manitoubass2

This late in the year think fishing deeper, 15-25ft (or even deeper) of water. Around weeds if you can find them, if not, rocks/reefs and hard bottom transitions. Alot of baits will work, but try to slow down the presentation. If you fish bass, alot of pike will be in the same areas as the smallies

largies and smallies are open all year where I live (rainy river, zone 5) I've tried numerous times to fish smallies through the ice, and it's really, really tough (at least for me, lol). When I can get on them it's fun though! But for everytime I target them and do well, theres another day I get skunked. I've had numerous baits work, but I find deadsticking to be the most productive approach

On Rainy I see it all the time, especially with suckers, walleye and stugeon. Never bass or pike though?

Cliff and solo hit the nail on the head! This thread made me go back and re-live some great memories, thanks guys. I'll never understand how my grandpa rounded up enough people to move that tv into the livingroom, lol. The thing looked like it weighed 1000lbs, and it was 8-10 ft wide, hahaha. I made some amazing lego airplanes while watching HNIC! Great times!

I think this may be the best introduction of all times! Thanks for the fish porn, it's always appreciated! Where abouts in NW ontario are you working at? (Lac Seul?) Welcome aboard!!!!

man o man, those are unreal fish! Looks like I'll have to start making the 3 hour trip more often

I love my Stradic CI4, amazing reel! But I also love my Okumas. I don't think any reel on the market is as top notch doller per doller as Okumas are. Their rods as well. Just my two cents

Very well put MM. Without my girl being so supportive, I would never be able to do what I love so much. I try to return the favor as much as possible, especially since we have a large family. It really helps for us to allow each other time away for some quiet (fishing, shopping, etc). I'll just say this, it takes a very unselfish person to love/understand an angler, especially when WE can be very selfish at times (even though I try not to be). Kudos to those that contribute to their partners passions!!!

So jealous, so so jealous Great fish MM

I can tie a knot properly, maybe not macrame world champion status, but I can tie knots properly . What knot are you using? The recommended knots, or some of the others that have been experimented with? I'm not ruling this line out completely. I think It still might have some applications for me, time will tell. And congrats on the chromers

Depends what your looking to do I suppose. All three would be valuable to have. I voted powder paint solely because I'm looking at buying one right now

Part of the fun of fishing is getting to try new products, see how they work for your style of fishing. Lots of products have a plus/minus side. Ultimately it's up to the individual to decide what products they like and choose to use. Through years of experience, you can compare products for certain applications according to YOUR experience. Then when someone asks a question about said product, they are obviously looking for opinions on that product. All I did was voice my opinion and try to help make an educated decision. My experience, or yours for that matter is never wrong. Part of a message board is to create new members, drive traffic and help educate people. It's also a place to go in your downtime to have a little fun, and shoot the *hit with fellow anglers. This is a great board, full of great anglers of all types, great personalities etc. I enjoy it here. I've read post by you and enjoyed them, and even learned some things. Sorry if I rubbed you the wrong way, but that's your issue, not mine. I am who I am. IMO, if your going to post towards me in a sarcastic manner, at least inject a little humor. Back to the topic...

lol, the "nanofil knot" is still poor IMO, at least in comparison to other lines. As soon as I'm in between seasons, I'll start practicing tying knots again

@ Randy, I looked up a story from Kare11 on this, and turns out your absolutely right. I think they tested 10 places advertising walleye and almost all of them turned out to be Zander. And one guy said the price difference is $2 per lb less for Zander. They gave an example of one place that sold 50,000lbs per year, so it looks like money saving is def. the goal here. Makes me wonder if any of my local restaurants are doing the same thing? Good points kicking frog, overfinesse and overthink, two major faults anglers can come across at times

Aweosme, thats really cool! Any chance you have a pic?

As for size, I think they grow quite abit bigger. The fishid site I was looking at said maximum length of 51", max weight of 33lbs. But I've seen a few pics now of pikeperch that "appear" to be larger than that. And on some of those pics, the girth of them look greater than that of our walleye. Thats interesting what you say about restaurants in MN selling them because there cheaper? Walleye are obviously abundant in MN, and you'd think that fish shipped from various parts of Europe wouldn't really be any cheaper? Interesting though, and I'm bored, so I'm gonna try to find some links to these cases. @Cosmos. It's a funny rig to me. I fish alot of walleye and I'd never think to have a large sinker so close to the bait. I'd use a leader or something similar to keep the bait away from the sinker. Just looking at those rigs I think "that would never produce bites", lol. Shows how close minded we can be at times as anglers

accept the ones I seen previously had much larger sinkers. I suppose it depends on the current

