12 Volt Man

if you are determined to stay brand new, another option for $200 is the Shimano Ultegra. its a stradic minus one bearing. it also has the direct drive (screw in) handle that the stradic has but that the cheaper shimano's don't. I have played with this reel in store and it is awesome. about $70 less than a Stradic.

if you can swing a little more cash, the Shimano Stradic FK is amazing. I have the 3000 size and love it. its worth the cash.

I was using a bass pro bag that came with those clear tackle compartments, it was I think $80. after a year, the shoulder strap ripped off. disappointing. I invested a little more money and bought a G. Loomis tackle bag. its amazing and much better quality. Feels like I'll have it for 20 years. I love it.

I'm a little confused as to how someone's private travel itinerary is a matter of public record and allowed to fall under the Freedom of Information Act. shouldn't this request be flat out denied immediately?

that half and half musky is awesome

the other pic. the white spotting is so tiny the fish appears almost totally grey. normal pike colouration is large white spots on a brown or green background. this guy has tiny white spots on a grey background:

I'll try to post the other pic I have tonight of the fish laying beside my rod and reel. the colour is nothing like a normal pike but the spotting on the tail and non-red fins means its definitely not a muskie as I had first thought. the flash washed out the grey colour a bit in this pic. fought like a beast though!

Hi Folks. caught what I believe is a silver pike in Montreal the other day. thought it was a muskie at first when I was fighting/landing it because of the big gray head and gray silver body. But looking at the pics later the spotting on the tail shows it to be a pike. Google image search shows silver pike that are supposedly very rare that look exactly like this fish. this fish was a good size. anyone ever catch one of these? here is one of the pics: I have another pic but having trouble resizing it. I wish the board would automatically resize pics

Agreed. Sail is good. The St. Catherine's Bass Pro is good but Bass pro tends to be 80% house brand stuff and not much of the rest. at least with the rods and reels.

Shout out to JB's fishing Depot in Etobicoke for excellent customer service. I had purchased a G. Loomis rod back at the spring fishing show from them (Feb) and I took it out to fish last weekend and realized there was a guide issue. When loaded, some epoxy that was split from above a guide foot would make a very loud 'click' sound which quickly became very annoying as it occurred during every cast. I called them up and they let me exchange it with no hassle at all. I wasn't looking forward to shipping the 7'1" rod back to loomis/shimano as I thought I would have to.. Thanks JB's.

very sorry to hear. kick its ass! your positive attitude is the first step to beating this thing

I went on Sunday and had a good time. picked up a G. Loomis E6X Jig and Worm spinning rod from JB's display for a good price. feels awesome. can't wait to use it. loved playing with all the rods and reels I can't afford lol. Met some nice folks, including Dave Mercer who I had not met before. I do like his show. it was better than last years I think. I know that the good old days are long gone, JB's was one of the largest displays but I guess that's because their retail location is fairly close. With Le Barons gone, there wasn't that many retailers. Fishing World from Hamilton not there, no Sail display. no Gagnon's Sports etc. But then many haven't been there in a while. is it the fees the show is charging for the booth rental space? Whats the main reason for the turnout of vendors now vs. the days of old??

no limits and no license required. you catch a fish in Antigua and its food to the locals. I have been there many times but usually stayed on the other side of the island (jolly harbour area). I have caught lots of fish in Jolly harbour but only landed small ones (small barracuda and jacks mostly on rat L trap type crankbaits). the marina there has huge tarpon and snook that just cruise around at night when the lights on the dock come on. I have seen 20 pound snook and 50 pound tarpon just swimming by like its nothing. but I never had my travel rod with me cause its right by a local restaurant and we were eating lol. Antigua is awesome. great reports and videos.

for what its worth, the St. Croix Mojo's have been redesigned for this year with the SCIII blanks (same as Avid) so that's a big improvement. not sure if the price has been increased?? And the newer Entry level G. Loomis (the E6X's) are amazing. I own the MBR843c E6X and love it. granted, its not a cheap rod (they go for about $230/240 or so), but compared to a Loomis NRX rod it sort of is lol.

I think rods have come a long way in the last 10 years when you are comparing mid to high end stuff of today versus say 10 years ago. rods are generally lighter, better balanced and we have access to all these great technique specific tapers that were only beginning to get noticed 10 years ago.

ps The Nasci looks awesome too. Congrats to the original poster. should be a great reel and last a looong time.

the new Ultegra reels are up on Basspro already. For some reason I can't copy and paste the link. The reel looks amazing, at the price point it should have the direct drive handle which is a big bonus. much more solid cranking than the older key style handles IMO. and no play in the handle itself at all. but I'm pissed that they didn't include the tapered bail wire into the line roller like the old saros had. should have not done away with that.

for their own good the new store better be open Sundays.. Retail business thrive on weekend business. Not being open Sundays just means your customers go to Bass Pro or Sail or whatever for their weekend shopping..

the Mississauga location has never carried St. Croix rods not sure about the others. again, I think they were missing the boat by not carrying one of the most popular brands out there. people like st. Croix and will go elsewhere to get them, be able to shop on sundays etc. a lot of little things add up and the result itsn't good for business. on facebook people were really saying how rude most of the staff were at many of their locations. I didn't find that.

I actually like the St. Catherine's basspro because their staff are actually very helpful and polite. but yes, there is 80% basspro branded products which isn't really good.

I wonder if the whole 'closed on sunday' thing is part of what hurt them. they never moved with the times in that regard. back when I worked retail it was common for almost 50% of our business to be done Saturday and sundays. granted, it wasn't fishing retail, but generally, the store was busy on the weekends and not so much during the week when most people worked. not being open sundays just causes people to go to the competition when they want to shop on that particular day. Basspro and Sail are open Sundays.. Le Barons never was on Sunday. pure speculation on my part, but I think it might not have helped.

these are great reels. my dad had a similar model but they were all black. I believe they were from 1993 or so and sold back then for $150 US. his had the flippin bar too. they came in two gear ratios from what I can recall. 6.3 and 5.3 I think

I get seasick very easily too but I have found that when I am down south I just take a gravol pill an hour before I go out on the ocean and bingo no sea sickness all day. its worth a shot. ocean fishing is awesome. we used to go down to florida a lot and I know live shrimp are a great way to catch anything down there. I also caught redfish (big ones 18 pounders) on rat l trap type crank baits. good luck and have fun

very cool. I have been travelling to Antigua my whole life, love that island. pretty much every march break while growing up, and we have been twice in the last few years as an adult. We stay at Jolly Harbour now, but used to stay at Runaway Bay back in the 80's and 90's. last year we did the stingray swim on the east side of the island near Devil's Bridge. amazing. great video!

nice. they look like lookdown jacks? where are you fishing? looks like Caribbean??