Dabluz

I've been fishing from Sportspals for close to 50 years now. Those 11 foot ones are a bit like a bath tub but they only weigh about 20 lbs. I bought a 14 foot (pointed at both ends) over 30 years ago and have used it on an average of 60 times a year for fishing and hunting. I paid about 300 for it. It no longer has any foam on each side (too many portages through spruce forests) but I still have one good foam seat with a back and a couple of foam seats with no backs. It weighs less than 30 lbs. I prefer the pointed Sportspals because the side mount makes using a small outboard or an electric motor much easier. It's also easier to paddle. I had a Minn Kota 15 electric motor for a good 25 years. This motor developped about 9 lbs of thrust and I could clip along at close to 5 km/h at top speed yet at low speed, it was perfect for trolling walleye (slow). At low speed, the little electric motor consumed about 4 amps. This means that a 200 reserve minute battery was good for 30 hours of constant trolling. 50 dollars is a crime. The canoe is worth 4 times that amount. It's real easy to make a side mount for the canoe. You can even add an extension on the other side to mount a sonar transducer. I used suction mount transducer. You can even make a double side mount with an electric motor on one side and a small gas engine on the other side. You can't beat a Sportspal for silent fishing. The foam interior is great.< Ok, the Sportspal is not streamlined but it's wide and stable. If you ever run into waves, shift the weight towards the middle of the canoe. This will enable the ends of the canoe to lift at ever wave. All Sportspals leak a bit. It's due to the stuff they use at the joints. It's junk. One day about 20 years ago, I lent my Sportspal to a friend. He punctured it with a branch. Anyway, I patched the hole with adhesive metal tape that is used to repair mufflers. The repair still holds today. I have painted my old Sportspal. It was once birch bark coloured and is now spray painted dark green with black and brown to make a camouflage colour. Did you notice the hole in the front of the canoe? This was to convert the canoe into a sailboat. The original side mount was used with the tiller unit. I think the oar locks were also used when a sail was mounted. Your low profile and a silent approach will allow you to almost get on top of the fish.

I have one of those Scotty rod holders that does not lock the rod into place. It's the tube type with an open end and a small plastic crossbar at the other end. I'm always very nervous about using the rod holder when trolling for fish. I'm worried that a fish will yank the rod out of the holder. Has anyone lost a rod with this type of holder? Should I remove the small plastic crossbar so that I can place the handle of my rod further into the holder? Anyone found a practical method of locking a rod into the rod holder...(rubber strap, locking device etc.)? The way I am using the rod holder now is by angling the rod a bit forward and the rod tip quite high above the surface of the water.

Well....up here in the Saguenay region of Quebec, you are not far from the truth. A large portion of the territory has nothing other than brook trout. No minnows, no other species of fish therefore, no competition. Insect life is intense and the waters are pure enough to support even fragile insects like mayflies. The water stays cool all summer so the fly fishing is great from ice out to October when the lakes start to freeze over. Every little stream is crammed with brookies and nobody bothers to fish them. My daughter owns a house just outside of Chicoutimi and there is a stream at each end of her lot. Both streams are crammed full of brookies. I can catch a dozen in about 10 minutes when standing in one spot by the road anytime I want. The limit is 20 brook trout per day....no size limit. No muskies or bass or sunfish or carp or perch up her though.

Fluorocarbon is vastly over estimated. The stuff breaks easier than mono, it's knot strength is inferior to mono. It does not resist abrasion as well as mono. It is as elastic as most monos except maybe Berkley XL. And, it's stiff. Search the internet with the words "fishing line abrasion test", "fishing line strength test" etc. You will find some independant tests that were carried out on all types of lines. There are tests for the different knots on different lines, stretch tests etc. You are in for some real surprises. Ok, you will still wonder about which is the best line or the best knot but you will look at some of the popular lines in another light.

Well....one thing for sure.....most of the time, the fish is not solidly hooked when using a small spinner like a Mepps or a Panther Martin. I do a lot of fishing for brook trout with spinners.....especially the Panther Martin size 1 and 2. Luckily, these spinners have about the nicest treble hooks you can find on a spinner. They are super sharp and made of fine wire and have a small barb. I've also replaced these treble hooks with a single Gamakatsu Split Shot hook and there has been no notable difference in the number of fish landed. However, I fish with 2 to 4 lb mono on a 6 1/2 ultra light, fast action rod. Even though the rod is fast action, it still has more flex than a medium action rod. Ok....up here where I live, the brook trout fishing is easy and I have no trouble catching enough trout for the table so I do keep my rod tip a bit too high and do lose about 20% of my fish. I like to see them jump and I like to see them battle at the surface. Keeping the rod tip down and not horsing the fish and making sure that the hooks are super sharp will greatly increase the catch ratio.

