Beats

It was kinda funny. Today my dad was telling us kids how he has had the same gas can for decades to fill the lawnmower. He said he used to have a hard time to get $2 into the can and nowadays it costs about 13$. The gas hasn't changed any, what gives? Kind of makes you wonder.

http://www.mcteague.ca/WebPages/gas_price_today.htm

That's quite a list and I don't have any experience with any of them. Have you tried the Search function on the forums?

From watching Chronzy all these years I have seen and been aware of the eating of pickerel cheeks, "wings", and fins. I was thinking of the cheeks last night for the big one and partially removed one piece but it seemed so small I figured that either the fish was too small or I had messed something up. I know you don't get alot of meat but just a little scallop-sized thing, but I also couldn't remember the rule of thumb for what size of fish is best to take cheeks from. I remember hearing somewhere that if a fish is rougly ______ in size, then it's big enough to take the cheeks from. Either way, I'll make more of an effort on the next big one.

Never having cleaned a pickerel before I think it turned out ok. I remember watching a video years ago about removing an extra set of bones. Found them pretty easily and removed them.

Went out and checked the water levels in some spots on the Thames tonight. Started at Fanshawe lake and saw that my usual spots were flooded. I fish from shore, so I need some room to get around and cast. Left the lake and tried the river and had possibly the best success in my life on the Thames. First off, let me say that before this year I had never caught a single pickerel in my life. I made a post ( http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.p...c=22658&hl= ) a while back detailing that I had finally started to catch them in the lake. Well, I started to catch 5 or 6 a night for a while there but they were all small. I gave myself the goal of catching 50 this season. Up until tonight I had caught 40 and every one was the same size. All were between 10-12" and 1/2-1 lb in weight. Pretty tiny, but made up for it in numbers. Gotta remember I am fishing from shore. Well tonight I caught #'s 41, 42, and 43 and it has to be my greatest day on the Thames (not the lake!). The fish are 16, 17, and 19.5 " in length and have a combined weight of 4.75 lbs. All caught on white power grub with a glow in the dark jighead. Fished from 7-9 pm and all fish were caught between 8-8:30 pm. I caught the smallest one first and was overjoyed that I had finally caught one of a different size. An eater! About 5 mins later the next biggest, and then about 20 mins after that the biggest. I couldn't be happier. I have gone out for I'd guess the last 7 years or so each spring with my dad and never caught or seen a pickerel. So I had this coming. The river owed me one. On that note, not to be rude, but plz don't Pm me asking where the fish were caught. If you can think of 5 spots or so on the river that hold pickerel, chances are I was at one of them:)

yeah, that's like the oldest joke ever. I remember my dad telling me that one when I was about 5. The story is a little different each time I hear it but the end result is always the same.

Apparently The Landowner is a tad over protective of his/her land (or what they deem to be their land) if they have gone so far as to create little cards to run around and stick on ppl's windshields.

That's insane for your first laker.

I'm getting a replica made right now from Advanced. Having been to their shop I can say that their replicas look better and much more realistic than most ppl's skin mounts and actual taxidermy pieces. I know that sounds odd, but it's true. Just check out their website and see for your self. http://www.advancedwildlifedesign.com To me, I'd rather get a replica made and eat the fish than kill something to just put it on my wall. Especially since real mounts tend to crack and start falling apart over the decades. I'll be sure to post pics when I get my replica. Should be in the next few months. Here are a few pics of just a small portion of the work I saw at Advanced when I was there. Tonnes more in the shop, couldn't take pictures of it all. Should add : The middle fish in the last pic is a brown trout! Not an Atlantic salmon.. :)

THe issue was that his post made it sound like he was consistently snagging fish. Obviously, anyone going out for salmon is hoping to hook them in the mouth. No doubt about that. But, just as an example, if you were to fish a pool full of salmon and make a few drifts, snag a salmon, make a few more drifts, snag another salmon... etc, etc. then it's time to move on. His post sounds like he is in a situation where there are lots of salmon around him yet all he can manage to do is foul hook them, so he plays them out and somehow finds gratification in the fight. He is certainly wanting to properly hook the fish, that's clear. I think it's just his methods that are wrong. If you are snagging fish by chance, over and over, re-evaluate the situation. Something isn't adding up. I suggest trying piers or rivermouths. I'm sure you haven't purposely ever snagged a fish, yet it looks like you are fishing in spots that are setting you up to do just that.

The only way I can see that you would be constantly snagging salmon (accidentally) is if you are fishing tiny pools in creeks where the salmon are stacked. It's questionable if that is even considered fishing. Catch them off piers and river mouths before they start into the rivers. They actually attack lures still at that point. Once they get into the creeks just let them do their thing. There's no point standing beside a 10ft pool and dangling things in front of them til a hook snags them in the mouth/tail/back. Sry to flame, but I've been reading your posts and it sounds like you didn't have a tonne of success off the piers and now you are chasing them up the creeks. You are making it sound like you snag quite a few salmon which implies you are fishing tiny pools. Hey, maybe I'm wrong but at least do yourself a favour and don't announce that you are snagging salmon.

start smoking cigars

There's no question that is a rock bass.

