adolson

Thanks for clarifying, Lota lota.

I know it's hard to say, but if I do a lot of alone fishing, I have nobody to help guide when I should release. I just don't want to unnecessarily keep fish that are either too big that they should be returned to continue breeding, or too small that I won't get much meat. I mean, an 8" brookie I'm told is good to keep now, but I woulda never known that if I hadn't asked. To me, it looked too small - I didn't know how you clean them, even. You wouldn't keep an 8" pike or bass, so I'm just trying to get a good idea without trial and error. Thanks to you and others who posted, I've got a better grasp for the most part.

One species I didn't ask about is whitefish. The limit here is 12/6, seems excessive to me, but is that because they're generally a smaller fish (for example, perch limit is 50 and they're fairly small), or is it just because there are so many and/or not targeted?

Also, can you eat mooneye?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MFpfb4eThM

Welcome to face book!

HH

I came for the pics. There are none. I AM DISAPPOINT.

Very nice fish! I am still surprised at how beautiful these are, especially brookies.

I don't use any Apple or Microsoft products at all, but if I had to choose between Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer for a fishing partner, I'd leave the ape on shore and see what the iLures Jobs brought along could catch. Sad news for his friends and family, and his followers. 56 is very young.

This is why we need more MNR. Yes there are many areas to cover,fishing an hunting. Whats wrong with our goverment? They dont see the ,CANADIAN WHOLE PICTURE.

Agreed, but the government ought to have already stopped the mega quarry and that didn't happen yet, so it's not a shock. I've yet to see a single CO out, and I've been fishing quite a lot this summer. Maybe it's just my area, but I'd like to see them.

Nice! I'd like to catch a largemouth some day. Don't think there are any close by.

People are so picky. If you fish in clean places, basically any fish of any size is going to be better eating than stuff you get at the grocery store. If I don't keep a fish to eat it is usually because that is what I deem to be better for the ecosystem (ex. 15lb pike, big laker) but not because I think that it will taste bad.

I wasn't asking which sizes taste best, I was asking because I wanted to know which ones should go back for the good of the ecosystem... Asking because I don't know... Will never know if I don't ask.

The pike I mentioned that tasted like mud has no bearing on why I was asking, I was just mentioning it. Other pike of the exact same size out of the exact same lake tasted fine.

I concur Dana - something definitely wrong with his taste buds. Actually the first fish I ever caught (and also ate) was about an 18 incher pike just south of AP on Benoir lake. I almost gave up fishing, especially fishing and eating, after that until I discovered pickerels. But now I have heard so much about brookies, I must have one. You guys probably think I eat what I fish but in my entire 2 years of fishing I have probably eaten 8 fish. Anyhow, unless you batter and spice the heck out of them pikes, I can't see them being good table fare.

 

Miro

Well, don't get me wrong - I like pike enough to want to get good at cleaning them (the fact that they're plentiful and easiest to catch, it seems, helps that along). But the last one I ate must've been diseased or something because it tasted like complete garbage (unlike others I took from the same lake). But it doesn't stand up to smallmouth bass and walleye, at least according to my taste buds.. And the texture is quite different, I find. Not my favorite, but I haven't tried any fish I hate yet.

You will (hopefully) love brook trout. It's a lot different than the other three I just mentioned (I think closer to salmon), but really good. If you need a good and simple recipe, Musky or Specks' way tastes great: coat in flour, dip in egg, roll in breadcrumbs, fry in fat (he suggests lard, I use coconut oil).

I think Roy's right. It's pretty much all been said. Now we're just repeating each other.

Amen!

 

We've got a few here, but the world needs more women who understand this!

Yeah, when I got my second rod and reel on my birthday, my wife was like "so you can sell your other one now?" and I was like, uh, no...

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the pike vs walleye. lol

This seems like one small light in a mess of darkness: http://news.ontario.ca/ene/en/2011/09/statement-from-minister-of-the-environment-john-wilkinson-regarding-highland-companies-proposed-quar.html (may have been posted in the previous thread on the subject..)

I'll hit Nip sometime, for sure, Rod Caster. But it's an awful long drive if I just want a handful of perch for a meal on some random day. I don't know why you don't like bass, I love it. Usually it's hard to tell a difference between it and walleye (for me anyhow), and I love the fight. But hey, more for me!

Musky or Specks, I've seen that second video. I laugh every time the guy says he likes pike more than pickerel (I assume he means walleye, and not actual pickerel). Something is wrong with his taste buds, haha. Anyhow, I think the part I was forgetting was that slice he took off the tail pieces.. I bet ya. Maybe I'll try it again if I'm in the mood. There are so many pike around here, and they seem the easiest to catch (unless you're actually trying to catch one). The size in the first video looked like about the same as my 22" catches, so I think I'm on the right track there.

I was really mostly wondering about the trouts though, because there are several put and take lakes around me, and I'm hoping to catch more of them. I guess it doesn't really matter too much for those, though.

Musky or Specks, I've never seen or caught a ling.. I've heard whitefish is great. I've only caught one in my life and it was full of worms, so I've yet to taste one, but I want to! I may try ice fishing for them at Bay Lake this winter, since it's easy to access by car and it's big (part of the Montreal River system). I'll need ice gear..

