Rod Caster

I dare you to hold the tears back on this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2UmkpAia6Q

My parents bought a large pail of legos from a yardsale years ago and made my brother and I a little Lego station. My Mom would organize the parts for us after we destroyed the place. I spent so much time at that table and probably learned a lot of creativity and imagination because of it. Lego and dinky cars were basically my television as a child. I'm very proud that my Parents did that for us. Your Boy will have a blast at that station... and the best thing is that Lego's are interesting to kids for years... it takes a lot of time for a kid to grow out of if. great stuff

I've never seen an obese walleye before. Two thumbs up!

Only place is the Ottawa River for me. Every thing else is either partially frozen or unsuitable for my canoe.

CBC is great for finding good Canadian bands! I wish CBC radio 2 was on the airwaves in Northern Ontario. I'm pretty sure Don Cherry will only retire when Don Cherry is ready haha. Speaking of hockey, leafs just tied it up. ..and here is a leafs-related- canadian song.

It's not junk, but I'll probaly switch to Trilene XL mono for my leaders next year. If there really is a performance advantage it's not worth the $$$....for me. Signed: Frugal Fisher

Yup He looks like Seth Rogan, eh? Seth Dan ..picks up at 0:50

Mumford and Sons- Dustbowl Dance Dan Mangan- Indie Queens waiting

JohnF's son is in this band. He was kind enough to send me one of their CD's. The CD is one of 6 cd's in my truck right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXiGXm28yS8

Double trouble dropshot! What a great fish

Interesting how the white marks on the cheeks are very pronounced. to the size of the fish.

Lucky guy, Ben. The cold hasn't mated with our water yet...

That's what I was going to say... but it usually comes down do milimeters or grams, so how would you ever know. Chicken or the egg? Who am I kidding anyway, my biggest fish this year was a 15lbs pike haha.

that's how I got started too. Welcome to the board that won't leave you bored. Hey do I get $1 for coining that?

oh man, great report!! I actually read it once this morning and again just now. That's one heck of a collection of trout and salmon.

I'm eating peanut butter and friggen jam....and you show me THIS! looks great, reminds me of my weekend breakies.

As far as cleanliness goes... Wood will leave a terrible mess compared to Propane. It depends how clean u need it, though. I'd much rather a woodstove because the fuel is so much cheaper. We bring out 4 or 5 solid logs to the shack, split them on the ice and the heat lasts all day... Boots off, jacket off, whatever you want.

Fantastic John. I wasn't sure if the MNR manipulated the reproductive ability of every fish right from the hatchery or if fish are just incapable of spawning due to "domesticated" traits or if the spawning quality of a waterbody made any difference. I've read some information on Splake and as you say they generally do not reproduce, although have been documented (rare) to have reproduced for several generations and produced spawn that were closer to either the Lake Trout or the Speckled, less of a mix. It's good to know that when browns/rainbows are stocked and are not sterilized, that in the right conditions they have the potential to spawn future generations. Kind of like the Ouinaniche in Trout Lake I suppose. I'm sure Brown Trout in the Ottawa are considered put and take, but that there is also the (small) chance that they could have migrated and reproduced as far as Mattawa or Temiskaming. I'll dig up this post if I ever catch one

Holy crap! usually I can think of something half-intelligent to say... but Holy Crap!

only two of us in the office here, so the xmas party is really just a free dinner. No stress here. If you hold this smile for the whole party, they'll either think your super nice or a little off.

I haven't heard the Boudreau news yet... That's crazy, I didn't think they'd ever get rid of him

Great outing! I enjoyed the read, thx

Very interesting Bassasin. I know a few good brookie streams around Mattawa that connect to the Ottawa River...maybe they hold a few browns as well. I'll talk to some Mattawa locals next time I'm there.

If you think the fish are there but not biting, try going to smaller and slower baits like 3-4 inch jig/grub, small x-raps, or even a carolina rigged minnow/worm. My biggest pike this year was caught last month on a 3 inch/1/4oz jig combo.

Great bi-catch I wouldn't wait until next year to target them!