Garry2Rs

Why not just go out and enjoy using what you have for a few trips. If you change the line you will probably put a lot of twists in it by accident, where as the line that's on there is not twisted yet. I use braid for everything. On my spinning out fits I have ten pound Power Pro. I use this for plastic worms, finesse techniques like shaky head jigs, and for pan fish. It is the diameter of two pound mono, so I don't use a leader for anything even for tiny Crappie jigs. Ten pound braid isn't as abrasion resistant as ten pound mono or Fluorocarbon, because its much thinner...like two pound mono, but the line floats at rest and I don't drag it across rocks etc. It cuts through weeds very well because it's tough and thin. If I didn't have baitcasting equipment for heavier work, I might use 20 or 30 pound Power Pro. I wouldn't use any other brand in those weights on a spinning reel. Fireline is also a line I like on spinning reels, but it is much thicker than Power Pro, so I would stay down around 15 pound test. It's no harder to break off a snag on ten pound braid than it is on mono or fluoro of the same weight...in fact it's easier because the mono/fluoro stretches and stretches before it breaks. Anyway you're not fishing for snags...hahaha. Many of the light weight hooks used for smaller spinning rod type/size baits will straighten enough that and you can pull the lure free of a snag, with braid, because the line doesn't stretch like a rubber band. This isn't generally true of jigs, but if you wrap the line around a stick (Never around your hand) and pull, something has to give. If you are going for toothy fish like Pike, or fishing where these fish are commonly caught, you might want a steel leader, but I will guess that the line you have is eight or ten pound test and you won't have any trouble landing a toothy fish with line of that weight. After landing a fish like that check the last foot of your line for nicks! It only takes a minute to retie! Toothy fish, Walleye, Pike, Musky, don't have any molars, grinding teeth, their teeth are like needles. When you get "bit off" either the knot failed, the line was weak because of previous nicks or the line got plucked back and forth across the fishes teeth until it wore through. The answer is to learn a good knot like the Palomar, check the line for nicks often, and haul those tooth fellows in as fast as possible so they can't work your line back and forth across their teeth. Mono twists easily, in a few weeks you will have line that looks like a Slinky, you will get a big birds nest and cut off about 60 feet, this is the part you have been using...A few days later it will start again...and you will be ready to replace the line. With the experience you have gained, using the old line you will have a better idea of what weight you want and if you want to stay with plastic line or move to braid. Good Luck Garry2R's

Yeah I heard all that soft action gives you a better presentation stuff too, but I only lost two big Bass while I was in Arizona this past winter. Both were lost off of lipless cranks on a beautiful G.Loomis Crankbait rod... My seven foot MH Shimano Crucial stuck them so they stayed stuck! Now, those fish might have been coming off anyway, but I feel like I get better hook sets with the stiffer rod. You do what you think is best, and I'll do the same...Grin.

Thanks Mike; That's exactly what I wanted to know. Garry2rs

It was just one of those days. If it's any consolation, your not alone...I have been there and done that, plus launch without putting in the plug, forgot to release the bow hook, or tie down straps or transom saver, had a reel fall off while fishing, tangled line in the trolling motor and snapped off the tip of a $250.00 rod. Had a Bozo snag my line as he passed to close and pull a $500.00 outfit over board...the list goes on-and-on but I'm sure you get the idea...Some days crap happens...grin.

In past years one of my non-fishing friends and his family have come up to visit me on the Licence Free Weekend. They dangle a line and take a boat ride with me etc. I don't recall seeing anything in the new regulations about Fishing Week or the Licence Free Weekend. Has it been discontinued?

I get the weekly paper. Because there isn't much to write about, they list the OPP calls. Most of the investigations are as Lew suggests, cottage break- ins. These are mostly kids looking for booze...It's 9 O'clock, Do you know where your kids are? Snow mobiles, boats and trailers occasionally go missing. I'll bet they're being stolen by city folk... No friends Crime may not stop at the city limits, but the farther from the Welfare Projects and the bus route you get the less there is. Things will be better when we built that wall across the 400 series highways! Up here, if a kid comes home with a snow machine, he will have to explain where it came from. If I come home with a new machine, I can expect a couple of people around town to comment, "I see you got a new Skiddo." It's one of those things about small communities. The attack in the woods story sounds more like Deliverance or Friday the 13th than real life to me, but I guess anything can happen. In my weekly paper this morning, there are no drive-by shootings, no murders, no stabbings, no dead hookers, no random violence, no home invasions, no Rice Rocket street racing, no Asian, Jamaican, or any other ethnic gangs, no gangs of any kind actually, no drug over doses, no homeless people or welfare mother dude stories and no Shots-fired police reports...What's in your paper?