When you say dink pike, how big are you talking? Tiny guys like this? As a kid, we always head/gutted pike (bigger ones) but then you gotta dance around the bones. After having that one stuck in my throat for a day or two, I swore off eating pike. And then I changed my mind and tried again after that and did not enjoy it, and still missed some bones. I tried a few different ways of cleaning them and have yet to find one that I can actually do properly. There's always at least one surprise bone, even if I thought I got them all. I never kept a small pike, before. I mean, 22" isn't big, but it's not tiny like this one.

Thanks Sinclair. Walleye slot here starts at 43cm, or 16.9" so that cuts down that range quite a bit for me. (Upper limit of the slot is 60cm, 23.6"). I have to find a good place to catch perch near me. I know there is somewhere because a few years back, an old friend's brother had a bunch and fed us an awesome lunch.

i bought a book about how to avoid procrastination...guess what...i still haven't got round to reading it....lol

That's kinda like buying Hooked on Phonics, how are you supposed to read the instructions to get started!?

you need to sell me your sportsal for something more portage friendly

No way, he needs to trade for my Sportspal, it is portage-friendly! The oars screw into the crossbar forming a yoke... Plus it's 2 feet shorter and probably 10lbs lighter...

Actually, I couldn't part with it, as much as I want a bigger Sportspal... Been in the family since '68.

I guess it goes to the highest bidder? $50 from me.

Nice work, and nice fish! Looks like you guys had a great time.

I love catching fish, and I love eating fish almost as much. I would like to know what sizes are best to keep for each species, so that way I don't keep fish that should go back to swim another day. If it's too small or too big, it should go back, but what I'm not clear on are the actual size ranges for most species. I know it's tough to say exactly as some fish will have a much larger girth, etc, so I'm just really looking for ballpark figures.

And also, any other helpful tips, such as how to tell if a fish might be carrying eggs, or anything else I didn't think of?

For bass, I've read that it's best to keep fish only between 1 and 2lbs, and since I don't use a scale I've determined the length measurements are approximately between 13" and 16.5" or so. Over the summer I've caught many bass and got reasonably good at determining when one was a good candidate to keep, it's almost second nature now.

However, the other species which I'm less familiar with, but most curious about best eating size ranges, are: perch, walleye, lake trout, rainbow trout, brook trout, splake, and pike (I probably won't keep any pike, but still curious).

I know that some lakes are strictly put and take for the various trouts, so it probably doesn't matter as much for those lakes. Even so, the first brook trout I caught on Sunday was 8.5" and too small to keep, just looking at it I could tell.. But it's not always so easy.

I usually catch very few fish (my total for the entire year is just over 100, whereas some of you catch that many in a night or two). I have only taken my limit twice, both times were my walleye trips with Rod Caster. I have no problem throwing fish back most of the time, but sometimes I'd like to take some home to eat. I thought this thread might be handy for myself as well as others who aren't as knowledgeable, but would like to improve their selections on keeping fish. For example, I kept a rather large bass that I should have let go, but I didn't know it at the time. Only after reading about it here did I realize it probably should have gone back, and I felt bad.

Welcome! I'm guessing you saw Terry's avatar and it made you sign up?

I had one of those reels way back when (and it still works).

 

Re: auto-reposition, some people love it, I found it a little annoying because the bail will rotate around until the trigger is at the top 12 o'clock position...so if you try to set the hook when the trigger is almost at the top position, it will rotate backwards a full turn until it hits the stop.

 

Personally, I put a lot of importance on instant anti-reverse. But for freebies found covered in dust, you can't go wrong. Use them for floating live bait, or trolling harnesses for walleye...something where anti-reverse isn't critical.

 

My Spirex has this feature, and the only way it'll make a full backwards rotation when setting the hook is if I let go of the arm. So, hold on, and you'll be fine.

I'd like it if they made a reel with constant anti-reverse as well as quick fire. I understand the logic of having the one set stop, but it'd be easy enough to just stop reeling in when the trigger lines up. But I had to choose, so I went with faster and easier casting.

The perch in my avatar may or may not be the biggest one I ever caught, ergo, it is a monster. TO ME.

that male is a beauty fish - congrats. Try tying a bucket to a length of rope when the wind is blowing like that and you're drifiting. Its not perfect but it helps. I used to keep a few bricks in the front too tied to a rope. If I found a good spot iit made an anchor, and when I wasnt anchored they were the front ballast. Nice lake to have 5 minutes away

Yeah, I was wondering if the gender made the difference in color.. It was so beautiful, I could hardly believe it... The picture didn't turn out great - in real life, it was brighter and more saturated.

I have an actual anchor, as well as rocks up front, but I didn't use it... I just have a hard time choosing one spot for very long, a sort of fishing ADD, so maybe I should start forcing myself to drop anchor sometimes. I was trying to troll when the worst of it was going on, haha. Can't keep the thing straight if my life depended on it. The bucket you mentioned, I might try that sometime!

Thanks for all the comments, everyone.

Good job Dana. My question is.....why not stick with bobber and worm if it was working? I think I found a Brookie lake close to the city too. Gonna have to go check it out.

Excellent question. My biggest regret was not buying more worms before I left. I only had a few in my fridge, and I didn't know how many I had. I opened the lid and I saw them, looked like a lot. It wasn't. I ran out. I did stick with the bobber and hook until I had no more worms left.

That's a prettier fish then them damn illusive Auroras anyhow Dana!!

That's true! And you can keep more than one! Maybe I'll just give up on auroras anyhow, and go after brookies in the stocked lakes...

There is a stocked rainbow lake and a stocked splake lake near me... Might have to slam those until something bites instead of spending all that time on auroras.