FrankTheRabbit

I finally have had one full year of river fishing experience and I will never go back. I find it fun exploring parts of the river and getting to know it as a personal friend. I've learned a lot over the course of a year and I look forward to many more years down the road. The only regret is I wish I had started this a lot sooner! There are some really friendly people I've had the chance to speak to and there are obviously the same number of nut jobs as well. The good thing is, I can pick and choose who I befriend and it all starts with a courteous "hello". See you out there and enjoy the upcoming season!

BillM->Frogwater reel? Thrilla->Can't tell...Loomis reel (totally wild guess)? Nice pics!

I'm sure fishing by yourself, you can see your own float. Using hi-vis line is to make sure the clowns fishing beside you can see your line and they don't cast over top of you. lol Good point made about the adhesive backed cork. Another point I read about having backing, is to prevent mono slippage around your arbour. I think mono slippage would happen if you don't have your mono snug with your arbour. Some Spahr reels don't require any backing. I'm sure there's a lot of things that you can setup your line to your own personal preference. Either way, I felt I wouldn't have used my CP reel much, but after palming the reel when fighting a fish, it's just too fun. I've used my CP reel as much as I possibly could. One thing I do regret is not getting the better reel right from the get go. You end up spending more money buying a cheap one to test the waters out and when you get hooked onto CP'ing, you end up shelling the money for the more expensive models.

You'll need backing for your CP reel. I was reading up that with mono, it can tighten and cause stress on the arbour, which would result in a wobbly reel. The idea with backing is to absorb the tension between the mono & arbour. A friend bought a spool of hi-vis Sufix 10lb mono and has been very happy with it. Moss green Stren is also good. A lot of people swear by Gamma mono, if you can find it.

EPIC MEALTIME! Nicely done and I'm salivating even after I've eaten my lunch!

Makes perfect sense. Thanks for the clarification!

Regarding Rjay's comment about the salmon flesh, is there a reason for the difference in colour? I too have noticed their flesh being white from Lake O.

Great video recap. That fish fry is what it's all about. I'll be up around that area this coming weekend. I went to the fish fish fry year and it was spool good!!! Mmmmmm...

Crazy video! I was out on the rivers in which I realized I had a snag. One good yank to try and snap my line, yielded me a snagged lamprey. hah Laughter ensued as I've never snagged a lamprey before. Needless to say, the lamprey had latched onto its last salmon. They sure are ugly critters.

Slightly along the lines of fish remains, what are your thoughts with filleting fish on rivers and what to do with the head and bones? I know that it is illegal to waste an entire fish on the stream (and I am against this), but taking the fillets and leaving the head/bones/tail can be beneficial to the surround environment. The nutrients can be absorbed by the local wildlife and I'm sure other little critters will take advantage of it as well.

Best case scenario is to deal locally and in person. Too many scams out there to take a chance with shipping or purchasing an expensive item.

Great whites have been known to swim around the southern part of Newfoundland. Hard to believe, but they are there.

Thanks for the insight on Rice. Nothing in particular that I'm going for, just wanted to know if its next to nil locating weed beds, stumps, etc, without the aid of a trolling motor and a fish finder. I'm more than willing to do the leg work and obviously those two devices do aid in locating fish. EDIT: Sorry, I got carried away, I didn't mean to hijack the thread. I just wanted to know if Rice is anything like Simcoe and what to expect.

Some advice from you experienced Rice Lake fishers please. I plan to just rent a boat, which will have no trolling motor or fish finder. How difficult would it be fishing Rice Lake, around the Bewdley area? It would pretty much be my first time out there in a decade. Would those lake maps, that tackle shops sell, help much at all? Would Rice Lake get choppy like Simcoe? I rented a boat from this marina in Keswick and as soon as I cleared the marina, the lake was so choppy, I was getting air borne with ease. The speed that I was going at was the same speed that I was cruising in the no-wake marina. Thanks!

You definitely have a nice piece of heaven up there. Thanks for sharing that.

Well, at the pace I'm putting it through with 1 pounders, the reel should be smooth for the rest of its life. hah

Well, had some time on Saturday to try out the R-Type casting setup and it's lived up to my personal taste. I feel the rod is quite good for the cost. I really do like the rubber butt and it gives me a better grip to cast with. I didn't catch anything larger than a pound. lol So I think even a UL setup would've done the job. I did catch up some weeds with a jig setup so the 50lb Sufix 832 had no troubles pulling through. Balance was quite good actually and felt solid jigging or retrieving my spinner bait. The only thing I would like to have seen, is the brake cover to be implemented like Shimano casting reels. The cover just pops off and if you have butter fingers like I do, it's really easy to drop it in the water. I had to take a few steps away from the ledge just to be careful. hah I'm looking forward to spending some more time with it and looking for some bigger fish. I may give this setup a whirl when the salmon start stacking up at the river mouths.

I did find the reel to be heavy, but I was used to fishing an ultra light rod and centre pin setup. Ha. I was about to purchase the Shimano Caenan, but figured I just have to get use to it since they were engineered to be used optimally together. Just about to head out and give'er a test drive.

I just picked up a R-Type baitcasting setup. I'm giddy like a kid in a candy store. I've got the R-Type spinning mated with a Shimano Convergence medium action rod. The spinning setup was the cheapest and very happy with it. The reel was $100 and the rod was $40 (was on sale from Gagnons). I spooled with with half mono and half Sufix 832 30lb line. I haven't caught any monsters north of 5lbs, but using swimbaits, dropshot, weightless plastics, spinners, have been quite good. The only thing with the rod is, because it's a medium action, accuracy is not its forte. You have to adjust to how the rod will react to get the lure/bait to where you want. But it's really fun reeling in a fish on a medium action rod. The sensitivity is definitely more noticeable when compared to my old bait casting setup (MH rod). I'll let you know how the R-Type casting setup goes. Nice feesh btw! Nothing feels more satisfying than deflowering a new reel/rod.

There's a senko-ring applicator that places a rubber ring around your senko for wacky rigging. You won't need to pierce your senkos anymore. The hook goes around the ring and that's it. Can't remember where I bought it from, but I've saved a lot of senkos!

They have a Rapala Xrap baitcast & rod combo for $60, normally $100. Anyone had much experience with that product line? I own the R-Type spinning reel and it's quite a smooth casting reel. The halo thing is definitely in effect.

It's nice to see largies in Ontario getting to that size. It was depressing to watch the US based fishing shows on TV where they have 8lbs bucket mouths pulled onto the boats and 5 pounders were a minimum. Nicely done and thanks for sharing.

I've been using the 30lb test on my spinning reel on a 7ft rod. I haven't noticed any more or less wrap arounds than float fishing with mono. I find that it does wrap around the guides when I raise my rod up to untangle my bait. Casting seems nice and the colour fade has been slight so it's still green. Not as dark as when it once was in the packaging. I haven't hooked onto anything more than 5lbs and the line held its own. The only thing I do notice is it does fray slightly. When I tie knots onto my swivels, the tag end does fray. If you have a knick in your line, it would be best to cut & retie. I bought my stuff when it was on sale at CT. For that price, it performs very nicely. Regular priced 832 is not worth the premium. I've come to the conclusion that there's some quality control issues. It seems that there are batches of 832 that perform and under perform to their standards. That's not how a spool of regularly priced ($24) braid should be.

What a lunker of a fish!

Need to get a light action float rod! That's some serious fatty brown. Fish tumour? I'm sure the rivers are pretty empty now steelie season is on a hiatus. But, good catch with the last pic. Must've got lost on its way back to the lake.