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Wow, you've been in the bush for a couple months and already you've trained the mushrooms to come to you. I'm impressed.

You're in Sudbury? I'd reap the benefits of fiber, IPtv, and VoIP being so close to the Vianet headquarters. But I'm biased.

Wow. Congrats! There's nothing more to say that hasn't already been said.

Lots of cool pics, and lots of nice fish! I've only caught salmon once in my life, and luckily I am still healthy. I'm really careful now about where I stick my lure.

Oh man, this is awesome! I smiled through the entire video! Thank you for sharing.

When did they have time to rehearse this? She couldn't reach him, Marie said he was arrested... She seemed to believe that until she ran into him. I doubt she would have told her kid about his father if she knew he was still walking the streets. Walt's involvement in Hank's death - family - I think crossed the line for her. I don't think anything was rehearsed... She obviously understands her husband well after years of marriage that she quickly caught what he was doing on the phone, and she still loves him enough to just go with it - especially since it gets her off the hook - despite (what I feel was) her honesty just minutes earlier, with pulling the knife and all that. Exceptional writing in this show, particularly this season, that rivals the best (Sons of Anarchy, The Shield, The Killing, etc). There was only one season that I felt was too slow, and while many applauded it for character development, I felt we already had extremely well-developed characters by that point and saw it as slow-moving filler. But still, even that was a cut above many other shows on TV and the final few episodes really redemed the season.

Heaven sounds about right!

Long time passing... I'm sure the MNR stocked Wynn Lake with aurora trout last year, in preparation for this year's short season for the unspeckled speckled trout, but they're not in there anymore. Or if they are, they're hiding, but not from me... I'd heard that three years ago guys were pulling pike out of the lake, so I wasn't going to try this year. But then I also heard that the MNR "checked it out" and found no pike. So, let's go for a couple hour drive and try our hand at the elusive trout once again... A few hours on the lake, I've tried a few presentations, casting, trolling, some slip-floating.. Nothing. Then I put on a perch-pattern shallow shad Rap that I can remember buying 20 years ago. Figured I'd troll it fairly shallow over downed trees and such. I made one pass. Nothing. Shortly after reaching the end of the lake, I turned around and started off again when the lure got snagged. Then it started pulling, and for a brief second I had visions of me posting a real picture of myself on here with a fish that doesn't even exist. Then it started pulling. I thought I must've hooked the world-record aurora, since there's no pike in this lake. Then I saw it... An old, nasty, dark, enormous pike. It was fat. Fat. Very clearly its belly was full of every last aurora trout the MNR dumped in there. I haven't seen a pike that big in person before. The biggest I landed was about 34" (maybe 35", I can't remember off the top of my head), and I lost one when fishing with Rod Caster that was probably about the same. This one was bigger. I'm not sure how much bigger, since I didn't land it. I tried to tire him out, and I thought he was played right out. He wasn't fighting anymore. But alas, I had no net large enough for a fish that big, and as I reached down to lift him out, he took another run and cut through my 8lb leaderless fluoro. There goes my lure... And my swivel snap. If I *had* landed him, I would have cut him up and gifted him to my brother. And I'd probably have pulled an aurora outta the gut and snapped a pic. After all, I would have finally caught one, right? Here's a vid, though it doesn't really give much of an indication of how big the pike was - at least you can see it. Heed my warning - don't bother trying for auroras here. I'm never trying this lake again. Wynn? More like Fayll, AMIRITE? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzQHHGWIK0A After losing the battle, it was now approaching 11am, and I headed back to shore. I tried to find access into a couple rainbow trout lakes. One has no roads leading into it that I could find, and the other was filled with private cottages, and no way to access it for poor folks. Good thing the MNR stocks these private lakes for the ten families that can afford to live there in the warm months. I found my way back to a different rainbow lake, closer to home. Fished it until after sunset, having only briefly tussled with a small bow, which shook lose my hooks after a jump. Shortly afterwards I landed a sucker, which seemed to attack one of the trebles with the top of its head, and the other with the side of its face... At the end of the day, I went home with no trout, cold hands, and a realization that I was indeed the sucker. I'm packing away the leaky Sportspal tonight. This year has frankly sucked for me, and I miss my kid when I'm out. He'll be coming with soon enough; if not next season, then the one after. At least with him with me, the sting of the skunk won't hurt so bad.

You should have slit the belly and used the free bait to catch more.

My coin must be some weird Northern Ontario one, because the only sides it has is catch & release, and catch & eat.

It was a joke (but also true). Answer the serious part of my question!

Slit open a fish, take the eggs... Leave the rest to rot... I presume they're using the eggs as bait for other fish? And then what, they do the same thing, kill it, take the eggs, catch another, and repeat? Am I right about that? What's the point? Somebody explain this to me, please? I mean, I could understand if it were a pike, but this is an edible fish we're talking about.

I can't wait for the new line of lures that imitate filet knives.

Beautiful.

I've been a fan of TufLine Duracast the past couple years, but right now I'm just running plain fluoro. I don't find it as sensitive as Duracast, so I'm probably going to switch back and just use a fluoro leader (I hesitate because I'm not a fan of more than one knot in my repetoire. Guess it's time to learn a new one). Never tried Nanofil for reasons stated here, and I used PowerPro a little this year and don't find it casts as far or feels as nice as Duracast, but I don't hate it as much as I did last year. I haven't had Duracast, PowerPro, or the fluoro break on me, with or without a fish, unless I got snagged really badly and pulled.

Never had a big fish worth talking about get away on me, but I have lost a few speckled trout and a rainbow either at shore or at boat-side, and each one is as heart-breaking as the last. They weren't huge, but they were trout.

I think I'm going to be heading that way in May-June 2014, Chad. We'll find the big ones.

Sounds like a good time to me, but I'd definitely be all over the trout, regardless of the time of year. I've got to head to Algonquin some day. Also north of me... Some day.

Welcome! That's quite an awesome introduction.

I missed this post. Come visit me! I need fly fishing instruction something fierce. lol

Nice fish! I must get me a float tube.

Another Wunderground fan here, though I don't use the app as much as the site itself. OruxMaps for GPS needs, if I forgot my Garmin. That's about it. I tend to keep my phone with me if I'm alone, in case of emergencies.