Leave the city. Let the Thugs, druggies and their dealers have it. Dump the big mortgage. Buy a house in the country that doesn't require that you work 60 hour weeks and sit in traffic another 20. Lose Traffic Jams, air pollution, street gangs and 90 percent of your crime. When it's 9 O'clock, know where your kids are. Move close to the fishing. Work less. Play more. Get to know your neighbours. Gain Peace of mind. Own a big dog who bites and a Small dog who barks. Enjoy life everyday, instead of just on your two week vacation. Put some real hours on that boat and motor. The money you save on locks, alarm services, Doctors and pills will pay for an occational visit to your friends who are still in the Rat-Race... But, trust me, after a few hours in the city, you won't be able to wait to get home!

As other have said, this is a great all around rod. Traditionally Bass baits weight about 3/8 of an ounce, which is right in the middle of most MH rods range. That is not a coincidence. It will handle most Spinnerbaits, Crankbaits, Swimbaits, Jerk baits, Glide baits, Spoons, Frogs & Rats, Texas and Carolina Rigs, Tubes, and small Bucktails. In a pinch, at 7 feet, it will handle Jig&Pig, almost as well as a Flipping Stick. Match the weight of the lures to the rod and go fishing! Garry2R's

In my opinion the Abu C3 is too light a reel for big baits. Keep oil on the level wind and the worm gear, they wear out fast with heavy baits if you don't. I didn't like the Abu 6500 series on Bass rods, it was too wide and made the rig top heavy. You don't need the line capacity either for Musky. There is no difference mechanically between the 4500, 5500 and 6500's that I can recall. The spool is wider and the screw posts are longer, as you go up numerically. The 6500 series feel good on a Musky rod. It just seem to balance everything out nicely. I like 80 pound braid because big baits will break 65 like sewing thread, when you throw a backlash. Maybe your baits aren't that big... The backing doesn't matter. I used 20 pound Red Wolf crap mono. under the 80 pound braid on my Calcutta's. Musky aren't like Salmon who run away...They hold their ground and fight you right were you stand...grin. If the Compre is a Musky model you have an excelent rod at a reasonable price. I don't know why you would want a longer one unless your seven feet tall. This rod might even seem too long at times when your working your Suick or other jerk baits. If your Compre is a Bass rod, don't panic. You could probably land every Musky in the Kawarthas on a MH Bass rod and a 1/2 ounce spinnerbait. In 2002, the only year I kept track, I landed forty-five Kawartha Musky using Bass tackle. I personally wouldn't use a left handed reel, because I'm right handed. If you're left handed, cool, if you're right handed maybe you know a better way. If not, you have an excuse to upgrade your reel next year...grin.

Sorry AILE; He said that because that is the May 2-4 weekend he's not interested in renting the boat. This is the weekend that most people open their cottages, and he wants the boat here where people going by can see that it's for sale. I tried to reason with him that a "bird in the hand was worth two in the bush," but he wouldn't budge. Again, I'm sorry for getting your hopes up, but I'm sure we can both see his point. Garry2R's

Give me until this evening to present your offer, I will get back to you by Six PM. I know Sunrise and often launch there, so the drop-off and pick-up will be no problem.

My neighbour has a 14 foot tinny with a 9.5 Johnson that he wants to sell for about a $1100.00 I think I could persuade him to rent it, but what do you think would be a fair offer for the long weekend? The boat doesn't come with a trailer, so unless you have roof racks, or a pick-up, he would have to deliver it... You might want to throw a few extra bucks in the offer for delivery.

What both are on Lake Ontario? Please be specific. Grindstone Creek flows into Cootes Paradise...which is the back part of Burlington Bay, in the Dundas, Waterdown areas One Cootes Paradise access point is from the end of Longwood Road in West Hamilton near McMaster University. This is shore fishing and as kids, we never had a net for the Carp and Catfish we caught. There are better fish there now, but I wouldn't worry if you don't have a net. However, I would take needle nose pliers so I can remove the hooks from a Pike without risking my fingers.. You don't need a net for the Perch at Bayfront Park. You are fishing in Hamilton Harbour/Burlington Bay, at the west end of Lake Ontario. The Park is entered off of Bay Street North in down town Hamilton, beside a restaurant called Hutch's.... There are Bass, which are not in season yet, Pike and the odd Steelhead there too. For those, a net might be handy, but those needle nose pliers would be more important to me...grin. If your fishing near the boat launch, with minnows and a bobber, you will catch Perch, and I wouldn't worry about a net. If you do get a Pike etc. someone who has a net will help you, or you will land the fish in a spot where you can drag it ashore etc. This is a Park, so there are board walks, benches, picnic tables etc. Bronte Creek runs into Lake Ontario at the town of Bronte, near Oakville. There is fishing at the mouth, people cast from a high pier, into the harbour area. There is also fishing up stream near the QEW bridge at Hwy 25. Credit and Humber are to far East for me, someone from Hog Town will need to comment on them. There is fishing at the Canal, below the Lift Bridge. The Canal joins Lake Ontario to Burlington Bay/Hamilton Harbor. I haven't been fishing there many years but people used to fish from both side and I know there's a boat ramp on the Bay side. Good Luck Garry2Rs