I also agree. And that was me with the white crappie. Since then I have been measuring fish rather than weighing. I rarely measure, but sometimes when all the fish seem to be the same size and then I get one that seems bigger I will measure its length. Only for rough measurements. I don't measure girth or anything. I'll weigh a big bass or pike if its multiple lb's or if I'm simply interested in knowing its size but I don't take the weight to be perfect. Just a rough ballpark weight to basically see if what I thought the fish weighed by eyeballing it was correct. No one seems to be fine with just saying "nice fish" and letting it go. Everyone always needs to know the weight. Most people, especially those that don't fish too often, have no desire to know the length measurements of a fish and are purely interested in the weight, since that's how you always hear fish size talked about. I learned my lesson with that crappie that streamside scales, like my Berkley boga-like digital scale , shouldn't be held to the tiniest oz as far as accuracy goes. Yes, they should be able to be confidently read to that degree as that's how they are sold, but in my opinion don't bother. All weights may or may not be off by up to a few oz's. A measurement is a measurement and tape measures are never "off". Way more reliable with a tape and pretty much no possible operator error (pinching tail). Besides, shouldn't big fish awards/records go to the fish that got that big and not to the guy that took a few seconds to trick it and reel it in ?

I always find it weird when these kinds of things come up and there is only a single picture to look at... If you came across a mutant fish or a bigfoot, or whatever that is obviously going to get people talking, wouldn't you take a few more pictures??? Different angles, or something. Give people a little more to go on. Happens all the time it seems. One pic.

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/GL/92A/CAN_T.shtml

That's a killer picture of that fox. Your pics are very clear and well taken.

Went out fishing with a buddy at Fanshawe Lake tonight for a few hours. We have found a spot on the lake that is only a few minutes walk from the car where we have been having good luck catching pickerel from shore. Fish are all being caught between about 8:20 and 9:20. When the sun is almost gone to about 20 mintues after its dark are when I'm getting them. All the pickerel are quite tiny so far but I have hopes of finding some bigger ones in there. I saw a pic the other day of a 4.5 lber caught last week there. Tonight we tried the main lake area near the beach but found the waves too much to fish, so we moved to the lower dam. Walked downstream of the dam quite a ways and tried some spots I've been told that are known to hold the odd pickerel. Had no luck and headed back to the dam at dusk to get the car. Made a few more casts at the dam before leaving and hooked into what I thought must have been a 1-2 lb pickerel. Got it to shore and my pickerel turned into a pike, which eventually turned into a gar as I got it out of the water. Totally by surprise. Not that most people target them, but I made a post a few months back stating that this was the first season I had ever seen gar in the Thames, and they are everywhere this year. I must have seen 50 so far this season, pretty much everywhere I fish. I've been catching my little pickerel on a Mepps #4 spinner with a stinger hook with a big, whole worm on it. Tonight I had the same setup but since I knew I was only making a few casts I didn't bother with the stinger. Surprised the hook stuck without the help of a stinger. Fish was hooked in the mouth and not the snout. Guess that may have helped. Now that I've caught one, I'd be fine not to get another one. It pulled a little bit coming in but once I laid it down on the rock it didn't move at all until I attempted to grab it. Here's a couple of pics of the gar tonight and a few of the tiny pickerel from the lake over my last few visits. All the pickerel I have caught so far are the exact same size. I'm limited to shore fishing and while I like the spot I'm fishing from, I may start exploring for spots with bigger fish. I'll have to keep fishing some more and if I don't get any of more substantial size I'll move on til I do.

The big ones are in there. I've caught and seen a few 2+ lb bass from the St.Mary's area but nothing as big as your fish. There are bass everywhere in the Thames but mostly tiny little things since the water isn't deep enough and it fluctuates a lot from all the dams. Some areas like Thorndale and Delaware seem, in my experience, to hold the biggest bass in the river. Biggest I've ever caught from the Thames is 2.5 lbs from down by the Speedway. I like how you tell the size of the fish when caught and then the size of the fish in retrospect. Most fishermen prefer to leave the story with the enhanced details. Congrats on the big fish.

Who cares? The article alone doesn't really make any sense as to how it all came about. It's probably just a tiny amount that a fine would deal with. Well a fine and perhaps some weekend slammer duty in Canada, but in the States, it could be just about anything. They have the most retarded drug laws. Anyway, was reading the user comments under the article and read, "so the police noticed something suspicious about the apartment...looked into the window and saw 3 people sitting around the a table...don't they have anything better to do? Everyone that bakes at home should be careful specially if your kitchen has a window. Make sure that the flour is not all over your counter or maybe the police might bust in thinking something suspicious is going on...." "...But not real cocaine, that's cruel" <-- that's great. I'm sure some reporter somewhere got at least a few more facts before writing an article like this one.

I think I just overhead the news on tv saying that Bell and some other companies are about to start charging for INCOMING text msgs. That's ridiculous. Perhaps I heard wrong, but I think that's what they said. I have Primus VOIP home phone and no complaints. VOIP isn't perfect but its a hell of a lot more affordable, expecially for long distance.

In all it's glory. Pics of the thawed out fish and the end result. Tasted quite good. Never had crappie before. My buddy who was there when I caught it came over and ate 1/2 of it and he liked it a lot. Did it up in original Fish Crisp with Labatt 50 in it. Case Closed. That's the end of the story.

I live in London and often fish the downtown areas. I have found over the last year that walking around with a backpack instead of a hand-held tackle box is way easier. You don't have to carry anything but your rod/reel and even if you are wading all your gear is stored on your back. I often just take a few choice lures, rod/reel, hemostats, and jaw spreaders with me. Jaw spreaders have saved me, not to mention the fish, many times. While they aren't used all that often, they are incredibly handy when you need them. A one trick pony. One other thing I do is keep all my Rapala boxes and sometimes if I'm fishing, especially just for a short time, I keep the 2 or 3 lures im using in a box or 2 in my pocket so that I don't need to carry anything with me.