John Bacon

The main species in Baptiste Lake are pike and bass. Muskies can walleye are a bit more challenging. The Lake trout are quite hard to come by. I recommend that you try Dog Bay. That is the large bay just to the left of the resort. Try the mouths of of the west and north inlets of the main body of the bay. Great for pike and bass with a good shot at walleye too.

A 14' tinny with a 15hp should be under 1,000 lbs. But remember the 1,000 lb limit probably includes weight inside the vehicle, such as yourself, as well. You should consider droping down to an 8 hp and either a 12' or a light weight 14'. That will give you some extra room for your gear and a fishing buddy.

I used to have a lot of success trolling cow bells (an 18" or so wire with willow leaf blades) and a worm harness for rainbows. Suprisingly, they seemed to hit best around 1:00pm on a bright sunny day.

Baptiste Lake Marina also rents boats. They are on Baptiste Lake Road south which goes right by Diamond Lake. There is some good bass fishing on Baptiste; but you will probably catch more pike than bass. There are also walleye, muskies, lake trout, and ling in Baptiste.

I always step on mine to flatten them into a disk about an inch thick; they have never refused them. I doubt that they will complain about a few dents.

I always step on mine to flatten them into a disk about an inch thick; they have never refused them. I doubt that they will complain about a few dents.

I wouldn't be so quick to write off the atlantic program just yet. There are some positive changes on the way. First off, there are many different strains of atlantic salmon. Only one strain, the lehav, has been stocked into Lake Ontario so far. A new strain may change the success rate. There were two strains of Chinook stocked in Lake Ontario. I don't recall the sources of the two strains; but only one of them was successful. Had only the unsuccessful strain been stocked; then the Chinook program may not have been anymore successful than the Atlantic program has been so far. Also, the original eggs collected in the late sixties were not intended to become the brood stock for the program. As a result proper procedures to snsure that there is sufficient genetic diversity for a broodstock were not followed. In addition, a brood stock needs to fish from wild eggs introduced every tens years or so to avoid the brood stock from becoming domesticated. The atlantic salmon brood stock has only had one infusion of wild eggs; that was in 1972. The net result is that we have a brood stock that consists of a bunch of domesticated inbreds. The re-introduction of turkies into Ontario has been a great success. Do you think it would have enjoyed that level of success if they had used a bunch of inbred farm turkies? That is essentially what has been done with the atlantics so far. The goods news is that there are a couple of new strains on the way. There are plans to bring the sebago lake and restigouche strains of atlantics to Ontario. For the first time Ontario will have proper brood stocks. The Sebago Lake strain is a landlocked strain which should prevent them from heading for salt water; there are some who believe that the current atlantic are doing just that. I don't know too much about the restigouche strain exept that they are very big; this strain could keep those accustomed to 30+lb Chinooks satisfied. Unfortunately, it takes time to set up a brood stock. Eggs are collected and must be raised to adults that will produce the eggs for the fished to be stocked. Don't be surprised if you start seeing more and bigger atlantics in the years to come.

Metro East has been given the go ahead to raise Coho salmon at Ringwood hatchery this fall. The MNR had suspended stocking in Lake Ontario; this would have been the last year for Canadian stocked Coho's if stocking had not been resumed. This will not impact the number of Chinook stocked into Lake Ontario.

Assuming that you have an alternator on your main motor and you are using the motor on a regular basis; your cranking battery should keep its charge for the summer. It will need to be charge periocially over the winter and if you haven't used your motor for seveal months during the season. If you battery doesn't say that is maintenance free then it probably isn't. If it is a regular wet cell battery; there should be two plastic caps that can be pried off with a screw driver. Each cap will cover three holes where water can be added. You should be able to see metal plates if you look down the holes; make sure that the water covers these plates.

How many holes does it have to add water? Each cell needs a hole to add water; a twelve volt battery will have six cells and six places to add water. If you have a maintenance free battery you may not be able to determine how many cells it has.