After a great opening weekend, I waited all last week for the weather to clear. I'm no timid fair-weather fisherman, but after six months where it never got below 65 during the day, it felt pretty cold out to me. Monday the mercury finally climbed into a respectable zone, so my neighbour and I picked his 8 year old up at the school bus and drove over to Buckhorn. Our "Hot" spots from the previous weekend were as cold as ice. We spent a couple of hours searching bays, coves, emerging weed beds etc. without any luck. Finally we returned to a spot near the launch that had been good to us last year. Lo-and-behold we found 20 fish in front of a boathouse and dock. To get bit , as they say down south, you had to hit a spot no bigger than your average area rug...about 9X12. My neighbour used a 2 or 3 inch chuck of Carolina Pumpkin/Chartreuse-tail Yum Dinger on a snelled hook. I used a Crappie Magnet, which is a larger version of the Trout Magnet split tail grub, on that companies slanted face jig. I was using a Chartreuse grub. I found that when the fish would bump or worry the jig, if I moved it just a couple of inches, the jig would rise then spiral down. That almost always got a solid strike. I also found that if I didn't set the hook, but just began reeling I had no problems with hooks pulling out of those paper thin mouths. Most of our fish were 9 or 10 inches, but we had several of 11 inches and the one in the picture was 12 inches I only have this one picture because I didn't want to bother my friends while the bite was on! We caught our fish in a hurry, all 20 in about 30 minutes, and then it was over... That was probably a good thing because it was a school night and we needed to get home. Garry2Rs

Those short shank Walleye hooks look good. The important thing is to tie your Palomar with the hook point up, then run the long tag end down through the eye of the hook so that the hook sticks straight out. I hope that makes sense...

Oh NO! Were do I go now for the Reunion Dance?

I don't understand how people can leave the city, to enjoy nature, then proceed to disrespect it so. How can anyone walk away from a mess like that? There are bottles, cans, and styrofoam worm containers up and down the shoreline at every public access point in the Kawarthas... I live on Hwy 28, at least 40 or 50 Km from the closest Timmie's or McDonald's, and almost every Monday I get to pick-up Tim Horton and McD's litter out of my ditch. For F**ks sake keep the trash in your vehicle until you stop for gas etc. and if your throwing beer bottles, toss them lightly so they don't break, I can't get a dime for the broken ones...hahaha.

Great to hear that people are catching fish in the Bay again. There's hope for the Hammer yet!!!

Pier Four, Bay Front Park, behind Hutch's restaurant on Bay Street. Good Perch fishing this time of year...bring rod, reel, bobber and minnows.

Don't worry there are facilities in Guelph and Kingston where most of those types go to finish their education...grin.

Little Angler; I'm sorry that you have been getting the run around from the board Guru's. The answer to your question is... Fergus, Simcoe the Lake and Simcoe the City are all in the new area 16. Walleye are open from May 10th, next Saturday until Dec,31st Bass are open from June 28th until Nov. 30th Pike are open From next Saturday until Dec. 31st. Musky aren't open in Lake Simcoe at all, but in other parts of area 16 From June & until Dec. 15th. Brook Trout are open from A26th until Sept 30th. There is no close season on Yellow Perch, Crappie or Sunfish. There are no exceptions for Bellwood Lake at Fergus. There are exceptions if you want to fish in the Grand River, below the dam. There are exceptions for Lake Simcoe re: the opening of Lake Trout, White Fish and Cisco, May 10th, and a possession limit of 50 Perch nether of which you asked about. You will want to get your own FREE copy of the regulations at CTC or any place that sells licences. Good Luck Garry2R's

A 16 footer is more than enough for Hamilton Harbour unless there's a major storm going on. Launch behind Hutch's on Bay Street. Make sure you have all your safety stuff in order. Kids wearing theirs etc. because the Cops patrol in a big red Zodiac between doughnut runs and will check you out. There's pretty good Perch fishing there this time of year.

I would launch at the Grand Island BBQ in Dunnville and fish the river out to Lake Erie

Here's one from Lower Buckhorn... This is Paudash Lake... The neighbours daughter with a Crappie... Rice Lake At the edge of Chandos Lake... Eel's Lake... Eel's Creek... Bill's SMBass Fish Porn...

I'll be on Stoney with two dogs in an old Ranger.