I don't use them.

I tried Power Pro and did not find it as strong as Tuff Line or Mason Tiger Braid.

I'm pretty handy with a pistol grip. I'm an old timer and I used level wind reels before spinning reels were available. I palm my baitcasting reel and this gives me the space to use my second hand when striking and casting. I don't have a short stiff rod anyway. 3 of my baitcasting rods are 7 to 8 1/2 feet long and the other ones are 6 1/2 feet long. I like long rods for sweeping type strikes and for adding action to lures during the retrieve or when trolling. Since I held that short Berkley Lightning rod....it felt so light and fast....I will buy it for sure.

Yes....I've been using my 7 foot 1 piece baitcast rod for this. The handle is not too long but I have been using it from my 12 foot aluminum boat that has a nice swivel chair. I once used my pistol grip rod for casting for pike with swim baits one day. After about 8 hours of casting, I did experience a bit of discomfort in the hand holding the rod. I was using a lefty reel that day too. My right arm and hand were doing all the work. From now on, I think I will switch to a right handed baitcasting reel when I have to do a lot of casting. Or use both hands when casting. Anyway, the 5 1/2 foot rod is really very light.

The rod I am speaking of is a Berkley Lightning rod, 1 piece, 5 1/2 foot, medium/heavy, fast action rod. I already have such a rod, 2 piece, 6 foot, medium/light, fast action with the same pistol grip. Works great with small lures (1/8 to 3/8 ounce). The rod only costs 30 dollars.

If you want to minimize the fact that the line gets tangled in the hooks of lures, use a baitcasting reel. Ever notice that when you cast with a baitcasting reel, the lure flies through the air like an arrow? I can't guarantee that the lure will fly like an arrow everytime but for me, it's more than 95% of the time. When using a spinning reel, the lure always tumbles through the air. The tumbling action causes the line to get tangled in the hooks.

I use a 3-D fish finder and I still do not trust what shows on the screen. Those things that show up like fish on the screen could be anything. Just drifting over a dead branch will show up as a fish. How can you tell the difference between a sucker and a walleye? On a steep slope, there is no way of detecting fish that are close to bottom because of the shadow effect caused by the steep slope. The shadow effect is difficult to explain in words but in a diagram, it's easy to see how fish can go undetected. Walleye are so often too close to the bottom to be detected and pike are almost always hidden in heavy cover. Yes, there can be fish spotted on the screen but those fish are often at mid-depths and are not in feeding mode. On top of that, a sonar is not much use for detecting fish when used in less than 10 feet of water. I only use a sonar to find structure and then I turn it off when anchored because they do emit lots of noise. When drifting and casting, the sonar only detects structure under the boat. Use your fishing experience and polarized sunglasses to find fish. For walleye, the best trick I can offer is to use some of those jigs with those sharp Sickle hooks. Yes.....those expensive ones. Get any colour you want....as long as they are black with white or red eyes. Do not put anything on the hook except some lively nightcrawler. Do not cram the hook with too much meat....let the nightcrawler move in the water. The walleye will snarf it all up. Very often you will feel a sharp bump and then nothing. It's as if the jig is snagged on bottom. The walleye will often not even move an inch. Use a very sensitive, light yet very fast action rod. I use 4 and 6 lb mono unless there are lots of snags. I switch to 6 to 10 lb Fireline when then I start losing too many jigs.

I was kind of hoping you would have said that a short fast action rod with a pistol grip would be better....lol. It would have been a great excuse to buy one. I may still buy it because I do not have such a rod in my arsenal. By the way.....when does a short fast action rod with a pistol grip come in handy? lol

I guess the title says it all. What type of rod would be the best for fishing with a surface lure "walk the dog" technique or surface poppers for pike (no bass where I live). Is it a long 7 or 8 foot medium action rod or a short 5 1/2 foot fast action rod or a long 7 foot fast action baitcast rod. Should the rod have a pistol grip or a longer handle? The reason I am asking this is because I am presently using a 7 foot 1 piece fast action baitcast rod with a long handle for this technique but I can buy a 5 1/2 foot fast action 1 piece baitcast rod with a pistol grip. Another thing.....I do a lot of fishing from a Sportspal canoe. I am sitting quite low when fishing from this canoe and the long handle seems a bit awkward sometimes. However, the long handle is great for striking the pike. I palm the reel so even a pistol grip allows me to use 2 hands to strike the fish.

