Paulus

Correctomundo. And no, a 20g Piker on the niagara - when you are fishing slip float - is not too big, provided you have enough weight & the conditions allow for it. i.e. if you're only fishing in about 10' of water and the water is pretty clear, the Piker is overkill. But some sections of the Glen have over 20' - in spots like that the Piker is a great way to enable you to put on enough weight so that your bait gets down fast and stays down. All you need to do is slip the stop up and down, depending on the depth you need to fish at. p.-

This is a resident fish, caught last dec, same trib... I agree. They are a bonus p.-

sweet fish doods, and good work on the steelhead "newbie" too bad about the foggy lens p.-

Welcome to my life! Special needs children have a way of making one's life busier: but not to the point that you should quit doing all the things you love. Hence, I still get out when I can. You'll get out soon and more often that me . Eh bien, mon vieux, winter steelheading is around the corner... p.-

To Wednesday! May he bring us much chrome! *glug glug* p.-

The eastern lake O steelhead are fun fish, for sure, and being mostly all wild they generally fight well. They get a bum rap because catching them usually means fishing confined waters, but that's not their fault. It's been a game of timing this year. Although it's possible to get them during low water periods, hitting them in numbers has had to be very precise due to lack of rain; show up one day too early, or too late, and you miss the show. I was a couple of days late, incidentally. p.-

Ontario, yours to discover! PM me if you need any ideas, but check the graphs first. Sometimes fishing a river on the rise is as good as fishing it on the drop (i.e. Solopaddler's last Huron Trib report). p.-

That had me nearly waking up my kids, laughing. Thanks for sharing p.-

You definitely have the right attitude. For reading water, get a good pair of polarized sun glasses. This helps immensely. Areas that you thought were deep, you will suddenly be able to see, are shallow - and vice versa. Not only do polarized sun glasses help you see pockets and pools with more precision, but they help you wade more safely as well. Get a cheap pair (under 30$) to start. When you see how useful they are, get a high end pair. They are worth the extra $$$, believe me. Good luck on you next trip & please catch and release! By the way, if the bag was crushed: yes, you missed one, there. Always keep an eye on your float - if it does anything at all that seems unusual, give it at least a slight snap... you might be pleasantly surprised! p.-

schweeeeeet! thanks for the report. I agree: in clear water, you need to finagle those log jams... argh! p.-

I dislike Walmart and unions alike. Both take advantage of a situation whereby they can either pay people less for the work they do, or get more money from working people while providing a questionable service - where either strong government (or community) support or honest corporate management would ensure that fair salaries were paid for work rendered. Both skew the balance of things, salary wise, imo. But entities such as Wal-mart make unions necessary. Canada didn't get all the unions it has by accident. They came into existence exactly because employers were irresponsible in providing fair salaries, benefits, etc... You need only look up "Tommy Douglas" on google to read up about that. Corporatism has a bloody history, in Canada. But at the same time, I think unions can over play their value. Having lived in a country where unions are illegal and the poverty level was 48K/year, I can tell you that responsible government is the key. But... oh yeah! responsible government? in Canada? Tax more! Offer less! p.-