I have caught rocks, snails, lures, and an anchor. Twice, I have caught flies; they land on the spool and get trapped when the line wraps around them after I begin realling in. As for things that I have seen: a mink on shore jumped into the water swam right up to the boat as if it was going to climb into the boat; we stared at each other while I began reaching for a paddle ... after a few seconds it turned around and swam back to shore.

I have a corporate function to attend tomorrow at the Briars resort located near Jackon's point and the mouth of the Black River. I plan to bring the inflatable kayak and do a little fishing after the event. What is the fishing like there? What species can I expect to catch the day before bass season opens ??

I have read that the Ontario (and in fact world record) rock bass was a 3 pounder from the York River. I fish Baptiste Lake (which drains into the York River) regularily. The biggest I have caught was about 11" though.

The area has been logged from before it became a park and continuously since it became one. As a point of interest; the park was actually created as a logging reserve. The logging companies were worried that development would swallow up available logging areas in southern Ontario and worked with the government to create the park to prevent development so that they would have an area that they could log for the foreseeable future. The camping and fishing oppurtunites were just a fringe benefit from the create of the park. I think that well managed logging is more beneficial than harmfull to the park. As previously mentioned, a new growth forest will actually support more wildlife than an old growth one. As for keeping the park all natural; than means no campsites, no hiking trials or portages...

Is this the show that was at the Metro East Centre in Pickering a few years ago?

I she is not holding a fishing rod, then you should be within the law. That doesn't mean that a CO won't her a hard time.

Baptiste has both pike and muskie. I haven't fished Bird Lake (just outside of Birds Creek) for about 10 or 12 years; but it had plenty of pike when I did fish it. There is an MNR office in Bancroft, they should be able to provide a list of stocked lakes, there are many lakes in the area that are stocked with trout. I don't believe that walleye are very plentiful in the area. Although both Baptiste and Elephant do have some. There are also plenty of bass lakes if you are interested.

Thats not true at all! . . . she had a chauffer I do agree that a by-law banning pan handling altogether would a positive step. Those that truly need help can make use of the shelter system where they can be provided with aid that will help them get back on their feet instead of just surviving day to day.

I have seen Largemouth and sunfish caught out of Toogood pond. I believe that there are carp in there as well. In understand that the Milne Resvoir is also contains carp and largemouth, I haven't fished it myself. Most of Markham's trout are migratory and are now back in Lake Ontario.

I am a little perplexed by your statement about the kid being 2'6" tall. If you are trying the to estimate the size of the hog by comparing it to the size of the boy; then, the larger the boy the larger the hog and vice versa. A 9'4" hog would be 3.6 longer than a 2'6" person is tall. The same hogs length would be less than double the height of a five foot tall person (a more reasonable height for an 11 year old). A hog that mad an 11 year appear to only be 2'6" by comparison would have to be much larger than 9'4"; not smaller as your post implies.

I have the opposite situation on my boat. I have a bow mount with the battery in the back. I replaced the connectors on the motor with a plug in connector from Cabela's designed for electric motors. I ran eight gauge wire outdoor from the battery to a female plug (also from Cabela's) mounted at the bow of the boat. I simply plug the motor in and go. I aslo replaced the gator clips on my battery charger with the same plug as I put on the motor. Then I can unplug the motor and plug in the charger at the end of the day. In my case I was fortunate that Alumacraft ran a some ABS plastic pipe from the bow to the stern of the boat. This made running the wire a lot cleaner. The eight gauge wire that I used would be the minimum thickness to use. Six gauge would be better. This set up has worked well for over ten years now.

Are you referring to the hunter or the hunted? Sorry, I couldn't resist

Why not use a toilet or urinal???

What you say is correct about children who are residents of Ontario. However, in the case of non-residents; a child's catch does count towards the adults limit. It is this rule that causes some of the confusion about children and limits.

Are Lorance electonics still dry nitrogen filled? If they are, then they would have an air tight seal and should not be damaged by being submerged.