I often use Dollarama lures for pike fishing and so far.....no complaints. Those large and medium banana style swim baits have beautiful action. I haven't tried any of the other styles yet.

I make my own wire leaders. I use 12 lb test 54 strand wire leader that is about the size of 4 lb test mono. This stuff is so flexible that you can tie knots in it. It does not affect the action of the lure. I also use 10 lb test 49 strand wire leader too. The only drawback is the fact that this stuff is expensive. I tie on a good black ball bearing swivel at one end and a good snap on the other end. The leader only needs to be about 4 to 6 inches long. I use an ordinary clinch knot. I've tried all kinds of leaders. Yes, a heavy mono or fluoro leader does help but they are too large and ruin the action of the lures and they can still get cut. I pike's teeth cannot cut steel. Something softer cannot cut something harder.

Depending on how far north you are going....you may find big pike in shallow water because the water stays cool. Especially this summer, the water has stayed a bit cooler than average. I live in Chicoutimi, Quebec. It's about 2 1/2 hours north of Quebec City. I do a lot of walleye fishing and often catch pike. Just last Saturday, I was fishing in the Peribonka river and I caught a 35 inch pike who was running after bait fish in no more than 2 feet of water. I was packing up my stuff to go home and it was dark....approx 10 p.m. I had seen this pike feeding in shallow water for the past couple of weeks so I decided to toss out a very large white twister tail on a 5/0 hook and the end of a 6 inche 10 lb test wire leader. It took a couple of casts and the pike hit the lure like a ton of bricks. I guess the pike weighed a good 12 lbs....maybe 15 lbs. Earlier in the evening, I guess I caught about 6 other pike ranging from 1 to 6 lbs. All were caught in very shallow water at sundown. Anyway, the myth that pike only bite during the day is not true. There are lots of whitefish feeding on the surface of the Peribonka River but every now and then, some very large pike break the surface in places where there is rarely more than 5 feet of water. The best bait to use.....wow....difficult to answer....they all seem to work.....even the large swim baits that you can buy at a Dollar Store work great....lol. I use everything from large spinner baits to large surface baits to long stick baits to large plastic baits and all produce pike. Large pike are rare. Anything over 30 inches can be considered large because the normal size of an adult pike is 30 inches. Your best bet is to cover lots of water and fish where there is lots of cover but don't forget those shallow flats when it gets dark.

I've got at least 10 knives that I fillet with. 2 of them are old Rapalas...one with a 6 or 7 inch blade and the other with a 9 or 10 inch blade. I also have one that costs about 1 dollar and a couple of others that I have found over the years and I have used filet knives belonging to other people. I have even fileted walleye with a 3 inch Swiss pocket knife, a Russel boat knife and a folding Opinel knife. All worked fine. I don't even notice much difference in any of the knives except the fact that a more flexible blade does remove the skin from a filet a bit easier. The trick is for the knife to be very very sharp. When I get home, I cut off the heads and cut the skin on my walleyes with a 9 inch butcher knife and then use the filet knife for the delicate work. Thus, I don't have to sharpen the filet knife so often. I remove the extra row of fine bones from walleye and brook trout. Not many people even notice these fine bones unless the fish is very large (over 5 lbs). Yes, the small Rapala knife does make removing the cheeks on walleye and pike a bit easier. I do believe that a better quality blade will keep it's edge longer but with a sharpener like the Speedy Sharp makes sharpening a breeze.

I like the use of nicknames. They often show a person's personality, his preference, a special knack for things etc etc. I see a lot of great nicknames. Some were given when we were younger and others took a lot of thought, humour and even some original thinking. Our names were not chosen by ourselves or given to us after a few decades on this planet. My first name is Daniel. There are tons of those all over the place. For some reason, in all the movies, the name "Dan" is never associated with a bad guy....which is nice but there is a limit to seeing the same name. My nickname immediately shows that I like/play blues music. Being on this site means I like fishing. It sounds like a masculin name (very important) and there very few people use this nickname. As for my true identity, I give it out freely for the asking.

