Fidel be nice. I think you need to get out fishing, relieve some stress.

I saw three racoons exactly like that late November last year on the trail where I walk the dog. Was worried at first they were rabid and it was a chore keeping my dog away from them. They were lying on the ground within 10' of each other breathing but barely able to move.

Cliff may have a point Brian. Who knows for sure but on the surface it's a fair assumption that an equal split of women and men means that he's not choosing people based on merit. If that's the case then pandering is a good adjective. Cliff made it pretty clear that he'd prefer that people be picked based on merit. His comment on children and gay people was not negative. I'd be willing to bet Cliff has zero issues with anyone including gay people if they are qualified. His comment was obviously aimed at Trudeau wondering whether his pandering might become even more extreme. It's no secret that plenty of large companies don't always choose the most qualified person. In this age of political correctness it's often the visible minority who gets the job. That was his point.

Wow that's pretty darned impressive! Well done!

Hey man, at some point we have to hook up on one of these trips!!

Anyone can find stuff on the net to either prove or disprove any point they want. Emphatically. Means zero to me. An opinion like Old Man's seems more credible, at least to me.

Honestly if it's large pike you're talking about I'm casting 90% of the time. I troll only when necessary. Walleye are a different story, I often troll to locate fish then sit on them with a jig.

Your comments in this thread are equal parts interesting, enlightening and disturbing.

Eddie!!! It was a fun trip wasn't it? And yeah my basketball skills are way better than that little video clip you filmed of the "sour cream challenge". Your commentary cracks me up every time I watch it. It's hard to hear so you have to crank the volume up to 100% to hear anything.

Have to say this has been one heck of interesting read! Regarding pot I'm not a smoker, but the thought of making it legal for recreational use kind of scares me. I'm not going to say who, but someone I fished with this year (NO it wasn't Chris Brock ) has a medical issue and uses medicinal marijuana to control his symptoms. He had a vaporizer and was using it pretty regularly every day on our trip. In a moment of weakness one evening I took ONE puff off that thing and in 5 minutes was completely wasted - I could barely even walk LOL! In many ways FAR more screwed up than I am after drinking. The thought of people getting behind the wheel of a car in that state scares the hell out of me. I'm all for medicanal use but not legalizing it for recreational use.

Holy God Almighty

Along the same lines I use the ones sold as "toe warmers" inside my gloves. Adhesive backed, I stick them on the inside of my gloves in the palm and they last for hours. Much less bulky and efficient than a regular hand warmer. As someone who fishes steelhead in sub zero temps all the time I use thick fingerless ragg wool gloves with the toe warmers stuck inside and my hands stay warm. I can't fish with full fingered gloves so that's what works best for me. If I'm in a boat running from spot to spot in cold weather any old pair of warm gloves will suffice. When I start fishing I switch to the heated fingerless wool gloves.

That will be one heck of trip, awesome!!

What I'm reading here about why AA left is mostly speculation. What is known is the Jays offered him a 3 year extension with an option for a 4th and a raise. He turned it down. Maybe he didn't want to be here?

That's amazing!

Watching your videos always makes me smile Simon, thanks.

Sorry to hear Mike. Your grandfather sounds like an interesting guy and by all accounts was an iconic figure within the angling community. The best way anyone can honour the memory of their loved ones is to pick up the torch and carry on the same traditions they started. By the looks of things you're doing just that.

Nice to hear I contributed to your lack of productivity LOL! Trust me you can get sick of eating almost anything, walleye included. As far as Chris goes he probably has nothing over you. Golden blonde hair? LOL! I always thought of Chris as kind of haggard looking. What Chris is is a good friend. It's one of the great things about this board and I know many would agree, I've made some long lasting great friendships here. There's a long list of other members I'd love to fish with at some point if possible... You're most welcome! Thanks!! Not sure about the vids being fantastic but they do add to the story! I'm getting better with them, but like everything they're a work in progress.

Thanks guys! I'm confident in my own writing, the challenge will be finding suitable content from other writers. I'm already stressing about it big time.

Thanks Matt!! The BC steelhead thing will definitely be happening just not sure when. Thanks Jo! You're most welcome, glad you enjoyed it! Glad you enjoyed! Thanks Erik. I'm always slightly surprised when it's obvious that people actually READ my reports LOL! I think most people skim through them and check out the photos. Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback!

Thanks fellas! Steve those mid lake islands were surrounded by killer structure, we fished them like crazy!! One even had a huge patch of cabbage directly adjacent to deep water! We went back to it a bunch of times cause I agree - it looked like money!! We caught fish around those island clusters but nothing crazy.. The killer hump was kind of the NW corner, I actually marked the spot on one of the map pics I posted. Can't believe you used that giant Len Thompson for Browns LOL! There will be no more major northern trips this year, but I might head to BC to steelhead fish, not sure yet. Next year is going to be pretty awesome though.

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed! Rick, yes, MLO is a very good outfitter with some really good lakes. The downside is Armstrong is a haul from southern Ontario. Probably worth it though. Chris I call Bull on my basketball skills!!!! Did you forget about the first 6 food items that I drained before the "sour cream challenge"? LOL! I think we should make that a regular thing, maybe it'll even evolve into a new extreme sport.

Thanks Connie! LOL! Both are great, but definitely Whitewater for a bunch of reasons. You should give me a call and we can chat about it directly or even an email. Contact info is on my website (see signature at bottom of my post). I agree with you 100% a piece of worm will increase your catches however depending on where I'm fishing I don't bother. If I'm fishing a lake where I know there's big pike then that's what my primary target is and walleye are almost an afterthought. Lakes like Esnagi this past summer were primarily walleye so I brought my full arsenal including a flat of worms and all my bottom bouncing stuff. We still caught hundreds of walleye at Mojikit with no bait so it didn't really hinder us that much. Bottom line if you're primarily a walleye guy, YES bring worms! Yes, it was! 29" and very fat. Was a bit of a surprise, you don't often get bigger ones like that on numbers lakes like Mojikit.