Rod Caster

that bowl of whitefish meat is something to be proud of

You got your angry spring kings alright!

Those bass a scrappy in the cold water!! Nice report

You never know what you'll find in the mystery box. That's a good day on the water!

Ha! The girl holding the huge carp is awesome.

Looks like you guys have that spot to yourselves. That's a big backyard

Fishing quality for speckled trout and lake trout (and splake) can be very good in my area of Northern Ontario, near North Bay. However, what used to be pristine, fish-packed natural lakes are now put-and-take fisheries that generally need tending by the MNR every year. It's actually poorly managed and without their continuing intervention, we'd have a ridiculous number of unproductive lakes that probably could have been saved at the first onset of stress. We had some acid rain issues in the 70s, and I dont completely know the scale of damage it created, but overfishing and management surely affected the lakes immensely. Essentially, I (and others) believe that the lakes have been miss-managed and now we are left with trout ponds in lakes that should be brimming with Laker or Specks. If you are willing to work for it, you can find good numbers of natural fish, but lakes with any kind of access are generally stocked with hybrids or 5-year cycle fish. Travel across the river to Quebec: Same type of lakes, same glacial scour, same original species and no stocking. Naturals, and fairly easy access to them. Large, near-town, camp-riddled lakes have both lakers and speckles in very catchable numbers. .. What the hell. What country is this? This lake is provincially managed ..? Where are the splake, where are the huge numbers of dink perch that took over the lake? Anyway, I like my region, and I plan on finding the hidden gems, but honestly, its not even comparable, yet in the end the waters are the same waters, so something went wrong on our side and something is very right on the other side. On to the day. JoeyT and I. Lake 1 : Specks and nothing specks. The limit is ten each but we self-regulate at 8 for the two of us and I go barbless. Within a couple hours we meet our target, all 12-14 hungry and unshy fish. Four fish each and we are out of there. Lake 2 : Several kms away, Lakers and Specks all in one beautiful spot. We use a hybrid technique of trolling near shore, in 10-30 FOW, casting at log jams and catching whatever bites first. We get 4 more specks (a bit bigger) and 5 or 6 lakers, but none big enough to keep (22 min). There are very few types of fishing I enjoy more than spring Laker and Speck fishing. Oh and baby #2 has arrived! M.I.L is helping for a week so I have a bit of a free pass, but after that, it's probably gonna hard to get out fishing very often.

I can't imagine these self-pleasing, pat-your-own shoulder, look-what-I-did enviro laws would currently work anywhere else but urban or newly developing areas. Basically, I see this as a shun to rural Canada and those who live simply and can't afford to invest in new tech. Same as the new vehicle safety laws. What a shot at low-income (or frugal) people who can't afford a new car every 10 years. All in the name of taxes, because we all know manufacturing of vehicles isn't going to grow here anytime soon

Mattawa River PP is a nice quiet spot (it covers a long distance) with lots of places to fish and look at, like falls and old mines and quite a few surrounding lakes to check out with multi species. There is no real enforcement or services, but nice camp spots, so you can jam out... Of course taking all your garbage out with you after Edit: paddle access only for the most part

awesome! Even with the weather against you, the fish were in spring mode. ​Quite the trip. Haven't been up the Pet in years.

Those are tanks. Nice shooting!

Rick is a tree hugger now!!! Where's your bowl of granola

Sounds like a good gig, and a terrific field to get into for your area (mines and the like) That kind of work is more ecology/biology vs engineering but the lines blur very easily in the environmental field. I do almost as much civil work as I do enviro Good luck Rick. More pay and perks are a great start!

Environmental engineering tech and Certified Engineering Technologist here. Definitely not an engineer though. Legally I can't say I'm an engineer and I have to correct people if they call me one. Otherwise the PEO will track me down and give me a cease and desist order haha

...and that's how you disrupt a slow day! Gawdman that's a nice trout, and only 30 mins from my house too!

I'm glad to see guys still stream fishing like this. It can be tough walking and casting but those little brookies make it worthwhile of course. I tried the small river in my backyard today. It must still be early up here because even though the water was down and the bugs are starting, I'm not seeing any activity.

Absolutely you can make assumptions; fishing is trying and discovering. Try fishing for panfish with the usual panfish bait, unless the lake itself is closed. Move on immediately if you catch out of season fish, go barbless to show your being prudent if you want. I rue the day I need to call and talk to the MNR before I fish any new lake

Killer day! I'm itching like you wouldn't believe to get out for some early season fish... a new baby within a week kind of makes it tough to get out!

Ha, I used to work with the guy in that picture. Look at the black on his gloves and on the rock, that's a big spill.

I spent 5 years there. Crazy situation! I couldn't imagine.

Wow! I have lots of burls on my property but I don't have the skills or tools to turn them into works of art like you do. Very impressive work you do

Yikes, that's gonna a nasty and long lasting job, all the way to lawyers and finding/proving fault. Someone or some company is potentially liable for some massive fines. Unfortunately for the City, because the contamination is likely on their soil, they will have to shell out the clean up money and coordinate the cleanup itself until they find fault. The MOE will order the city to clean up if they have to.

Still, if you need to know 100% if the land is crown, you need to go to land registry.

Lakes are still iced over up to 100% around north bay. I'd be all over the north shore of superior fishing any public shoreline and river you can find for rainbows.

beautiful. Keep it up everyone.