Thanks guys! The most memorable thing about that pike wasn't it's size though, it was the way it hit the bait! I was fishing with another guy, and I put a 4" Berkley ripple shad on a round jig. We were fishing the current seem in some deeper water with some success, but nothing bigger than 30". I said to him " I bet there is a big pike sunning itself on that shallow sand bar". My bait seems to be cast directly in its mouth! The second it hit the water the fight was on! I'll never forget that, it was such an amazing feeling! Another great memory was my oldest boys first bass on a crankbait, on the first cast! Man he was pumped! So what are your most memorable moments of 2011??? I wanna hear them! Thanks again guys

haha, shows what I know! Here is an image close to the other method My link

Yeppers, lol. Another thing I did this year was take ALOT less pictures, so my fish porn stash is greatly reduced. What were the fellow board members highlights/lowlights??? My lowlights were def. snapping a new rod and almost being eaten by a bear, lol

Nope, thats a different rig then I was referring too. I'm glad you posted that though, as it was another rig I came across while searching out this topic! I think the one I'm talking about was called a porolonka rig? I could be mistaken though

Well, with the weather steadily worsening and the river still flowing, I figured it would be a good time to reflect on my season and some highlights of the year. I got out just as much as last year , probably around 250 times. Fished alot of "ol'faithful lakes", some new ones, some I hadn't visited since childhood, and managed to hit the Rainy River 4-5 times per week. Every year I refine my style of fishing, and what I need to be a successful angler. The tackle box transforms itself year in, year out. This year it didn't transform too much though. It was more rods/reels that got changed up this year. One of my goals this year was to try and target larger pike in the river (which I wasn't even sure existed, lol). It was alot of fun, and my PB was caught and one upped at least 3 times this year. Fishing pike also helped my patience, and also develope new patterns for smallmouth! Always a bonus. My previous best was 40", this year I caught from 40" up to a 47" bohemoth that was released from shore witout a pic (booooo) Poor pic, but most times I was fishing pike I was solo (so pics with fish just werent possible) I also took a kid out fishing for his first time and he got into a nice mid sized pike The smallmouth fishing this year was sort of a letdown. Not as many big fish, but great numbers. I never found any smallies over 4lbs this year, and usually have numerous 5lb+. Oh well, it'll have to wait until next year, lol. I did alot of drop shotting this year and improved alot on that technique. I also grew as a crank bait angler as well. I spent alot of time digging cranks on bottom, smashing rocks, putting lures in the dirty stuff! Turned out to work very well, and you know what? I think I lost maybe 3-4 cranks all year, as opposed to 50 or so the previous year, lol. The walleye bite was also a bit of a letdown this year. The water started at flood levels (at ice out), and delayed everything. The fish were still in great numbers, I just couldn't manage anything over 30" for the first time in years. In fall, the extreme opposite happened, and the river was almost dry, again, screwing with the walleye. Still did great though, I'm not complaining. This year my two oldest boys got some new species added to their belts, which is always great. Pumpkinseed, rockbass, crappie and lake trout were all added this year! Way to go my boys! I also spent more time preparing for more tourny fishing for next year. Spent some time getting to know some other anglers etc, which was great experience. And another fun time was getting to meet Limeyangler and fishing the long sault for a day. We missed a few big girls, but still did ok. Great boat company though and I wish we had more time No amount of camera trickery can make this fish look big! lol, Simon on the other hand? I can't wait for hardwater now! And next year too! I hope you all had a great year as well! I was happy to witness some of the board members personal growth from their reports, great job guys/gals!!!

I would imagine so, all the listed characteristics etc are virtually the same as walleye. I seen one rig pop up in alot of the videos, and I was pretty surprised it would be effective. It was a heavy ball sinker, I'd guess 3-5 oz., with a swivels attached to it. The straight on the swivel was either a grub or what appeared to be 4" swim baits. I f I was to use a similar rig in heavy current (like I seen this rig being used on), I'd use a leader of some sort to keep my presentation off bottom a bit, and get it further from such a big sinker. It would be fun to get the chance to try out North Amrican techniques though

lol, I could see some doing that.

I don't really care for it on a spinning set up. I find it slippery and has poor knot strength. If the knot strength was better, I'd like it for vertical presentations.