ditto. couldn't agree more. p.-

The difference on eastern lake ontario rivers, between this fall's water levels and those of the summer past, are incredibly dismal. Usually, water RISES in the fall. This has not been the case in 2009, much to the chagrin of many ditch fishers like myself. It's so bad that I've lost almost all motivation to fish my local waters, because I can't be bothered to toothpick finicky fish from puddles , when driving an extra hour or two (or three, or four) will afford me the luxury of sounding truly deep, big waters for steelhead who are not as stringent in their dietary demands. Almost. After this week's and last week's rain, and coupled with the fact that we have had such a mild fall season so far, I actually felt the need to venture out this weekend. But what time did I have? Not much: Santa pictures with the boys on Saturday (before noon), haircut required (or no spawning activities in the near future, I was told), Sunday brunch and dinner with friends... there was no real window for me to get out. I had about an hour on Saturday morning, if I managed to sneak out before my sons woke up: and this meant that I would have to try local waters, dried up ditches as they are despite the recent precipitation. So, just as the sun was rising, I was walking the banks of a local river, about 10 minutes from home . I'd had a tip about a new pool that had been created by the past summer's floods, and I followed it - to no avail. The section of river that I'd been told should be 6 feet deep, had already dropped to less than 4; as is always the case with rivers out here, when they've recently endured a long drought. It was so bad that I took pictures of the Canada Geese, to pass the time... take off... With less than 30 minutes left in my hour, I fell back on my experience. Surely, no self-respecting fish would be running the gauntlet of gin clear, disastrously low conditions that the river offered on this day; but if I was a fish that had run it in the previous couple of days, where would I be? I would be in the deepest pool I could possibly find, of course. So that's what I looked for. The deepest pool I could possibly find. And, assuming that any fish in such a place had already seen its fair share of roe bags, I tied on a jig. There were other fishermen about, but I was lucky enough to find a patch of water that conformed to the above description. I drifted it a few times, with my curfew countdown on: by then, about 5 minutes. And on the seventh drift, there was a slight tickle on the float. It wavered ever so slightly, indicating that something - not bottom or anything else that is inanimate - had shown some interest. I added a few inches of depth to my lead and swung it into a slightly better line. It was so easy. When the float went down, recognising the strike and setting the hook was like shooting into an empty net from the blue paint - with the goalie 100 ft out of the net. It must have rocketed 10 inches at least, and in the early morning light I almost lost sight of it as it zipped down into the water. Only someone who is thoroughly not paying attention - or is 100% visually impaired - would have missed this strike. Put me on Karim Abdul Jabbar's shoulders and let me dunk the alley-oop with a tennis ball. That's how easy it was. The fight wasn't so great, as the fish had been in the river probably more than a week. He had not very much of his former chrome left, and he was quite dark. Also, the cold flow must have made him sluggish, as he seemed to have lots of energy left over for the release. The best surprise, after the manner in which he took my jig, was that he was in about the 9 lb range. In the shallow water, near shore, he hadn't looked that big. Sorry about the mud, in the pics. It's hard to take these on your own and release the fish as soon as possible, without skipping over a few aesthetic details: The rod butt is about 23" (reel is 4.5 ") closeup (mud on fish... mud on jig) So, in an hour, I got 1 fish. That surely must count as a one fish per hour average, even though he stretched that hour by about 10 or 20 minutes! Anyway, not bad for such a restricted amount of time :) p.-

christie'd beau poisson! it's nice to see more contributions from you, dood. Keep it up! depending on where you're fishing them, they could be local stockers. but even the wildest fish start changing colours if they've been in the river long enough. p.-

Sweeeeeeeet! I love it when you do that. What a total chrome & gold rush Glad to see you making the most of your favourite time of year, Mike. Is that a pussy-cat hair jig I see nestled in the jaws of one of those browns ???? p.-

Sweet birds, stone dude! You have to give me that bird site, for future reference. Hawks and other smaller bird of prey tend to be difficult to tell apart, and every now and again I manage to snap something off. It would be nice to know what species they are. p.-

Thanks for the replies, all. I'm glad to see that this is an experience that many of us share. I guess that it's one of the perks of fishing, that we sometimes get treated to something you don't see every day. Deer, beaver, owls, herons, osprey, eagles, king fishers, coyotes, bears (and even cougars ) etc... all come down to the river at one time or another. They're all part of the show, supporting actors if not the front-liners. Paying attention to them always seems to give a broader view and deeper appreciation of nature, fishing, hunting. p.-

I hear ya. Out here in the shwa there's a high cougar count. One mis-step, and you're a goner! p.-

While fishing this past weekend, a movement in the trees caught my eye. I looked up just in time to see an enormous owl, taking flight. I had inadvertently spooked him off his perch, and he settled down at a slightly safer distance from me. With zoom full on, and cropped, this is what I was able to capture. The "spy" was a great horned owl, of course. Thank goodness I'm no mouse.... Speaking of mice, the best laid plans of mice and men... Although I managed a couple of steelies that day, both came in the early morning when daylight is too dim for good photography; then I got nothing else the rest of the day. No pics !!! I hope that didn't just make the last part of this entry "useless"... Onk! p.-

Sometimes it's the first inspiration that is the finest. Too much editing after that, or too much hankering after the "perfect" word can dilute the feeling that made you write in the first place, thereby diluting the writing itself. Romanticism, 19th century stuff: writing for the love of writing. Of course, if your editing is inspired, then the final product will be that much better (imagism). But this is very often unnecessary. Use the force, dood! Regardless, I've read it over three times already, because I can't help it. That's how good it is. Turning out the lights now. Good luck tomorrow. We'll share reports! p.-

The weather will hold I think. Mike, that was without a doubt some of your finest writing. THat was a great description of a quintessential fall steelheading trip. Excellent work, my friend. In fact, if you don't mind, I'd like to conserve it on my blog - with special mention of course. Thanks for making me look (and sound) good, too. Laird knows dat airn't easy! Whut a hat! p.-

My new slogan for the Leafs: GO LEAFS G......oh... oh nooooo! p.-

I think *hack! hack!* I must be coming down with H1N1... Might.... have to.... take the day off tomorrow.... p.-

Ugh! Yah! Onk! Orgk! Gorgle! p.-

ROFL! dude, that's too true. p.-