I put a 2 h.p. Suzuki 2 stroke on the side mount of my Sportspal canoe and had no problems at all. Yes, when you get out of the canoe, it will flip over. You have to remove the motor before getting out or go backwards on to the shore and step out while supporting the motor. I would be gentle with a 4 h.p. motor.

Well, I do a lot of fishing. Really a lot and I have been fishing since I was 2 years old. I go fishing at least 2 or 3 times a week (year round). I'm 61 years old. I do not have an outboard motor nor a nice aluminum boat and trailer. You would think that over the years, I would have spent more money on fishing but I just can't. Never had a job that paid enough for me to have a comfortable life. No....I don't take drugs nor do I get drunk. I'm a good fisherman and lots of people come fishing with me to learn. However, with all my sucess as a fisherman, I never got close to catching a world record fish. A world record fish would mean a lot to me. It may mean the chance to get a few prizes like a nice 16 foot aluminum boat with a 10 or 20 h.p. engine, a good rain suit, a few good fishing rods and reels etc. I sure would do a lot of fast thinking if I ever catch a world record pike, brook trout, walleye or landlocked salmon. For me, it would not be the prestige of catching a world record fish....I don't need or look for prestige.....however, some nice fishing goodies would be nice.

Bring a roll of toilet paper. Sell it for 50 cents a foot. It will pay for your fishing trip.

No matter what kind of structure is on the bottom, you will get a flat line across your screen. In order to see varying bottom structure, your transducer must move. While ice fishing, the transducer is immobile. However, you will get a depth reading, you will be able to see if the bottom is hard or soft and you will be able to see any objects that move between the bottom and the transducer. A long flat line that moves across your screen could be a large fish or could be a small fish that is spending a lot of time in the sonar beam. A quick short spurt of pixels across your screen will indicate a small fish that crossed the center of the beam or a large fish that briefly entered the edge of the sonar beam. A large fish that is hugging bottom.....you will see that the bottom will suddenly come up (an extra row of pixels at the bottom of the screen) and maybe the depth will change by 1/2 foot in depth. However, in very deep water, you will probably not see the fish hugging bottom. If you are fishing a slope, you will have a flat bottom on your screen. If the slope is steep....lets say that it's steep enough that one side of the sonar beam is in 20 feet of water and the other side of the beam is in 15 feet of water, you will not see any fish that are between 15 and 20 feet. The 5 feet of difference is called the "shade" and this is why you often catch fish yet not see them on the screen when fishing close to bottom. If you are fishing over a large boulder, you will just have a flat bottom on your screen and you will have the depth between the transducer and the top of the boulder. You will never see the fish that are hiding in the deeper water all around the boulder and your lure or bait will just be presented between the surface of the water and the top of the boulder. If you are planning to set up an ice hut, I would spend some time in a boat while using the sonar. Use a GPS and find exactly where you want to fish before ice-up. When you are moving around, you will be able to see the structure more clearly. You will see what the slope of the bottom looks like and in which direction it is sloping. To get a more exact position with a GPS, use the "averaging" mode. You must be immobile when using the averaging mode. When you want to mark a waypoint, choose "averaging" mode, click once and then wait. The GPS will take a bunch of readings. You may even see how many readings the GPS is taking and recording. When you have maybe 50 or 100 readings, click on the waypoint button or "register waypoint" again and the GPS will average out all the readings and give you the reading that was registered the most often. When you set up your ice fishing hut, make your ice hole where at the waypoint mark before you set up your hut. If the depth looks right and the fishing is good, set up your hut over the hole. You could even drill a bunch of holes and check each hole with the sonar to see if you are in the right place before setting up your ice hut.

I once caught a very very old walleye. She was quite weak and looked to be on the verge of starvation. She was 32 inches long and was caught in a rather small lake that is full of small walleyes. Catching a walleye over 15 inches in this lake is rare yet the lake is loaded with walleye. The only other species of fish that I have seen in the lake are horned nosed chub. She weighed maybe only 6 or 7 lbs. Her stomach was all caved in and she had a huge head. She was obviously at the end of her life. The fish was caught in the Saguenay region of Quebec where a huge walleye weighs 9 lbs. I guess the record walleye for the area is about 10 lbs. According to biologistes, the oldest walleye they ever caught with a net in Lac St-Jean (a large body of water) was 28 years old.

Only the females get very big.